nigger and the ybp
chris rock said it best.
There’s like a civil war going on with black people. And there’s two sides: there’s black people and there’s niggers. The niggers have got to go.
every young black professional is familiar with this battle and it continues to be fought in the trenches. in fact, the very purpose of this blog, the afrospear commmunity, and the rsspect.org syndications is to counterbalance this historical presence that seems to be almost as american as apple pie.
the term nigger has a deep-rooted history. it is hurtful. it represents ignorance. it also is laced within black culture as a term of endearment, an expression in music, or a baseless argument by some to differentiate from the term ‘nigga’. well, none of this is really new, right? so what is the point?
several, actually.
the first is a proof of concept revealed by the 2.0 age of internet and reality tv. no longer does the discussion of ‘who says it’ and ‘when do they say it’ live in the convoluted rantings of high society. the liquidity of the word in today’s society, especially within white america, is showcased through comments on blogs to black issues (read: cbs moderating blog posts about obama) to scores of facebook albums showing greek ‘themed’ parties to today’s incident on uk big brother. the transcript below (via thelondonpaper):
Emily told Charley: “You pushing it out, you nigger.”
Accounts executive Nicky, who was born in India, replied with shocked laughter: “Em, I can’t believe you said that.”
Charley told Emily: “You are in trouble.”
Emily said: “Don’t make a big thing out of it then. I was joking.”
Charley responded: “I know you were… but that’s some serious shit, sorry.”
Emily asked: “Why?”
Charley told her: “Oh my god. I’m not even saying it.”
Nicky responded: “Just don’t talk about it any more.”
Emily then told her: “I was joking”
Charley said: “Do you know how many viewers would watch that?”
Nicky said: “OK, don’t make a big deal out of it.”
Charley said: “Fancy you saying that. I can’t believe you said that.”
Emily said: “Somebody has already used that word in this house.”
Charley said “No way” before she paused and said: “Yeah, me. I’m a nigger.”
Nicky laughed and the conversation continued:
Charley told her: “I am one. Fancy you saying it. I know maybe you see it in a rap song. Maybe you and your friends sit there saying it.”
Emily told her: “I’m friendly with plenty of black people.”
Nicky said: “And you call them niggers?”
Emily responded: “Yeah and they call me niggers. They call me wiggers as well.”
Nicky said: “I’m quite shocked.”
i wonder if the black constituency in london will raise as much hell about this issue as the indian population did regarding a milder incident with bollywood star shilpa shetty in last year’s uk big brother.
the second point is to reflect upon the history of the use of the word in recent media as a means to explain the effects of it today. one could argue that the complacency in its use and mis-character of its meaning directly result in young people who never desire to be a proud ybp. reality shows like ‘flavor of love’ and ‘charm school’ reinforce this idea. the huffingtonpost has an interesting article about ‘the nigger top ten‘ that are worth a read. it ultimately sheds light on the complexity and power of the word that can eventually be harvested into defining moments in time.
so the question i ask our readers is what can the ybp do? we talk about empowering each other here all the time through life hacks and top ten articles, but the stigma of being niggerish will attach itself to our proud culture for as long as we let it. even worse, many people (black and white) will continue to gloss over its devastating effects the more silent we are. i do my best to not use the word and pull aside my loved ones who do.
what is the answer? is the answer to proclaim our embarrassment? how else can the ybp combat this persistence?
"There is no duality. There is perception. There is wrong-thinking based on human choice and will, but the only "evil" ...
Greeat post and I agree -- Chicago has so much to do each summer. I often have people ...
Just found your blog through Google, and I have to say I thoroughly enjoy it.Thank you for the info. I’m ...
i like the idea of including socio-economic status. not quite sure the embedded inequities have been overcome re: race yet. 
Thanks Gee, You're right. I hate the boredom pedagogy of science, eg. sit down and memorize vocab. It's ...
It's crazy that I stumbled upon this post because I was considering adding a science section to my magazine, but ...
Comment by ETS on 7 June 2007:
THEY won’t stop using it until WE stop using it. PERIOD.
That “do as I say, not as I do” bit is not cool …. and is clearly ineffective.
Comment by Lester Spence on 7 June 2007:
why does it matter?
here’s another way to think about it.
let’s call the n*gga percentage X/Y.
Y=the number of non-blacks as a whole.
X=the number of non-blacks who use racial epithets about black people (including “nigger”).
what was this ratio before Efil4zaggin? before 1970? what is it now?
how does this ratio correlate with black life outcomes?
Comment by Kimberly Michelle on 7 June 2007:
Re: Big Brother Black vs. Bollywood. Nope, not gonna win that one. For some reason London is a lost cause when it comes to Black people standing up for each other as one united race. Trying to figure out why is hopeless. It’s a shame though.
Comment by Fredric on 7 June 2007:
it matters, dr. spence, because the effects of its careless use, whether black or white, but especially white, ultimately affect the psyche and reflection of youth who are trying to find their identity.
as a ybp, i can immediately identify with the struggle of weighing ‘whats cool’, ‘what matters’, and ‘what is just plain ignorant’.
i feel a responsibility as an ‘almost grownup’ to help out the high school and college kids who may find this form of expression ‘ok’ because i don’t want them getting confused by its power, its history, or its negativity.
adults who are been and gone may think it doesn’t matter, but when the kid i babysat is now 17 years-old and constantly referring to himself and his friends as niggers (or niggas), it reflects poorly upon the community of which he was raised….namely myself.
black men, especially, already have a lot stacked against them. psychological confusion from people trivializing the word creates a soft defense in an already merciless battle.
these young cats need to come correct, educated, three times as good, and technologically savvy.
Comment by Lester Spence on 7 June 2007:
I do not believe you. You’re a scientist…prove it. Show me some data that indicates that kids who use the word “nigger” to refer to themselves are more likely to have self esteem issues.
I think the more likely issue is here:
So on the one hand you argue that saying the word affects the psyche of those who use it. But then on the other you say that it really affects YOU. Which means that it isn’t really about them at all, but about you and how you feel. I can’t tell you what to do about that, but I can say that this reflects the tension between professional and working class African Americans more than some type of psychological malaise.
Comment by Fredric on 7 June 2007:
lol. it’s actually pretty evident in the transcript of the quote above.
i put this transcript in this post for that very purpose. although my profession isn’t data mining or statistical analysis, my point was to show that ‘reality tv’ is just that….reality. this incident is not isolated. if it requires me finding a few young people to sign a petition and identify themselves as ‘niggers’, then i relent that point, but i think we can at least agree that this confused psyche is evident when young cats actually try to flip the word and start believing it’s a term of endearment. that’s like that b.s. when they tried to convince the world ebonics was a second-language.
as for the second point, i think you may have mis-read. i wasn’t saying that i’m concerned with it affecting me. i was saying that if i’m part of the community that helped raise this young cat, and he slides through untapped, i’ve done a bad a job for my community. part of my pride as a black man is the history i encompass and the family i’m not trying to embarass. if a youngin’ goes through my neighborhood without that same sense of pride for his community and family, then we all will lose who we are and what we are about. the moment we believe ‘its just me in this world’ without a feeling of indebtedness, we doom to repeat our forefather’s mistakes.
Comment by credo on 7 June 2007:
The word…
Comment by ETS on 7 June 2007:
Lester -
Why is there any doubt that racist language matters?
Comment by ETS on 7 June 2007:
Kim -
Does nigger carry the same “sting” in the UK as it does in the States? I don’t know much about the history of the word, but I thought it was birthed in the American South, no?
Comment by Kimberly Michelle on 7 June 2007:
ETS- I think it’s probably true that white southerners mispronounced “negro” thus giving us “nigger”, but it definitely was used before in France in Spain. A brief stint of research in the area tells me that, no matter the origin, people all over the world are aware of the negative connotation of the word nigger and the UK is no exception. So the word means the same, but perhaps the reason it has less sting for Black people in the UK is because they are “over” letting it get to them and have no camaraderie as a race to call up television networks in outrage. Just my observant opinion, if David McQueen is out there maybe he can shed some more light.
Comment by Lester Spence on 7 June 2007:
Fred perhaps I misunderstood. I was under the assumption that the “young cat” you referred to was black…scratch that. Was African American. Unlike Emily above.
Which means that in hindsight I should have talked about “nigga” rather than “nigger.” If the young cat you’re talking about isn’t black…then the nature of the conversation changes.
ETS this relates to your comment also. I do believe that racist language matters when it is used by non-blacks as a weapon. But I do NOT believe that the use of “nigga” by black people of any age has any type of influence on their psyche, or even on their general life chances.
Let me also be clear that I do think there is a problem with using “nigga” in public. But I believe that people should be circumspect in their language choices in general. I wouldn’t call someone a b*tch in public either. Nor would I do so in private in front of my children…in front of MOST of my students…or in front of people I did not consider to be in my network.
Now if this is what Fred is referring to when he talks about embarassment perhaps I can roll with that. But the question then becomes what separates this particular curse word from others?
Comment by Fredric on 7 June 2007:
the ‘young cat’ i’m referring to are young black youth between the ages of zero and younger than me, 24. :-p
while i think you have to wear multiple hats when you’re in business, at home, or with your friends, i don’t think you can compare ‘nigga’ to four-letter curse words. i never saw the words f*ck and shite in a history book next to burned, bloodied, and beaten corpses hanging from a tree with john smith smiling his ass off. i never think of emmitt till or the burning of black walstreet when some little wild butt kid smiles and screams ‘got damn it!’
i know you don’t believe it affects kids psyche, and i definitely don’t have as many degrees to hold to yours, but i am closer to high school graduation than you are, so i’ll use that.
i guess my main point is that my personal challenges with identity while i was growing up in high school are shared with every black kid that tries to ‘fit in’ by showing out with the ignorant crowd. this is the same social pressure i’ve seen with both of my sisters, my cousins, my friends, my almost in-laws, and my acquaintances.
ignorance is easy. if i’m trying to run with the ‘in’ crowd and figure out who i think i am, i’m going to do what they do…which is be ignorant, listen to bullshit music about ‘poppin it and lockin it’, and believe nigger (all forms) is a term of endearment.
we are educated. ybp’s have the luxury of at least knowing a time and place for camaraderie, business, and chillage. that comes from knowing who we are with limited outside influence. these kids don’t have that and niggerdom is poisoning their heads. this exchange at celebrity big brother between a young white girl and young black girl prove that.
Comment by Lester Spence on 7 June 2007:
How about using the syllabus in the African American Studies class that I TAUGHT YOU. How bout THAT? : )
We can talk all we want about this particular event…but while I think the white woman (who was removed from the show as a result of her comments) can be used to speak to larger issues, I don’t see the black woman in the same way. She responded the way she responded. What she does, what her ideas are, how the word influences or doesn’t influence her doesn’t have much of anything to do with young black professionals in general.
Comment by ETS on 7 June 2007:
Lester -
If you don’t believe racist language - even used within a group - has an effect on one’s psyche, why are you careful about when you use it? If it’s okay to say nigga in public and around almost anyone, why don’t you?
Comment by King Black on 8 June 2007:
Name calling, rhetoric, propoganda, all tools to shake the cultural foundations and begin breaking a people. Thousands of years ago Persians would call the greeks barbarians; (which back then was pretty much the equivalent of Nigger). The Irish in the later 19th century were considered inferior to Blacks; and they were called Moolies and Micks. Hispanics are called wet backs, Middle easterners are called Sand Monkeys and Camel jockeys. Shiites and Suunis curse each other, Basques and Spaniards have their derogitory remarks.
EVERYONE has something to say about their neighbor. But the fact of the matter is those names have not fully broken or extinguished those races. So why do we (Blacks) care what people say when we have the same opportunities as everyone else? The Germans; called Krauts did not give up on settling the West in the 1800’s, despite the mass murders and being run off of their land they tilled and bled for. Why should Blacks have blinders on about such an insignificant thing when so much is at stake? Call an Irish a Mick and they’ll punch you out; but then they will drive to their big house, screw their spouse, and pop open a cold one. Done, end of story; However we Blacks will show our asses and loot and riot and holler like wild jungle animals (as expected) to appease some warped cause. Damn the word, Whites laugh their heads off at us when we argue in the street over a WORD. We should have that same attitude as Whites, Asians and the rest of world when confronted with rascism, cultural intolerance etc. “FUCK YOU, I’m going to get paid and call it a day.” Don’t be so sensitive Black folk!
Comment by Lester Spence on 8 June 2007:
King Black it isn’t “black folk” who are sensitive…it’s SOME black folk who are. And in some cases we have reason to be.
I just don’t think that the case of black people referring to each other is one of those cases.
ETS, the french have two words for “you”. “Vous” and “tu”. The “tu” is only supposed to be used for people close to you…and you are supposed to ASK someone whether it is appropriate to use it. Words like nigga for black people, bitch and ho for women, jap for jewish women, work in that manner. The reason why it matters whether someone ELSE uses that name towards me is because if I don’t give that person explicit permission it is used as a weapon to exclude and subjugate.
But within my own circle? Doesn’t matter.
Now I DID say that I don’t think it’s appropriate to curse in public ANYWAY. And that’s because there is a presumption of that cursing is “uncivilized” and “coarse.” I believe that there are certain forms of language that are appropriate around peers in private, other forms of language that are appropriate around peers in public, and yet other forms of language that are appropriate for people who are NOT peers (the elderly, children) in both spaces.
Pingback by Losing Isaiah | Young Black Professional Guide on 8 June 2007:
[...] what about the intra-familial use of the word? Fredric commented on the baseless argument by some to differentiate the term ‘nigga’ from ‘nigger.’ Well, no hullabaloo was made when Will (Eric McCormack) called Jack [...]
Comment by GIB on 8 June 2007:
you know what escapes me? the lure to use the word at all. what is attractive about it? if it’s just an unconscious, familiar response born of years of colloquial and even congenial use then let’s eradicate it because it isn’t tied to anything particularly meaningful to us. if it is a conscious, purposeful response, then let’s eradicate it because it has been abused and manipulated. what are we holding on to wanting to hold on to this word? even amongst ourselves, how does it lift us up, encourage us or contribute to a greater good? use of this word just feels lazy, common and pedestrian.
Comment by Lester Spence on 9 June 2007:
GIB I’d modify that slightly. I’d say that the use of the word in the majority of cases feels lazy, common, and pedestrian.
This is one of the reasons why I’m kind of sad that someone like Paul Mooney has decided to stop using it. Curse words ARE often used lazily as shorthand. But I’ve yet to find a good synonym for something like “rat bastard.” One of the reasons why the words “nigga” “faggot” “bitch” and the like have staying power is because they convey a certain force that other like words do not. And in the hands of comedians and others like them they end up conveying emotions and sentiments that other terms just don’t hold a candle to. I don’t know what we do about that, but in my case what I try to do is talk to younger people about language, public space, private space, and appropriateness.
Comment by GIB on 11 June 2007:
I understand that, and agree. There is a certain resonance and potency that can be achieved quickly with these words. I guess if I bottom line it I just wonder if the benefits outweigh the (potential) harm.
Comment by jezza on 20 June 2007:
Using the N- word in the UK is considered one of the most appalling and racist words to use. A soccer comentator called Ron Atkinson used it once on a game he was involved with, it didn’t even get broadcast in the UK, it was made off air. He had successfully coached many black players during his career and was instrumental in helping get racism kicked out of soccer. He made this one mistake and guess what his career was over instantly. And rightly so, while I actually like the bloke and his sports related comments, it simply is not acceptable to use terms that refer to a players skin colour.
On a different not the frogs (french) call us ros-beefs ( a reference to what was once our national dish, today our favourites are Thai or Indian in origin), you yanks call us limeys, the aussies call us poms, and the Krauts, they just think they are superior to everyone…
PS I am a pom living in OZ
Comment by Djee on 22 April 2008:
Haha Well u know i think Artist like 50 Cent who say Nigger Like 90 times a minute probly dont Help out you know? and unless u got a black slave u got no reason to call a person a nigger, cause a nigger is actully a slave..
We should stop identifing each other as a race and all identify each other as Human Being!!
Comment by siggy on 23 April 2008:
this stuff hearts me … and im only 13
Comment by T.F on 23 July 2008:
All of you have the right idea about this word ”Nigger”but it has been so publicised that there is no way that people will ever stop using it–whether they are caucasian,negroid(the real term for ‘black’),latino or any other race
Most people dont see it as offensive but ‘nigger’ was and I guess still is a word used to bring the hopes and dreams of a black man crashing down-never to rise again. Where has the world come to?
Racism….. Racism…..Racism….God help us
Comment by Rudey on 27 July 2008:
I’ve was told, when i was a kid, if you describe yourself or another black person as a “nigger”, that’s no better than shitting on yourself..
You shit on yourself because you don’t know any better or you have no control.
Now here in the UK people use “Nigger” in the music they make and saying it in general because of what they see and here on TV. Can’t separate the good and the bad.
“If black people are dumb enough to shit on themselves on TV and radio of course that’s going to be inviting for white folks to shit on us too thinking that it’s OK. _ we spent the last 30 years fighting white folks from shitting on us on TV only to tuen around and tell them it’s kinda ok”
This is no more that another product of self hate. Only black people have the kind of history we’ve had and only black people will use the vile term against themselves and try to make it OK.. Now Fat Joe thinks it’s ok to use it. Won’t hear 50 cent use “spik” or “wetback”. You wont hear Fat Joe use those terms either.
(And then there’s that political, control, issue too)
WAKE UP AND STOP THE SHIT.
Comment by queenbeethatsme on 14 September 2008:
I think it’s time to point out a new take on the word nigga and the use of it in our own communities. But first a few facts:
The word nigger has been around for centuries. After slavery, blacks did NOT as a group use that word but it was still used anyway–to hurt or degrade. Words only have the power that the recipients give them. We must recognize that most of how we are defined as a race is not by our own hand, but by the dominant white race. WE are continually compared and degraded (we get sicker, have more AIDS, Disease, STDS, or children are more violent or promiscuous, we lead the nation in every disease…it’s a wonder any of us are still living–or so… the white dominated media tells us with numerous monthly polls.
But here is truth: the word nigger and what it meant in the 1700s-1900s is not the meaning given when the victims of that word decided to take ownership and become defiant survivors–we have to work with what we are given–and the fact is, that in typical uncanny fashion, the black American youth of today have taken that word and others and turned it on its head. Those who repudiate what they have done are beating the drums while the whites call the tune–there is nothing wrong with the word–it is how it is perceived–and since we can’t stop the use of that word (it will NOT die out) then our kids just changed the meaning–consider this letter sent out to a hs about the word nigger:
Why do Blacks get to call other blacks “Nigger” and no one else is supposed to use the word?
When a word is used against a select group, whether based on color, race, religion or sexual orientation, you will find that the people who protest the most are the most likely to embrace and use the word, while wanting it off limits to everyone else. Why is that? Why do they think (if the word is sooo horrible) they can use it and no one else can?
NIGGER DYKE KIKE QUEER FAG FREAK RETARD HONKIE MAGGOT SPIC
Originally, these words were used by people who were NOT from any of these groups. It was used by others as put downs and to pave the way for worse (often brutal physical treatment or mistreatment). If a person not of those groups could effectively give a person one of those titles, then they also could justify, hating, not hiring, raping, lynching, not associating, cursing or otherwise mistreating them.
Humans always rename or try to redefine a group before doing evil things to them. This lets them think they are not evil to people like them, just to the “bad or different people” that they so name with a word.
Nigger and like words were really code words to initiate racism or violence against another group and to indicate mainstream acceptance of behaving negatively toward a certain group or people.
Of course there are many more words. Irish were at times refered to as “White Niggers”, spuds, and other names. The British often did this to justify wholesale raids and destruction of the Irish in their own homeland and often still refer to The IRA and others by ugly names. The French were called “Frogs” and the British “Limeys” Americans often called Chinese “chinks” “slanty eyes” “yellow devil” and called Native Americans “redskins” “savages” “animals” not as terms of endearments and not just to call a name–again, it allowed them to treat a group differently when they were at war or whenever a mob mentality arose.
Today, many still refer to those of Jewish origins as “Kikes” or “jewish pigs” and since we are now fighting in the middle east, those of Arab descent are often called –”Sand Niggers” or Muslimes or other ugly names which allows us to view the war, our killing and justification in another light.
Human nature does not stop us from barbaric behavior or acts–you could say the name calling is our way of “saying grace” or “mea culpa” before we eat or harm others. We NEED to call them by a name, separate them out–to indicate that we “would never do this to ordinary, good, hardworking people–like us–but we can do it to lazy, evil, stinky people like….THEM. Whoever “THEM or They are at the moment.
Humans tend to separate others out by physical differences. When they can, they will not associate with or blame those whose skin, hair or facial features are different. Where all the race is the same, They are known to separate out by tribe, hair or eye color or stature. In Medieval Europe, Redheads were routinely killed as they were thought to be evil, and in China, (to this day) Females are often aborted or killed when they are very young. The great wall of China is said to be composed of millions of female baby skulls as well as other materials.
This may explain why groups call others names BUT it does not explain why groups later call themselves those same names and why the majority of a group think it is alright to do so.
Words do NOT last forever. They either evolve, get new or more meanings over time or change meaning. A good word to demonstrate this is the word “scintillating”. Scintillating refers to something that sparkles or shines. But many people confuse it with the word “titillating which means to intrigue or bemuse–to interest. So now, many in the media and even learned people will refer to Scintillating conversation instead of “Tititllating conversation” In another 40 years…Scintillating may have to mean to intrigue or bemuse–because people continue to use it incorrectly and it will enter the lexicon.
SOME WORDS DO DIE OUT. Because they are too old fashioned, or the meaning has changed, or they no longer reflect the times or context in which they are used. Such words are deemed ‘archaic’.
For instance, gay–used to mean a very happy person. In the early 1900s and even earlier, to say someone was gay, was to indicate they were of a joyous nature. In fact until the word was appropriated by a certain group, it had the connotations of ‘happiness’ and joyfulness up until the early 1970s.
I remember being in middle school when someone was described as being gay. I did not think the person looked overly happy, but then..I did not know them that well. I did not realize that the word meant “queer” or homosexual. Faggot is another term. In England, a fag is a cigarette and a faggot is a bundle of sticks, bunched together to use as a torch later. When did it become a word used to describe homosexuals? Another word is “fanny” in England (where I was born) a “fanny” is a slang word for a woman’s genitalia–right up there with another word we use to describe a cat.
Now ,those words have different meanings because again, people gave a slang meaning to describe or rename a group that became so prevalent that many people do not know the original or actual meaning of those words.
Nigger. Is a crude derivative of Negro or even of the Latin word for Black or dark. Many people do not realize that before it was applied to African people it was used to describe the first slaves of the Americas: those from India. They were deemed lazy, slow and too sickly (a great many of them died) so eventually they were replaced with black Africans which were considered more hardy and harder working. To be a Nigger then, came to mean a slow, lazy, shiftless person. To be Niggardly–meant to be stingy, not generous. Anyone could be described as being Niggardly, but only Blacks and Indians were ever described wholesale as being “Niggers”. Lucky for Indians, by the late 1800s, “Niggers was used almost exclusively in America to describe those of African descent. Only in India, under the British was the term still applied to Indians.. OK…nice to know BUT…Why do blacks get to use the word?
Most Black people SHOULD understand that present day blacks took ownership of the word to redefine it, much as homosexuals appropriated gay or now use the word queen or queer as terms they can call each other in jest but when spoken by outsiders give an uglier meaning. It is a way of turning a negative into a positive, because blacks figure–given the nature of racism in the world, this term is never going to go away.
Why? Why do people use an ugly word against their own.? They usually don’t. Rather they DO use the word but depending on the context it has a different meaning. What they do is take a word with an ugly history and by unspoken mutual agreement, remove the barbs from it. Thus…queer becomes almost an endearing term spoken when one homosexual wants to get a rise out of another, and Niggah (pronounced differently than the desperately earnest and enunciated Nigger) means a brotha or person “of the blood”.
It is a way of saying: we are in this together. We have stood trial by fire. It is us against Them. Whether “them ” be another race or another sexual orientation, the verbiage denotes a world where our regular words and intonations have a different meanings. It becomes like many words of the Masons or a Fraternity or Sorority–and word with nuance whose connotations are never known or understood by the outsider–it indicates a world within a world–which blacks still find, they either need to survive or are deliberately herded into by the larger society. What? Don’t believe it? Who do you sit with at lunch? How would you feel if a few blacks joined you and stayed there, day after day? How would your parents feel if you dated a Black–not a nice, light one, but a nice, dark one? There is more than one world or society/culture in America–no matter how much we like to brag about our “melting pot” and to ensure the integrity and continual existence of that world–each group often does things to keep the others out or to at least make them know that they are not really welcome. This was so in 1940, it is still true to this very day.
Most blacks or gays or any subgroup has slang. Blacks , more than any other group has their slang, clothing, attitudes, dance moves copied by mainstream (who often pretend they did not get it from Blacks)–as the ultimate outcast group* they represent also the cool of the rebel, never fitting in and perhaps fitting to the continual censure and scapegoating by other races–they know they can never belong and have for the most part, ceased to want to. This “rebellion” appeals to a lot of whites and others who want to shock or defy. Common to teens, this behavior indicates an embracing of the “bad to the bone” of daring to like rap (and accept the violence it promotes) of wearing sagging jeans and braids and corn rows and break dancing. To emulate Black culture is to be–(for a white or other teen ) the ultimate rebel.
Blacks have made their own world within our world, and most of us can only look in, trying to understand and figure it out. It is devastating when people not only step outside our game of keep away, but simply do not want to play anymore. Whites hate that they are not supposed to say such an ugly word and resent it being off limits. After all, they are the ones who started and invented that word anyway.
Most gays know the meaning of “shining” as do blacks (who appropriated the term from the black, gay community) and to cast shade. Can a white, non gay, explain the meaning of those words?
Even now, Black Culture continually reinvents slang to create a sort of ‘code’ way of speaking that will allow them and a select group to understand, follow, a line of speech. Slang was and is always created as a secret language between those–of a group and to keep out everyone else. Slang was necessary in all times of slavery to be able to communicate in a hidden language which the ruling class could not decipher easily. It was just as common during the times of Roman, Norman and Greek Slavery as it was in Slavery in America. The difference is, as a group–Blacks have maintained a language that defies the norm and mainstream and continually reinvent or reinforce slang as their code way of living in what many blacks feel is a hostile environment. Don’t get them wrong–it is not that they do not love America–it is that they see and understand there is more than one America–the one whites live in and some minorities are allowed to participate in and the others–made up of other people, cultures and colors which only interact when they need to but still maintain a separate and vibrant existence apart.
Niggah–can mean a stubborn, OR cool or thuglike or crazy or lazy or sexy black person, depending on the complex context in which it is used and the tenor of the speech used to invoke it. It can be an endearment, a joke, a gesture of great love or defiance–what it NEVER is in the black community–is a call to harm a person due to the fact that they look, act, talk or are different.*. For outsiders–they only hear the word “Nigger” what they do not recognize that even in anger, the word Nigger is rarely used by blacks to indicate impending violence or mob attack. Instead, they are more apt to use the words “MF” to indicate they are preparing for violence. Niggah–in the black community has been changed to mean something else. Consider it was a matter of: “If you cannot beat them, then at least change the dynamic of the word.
For other words and actions,:
Madonna may have made voguing popular, but the ultimate, ultimate in outcasts (black gays) invented both the dance and the attitude to describe a stylized way of walking and dancing. It was they who you can thank for the current defiant bouncing catwalk stride of high fashion models, and they who tend to define fashion and design for the rest of us–whether it is in clothes, furnishings, antiques or even fabric. Very few couture houses boast solely heterosexual designers. We buy their stuff (yes even straight Christians who join the right to make money, LOVE Christopher Lowell and others, and couture design houses keep a close eye on hip hop and urban culture to determine new style ideas and readily admit this.
Blacks–they are defiant and they go their own way, from hair to clothes to music to sports, when they want to dominate with sheer presence they do. And they do not seem to care if others copy them or try to wear slouchy pants, blast rap or hip hop or use the latest slang in magazines or on tv. It is almost like they see everyone else but they don’t. Like the rest of America matters–but then, we don’t. They do this, because having been shut out for so long, they are no longer interested in our version of the game. And when I say “OUR” I am speaking of the middle to upper middleclass, mainstream way of living and interacting.
Even when other cultures manage to infiltrate the race and get a black boyfriend or girlfriend, they will still stand on the periphery, tolerated if they are lucky but always in a way, separate and either ignored or taken under someone’s tutelage. This attitude is based on more than color or race. It is attitude and how we see the world and our place in it. Blacks are more apt to resent and resist the killing of other groups (like the Iraq war) not because they are not loyal to America, but because they are sensitive to government orchestrated attacks on other minorities which try to use safety as justification for killing. You will find most people of color sensitive to this as well, which will explain why China, India and Pakistan, though recognizing the need for a war on terror, were not especially happy with our war based on lies in Iraq. After all, mistaken or not–real people are dying, and we went all the way around the globe to try to force another people to have a government like ours–and it costs mostly THEIR lives. Lives they had no say in dying in our war or not.
When Jessica Lynch was captured, many felt the black female was not harmed because she was Black. Many Blacks felt and said–this is a white man’s war against people of color, and the Iraqis know that…they did not harm the black woman, because they know it is not our choice. How shocked they would be to learn that tanned skin or not, Iraqis are considered to be Caucasian also!
Where whites see a natural right to dominate and try to meddle and help other groups or even use violence (like in Iraq) for change, almost every other group of color (Latinos, blacks, Indians, Arabs, etc) see whites as oppressors, spreading hate and dissension.
It does not help that as we “help” there are those who call out macaque or sand niggers as if Whites own the right to put down others. Everyone doesn’t do this–but we malign and oppress in other ways and rarely know this. For instance: We will ask ONE black to explain why blacks do something: ” How come blacks…..
1. Are on Welfare?”
2….are involved in gangs?”
3. want to be called African American?”
4. steal so much?”
5. won’t work?
Turn this around. Suppose someone asked YOU specifically, why almost 98% of all serial murders involving rape of children, women and men are committed by white men? Would you be offended that they asked YOU that question? As if you had the answer to every single thing your race did?
Why, is the color “Natural” considered to be the color of white people? Why is the color flesh also considered to be the color of white people? Do other races have flesh? Is white skin natural for them? Since the African Black was the first human and all races descended from them, then every other race is a mutation and the people of the race mutants. Should whites be called mutants? Should “flesh color” be considered dark brown?
Why are only blacks and whites–described as a color? Every other ethnic group is described as “Japanese American, German American, Polish American, Vietnamese American, Mexican American–but the minute blacks try to differentiate themselves by their own terms–it is resisted and RESENTED. Why?
Of course.. we don’t all want to call people nigger or ask inane questions. The inferior among us do it. The scared and disenfranchised among us do it. And so, we come to Allen, (the Senator who used the Algerian slur–for dark people of macaca or monkey) and now we know his true history (which I believe he has known for a while) we know why race was such a driving factor for him, he hated what it meant, what it could mean if others knew about him and his roots, so he used epithets to show he was as white as they come–ignorant, full of racism and hate….
Which made it all the more pathetic when the truth came out anyway. No one can stop anyone from using a word–these boards are proof of that, but over time, we can realize that we are known by the words we use. Easier than anything else, the social class, breeding, education level and finesse of any person is reflected in their vocabulary and when it is peppered with ugly phrases–WE can know it is because before us lies an inferior person regardless of race, afraid, disenfranchised, disillusioned and in desperate need of making themselves feel better by trying to hurt others. As for blacks, depending on the environment–they see those who say nigger for what they are also….and either immediately deal with that person or look right through them, knowing that despite the skin color, the slur and the person who wields it are nothing, or less than nothing and not worth the spit it takes to say something back.
Which is why ’strictly for my niggaz’ was a way of saying–you whites can buy it and listen to it–but you are outsiders–you can never FEEL this–’cuz you aren’t us–you have not been through OUR fire–and yes..THAT angers so many whites. What is the point of thinking you are elite and the best and keeping people OUT if they make their own elitism and instead keep others out? NO FAIR right? It is an ugly feeling when the same rules wielded to hurt others is used on yourself.
We should remember what we show, the next time the word Nigger springs to mind. Who are we speaking to? Blacks? Or to ourselves?
In blacks now redefining the reach of that one word; the word is no longer the sword to blacks it once was, now it sings in defiance and hidden nuance and when whites try to use it, the desperation of them trying to strike back, sounds trite, contrived, the emphasis on the last ‘ger’ so hard and needing to hurt–their eyes eager to see the hurt hit home, to see shock or hurt or anger to MATTER to this BLACK person—because to matter to them is to finally be superior to something.
Surprise. when blacks hear it, they are just as apt to curl their lips in contempt at the pronunciation as they are to be angered by the intent. Why? even the youngest of blacks will exclaim “they don’t even say it right” and find themselves critiquing enunciation and context and laughing at the yokel who dared invoke something for their own means, but obviously not understanding the new power and “cache” that the word now belongs to.
Because blacks have changed that prism, whites only succeed in making themselves look backward and crude, every utterance marks those who resort to “Nigger” as the losers of the white race, the desperate, the ones who are afraid of their own place in the scheme of things and needs the solace that skin color can give them. Since they do not feel it can be invoked by right, they take it as their due by using the slur–by this, they hope to put ‘uppity blacks’ in their place and make any other black, step aside if not physically then mentally.
Saying “nigger” is the desperate attempt to coin the black vernacular ” so others “better recognize” their self worth. Instead, due to the new appropriation, they look like exactly what they are–a lesser people. On the periphery of their own race–probably shut out of the power infrastructure or a lucky and intrepid interloper still tainted with their former life of hard knocks and want.
So Blacks do not recognize. Instead they may challenge or worse yet, laugh or give each other knowing looks–then laugh. Because losers are known by their actions and what they resort to–and no matter their present circumstances or money, inferior genes always KNOW they are inferior and unbidden or not, always make the carrier try to equalize the playing field, with slurs, or gestures or something.
Senator Allen was a very scared man, who had a very scary secret. IN the circles he traveled in, people were just as apt to despise a Jew as a black, some even more so. The desperation was palpable, and in the video, while his manner was jovial, look at his eyes–there was a desperate man there,afraid of his own worth and desperately wanting someone–anyone to have to “recognize” him as superior, even if it meant putting another person down to do so.
*The short answer to why Whites should reconsider using the word Nigger–is that when a white uses it, it only has one meaning–to war or harm a person of color. To harm them either figuratively, mentally, emotionally or physically. Because of this, to use the word is to instigate possible violence. The days are long gone when blacks simply hung their heads and allowed themselves to be whipped, spat on or hung from trees. Everybody owns guns now–so one could say that when a white uses a term which their race only used as an excuse to start violence–then if they use it–they should be prepared for the violence that might ensue.
When blacks call each other Nigger–there is no call to violence–it is a recognition one to another and therefore can only hurt each one as much as it can hurt another. In recognition that race wars are a real possibility and that we are waaaay too intermingled for any group to emerge unscathed; for the sake of a civilized society, we try to encourage that words that could fan the flames of racial violence and hatred be minimized. To be fair, Blacks should get in as much trouble for calling whites–”Hunky or white trash or cracker as whites get for calling other races names. Fair is after all—Fair–all those words fan the flames of potential racial violence, so all should be taboo or none should be.–but remember…the use of Cracker or White trash has never been the invitation to harm–but the use of Nigger and Jew pigs–often has been the prelude to unmitigated violence.
Consider that now, when a white person growls the word “nigger” the black recipient is not as likely to feel shock and recoil as they are to have derision–as the person who hoped to make a racist dig is ridiculed for enunciation and failing to say the word correctely. (niggerrrrrrrr as opposed to nigga) that, small gesture of defiance is a win for our children–because if one cannot own a word, then appropriate it and change it’s power and significance. Whites would love for most blacks to repudiate that word–it would give power to their decreee of what is or is not acceptable and once again make their race the sole arbiter of what others can say or do–with blacks once more kowtowing to that image. I say–keep saying niggaz and ho and whatever else and let them scurry around wondering why their censure of us continues to carry very little weight. Just some thoughts.
Comment by JD on 6 November 2008:
Nigger is a word rooted in evil, the behavior of our people hopefully will step up in maturity and strive to be a part of Obama's America and say yes we can, or Jesse Jackson's, I am somebody. We have to expect more from ourselves.
You are right about the blog being uplifting and your being a community organizer, you deserve your honor of best business blog for keeping hope alive!
Comment by ami on 16 November 2008:
The problem lies in the “poor me” society whom we have cradled since the Civil War. Although, it is not mentioned often, I will announce it. For every respectable, hard working and educated black…..there are 5 unkept, underloved, overfed black children in academic distress.
It is not acceptable to have 6 children, for whom you receive $600 per month for……, much less turn them out to society with no manners, and a complete disregard for all things good.
I have taught in the inner city for 16 years, and I am continually stunned by the ignorance and disrespect that these children grow up with. We will start to make headway the day that we demand parental commitment.
After all, if Mama lounges around all day long, watchin' the “stories,” why shouldn't I?
Comment by wholesale clothing on 9 December 2008:
its looks so funny……….
Comment by RICHSHANDA on 18 December 2008:
IM 15 YEARS OLD AND I GO TO A MAINLY WHITE SCHOOL AND THE BLACK PEOPLE HERE USE THE WORD AND ITS VERY WRONG BECAUSE SOME OF THE WHITE PEOPLE HERE HAVE STARTED USING THE WORDS LIKE WHEN THEY SAY SONGS THEY SAY THE WORD VERY LOUD AND IT SOMETIMES MAKES ME MAD BUT THEN I HAVE TO THINK ABOUT IT THEY WOULDNT BE SAYING THE WORD IF US AS BLACK PEOPLE WASNT USING THE WORD.
Comment by SEO Test for Busby on 9 January 2009:
YBP is good, deliver what the poin to the readers.
Comment by Busby SEO Test Entry on 10 January 2009:
hehe. black man?
Comment by Tookie on 10 January 2009:
yo ass got to go ain't nothin wrong wit being black .god made every body different and you juss a RACIST u white azz cracker mutha fuka biotch
Comment by Shananay on 30 January 2009:
You aint no nigga you WHITE BOY! you better hope i dnt find you on the streets i will CCCCUUUUTTTTT!!!!!! YOU Now that a true nigga U WHITE TRASH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Comment by wholesale on 23 February 2009:
The post really nice , i like it ,thanks for sharing,thanks for your post, i will keep read your blog everyday
wholesale clothing
wholesale clothing distributors
wholesale Korean fashion
wholesale Shoes
Comment by Joe Young on 9 March 2009:
GET A LIFE……..pleease,.. get a damn LIFE!
The smothering HYPOCRISY of the black community surrounding this TERM triggers my GAG reflex every single time. They use it DAILY…and then raise hell when non-blacks use it?
Hey, people…..this is another example of the deep-rooted mental mindset WITHIN the black community.
Do as I say….don't do as I do.
Riiiiiiight.
Bill Cosby and Chris Rock RULE.
Comment by Redlemon on 25 March 2009:
I am black. Not completely(With White, Chinese, and Coolie), but mostly. I HATE that word. I HATE all of those racial slurs. Us blacks are falling into our own shit. We keep using, people say: “If they can, I can.” Have to follow people? Have to live up to the racist dumb fucking stereotypes? We really need to calm the hell down, and you we're just as bad when we say it, we shouldn't cause a fucking rampage when others say it. Look PAST the goddamn skin… It's just a colour of the flesh. When there's no light, we're all jet black. Different people living in different conditions, tend to look different, you don't like it deal with it. We ALL need to drops these racial slurs, I mean come on, we're all human.