Text 47803, 116 rader
Skriven 2007-01-24 11:18:10 av Roy Witt (1:397/22)
     Kommentar till en text av Ya'll
Ärende: Banning the N-word?!
============================
Up for discussion here should be the US Constitutionality of legislation
banning words that are an infringment upon free speech.  Imagine the
lawsuits that will happen in this small town if they implement thier
ordinance banning the N-word. The USSC has already ruled against such
legislation, but this dumb ass believes his will somehow pass muster.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------

Texas Mayor Singles Out N-Word for Ban

Wednesday, January 24, 2007

By Sara Bonisteel

It's one of the most reviled words in the English language, but if one
Texas mayor gets his way, getting caught uttering the "N-word" will hit
offenders where it hurts.

Mayor Ken Corley of Brazoria, Texas, has proposed a city ordinance that
would make using the word in an offensive fashion a crime equal to
disturbing the peace and punishable by a fine of up to $500.

"I would like to, if possible, ban all racial slurs," Corley told
FOXNews.com. "We chose this word because it's the most controversial issue
throughout the United States today."

Corley said the city would like to go after the use of other racial slurs,
"but we want to take this one step at a time, depending on public
opinion."

The 62-year-old mayor, who is a self-described "middle-class white boy,"
got the idea for the ordinance after watching Rev. Jesse Jackson and Rev.
Al Sharpton discuss banning the N-word on TV after "Seinfeld" comedian
Michael Richards used it in an act last November.

"The word is not used or abused in the streets of our town; it's more,
amongst the black community, as a term of endearment, OK?" Corley said.
"But it is a national issue, and I would like the city of Brazoria to take
a leadership role throughout the nation in banning the use of this word."

Speakout! What do you think of the N-word ordinance?

Corley polled his constituents and found "overwhelming support" for the
ordinance. Brazoria, with a population of around 2,800, is an industrial
city nestled about 50 miles south of Houston near the Gulf of Mexico
coast. About 10 percent of the population is black.

Under the proposed Brazoria ordinance, users of the N-word would be fined
only if a complaint were filed against them, thus protecting those who
think they are using the word as a term of endearment.

Bishop Ricky Jones, a black minister and the head of the Living Word
Fellowship Christian Center in Brazoria, "wholeheartedly" supports the
ordinance and the mayor, though he doesn't agree with the "term of
endearment" loophole.

"It's trying to be made a term of endearment in the black community, the
way it has been used so loosely, but I for one, when I look at that word
and look at the history of it, it has been used to demonize, demoralize
and degrade black people as a whole."

Jabari Asim, a deputy editor at the Washington Post and author of the
forthcoming book "The N Word: Who Can Say It, Who Shouldn't and Why," has
traced the American arrival of the word to 1619 when a Jamestown, Va.,
diarist, John Rolfe, noted: "We got 20 niggers today on a Dutch
man-of-war."

"That's the first recorded instance of African captives arriving to
British North America and that was the word used to describe them," Asim
said.

Over the last 25 years, the hip-hop community has sprinkled the word
throughout its anthems.

"It's really important for people to realize that the history of the word
goes so far back that recent developments in the past 20 years [of] casual
use," Asim said. "There is no god higher than history and I don't think
recent developments are strong enough to overcome the centuries of hatred
that are attached to the word."

Brazoria's proposed ordinance is the first time an American city has tried
to ban the word, though groups such as Abolish the "N" Word have lobbied
for its permanent retirement, Asim said.

"Calling for societal change is one thing, but calling for legislation
against speech is quite another," he said. "That's practically
anti-American to say that we're going to allow the government and Uncle
Sam determine how we speak to one another. It's counterintuitive to me.
It's best to lead by example than by legislation."

The ordinance is on shaky ground legally because of a 1992 U.S. Supreme
Court decision, R.A.V. vs. the City of St. Paul, said David Hudson, a
First Amendment scholar at the First Amendment Center in Nashville, Tenn.

"Fighting words are not protected by the First Amendment, and a lot of
fighting words are face to face personal insults," Hudson said. "But in
1992, in this case, the court held that selective banning of fighting
words, in other words, singly out, for instance, fighting words based on
race and sex, that that constituted viewpoint discrimination and violated
the First Amendment.

"It's a well-intentioned effort, but it's a well-intentioned
unconstitutional effort," Hudson said.

Corley said that while he has "some concerns" about the law's legal
standing, the city attorney is confident it will pass muster.

A public hearing will be held Thursday, before the five-member city
council decides on whether to pursue the measure. Last year, it was the
first city in Texas to pass a sex-offender ordinance.




--- Twit(t) Filter v2.1 (C) 2000
 * Origin: SATX Alamo Area Net * South * Texas, USA * (1:397/22)