Ninja (Nigga) Pleazzz! – Is it Something I Said?

From time to time I had planned on featuring a blog in a category called “Ninja Pleazzz!”. Originally my thought was to use the word “Ninja” as my politically correct substitute for “the N word” or “nigga”…not to be confused with “nigger”. But as I began writing this piece, even I, as an African-American/black/brown/ woman of color…Nubian Queen, had to check myself. So I asked myself, is it necessary to use a substitute word? I might say “nigga please” in the presence of a short list of people (black people) but was it appropriate for my blog audience? Who might I offend (black or white), if anybody? Should I even care? What do you think?

Okay maybe I need to take a step back first. For those of you who don’t know, there is a major difference between the two words “nigger” and “nigga”. Among the black community, the ethnic slur “nigger” is sometimes represented as “nigga”, a pronoun in African-American vernacular usage, popularized by black comedians, past and present, and by the rap and hip-hop music cultures. In these situations, "nigga" is used as in-group lexicon and speech, and it is not necessarily derogatory.

Usage of the word “nigga” can insight laughter and/or add certain cadence to a storyline.  Cornel West once said, “There’s a certain rhythmic seduction to the word. If you speak in a sentence, and you have to say cat, companion, or friend, as opposed to nigger(nigga), then the rhythmic presentation is off.  That rhythmic language is a form of historical memory for black people... When Richard Pryor came back from Africa, and decided to stop using the word onstage, he would sometimes start to slip up, because he was so used to speaking that way. It was the right word at the moment to keep the rhythm together in his sentence making.”

Pause…flash backs of me and brother waiting for our parents to leave the house because we couldn’t wait to sneak and put their Richard Pryor album on the turntable. Good times!

I digress. On the other hand, being called a “nigger”, can elicit memories, thoughts and emotions that can make you mad enough to slap the taste out of the violators mouth! Either word (nigger/nigga) means something different depending on who said it, when and how they said it. They can express positive, neutral or negative attitudes.

My point is that these are sensitive words and I hesitate to use either one because it means different things to different people, but on the flip side, interjecting “nigga” into a conversation is soooo apropos in certain situations.  Some of you know exactly what I’m talking about.  Can I get an Amen?

Wait a minute!  Before anybody gets their panties in a bunch, let me be clear, I am NOT advocating the use of either word.  Especially not by those outside of the Black Community…it is still and probably always will be, grounds for getting an ass whoopin’ so I don’t suggest it. To my Caucasian, Asian, Latino and all other brethren…no matter how progressive you think we are, no matter how many black friends you may have…black people DO NOT want to hear your black (nigger) jokes, nor do we wish to hear you say, “That’s my nigga.”  And under no circumstances do we eva, eva, eva, eva want to be called “nigger”. We’re cool but we ain’t that cool. The black community may not be able to agree on its INTRAgroup usage, however, we are very unified when it comes to its INTERgroup usage.

As I was saying, I’m not promoting the use of either term but at the same time I’m not one of these folks running around trying to get signatures on a petition to abolish the word(s) either. Why…partly because I understand the etymology of the word “nigger” or at least I think I do and so it doesn’t have the same power over me as it once did.

Etymology: Nigger

From what I’ve read over the years, the origin of the word “nigger” can be traced back to ancient times. The ancient Egyptian word was N-g-r; pronounced en-jer which means God. In the ancient African and even the present African languages (the Afro-Asiatic linguistic family) vowels such as "a,e,i,o,u" are not found in many translations. Blacks in Egypt called their Pharaohs "En-ger" or "N-g-r" so he was literally referred to as "THE GOD."

Then the words meaning was changed by Romans.  In ancient times, Blacks were worshipped as Gods. The Gods of Greece came from Egypt. The worship of the Black Madonna is connected with the worship of Isis, the Egyptian Goddess. So a Roman general invading Nubia from Egypt would have used the Egyptian term for Pharaoh "N-g-r" or God.  Over time, the Romans used the term “n-g-r” in a neutral context to refer to ALL black people. 

Another school of thought says that the Egyptian word “n-g-r” was corrupted by the Europeans, as a variation of the Spanish/Portuguese noun “negro”, a descendant of the Latin adjective “niger”, meaning the color "black". Latin has its origins in Classical Greek and the word “negro” in Greek, is derived from the root word “necro”, meaning dead.

“Necro” refers to the act of ancestral worship known as necromancy or communication with the dead and was a practice of the Egyptians in order to honor the lives of ancestors who came before them. They believed by doing so could offer guidance and direction to the living. Temples/monuments were designed as places where the ancestors could be honored, and holidays (Holy Days) were the days designated for worshipping. The Greeks thought of the Egyptians had a preoccupation with death and they didn't understand their worship of the dead. They took their distorted beliefs back to Europe and the word “negro” evolved out of this misunderstanding.

In short, to JUSTIFY the enslavement of Africans, it was culturally necessary to believe, or be able to believe, that Africans were inherently and naturally less than human. To believe that they were beings of a sub-human, non-human, nature.  It became necessary to DEHUMANIZE Africans and DEVALUE their historical worth as a people in order to ensure their value as slaves.  Thus the word “nigger” was spawned during the white Europeans invasion of Africa, not as reference to the color of the skin but as a racial epithet.  The term “nigger” did not originate as a slur but took on a derogatory connotation over time.

What Now?

I've read several similar yet conflicting stories regarding the origin of the word "nigger". But no matter how the word evolved, its intent was a malicious one when used in American society and its connotation has a long, painful history behind it for Blacks. That is the reason why IT IS NOT and NEVER WILL BE okay for other ethnicities to use it in our company without repercussions. It’s not a double-standard because SOME black people choose to use it when in the company of other Blacks but MOST black people will go off if anyone else uses it. It’s about the history of the word and how it was and still is used to try to hurt, disparage, dehumanize and keep us in our “place”.

In terms of Black America using the word “nigga” amongst ourselves…well, that is a debate that will probably go on until the end of time.  Some people believe that we shouldn’t use the word in any form and that by simply dropping the “er” and adding the “a”, we only perpetuate the negativity and our own self hate.  Some believe that by making it our own word we are taking our power back. Yet others feel that by our acceptance of it, by our own use and by allowing our children to use the word, we have in some ways denied them of the knowledge of the history of this word and other negative descriptors of ourselves.  I somewhat agree with the last statement.  While I can't speak for everyone, my children are well educated about the history of their ancestors from ancient times to slavery to the present.  They know and understand as I think many of our youth do, the word "nigger" and the historical significance behind it.  At the same time, I do believe that the younger generations may be so far removed from that history, so far from living in that overtly racist climate, that maybe they can't ever fully relate. 

For me the irony of this whole controversy is that if we look at the words origin (as written above), if we as black people knew our history, we would have recognized that those who tried to use it to hurt us with their words, were actually calling us “Black God”. They were ignorant to its true meaning and so were we obviously (due to no fault of our own) because had we known, maybe we wouldn’t have given their mere words so much power in the first place. But I guess it’s kinda hard to stay positive and upbeat when you’ve been taken from your home land, separated from all you know…your people, your language, your culture, and then sold into a society that says you aren’t allowed to live your own life.  No reading and no writing.  No freedom what so ever.  A society where you were humiliated and beat down (physically, mentally and emotionally) every day of your life.  A place where you could be bought and sold at will.  One that said you are nothing but a piece of property and you have no rights.

My parents in their infinite wisdom and in the hopes of taking away some of the words power, taught me early that a “nigger” is anybody, of ANY color who is debased, uneducated, unaware, uninformed…or in other words IGNORANT! Niggers come in ALL shades and colors, so “Nigger is as nigger does”. I personally never felt like I met that description but still on the few occasions when I was called “nigger” to my face, I was taken back and on more than one occasion I reacted to the pain of the insult rather than responding intelligently to it.  Now I’m not so reactionary because I realize that the people saying it don’t know anything about me.  I know that behind the word is nothing but their misdirected hate and ignorance.  The funny thing is that the ones who had the audacity to say it, were usually walking, running or driving, as fast as they could…in a different direction while they spewed their venom. Cowards!!!

The bottom line is that the word “nigga” has been adopted by some black people, especially the younger generations, as more of a cool urban slang term.  When used, its cultural context is essential to its connotation, just like “nigger”.  Therefore “nigga” can be used as a term of endearment, a noun, a more flavorful way to tell a story. Right or wrong…it is what it is.  In the case of this blog category, “Ninja (Nigga) Pleazzz” will be used to show my absolute disdain of an ignorant, dumbass statement or comment made by some “jag-off” (Pittsburghese for jerk or jackass)! Nothing more and nothing less!  Hmmm, maybe I should name the category “Jag-off pleazzz”. 

What do you think?