In perhaps one of it’s stupidest moves ever, the city of New York banned the use of the word “nigger,” thusly giving the word more power than any other word on the face of the earth. Not only does this move achieve the exact OPPOSITE of what is intended by the moratorium, but the ban itself is so squishy it holds no penalty except for a dirty look. Which, incidentally, is exactly what the penalty was for saying the word before the ban.

The idea behind the ban was to stop using the word because it recalls the dark days of slavery, when blacks were dehumanized and considered one’s property. As terrible as it may be, that is part of our country’s history. Because it’s our history, we have to live with it and, one would hope, learn from it. However, you can’t learn from something with the city council’s fingers jammed into your ears yelling, “la la la la la,” which is exactly what this ban is attempting to do.

I don’t mean to say that the word isn’t offensive. It is, very. But no more so than any other non-banned word that demeans an entire race, gender, sexuality or religion. Please, people can’t even use the word “niggardly” anymore and that word only SOUNDS like the other word. In fact, an aide to the Mayor of D.C resigned in 1999 for using the word niggardly because someone (an idiot) thought they were related. How did this word get so much more powerful than the other ignorant words? The history of the word stems from the Latin word niger, which means, simply, black. There are so many more offensive terms, why is this one so important?

Using the word is certain career suicide even more so than killing someone, it seems. Racism is bigger than one word and much harder to notice. Isn’t it time we started looking past the word and at the bigger picture?\

Not Banned: clipping your toenails on the subway.