The N-Word

[robbboy2003]

Originally Posted by Meroe

I recently had this discussion with my nephew. We were watching a Chris Rock interview when Chris tried to defend the use of the "n" word.

My nephew knows I like Chris Rock a lot however I told him I wish Chris would stop using the "n" word. His material is good enough where he doesn't have to rely on using that word. Yes I use to casually use the n word in a joking manner among my friends when I was younger. But I've grown up since then. Things change. Seasons change. There's comes a time when you try to grow out of using destructive language.

If one of the greatest comedians (Richard Pryor) can travel to Africa and experience an epiphany and never use the n word again why cant Chris do the same? Chris recently traveled to South Africa for the opening of Oprah's leadership academy. It would be a travesty for Chris to travel to South Africa and see first hand the legacy and horrors Black people endured under the racist regime of apartheid and them come back to America and continue to refer to Black people as n*****. Oxymoron in my opinion. I hope Chris had enough brain cells not to use the n word in public while in South Africa. Can you imagine what those girls at the school would have thought and felt if Chris was running around using the n word on such a celebratory occasion?

That was very eloquently stated. You are hopefully not at the same place at different points in your life. What the youngsters may seem to like some older ones may have a problem,or angst with. Peace!

[afrocentric]

Originally Posted by Juice.

I already responded to that argument: "This is not to say that one Black person cannot defame another Black person by calling him/her a Nigga. It’s quite possible. But to know whether or not that use is offensive, it must be ascertained whether the Black using the word meant it like whites used to." Unless you honestly believe that the word nigga, when used in any formulation between Black folks, no matter what the implication, is meant in the way whites used it. In which case you'd be dead wrong.

The meaning of 'nigga' has never changed. The question is: What context strips the word 'nigga' of its derogatory nature? Like any other word which is capable of offense, y'all are right in suggesting that the context must be explored. But how do you ascertain that context? You look at the definition of 'nigga' alongside its historical roots. Then you look at the circumstances in which the word has been used offensively, and the circumstances in which the word has been used non-offensively.

Like I said: Look at the change of context when two Black people call each other the name used by whites to demoralize them. That hateful context no longer exists - because the hateful context existed almost exclusively in the mouths of whites.

So why now, should Blacks abolish our definition for 'nigga'? I have a feeling that some want to abolish the use of the word 'Nigga' because white people are being told they should not use it. These white people (being historically ignorant or malicious) think it is improper to allow Black people to use the word when they aren't allowed. This is no reason why Blacks should refrain from using the word 'nigga'.

(yelling, while holding a cup of coffee in my hand, at my boys at the top of my lungs bout thier rooms and the bathrooms) "niggas, if yo ***'es don't get in hare and git thes damn room clean i kickn tha ***, u ungrateful negros and clean that nasy bathroom! who the hell do yall think yall is? i ain't yo maid!" (walking off mad as hell)

oh, i'm sorry Juice, as you were saying...........

[Akori]

N*gger Serenade

Exploiting my own niggerness, I tell dumb jokes on myself/ you
say the word and it casually slides off your tongue, oozing power, its
crudeness swells, caressing an age old sonnet, spouting N*gger,
Negro, Colored, and Coons, slave name some think it's cool. So you
say, N*gger letting it fall from your mouth and float through the air,
boiling over landing magnificently/ with an unexpected heaviness on
someone's mentality and pride shatters into a million pieces,
leaving cuts and wounds on histories pages soiling truth,
proving ignorance/ So you say N*gger , it belongs to no one, but
history/ It has joined the oppressor and the oppressed/ He chained it
to the slave, bound the slave to oppression, its depth reeking of self
destruction/ Lazily it struggles, like the slave, to uplift itself and to
discard histories shame/ So you say, softly, N*gger but, still, it strikes
its victim in the face, it embeds itself into the heart/ Buries its anger in
the soul, drags the spirit down/ So you say, louder, N*gger to the
dark-skinned prince standing on the edge of the ghetto, selling Drugs
to his brothas and sistas, killing unsung dreams before their births/ You
say it to the lawyer/doctor/coons in Versace and Gucci/ fighting for
freedom, tied to the past by arms suppressing equality, hiding truths.
you say it to the wenches bearing Africa's offspring, made by colorless,
heartless sperm donors, forced to bear witness to the rape of Nubian
Queens/ but you change the spelling and now you say with fondness/
familiarity, and pride/ "My Nigga It's different when we say it." So you
say Nigga It still slides off the tongue but this time it flourish/ it's not
bound to Africa by chains/ It's imprisoned in the past/ Sold to the present,
freed by the tongue/ You share it, but you don't show the pain/ So you say
Nigga and define yourself/ you renounce your blackness and reap the
rewards of your newfound title/ You do away with Harriet/ Malcolm/ Martin/
Frederick/ Our fathers and our mothers, and you're accepted into a society of
hardcore: pimps/ hoes/ playas and hustlers/ wannabe's/ jezebels and failures/
So you say Nigga and light the flames of racism/ So you say Nigga and flaunt
your ignorance/ as the children of Africa, the prophecy foretold, we say BLACK,
PRIDE, POWER, BEAUTIFUL, NUBIAN, COLORFUL and sever the chains that
bind us to oppression/ So we say Black and you'll rise and give birth to a new
nation/A forsaken dream but, still you're whispering, ever so softly, N*gger, Nigga,
is there's a difference you see?/ And I shout, F*CK THAT!! "I'm not your damned
N*gger !/ NO, I won't be your Nigga. ...Mama didn't raise no slave!"

[Akori]

Historically when the Greeks first traveled to Africa 2,500 years ago, the Egyptian civilization was already ancient. The Great Pyramid was over 3,000 years old and the sphinx was even older. Writing, science, medicine and religion were already a part of the civilization and had reached their zenith. The Greeks came to Africa as students to sit at the feet of the masters, and to discover what Africans already knew. In any student / teacher relationship the teacher can only teach as much as the student is capable of understanding.

Egyptians, like other Africans, understood that life existed beyond the grave. Ancestral worship is a way of acknowledging the lives of the people who have come before you, and their ability to offer guidance and direction to the living. Temples were designed as places where the ancestors could be honored and holidays (Holy Days) where the ancestors could be honored, and holidays (Holy Days) were the days designated to do so.

The Egyptians had hundreds of temples and hundreds of Holy Days to worship their ancestors. The Greeks thought the Africans had a preoccupation with death. The act of ancestral worship became known as necromancy or communication with the dead. The root word necro means dead. Another word for necromancy is magic - that Old Black Magic which was practiced in Ancient Africa. When the Greeks returned to Europe, they took their distorted beliefs with them and the word negro evolved out of this great misunderstanding.

Less than 300 years after the first Greeks came to Egypt as students, their descendants returned as conquerors. They destroyed the cities, temples and libraries of the Egyptians and claimed African knowledge as their own.

Not only was the African legacy stolen, but also the wholesale theft of African people soon followed. With the birth of the slave trade, it became necessary to dehumanize Africans and devalue their historical worth as a people in order to ensure their value as slaves.

So there you have it, the negro - a race of dead people with a dead history and no hope for resurrection as long as they remained ignorant of their past. This was a triple death - the death of the mind, body, and spirit of the African people.

It was strictly forbidden for negro slaves to learn to read and write. Such knowledge was the key to liberation and was placed firmly out of reach. As negroes became educated, however, they sought to redefine themselves.

The evolution of the word negro from colored, to black, to African represents a progression of self-awareness. As a free people, we have a responsibility to educate ourselves and rediscover our Identities. Knowledge of self is the key to unlocking the door to the future.

[MadameX]

Originally Posted by robbboy2003

What the youngsters may seem to like some older ones may have a problem,or angst with.

Absolutely Brotha Rob. What you've said speaks volumes.

[shephrenology]

i don't use that word. I don't understand, i grew up around my family hearing them always use it. you'd think id use it, like that sh*t came naturally. I can't use that word. don't feel right using it.