Mayor Ken Corley of Brazoria, Texas, has proposed a city ordinance that would make using the "N-word" in an offensive fashion a crime equal to disturbing the peace and punishable by a fine of up to $500.
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.
"This is government trying to take the easy way out," said Judge Andrew Napolitano. "When people use words that are harmful, they lack civility and they lack education, but they don't lack the right to say it."
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."
...read full story at The Houston Chronicle
Instead or writing 5 paragraphs explaining why I obviously would never support a bill like this for so many reasons, I'll keep it as simple as this:
UNITED STATES CONSTITUTION:
Amendment I
Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech.
It doesn't go on to say, "except this word and only sometimes for some people." No. This is a bullshit law that should not be tolerated by the people of that city if they are true Americans. This is a blatant rape of the first amendment.
Right?
2 comments:
Right. Although I have the feeling that local ordinances may be one of those complicated legal beasts.... Who knows. But free speech is under attack and not faring so well that's for sure.
Yeah, but only for white (or non-black) people. It's perfectly acceptable for rappers and losers to use this word as a "term of endearment." Completely disregarding the ugly history of the word, it is okay for them to use the word, but for anyone else, their 1st ammendment rights are not protected here.
again, bullshit.
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