The New York City Council is scheduled to vote Wednesday on”a symbolic moratorium on the use of the n-word in New York City.”
New York Times coverage is here. Columnist Clyde Haberman observes:
“[M]oratorium”is arguably an odd word in this context. Apparently, the lawmakers bent over backward to avoid highly charged words like”ban”and”abolition.” But by definition, a moratorium is a temporary state. Are we to believe that at some point the dread word might acquire respectability? … Another question is how confident New Yorkers can be that the Council will stop at symbolic statements.
-Bridget Crawford
