Media News

The African American Councillor, Leroy Comrie, introduced the resolution as a strong statement against contemporary widespread use of the offensive term of abuse in music, films and on the city's streets. The City Council voted unanimously 49-0 in favour of the motion and although the moratorium carries no sanctions or legislative penalty the intent is to discourage people from using the racist word by prompting an education about the history of what is widely considered to be the most offensive word in the English language.

Marcia Williams, from the influential campaigning organisation Ban the N-word said that "this is a word that is rooted in hatred" and that the very need for such a motion exposed the failure of New York's education system to teach children about their own history. The etymology of the n word lies with the Latin "niger", Spanish "negro", and middle French "negre" which are all words meaning black.

The Atlanta lawyer and community activist, Roy Miller was invited to speak to a committee of the New York council when it debated the resolution. Miller campaigned successfully in 1994 for the removal of the word from a popular US dictionary published by Funk & Wagnalls. Following his input, the civil rights committee voted to pass the resolution imposing a moratorium.

Similar motions have been adopted in Westchester County and Nyack, N.Y., and in Paterson and Irvington, New Jersey. The historically African American, Stillman College in Alabama recently dedicated a four-day conference to the topic. The New York state assembly and state senate is also reported to have passed similar resolutions supporting the inalienable right of African people to no longer be defined as subhuman by the use of a label borne from and perpetuated during the centuries of european enslavement of African people. The n word was created solely to dehumanise African people enslaved during the Maafa and continues to maintain its pejorative definition. One of the earliest recorded uses of the n word is in 1786 by european slavers.

The American TV network Black Entertainment Television (BET) has been called upon to stop broadcasting material that uses the anti-African epithet. However, representatives of the channel have failed to respond and support the resolution. BET is one of many media organisations that profit from the commercial exploitation of denigratory anti-African cultural output alongside channels such as MTV and the UK's BBC Radio One Tim Westwood programme.

Comrie has also called on the academy that runs the Grammy awards to withhold nominations from artists who perpetuate the use of the word. Grammy spokesperson, Ron Roecker, argued it was unlikely the Recording Academy's 11,000 voting members would support the motion "simply because [artists] are using a word that is offensive" to African people. The annual music award regularly rewards irresponsible African American artists who profiteer from the propagation of misogynistic and anti-African vitriol. Speaking on the issue the African American lawyer, Roy Miller stated that whilst entertainers from our community were drawn to using it for commercial reasons "no amount of money will make up for the damage it causes". Many wealthy African American artists were angry at the motion and stated they intended to continue using the word in their acts. Comedian Chris Rock mocked "What, is there a fine? Am I going to get a ticket?". The millionaire Curtis "50 Cent" Jackson has remained silent on the issue.

In 2003, the Ligali organisation contacted Kanya King, the millionaire founder of the company that organises the 'urban' British MOBO awards with a similar request to that issued by Comrie to the Grammy’s. However, whilst she stated that the MOBO awards would introduce changes supporting the exclusion of artists who are against same sex relationships, she was accused of moral hypocrisy for her refusal to exclude artists who advocated the murder of African people, promoted gun crime, anti-social behaviour and denigrated African women. As a result the value of the MOBO awards have greatly diminished as the organisers have struggled to regain their integrity after losing credibility and influence from the founding grass root supporters in the African community.

In 2002, community activist Kwaku, co founder the Black Music Congress (BMC), called for artists and businesses involved in the music industry to adhere to a code of ethics to reduce the antisocial behaviour, sexism and racism that infuses elements of Britain's youth culture today. He said; "You can go to parties with your children and the DJ is playing music with swear words in it and doesn't think it's a problem because offensive lyrics are so prevalent… It used to be hip hop, garage and ragga but now it's even creeping into R&B".

In 2006, community based organisations BTWSC and BBM/BMC held a major debate on the issue of "The N Word and Insidious Racism". Amongst the panellists was the renowned author Onyeka who stated "The [n word] is really a slang word of negro, which has its own negative and pejorative connotations. [The n word] is one of the most pernicious and destructive words that we have ever been influenced to call ourselves.” This was followed up in 2007 with a debate resulting in overwhelming support for "Responsible, Respectful Radio".

Not everybody agrees with the banning of the n word from broadcast media. The BBC has historically defended its use of the anti-African epithet, particularly in its programming for young people. The corporation responded to the news that the n word has been banned by the New York City Council by starting a debate asking "Should racist words be rehabilitated?". This follows comments made by Ian Parkinson, BBC Head of Programmes for Radio 1 and 1Xtra who was labelled ignorant by BBC listeners in 2006 after claiming that the n word was not racist. As a response to years of indifference from BBC management and media regulator Ofcom, Ligali reported the offending broadcaster to the police which has triggered a subsequent police investigation against the Corporation under the Public Disorder Act.

The Asia Times news website has announced it is also against banning of the n word arguing; "There will be serious economic and cultural consequences of a successful purge of "[n word]" from Americans' vocabulary. As "[n word]" goes, so will go "ho", "booty", "beatch", and a whole host of irreplaceable terms, without which the entire rap and hip-hop music industries will collapse."

The Ligali organisation has written to London Mayor, Ken Livingstone suggesting that he follows the lead of New York city and makes a similar commitment to eradicate the use of the n word by supporting programmes to educate Londoners about the odious history of the racist anti-African epithet and submitting an unambiguous motion calling for the words retirement from the public domain.