I was raised in an Okie town until 10 years old.  My folks were Okies.  My Dad used the words Wetbacks for illegal Mexicans, Wops for Italians and Dagos for a lot of others.  He was actually from Missouri before moving to California during the Great Depression in the 30's.  I guess he would call me a Squaw Man if he were still alive.  But I never heard him use the N word.  But we didn't have any Black people or Asians in our small sawmill town in California.  When I saw the movie Grapes of Wrath it was like seeing the story of my folks when they first moved to California from the Missouri and Arkansas.  Grapes of Wrath was all about Arkies and Okies leaving the Midwest and moving to California.  Actually changing our language like Obama is doing takes a lot of color out of how we can express things.  Like N-heads; we now have to call them grass tussocks.  N-heads had character.  Hemingway, Mark Twain, and Steinbeck would have a tough time writing today.