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Black America’s Hypocrisy over the N-word and Confederate Flag.

June 29, 2015 by  
Filed under News, Opinion, Politics, Weekly Columns

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(ThyBlackMan.com) The recent and despicable killings of Charleston church members have brought about renewed pandemonium over the flying of the Confederate flag.  The concerns from Black America’s perspective are legitimate, but with reservations, in other words are African Americans being a bit disingenuous about the issue.

Consider the fact that many African Americans, without hesitation, think absolutely nothing of using a term that dehumanized and objectified their ancestors, the n-word n**ga, and now refer to it as some so-called term of endearment.  Have put it to music shaking their booties to the beat of n**ga, n**ga, n**ga.  How disgraceful, contemptible and shameful can one possibly be by showing so much DISRESPECT relative to the struggles, sacrifices, trials and tribulations of their ancestors…and yet have the audacity to point fingers at white folks and the flying of the confederate flag. Excuse the cliché, but isn’t this the same as the pot calling the kettle black? And please, let’s stop insulting one another’s intelligence with the “a” vs the “er” nonsense, n**ga is ghetto vernacular for n**ger, same as brotha – brother, sista – sister, etc.

Not all Black African Americans use the pejorative n-word, however, far too many who don’t use the term condones use of it by others, refusing to speak out against its use makes them an accomplice and no different from the actual users. Their silence implies that all Black Americans approve use of the term, leaving a wrong and misleading impression. There are many young Black Americans who too assume that all black people use the term, which is why many of them don’t even think twice about using it, they assume it’s the natural and normal thing to do.

The n-word is a racist term used to define black people, and when another people interjects words into you such as the n-word, it becomes more than a label it is a full descriptive; the word, descriptions are related and associated with each other. Thus, when the person accepts the label they are accepting the total descriptive thing (sub-human, 3/5 a person, bestial savage beast), and when those words become common place in the brain they incarnate and coordinate the chemistry and physics of the body affecting attitudes and behavior patterns. In other words the n-word to our ancestors was far more than a slur, it was an exclusion from God a condemnation to Hell. Never in the annuals of known history, until the advent of chattel slavery, were any species of humankind known to be treated with such brutality and contempt. To add insult to injury, their 21st century descendants, incredibly and shamefullyobama-confederate-flag-2015 now use the term that dehumanized and objectified them—as some so-called term of endearment.

Any sort of brutal act perpetrated upon the enslaved was always fueled with the rant and rallying cry of the word n**ger as if this would make any unconscionable acts performed acceptable in the eyesight of their Christian God. While the hanged, beaten and maimed drew their final breath, the last words the victimized would always hear were the chants of n**ger, n**ger, n**ger ringing in their ears. During Hitler’s mistreatment of the Jewish community and experimentation in Eugenics, President Roosevelt admonished him for such conduct, to which Hitler replied, “Everything we do to Jewish people was learned from your treatment of the American Black people.”

In this 21st century history is repeating itself through the self-destructive lyrics of rap music. The impressionable young minds of our Black youth are treated as garbage disposals, dumping anything and everything into it that’s debasing—ALL for the almighty dollar—simultaneously promoting criminal behavior; and it’s happening with the blessing of the Black community since the group collectively refuses to put its foot down and say enough is enough. Control of the precious minds of Black youth have been handed over to money-hungry rappers and indifferent comedians, actors and actresses, while the intelligentsia, ministers, community leaders sit back and have done ABSOLUTELY nothing to stop it, this habitual practice of self-inflicted cultural genocide have the rest of the world looking on in complete bewilderment.

Such naïve, mouth gum flapping comments as we are re-claiming the word, we are taking the power out of it insults the intelligence of any cerebral thinking person. It makes far more sense to talk about re-claiming your stolen history as opposed to laying claims to a word that dehumanized and objectified your ancestors. Clearly, except to those who refuse to see, the polemical n-word indubitably is in control and not the other way around. Thanks to the senseless and asinine global promotion and marketing of the n-word, everyone and their mother all over the world now mockingly uses the term. The barely conscious will argue that there are greater things to worry about.  But I ask you:  What is a greater concern than the demolition of a people’s image on the world stage? If there was such a thing as a Dummy of the Century Award, those Black Americans complicit in the global commercialization of the n-word would win it by unanimous decision.

Attention needs to be drawn to the fact that among the black intelligentsia use of the term sanitizing is always lurking about; if we are going to incorporate use of the term one must have the mental resolve and intestinal fortitude to expose how Black history in general is being sanitized and censored as it pertains to the mobility and uplifting of the psyche of the black race; otherwise, they should smartly refrain from speaking about how the n-word shouldn’t be censored or sanitized, which inimically serves as a self-refueling, self-generating psychological conduit to mental enslavement.

Granted it must be acknowledged that the flying of the confederate flag is an affront to present day Black America and the African-American Holocaust, but it would be disingenuous to overlook the salient fact that Black African-Americans embrace of the immoral and vile n-word is equally offensive and disrespectful to the victims of the African-American Holocaust an issue that need to be addressed and not ceremoniously dismissed.

Staff Writer; H. Lewis Smith

This talented brother is the founder and president of UVCC, the United Voices for a Common Cause, Inc., http://www.theunitedvoices.com author of Bury that Sucka: A Scandalous Love Affair with the N-Word, and the recently released book Undressing the N-word: Revealing the Naked Truth, Lies, Deceit and Mind Games https://www.createspace.com/4655015

Also follow Mr. Smith on Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/thescoop1   


Comments

26 Responses to “Black America’s Hypocrisy over the N-word and Confederate Flag.”
  1. Le For says:

    There one very important thing black poeple need to realize; you are not slaves. Yes, maybe your great-great grandparenst were slaves 200 years ago but so what? This is not 200 years ago and you are not slaves. You have food and iphones and freedom but you keep pulling the slave card every chance you get. If I see one more 20 year old guy with an ihpone in one hand, a burger in the other and wearing the newest brand clothes while talking loudly about slaverly, I`ll kncok him the hell out. What you are really doing, is using your anchestors pain to butter your own bread. Where I come from, that is worse then swearing in church. It`s not done. So how about using your heads instead of that tired old slave card. It`s getting real old and as you might notice, you are not slaves.

  2. Le For says:

    It`s always fun when someone tries to tell me which words I am allowed to use. This is 2017, I live in a modern country and I`ll use whatever words I want to use. It`s a joke when black people say “hey! you can`t use the word nigger!”. Their great-grandparents were slaves and that means they dictate which words I can use. 🙂 What a bunch of assholes. There is no way I will ever let a human being tell me what I`m allowed to say, that will never happen. They call each other niggers and they call me honkey but I`m not allowed to use certain words? I wish I could line you all up, look you in the eye and bitchslap you. Who in the hell do you think you are? Imagine me telling these people “no, you can`t use those words, I have decided that”. They would lose their minds and riot in the streets. But I`m supposed to be a good little boy and just swallow it, right? Not fucking happening, ever. 🙂

  3. Kermit Vick says:

    I don’t understand how the same word can be used by two races of people & mean different things. It’s the same hypocrisy coming from both of the political parties, one more so than the other.

    “The Rebel Flag” was not an issue that was worthy to be argued by adults. Fighting the Rebel Flag is an issue that you assign to college graduate & undergraduate students.

    However, it IS possible for African-Americans to entertain more than one thought in our heads at the same time (contrary to what conservatives think).

  4. Eli H. says:

    I have heard and understand the views on both sides of this issue. If I were black I don’t think I would have jumped on the “nigga” bandwagon in the 90’s. But I can see that there are advantages to it perhaps.

    But here is my issue. In grade school we had a gentle giant type classmate. He was black and well liked. One day in a packed line this greasy kid that was not well liked to pushing his way forward in line. That kid was white. Our buddy got pushed and objected in a way that was consistent with his temperament. The white kid said to my buddy to “shut up” and ended his sentence with the word nigger. My buddy instantly started pounding on this kid. He was furious. I was dumbfounded. What was it that took this mild mannered person from a state of being laid back to a point of violent fury in an instant. It was a word. Just a word. It didn’t make sense to me then & it doesn’t today.

    My mother was raised in Berlin during WWII, I’m small, & my eyes are pretty crossed. I’ve been called some pretty awful things myself. If someone wants to call me in name in a mean manner, I feel and think that that is a indication of a flaw in their character, not mine. I’ve wondered if I were black and somebody called me a nigger in an attempt to suggest that I was a lesser to them how I would feel or react. I just can’t see that it would phase me. Again, it’s really their issue. Not mine. I’d rather they show me their foolishness than hide it.

    Finally I’d like to add another thought that shows that the issue behind these words is not unique blakcs. Another word commonly used had its roots in a most hateful discriminatory manner. The targets of that word made it a word of pride and strength thus turning the word from a weapon against them into a weapon for them. The word was Yankee. The term had its roots around a London bar whose patrons were noted to be overtly flamboyant homosexual men. The word became a street name to describe them in and around London during the mid-18th Century. It rapidly took hold as a word used to insult the Colonists that advocated independence from the King. The Colonists took the word and made it was it is today. Only in history books does Yankee mean anything other than American. Let things roll & our grandchildren will possibly have no memory of nigger/nigga meaning anything hurtful except in a history book.

    I think that words like these only have the power that give them you individually or as a group.

  5. Ron says:

    My dear brother JDean, I completely get context when it comes to historical discussion as it adds authenticity to the conversation. However, the daily use of the n-word has nothing to do with context and everything to do with an oppressive mentality. I to live on the West Coast – previously in Oakland / East Palo Alto, Ca. and now in SoCal (LA) and the point that I was and am making is that there is no oppression when our Brown brother say certain words to one another. The reason being is that Cholo was never institutionalized and directed at them for 450 plus years! They never had to endure the atrocities that our ancestors did. They have never been exposed to a Jim Crow policy and other legislation passed to ensure that they were relegated to an under-class by design. My brother check your history so that there is complete understanding of the purposeful and harmful systemic policies lead by evil and hateful people to oppress the Africa people for economic, social, political, educational and to an even greater degree spiritually! If you haven’t read The New Jim Crow by Michelle Alexander and Post Traumatic Slave Syndrome by Dr. Joy DeGruy – I would highly recommend that you do. Since you are so focused on context, I am certain that these two writers will enable you to contextualize the importance of his –story, while embracing our legacy!

    Peace, love and seeking the truth,

  6. just sayn says:

    Totally feeling you, jdean! As our ancestors used to say, don’t bother ’cause the dumb mule can’t talk anyway….

  7. Being stubborn is an understatement, I adamantly refuse to submit to the wishes of those who lack mental prowess and are unable to rise above the inferior status of that of a n**ga, a category created for African Americans by those who feel superior to us. I have way too much respect for myself, my race and the victims of the African American Holocaust and Jim Crowism than to kowtow and accept being defined by a racist term that categorized my ancestors as sub-human, 3/5 a person and bestial savage beasts, and to add insult to injury treated them as such, for me or any African American to embrace such an abominable term would be ludicrous and imbecilic.

  8. jdean says:

    Thanks justsayn. I knew somebody would feel me.

  9. just sayn says:

    Excellent response jdean! Your position is the most valid. Terrance Amen is garnering customers for the establishment to secure a kickback for himself while H. Lewis Smith is plain stubborn.

  10. Contrasting two eras: 60s I’m Black and I’m Proud. Fast forward to the 21st century I’m a N**GA! Clearly today’s African American have been dumbed down. These mentally- and emotionally-scarred descendants of slavery are so severely psychologically disturbed that they actually believe they can alter historical events by foolishly attempting to change the meaning of a word. Some how we must re-discover the proud and intransigent Black African American of the 60s.

  11. jdean says:

    Ron .We are unique as a people and we don’t have to compare ourselves to others because they don’t have the same history as us. Mexicans call each other “fools” especially on the West Coast where I live. Thats a derogatory term used like nigga. I dont defend the word itself. I just know context and banning a word is silly and unrealistic, especially when we have bigger problems than this word. Wouldn’t you agree Ron. BTW have you heard the song” Lean Like A Cholo” a few years back, or Jeff Foxworthy’s Ten Signs You Are A Redneck. Those are ways other groups have used so called derogatory terms about themselves in music and comedy. Again you help the white mans argument when you equate nigga and nigger, then they can say” why cant we use that word” ” you guys say it to each other” and they completely ignored context. I guess context doesn’t mean anything to Mr. Smith and Ron.

  12. The fact that we’re having this conversation, debating over this word shows the dysfunctional mental issues that are still with us today. If a white man called you a nigga, you wouldn’t be happy about it.

    The fact that we spend a trillion dollars of our hard earned money every year with everyone but ourselves, and have the nerve to complain about what we don’t have in our community, is another example of the psychological effects of slavery. Until we deal with this undisputable fact, we will never solve the major problems in our community.

    Black Unity is the solution, 3ufirst.com is the plan

  13. Ron says:

    My question is for Mike & jdean – can you explain to me why no other ethnic groups or gender groups use oppressive terms to describe themselves (e.g. LBGT or Jewish people) especially in a commercial way via music, TV, Movies, in print, etc. And last but certainly not least – why do you feel a need to defend the N-Word in light of its hideous history here in America and around the world? And in case you have not noticed there has been a resurrection of a 430 year old genocide taking place before our eye and it is live and in color!

  14. “If you can control a man’s thinking you do not have to worry about his action. When you determine what a man shall think you do not have to concern yourself about what he will do. If you make a man feel that he is inferior, you do not have to compel him to accept an inferior status, for he will seek it himself. If you make a man think that he is justly an outcast, you do not have to order him to the back door. He will go without being told; and if there is no back door, his very nature will demand one.”
    ? Carter G. Woodson, The Mis-Education of the Negro

    Time for ALL Black Americans to wake up and free ourselves from the racist term n**ga/n**ger, free ourselves from 400 years of mental subjugation. Our ancestors were coerced, browbeaten and forced into accepting the inferior status of seeing themselves as n**gaz/n**gers. Today, as opposed to being browbeaten and coerced, the mentally enslaved among us VOLUNTARILY accept the inferior status of that of being a n**ger/n**ga, will do and say anything to remain in their 18th century slave mentality comfort zone.

  15. mike says:

    But that’s an oversimplification of the issue. “Nigger” the word does not equal slavery nor does its use somehow change the original etymology. Our ancestors used the word. To say different is to ignore history. Its more than just a racial slur and context is everything, regardless of history.

  16. Albeit, man can change the definition of a word on a whim, he cannot change the history behind a word for it is indeed STATIC. If by chance anyone have the ability by some sort of miracle to obliterate the wrongs done against our ancestors all in the name of the n-word (n**ga), restore life to those dehumanized, murdered, butchered, slaughtered, honor to the dishonored, property to those who have been wronged, and force the scales of human and divine justice to recover their equilibrium then and ONLY then perhaps the n-word n**ga can be embraced and used endearingly. Unless someone can accomplish such a task the n-word n**ga will eternally remain to be an immoral, contemptible obscenity no matter whose lips it flows from and their ill-advised intentions.

  17. Mike says:

    People who say no one should use the word fail to realize that language evolves. If you know your history, you’d know that “nigger” didn’t even originate as a racial slur. The word “niger” is Latin for black and Europeans used it as a universal term for black people, as they all spoke different languages. To accept that “nigger” means dumb, savage or beastly is to accept that all those things associate with being black. “Nigga” is the evolution of “nigger.” When blacks used the word, their accent added the “a,” similar to “masta.” If black people want to own the word and want the word to take on it’s actual etymologicaL meaning, I see nothing wrong with that. But telling people to stop using a word because of its dualistic definitions, that depend entirely on context, is both illogical and unnecessary. Words don’t just disappear, they simply evolve.

  18. bnww says:

    We have too many professionals in too many fields to be STILL acting as if the n-word has no impact. We are NOT where we need to COLLECTIVELY to empower us as a whole. Calling one another nigger/a in private and public through allowing this slur to be pushed globally has been disastrous for us as a people. No other groups allow any derogatory racial slur to be used against them on a global scale. Do Jews allow kike or hymie? Do Hispanics allow spics or wetback? Do Italians allow dago or wop? But Blacks are dancing, partying, smiling AND shooting, killing, raping to being called the n-word! Why are we doing this? And how can SO many of our educators, doctors, lawyers, entrepreneurs, entertainers, politicians, businesspeople, etc., etc., etc. SIT BACK and say/do nothing about it? They can because our mindset is a big part of the problem. We’ve been so dehumanized for centuries that although we have money and high level job titles, we cannot envision COLLECTIVE empowerment. We’ve got work to do in building our pride, self-respect, and dignity! Let’s get it started by losing the reckless/needless n-word abuse we participate in senselessly!

  19. Marque Anthony says:

    The mindset and behavior of African Americans stems from a lack of identity and negative programming by the racist oppressors who set up this country by capturing slaves and killing Indians.

    To blame only African Americans is to imply that we came to this land and broke up our own families, erased our own culture and intentionally forgot our identity.

    We all are accountable for our own actions but there are many more responsible for the state of the African American community than us alone. These are not excuses, they are facts and reasons why our people turn on each other, smile for the white man and think so little of each other.

  20. @jdean~ The past several decades there have been a desperate and urgent attempt to sanitize the n-word, because by it being regarded as an unacceptable insult…it was costing racists billions which ended up in the hands of black folks. A strategy was implemented to reverse the trend which may be considered weird, but nonetheless brilliant, and that is to get black folks to actually fight for n-word usage…and just for that one cause…blacks and racists would be united on the same team. Mix it in the aphrodisiac of music and sex, and Ancient Egyptian reference to words related to the n-word with some sort of divinity connotation and non-thinking black people will become mesmerized dismissing the 300 year African American Holocaust, the horrific side effects of Jim Crowism and the Civil Rights Movement. The experiment has worked to perfection. Once again proving that with the proper approach gullible black people minds can be manipulated and massaged to accept disrespect and contempt and revel in it.

  21. jdean says:

    They saddled us with the word nigger and we took that term and used nigga as one of our terms of endearment. We also use brother, partna, boss, just like Mexicans call each other “fool”. If a black man called me an ignant nigga, I would be offended because of his intent. If he said “my nigga” I am not offended. Its about context, not the word. You just dont get it. I am a black man from the south side of Chicago. Im just realistic about the word. We will never stop using it, in reality. In a psuedo, fake world maybe, but not now. Let’s worry about the churches being burned and congregations being shot up by the white supremacists, not be stuck on a word or words or symantics. Didnt you hear Obama’s podcast when he used the word nigger. His main point is that racism is more than a word. It is systematic and institutional and code language is a big part of it, where racial ephitets are not used. It’s much bigger than this word. Stop giving it more power than it deserves.

  22. @jdean~ It was the white supremacists who saddled African Americans with the n-word in the first place, it is a racist term that we were programmed and conditioned to use transgenerationally. It’s rather curious how you are so adamant about n**ga not being ghetto vernacular for n**ger when it is indeed a fact that it is. You may be African American and then again maybe not. One need to be cognizant of the games that are played on the Internet by white people pretending to be black encouraging the use of the immoral, vile and contemptible n-word n**ga.

  23. jdean says:

    I dont think Im a nigger when someone calls me nigga. Subconsciously or consciously because I am confident in myself and I understand context. I actually feel good when someone of my race calls me that because I am accepted by them and they feel comfortable that I wont get offended or make a bigger deal than it is. Most intelligent people with good self esteem feel good about themselves no matter what anyone says. I dont feel like the slave driver is in the corner of the room. Its not ghetto vernacular, we all say it rich, middle , or lower class. Lets not let the white supremacists off the hook.

  24. robert idris says:

    really the two are similar? first a homo war now you are going to tell me a word that has ben partially desensiized in intra race communications is the same as the confed flag. nobody black (except maybe the wanna be wigger kanye) tolerates it. im new to this site btw) p.s major facepalm

  25. @jdean — Black Americans using the n-word is validation that the most potent weapon in the hands of the oppressor is the mind of the oppressed. Use of the n-word serves as a mental substance abuse, it has power over you, have you talking all out of your head.

    It’s unfortunate that there are black people who insist on taking definitive steps backwards. Use of the n-word n**ga, no matter how you slice it and dice it is ghetto vernacular for n**ger, and serves as a link to an 18th century slave mentality. This is the 21st century its time to break that link and stop allowing ourselves to be defined with a 400 year old racist term that serves as a self-refueling, self-generating psychological conduit to mental enslavement.

    We should want our children EDUCATED, not indoctrinated into thinking and believing that they are a n**ga, we should want them to learn HOW to think, not WHAT to think. There is no redeeming value in black folks trying to con other black folks with the nonsense that they are a n**ga. Time to lose the 18th century slave mentality and all the self-hatred that comes along with it. Showing RESPECT for our beloved ancestors is way overdue, time to STAND UP be counted stop DISRESPECTING ourselves and the memories of our ancestors. Bury the n-word n**ga, it has no place in this 21st century.

  26. jdean says:

    Mr. Lewis you are being disingenous when you don’t consider context of the word. Nigga isn’t the same harsh, dirty, insulting word of nigger. Don’t confuse the two. Hair, heir, and hare are similar words but different meaning. Nigga is what we used to call each other in private before the corporations and mainstream cultures highjacked it. Nigger has bad intentions when used by the dominant culture. When have you heard a black man call another black man a nigger? We have bigger problems than this one word which you are giving alot of press to the subject. Racism is systemic and institutional and more than a word.

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