As part of an increasing effort to rid the Hudson Valley of a racial slur, more than 100 Ossining High School students joined the student group Project Earthquake at a rally to ban the N word.

Project Earthquake members wore shirts declaring "Ban the N word," while other students danced and had a good time at the rally with a message. The group's effort to ban the racial slur started earlier in the year when it held a lecture and presentation at the school.

"You can't go to class and use the F word or say another curse, so why can you go to class and use the N word? It's not acceptable," said Damien Gillespe, president of Project Earthquake.

The students' efforts follow recent political movements to achieve the same goal. In February, County Legislator Clinton Young sponsored a bill, which passed unanimously, symbolically banning the slur. In April, the Mid-Hudson chapter of the NAACP held a symbolic burial for the word in Rockland County.