Banning the ‘N’ word

At the Black Spectrum Theatre in Jamaica recently, an audience of 400 people gave City Councilmember Leroy Comrie a standing ovation for his introduction of a resolution calling for the Council to declare a symbolic moratorium on the use of the “N” word during the month of February.
The uproar drowned out remarks being made by the theater company’s founder and executive producer, Carl Clay, as he urged the audience to reflect upon black history during the month of February.
“[Comrie] was instrumental in actually making a piece of black history yesterday because of what he did what … He moved for a resolution to remove the “N” word from the vocabulary of the entire English language. It’s a beginning and we have to continue it,” Clay said.
“I’ve proposed this call for a moratorium during Black History Month this year in an effort to begin a dialogue that will reexamine this issue. On any given day you can traverse this city and encounter young people of all races casually using the word in public with no regard or knowledge of the terrible history behind it,” Comrie said.
The ‘N’ word, taken from the Latin word “niger” or the French word “negre” to mean “black” or “black person” depending on its use, was first documented in writing in 1786 and was a term slave masters used to label their African slaves, according to the web site of the Brooklyn-based organization, Abolish the “N” Word.
Since that time, the -er at the end of the word has been replaced by the letter -a, some in the black community believe that its use in this form is not pejorative. But Abolish the “N” Word founders Jill Merritt and Kovon Flowers are working to stop the use of the word regardless of spelling.
“We at Abolish The “N” Word believe that the casual everyday use of N-word is a manifestation of a deeper ill,” they said.
The resolution has also been introduced in the state government by Democratic State Senate Leader Malcolm Smith and Assemblymember William Scarborough.
“For some time, I have been disturbed about the casual use of the “N” word. It is a word with a hateful and degrading history, and its use is hurtful and demeaning to people of color,” Smith said.
“I can’t imagine a place where people simply went around casually spewing derogatory names about Jews, Asians, Latinos, Irish, Italians or any other ethnic group without being challenged or shamed,” Comrie said. “This moratorium simply represents my line in the sand. I’m not prepared to go any further and not speak out about this issue.”