The Black Man's Ignorance

I loved the Departed and even more so loved Inside Man.

But in both movies, one thing kind of startled me a bit: the use of the word nigger or nigga by white men. It was almost as if for a moment, they had committed a sin against me although it was just a film. For a hot second, I wanted to take Jack's head off.

Then I realized, this is real life. White people use the word on a regular basis. I shouldn't be upset, but instead understand that we are far removed from a colorless society free of prejudice and racial tension.

I don't know what should happen to Kramer, the Seinfeld character who got caught in a rant calling blacks niggers during a comedy routine.

But one thing that it told me is this. If we can look down upon each other, spew out that same venom (as we do) and it be okay, there should not be an uproar if Kramer does, too.

This issue has plenty of layers within my head, but I must say that I was proud to see that Jesse Jackson and Maxine Waters stepped up to some podium and announced their initiative to rid popular society of the word "nigga."

(Sure there's a major problem with our capitalistic society exploiting the word "nigga" and Black America for all it can, but that's another day, another, yet similar, topic)

I think it's rare that we, black people think about how the whites who brought our forefathers to America bred our ignorance by making blacks not use/forget their African language and by killing off the blacks who learned to read the English language.

Then they coined the term ignorant black or nigger/nigga, and some black was either so stupid or so conditioned to being called a nigger that he actually thought it'd be an OK idea to call blacks niggers or niggas. We still do it today with the twist of affection, some times.

Repeat, some times.

We think there's a positive connotation, but that's impossible when your ancestors who died for your rights are likely rolling over in their graves. Sure, there are words that have double meaning, but there are more people in popular society who use the n-word's "negative meaning" than the so-called positive one.

And right now, I'm trying to figure out what's positive or who would want to put a positive spin on being called "ignorant black?" Why not just say that's "my brother right there" and not "that's my nigga?"

White people made the word "black" - which is negro in spanish and niger in latin - have negative meaning in all of society, and at this stage we're just giving it wings instead of having allowed it to die with either the suffrage or civil rights movement.

I'm just glad someone realized incidents like the Kramer episode have no chance of ending unless we stop using the word ourselves. It's hard to be hypocritical of a man if you can't stop using the same negativism against your own people.

Now what will it actually happen? Will the Popular sector (Film Studios and the Music Industry primarily) stop usage of the n-word? Hell, no. Corporate America makes entirely too much money to give up the ability to use the word nigga. Shows make money even when they bleep the word out.

Put it like this, it still costs less than three dollars to make your favorite pair of Nikes. And we all know that cash rules everything around.

End of story. Period.