Posted on 05/17/2002 6:02:46 AM PDT by Richard Poe
DID YOU KNOW that the state of Idaho can send you to prison for saying the "n-word?" Just ask Lonny Rae. He used the "n-word" against a black man who was manhandling his wife. Lonny now faces jail time. The black man who attacked his wife does not.
The "n-word" has been getting lots of press lately, thanks to a New York Times bestseller by African-American Harvard law professor Randall Kennedy, entitled, "N----r: The Strange Career of a Troublesome Word."
Unlike me, Kennedy dares to spell out the entire word "n----r." I have to be more careful. If I spelled out "n----r" on my Web site – even for the innocent purpose of, say, reviewing Kennedy’s book – there is a slim but real possibility that the term could be flagged in a key-word search, my site blacklisted for "hate speech," and access to it blocked by libraries, "family-friendly" ISPs and other automated cyber-censors.
Penalties for using the "n-word" are mounting daily – even as the word itself has lost much of its sting.
"Used by black people, among themselves, [n----r] is a racial term with undertones of warmth and goodwill…" says Clarence Major, quoted in Kennedy’s book.
Nowadays, many African-Americans aren’t even particularly offended when whites use the word, implies black comedian Chris Rock.
In a New York Times Magazine interview dated October 5, 1997, actor and writer Eric Bogosian – a white liberal - chides Rock for using the "n-word" in his comedy.
" `N----r’ is a heavy-duty word," says Bogosian. "You better have a good reason for using it."
"It's not that heavy-duty," says Rock. "The thing with `n----r’ is just that white people are ticked-off because there's something they can't do. That's all it is. `I'm white, I can do anything in the world. But I can't say that word.’ "
Which brings us to Lonny Rae.
On October 28, 2000, tempers flared at a high school football game in Council, Idaho, when out-of-town referees slapped multiple penalties on the home team.
Reporter Kimberly Rae tried to photograph the offending referees for the local paper. But one of them, a black man named Kenneth Manley, lunged at Mrs. Rae, trying to wrestle away her camera, which was strapped around her neck.
"I heard her screaming for help and calling my name," recalls her husband Lonny. "I ran over there to see what was going on... I seen a man draped over my wife, struggling with her."
Manley was a 6’ 3" giant, Kimberly a petite 5’ 3". The man towered over Lonny by half a foot. Even so, Lonny shoved him backwards, shouting and swearing at him.
Manley disappeared into the locker room. After seeing the abrasions on his wife’s neck, Rae approached the locker room door.
"Tell that n----r to get out here," Rae shouted, "’cause I’m a’ gonna kick his butt."
The Raes called 911 and reported the incident. Mrs. Rae was then treated at the hospital.
For six weeks, the Raes heard nothing. Then the police asked Lonny to come down to the station. To his astonishment, he was arrested for malicious harassment – a charge that prosecutors subsequently upgraded to a felony "hate crime," punishable by up to five years in prison and a $5,000 fine.
Columnist Michael Costello of Idaho’s Lewiston Morning Tribune complained, "This charge is a result of a hate crime law passed by the Idaho Legislature possibly to mollify The New York Times. From my perspective, Mr. Rae is simply being offered as a sacrifice on the altar of political correctness. He must be roasted on a spit to prove that the Aryan Nations is not representative of all Idaho."
The media have long vilified Idaho as a hotbed of white separatism.
Thanks to attorney Edgar J. Steele – who is defending Rae pro bono – the felony charges were dismissed in January. But Rae still faces a prison sentence for assault. Steele vows that he will appeal the case "all the way to the Supreme Court, if necessary."
Manley – the black man who attacked Mrs. Rae – faces no charges at all, except for a civil suit brought by the Raes.
"Personally, I believe if someone attacks your spouse, you should have the right to call them whatever you want," writes one self-described liberal on my RichardPoe.com message board. I don’t often agree with liberals, but in this case, I must make an exception.
Instructions for donating to Rae’s defense can be found on Steele’s ConspiracyPenPal.com Web site.
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Richard Poe is a New York Times bestselling author and cyberjournalist. His latest book is The Seven Myths of Gun Control.
Thanks for the post.
Mr. Rae could have gone much further, especially if he had managed to reach his wife in the midst of the attack. Of course, it appears Mr. Rae would have then been charged with murder as a "hate crime." Idaho is not a very attractive place at this point. Must have been invaded by Calif. liberal types, much like Arizona.
Can you believe that our society has degenerated to the point that educated people cannot use descriptive words without being attacked by the brainwashed PC (Newspeak) police? I guess "1984" is a reality in 2002.
It is the media that has inflicted this PC garbage upon us and we've allowed ourselves to be intimidated by them. For gosh sakes, a word is a word is a word.
I concur.
Well, I don't know about you, but this reference offends me.
Snow is white. Flour is white. Titanium Oxide is white. I am Caucasian, a decendent of indo-european language speakers inhabiting western europe. We are actually tan, or tawny; I'd like it better if they called us that: "Yo tawny..."
For what it's worth: I also happen to like vanilla ice-cream. I think vanilla improves anything it's introduced to. Consider: add vanilla and milk to chocolate and you have- Milk Chocolate. Throw in some nuts and you have something far greater than the mere sum of its parts, and you have a digression.
If you want on (or off) of my black conservative ping list, please let me know.
That's a crock.
I've got a major problem with using it, and I've got a major problem with hearing others use it as well. I would say that most black folks have a problem with anyone using the word.
ROFLMAO
People choose to be offended by a lot of things, but it violates freedom of speech to establish use of the n-word as evidence of a "hate" crime.
I got no arguement with that - the notion of a "hate crime" is so arbitrary to begin with, that I would rather not see that as a crime at all. In addition, I certainly would not like to see any limitations on speech. As a writer, I certainly have had occasion to use words that would be considered to be mean, evil or offensive. I would not like to see anyone try to limit my expression though.
That's one of the problems that is obvious with the UN's Court - anything said that offends another person could be construed as "hate speech," and would be actionable.
The charges against Rae stem less from PC gone mad and more from the contempt for poorer white people which became so obvious during the Clinton years (eg , Carville's suggestion that all women living in trailer parks are whores who'll do anything for $100).
Can't have "trailer trash" thinking they're human, right? This'll teach 'em that some folks , especially "protected minorities", have the right to do whatever they want to 'em, and their only role is to shut up and take it. Next time somebody like the (misleadingly named) Manley takes a notion to attack Mrs Rae, she'll understand that she's supposed to just lie back and let him do whatever he wants to her.
What happened to Lonny Rae is a part of the ongoing effort by wealthy white liberals to force poorer whites to be their human shields. Poorer whites are to be rendered absolutely defenseless so they'll be more attractive "targets of opportunity" to the thugs and bullies of society, thereby making the gated community set that much safer . That's why gun control is so trendy a cause among the upper class. Manley was not charged with assault against his much smaller adversaries, and his "adversaries" are charged with hurting Manley's feelings, making it plain how very little the rights and even physical safety of poorer whites counts for today.
I've said before that the state overreacted, especially considering that there were no charges against Manley, who, though he had every right to tell Mrs. Rae to get out of his face, still had no business putting his hands on her unless she touched him first.
I wouldn't be comfortable with that either - mind you, anyone who sees me in person would be very unlikely to do that.
Good point. The constitutional right of Americans to rreedom of speech should not be abridged by any law, domestic or international. People have a right to choose to be offended, but they don't have the right to suppress the speech that offends them.
Despite how I view many of Chris Rock's beliefes, he's got a point there. :)
That's one of the problems that is obvious with the UN's Court - anything said that offends another person could be construed as "hate speech," and would be actionable.
Good point. The constitutional right of Americans to freedom of speech should not be abridged by any law, domestic or international. People have a right to choose to be offended, but they don't have the right to suppress the speech that offends them.
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