_______________THE LAST PLANTATION BY DEBRA DICKERSON (02/05/99

Debra Dickerson's piece on "Niggardlygate" (I couldn't resist) deserves praise for its accurate assessment of this early misstep by Mayor Anthony Williams and for exploding the insipid "is he black enough" theorem. However, she starts off on shaky ground. First, the relative "obscurity" of "niggardly" is up for argument (my word processor recognizes it in spellchecker). I'm not sure that David Howard deserves to be excoriated because a co-worker's vocabulary may not be as extensive as his. And, as has been exhaustively pointed out, "niggardly" simply does not "incorporate the hated slur" -- it merely sounds like it. Taking this into account, speculating about Howard's "motives" for using the word is just that -- speculation. The comparison to a hypothetical superior using "fag" or "faggot" in conversation with the openly gay Howard is a logical train wreck. The colloquial "fag" for cigarette is still quite common in the U.K., and I wouldn't bat an eyelash if a British co-worker used it. If I were culturally ignorant enough to make an issue of it, well, that makes me a moron. (Understandably, if an American made use of the same term, it becomes potentially provocative). Most importantly, the colloquial fag/faggot and the anti-gay slur are the same word, unlike the homophonous "niggardly" and the dreaded N-word. I'm not sure what to make of Dickerson's allusion to the "bilingualism of blacks like me," but it does not excuse this overheated language policing, which is fascist, anti-intellectual and a danger to every American -- black, white or purple. Her second questionable analogy, regarding the hypersensitive Christian officemate, does not help her case. Yes, I would scoff at the ridiculous co-worker offended by Dickerson's use of the word "Xmas." This Orwellian language control is antithetical to a free society, and Dickerson was wrong to change her behavior to accommodate such a plainly frivolous complaint. It's a slippery slope. "Do you really think [Howard] didn't notice he had to pass 'nigger' before he could get to the 'dly'?" How should I know? I can't read minds. And last time I checked, no one else could either. -- Paul E. Meyers Washington I think we all know that the person who was offended by the use of the word niggardly was plain silly and ignorant. However, I don't think this means black people need to toughen up. We already are hard enough. My mother grew up in a town where whites regularly referred to her a nigger to her face, the nicer ones said "nigra." My grandmother was referred to as a girl even in the presence of her teenaged children. I won't even go into what my grandfather had to put up with. We live in a new age. If faced with a racial insult I can either ignore it, politely correct or object to it -- or I can open up a can of whupass on the offender. I don't have to choke down my pride or suppress my anger. My kids won't be nearly as tough as my parents were. That's progress. Why can't a black person be just as sensitive as a white person? -- Kimberley Wilson For the most part, the assertion that most white people have a secret desire to use the N-word couldn't be further from the truth. Most of us find it abhorrent. Growing up in the '60s, I was taught in no uncertain terms that using that slur -- indeed, any slur -- was simply unacceptable. It was not only immoral, it also betrayed an ignorant, backward worldview. Most important, in my family at least, we weren't to use it because it was hurtful. Those of us who know it (I first became acquainted with the word in high school) refrain from using the word "niggardly" solely because we're afraid others won't know what it means. To me, that's just sad. The language shrinks because people won't look a word up in a dictionary before overreacting to its supposed meaning. If educators took the time to teach the word's true meaning, perhaps this wouldn't be an issue at all. (Unfortunately, we saw what happens when well-meaning educators take it upon themselves to do their jobs this winter in Brooklyn, when an elementary school teacher was railroaded from her job for including the African-American-positive book "Nappy Hair" in the curriculum.) On the other hand, contrary to everything I was taught growing up, I'm bombarded with the real "N-word" every day --- in popular music, in casual conversations -- no matter how much I was conditioned to find it repellent, no matter how much it still makes me flinch. The only difference is that the people using the word are themselves African-American. To my mind, that doesn't change the effect of the word at all. Given the immense sensitivity by African-Americans to use of the N-word by whites, can there be no corollary sensitivity around the use of this slur? Or have we just banned the use of one word (and anything that sounds like it) by one group? -- Doug Hatt Truths are communicated by the most careful selection of words -- a process employed by poets as well as lawyers. Within the vast English language, synonyms are not extraneous. "Frugal" and "miserly" are adjectives that denote more or less the same thing as "niggardly": a careful monitoring of money and unwillingness to spend hastily. However, while "frugal" brings to mind some jolly Dickensian mother of 20 who sings while scrubbing her laundry despite her great poverty, "miserly" suggests a rotten old Scrooge perennially sick because he won't spend money on firewood. Likewise, it is giving something up to replace "niggardly" by some more generic "stingy," or whatever other synonym the PC collective has agreed upon. Are we now to storm the offices of Merriam-Webster and the Oxford English Dictionary, terrorize the shy lexicographers and demand removal of this most heinous (albeit useful, correct and not nearly as obscure as critics make out) word? Enough with this silliness! Blacks of America -- stop imagining enemies! -- Erik Ketzan Debra Dickerson relates an anecdote in which she is supposedly criticized for taking "Christ" out of Christmas when she put up an "Xmas Party" sign at the office. Well, either she or her co-worker, or both, seem ignorant of the fact that Xmas most definitely "puts" Christ in Christmas. X has been a symbol for Jesus Christ for at least 1,500 years, and can be found on the vestments of virtually every Catholic priest in the world. I hate sloppy journalism. -- John J. Dougherty Bensalem, Pa. N E X T+P A G E+| Two historians refute David Horowitz's version of events