Why We Are No Longer Niggas.

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(ThyBlackMan.com) What sickens me about the black community is that most of us still claim to be niggas. When in fact we are not niggas. A lot of people may have convinced us that nigga is different than nigger; that they have different meanings. When that cannot be further from the truth. Calling any black person a nigga, is the same as calling them a nigger. No matter the circumstances, I am well aware that everyone says nigga but, that does not make it okay to call anyone that, and it is not okay for anyone to say it. We have all heard that nigga means homie, which is an understatement, in fact, nigga does not mean homie and if I were to pull out a dictionary, homie is a synonym for gang member. Now, without thinking, black people are profiled as gang members quite often, most people will see a “gang” of black men and call them niggas.

While on the topic of dictionaries, there is this word, niggard, which means to be stingy, cheap, selfish, and ungenerous; also, one not to be trusted. But, that is besides the point. Nigga is the same as nigger and here is how, for one nigga came from the racist term nigger, and when white folks back then was beating, lynching, and raping our brotha’s and sistah’s, I’m sure they were not referring to nigga as their homie. They were to referring to their slave or someone less than. I cannot stress this enough, a nigger is a slave, because that is what our oppressors named us. If the term nigga came from nigger, and nigger means a slave, then what does that make an individual when he or she claims they are a nigga? When you refer to your man as nigga, you are disrespecting him as a black man whether you or him realize it or not. And, when black men refer to their friends or family as a nigga, he is demoralizing his own. Although, that was the point of calling Africans niggers, niggas, or the worlds personal favorite, “homie“, that does not mean as black men and black women we should keep that burden alive.

When our grandparents were being called niggas, it was to hurt them, it was to make them feel less than, maybe no more than a slave? Now, our community likes to claim it is taking away their power by claiming ourselves and our children even, to be niggas. I believe we are using reverse psychology wrong. As a black individual or maybe a nigga to you, I’ve thought about this and how that even makes sense. Are we the black community really taking their power away, by using the term, nigga, when we are still oppressed? Are we as niggas, taking their power away when they are still locking us up? Taking young fathers and throwing them in cages, killing young fathers, leaving their families with heavy hearts. Are we as niggas, taking their power away when our children are still being misguided, miss-educated, and demoralized, not to mention suffering, in the educational system? Are we as niggas taking their power away when they are still stripping us of our culture? As a nigga, I can go on forever with these questions. But, I am not a nigga, you are not a nigga, we are not niggas. Otherwise, how do you expect us to progress as a race if we are claiming to be slaves, I mean niggers, I’m sorry, I mean niggas?

For the individuals that love bringing up hip hop and rappers, before I make a statement on that I’d like to ask, is the term really okay to say or claim when you have to come up with reasons why it is okay to distribute such a derogatory term. For the individuals that say sorry when they realize they have said the n word in front of a black person, why is it in the first place that you apologize to them? Could it be because you realize that you are wrong? But, later when no black folks are around you will say the n word and your justification for that is because rappers say it in their songs. Has anyone told you not to be a follower or to simply think for yourself? Well there goes your warning, think for yourself.

To address such remedial reasoning, it is indeed a fact that they pay a couple of rappers to sell the term nigga to the youth as a positive thing, that is also how you make something socially acceptable. By paying entertainers to stand by something and promote it to in the media; it is propaganda by testimony or propaganda through bandwagon. Most of us have seen the quote of 2PAC claiming that we are going to take the word nigga and make it a positive thing, by making it our own word. With that same analogy of taking the power away from our oppressors when calling us niggas; we have adopted the term and somehow convinced ourselves that we won’t be offended by their racism because we are niggas and that is now a positive thing. On whose terms and conditions?

Convincing ourselves that the term nigga is different than nigger because it means homie is one way to demoralize yourself and the community. You justifying the term nigga means homie, then the next, you use the term to generalize all black men, why lie to yourself? Because, it is socially acceptable coming from sellout rappers? Whom benefit off of you but lack to rehabilitate our community? We as the black community need to step in front of this problem and stop degrading ourselves and think for ourselves. To stop molding our youths mindsets with dehumanizing tactics. Letting the media control their and our thoughts is only going to dig us in a deeper hole than we are already in.

The youth deserves a better, healthier, and wealthier community but how are we going to accomplish that if we believe we are just some niggas? Do you believe we will start progressing when we start to think highly of ourselves? Do you believe that as long as we are claiming to be niggas that we will gain power that way? That as niggas, we could build upon economics and gain true freedom from our oppressors? One last thing, to believe that calling someone a nigga is different from calling them a nigger, that is like saying, calling someone gay is different than calling them a faggot. A lot of people respect the LGBTQ Community, by not using the term faggot, so where is that same respect for the Black Community?

Staff Writer; Nena Soldaat

One can connect with this sister via Twitter; TalibSoldaat and Facebook; ThatProBlackWriter.

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Nena says:
August 21, 2017 at 10:52 pm
@M Anthony, I am sure many of us are aware that we are brown and not actually black, that I do understand. It has nothing to do with a lie or being brainwashed. There are so many lies that as Africans in America that have been told and are being taught to our kids, that throwing the attention on Africans not being black but brown is too minor to focus on in this day in age. Realizing that we are brown and not black isn’t going to change are living situations or how we are mistreated all over the world and not just in America. But we all know that the terms black and brown is just to differ between Mexicans and Africans.
M Anthony says:
August 21, 2017 at 8:14 pm
In our community there are niggas (based on actions, ignorance and attitude), “black” people (based on culture) and African Americans. There are economic differences, educational differences and intelligence difference. Sometimes being rich does not stop the person from being a nigger/nigga like Kanye or Jay-Z.
AFRICAN AMERICANS ARE NOT BLACK
It amazes me how many of you are still brainwashed to call yourselves BLACK. Black is not an identity and scientifically black is not even a color. It is next to nothing. Black is the “color” of your car tires, not your skin. The white oppressive slave trader called you black and himself white to set up a contrast and to attach negative images and denotations to you based on a lie about color. Look up BLACK in the dictionary.
Research even shows that blacks are perceived by other groups as very different from African Americans. But we still keep calling ourselves what someone else defined us as, what we are not and what has a negative dictionary denotation in society. WAKE UP. LOOK AT THE REAL COLOR OF YOUR SKIN. YOU ARE NOT BLACK. You are an African American. The lie of calling us black and defining us by color (the wrong color) has been in place so long that our people accept it as truth – but it’s not. Know your colors.
Native Americans do not allow others to call them red men. Asians do not accept being called yellow men. Hispanics do not answer to “what’s up brown man”. And Caucasians are not white, notebook paper is white. Wake up and see the plan where white racist supremacists plotted to redefine our people from Africa. STOP CALLING YOURSELF SOMETHING THAT YOU ARE NOT!
AFRICAN AMERICANS ARE NOT BLACK.
Black is the “color” of your car tires, not your skin author. Being called “black” is a lie and it should be offensive. Haitians, Jamaicans and even Africans do not accept being called “black”, Why do you think that is? They are identified by tribes, klans, geographic areas and their respective countries. By using the very term black to describe us, we are doing the following:
1. Using a term white oppressors and slave masters gave us.
2. Letting someone else define us other than our own people.
3. Calling ourselves something we are not.
4. Buying into thee lie and the negative denotation. Check the dictionary.
5. Being set apart in a way that no other ethnic group allows. Native Americans are not called Red Man. Asians are not called Yellow Man. Hispanics are not called Brown Man. They do not and will not accept being defined by color and by some other race or ethnic group at that.
6. Ignoring our actual color (brown) which means brainwashing has worked. Any time someone can get an entire race, ethnic group or culture to ignore what they are and call themselves what they factually are not, THEY HAVE BEEN INDOCTRINATED, ASSIMILATED AND BRAINWASHED.
7. Playing right into the oppressor’s profiles and stereotypes. Did you know studies show there is a different perception of black people than there is of African Americans? Words create perceptions and perceptions create actions towards us.
WAKE UP. You know your colors. And even though others around the world equated our ancestors with the color of the soil in Africa or the meaning of negro/negroid, that does not change the fact that WE ARE BROWN – NOT BLACK.
If you look in the dictionary or send an email to brainstormonline@yahoo.com, I will send you the research. Facts are facts and YOU ARE BROWN, NOT BLACK. When you receive the revelation of why they keep calling African Americans “black” and Caucasian people “white”, you may just wake up!
STOP LETTING OTHER GROUPS DEFINE YOU WITH AN OBVIOUS LIE that we have heard and accepted so much that we believe it’s true and forget our colors. The de-programming has to take root or African Americans will forever be defined, limited and oppressed by those who get us to accept a lie.
Danny Boy says:
August 21, 2017 at 6:40 am
I agree with the article wholeheartedly. Granted I listen to music that use the word frequently but as I’ve gotten older, I have become very uncomfortable with the usage of Nigga…especially when it’s used repeatedly and for reference sake. I have used the word but as I’ve gotten older, I try to be cognizant of not using the word and not being associated with it at all.
H. Lewis Smith says:
August 17, 2017 at 5:00 pm
You are to be congratulated for having the intestinal fortitude to speak out against use of a word that devalue the lives of black people…the N word nigga.
Indifference is the epitome of evil. We must take sides. Neutrality helps the oppressor, never the victim. Silence encourages the tormentor, never the tormented we owe it to our ancestors to speak out, hold their struggles and sacrifices in the highest of esteem and not embrace the very word that dehumanized and objectified them the N word nigger/nigga.