Niggas...

First off, watch the video...

Today when I woke up, I did my morning routine...I put my feet on the ground, stretched, yawned, and then thanked the Most High for another day...even if I am in Iraq.

Then I did my daily ritual of checking my email and twitter accounts. I replied to a few emails and then migrated on over to twitter to see what my people back home were talking about...

What I saw when I logged in saddened and disappointed me. I saw CNN Journalist Roland Martin berating another black man for using the "N-Word". Now, not to be hypocritical, I use the "N-word" on a regular basis when talking to my friends and making jokes with them. I don't use it in mixed company, nor do I use it towards people (black or otherwise) that I don't know. Its respect, courtesy, and understanding.

Martin starts off with asking the guy, whom I know personally, "Before I smack the hell out of you on Twitter, let me first ask if you are an Alpha."

Wow...just...wow...

Now, as confrontational as I can be, I would've never said that to someone I don't know. Especially someone I suspected of being my fraternity brother. Considering the fact that Martin has a "bully pulpit" from which to lob bombs, I think it would've been more professional, appropriate, and even manly to simply say, "Hey brother, I don't like being referred to like that. That word offends me, and should offend you too."

Instead, Martin berates this man...repeatedly.

Another guy interjects...he begins to berate him as well, lumping them in the same category.

He's hurling insults and verbally flailing like a ten year old backed into a corner by bullies.

The whole time I'm thinking, "This is the man that BET, TV One, and CNN often use as a spokesperson for Black Americans? En masse? Really?"

I was disgusted...thoroughly.

Rather than engage the other people who invited him to discuss the word in a public forum (He was even offered the chance to come on a radio morning show to discuss it) he began throwing jabs at the people and where they were currently residing...lo and behold...Birmingham, AL. Wow...

At this point, I'd lost all respect for Martin...completely. Why? He'd lost his sense of commonality, of journalistic integrity even, for the sole purpose of education through verbal abuse. (As if that works.) THEN used Alpha Phi Alpha as a justification for his actions...WOW...our beloved fraternity is now a springboard for mutual disrespect. ABSOLUTELY AWESOME...

I'm done with Roland Martin for now...

On to the "N-Word" Check the video










Intent vs. Injury...I'm very familiar with the phrase and concept.

The brother that bore the brunt of Roland Martin's wrath began to argue that he didn't mean Nigga in the racist sense, but rather in the familial sense. He argued that the connotations, interpretations, and definitions of words change.

I agree. Completely. The definitions DO change. Does that make the word "Nigga" any less of a negative word? No. Does it take away the sting from the ears and heart of my grandmother when she hears it said? Probably not. Do the vast majority of young black people care? No....and I can understand why.

Nobly enough, Martin tried to appeal to this brother's sense of history by bringing up Martin Luther King and the upcoming memorial to Dr. King in DC...

This is what proved to me that Roland Martin is out of touch with black people in generations below him...

Most of us know who MLK is and was. We understand what Dr. King did for the Civil Rights Movement and black people in this country. We respect and applaud that.

HOWEVER, we were raised on artists like Tupac. Who used the word "Nigga" in many of his songs. He gave it the acronym "Never Ignorant, Getting Goals Accomplished".

Nigga rolled off the lips of our tangible role models like their names...

Tupac was who many of us saw as our "prince"...he was the example of black manhood we saw most often on our TV screens. Intelligent but not haughty. A lover AND a fighter. So complex, yet able to enjoy the simplicities of life. When he said on I Wonder If Heaven Got a Ghetto "Mo nigga Mo nigga Mo niggas/Rather be a dead than a po' nigga" we saw that as motivation to be successful. He said, "And for once I was down with niggas/Felt good in the hood bein' around the niggas/and for the the first time everybody let go..." it was a soothing of our insecurities. It was a declaration of freedom, independence, and joy. We were free to just be...us...self identified "niggas"...

Is it messed up? YEAH! Its f***ed up beyond belief that we could self-identify ourselves as a word with such a negative history. Its also naive to think that our world view as 20 somethings has been shaped by anything other than our media based influences.

We saw our Malcolm murdered in Tupac. We watched another of our heroes murdered in Biggie. We've seen countless numbers of our friends and loved ones die in the streets because of gang violence and the crack epidemic cosigned and paid for by the US Government. We lived in frustration when Amadou Diallo was murdered in the streets of New York. We mobilized, if only for a short time, when we saw the Jena 6 being mistreated. We shed silent tears when Sean Bell was gunned down. We were angry when we saw Oscar Grant's killer get a slap on the wrist. We felt pride when we saw Barack Obama get elected to the Presidency and celebrated (albeit in a kind of backwards way) by singing along to Young Jeezy's My President Is Black.

So with all these things influencing our world view...all the things that have shaped my generation of Black Americans, all of the issues that 20-somethings all over Black America are facing (At times broached by Roland Martin's colleague Soledad O'Brien).....we are still battling over the "N-Word"...

For lack of a better phrase...Nigga Please...

Check the video












See what Gil Scott Heron did...he spoke to my generation from a place of understanding and genuine caring...

Now is that so hard?