RIP Mark Fuhrman

Mark Fuhrman has died. He was the cop famous for finding the OJ Simpson bloody glove, and then denying under oath having used the N-word in the past ten years. The trial popularized that euphemism. A recorded interviewed proved that he had used it 9.5 years earlier.

During his closing argument, defense attorney Johnnie Cochran called Fuhrman "a lying, perjuring, genocidal racist", likening him to Adolf Hitler. He argued that Fuhrman had planted the bloody glove on Simpson's estate as part of a racially motivated plot against Simpson, which could be traced back to Fuhrman's first encounter with the interracial couple in 1985.

I thought that he would be allowed to explain that use in a Hollywood role-playing interview was harmless, but he was prosecuted for perjury. Some say that his use of the N-word was the main reason OJ was acquitted.

The blood evidence against OJ was overwhelming. His blood was found at the scene of the crime, and his victims' blood was found on his possessions. Complaining about the N-word was just a way of rationalizing the acquittal. Fuhrman was the only one convicted.

A 2020 court case found:

Not only is the word "nigger" undoubtedly the most hateful and inflammatory racial slur in the contemporary American lexicon; …; but it is probably the single most offensive word in the English language. See, e.g., Ayissi-Etoh v. Fannie Mae (D.C. Cir. 2013) (Kavanaugh, J., concurring) ("[The] epithet ['nigger'] has been labeled, variously, a term that 'sums up … all the bitter years of insult and struggle in America,' [L. Hughes, The Big Sea: An Autobiography], 'pure anathema to African-Americans,' Spriggs v. Diamond Auto Glass (4th Cir. 2001), and 'probably the most offensive word in English.' [Random House Webster's College Dictionary]. See generally [A. Haley, Roots: The Saga of an American Family]; [H. Lee, To Kill a Mockingbird]…. No other word in the English language so powerfully or instantly calls to mind our country's long and brutal struggle to overcome racism and discrimination against African-Americans."); R. Kennedy, The David C. Baum Lecture: 'Nigger!' as a Problem in the Law, 2001 U. Ill. L. Rev. 935 (although "[t]he American language is (and has long been) rife with terms of ethnic, racial, and national insult: kike, mick, wop, nip, gook, honkie, wetback, chink, [etc.] … 'nigger is now probably the most offensive word in English'"); Dictionary.com, available at https://www.dictionary.com/browse/nigger?s=t ("The term nigger is now probably the most offensive word in English. Its degree of offensiveness has increased markedly in recent years, although it has been used in a derogatory manner since at least the Revolutionary War.").

The word is not really a 'pure anathema to African-Americans,' as they use the word all the time. I suspect that 99% of usage today is not actually offensive.