no place for that

To be honest I'm not really a roller-derby fan and I can say I've never actually seen them do it apart from movies. Sure you have to skate well and be theatrical to succeed but I don't think having the words "Nigger please" on your shorts is acceptable. Some like Colonial Viper on The Standard have used the term to disparage the Maori Party

The Standard

Colonial Viper 22 March 2013 at 9:21 pm
Ahhhh did you hear the house niggers say something?

in an attempted same way as Hone did, but Hone was wrong and CV is wronger in using that term. 

So the latest use of the term has caused upset.

NZH

Cherry Carelse, manager of rival team Rock'n Roll Derby Circus, said she'd complained previously when the player wore the offending shorts.

"I saw a couple of families in the stand I was in get up and leave and overheard a 6-year-old girl asking her mother what a ni*** was," said Ms Carelse.

"Children look up to athletes and while roller derby may walk a fine line between appropriate behavourism with suggestive names and uniforms, no one can argue that the word has any place in sport or in public."

Another spectator, who asked not to be named, said she was "absolutely disgusted and outraged".

The classic is the offending person (and I am aware it was used on the shorts as some sort of homage to a band) who wrote on facebook that

The player did not return calls but said in a post on her Facebook page: "having a team of haters on me is kinda weird, but what is awesome about it is all the messages of support in my inbox this morning."

Oh dear the team of haters object to the use of a hateful term - funny that. The Human Rights Commission gets into it by saying

Human Rights Commission spokeswoman Vicki Hall said: "While the slogan may give offence to some, it is not clear that it breaches the Human Rights Act."

Yep you read it correctly - gives offence to 'some', my question is who are the people it doesn't give offence to? Are they part of the group being abused? Not likely.

Here's a hint - leave the term alone - pick another insult, another abusive term or even better use your brains and come up with something new and witty - but leave the racial insults where they belong, in the rubbish bin.