U.S. civil rights group holds funeral for "N-word"

By Kevin Krolicki

DETROIT (Reuters) - 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."

The mock funeral, which included a plywood casket bedecked with a wreath of black roses and pulled by a pair of horses, was staged by the NAACP, which is holding its annual convention in Detroit.

"This is the first funeral I've been to where people were happy to be here," said NAACP Chairman Julian Bond. "The entity in this casket deserves to be dead."

Most demonstrators and speakers avoided direct mention of the epithet, which came into focus again last year after former "Seinfeld" actor Michael Richards used it repeatedly in a videotaped tirade at a Los Angeles comedy club.

'ABOUT SELF-RESPECT'