Black bussinessman is trying to trademark the N-Word

For 20 years, Curtis Bordenave said he has spotted oncoming trends and gotten out ahead of them. Most recently, that's involved efforts to profit from a racial slur.

His business, Better Moves Consulting, markets and sells clothing and other merchandise aimed at promoting unity, equality and understanding, he said.

In a roundabout way, he claims that mission is exactly why he is trying to trademark the N-word.

Bordenave of Columbus, who is African American, filed a trademark application in June with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office for "Nigga," shortly following a U.S. Supreme Court decision that now allows trademarking disparaging language. The office accepted his application and assigned it to an examiner for review, a process Bordenave said could take up to a year.

In the meantime Business Moves Consulting is gearing up to produce products for the brand. Bordenave said it had already designed T-shirts and plans to produce soap, shaving cream, moisturizer and fingernail polish. He said a website where customers can purchase the products should be live next week, and the Nigga_brand Instagram page -- which had 16 followers as of Friday morning -- features mockups for the products.

"Our vision for the brand is not to disparage people, but to change the narrative and the meaning of the word," Bordenave said. "Products were sold with that name on it many years ago, and to say we can't change the meaning of that word is not really accurate.

"We give the word more power if we shelter it away, so that if anybody wants to just pull it out, it has a stink," he added. "We believe that we can change it."

He said the logo will be discrete on products, which will more prominently feature messages about inclusiveness and unity.

Should the brand grow to be successful, Bordenave said he wants to use funds to help African American students go to college and enable them to give back to their communities.

Read more: Local man trying to trademark N-word

I really don't like Larry Wilmore right now.

By George L. Cook III. EMAIL

I'm sure by now you have heard or read about Larry Wilmore (You know the comedian you had never heard of with the show on Comedy Central that you don't watch) refer to a sitting President of the United States as "My nigga" at the White House Correspondents Dinner. Not just any president mind you, but Barack Obama the first black president.

I won't post the video of his ignorant comments because there are other blogs where you can view them. I just want to make my feelings known.

Now if you are like me your immediate response was "What the f*@# did he just say?"

I was shocked and angry at his comments. A black man finally becomes President of the United States, something all black men of my age bracket were told we could never be by are well meaning teachers. Then in Obama's last year in office, it's a black man that calls him the N-word to his face in public?!?! (Everyone else called him ni**er behind his back or online). The use of the word is always inappropriate regardless of the setting and to refer to Obama that way on national TV (Yes, C-Span counts) is just mind boggling.

My first angry reaction to Wilmore's comments was "F*ck Larry Wilmore!"

I decided to calm down, watch Wilmore's comments again to see if I missed any context, and try to come up with a more adult and mature response. So after much contemplation I came up with this:

F*CK LARRY WILMORE!

I actually wanted to title this post-F*ck Larry Wilmore, but I took a full day to calm down before posting and thought better of it. But I'm still pissed.

Who the hell is Larry Wilmore but a poor man's Chris Rock (I know you thought that was the other black guy that took Jon Stewart's place on The Daily Show) without the wit and jokes. Couldn't he have said "You did it black man." and gotten what I think was his point across?

I wanted to start a boycott of his show but how can people boycott something they don't watch? It would be like asking black people to boycott Fox News

I'm sorry for going at Wilmore like this, but we have to do better with how we represent ourselves publicly. Calling the President of the United States "My ni@@a" is an embarrassment not only to African Americans but in my humble opinion it attacks the legacy of Obama's presidency.

Fortunately Larry Wilmore will soon be forgotten (or on a reality show), but President Obama's legacy will live on.

President Obama use N-word when discussing race

In a podcast interview with Marc Maron, Obama weighs in on the debate over race and guns, using the N-word following the racially-motivated shooting deaths of nine black church members in Charleston, South Carolina.

Should the NFL attempt to ban the n-word?

Oh well here we go with another conversation about the use of the word nigger. ( I am not going to use the term n-word as we are all grown here. ) Right from the start let me state that the word nigger is one of the most vile and reprehensible words in our language. It's only use was and is to demean blacks and to make them feel inferior to others. If you think any differently then you really look into the history of the word and stop deluding yourself.

Now back to the conversation on the actual use of the word nigger. This conversation normally brings out some of the stupidest things that can possible be said.

Examples would be:

"Rappers and comedians use it all the time..."

"We use it as term of endearment..."

"It's just a word..."

"We are taking the word nigger back..."

It seems that this conversation sends us into bizzaro world. Today I was watching TV as two white men discussed the use of the word nigger and then defended a black man's right to call another man a nigger. WTF!

The two men's conversation stemmed from a proposed rule that would give a team a 15 yard penalty if a player used the word nigger during a game.

At first I laughed because I thought that it would be ridiculous to try to control what grown men say on a football field. Why should the NFL even try to ban the use of the word? But then I thought about it. It could be that the NFL and more importantly it's corporate partners and just tired of it and afraid that it may soon affect the bottom line. It could even be that the NFL has suddenly become socially aware and feels a sudden sensitivity toward it black players.. ( okay I'm pushing it )

I started to think of how the NFL could do this. The players may be in the NFL but playing football is their job. Just like you and me there are rules that we have to follow when at work. Most of us work at jobs were openly calling someone a nigger or using the word in front of the wrong person would get us fired or suspended. Why shouldn't it be the same for NFL employees. That's right I wrote employees. NFL players are employees and can be subject to workplace rules like the rest of us.

The NFL has the right to ban a word or words that it finds offensive in the workplace. ( Yes I know the NFL is somehow cool with the name Redskins but that's another article ).

Now even if the rule goes through I doubt that it will be called much or that it will change the players off the field behavior. But maybe just maybe it can make some think about their use of the word. If not the current players maybe the young men that follow them. That's about all we can hope for.

George Cook AAReports.com