Federal Court Says Using ‘N’ Word at Work is Illegal Even if You’re Black

by Warner Todd Huston | September 4, 2013 2:50 pm

A court in New York has decided that even blacks should not be allowed to use the word “nig**r” at work. I have to say, at some point I have to agree with this verdict. If African Americans can oppress the free speech of white people for using the word “nig**r,” then why should they themselves be allowed to use it? If the word is bad, then it is bad no matter who uses it… right? It is a total lack of logic that has always puzzled many.

Well, a black New York businessman tried to claim in court that the infamous “N” word is a “term of endearment among blacks and that he should be allowed to say it all day long at work. A jury, though, disagreed saying that it was discriminatory no matter who said it.

Rob Carmona, President and co-founder of the East Harlem-based STRIVE–a non-profit minority employment agency–was taken to court by another African American, a woman who claimed that Carmona’s use of the word upset her and made her run to the bathroom to cry[1].

The victim, 38-year-old Brandi Johnson, told jurors that the use of the offensive word hurt her after Carmona went on a four-minute, explitive-filled tirade about her supposedly being inappropriately dressed for the work place–a tirade she helpfully recorded.

“I was offended. I was hurt. I felt degraded. I felt disrespected. I was embarrassed,” she said in court.

For his part, Carmona and his attorney said, why, gosh, when he calls another black person a nigger, why that means he likes them!

Yeah. Riiiiiight.

In closing arguments, Johnson’s attorney Marjorie M. Sharpe, said that Carmona’s claims were absurd.

“When you use the [N-word] to an African-American, no matter how many alternative definitions that you may try to substitute with the [N-word], that is no different than calling a Hispanic by the worst possible word you can call a Hispanic, calling a homosexual male the worst possible word that you can call a homosexual male,” Sharpe said.

The jury ended up agreeing with Miss Johnson’s argument and called BS on Carmona’s claim that the word is a term of endearment.