Texas Mayor Wants to Outlaw the N-word

[deadparrot]

Jan. 25, 2007 — The mayor of a small Texas town wants to make people pay — literally — for saying the N-word.

Ken Corley, mayor of Brazoria, Texas, is proposing a citywide ordinance that would make uttering the racial slur punishable by up to a $500 fine.

Recent comments by the Rev. Al Sharpton and Jesse Jackson about phasing out the N-word inspired Corley, who is white. Although the slur is largely taboo, Corley said he still believes he needs to take a stand.

"It's not an issue in the city of Brazoria…It is a national issue," he said. "The word is used and abused, obviously, or they wouldn't have been talking about it on national TV. It would be great to play a leadership role…That is a stand that I have decided to take."

http://abcnews.go.com/US/story?id=2822656&page=1&CMP=OTC-RSSFeeds0312

[darkstar7646]

1. His town is obviously all-white...

Because every third word out of a lot of Af-Am's mouths on the street is the word as a pronoun to refer to each other or the like...

[Lost-in-FL]

5. .

:popcorn:

[donheld]

21. They are allowed - We are not

I can call myself a fag, but you dare not.

[marshall]

24. That has been my experience

When I taught in a predominantly African American school the children used the word with each other (girls used it as a synonym for "boyfriend") and most surprising to me African American teachers used it daily when they were angry or trying to get the kids' attention. In the beginning I tried to control the use of the word, and even called a parent to try and get help in stopping the use of the word by his child. His response was confusion--he didn't understand why I didn't want his child to use the word. So I just gave up and settled for not using the word myself.

[Ishoutandscream2]

28. Why?

I'm not being snarky - I'm straight and find the word "fag" offensive. Why is it not offensive for a gay person to call another one that word?

[HiFructosePronSyrup]

30. If a gay person uses it...

do you think that gay person is homophobic?

[Ishoutandscream2]

37. No, but that's not the point

I would like to see words such as these disappear. Same with the N word. If these words keep getting tossed around, no matter who is doing it, then they will never, ever go away.

My 11 year old daughter for the first time heard someone say the N word (or perhaps this was the first time she ever noticed), and I live in Texas. Heck, that word was tossed around so much when I was her age, it was damn near acceptable!!

I just want to see it all go away. I know it's naive, but I don't want my children and grandchildren to have to experience such hate.

[HiFructosePronSyrup]

39. That's exactly the point.

The N-word is racist, and people who use it are racist.

With an exception being black people, who obviously aren't racist against black people.

[Ishoutandscream2]

41. I simply don't want people to perceive that these words

are healthy, that's all. Obviously these words were created by racists and homophobes as negative descriptors.

[Behind the Aegis]

34. If I can jump in here...

Donheld may have another explanation, but I will try to answer your question.

"Why is it not offensive for a gay person to call another one that word?"

This is tricky because it can be offensive for one gay person to call another gay person a "fag." However, it is generally dependant on tone and circumstance. The reason it is usually not offensive to the recipient is because the one saying it is "part of the group." In linguistic terms, this is known as 'in-group solidarity.' This means those who are in a particular group, in this case, gay men, the linguistic value of words changes (or may change). A more benign example would be calling someone in your own family "stupid." It is not very nice to most people, but the value of that word may have a different value within your 'collective' (family). Therefore, someone from the outside calling someone in your family "stupid" would be offensive because the value of the word returns to the default, or "understood meaning."

Did that help or just make things worse? :)

[Ishoutandscream2]

38. Actually, that's a pretty good description

And I guess it's a matter of taste. I don't like the word "stupid", but I tend to use it. "Fag" and the N work are so repellent to me, and I have to admit I wince when I hear one African-American call another one "N." Your explanation was a pretty clear one.

[Behind the Aegis]

42. I am glad it helped.

Do see my post #36 and read the Salon link. It is a three page piece about this very topic. I thought it was very interesting.

[donheld]

45. Exactly, thank you Aegis

It's really hard to feel offended by someone who is the same as what he called you and knows it.

[TheDonkey]

47. I'm gay and wouldn't want anyone to call me that or say it near me

don't assume.

[MsKandice01]

2. I'm not a big fan of policing the words people use...

It's a bit of an overreach to me.

[Benhurst]

4. And it empowers the word. I think it is better to make it clear

anyone who uses it deserves nothing but contempt.

[SayWhatYo]

51. Agree about it giving the word more power than it should...

However, I tend to think that it would be more effective if people simply made it non-issue... Someone throws some sort of racial or bigoted insult out, then play no-mind to it. I figure that the primary motive behind such words is to upset the target, so why let them upset you? It worked in grade school at least.

[LynnTheDem]

3. Making a WORD or an OPINION or an IDEA illegal

is so unbelievably stupidly ridiculous.

(Regardless how stupid an opinion (halocaust denier) or word ("nigger") or idea (george w. bush is a leader), making ideas, opinions, words illegal is STUPIDER!

DUHHHHHHHHHHH!

Please, America, I'm tired of being embarrassed in the eyes of the world. So knock this shit off already!

Bloody hell.

[fujiyama]

10. Actually the rest of the world is much more likely

to ban certain kinds of speech or language. Europe has much greater restrictions and penalties for hate speech than the US.

Now, I'm not defending that though. Personally I agree with the First Amendment and the rights given by it - to even use objectionable speech.

For all the things the US has done in recent years, this really is not embarrassing to the US.

[damntexdem]

6. And just wait until the first time they try to prosecute an African American for using the word.

Why is prohibition so popular among some politicians, when it has such a poor track record?

[fortyfeetunder]

46. Two words: jail time

Guess the jails in Brazoria aren't full enough!

[mondo joe]

7. Well there is a little conflict with the first amendment.

But the Constitution is so passe these days.

[saigon68]

12. Quaint also comes to mind

[TlalocW]

8. I don't like

People trying to get niggardly with the number of words I'm allowed to say.

TlalocW

[Manifestor_of_Light]

15. i know a lawyer

who used to be a judge. She said that the county was niggardly and all the blacks jumped on her case and got her forced off the bench. She should have called the county a "tightwad asshole" or some such I guess.

Some people think "niggardly" is the N word, but it's a different kind of insult.

Furthermore, this is unconstitutional prior restraint. It's the result of non-lawyers who think they can write a law to regulate ANYTHING.

What would they do if they knew there was a book by Joseph Conrad called "The Nigger of the Narcissus"???? Are they gonna take it out of the library? Do they even have a library?

[TlalocW]

23. I hadn't heard that one

I had heard that a college professor used the word; people got upset, and he or she had to take a sensitivity class.

TlalocW

[northzax]

35. it happened in the DC government

a few years back, someone included it in a PowerPoint (a 'niggardly budget' or some such thing. he was fired.

[Behind the Aegis]

36. Here's something to read...

---snip---

Kennedy argues that our skittishness about "nigger" runs the risk of fetishizing it. In all the coverage of Mark Furhman's testimony during the O.J. Simpson trial, there was something infantilizing about the constant use of the euphemism "the N-word," as if to report accurately what Fuhrman said were the same as endorsing it. Take such squeamishness a little further and you have the shameful attack on David Howard, the white director of a Washington D.C. municipal agency who told his staff that, in light of budget cutbacks, he would have to be "niggardly" with funds. An uproar followed that resulted in Howard's resignation, which was accepted by Mayor Anthony Williams on the grounds that Howard had shown poor judgment.

Even some of the commentators who admitted that they knew that "niggardly" has no relation to "nigger" (the origins of the first word predate those of "nigger" by about 300 years) still condemned Howard. They were answered by the columnist Tony Snow, who wrote, "David Howard got fired because some people in public employ were morons who a) didn't know the meaning of the word 'niggardly' b) didn't know how to use a dictionary to discover the word's meaning and c) actually demanded that he apologize for their ignorance."

There was a similar protest about a University of Wisconsin at Madison professor who used "niggardly" during a Chaucer class -- this time the complaint came from a student to whom the professor had explained the word's origins. And a professor at Jefferson Community College in Louisville was dismissed because of the lone protest of one black student (out of nine in class of 22) upset by the professor's inclusion of "nigger" in a class discussion on taboo words.

These are examples of stupidity masquerading as sensitivity. In one sense, though, as even the professor in the Louisville case acknowledged, that sole protesting student had a point. "Nigger" is an enormously loaded word, and there's cause for worry when it's divorced from its potential to hurt (that doesn't, however, mean that hurt feelings should trump intellectual inquiry).

---snip---

more...

Note: I linked to page two of this article because that is from where the above quote comes. However, I suggest reading the whole article; it's really interesting! (This is not directed at you, northzax, I am just piggy-backin off your post.)

[msongs]

9. what, no more rap music there? nt

[Dont_Bogart_the_Pretzel]

48. Best thing I've heard all day

:sarcasm: ?????

[knight_of_the_star]

11. That is so unenforcable

And will probably backfire human nature being what it is.

[Raydawg1234]

13. How can you phase out the N-word when black people constantly use it

to describe themselves?

[w4rma]

14. You can't outlaw a word in America. (nt)

[lligrd]

16. I Think We Should Make The T Word Illegal

Afterall, they brought us the B word.

[sweetheart]

17. Good, outlaw 'Nixon', but they should outlaw 'Republican' too nt

[Behind the Aegis]

18. Stupid! Just stupid!

The very idea that a word should be "fined" is idiotic. The word has already evolved into the "N-word." I can appreciate people not wanting to say or write the word, but it is a word, nonetheless.

[GreenZoneLT]

19. Congress shall make no law...

Oh, swell, yet another googoo who doesn't believe in the First Amendment. I hope they censor the Monty Python routine "Prejudice," when it airs on BBC America there.

While we're at it, let's fine people for saying that cutting marginal rates on upper tax brackets always ends up generating an increase in overal tax revenue. That's done FAR more damage to the Republic than racist language ever did.

[Township75]

20. Well if you are going to outlaw the N-word, why not the other words

that are considered racial slurs? There are more words than that for black people, and there are many others that refer to Hispanics, Whites, Asians and others. It seems strictly political to outlaw just one.

And what to do about all the music that has the words in it?

The idea is pretty lame.

[melm00se]

22. what would happen

if you read outloud from Huck Finn?

[slackmaster]

25. I doubt that President Black Bush would approve

A Dave Chapelle blast from the past:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8VHgYWL3fO0&NR

[Naipes]

29. One of my FAVORITE Chappele skits...

But perhaps more appropriate for this discussion was this skit:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OpcdmBgifCY

[Lobster Martini]

26. Banned in Brazoria

This is interesting, not merely for its sheer pointlessness—darn that pesky First Amendment—but because The Handbook of Texas Online (http://www.tsha.utexas.edu/handbook/online/index.html), a joint project between the General Libraries of the University of Texas at Austin and the Texas State Historical Society, uses that particular word 14 times. So historical accuracy would be allowed everywhere in Texas except among the 2,800 people in Brazoria.

Another interesting fact: in Garza County, Texas, the name of Dead N***** Creek was changed to Dead Negro Draw. The diversity training really paid off.

And to answer a previous question, if the fine is $500 per usage, reading The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn in public would result in a $106,000 fine. The word is used 212 times.

[Betty]

27. ranks right up there with banning flag burning

as an extemely ignorant attempt to chip away at free speech. Offensive speech is still protected, or should be. I don't like what right wing radical religious extremists have to say but they have a right to say it and I have a right to ignore them.

[AzDar]

31. The question that should be asked: where does it stop? Which 'word' is next?

Moronic and un-Constitutional ( I am soooo pre-9/11, I know).

[AngryAmish]

32. N-word? Nachos?

[Posteritatis]

40. YOU WATCH YOUR MOUTH. (nt)

[Fire Walk With Me]

49. "Nucular".

I say let them collect from Bush each time he mispronounces it.

[Megahurtz]

33. Hilarious.

I know of a lot of Black People that habitually call each other N---- all the time, as a joke.

So would they get fined?

:rofl:

Sounds like a really stupid law to me.

[MGD]

43. There must be no outlawing of words in this country ever, I don't care what word it is. This is BS

The ACLU better be all over this first amendment violation.

[MGD]

44. what's more, where is the equal representation in this law?

It's illegal to say nigger but it's legally acceptable to say faggot, spick, honky, cracker, or bitch? That's not equal protection under the law, that's not constitutional either. That's two violations of the constitution with the same law Corely you fucking fascist.

[SayWhatYo]

50. Bad move...

While the intent is noble I think it's a bad idea. Once we start banning words then who knows where it will end up... Besides, it will only give suchs words more power than they should have... In my opinion, they are just words and people shouldn't get offended by words... I know I don't... However, many, well most, people get offended by the 'N-word' mostly because we(as a whole) give it so much power. If we simply let it go then it would lose its effect. Same goes for other words, such 'fag' or whatever else... I would say 'cracker', but who the hell finds that offensive?