When Francine Britt told her four children they were going to attend a public form by the Hawai'i Chapter of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, their reaction was, "What for? It won't make a difference."

But she persisted, and yesterday Britt and her children, ages 13 to 21, were among about 150 people who went to Trinity Missionary Baptist Church in the airport area to raise awareness about racist behavior, such as use of the "n-word," and to discuss potential solutions.

The forum was called in the wake of television bounty hunter Duane "Dog" Chapman's highly publicized use of the n-word in a taped conversation, but Chapman was hardly mentioned during the lively two-hour meeting.

The floor belonged to people such as Britt, a Mississippi native who moved to Hawai'i two years ago, who said she is extremely disturbed by how casually the n-word is used in public schools here.

All her children have been called the n-word in schools here, Britt said.

"When I spoke to counselors and authorities in the school system they said children use it as a greeting," Britt said.

"I say, well, with us being black we don't receive it as a greeting. So the misinterpretation and understanding of the n-word needs to be educated to the students on the island because they don't understand what they're really saying."

The n-word is insulting and degrading to blacks, despite its use by some blacks in music and movies, said Miles Jackson, University of Hawai'i professor emeritus and author of "And They Came: A Brief History of Blacks in Hawaii."

"It's a word that brings back memories of terrible things that happened: lynchings, segregation ... the whole black experience in the South," Jackson said. "It's just like what the swastika would symbolize to a Jewish person.

"It's not just black people. I think fair-minded people in this county today realize we have to respect one another.

"If we find out there is a term that denigrates others, then we better back off and not use it," he said.

Alphonso Braggs, Hawai'i NAACP president, said he was pleased with the turnout and the diversity of the people who attended.

"We wanted to raise the moral consciousness of individuals to say that they have got to take an active and responsible role," Braggs said.

"It's not just the n-word, it's all the other unacceptable behaviors, too.

"We're using this as a launch platform, a segue to really draw this audience together to say let's do something."