or
Join Now!
|
|
Home/Government/Politics
|
| Forum |
Ask A Question |
Question Board |
FAQs |
Search |
Return to Question Board
| Question Details |
Asked By |
Asked On |
| This and that... |
Itsdb |
03/01/07 |
NYC Urges People Not to Use N-Word
Thursday March 1, 2007 4:46 AM
By SARA KUGLER
Associated Press Writer
NEW YORK (AP) - New York declared the n-word off limits to all races Wednesday in a purely symbolic resolution prompted by the common, casual use of the slur in hip-hop music, comedy and street slang.
``People are using it out of context,'' said Leroy Comrie, a black city councilman who sponsored the unanimously passed measure. ``People are also denigrating themselves by using the word, and disrespecting their history.''
New York's resolution is not binding and merely calls on residents to stop using the slur. Leaders of the nation's largest city also hope to set an example.
Rudis Mata, 21, of New York said it was pointless to ban the word if city had no plans to enforce it, adding that he thinks it's a violation of free speech.
``I don't necessarily think people should ban the word, but it's a derogatory term and it shouldn't be used,'' he said. ``It's different from other curse words. It has a history.''
Other municipalities have already passed similar measures in a debate that rose to a fever pitch late last year after ``Seinfeld'' actor Michael Richards spewed the word repeatedly at a comedy club in Los Angeles.
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...''
A group of black teenagers having lunch in a Dallas mall disagreed, saying the resolution won't affect their use of the word.
``We grew up saying it and it's what I say all the time,'' said 17-year-old Tiara Smith. ``It's not going to stop anybody from saying it.''
Everything goes back to Seinfeld. It took Kramer to get blacks (some anyway) to see it doesn't "empower" them?
'That's so gay': Is it OK?
By LISA LEFF Associated Press Writer
© 2007 The Associated Press
SANTA ROSA, Calif. — When a few classmates razzed Rebekah Rice about her Mormon upbringing with questions such as, "Do you have 10 moms?" she shot back: "That's so gay."
Those three words landed the high school freshman in the principal's office and resulted in a lawsuit that raises this question: When do playground insults used every day all over America cross the line into hate speech that must be stamped out?
After Rice got a warning and a notation in her file, her parents sued, claiming officials at Santa Rosa's Maria Carillo High violated their daughter's First Amendment rights when they disciplined her for uttering a phrase "which enjoys widespread currency in youth culture," according to court documents.
Testifying last week about the 2002 incident, Rice, now 18, said that when she uttered those words, she was not referring to anyone's sexual orientation. She said the phrase meant: "That's so stupid, that's so silly, that's so dumb."
But school officials say they took a strict stand against the putdown after two boys were paid to beat up a gay student the year before.
"The district has a statutory duty to protect gay students from harassment," the district's lawyers argued in a legal brief. "In furtherance of this goal, prohibition of the phrase `That's so gay' ... was a reasonable regulation..."
Superior Court Judge Elaine Rushing plans to issue a ruling in the non-jury trial after final written arguments are submitted in April. Her gag order prevents the two sides from discussing the case.
Derogatory terms for homosexuality have long been used as insults. But the landscape has become confusing in recent years as minority groups have tried to reclaim terms like "queer," "ghetto" and the n-word..."
Eliza Byard, deputy executive director of the New York-based Gay, Lesbian and Straight Education Network, said nearly nine out of 10 gay students her organization surveyed in 2005 reported hearing "That's so gay" or "You're so gay" frequently.
"It bothers them a lot," Byard said. "As odd or funny as the phrase sounds, imagine what it feels like to be in a setting where you consistently hear it used to describe something undesirable or stupid, and it also refers to you."
She said it is OK to discipline students for using the phrase after efforts have been made to educate them.
Man is it ever confusing. All this "empowerment" by blacks "reclaiming" the "n-word" and "ghetto" and homosexuals reclaiming "queer," but nobody else can say it? Apparently there's no word yet on if the Santa Rosa school district considers asking a Mormon if she has 10 moms is offensive, hurtful or harrassing.
And finally, in al-AP's analysis of the decision by the Bush administration to join in talks between Iraq, Iran and Syria...
Yet there were hints that the administration is testing Iranian, and domestic American, willingness to go further. In the diplomatic world, tough talk can sometimes be a cover for more conciliatory gestures.
Any of you recall the media, a Democrat or a liberal blogger say something like "tough talk can sometimes be a cover" whenever Bush has engaged in tough talk about Iran before? I can certainly recall many an instances of downplaying Ahmadinejad's "tough talk," but never Bush. Did they just figure this out or was it just never politically expedient to acknowledge sometimes the president has to talk tough until now? |
|
Your Options |
Additional Options are only visible when you login! !
|
|
|
|
