Lexical Loggerheads

Al Sharpton is starting up a nationwide effort to pressure the music industry to stop using various derogatory terms, e.g. "nigga," "bitch"," and "ho." Sharpton is calling for public divestment from the top record labels if they do not change their practices. The move would deny government pension funds from recalcitrant labels. At a protest in NY, where just such legislation is pending, one man said rappers who employ such lyrics are "destroying the fabric of black history and culture ..."

Closely related, of course, is the recent NYC move to ban, at least symbolically, the use of the "n-word." Furthering the movement, Councilwoman Darlene Mealy has opened a new front in the lexical war, introducing legislation which would also ban "bitch" and "ho." Despite arguing the "b-word" represents a "paradigm of shame and indignity" for women, Councilwoman Mealy may find it has more traction than she might have guessed. Michael Musto, a columnist for the Village Voice, noted that were the ban to go into effect "[h]alf my conversation would be gone." Poppi Kramer, a stand-up comic, complained, "you may as well just say to me, don't even use the word 'the.'"

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