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Irony: He’s supposed to censor himself during a talk in which he complains about censorship?

Should there be words in the English language that are absolutely verboten?

If you’re one of the founders of a prominent American free speech organization, the response is “no.” Especially when such a word is in context.

Harvey Silverglate, co-founder of the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression (FIRE), responded this week to student critics at Yale University apoplectic at his use of the N-word during a discussion on … free speech.

The Yale Daily News reported that Silverglate (pictured) was “met with gasps by the Yale Political Union audience” after uttering the slur: “Sticks and stones can break my bones, but names can never harm me … Ames was called a n*****,” he had said.

(Ames was Silverglate’s college friend. The paper originally quoted him as saying “sticks and stones may break my bones, but N***** can never hurt me.” Quite a difference.)

Yale Political Union President Riya Bhargava and AJ Tapia-Wylie, who spoke at the event, told the News racial slurs are “unacceptable” at the YPU.

“The Union has long been a space for meaningful and difficult conversations on race, recognizing its deep connection to politics,” Bhargava and Tapia-Wylie wrote. “However, we draw the line when discourse by any individual speaker descends into the realm of naturally unproductive epithets or slurs, and do not entertain their usage on our floor.”

Black Yale undergrad Miles Kirkpatrick also took exception to the FIRE founder, complaining in a venom-filled op-ed that Silverglate “is not Black,” and that if he had just said “N-word” there’s no way he would have been misunderstood.

“Both Mr. Silverglates [sic] usage of the N-word and I suspect his rationale for why its use is okay are offensive, vulgar and unbecoming not only of a prominent attorney but of any decent American,” Kirkpatrick wrote. “I’m glad he’s spent so much time arguing over our right to say things, I hope now he takes some time to deliberate on what is right to say.”

Student Richie George, who’s also black, called Silverglate’s remarks “sickening,” and a “destructive moment.”

“Just because he says he could take a slur — mind you, a slur meant for Black people — doesn’t mean people have to bear the brunt of centuries of racism and white supremacy,” George wrote in the News. “Is he expecting free speech to be some free for all for bigoted, interpersonal attacks?”

In his response, Silverglate writes “[Using the N-word] was not gratuitous; it was relevant to the subject of my talk — the transcendent importance of free speech.”

MORE: Famous black professor uses n-word in controversial speech to K-12 educators

Silverglate used the word twice — once (noted previously) when also using the anti-Jewish slur “k**e” (which apparently didn’t upset anybody), and again when referencing (black Harvard Law Professor) Randall Kennedy’s book “N****r: The Strange Career of a Troublesome Word.” (The book’s actual title is not censored.)

“It would have been ironic, indeed, for me to have used the evasive term ‘N-word’ in my lecture,” Silverglate says. “My whole point was that such evasions have been with us seemingly forever. Was I obliged to share that same evasion merely because I am white rather than black like Prof. Kennedy or my two student critics?”

He further points out the irony of having to censor himself in a talk about free speech — one in which he complains about being censored.

“Mx. George piles irony-upon-irony when they say: ‘I hope, in the future, we continue to foster a space of discourse: speech that pushes past our limits of thought…’ My talk apparently pushed Mx. George’s limit a bit too far,” he says.

Around the same time as Silverglate’s op-ed, anti-bias/anti-racist trainer Sonja Cherry‑Paul advised teachers in an Education Week article about what to do in case “classic” books geared towards young kids contain the N-word:

— Do NOT downplay, dismiss, or deny the impact of this word on Black people past and present.
— Do NOT assume that all Black people agree about the use of this word.
— Do NOT decide that its existence in music/media is an invitation for use.
— Do refrain from using the word considering how it affects Black people today.
— Do replace it (e.g., N-word) when reading aloud.
— Do teach the historical context.
— Do teach about whiteness and white supremacy.

Sure, when it comes to kids I have little issue with most of what Cherry-Paul recommends, most especially replacing the actual word with “N-word.”

But George and Kirkpatrick are not kids. They’re adults — at one of the most elite higher education institutions in the world. Who attended a forum about free speech of their own free will.

Do you want to be treated as children, gentlepeople (since George uses the gender-neutral honorific “Mx.”)? Or grown-ups?

Choose wisely.

MORE: Black high schoolers demand right to use n-word; want white teacher canned for saying it

IMAGE: FIRE

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