Texas Mayor Drops Plan to Ban Use of 'N-Word' Amid Opposition

A Texas mayor has officially dropped his drive to outlaw the use of the 'n-word' and fine people who utter it.

After facing intense opposition against a proposed ordinance that would have outlawed the use of the word in Brazoria, Texas, Mayor Ken Corley confirmed Friday to FOXNews.com that he is dropping the proposal altogether.

"I decided to drop the proposal because of the overwhelming opposition from the people that attended our public hearing last night," Corley said.

According to Corley, the issue went from having about 90 percent of people initially supporting it, to about 70 percent of people now opposing it.

"There was a lot of discussion about First Amendment rights and there was a lot of talk from the black community that they were very uncomfortable with the idea," Corley added.

If passed, a violation of the ordinance would have been a class C misdemeanor, which is punishable by a fine up to $500. Users of the N-word would be fined only if a complaint were filed against them.

"I had no plans to attack anybody who was using it as a term of endearment, only when it was used in an inflammatory way or to try and hurt or degrade someone," said Corley.

Corley's decision brought applause from most of the 200 people who gathered to discuss the issue Thursday night, reported the Houston Chronicle.

Click Here to Read the Chronicle's story.

Though almost all speakers Thursday said they opposed the use of any racial epithets, most said the small town of 2,800 has few racial problems, and Corley's ordinance would cause more problems than it would cure.

"I'm embarrassed for my little town," said Bill Lott, who is white, reported the Chronicle. "We need to unite, not divide."

The Rev. Melvin Johnson, who is black, told the Chronicle he thought it was wrong to single out one word.

But others liked the idea.

"So many people are here tonight as proof that (this) is a problem," said Rev. Ricky Jones, who is black.

Corley has said that although he doesn't think Brazoria has any more of a problem with the use the word than anywhere else, he wanted his town to take a progressive stance against its use.

"My original goal was to ban all racials slurs," Corley told FOXNews.com earlier this week. "We wanted to start with the n-word because it's the most controversial, and then the challenge of the other words wouldn't have been as hard."

While Corley says he won't pursue the issue any longer as mayor, he will continue his push as a private citizen.

"I'm going to continue to spread the message that all men and women are created equal," Corley said. "This has already been an overwhelming success because people all over the United States are talking about this issue now, and they're all talking together."

Click here to read FOXNews.com's story about Corley's proposal

FOXNews.com's Hannah Sentenac contributed to this report.