The "Macedonian Slavs" Slur - 'Community@cnn.com'

Igor Gramatikov

Dear Sir or Madam:

During your coverage of recent unfortunate events in Macedonia you frequently (if not always) refer to the ethnic Macedonian majority as "the ethnic Slavs," "the majority Slavs," "the Slav(ic) majority," "the Macedonian Slavs," "the Slav(ic) Macedonians" or "Macedonians of Slavic origin", etc. With these references you are depriving this ethnic group, of which I am a proud member, of its history, beliefs and heritage.

We refer to ourselves as Macedonians and it is our sovereign right to do so. Stereotyping a whole nation with a "tribal" reference in everyday conversation is considered to be an example of rudeness and ignorance and is definitely not worth of the level of prestige CNN enjoys worldwide.

Respectfully,

Igor Gramatikov

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