The Black Informant

Activists urge boycott of the ‘N-word’

(latimes.com) “Comic Paul Mooney used to joke in his routine that he uttered the “N-word” 100 times every morning.

“Well, white folks, you shouldn’t have ever made up the word,” Mooney, who is black, says in promotional material. “… I say nigga 100 times every morning; it makes my teeth white.”

But on Monday, Mooney pledged never to use the word again after seeing a video of white comedian Michael Richards, who used the word — and other slurs — to denounce hecklers at a recent performance captured on video.

“I’ve used it and abused it, and I never thought I’d say this,” Mooney said, but Richards “is my Dr. Phil — he’s cured me.”

Mooney, whose career credits include writing for the late Richard Pryor and the TV show “In Living Color,” joined Monday with African American leaders including the Rev. Jesse Jackson and Rep. Maxine Waters (D-Los Angeles) in calling for rap stars, hip-hop artists and everyone else to stop using the offensive word. They endorsed an NAACP campaign to “just say ‘no’ to the N-word.”

“We’re not trying to penalize anyone,” Waters said at a news conference at the Los Angeles Sentinel newspaper, “but don’t use the N-word, no matter who you are, whether you’re black, white, young or old.” (more…)

I wonder how this will go with those (some of who I debated over the years) who feel that this word is indeed a “cultural expression”?

Davey D, 1999

“Using the word “nigga” as an identifier in the fraternity of hip-hop is no different. In fact, it is perfectly natural according to some definitions of hip-hop. If you define hip-hop as a survival mechanism, as a means of making something from nothing, then the act becomes compulsory. It’s an act of empowerment. When we call each other “nigga,” we take a word that has been historically used by whites to degrade and oppress us, a word that has so many negative connotations, and turn it into something beautiful, something we can call our own. I know it sounds cliche, but it truly becomes a “term of endearment.” We’re not using phrases and terminology that come from outsiders to define ourselves. We tell outsiders that this is ours; you’re welcome to play the game, but don’t forget, it’s still our ball. And we have every right to do what we want with it anytime we choose. That’s the intrinsic beauty of the word, this act of self-definition. This is well within the framework of hip-hop and certainly within the larger framework of the cultural expression of the African American. It is from this same sense of creativity that slaves made gourmet delicacies from parts of the pig that “Massa” considered inedible innards. It is from this spring of creativity that niggas in the Bronx formed the early stages of what we now know as Hip-Hop Culture. I’m really not in the habit of quoting N.W.A., but I think they put it best–I guess I’m just a nigga4life.” (source)

The “Richards” effect

Now that it took a white man to see the ugliness of the n-word, how about using some white guys in a music video that depicts them referring to Black women as “bitches”, “ho’s”, or Kanye’s favorite, “Mutts“?