A nigga is a Black person who has yet to come to the realization of who he/she is. Blacks who refer to other Blacks as niggas are one in the same. The excuse of using nigga toward other brothers and sisters as a "term of endearment" is an excuse laced with self-hatred of the worse kind. Not only is it out of sheer ignorance of self, but also of the voluntary ignorance of the manipulation imposed by the white establishment.

Recently, Al Sharpton threatened to protest "Boondocks" creator Aaron McGruder over a Martin Luther King Day episode of the animated version of his hit syndicated comic strip in which the celebrated civil rights leader comes back to life and utters the N-word. Though Al's concern is noble and deserves a fight - because any Black who uses the word nigga toward his own should be challenged - this should be done in private and not in public.

We should address our problems amongst ourselves, which would affix more earnestness to the problem - one-on-one - and possibly get something accomplished. It would help us address our problems ourselves and not showcase before the white establishment for any recycled approval or media attention. This is a Black thing only so let us handle it amongst ourselves, Al/Aaron.

Those who support McGruder, such as Black websites that publish his cartoon, are just as guilty of self-hatred and who crave public attention. Rappers, Black celebs, and role models who prance around this American soil and holla the word nigga at their brothers and sisters are nothing more than misplaced spirits of the dead who have yet to discover their inward selves, but are too caught up in public image and approval.

They should be given no attention by Black America or any rite of passage to celebrate anything that has to do with Black history or achievement but should instead be shunned by Blacks and turned over to celebrate the festivities of those who attached that derogatory title to Blacks: nigga/nigger whatever, same thing, (denial is a weakness). When Black websites, newspapers, and media-made Negroes stand or speak before the nation and world and use this word, they are adding negative hurdles in the struggle to overcome racist defeatist.

How can one expect respect when they cannot respect themselves, rule #1 in growing into adulthood. How can anyone expect to be proud and make strides or raise a decent, strong generation of Black Americans when they continually pull them down from the top of the barrel by attaching to them the brainless concept of "Niggerhood"? These are cowards afraid to face the reality of racism. They have no dignity or integrity and do not deserve any respect.

Blacks who speak against their own people, speak out of their own shame and, are Blacks who have not only lost themselves in the war on identity, but have assumed and absorbed the identity imparted to them by their white counterparts who boorishly mock them behind their backs. (Invite them to their country club once and offer them some ribs and you got an American-made Negro named tom). People like Larry Elders, Michael Massie, Jesse Lee Peterson, and other 21st century shoeshine boys are ones who bring distain and animosity against the rest of Blacks from already racist whites.

The only reason these people attempt to prove Blacks are sorry, lazy, and worthless is because they are not Black operated, they are white operated. When the media displayed the images of Katrina, these people were ashamed of the Blacks in New Orleans and are ashamed of all Blacks who are stereotyped this way. Not because they have concern for the Black image as a whole, but because they are more concerned with their own image.

No Black should have been ashamed of the images of New Orleans if they had an understanding of what life is all about in these United States. If they are ashamed, it is because they have no understanding of life thus no knowledge or understanding of themselves. Therefore, they are controlled by what white America portrays as who they are whether than who God made them.

Not knowing who you are leads to a pretentious character and lifestyle, which brings us to our next group of Black sheep, the self-hating intellectual. These Blacks are well aware of what goes on in this country toward Blacks but refuse to acknowledge it so they drown themselves in what they believe to be reality, the so-called reality of American culture. As long as they can act the part and speak the part, this means they will never have to identify with their true selves or their people, in whom they are Black.

All Blacks who use the term "self-hatred" to describe the Black race in America are in fact, self-hating themselves. Intellectuals often use this term when writing to describe the condition of Black America from an intellectual, scholarly standpoint. However, it is they who have also given control of themselves over to the white establishment by way of losing their true identity.

How can one hate themselves because of who they are? Better yet, who would hate themselves because of who they are? Only those who would believe they are less than anyone else: only those who have been deceived into believing there is someone better than they in all aspects of life, and those who refuse to identify with the people they believe they are better than. This is self-hatred.

A nigga is all of the above. One who has no control over themselves and who are led by the racist undertones of American society? A Black person who calls another Black a nigga are just as racially indoctrinated as those who invented the term, thus they are social subservient and agitators to the race wars in America. For that reason, they do not deserve to fight in the struggle nor do they deserve any recognition as being for the struggle.

© January 2006 By CR Hamilton