What’s up family! How was your weekend? It’s been a little while since I posted anything. I hope you haven’t lost interest. I really appreciate the feedback that I’ve gotten so far. Also, I want to give much love to my girl, Butta, who gave me a nice shout out in her blog, Butta On
Sometimes in the Playground, it gets kind of serious and today is one of those times. I’d like to discuss a touchy subject and I hope that everyone can approach it with an open-mind. I’m going to sign a contract to stop using the word, nigger. Yeah, I have to admit that I do use the word in conversation with friends, co-workers and family members. It is something that I grew up hearing within my family. Always have been conscious of the negative history of the word but also embraced the newfound acceptance of the word as a term of endearment. This won’t be the first time that I stopped using the word either. When I was in school, I got caught up in the pro-black, African medallion wearing, Public Enemy listening movement that spread across campuses everywhere. My roommates and I temporarily referred to each other as “brother” or “black man.” Eventually, we fell back into the habit of using the word as if we had never been listening to Malcolm X speeches or reading the books of Dr. Na’im Akbar. I guess we weren’t quite the revolutionaries that we had earlier professed that we would become.
Recently I was watching CNN and they did a piece on a couple of young African-Americans who started a campaign to abolish the use of the n-word. They seemed like intelligent, well-education folks so I thought that I would hear them out. What they were saying really hit me like I had never heard it before. We've all heard the debate about trying to turn such an ugly word into a term of endearment. I don't know if was just explained so clearly or if I'm just that age when its time for me to rethink my childish ways. Whatever the reason, I'm down for the cause.
I ask you to check out their website, abolish the "n-word" and let me know how you feel on the subject.
1 comment:
Hmm- -you know, I'm not sure how I feel about the word. I'm 25 years old - so my views may appear to be a bit warped to my older counterparts.
I think the word is what it is in certain contexts - just like any word. I think I'm really okay with the word being used in context between members of my same ethnicity. But, with anything, I think boundaries are important and so is context. It's just one of those things that you've gotta use carefully or else it can turn your world upside down...like credit cards.
Coming Into Reality,
-DTW
Post a Comment