Date: October 26th, 2015 4:08 PM Author: hyperventilating house
I remember seeing a story on the news a few years back because a guy who worked for the state got fired because he used the word niggardly in conversation in front of a black female coworker and she got him fired. Dude was like 60 and had worked there for like 30 years.
Date: October 26th, 2015 4:39 PM Author: drunken community account public bath
That happened in D.C., and he got his job back because he was fortunately gay and got the gay lobby to back him up.
But then, again, this also happened:
"Amelia Rideau, a junior English major and vice chairwoman of the Black Student Union, told the Faculty Senate at its February meeting how a professor teaching Chaucer had used the word niggardly (she was unaware of the related controversy, the week before, in Washington, D.C.), and how he continued to use it even after she told him that she was offended. He was trying to explain its meaning--Chaucer used the term--but classmates, she complained, knew what it resembled. "I was in tears, shaking," she told the faculty. "It's not up to the rest of the class to decide whether my feelings are valid.""
Date: May 24th, 2016 8:45 PM Author: Olive Legend Station
Julian Bond, then chairman of the NAACP, deplored the offense that had been taken at Howard's use of the word. "You hate to think you have to censor your language to meet other people's lack of understanding", he said. "David Howard should not have quit. Mayor Williams should bring him back—and order dictionaries issued to all staff who need them."