There are people who will disagree with me.

It’s time to forgive Paula Deen. She is re-launching her career after it went down in flames last year when she admitted to using the word Nigger, more than 30 years ago… THIRTY years.

When the story broke, I didn’t follow it closely. I understood that people were disappointed and hurt, but I thought that she had been punished too severely. Hear me out. We don’t know if she used the word as alleged in the suit. She was not caught on tape, so who knows. But she admitted to using the word in the 60s?!?

Now. Paula Deen is from Georgia. If you think that wasn’t a household word at that time – especially in the South – you’re kidding yourself. And many people everywhere still use it. I’m sure she was raised with it. Does that make it right? NO. And let me be clear, I have been called a Nigger to my face and you have no idea what that feels like.

I have always been a Paula Deen fan. I loved her, so I was disappointed if that was something she felt and expressed in private. However, that is not the energy that I ever got from her. And I could be wrong.

But the other part of this story is forgiveness. How long do we ostracize? Do we ever forgive? Clearly the parent companies of her former endorsements do not forgive but I believe they pulled the deals out of fear rather than morality; again, I could be wrong. I can only truly speak for me…and I think she deserves another chance.