Talk about timing! If you folks were able to listen to Sunday's Afronerd Radio broadcast, the discussion segued into the usual n-word debate session. One caller, who stated that she was an MD, felt that "nigger" is an internal cultural phenomenon with etymological roots dating back to pre-slave trade Africa. I disagreed as there is quite a bit of scholarship affirming that the n-word is a European invention-a derivative of the Spanish/Portuguese word, negro. Another caller centered the argument more forthrightly by stating that in a work environment, using such an expletive by a Black or White person might raise one's ire. Well such an example exists! Check out the latest n-word debacle, courtesy of the New York Daily News:
Two black cops who reported a boss for using a racial slur say they were viciously chewed out by an African-American chief in the NYPD and are now planning a lawsuit.
Assistant Chief Gerald Nelson went ballistic after Officer Shelron Smikle made a June 10 report to the Internal Affairs Bureau charging that a black sergeant at the 83rd Precinct dropped the N-bomb on him.
Two days later, Nelson, the commander of Patrol Borough Brooklyn North, ordered Smikle, 28, and his partner, Blanch O'Neal, 38, to his office, they told the Daily News in an interview.
"'We have friends in IAB, and you're full of s--t!'" Nelson screamed, according to Smikle and O'Neal. "So what, he [the sergeant] called you a n----r? If you can't handle it, resign!'"
Smikle, who was born on the Caribbean island of Jamaica, said he also complained that the sergeant told him "to go back to [his] country" and referred to him as a "dollar van driver."
"So what, he said that to you?" Nelson allegedly responded.
"'Get the f--k out of my office! It doesn't matter if this conversation is being recorded. I'm not saying anything wrong.'"
The cops said they were shocked by Nelson's alleged racial insensitivity in repeating the slur.
"It's not acceptable for a chief in charge ... to say that," Smikle said. "It's a slap in the face."
The two cops have hired lawyer Eric Sanders of the firm Jeffrey Goldberg in Lake Success, L.I., to file a federal complaint with the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, a precursor to filing a lawsuit.
"Chief Nelson is African-American, and we would expect as a police executive he would have responded differently," Sanders said.
"If he feels this way, what does it say about how they treat the public in Brooklyn North?"
O'Neal and Smikle say the problem started when they were dumped on foot patrol on a 97-degree day because the keys to their radio car were missing, which they say was due to a prank.
A black sergeant lit into Smikle for being in the stationhouse instead of being out in the streets and allegedly spewed racial epithets that were overheard by O'Neal.
Later that day, the cops fell sick from heat exhaustion, then called the IAB and the office of equal employment opportunity to lodge complaints about the sergeant.
Nelson acknowledged that he reamed the cops for going to the IAB, told them their allegations were false and threw them out of his office.
He adamantly denies he used the N-word, however.
Let's hear from our comic Peanuts gallery on this issue. Is this the dawn of a new age in Black self-effacement? For more of the News article click on the link below:
Racial slur? So what! Two police officers say black chief didn't care
And speaking of The Peanuts-was Chris Rock correct in stating that the strip's lone character of color never said a word in a quarter of a century? Was he (or still is) a token?-excuse me as I geek out. Just curious....
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