There is no place for “nigger” in New York

New York City symbolically banned use of the word nigger today, the latest step in a campaign to expunge the most vile of racial slurs from hip hop music and television.

Photo: There is no place for “nigger” in New York

The city council unanimously declared a moratorium that carries no penalty but aims to stop youth from casually using the word, considered by most Americans to be the most offensive in the English language.

The New York City measure follows similar resolutions this month by the New York state assembly and state senate.

Supporters of the ban are taking their campaign to The Recording Academy, asking it not to nominate musicians for Grammy awards if they use the word in their lyrics.

Many rap artists and young New Yorkers toss the word around as a term of endearment or as a substitute for black, angering some black leaders who consider those who use it as ignorant of the word's hate-filled history in slavery and segregation, news.com.au reports.

Hip-hop pioneer Kurtis Blow Walker said when the resolution was proposed that blacks needed to stop using the word so "we can elevate our minds to a better future."

Others argue that use of the word by blacks is empowering, that reclaiming a slur and giving it a new meaning takes away its punch. Oscar-winner Jamie Foxx, for example, said he would not stop using the word, and did not see anything inappropriate about blacks using it within their own circles.

But in the uproar over Richards' outburst, black leaders including the Rev. Jesse Jackson and California Rep. Maxine Waters said it is impossible to paper over the epithet's origins and ugly history of humiliating blacks. They challenged the public and the entertainment industry to stop using the epithet.

"I forgive those young people who do not know their history, and I blame myself and my generation for not preparing you," Councilman Albert Vann said. "But today we are going to know our history. We are not going to refer to ourselves by anything negative, the way the slave master referred to black people, using the n-word."

New York's action resonated far beyond the city, the AP reports.

Source: agencies

Prepared by Alexander Timoshik
Pravda.ru