A WORD, IN ANY FORM, CAN STILL BE OFFENSIVE

Damon Wayans is a truly talented comedian. I've enjoyed much of his work since his tenure on Saturday Night Live, and shortly afterward, In Living Color. It's too bad his gift for comedy doesn't extend to his business choices.

For the past 14 months Wayans has been fighting with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office over his application to trademark a form of the "N" word for a line of clothing and stores aimed towards the Hip-Hop generation. His second effort to get the word trademarked was rejected December 22 by the federal agency, citing a law that prohibits trademarks which are "immoral or scandalous".

Friends, in this case the Patent and Trademark Office is correct. As examiner Kelly Boulton wrote to Wayans' attorney, "While debate exists about in-group uses of the term, 'nigga' is almost universally understood to be derogatory".

The term has been used within the Hip-Hop generation, many of whom either do not remember --- or do not choose to --- people such as Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., Malcolm X, Rosa Parks, and Robert F. Kennedy, who worked hard (and many of whom died) for their efforts to make freedom for people of all colours a reality. The use of the word in question, wheather it ends in "a", "az", or "er", is offensive and disrespectful to many of all colours, and disrespects the memories of those mentioned above.