Banning Ignorance
By: Sherri L. Smith
Posted: Feb 2
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Black History Month is not only about celebrating the history of the African diaspora; it's also about continuing to strive for greatness. On February 1st, history was made in New York City when Councilmember Leroy Comrie joined forces with Abolish The 'N' Word Project Inc. to take a historic stand. With the support of state politicians including Congressman Charles Rangel (D-Harlem) as well as one of hip-hop's finest to place a symbolic ban on the use of the n-word.
During the month of February, New Yorkers are encouraged to stop using the word and examine its dark history. BlackPlanet recently spoke with the Councilmember Comrie to discuss this historic move, why the n-word should be banned and his plan to get it done.
BP: What was the catalyst for this initiative? Was it the Michael Richards incident or was this already a work in progress?
CLC: The Michael Richards incident has only escalated the efforts of young people in my area to continue misusing the word. I represent Southeast Queens (Jamaica Avenue). There are over 7,000 kids every afternoon walking through Jamaica Ave. or taking the bus or train -- it's a major transportation hub. The things that come out of some of these children's mouths are just ridiculous. They're using that word the way you and I would use the word "and". They don't understand the usage. They're using it grammatically incorrect, they're using it emotionally incorrect, and they're using it historically incorrect. There's just no way to clean up that word and while people have tried to say they're going to take the fire out of the word and that's just not true. All they are doing is creating an opportunity for young people to demonstrate that they have no sense of self. What I am trying to do with this resolution is to get people -- the many people who have been upset about it and wanting to deal with it on an individual level together. I did not realize that I was one of the first on a legislative level to do a resolution about it, but it has really taken fire as a result of everything that's going on around the country.
BP: If this resolution was to pass, would that effectively mean that it would be illegal to use the n-word?
CLC: No, it's a symbolic resolution because with free speech in the country you can't ban a word or its usage. But it is a resolution to primarily ask people during the month of February to go out and reeducate children. Go to schools and try to talk about this issue during Black History Month programs as opposed to just dancing and enunciating the "I Have a Dream" speech. We want to really talk about race issues and how we are perceived as a result of the words that we say.
BP: What do you think is the cause of young people becoming desensitized to the n-word?
CLC: I think it came about because of the incorrect usage which is being done by many people. The creative community thought they could use the word in a way that would make it less abhorrent. I think it primarily came about because we've gotten more lax as a society and more accepting of things that are highly offensive as we move through life. It's been problematic in that instead of dealing with these things that are embarrassing, they try to make it titillating. The fact that you're taking on issues that are offensive now makes you some kind of anti-hero. Those things are good for certain categories, but going around and ripping people's self esteem and degrading people by using words, especially this particular word that was based and created as a way to justify slavery and we need to put a stop to it. For years, Richard Pryor used the word extensively in his repertoire -- other comedians were using the word. I think it just fell into a point where it was used in [the Black] community, but then it started to expand out and now it is being used by almost everyone. The usage and the knowledge base behind the word got totally confused to where you've got a gentleman like [Nicholas] Minucci in Howard Beach, who using the word was almost trying to soothe a person while he's beating them with a baseball bat. That was his defense on the stand. He was calling him that word as a sign of affection, so clearly people have forgotten what the root of this word is and why this word was originated. Young people that are using the word now are using it as a fad, not with any thought process. They are demonstrating to the world around them that they don't understand why they're using these words. They are also demonstrating that they are confused about what and who they are and that they can be easily influenced by anyone in my opinion.
BP: How significant was it for Kurtis Blow, a hip-hop founder, to join you on this initiative?
CLC: It was very significant! Those that study hip-hop know that words that were demeaning to men, women, or children were not used in early hip-hop. The originators of hip-hop were able to rhyme and tell a story without using the b-word, or the f-word, or the n-word. Him being one of the originators and someone who really understands the rap game, for him to say that was truly groundbreaking. Paul Mooney has said that he would never use the word again and is willing to do an education outreach campaign. That's major, even after Richard Pryor stopped using the word, he said that he wasn't going to stop but now he's realized the damage that has done and the fact that people who are using the word do not even know the meaning.
BP: You've made a direct challenge to the music industry. Besides Kurtis Blow, has anyone from the entertainment industry reached out to you?
BP: Yes, there have been many people that have come and talked about it. We're working with other people now, but we can't give out a list of names until we get permission from their publicists. We weren't going that root originally, we were just were going form within the community -- educators, churches, just people who were outraged that were willing to do a pledge to go out an educate people like the used to do in the '50's and '60's when if you saw someone acting out, you would go and speak to that person.
BP: Can you tell me a little about your involvement with the organization Abolish The 'N' Word Project Inc.?
CLC: Well Jill [Merritt] and Kovan [Flowers], they started their website and our research found it and was like 'Wow, this is it. They're doing education right here on the website.' So we reached out to them and found out that they had been independently reaching out to The Laugh Factory and to different people on their own, as well as going around and giving educational programs and seminars in the public schools and wherever they can to speak about why they wanted to see the n-word eliminated. I immediately reached out to them and told them what we were doing and that we wanted to link up with them. So we've been trying to do as many interviews and outreach as possible. I pledged to work with them to continue their mission because it's an excellent website and it really drives the message home on why people should never use this word.
BP: You've gathered some big name support, but have you spoken with Mayor Bloomberg or Senator Clinton?
CLC: No, people have been reaching out to us more than we've been reaching out to them. I never expected that this thing was going to take off in the manner that it has. The Deputy Mayor, Dennis Walcott, who is Mayor Bloomberg's person for education and social services reached out to us. He came to the press conference which indicates that the Mayor approves it and likes the concept. He may speak to it directly, but he wouldn't allow one of his Deputy Mayors to publicly speak at a press conference if he was uncomfortable with it.
BP: Do you think that this could lead to the banning of all words that are invoke racial and gender bias?
CLC: I hope so. There are plenty of words out there that are anti-female, anti-gay, anti-Hispanic. I think we need to stop allowing people from using creative license to demean people or try to say that because they're doing it creatively they can say something that is demeaning or ethnically incorrect. I'm not the biggest person about begin politically correct, but this is morally correct.
