I do not believe it is about being right or wrong that David Howard felt pressure to resign. By his own admission he had no other choice than to resign. The repeated criticism over what was thought to be a racial slur was going to overshadow his ability to be a successful aide to Mayor Anthony Williams. Julian Bon, Chairman of the N.A.A.C.P., put this controversy in perspective when he said “how imagine slights are catapulted to the front burner, and how fixation on these little quirky things diverts attention from the serious large issues.” (Anonymous, 1999). Though Howard’s use of niggardly was grammatically correct, he was wrong not to assume that there could be a possibility for misinterpretation given the similarity to the “n” word,
