Banning the N Word: An Impediment of Free Speech?

Such a drastic action may have something to do with the propaganda generated by "Black History Month", a month set aside in February as a month of remembrance with regards to the contributions of prominent black people in America.

There seems to be an underlying agenda to all these: To raise awareness towards racism in today's supposedly racist-free America, and also perhaps to apportion some of the blame caused by slavery and the ill-effects in the aftermath of its eventual demise.

While the reasons seem harmless enough, the fact that city authorities had even drum up such a Resolution speaks either of a contempt of law, or the sheer ignorance of the US Constitution.

First Amendment

According to the US Constitution's First Amendment under the United State's Bill of Rights, the right to free speech cannot be impeded by Congress:

"Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances."

This would mean that the authorities who drafted the resolution to ban the " N" word would actually be breaking the federal constitution.

Given the tenets guarding the untenable rights of Americans to free speech, why, then are the authorities doing this?

White Man's Guilt?

Throughout the history of the United States, the so-called American Dream, that of the "Land of the Free, home of the Brave" varieties, have always been tainted by the issue of slavery.

With the founding of America by Christopher Columbus in the 17th century, an exodus of European immigrants came, and along with them, black slaves, to settle in America.

That the Black people suffered from unfair subjugation aside, civil laws also dictate that slaves do not have certain rights, and apartheid was the law of the day. Such outright discrimination may have triggered derogatory terms behind heaped upon the blacks. The "N" word was probably the most often used term.

In recent months, a slew of pro-black sentiments have somehow flooded mainstream media, and led to the apology by the state of Virginia, followed by the ban on the "N" word in New York.

While apologizing for the acts of slavery is a fine thing, there seems to be an increasing need to gag people from using certain words, and governments, of all institutions, should never overstep the boundaries of free speech.

As Thomas Jefferson, 3rd President of the United States of America, puts it aptly: "That government is best which governs the least, because its people discipline themselves."