Black activists in San Jose are seeking to ban the word "nigger." Though they acknowledge that the word is sometimes used not as a definite slur but as slang, they argue that it always connotes hate. For that reason, they not only want a law forbidding people to use to word, but want to see those who do use it be prosecuted for committing a hate crime. The word "carries more violence to it than any other ethnic slur we know,'' said one of the activists. "It is a hate crime. The use of the word is hate.'' Guess this means the San Jose Mercury News should apologize for covering the movement and should fire the reporter who wrote the story.