The Brian Lehrer Show

When to Say No

Tuesday, February 27, 2007

The New York City Council votes this week on a measure to symbolically ban the "N-word." Councilman Leroy Comrie of Queens is sponsoring the measure, which he says is aimed mostly at African-Americans who demean themselves by using it. We'll ask: is a symbolic ban a good idea? Also: how the Rumsfeld legacy lives on at the Pentagon; and coping with life in New York's small apartments.

Listen to the whole show

Saying No to the "N-Word"

Leroy G. Comrie, Jr., New York City Councilmember, District 27, is sponsoring legislation to ban the "N-word" and Veralyn Williams, Radio Rookies producer whose piece, "The N Word: It Represents Hatred" aired in December 2006. She's a college student (junior at Hunter College, where she's studying media and communications) talks about why she has used the N word--until she found out its history.

Less is More

Maxwell Gillingham-Ryan, interior designer, founder of the website Apartment Therapy and author of the book, Apartment Therapy: The Eight-Step Home Cure (Bantam, 2006) shares what's needed for living in New York's small spaces.

On the Defensive

Andrew Cockburn, author of Rumsfeld: His Rise, Fall, and Catastrophic Legacy (Scribner 2007), discusses the impact of the former Secretary of Defense on the future of the Pentagon.

Rumsfeld: His Rise, Fall, and Catastrophic Legacy available for purchase at Amazon.com