Detroit ? A funeral will be held when the NAACP holds its national convention in Detroit in July.

No one will be dead, but just like the group did in 1944 when it buried Jim Crow, the laws that institutionalized segregation between blacks and whites in America, the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People’s leaders are hoping to bury the N-word.

With the firing of Don Imus for using racially insensitive language earlier this month high on the nation’s consciousness, the Rev. Wendell Anthony, president of the Detroit Branch NAACP, said Sunday that the time is right to do away with the racial slur.

“We’ll have a eulogy, pallbearers and sisters fainting,” Anthony said. “If we had not shaken the bushes, the leaf of Don Imus wouldn’t have fallen.”

Anthony’s comments were made before the Detroit branch’s 52nd annual Fight for Freedom Fund dinner. More than 10,000 guests were expected to attend to hear the keynote speaker, former President Bill Clinton.