Racial Slurs

"Racial slurs should be illegal".

Intro: I oppose the statement that racial slurs should be illegal. It should be not illegal because it does not cause physical harm to the victim, but it does cause mental harm and harm to the victim’s dignity. That could be easily countered with a high moral of the victim, and the ability to “close one eye” or let it off. The culprit would then feel like he was doing something useless or acting stupid and would then stop. Another reason why it should not be illegal is because racial slur is merely a nickname which is used for races using the characteristics between the nickname and the people associated in it. Some racial slurs might also be made when a race does something significant, for examples, “Jap” is a racial slur for Japanese, who were part of WW2. It might not feel like a racial slur because saying “Jap” might not be an insult to the Japanese. Racial slurs should also not be illegal because it might only be said privately, and it is used for all races. For example, two people of the same race, might address another person of another race using a racial slur privately, will that mean that one of the person might report to the police, saying that his/her friend addressed another person of another race using racial slur and what punishment should be issued? Jailing, fine or canning. All of those punishments might a bit too unreasonable for just a verbal speech, which might be said accidentally or purposely.

Reflections:

I do not have any personal experiences of being a slurer, the sluree, or a bystander who heard the slur after I found out that addressing a person black or white is not a racial slur. But I did watch movies including racial slurs and conflict between the blacks and whites in, “Mississippi Burning”. Since I do not have any personal experiences, I would put myself into the slurer, the sluree, and bystander’s view. If I was the slurer, I would feel ashamed of myself and human beings for separating life just by skin colours. I would also stop using racial slurs and discourage the use of it. If I was the sluree, I would just ignore the slurer and regard him as nothing. I would also try to avoid seeing or meeting the slurer again. If I was the bystander, I would create “scenarios” to attract attention so that the slurer would stop insulting the sluree.