News item: Some adult spectators from Colchester have been banned from all Ledyard Public School facilities, stemming from an incident after last Saturday's girls' basketball game between Ledyard and Bacon Academy, during which combative spectators directed the n-word at Ledyard players.

The fallout threatens to be typical, especially now in a society where the concept of critical thinking has reached critical condition. Colchester will be labeled as harbor for racists, a place where they dream of toasting marshmallows from the residual heat of the cross burnings.

An absurd premise? Of course. Except that Colchester is an easy mark: a rural, mostly white town that sustains all the stereotypes that come with being relatively isolated and homogenous. Colchester will be dismissed as a haven of hillbillies, as if some of the other towns in this corner of the world are cultured, cosmopolitan and cordial by comparison.

Au contraire.

The facts are too painful for many of us to accept. Colchester is no more or less different than most of our other local hamlets, particularly when it comes to a dizzying lack of self-awareness regarding the n-word. Translation: We are all candidates for more education on the subject.

We begin here: The English lexicon, in all its expanse, gives us exponential options to convey dismay and criticism. There is no reason to ever use the n-word. And yet here we are. Again.

I've grown weary of talking to aggrieved white people about their perceived double standard. Loosely translated: How come some Black people get to use the word in casual conversation, but the minute we say it, we're a bunch of racists?

The word has different cultural contexts. Here is an example from my own life that I hope helps.

I grew up in a (very) Italian extended family. Not many social occasions passed without somebody in the gathering using the word "guinea" aimed at another Italian. "Guinea," for the unaware, is a derogatory term used against Italians. But because Italians are already in the fraternity, the word has a different contextual meaning to them.

Heaven forbid someone outside the fraternity call one of us a "guinea," however. I'll let your imaginations decide how those disputes were settled.

The same concept applies to the n-word. It bears a different meaning to a young, Black person than it does to a white person. Blacks can say it for the same reason the Italians used "guinea" in the aforementioned story. It doesn't mean the same thing.

Then there's this: When whites use the n-word, they not only dehumanizes Blacks, but they sustain a culture that normalizes the word and its tentacles. Moreover, whites who hear the word and tacitly approve its use are fortifying the ongoing devaluation of Black lives.

I also believe that use of the n-word crosses as many generational as it does cultural lines. Example: A few years ago, ESPN aired a one-hour special on the n-word, during which former Pittsburgh Steelers' great Joe Greene denounced use of the word under any circumstances by anybody of any color. That's because it means something different to him and his life experience.

Joe Greene's personal narrative is different than a high school kid whose life in more modern culture has made the word acceptable in a different context.

Why can't we start here: Even if you disagree with the premise that the n-word has different contextual meanings, white people need to stop saying it immediately. From Colchester to Dorchester to Rochester. It is hateful. It is abhorrent. And it is inflammatory.

This incident reiterates that none of us are as enlightened about racial and social issues as we believe. I'll start. About two months ago, The Day required all of us to begin diversity training. Full disclosure: I read the e-mail and rolled my eyes, lapsing into my greatest hits: I've been doing this for 31 years, I know everybody around here and I don't need to sing Kumbaya with anybody.

And then came our first day of training. I was ... fascinated. Humbled. I was guilty of a good half-dozen daily transgressions, mostly tied to making the wrong assumptions about people. I actually conversed with co-workers in meaningful ways and left the building that day enlightened.

Trust me on this one: You, the person reading this, aren't nearly as self-aware as you think. We all need to listen more and blather less.

One good way is for whites to put a permanent lid on the n-word — and to call out others who do. In the words of the late, great John Lewis, politician and activist: "If you don't do everything you can do to change things, then they will remain the same."

This is the opinion of Day sports columnist Mike DiMauro