"That's My Nigga Right There"

The passage of air through our lips, varying ever so slightly with the formation of our tongues to make words in which we speak to one another are meaningless without the connotations we associate with them.  There are countless words in our everyday speech that at some point or another were used to demean or dehumanize a person.  The word “punk” was used once to declare someone a prostitute.  The word “gypped” was used as a racial slur against gypsies who were thought of as thieves and swindlers.  The reason these words are accepted in this day and age is because the connotation and history behind them have been forgotten.  We as African Americans seem to have forgotten the connotations and history of the N-word.  One needs only to pick up the book The Black Jacobins by C.L.R. James to see how evil and malicious this word is.  This word was used while the white man tied ropes to each limb of a Black Man to four different horses.  As the horses were spooked the Black Man would be ripped to shreds.  This word was used when a white man would bury a Black Man up his head in sand and pour sugar cane over him while flies would slowly pick apart his face.  This racially charged vicious word does not only demean and dehumanize but also serves as a stark reminder of the worst time period in our Black history.  Not even four hundred years ago, white slave masters were using this very word to destroy the mind and will of their slaves, belittling them to nothing more than cattle. In arguing this topic, people usually defer to the argument that the N-word is now used as a movement to take back the word from the white man. To alleviate the pain and suffering our ancestors went through by taking the word and utilizing it so much that it does not affect us in a hurtful way anymore.  The problem is that this word is not used for that context by the masses in the black community.  When I was first introduced to the word, no one sat me down and told me that the reason I should use the word is to take away its meaning from the white man.  The reason I was introduced to the word was and still is merely because I was African American.  Blacks associating themselves as the N-word do not alleviate the connotation but merely perpetuates it.  The parallels between a white man calling a Black Slave The N-word and an African American calling another African American the N-word based solely on race is remarkable.  We are doing nothing but continue to burden ourselves with the pain our ancestors fought so hard to eliminate.  We need to come together as a people and stop using The N-word as a way to greet or refer to one another.  Our history is filled with kings and queens and it’s time to return to our rightful status as such.

..Imeabasi..