Nigger

(04 June 2007) -- Okay so I haven't pissed anyone off in my blog in a minute.  Or as SteamGeek (who is now going by the moniker of "The All Seeing Tree") would say, I haven't rabble roused in a hot minute so here I am.

I was searching for a topic to blog about because that's what I do in the early AM hours of the day and that's when I found it thanks to Invictus.

I was going through my all of my blog subscriptions and leaving comments when I had one and checking on my "space" friends that I hadn't checked on in a minute when I came across a picture that was in Invictus' profile.  The picture was that of a book (pictured left) simply entitled, Nigger.

Well, you know me ... that got the gears in my head spinning and voila!  Here's a blog.

Now, I haven't actually read the book but I plan to.  I have, however, had the "nigger" discussion on many occasions and it always upsets me.  I just don't get one particular aspect of the word and I'm sure many of you reading this have wondered the same thing -- why is it "socially acceptable" for one black person to call another a "nigga" but not for one of any other race?  But, before I even get into that discussion, I'd like to share with you all what I found on Google.

Those of you that know me pretty well know that I research a lot and before I began this blog, I wanted to get the exact definition of "nigger" so I enter into the Google search box "define:nigger."  You can do the same simply by clicking the link.

You know what the VERY FIRST search result said?  Here, I'll quote it for you: "(ethnic slur) extremely offensive name for a Black person; only a Black can call another Black a nigga."  That is how Princeton University's WordNet defines "nigger."  Obviously, you can see that my argument is just further solidified for this blog.

Why is it that this is what is seen as "acceptable?"

Why is it that we, as a people, will raise all kinds of Cain when whites or Asians or Hispanics or anyone else does something negative to affect our people, to infringe upon our rights, to invade our communities yet, we will tolerate it from within?  I believe that there would be riots all over the world if white people were doing to blacks what blacks were doing to blacks.

It was already evidenced in the "Kramer incident."  Sure, there was an uprising when the situation occurred but it has not changed a thing.  We still accept it insularly.

Don't get me wrong; I am not saying that we condone it but we tolerate it -- the two are different things.

In fact, we still do it ourselves and we are often the only culture that does it.  You will not find a Hispanic person going around saying, "Ay!  What's up my spic?"  But it's everyday that we hear, "What's up my nigga?" 

And dropping the -er and replacing it with an -a does not lessen the meaning whatsoever, in my opinion.  It's the same as saying, "Awww, ef it!"  Everyone knows what the "ef" stands for -- adults and children alike.

A lot of people have said that by "embracing" the word it has taken away the power of it.  I say, "Bullcrap!"  (But ya'll know that's the same as bullshit, right?)

If, by "embracing" it, it really did take away the power of its meaning then it wouldn't affect us when others said it either -- no matter their color, creed, denomination, ethnicity, race, etc.  (All of which I believe are mutually exclusive.)  It's much the same with the word "bitch." 

There are often times that between two female friends, you'll find one refer to the other as, "that's my bitch."  But let another outside female refer to her friend as a bitch and it's ON! 

That's because, I think, the word "bitch" has not changed its meaning because of who is saying it or whether they say bitch or bee-otch or whatever else.  It's like Shakespeare said, "A rose by any other name ..."

Anyhow, I really don't have a closing for this blog because I have no conclusion.  I simply hope to open up dialogue and maybe cause some people to think.

*shrug*

-Kornika


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