Jackson Free Press

This was the second sentence of the first paragraph of an article written by John Branston for the Memphis Flyer. So it won't look as if I am taking this statement out of context, in addition to the link provided, here is the first part of the article:

Three superintendent interviews down, two more interviews to go. So who should be the HNIC of the Memphis City Schools?

HNIC, as Mayor Willie Herenton and other fans of the 1989 movie Lean On Me know, stands for "head [N-word] in charge."

Don't worry. Nobody used those words this week in interviews for the best-paid government job in Memphis. They're taken from the movie about bat-wielding principal Joe Clark, played by actor Morgan Freeman. Herenton and some members of the Memphis City Council think a Clark-type is needed as the next school superintendent.

Is it ever okay to refer to a future school superintendent as the HNIC, even if he is quoting a movie? A CBS affiliate in Memphis reported on the ensuing backlash by a local Memphian who think Branston should be fired:

Flyer Flap
Newspaper Editor Responds to Controversial HNIC Article

In turn, the editor of the paper took the heat for allowing the use of the acronym to appear in print, and he also defended Branston:

Mayor Herenton has alluded to the need for a Joe Clark kind of leader for Memphis City Schools, which is why Branston used the term. Whether that was an error in judgment or insensitive is open to debate. As one of our readers has said: "White people don't get to use the 'N word' under any circumstance." Even though we didn't actually use the 'N word' itself, she's probably right.

But what's not open to debate is this: John Branston is anything but a racist. He is an award-winning columnist (who won two more national awards this week, by the way) and his job is to stimulate conversation and provoke Memphians to think. This he does very well. (And, by the way, his children attended Memphis City Schools.)

As editor of the Flyer, the buck stops with me. John wrote the column; I edited it and allowed the provocative sentence to remain. I apologize to those who were offended by the use of the term in John's column. It was not intended as a racial slur but as a cultural reference to a very real and important decision facing our school board.

I don't think that Branston is a racist. I just think this was a bad case of poor judgment. In an attempt to be witty and clever, he put his foot - or maybe his keyboard - in his mouth. To bust out of the starting gate with HNIC in the first paragraph was a presumptuous move on his part. He doesn't seem to have a history of making racist statements, so I don't think he should be fired. I hope that from now on, he avoids the N-word completely, even if it is just the N. Better safe than sorry.

Previous Comments

ID

129947

Comment

That term was being used in many parts of the black community long before the movie Lean on Me made it popular or a household phrase. Maybe Richard Pryor was right when he said white folks don't say the N-word as nice as we do. Maybe he was likewise right when he said when practicing the use of the word, you know you got it right if you get your ass whipped. I was stunned if not shocked when a gas station attendant called me a ______ last week. I was so stunned and shocked that I mometarily gave him the money for the gas I sorely needed. I then got mad and went back and snatched my money from him as I was cursing and calling him white trash and some other curse words but never a h_____. I thrashed him so bably that he said "why can't you be nice" which stunned me again. I said "I don't be nice to people who call me a _____ and left driving on fumes and practically praying I made it to the next service station. I considerd writing Texaco's headquarters to file a complaint but decided against it. Hopefully, the boy learned a lesson. If he didn't some brother who doesn't mind making the news will soon break him from the bad habit.

Author

Walt

Date

2008-05-19T12:40:17-06:00

ID

129954

Comment

I have to admit that some of the best jokes I ever heard were black folks joking each other and throwing in a few HNIC phrases at a very unexpected and arguably inappropriate time. Just like in the movie, Lean on Me.

Author

Walt

Date

2008-05-19T13:06:11-06:00

ID

130029

Comment

Obviously didn't get the memo.

Author

Ironghost

Date

2008-05-20T10:08:25-06:00

ID

130062

Comment

Maybe not, Iron. You would think after Imus that no one would tempt fate at this point.

Author

LatashaWillis

Date

2008-05-20T20:19:01-06:00