LA bans racist 'N-word'

2007-11-10 17:09

Los Angeles - Los Angeles on Friday voted to ban the racist "N-word" with city councillors saying they hope the symbolic gesture will stop people from using the epithet in any context.

The Los Angeles City Council discussed a ban on use of the word "nigger" for roughly 30 minutes before passing the resolution.

According to the resolution, the N-word "connotes a lazy person with no self-respect or regard for family, a person who is ignorant, stupid, slow moving, does not speak proper English and has childlike qualities."

America's much-cherished constitutional right to free speech means anyone using the insult within Los Angeles is not committing a crime. An identical measure has already been passed in New York.

The Los Angeles ruling comes after a number of high-profile controversies involving racist language across the United States in the past year.

Former Seinfeld actor Michael Richards was widely lambasted after repeatedly shouting the N-word during a comedy routine at a Los Angeles night club, while radio shock-jock Don Imus was kicked off the airwaves for describing members of a mostly-black female college basketball team as "nappy-headed hos" (messy-haired prostitutes).

- AFP