(ThyBlackMan.com) Life asked death: “Why do people love me but hate you?” Death said: “Because you are a beautiful lie and I’m the painful truth.”
Kanye West’s incomprehensible and mindless comment that “slavery was a choice”, this along with his support of Trump have stirred up the wrath of many in the black community and rightfully so. However, his comment is in keeping with a mindset he’s always proven to have.
As a rapper he always did demonstrate contempt towards his ancestors being complicit in the global promotion and marketing of musical lyrics producing self-destructive messages, corrupting and polluting the minds of our youth encouraging use of the N- word n**ga which is self-cultural genocide and an extension of mental enslavement. Many African-Americans were very supportive of this degenerate behavior and went so far as to label him a genius.
Those of you who embrace the N-word, and if not, but condone use of the pejorative term by others you are forgetting one important fact; when you point one finger there are three more-pointed back at you. You want to relocate the ugliness you feel about yourselves and put it into someone else, in this case…Kanye West. There are some in the black community who may not use the N-word but deal with the impropriety usage of it by looking the other way, feigning ignorance.
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 hold their struggles and sacrifices in the highest of esteem and not embrace the very word that dehumanized and objectified them…the N-word n**ger/n**ga. And let’s not get it twisted n**ga is unequivocally ghetto vernacular/Ebonics for n**ger.
Kanye’s comment “slavery was a choice” pales in comparison to Black/African- Americans usage of the N-word. The claim that you’ve taken the word and changed its meaning is a bold-face lie. One minute you are supposedly using it as a so-called endearing term…which by the way there isn’t anything endearing about the N- word…and the next minute it is used as a caustic term heaping vitriol on someone. Whatever games are played with us, we must play no games with ourselves, referring to ourselves as the N-word is a fool’s game.
We must NEVER forget this vile, evil racist term is associated with brutal social systems that denied our humanity. It marks us as things, not people. Offending slaves were hung, burned alive at the stake, dismembered, castrated and branded in addition to the usual beatings that left open wounds with slivers of skin hanging, whereas, often-times kerosene was poured onto the wounds. Many times, the last words slaves heard dying from these numerous atrocities were rants and jeers of the N-word. The N word is more than just a slur…it serves specific purposes…purposes that most African-Americans just don’t seem to be able to comprehend.
Its purposes are three-fold: By categorizing us as the N-word implies we are non-human and thus any atrocities perpetrated upon us as being non-human is supposed to make it okay. This is not to be taken lightly, this has been the 400-year history of this country and to this day nothing has changed. Whether, it’s black on black crime or police shootings, the victim is seen as a n**ger and not as a human being. Black on black violence the victim’s name is seldom used, they are generally referred to as the N-word…a term of endearment it is not.
Second, the N-word was beaten, tortured and forcibly instilled into the minds of slaves to absorb a self-hate, self-abnegation image of themselves. This evolved into a transgenerational legacy. Consequently, many African-Americans are genetically predisposed to embrace the evil, immoral N-word; which is why so many can’t go 48 hours without the term flowing from their mouth.
And finally, the psychologically lie that’s been embedded into the minds of African Americans…so-called white superiority and black inferiority…the ultimate subterfuge.
By embracing the N-word we are accepting the total description of it, sanctioning the evil deeds and carnage perpetrated upon our race past, present and future. When black soldiers returned home from WWII they were greeted with jeers and admonished to never forget their place of being a n**ger. Through-out American history, African-Americans have been admonished to never, ever forget their place…the sunken place…you’ve been designated to dwell in. Rap artists such as Kanye West have allowed themselves to serve as agents for the ungodly.
We must remember to never celebrate ignorance by allowing ourselves to be defined with a term bestowed upon us by former slave-owners and a racist society. It embellishes self-hate, self-destruction and inferior thinking…it transcends being a slur…it’s a psychologically WEAPON. We as a race of people need to come out from underneath the 400-year comatose state and understand what any of this is TRULY all about.
The opportunity should also be addressed as to whether Black people can be racist? The answer is a resounding NO! When were the roles reversed that stripped Whites of their power and privilege and given to Blacks? There can be no reverse racism without a reversal of power.
It needs to be made clear that the Black race possesses no power nor resources at our fingertips to systemically practice bias discrimination, racism or inequity against another group. We simply don’t have the power to do that which is the difference between racism…and being prejudiced. And in the case of black people there can be a strong argument that we are not even prejudice…but are reactionaries…to racism and prejudicial behaviors.
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 ); and author of “Bury that Sucka: A Scandalous Love Affair with the N-Word“.
Also follow Mr. Smith on Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/thescoop1.
