Rants and Raves

This is for those who don't have a clue, are looking for a clue, or are someone who want to GIVE someone ELSE a clue on why the word nigga/nigger needs to be squashed (or at the very least said away from the presence of those who AREN'T Black) and why someone other then a Black person needs to catch a beat down if they say it!

Though this message is directed to ALL, I am primarily aiming my anger at blacks (because blacks are the only ones that can resolve this issue). I do have plenty of whoopass however for anyone outside the culture, white, latino and otherwise that opts to exercise stupidity and risk bodily harm to themselves.

My brother and I have had discussions on how to approach this subject. One I'm sorry to say that the mere fact that we are having this discussion is sad because it is an indication of how far we've fallen and how screwed up things are. He wrote an article to approach this subject by explaining it and showing you why one should refrain from using the word Nigger. Me? I've been there, done that, bought the t-shirt and I'm tired of explaining to nimrods something that's the equivalent of why Jimmy shouldn't run with scissors.

So, In the aspect of "keeping it real" (and reaching the thick headed) I'm coming from the angle of TELLING you why you better NOT use it. But before I do that let me put the word in context so you can understand why I'm handing out textual whoopass on anyone stupid enough to oppose my point of view. YES I'm going to be one of the few blacks that dares grab the talking stick and accept the title that says (in this instance anyway) I DO represent all black people.

The word nigger is a word born out of hate and ignorance and was designed as a tool to enable whites with the ability look at us as things verses people and treat us like objects. This allows them to justify their actions while letting sensibilities stay intact while they did (do) horrible things to blacks. It is a taunt, that at one point blacks were powerless to confront and had to suffer at the hands of the cruel who did not care about them as people. Why does it look like we've come full circle? But instead this time around Blacks are heaping the insult upon Blacks. If you are black and do not know this or think about it then there are two things about you that are clear:

1.) You have no respect for yourself and the people around you and/or
2.) Your parents were fools that should have been left on the mattress instead of being conceived as children because they did not think you worthy of the effort to invest in YOUR future and take the time to teach you

I'm going to put it to you like this: If I ever get famous I will not hesitate to put my foot up the ass of ANY celebrity who uses that word. As well as any knuckleheads that think its okay to greet one another in public screaming at the top of their lungs for everyone to hear "what's up m y nigga?" Though we differ in approach, my brother and I agree on the eight primary categories at sorry ass attempts for excuses used by Blacks and Non-blacks alike.

1. "They say it to each other."
This is my BIGGEST peeve because I have something to say to both blacks AND Non-blacks (I have to rant on this in two parts but allow me to save the 2nd half for my schpeil on the entertainment industry). Where in your tiny little mind do you figure you can say it? What warped sense of logic allowed you to extrapolate that it might be okay to say it? Better yet, where is the logic that needs to come to the forefront and say "ummm dude if you say that you deserve to catch a beat down like a step child that stole the last supper." Its best summed up like this. White people have rednecks and white trash. Black People have ruffnecks and thugs. Blacks don't approach you like the rednecks you try to distance yourself from. Blacks don't walk around thinking all of you are rednecks so have enough fucking intelligence to assume not all of us are thugs. You have rednecks we have ruff necks you have white trash we have thugs. Got it?

Action:
Blacks: if someone uses the word beat their asses and explain the above.
Non-Blacks: Don't use the word and realize you can NEVER get so comfortable or close that you could use that word. There are just some lines one should not cross and the fact I have to EXPLAIN this to you irritates me even further.

2. 'Hey, its alright he/she is cool.
Translation: I don't have enough balls or self respect to call them on it cuz I'm too lazy and fucked in the head to do anything about it. On top of that I'm so fucked up I'd rather waste more time defending them and trying to keep them from getting their (and possibly your) head handed to them instead of correcting them. Hey, let me give you some advice, if you want to stay a fool then stay a fool in the closet. Run that in your camp behind closed doors. DON'T broadcast "I'm an idiot" out in public to the whole world because then you AND your stupid ass partner will BOTH catch a beat down.

Action:
Blacks: Get a clue and some self respect and realize this behavior affects more then just you. They are NOT so cool they can use that word. Find some other way if you must show the world you two are cool. Where did you get lost?
Non-Blacks: Don't use the word and have enough sense that if you were really cool you'd be checkin some of his friends who used it in your presence.

3. "I grew up in the projects"
This always cracks me up because it suggests to me their thinking is: to be black you had to be from the projects. Or that living there gave you certain rights with the people. If you say this because you think it makes you kinda black let me ask you something. If I grew up in a garage would that kinda make me a car?

First of all, blacks are splendidly diverse. We come from a gloriously wide-ranging spectrum. Not all of us were brought up in the projects (*news flash* some people actually LEAVE the projects or were born into wealth) and even those of us who lived in the projects STILL didn't talk that way. If that word was used it was used between blacks out of site and earshot of anyone who WASN'T black. Growing up in a project does NOT give you any more right to say that word then me growing up in some predominantly Jewish area and calling everyone kike. (like THAT would even happen….. ) Did I spell kike right? (You KNOW you've got it good when someone can't even SPELL your racial slur properly!) If you grew up in a project weren't black, said the word nigger and your sorry ass didn't catch a beat down then they aren't real black folks. I'd also ask you to give me their addresses so I can charge them with impersonating a black person and nuke the whole fucking block!!!!

Action:
Blacks: Do NOT tolerate the word. They are insulting you on your own territory. If they use the word correct them (handing out an ass beating however is an option that is highly encouraged).
Non-Blacks: Don't think living amongst Blacks entitles you to anything. Because I don't think me living in an affluent neighborhood would entitle me to someone's BMW. Don't use the word.

4. "To white people we are all niggers"
Do blacks walk around thinking all white people are rednecks? Is your ass so lazy and callous you'd rather suffer the same kick over and over again and do nothing about it? What's worse, someone's funky attitude or YOU allowing that attitude to go on unchecked? If I knew who you were I'd BEAT you my damn self!

Action:
Blacks: Readjust your attitude and correct your behavior before you risk experiencing bodily injury and loss of any credibility amongst your peers because your actions effect us all. You have forgotten where you came from, what that word means and how you fit into the scheme of things as a person. No one else can fight our battles.
Non-Blacks: Don't use the word, (are you detecting a theme here?) discover the differences and the perplexities and respect us as individuals.

5. "I am black in my heart"
And how would you know that? Do you get followed around in boutiques, shopping malls, or get ignored when getting ready to order something? Do your loans get turned down or do you get turned away from houses or apts you wanted to live in? Do you get hassled by security (cuz they automatically think Blacks are the trouble makers) if there was an exchange with someone who happened to be white? No?!?! How about being pulled over for driving a "fancy" car? No? Then get over it dumb ass you aren't black at heart, you don't know what that means, and if you gave ME that excuse you'd be black in the EYE and pickin yourself off the ground!

Action:
Blacks: Beat them down, beat them down BEAT them down!!! Afterwards, ask them what gave them that idea and then go sleep with their relatives.
Non-Blacks: You wanna be Black in heart smoke 20 packs of cigarettes. Don't use the word. Find some other way to relate. Listening to music or hanging out with us doesn't make you anymore black then me hanging out with a bunch of Chinese and expecting to know kung-fu. Blacks are fighting racism. You wanna be black in heart? Do that.

6. "Its just a word."
If it's just a word why did everyone get in an uproar because Michael Jackson (the epitome of squeaky clean) used the word "kike" in a song ABOUT racism? It's just a word right? I don't hear Latin/Hispanic rappers calling each other spic or wetback. No stupid, they tell BLACKS it's just a word so they can continue to shit on us. But you use the racial slurs of another culture and see what happens.
Action:
Blacks: If they use the word then use the equivalent slur from their culture. For example, if a Hispanic calls you nigga call him spic and see if they like it.
Non-Blacks: Greet yourself with the racial slur of your culture and see if you like the taste. Don't use the word.

7. "We joke with each other"
You ARE the joke STUPID! They are laughing AT you because they get to use a word that insults you and get away with it. Jokes like you are best left unheard. If you're too dumb to realize that what's okay between you and your friend may NOT be ok between you two and someone else and if you can't think enough to ask YOURSELF "what's going on" crawl back under your rock and stay there.

Action:
Blacks: Find another joke or joke your ass out of ear and eyeshot if you must exercise such suicidal tendencies. You need to discover the impact of that word. Walk into a black church and "joke around." Squash it before I hit you in the head with a brick!
Non-Blacks: Don't use the word. You want to joke? Go to a black ghetto wearing a white sheet and a hood. I know I'LL be laughing.

8. Ideology: In order for it not to have power over us, we must render it ineffectual by not being bothered by it. Or "Turning it around": the common usage of it will make it innocuous.

THIS one REALLY burns me because this obviously a Jedi mind trick. I like to think of the origins of this story as going back to someone telling a fool a joke and the fool taking it as gospel.

"If YOU use the word it takes the power out of it or you own it." The fool believed it and that's why there are so many other fools out there. And what's so messed up I can't believe anyone fell for it. If you exchanged the word "nigger" for the word "cobra" would you believe that line? I can hear it now: If you take the cobra they bite you with then you make it yours. So I can what??! Save you the trouble and bite myself instead?!?. How much sense does THAT make?!?!

But this line of psycho babble gave everyone else the key to fuck with us. When uneducated rappers thought that they were intelligent enough to start talking to the media they inadvertently handed the entertainment industry the whip to beat our asses with. By blacks in the entertainment industry allowing the word nigger to proliferate through the world of entertainment it began the process of our own self-inflicted miseducation.

So many times I've heard using that word is keeping it real. With WHO you dumb ass?!!!? Keeping it real is paying your bills on time, helping people, enlightening those around you. No one in my circle of "brothas" or "sistahs" for that matter that live in the hood or anywhere else uses the word nigger like that. Here's a clue Sparky, it was trick and you fell for it! The more you use the word the more it is indoctrinated into society to the point of you have people who don't know how loaded that word is using it. I went to a club recently and now its no big thing to play the unedited versions of some of these songs. So now I have to waste my time straightening out DJs!??!! How much self respect are you going to give away?

Black people YOU did this. You bought these CDS; you gave them your money and basically paid for the abuse. You are rewarding these asses to the point you've got new artist thinking they HAVE to use the word for credibility (and I thought it was just music) so folks will give them more money for "keeping it real." Translation: something that I can intimidate and shock white folks with. Well I've got news for you I'm a Black man and that ain't working. It doesn't work on me nor does it work for the rest of us Blacks who are familiar with the word. You are only irritating us and why irritate your own.

I can't comfortably go into a club now because they'll be playing songs with the word nigger in it. How am I supposed enjoy myself? If I'm dancing and that word hits the speakers as I walk off, I can feel there's a flash across my face. I'm scanning the faces in the crowd and I'm thinking: Did they just mouth the words? What do these people think of Blacks dancing to a song that uses the word that is insulting?

And don't EVEN get me started on the movie industry. Especially on movies like Bull-SHIT-worthy. What self respecting black person would say to a white person "you know you're my nigga??!!?" What actor/actress producer would let that even get to the screen. You mean to tell with with a roomful of people there still isn't enough gray matter to generate the idea of "HEY! We don't need this."

I figured we were finally making it when blacks where at the helm and able to squash some of this bullshit. And in some cases it is happening but then we have the Wayan's Brothers, some high profile, high POWERED forces to be reckoned with and what do they do?!?! They begin pissing it away by coming out with Scary Movie 2 in which the opening scene is a bunch of what whites singing a rap tune and saying the word nigger.

The Wayan's could have chosen any song or any other line out of that song for that matter and what do they do? Instead of using their influence to squash that type of foolishness they now reinforce it and add some NEW ammunition to the mix by setting the example that says hey… Black People are making movies and now white people are saying the word nigger in it so maybe it IS okay. Which creates folks like Jennifer Lopez (bringing me back to peeve No. 1) thinking she can say the word on the radio!!! Hey J.Lo should I call you my spic bitch? It doesn't quiet sit right going the other way now does it? I also have beef with that short ugly lil 2pac wanna be Ja Rule at some point didn't it dawn on anyone in the studio that it might NOT be a good idea?

Those of you who tolerate this in the industry AREN'T helping. Anyone paying for that type of entertainment ISN'T helping, and if I EVER get MY 15 minutes of fame, my foot will find temporary residence in everyone one of your asses. I'll call everyone out! And I will make it my personal mission to beat those fools into submission until that word stops getting used. For us as blacks to gain any sense of respect from those around us that word has got to go.

And entertainers out there, you can dance around the issue, fire off a salvo of excuses, you're an individual, you aren't a role model, you don't represent black people…. whatever poor excuse you want to use to try and justify your actions go ahead, USE it, but ,it does not change the fact (all things considered) when the dust clears the fact still remains that instead of getting us one step closer to putting that word out of its misery you opted to spend your time defending your stupidity. Think about that for a minute. Let it sink in…

Fellow consumers write a letter to the industry, stop buying records or going to movies that use the word, call artists up during interviews and let folks know you don't like what they do, complain to the DJs at the club. DO something.

Action:
Blacks: Fight. Exercise your influence. Use your power and let it be known it's a word you will no longer tolerate. If you start effecting dollars by flexing your economical muscle and start boycotting all of sudden people become much more "accommodating."
Non-Blacks: Don't allow that word to be used.

For those of you with ADD let me sum up this writing in the points you need to walk away with:

· Whites and Latinos who think they are black cuz because you play basketball with thugs listen up. I am a black person and I'm telling you that you have no right saying the word nigger. It does not make you more real, down and if you do say it you deserve to be taken out back and beaten for exercising such ignorance and stupidity. It is a word loaded with 400 years of history used to demean, belittle, and destroy the hope and will of blacks. You wanna be down figure out some other way.

· Blacks don't be afraid to flex power. Since when did that become a bad thing? I was in a black owned barber shop and a Hispanic customer was throwing the word nigger around and they said nothing until I confronted the guy myself and got him to chill with the language in the shop. In a BLACK owned business!!!! Why should I have to do that? It's a place of business and I was a customer too. You think I want to hear that?!! Tolerating disrespect is bad practice, bad karma, and bad for business. Don't wait for a catalyst to come... BE the catalyst. I can't be everywhere at once! :-) START something.

· There is NO instance where it is okay to say the word I don't care if you are repeating a story verbatim DON'T say the word!

· Thugs and ruff necks exercise a little common sense. Your actions make you real alright.. they make you a real FOOL. People are laughing at you and shake their heads in disgust at the fact you don't have enough respect for yourself or anyone around you to realize what you are doing.

Blacks in the industry you are now part of the problem. In an attempt to fatten you wallets your ignorance got the best of you and unleashed a word back into the world that your mothers, fathers, uncles, aunts, grand parents frown upon you when you use because it disrespects all those that came before us.

Our elders tried to teach us something worthwhile. It's time start acting like you are listening. Because when the day comes that people don't understand why a black man shot a white teenager in rage because the kid called him nigger our credibility, will be lost and our influence laughable, because at that stage of the game it will be apparently clear that we didn't have enough pride to come together to kill a word. A word, that pushed someone who remembered over the edge.

And we will be broken pockets of pride trying to hold to something we shouldn't have let go in the first place. Belief and pride in ourselves as a people. It's time for you to stand up and be counted. Are you going to be known as the lost ones who gave up and become the milestone signifying the beginning of the end? Or will you be the galvanized ones who recognized their worth, tired of the games, and said NO MORE?

Pass this knowledge on to those who need enlightenment.