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N-Bomb
"The word has its past in the dehumanizing period of black slavery."
By Pendarvis Harshaw
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Youth Radio’s Pendarvis Harshaw has been thinking about how the N-word keeps passing from one generation of African Americans to another…despite the ongoing controversy over its use. And while the old debate continues about when and where it should be used, Pendarvis would like to take the word out of commission…starting with himself.
In every region in the U.S., inner city terminology takes a twist. But the one term that will get you accepted in any hood around the country... is "nigga." The mentoring program I meet with every week aspires to change that. At the meeting, there's a chart that illustrates the hierarchy of self-definition for black males. "Nigga" is at the bottom. It ascends to "man", then to "master", and finally to "God." Here’s the theory - what you say you are, you become. I'm constantly reciting the self-affirmation - "I'm a master." But still, I'm struggling to drop the word "nigga" from my vocabulary.
I always wonder, someday, will people forget that "nigga" came from the word "nigger"? The word has its past in the dehumanizing period of black slavery.
And now, the upcoming generation of black folks maintain the word like it's hereditary. The other day I was play-fighting with my two-year-old nephew. I always taunt him, calling him "fathead", or telling him to "Shut up punk!" But for the first time, he came back at me with, "Shut up nigga!" And so on the lips of my baby nephew and his playmates, the word gets carried into another lifetime of internalized oppression.
Now, it’s been warped, multiplied, and like an invasive species, even made its way to Africa. On a recent trip to Ghana, I told a young salesman in the marketplace I was from California. He instantly referred to a verse from a rap song titled "California Love". I shook his hand, saying "yeah - that's tight". He said - "yeah my nigga!" It hurt to know we're known for being "niggas" worldwide.
But there is hope. On that chart in my mentoring program, next to "nigga" it refers to the corresponding attitude -- "I don't give a bleep.” Next to master, it reads, "I will get it done." And I believe that from Oakland, California, to Accra, Ghana it's possible to do as the chart illustrates - redefine ourselves. To the point where the next generation of rap music is known as the music of masters.
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