Alton Maddox: Blacks: Good Character and A Bad Reputation
The public use of the word “nigger” to describe descendants of enslaved Africans constitutes a constitutional tort. “Nigger”is a badge of slavery and its use is subject to vindication under the Thirteenth Amendment. No other group was enslaved in the United States at the time of the Civil War and, therefore, no other group is constitutionally entitled to be free of the badges of slavery....Because our reputation is at an all-time low in this country, every Black person is a sitting duck and a walking target. Our homes have been reduced to slave quarters. Police raids have become routine. White mobs are also attacking Blacks on their property. This was the problem in Money, Miss., on August 28, 1955. It happened again in Suffolk ounty, N.Y., but with a different result.