!*&#{%/@! — Can’t Even Curse and Swear in Peace Anymore

(Editor’s Note: This measure is authored by Assemblyman Anthony Portantino, a Pasadena Democrat, whose district includes South Pasadena. The Assembly is expected to approve the measure February 25. A media availability with the Assemblyman follows. Resolutions, unlike laws, are non-binding.) 

 

LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL’S DIGEST 

ACR 112, as amended, Portantino. Cuss Free Week. 

This measure would designate the first week of March of each year as Cuss Free Week. 

Fiscal committee: no. 

WHEREAS, On June 1, 2007, then 14-year old McKay Hatch founded the No Cussing Club at his South Pasadena junior high school after noticing many of his peers were using cusswords and foul language that created an environment of rudeness and disharmony towards others on his campus. McKay reasoned that if pupils could say no to cussing, it would be easier to stay away from drugs, violence, and pornography and turn their focus to positive aspirations and goals. “Leave people better than you found them” became the No Cussing Club’s active motto; and

WHEREAS, Upon founding the No Cussing Club, 50 pupils immediately joined and membership rapidly spread to other schools, communities, states, and countries. By 2009, the No Cussing Challenge had grown to 100 clubs in schools and churches worldwide, with 35,000 online members in 50 states and the countries of Argentina, Australia, Austria, Canada, China, France, Germany, India, Indonesia, Italy, Israel, Japan, Mexico, New Zealand, Nigeria, Philippines, Spain, Saudi Arabia, Scotland, South Korea, and the United Kingdom. Its Internet Web site receives thousands of hits per day with hundreds of parents, teens, and children taking the No Cussing Challenge online; and

WHEREAS, While South Pasadena is not the first community to confront a tradition of rude language, for example, in 2009 Saint Charles, a suburb of Saint Louis, Missouri proposed a ban on swearing in bars, and in  2008   2007, hip-hop mogul Russell Simmons called for an industry wide ban on racially and sexually charged epithets, the No Cussing Club created a process to help convert foul language to charitable actions that would raise our spirits in times of economic uncertainty and frustration; and

WHEREAS, Cusswords and aggressive language are used by bullies to intimidate their victims. To counter this, the No Cussing Club offers a workbook that can be downloaded from their Internet Web site and used to assist teachers and pupils to combat bullying and cyber bullying; and

WHEREAS, The No Cussing Challenge encourages members of offices, homes, and schools to place money in a jar with a custom-made label available from their Internet Web site, ww.nocussing.com, when foul language is used and donate collected funds to charity. This practice not only helps raise awareness of our wide use of negative language and how it affects our spirits, but inspires redeemable actions that benefit charities and nonprofit social programs; and

WHEREAS, The No Cussing Club has been endorsed by government officials at all levels with some creating cuss-free zones in their jurisdictions. Promoting the notion that words are powerful tools that express how we feel about ourselves and the world we live in, the No Cussing Challenge is a reminder that our ability to uplift, encourage, and motivate others and improve our community starts with the words we use and actions we take; and

WHEREAS, The California Legislature invites the people of this state to take the No Cussing Challenge each year during the first week of March to improve our relationships, to set a tone of harmony and connectedness in our communities, and to inspire ourselves to higher endeavors; now, therefore, be it

Resolved by the Assembly of the State of California, the Senate thereof concurring, That the Legislature designate the first week of March of each year as Cuss Free Week; and be it further

Resolved, That the Chief Clerk of the Assembly prepare copies of this resolution for distribution to the California congressional delegation and others as appropriate.

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