City Council Considers N-Word Ban

City Councilman Leroy Comrie wants the city to ban the n-word. Comrie said he hoped that a dialogue would be sparked by his resolution and that society can move "toward a place where the n-word is simply unacceptable to be used in any context." And hip hop pioneer Kurtis Blow, who joined Comrie at the press conference, said, "We need to stop looking at ourselves like we are niggas or niggers, so that we can elevate our minds to a better future. So I challenge the hip-hop community, I challenge you to abolish that word during the month of February - Black History Month - and beyond."

The power of the n-word was at the center of last year's Howard Beach hate crime trial. Because Nicolas Minucci used the n-word while beating Glenn Moore in 2005 (to the point where Moore now has lasting damage to his hearing, vision and memory), his was charged with a hate crime. Minucci's lawyer tried to argue that the n-word is common parlance. Minucci was found guilty of a hate crime and sentenced to 15 years.

Deputy Mayor Dennis Walcott and City Council Speaker support the resolution. The City Council will vote on it in later this month. Here's the Abolish the N Word website, plus here's a Salon article about the epithet.

Photograph of City Hall from Wally G on Flickr

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By Jen Chung in News on February 2, 2007 8:37 AM

Comments [rss]

tee rich

to mel (feb. 10 post),

a college educated brother doesn't say "nigga"? i'm a hampton university alum and an nyu grad student. for those who don't know, hampton is a historically black college/university. it is considered one of the 'black ivy league schools', along with howard, spelman and morehouse. despite all the prestige, the word "nigga" can definitely be heard around campus. college students and graduates are just 'people' with degrees. 'people' are going to say and do things that others look down on, whether they are educated or not. you would know this if you had any formal education yourself. however, i should've guessed that you didn't from your post. grammar and spell check are two of the best things to happen to computer software. use them.

Wondering

This is just another attempt to dilute the black culture. You took the slaves out of Africa, took away their history and their language. Now that they have developed a new language you want to take that away too. What's next? Are you going to also regulate how low someone can wear their pants?

mel

I hate this word and I think it's good that they are taking actions to stop peole from using this word.When I hear this word I cringe. I think it's a word that represents self-hate. I also think mostly uneducated people use this word. Definately people who are clueless about there history, I never heard a brother went to college use this word. However, the thugs and people who don't have higher educated use it like they have diareeha of the mouth. I love when back in the days brotheres call each other Sun, or Bro.A white friend of my used the nigga word to me when talking about our co-worker who is black. I had to inform her why this is an inapporiate word to use. I told her the history etc. Well, how do you tell other non-blacks not to use the word when they hear it in hip-hop and on the streets!I never used this word and I am not friends nor date anyone who think that calling another bro or sister nigga is a tearms of enderment for love!! STOP NOW!

jesus

I second the motion to ban "hella."

Kojak

If they move to ban the N word, I DEMAND that the city council take similar action against people from using the word ‘Hella’ and 'Sweet'

S.D.

It's not illegal to say anything, but Hate crime legislation make motivation and/or words a factor in punishment.

The conceptual problem with Hate crime legislation is that it punishes based on makes what one thinks rather than what one actually does.

hr

Let him know how you feel!

comrie@council.nyc.ny.us

perryair

Making hateful words illegal in order to abolish racism will work about as well as making the possession of drugs illegal has helped us to stop using drugs.

I suppose as long as the council can say that it tried something...

Tom

Cool, while we're at it I also hope they are planning to ban: dago, wop, cracker, honky, mick, polock, kraut, chink, gook, wetback, midget, retard, Negro, etc, etc, etc, etc, etc, etc, etc, etc.

This is stupid. Taking a stand against a word. Well thank god someone is man enough to say that one particular slur is bad, but the rest of them are cool.

The Edge

A formal stand against what? When the people of whom the word was created specifically to use against, use it themselves freely and, for the most part, harmlessly...

dhex

a formal stand against ethnic slurs: truly a profile in courage.

next up, they're going to pass a resolution saying the holocaust was bad.

tuff boi

why ban a word that's only said in the privacy of a whitey's home or boardroom?

More listening devices, people, that's all you need to catch a slip of the tongue. If anything the 2006 elections taught us is to have a recording device with you 24/7.

S.D.

No one is banning anything, just encouraging dialog and taking a formal stand.

word

NIGGER!!!!

haha, sorry, had to..

i think the more we use these racial slurs, the LESS power they have. if everyone colloquially uses these words and phrases, then they won't hold any weight. the simple fact that we all get so outraged by certain little "politically uncorrect" things, the more they are making them even stronger.

tom

isnt it great they make 6 figure salaries now... your tax dollars hard at work.

sandra

the city council for the most part has been and still is a complete joke.

rschnabel

Will rappers get fined if they use the word so candidly? Good luck City Hall.

fishtale

glad to see the city council is working on such pressing concerns

Dan

Great, I can't wait to start banning words. Then we can ban books that have the words in them. But oh, while we are at it, we can burn those books! They are banned anyway! Then we can fine and fire and jail people who even mention it! Mabye even lynch them! Then we can live in a perfect world, where everything is padded, where you aren't allowed to speak unless its a polically correct generalized complement. We can all sleep to the glow of our televisions playing nothing but government sponsored childrens programming deemed safe by the FCC. A safe world, far away from anything real. God Bless America.

anonymous coward

so, if there's no penalty attached, the what's the point? As noted above, use of the n-word in a crime is enough evidence for a hate-crime charge.