Alene Ureno Essays - Linguistics, Profanity, Censorship,

Alene Ureno AJ 110 AF Dr. Kevin C. Sampson Wednesday 3:30 September 16, 2016 Language of Law 1.According to this article, the word "nigger" is definitely a violation of criminal law. It is seen as a fighting word, which may cause or provoke violence or disorderly response. The law sees the racial epithet in the word "nigger" and is clear to intend shock, rage and even violence and also recognizes its inflammatory nature. 2. When Central Michigan basketball coach Keith Dambrot was fired for using the word "nigger" in the locker room, his defense was that his remarks were in the context of free speech and academic freedom. He said that he was using the epithet in a positive way. What he said in the locker room was, "play like niggers on the court"- meaning in tough, aggressive basketball but try to be less aggressive and more subdued otherwise, "not like niggers in a classroom." The courts concluded that the racial epithets were overboard and if he had used them in the wrong context, the epithets could be a violation of the First Amendment and could cause fights and anger. 3. The case of 1942 Supreme Court decision which upheld the disorderly conduct conviction of a protester who used offensive words towards a police officer is Chaplinksy v. State of New classified as inflammatory words. 4. The U.S. Supreme Court decided in the case Lewis vs. The City of New Orleans, that it was decided upon the epithet slurs that were thrown at the police officer. The police officers are trained to have a higher restraint than the less average citizen and is less likely to be provoked. 5. After reading this article, I've come to realize that our constitutional right to free speech should be specific as to what exactly you could say and where. Having the right to free speech is very broad and many people think they could just say anything to whom ever, but having the use of free speech will only be protected so much. The use of speech is protected when it comes to police encounters and to yourself. Speech will become a crime when there is threats, promotes violence, and hate speech.