A Philadelphia teen at a Trayvon Martin rally. Photo Credit: C. Norris – ©2017.
We, Americans, could discuss and debate why White people shouldn’t say the word nigger, which is what’s occurring now in the country due to comedian Mr. Bill Maher calling himself a “house nigger” last Friday on his popular cable television show. Or, we could address, not why Black people feel the need to reclaim and respell the word, but why America herself created it, and its accompanying attributes, in the first place.
The late Mr. James Baldwin, a profound Black thinker, writer and activist, asked America why it needed the nigger, and the country has never responded. But the answer to Mr. Baldwin’s question is simple: anti-black racism.
Anti-black racism is America’s most savage sin, and one the country so desperately wants to not be reminded of. America’s brand of anti-black racism, which is what birthed the nigger, has sustained the times, and that’s the problem at hand, not that Black people nationwide are calling each other “niggas” as a greeting or term of endearment.
Mr. Maher, who some consider to be a white ally on the political Left, was out-of-line for saying it, even though there was no malice behind it, but America be shamed for creating the nigger.
America’s white population then, particularly its men, needed the nigger, if for nothing else than to project onto others their own deficiencies, such as laziness and the need to rape and pillage. America, when the word nigger came into prominence as a racial slur, was a bored bully needing to dehumanize others.
So, why can’t white people, even liberals like Mr. Maher who uses his platform to give space to black thought, use the word nigger? Because, it was created by a race of people to inflict verbal abuse and establish a system and culture of hate and white supremacy.
The Flint official who on Monday resigned after being recorded blaming the City’s water crisis, which has been a called a crime committed by government, on “fucking niggers who don’t pay their bills,” is a perfect example of the word being used as intended. Mr. Phil Stair, formerly of the Genesse County Land Bank, was projecting the neglect and incompetence of a white man on Blacks, and while doing so, conveyed hate.
Pointing to Mr. Stair as an example, White people shouldn’t be lobbying to say nigga because they’re still saying nigger, and that’s the pressing problem which needs to be addressed.
Thanks for reading! Until next time, I’m Flood the Drummer® and I’m Drumming for Justice!™
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Photo courtesy of the author.