(I should not go down this road…a wiser dude would press delete)
A few years ago Chris Rock went off about how he loves Black folks but he hates N-words. We know the history of the word “nigger.” During college, we listen to the great Chuck D of Public Enemy say, “every brother, aint a brother because a Black hand took the life of Malcolm X, the man…the shooting of Huey P. Newton..the hands of a nigger pull the trigger.”
Change in my community that starts with the election of Barrack Obama is a good time to stop using the N-word. Obama and his Red, Black, White and Brown supporters grew up in sweeter parts of the nation than me or the southern ones are the next generation of less bitter people—that’s wonderful.
Reality dilemma: what do we do about identifying and labeling actual negative elements and subcultures. There are sub-groups inside Black, White and any group who should be identified, prayed for, but in the mean time avoided. “This _______ just robbed his grandmother.” This blond_____refused medical treatment from an Asian paramedic and bled to death.” “I have had it with _______ driving in my subdivision with foul music blasting at 3a.m…. some folks had zero home training.” “_________ never believed Obama could win because they felt ________ are not suppose to be in the White House.”
“Those rotten high school _______ are making school unbearable for good students.”
Don’t get me started about the denial of righteous sisters about the existence of B-words. No, people should not walk around calling all women out of their names but we need a word for the worst females. “That _________ was with that woman’s husband in his wife’s bed and put her panties in the lady’s jewel box.” “That ______ laughs about getting the money dude should be paying in child support.” “This stupid ________ killed her sweet kids because her new boyfriend doesn’t like children.”
We should have compassion for those who are “limited” for whatever reason. In doing my little part for “change,” I will refrain using the N-word and I have never been big on the B-word. I am replacing both words with “fool.” As children, we could not say fool in my family—which was odd because we clearly had some fools around.
While we are at it, “fool” should replace “cracker” when referring to the worst White element also. Cracker is an interesting word in Georgia because the minor league baseball team in Atlanta before the Braves was the Atlanta Crackers and the Negro League team was the Atlanta Black Crackers. (I had better leave that alone.)
Obama likes JFK so in 2009 “Ask not what your country can do for you…ask what you can do to deal with the fool subcultures messing up America.”
Project Logic Ga 
Black America and the N-word:
This is actually one of “those subjects” for me. I’ve long had a disdain for this word, but in recent years I have become steadily disgusted with the prevalence of it in society.
A few months ago, a fellow student called me his “n-word”. I was flabbergasted. I’m not even biracial – just plain white. I have wondered for many years, and that incident only further my interest, with what the word has become to mean.
I don’t like these words – and I can’t figure out why they are used.
Thesnoop: Thanks for linking that video…good stuff and Smith’s book sounds like a must read. In social science class in college, we were taught to research, study and analysis from every parties’ point of view.
Ice Cube rapped that there won’t be any niggers when you get to heaven; meaning that if you are a person who looks down on people and called them that word, you won’t be in heaven. Deep.
I will submit one argument for some people using the word “nigger” to refer to themselves and their friends. I get chills when I think about the horrors of the Holocaust (one of the ugliness chapters in world history). But, if you are a Holocaust survivor and actually was in a death camp but did not die; you carry a badge of courage that gets my instant respect. They did not ask to be there and saw things no eyes should see but they made it through.
I would compare the Holocaust with the enslavement of Blacks in the Americas; not with Black Americans life today. But, I will say that some southern people feel that surviving being a Black person in certain places in certain times earns you a badge of courage from enduring hard times. (Yes, the current hard times are self-created by us for us)
Every person in the U.S. Navy is not a Navy Seal; every person in the U.S. Army doesn’t see combat. So, to some people “nigger” or “nigga” is the term for those harden Black survivors of bad times. People say Obama and Tiger Woods aren’t niggers and they are right because we have moved America forward enough that not everybody with Black and Brown skin had to deal with the mess we faced. They are standing on our shoulders and I am so glad they enjoy a better America. California Blacks folks (outside the hood) grew up with some really nice White people and suburban Atlanta Black kids are doing the same thing now.
Those who were forged by the fire and came out stronger, maybe deserve the right to be proud of emerging from such a gloomy place.
A second argument is based on the Art of War mentality that dictates that you don’t want the opposition knowing your strength, knowledge and ability. Some rural people want certain ugly people to continue thinking that we are this and that—keep sleeping on Black America and calling us “nigger,” you might wakeup one day and a sista from Harvard is the First Lady. For the record, I still think that the President-Elect is just as much David Letterman’s brother as he is mine. Funny thing, I likely have more in common with country Bill Clinton than uber-smooth internationally-raised Barrack Obama.
My man Sam can pull up to the house in his Benz and get out saying “You all right, my nigger” with so much genuine love. How, his sons can’t use that word, but Sam and I grew up stewing, planning, and plotting how we were going to rise above that “nigger” level….understand, there can be more Blacks trying to bring you down than non-Blacks.
I tell my closes White associates not to sleep on Blacks with that “nigger” mess (I know what folks say when we are not around; do they know what we say when they are not around.) A desperate person will make desperate efforts to give his or her families advantages in life—we sometimes do the same thing.
At the end of the day, I is not what they call you…it’s what you answer to.
Ron: I am not going to pretend to understand the current hip hop subculture. You are my favor young south Georgian college politico because your rock Blazers and khakis like we did in college and if I was in college today, I would be wearing the same preppy style.
What’s funny is I have seen mixed groups of friends where the Black guys refers (jokingly) to the other Black guys as “my nigga” and refers to the White guys as “my cracker.”
From what I can see, the hip hop culture is a culture that grew out of my community and has grown into who knows what. I can be in Eastern Europe or the rainforest of South America and young folks come up to me trying to get my approval of their hip hop credibility. What the hell do I know about that; I was blasting jazz and funk in college in the vehicle.
Then some MTV/BET video watching want-to-be hard (see, Justin Timberlake) kid in the former USSR ask why I don’t look and act like Blacks in America are supposed to act. Ok, I did “Hotel California” in the Estonian karaoke bar and they wanted to hear Pac, PE or Cube. Forget that, I rocked the Eagles because Don Henley alone or with the band is my N_word. “Dirty Laundry”, “The Boys of Sumner”, “Sunset Grill”, “The Last Worthless Evening” and most of all “The Heart of the Matter” that is the soundtrack to my youth.
Oh, don’t get me wrong, I know every lyric P.E., Pac, Cube and NWA ever made…real American poets… but I wanted to do my part to school those former soviets.
I bet some of those trying to be hard on campus guys at Georgia Southwest University were herds in high school, then get on campus acting hard. I see it in my community; nice kids from nice families trying to emulate the worst elements. Whites are doing it also; take a little field trip up to Albany after midnight on Friday or Saturday and go to Charlie Bs. Snoop Dogg was right when he said he is like the Pie-piper leading the kids.
And don’t get me started on that meth crowd, walking around like zombies. Watch Intervention on A&E…your classmate was right, there are some White niggas around….you aren’t one of them.
I want to mention a slightly different issues though along the same lines, it is about the color brown, I gave up most music to revert to the Indian trail, I have started wearing brown Indian moccasins which have been and still are worn be Indian braves from Kiowa Apache, Mescalaro Apache , Ute Crow, Blackfoot , Sioux, Cherokee, Abanaki, Arapaho, Cree to mane a few and to note, every settler, Pilgrim, Colonial and Calvary soldier who was shot, skinned alive, hung by his neck, drawn and quartered, buried unto his neck in the sweltering surround by scorpions to die (ect) have been done so by warring Indian wearing moccasins juts like me, so I am not doing this because of some white cowboy or cowgirl , quite the opposite, further more I swear brown because it is the closest ] color to animal skins, I don’t give two shits about your political view or you southern lee bit,
NOT PART OF THE TWISTED SICKLEE
The new thing, sickly brown (ei) sick Lee Brown that is what people are trying to say here, all I know is they’d better not let the Mexicans here that because their centre symbol of their national flag is the Mexican golden eagle and many Mexicans term themselves as brown skinned, further more wearing brown clothing for me is nothing to do with the south or being sick it is simply a way of wearing colour that is closest to actually wearing a set of skins whilst in the city (ie) Indian skin shirt and trousers commonly call a set a skins, don’t know what is in these people heads hear, I am not about the sickness or being sick, people here read too much into stuff, I doubt if even the average white southerner republican see the colour brown as a sick southern term.
The golden eagle is a very large, dark brown raptor with broad wings, ranging from ….. varies a bit more, similar habitat is occupied by golden eagles in Mexico.
(posted from the United Kingdom W/Y)