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Demonstrators marched in a mock funeral procession through downtown Detroit on Monday in a symbolic burial of the “N-word” and an effort to persuade black Americans to stop using a variant of the racial slur in hip-hop music, comedy and casual conversation.
Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick and Michigan Gov. Jennifer Granholm joined the event, which was attended by hundreds of demonstrators from the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People and others from nearby office buildings.
Victoria Lanier, a NAACP activist from New York, gave a mock obituary arguing that the racist slur with its roots in American slavery and all its modern variations as used by some blacks and in hip-hop could not be separated.
“We will bury this offensive usage among all people, including African Americans,” Lanier said. “We promise that we will be more creative in our rap lyrics, more respectful to our ancestors.”