You need to be careful where you use the term. If someone hears the word, and they are not a part of the group intended to be slurred, they can sue. I wonder if a La. court would be so sympathetic? An old friend from Plaquemine called herself a l'il coonass, and took great pride in it. Though she told me it could be a negative, the usage seemed much more an endearing term used in an affectionate way. Apparently the person discussed below didn't see it that way.... Further Coon Ass Follow Up I don't mean to belabor this, but I just spoke to the plaintiffs' attorney in this case, and the plaintiff was awarded $122,000, plus another hundred grand in attorneys' fees. The government appealed, but then settled with almost no discount. Suddenly, USF's $25,000 settlement in the case that sparked this discussion is looking mighty cheap. Coon Ass Follow Up I confess that even as a white person who knew teh backgroudn ahead of time, I mentally flinched when I saw this heading in my email list. I think the situation is objectively different from the "niggardly" case, but have toruble articulating why... Leslie David Bernstein wrote: > I've just finished some correspondence with the man who served as a > the > plaintiff's expert in the "Coon Ass" certificate case. The essential > theory > was that it didn't matter whether Coon Ass was or was not a racial > epithet, > but that a reasonable black woman not from Louisiana or Texas would > *think* > that she had been subjected to a racial epithet, and that the DOE > should > therefore have taken her outrage more seriously than it did, perhaps > by > punishing the perpetrator. According to this expert, the plaintiff > actually > *won* this case at trial. Recall that (1) there was no discriminatory >> intent; (2) the certificates were sent to whites and blacks, so there > was no > disparate treatement (3) there was only one incident; and (4) the > "perpetrator" apologized for the misunderstanding; (5) the > "perpetrator" > worked in a completely different office than the "victim", with no > supervisory authority over her. Again, the idea that somehow the > First > Amendment, or S.C. precedent, or common sense, is going to save > employers > from liability under harassment law strikes me as overly-optimistic. >> David E. Bernstein > Associate Professor > George Mason University > School of Law > (703) 993-8089 > Home Page: http://mason.gmu.edu/~dbernste > Only One Place of Redress Home Page: > http://mason.gmu.edu/~dbernste/Redress.html
being from south of Houma, i've been called a coonass a few times in my day. and it's never bothered me. the word originated as a slur. but in true Louisiana fashion, we coonasses embraced it and had a good time with it.
this of course, is the way to disarm the language. lots of black folks are aware of this. dave chappelle was happy to drop n-bombs and make fun of the whole controversy, it was hilarious, and it was a good step forward for race relations. he handled it beautifully. but he was ripped by some black leaders and lectured by black folks he respected, and it really got to him and troubled him, so he worried about it. poor guy. people are so convinced, so indoctrinated to worry about and be sensitive about words and they pretend they are so damaging, even out of context, that when a smart guy like chappelle challenges conventional wisdom, he is discouraged. sux.
