Queen Ifama - The Truth Terrorist  

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  Date / Time: 7/31/2008 9:45 PM UTC

  Why Would We Call Ourselves N****R (and be considered SANE)
  

  Why Would We Call Ourselves Nigger
  (and be considered SANE)

  Langston Hughes said: "The word nigger, you see, sums up for us who are colored all the bitter years of insult and struggle in America." In origin the word "nigger" was used to describe every person of African descent by the Europeans who enslaved them. It later became specifically defined as lazy, having no self respect, no regard for family, ignorant, stupid, slow moving, did not speak proper English and having childlike qualities or dependency. The imagery through caricatures of Black people in the early 1900's encapsulated this definition. Black people always knew they weren't niggers but the visual gave them a visual to fight against. The fight for Blacks to move away from these stereotypes intensified as the imagery which represented them was propagated. We forcefully proclaimed that "WE WERE NOT NIGGERS" because the contradictions to these stereotypes outnumbered the actually occurrences of those who actually exhibited these behaviors. Furthermore, these behaviors were found in all races, though one wouldn't think so because of the assignment to those only with Black skin of African descent.
  
  From Jessie Jackson using the word in reference to presidential hopeful Barak Obama to Michael Richards AKA Kramer, who went on a angry tirade against patrons of a nightclub, to Jennifer Lopez, who used the word in a song, penned by an African American male, each times it rears it's ugly head, a variety of feelings ensue. It's about who we are as a people. We have fought long and hard to not be niggers in America. Not to be called niggers or treated like niggers, period. NONE OF US!!! Especially our children. We did not want them to have that spirit of negativity. And this was/is based on the HISTORY of the word. I write not because I argue the fact that niggers don't exist. I believe that niggers were created out of the enslavement process. My point in this writing is to clarify the fact that the WORD itself is not a positive word, I don't care who uses it and hopefully I state my reasoning clearly.

  Randall Kennedy, a professor of law at Harvard, in his essay, "A Note on the Word Nigger" states: "Leading etymologists believe that "nigger" was derived from an English word "neger" that was itself derived from "Negro", the Spanish word for black. Precisely when the term became a slur is unknown. We do know, however, that by early in the 19th century "nigger" had already become a familiar insult. In 1837, in The Condition of the Colored People of the United States; and the Prejudice Exercised Towards Them, Hosea Easton observed that "nigger" "is an opprobrious term, employed to impose contempt upon [blacks] as an inferior race…The term itself would be perfectly harmless were it used only to distinguish one class from another; but it is not used with that intent…it flows from the fountain of purpose to injure. The term has been put to other uses. Some blacks, for instance, use "nigger" among themselves as a term of endearment. But that is typically done with a sense of irony that is predicated upon an understanding of the term’s racist origins and a close relationship with the person to whom the term is uttered. As Clarence Major observed in his Dictionary of Afro-American Slang (1970), "used by black people among themselves, [nigger] is a racial term with undertones of warmth and goodwill – reflecting…a tragicomic sensibility that is aware of black history." Many blacks object, however, to using the term even in that context for fear that such usage will be misunderstood and imitated by persons insufficiently attuned to the volatility of this singularly complex and dangerous word."
  

  
  I guess there always has to be someone to be protectors of our image. Just as there are in EVERY group, protectors of the groups' image. There must be when you live in a society that groups people (our census will attest to this) by race, class, religion, etc. This is where I join the stage with others on this issue. I personally see calling ourselves nigga/nigger/niggaz/niggah as an act of insanity for the Black person who uses it. I equally find it insane that we accept it from other folks. I am amazed at how we can justify the usage of this negative term. I was born in 1953, and grew up in the turbulent 60s. This was a time when the term nigger/nigga would get your butt whipped good and today if you call me one you will definitely get your butt whooped if I can get my hands on you.  I am not saying that I don’t use the word because I also use other swear words, but it is just that for me a swear. So when I say it to you, it is definitely NOT a term of endearment.  It was a cultural obscenity and today it has not changed. Nigga, which is a derivative of nigger, still means the same thing when applied to African people. Nigga is as derogatory of a word, as nigger, period. There was a time when we would refer to one another in anger with this same hateful adjective and we resented it when used by whites. Now this derogatory and hateful adjective has become a term of endearment for some African American people. If it were not such a revelation of how sick we are, it would be hilarious. When Michael Jackson wrote the song with a derogatory word about Jews, they pulled the record off the shelves!!! They forced him to re-record the entire song. Were they wrong for that? Is the opinion of this writer that they were not. It is their right to defend who they are and their right to go up against anyone who speaks negatively of them.
  

  
  There are Black people, African Americans, who think that it is okay to call each other nigga and that today other groups of people can call us niggas too. The excuse is that it is a sign of the times, a change in the language? Come on folks!!!! Do you believe that we should just roll with it, and that's just the way it is? I guess it would be okay today, in 2001, if white folks called us niggas to our face too. Let's take the example of two Bobs on a job, one Black, one White. Would it be okay to refer to the Black Bob as Nigger Bob, you know, just to distinguish the two? No more political correctness, right? Why not, they defined the word, to mean what it means in Amerikkka, even today, right? Well folks, I beg to differ. Take each of these words mick, wop, kike, hunkie (which I found out is a derogatory word for people of polish background), spic and chink and make a song including them. It wouldn't make it out of the studio!! And if it did you can bet your check that just as the song Michael Jackson wrote, it would be physically removed from the shelves of record stores. Each of these words is assigned to a group of people by other people in the Spirit of Negativity. What you don't hear is these words being used as terms of endearment amongst these people. Nor will you hear these groups of people allow other people to call them these terms. But African American people, we will let other folks call us nigga/nigger/niggaz. We will call ourselves nigga/nigger too, i.e. "I love my nigga" or "that's my nigga", makes me want to ask, "where is your receipt for your nigga", because niggas were bought and sold. We, even justify the word, try to tone it down by taking the word and making an acronym of it. Meaning something about gaining knowledge and getting goals achieved (attributed to the late Tupac Shakur). Well if you were gaining knowledge, you would know the historical context of this word and you would fight just like any other group of people against it usage in reference to you and your people. People, People why can't you get it? The spirit in which a word that describes a people is created, survives as long as you use the word. I suggest folks take a look at N WORD ORIGINS.   So historically, from the beginning of our history here, African people have been called niggers/nigrahs/niggas in the spirit of negativity by white folks and any other folks. There is a word for the equivalent of nigger in most languages. These terms were used to describe people who they likened to the animals they owned, we were their property, they could do with us as they willed. Talk about using it as a term of endearment, white folks did that too. It was nothing for a slave owner to refer to his "best" servant as "my nigga" and the servant would grin from ear to ear, or would he? If he was conscious of who he was, he would cringe inside each time he heard it. So just like you are what you eat, you are what you call yourself. And those who have internalized this word and think it is okay to be called a nigga, or think of themselves as niggas, will always be niggas/niggers/niggaz. As the Honorable Marcus Garvey said: "RISE UP YOU MIGHTY PEOPLE, YOU CAN ACCOMPLISH WHAT YOU WILL!!"  I don't think he was talking about those with "nigger thinking"

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