NIggahs (Updated)

This is the one. Even though I am in the process of deleting friends, this will make some people just jump ship on their own.
I wanted to post the actual news footage on here but here is the link:

Here is a quick recap. A black boy in some part of America got into some kind of disagreement with his white teacher. The white teacher then told the boy to go sit down, niggah NOT nigger, but niggah. There was definite distinction made between the two words and both agree that is was niggah not nigger. The white teacher says the black boy called him niggah first. It is likely but there was no one around to verify whether the boy said that or not. The boy denies it.

I know you know where I am going with this. What you may not know is my position on this subject.
Let me start out by saying that I am sick and dead dog tired of this topic. What sickens me most is that so-called intellectuals get hung up on this subject. Carter Woodson spent his entire epilogue explaining why the names we use are the least important to our progress. I have had friends argue that the internalization of derogatory terms that brings us down. But we internalize the term ourselves and we bring our selves down. But that is a divergent train of thought. Back to the main topic.

I’m sure everyone has seen parodies of the white guy who gets beat up for saying niggah around black people. I’m sure some of us have been in the real life situation. I have to say that I don’t care. I have only ever been called nigger once. It was by an old black woman. I have been called niggah millions of times by virtually all of my friends. It’s no reason to call the NAACP.

I see many millionaires on TV who most likely can’t read. Call the NAACP for that. I decided long ago that we would never be able to stop Black people from using niggah. Therefore, I just dont care if another race uses that word. Jews don’t go around calling each other kikes or whatever. No other race does that. Its just insanity! Don’t we have better things to do.

By the way the boy was lying. He called his teacher niggah first. And the whole community gets behind THIS boy. I can’t get behind a liar.

I hope the link works and I hope yall get a new perspective. The teacher was very eloquent in his defense of his use of the word. Holler at me yall. I want some dialogue but I want to see and end to this discussion.


[Comments]

the link doesn't work and i'm being lazy, so based soley on your blog from what I gather, yes the teacher was dead wrong. i try not to assume people's meanings in the things they say or do so I honestly have no opinion on the fact that Teacher used a form of the "nigg(er)/(ah)" term but I feel he was wrong to call the child out of his name period. he's the teacher. he's here to set an example and be the bigger person; teach lessons through his own actions. that being said though and aside from the "racial" factor, sometimes with kids, you have to flip the situation on them and make them walk in the tennis shoes that they themselves lace up for other people by doing to them what they do, for lesson's sake. so they know and understand how it feels. i don't know the details of this story and i'm certainly not justifying the teacher for saying what he said, i was just pointing out the bold print for the hell of it now as for the term and who gets to say it - i could care less. i say it. i say it all the time. in my personal Ceballos Dictionary, Tami L. Edition, it is a term for one person or persons, regardless of color or race and i 've always used it as such. it only bothers me when people outside my black heritage says it and means it derrogitorily (hey this word is also in my dictionary) for a fact, and is purposely demeaning my race. I'll check the link at some point and be back.…

Good answer. You are right about teachers being responsible. I was talking about the uproar over the word. The link mot working is probably why people haven't been responding. Sorry

checked the link. my first reaction without giving too much thought (to avoid a tangent) is the hoopla over it all is dumb. the teacher's response is good enough for me, whether he's just using that as a crutch to not make the intent of matters as bad as some may view it. in particular, i'm referring to him saying that he hears NIGGA/(s) all the time in the hall. i'm big on folks being a product of their environment and learning from example and classic conditioning. if you hear a song over and over again, you learn the words. if you are put in a foreign country, even if for needing to be there for years, being surrounded by only their language, you pick it up; you learn it; you adapt to how certain terms and phrases are used and what tones they are used in. call me dumb, but to me this is the same thing. the man hears it all the time, you don't expect him to slip, though i don't think it was that he slipped in this particular case, but he mentioned using the term before. he says he said it back in retaliation, so to speak because i don't recall right now the phrase he used exactly when explaining saying whatever to the kid, and if so, i don't care. see original comment. some kids need to experience what they dish...but the kid says he didn't use the term...kids lie especially when they want someone in trouble. notice at the end he wasn't big enough to say, "...apology accepted," he said that he thinks the teacher deserves not to work there anymore and i'm sorry but it seemed like he said more like a naner naner naner, i got you fired for saying that to me sort of thing. i may be wrong, but it was how i felt after watching that bit. anywho j, your point was the uproar and once again i've talked too much. the uproar to me was overrated.

amen and i agree with you. once again, people are worried about the wrong damn thing. worry about the starving children around the corner or the economy, not the white man's use of a word we use ourselves every day. Even though I don't feel there is always a distinction between nigger and nigga when someone of another race uses it, it was obvious to me from watching the clip that the teacher was trying to prove a point, and was not totally out of line. Granted, he is a teacher and should never call a student a name, but I bet otherwise that smart-ass kid wouldn't have sat down - so the teacher got his attention and people want to jump on the bandwagon to have him strung up by his toenails now. doesn't make any sense. i wonder if the teacher had been black if they would have just laughed it off?

[2010 Update]
This was before the Al Sharpton “Death Of The N Word”. You know that I now fully embrace the word and will use it freely and descriptively as often as possible. In fact, I wish the teacher had used it in a bad way. I would be on his side still. Niggardom is completely unacceptable. I hate label children but this was three years ago the kid’s grown now. That kid was a nigger. He deserved more than to be called niggah by his teacher. I truly wish we could all get past this word. The only way to do so comes from eradicating niggardom first. Let’s get to work!