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City Council Closer to Banning the N Word
By
Jen Chung
Published Feb 27, 2007
Modified Mar 7, 2008
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By
Jen Chung
Published Feb 27, 2007
Modified Mar 7, 2008
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Yesterday, the City Council passed a "symbolic ban" on the n-word. City Councilman Leroy Comrie introduced the resolution earlier this month, and he said, "I'm hoping this is the beginning of a move forward to a place where the use of the N-word is simply unacceptable. So many people have been quietly seething about this for a long time. It's time to bring it into the open."
Newsday explains that the ban "does not carry the weight of the law," but that there's a growing movement in other towns and areas to stop the usage of the epithet. However, when City Council members discussed the slur, many actually said n-----; from the Post:
Mike Nelson (D-Brooklyn), who was the only white person to use the word at the hearing, described a "sickening, scary, depressing" date he had in the 1960s while serving in the Air Force in Arkansas.
When he grimaced after his date used the n-word twice, he said, she told him, "Well, obviously you don't like what I'm saying. Well, they may be Negroes to y'all, but they're n- - - - -s to me."
The chair of the council committee, Larry Seabrook (D-Bronx), cited two books he'd read: "N- - - - -," by Dick Gregory and "Die N- - - - - Die," by Rap Brown, and complained about people who've used the word in print over the years and made money.
Comrie told the Post he was upset the word was used, "I was not pleased."
The City Council will vote on the resolution tomorrow. Two other sites related to the movement: Abolish the N Word and Ban the N Word.
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Jen Chung
Jen Chung is a former WNYC and Gothamist editor.
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