BACKlikeWEneverLEFT

Good world, what’s going on? This is your man Handy back on it with another blog for the masses. Black History Month for 2014 have not necessarily been the best for me, but there is always March around the corner haha!!! But let’s end off the month right by making sure we hit a Black History topic all of us can relate. Nigga, nigga, nigga, nigga!!! My nigga, your nigga, everyone a nigga!!! (In my Katt Williams voice) Say it with me one time!!!!! Let me take time to all my NIGGAS in the world.

Sounds like I’m out of control right now. Sounds like I am trying to offend some people right? Being a black man in America, do you now give me a pass? Is it now okay for me to just throw the word everywhere and anywhere. If I were a middle aged white man, would you be outraged and angered? Would you want my blog taken down from the Internet? If I were a young Spanish woman, would you be confused on how to feel? Would you be indifferent about me using the word? These are all different questions that we as a society ask ourselves when referencing the use of the N word.

There have been national discussions about the use of the N word this year already. ESPN just aired an Outside The Lines special about the use of the N word in the African American culture. The NFL just passed a new rule stating that players will receive a penalty flag if caught using racial slurs such as the N word and other slurs during football games. A college basketball player named Marcus Smart received a 3 game suspension for shoving a fan during an Oklahoma State University basketball game. Smart insisted that the fan called him the N word when he ended up in the crowd after a play was finished. Paula Deen a national celebrity and beloved by many, was ridiculed and outcasted after she was recorded using the N word in conversation. Shoot I was at work today and an older white guy who was telling a story about two black guys fighting didn’t hesitate to repeat what the black guy said to the other. As he stated, “I didn’t tell that nigger he could touch me!”, I looked around at my coworkers as they laughed, 4 white and 1 black, in shock that no one said anything about his ease at using the word.

As we wind down another Black History Month, let’s not forget what this word used to represent. Being called a NIGGER was not a compliment. If a white slaveowner called you his NIGGER, then you were his property. In the 1960’s during the Civil Rights Movement, being a NIGGER was not a term of endearment. If a white business owner in the South called you a NIGGER, it was to disrespect you and refuse service to you. I can call you my NIGGA all I want, but if a young White man calls you my NIGGA, can you guarantee that he’s calling you a friend or is he low-key trying to slander you and disrespect you?

Me personally I don’t care honestly in what context you are trying to use the N word, at the end of the day it’s not a word that should be used. This is just my personal opinion. Now yes I am a walking contradiction because I use the N word daily and that is something I told myself at the beginning of the year I planned to eliminate out of my vocabulary altogether. That is one of my personal goals for 2014. The first step of change is awareness and I am aware that my use of the N word is wrong and disrespectful to all the African Americans that died to give me the freedom to speak how I feel.

My thing is you don’t hear people calling White people honkies and thinking it’s fine. You don’t hear people calling Spanish people spics and thinking it’s nothing wrong. Point I’m trying to make is when will we as African American stop being the butts of everyone else’s jokes? Saying those words are equivalent to saying curse words. You get in trouble for cursing, just like you get reprimanded for making racial slurs, but with the N word it’s this gigantic dispute. So what makes the N word any different?

It’s because we as African Americans made the N word sexy. Every rapper says it. Every sports athlete says it. Shoot now we are giving other races passes to say it when they are around us if we are cool with them. After reading this blog, when you get a chance, look yourself in the mirror and ask yourself this one question: What type of NIGGER are you? Hopefully, you can say I AM NO NIGGER proudly. Right now I know I can’t, but I am working diligently to change that, can you say the same about yourself??? Until next time world, be safe and be great…