Teacher suing for the right to use the 'N Word' in class As the discussion was taking place inside his classroom at the Murray Language Academy, where the majority of students are black, the head teacher, who is black, passed by and overheard. Mr Brown was then suspended for five days for "using verbally abusive language" in front of pupils. I asked them what would they feel if I used that word? I used the full word but I didn't address it to the students. I was very careful about that," he explained. The school board has dismissed his lawsuit as "without merit" and added in a statement: "The principal determined that the way the teacher used the word was improper." The row has prompted debate, with some of the students' parents commending Mr Brown for turning an offensive incident into a "teachable moment" and others complaining that he went too far in using a historically offensive term. "It is hard for a black person to embrace a 'teachable moment' from a white person who actually says "n*****" wrote Mary Mitchell, a Chicago Sun Times columnist, who has won awards from the National Association of Black Journalists and is noted as one of the city's 100 most influential women. She added: "I agree that it makes no sense that blacks can use this slur with impunity, while there is hell to pay when a white person uses it. But nothing about this vile slur makes sense. Mr Brown has taught in predominantly African-American schools for more than 25 years and said that he followed advice given by the Southern Poverty Law Centre - a respected civil rights organisation - to help guide his discussions with students. "I have no regret over the way I handled it, but not everybody agrees," he lamented. It's a hot-button issue.