Burying The N-Word

(AP)  There was no mourning at this funeral.

Hundreds of onlookers cheered Monday afternoon as the NAACP put to rest a long-standing symbol of racism by holding a public burial for the N-word during its annual convention in Detroit.

"Today we're not just burying the N-word, we're taking it out of our spirit," said Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick. "We gather burying all the things that go with the N-word. We have to bury the pimps and the hos that go with it."

"Die N-word, and we don't want to see you round here no more."

National Association for the Advancement of Colored People delegates from across the country gathered at downtown's Cobo Center and marched about a quarter-mile to Hart Plaza for a ceremony and rally.

Along the way, two Percheron horses pulled a pine box on top of which sat a bouquet of fake black roses.

The N-word has been used as a slur against blacks for more than a century. It remains a symbol of racism, but also is used by blacks when referring to other blacks, especially in comedy routines and rap and hip-hop music.

Public discussion on the word's use increased last year following a tirade by "Seinfeld" actor Michael Richards, who used it repeatedly while on stage at a Los Angeles comedy club.

But the issue over racially insensitive remarks heated up earlier this year after talk show host Don Imus used derogatory language to describe black members of the Rutgers University women's basketball team.

Black leaders, including the Revs. Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton, have challenged the entertainment industry and the American public to stop using the N-word and other racial slurs.

NAACP National Board Chairman Julian Bond repeated the call during the opening address Sunday night for the 98th annual convention, which runs through Thursday.

"While we are happy to have sent a certain radio cowboy back to his ranch, we ought to hold ourselves to the same standard," Bond said. "If he can't refer to our women as `hos,' then we shouldn't either."

The NAACP held a symbolic funeral in Detroit in 1944 for Jim Crow, the systematic, mostly Southern practice of discrimination against and segregation of blacks from the end of post-Civil War reconstruction into the mid-20th century.

[michellem99-2009]

Life is not pretty and so I am not a racist and being legally blind it matters not the colour. If we got along as we should we not have pass hate crime laws. We all bleed the same colour blood. Is it right when a white persons is kind to his/her fellow human beings and helps a black person and w h i t e y calls w h i t e y the N lover for doing the right thing. There is such diatrsust.I think the word race should not be use in skin colour. There is one race HUMAN RACE NOT WHITE NOT BLACK. My aunt taught me that at 9.

[kailumego1]

I read an article, which CBS, NBC, etc. has failed to give media attention, and a young black woman was stabbed to death in Wichita, Kansas at a convenience store which had been captured on video showing as she lied bleeding to death store black patrons stepped over her body.

None kneeled down to help, and one took a picture with his cell phone.

It took over two minutes for someone to call the police, as customers walked over someone%u2019s child, mother, sister, or spouse, and did absolutely nothing.

I intentionally mentioned the race because I%u2019ve read complaints by some posters criticizing the news for not mentioning stories about black perpetrators upon whites, as though blacks only commit violent offenses against whites.

[kailumego1]

Blacks have committed the same viciousness, vileness, and misanthropic behavior towards themselves.

I also mentioned race, because some blacks are quick to throw a tirade whenever whites commit offenses against blacks, but become selectively mute when the tables are turned on themselves.


My argument to individuals such as Sharpton, Jackson, and others they need to pay less attention to ridiculous nonsense, such as Imus, the Duke Scandal, etc, and devote more time and energy on addressing the social apathy that continues to plague black communities.

Radio host Michael Baisen briefly mentioned the incident, which happened June 23, 2007, as his co-host nonchalantly rationalized the behavior of those that just stood around and did nothing as being afraid or didn%u2019t want to get involved because of some social construct. I was so sickened from hearing this story, and then to listen to other blacks try to justify or rationalize the behavior of those patrons made me wanted to vomit.

So, it doesn%u2019t matter what race, some individuals should not be allowed or permitted to procreate aiding and abiding to this pathological malignancy of social apathy. And it%u2019s individuals such as these four social degenerate misfits and others that has contaminated this society and globally with their Mephistophelean ideology and self-hatred.

[kailumego1]

After being sickened over what I heard, and to top it off to listen to other blacks try to justify or rationalize the behavior of those patrons made me wanted to vomit.

So, it doesn%u2019t matter what race, some individuals should not be allowed or permitted to procreate aiding and abiding to this pathological malignancy of social apathy.


And it%u2019s individuals such as these four social degenerate misfits and others that has contaminated this society and globally with their Mephistophelean ideology and self-hatred.

After they bury the N-word they need to seriously address black apathy and self-hatred, which has existed for centuries within the black community and which black leaders have purposefully neglected to approach.

Stupid white folks will always jump on the "let's bash blacks bandwagon" whenever the opportunity presents itself, which has been demonstrated time after time, i.e. postings.

So, instead of making this a symbolic gesture, which without taking further action means absolutely nothing, blacks need to stop harping on white racism, which will always exist, and start cleaning-up the apathetic filth in black communities.

I challenge black folks to get more involve within their communities and stop wasting time and energy on things you can't change.

[michellem99-2009]

Hatewd will live as long people are taught it. It won't matter what words. Will we ever wipe out hate. No. I had foster parents that taught me how swear like a sailor and I did not know any better. I heard at home. Yes I used the words. I did not know what the words meant. So what do we do. Stop using them. I hear some women say nasty words and they are awful. I was in my 20s and 3 year old told me some colourful words. I said wherr 'd hear that. She said her Mum...You can't correct her talk if they won't in the home. I don't swear much as it not proper. I was broken it.I was told at 22 that it is rude. We can't blame the kids when adults who know better use that talk.

[toolmangler-2009]

now that we are done burying the N-word..when are we going to bury the N-word MENTALITY?
Posted by xzavierbrown at 05:04 PM : Jul 10, 2007

Several of my friends at work happen to be Black. and we have asked this question of each other and gotten this response, Why did it take the NAACP to get this done? Bill Cosby whom I lived near at one time has been asking Blacks to do this type thing time after time and has been largely ignored and sometimes ridiculed for saying the truth. As a mostly white man I have had a deep respect for Bill Cosby, Walter Williams and several other people that I would call brother were we to meet. But the message they have is ignored for the sake of 'being the man' hip, cool, and other catagorizing labels that seem to say "I am so cool anything I do or say is top shelf". it is a society that shapes its children not just the parents. If a society condones certain words and deeds then that is the form of that society and the children will see and do what is in their sphere of influence.

[jdubs63]

I guess at the next St Partick's day parade some of us will need to bury the word MICK that is also used alot

[xzavierbrown]

now that we are done burying the N-word..when are we going to bury the N-word MENTALITY?

[ringading3]

Don't matter what the NAACP says or does, I got to call them as I see them. For instance Condi Rice is an accomplished and refined woman who happens to be an African American. The former pizza deliveryman who was just sentenced to death for murdering 10 women in Los Angles is a ***.

[theusa1st]

"Along the way, two Percheron horses pulled a pine box on top of which sat a bouquet of fake black roses."

Couldn't they afford real roses (dye yellow ones)?
Or did Jesse and Al line their pockets from the treasury as usual.