Bill Maher's reference to himself as a house nigger engendered yet another debate about the word that owns the mind and soul of millions black people in our nation.
It's just a word, people and I know it has greater implications, but I bet you never think about why it does and that's because you do not think. You react and your reaction has been decided for you long before you ever do it.
Before I go on, let me say that I could give a shit if Bill Maher or anyone else uses the word. It's a scam, you see, another brilliant method by which we remain mentally enslaved.
Here is how black and non-black people use the word to keep us weak and powerless. I'll use numbers because this is very simple logic that operates under our bullshit lofty ideals.
1. Black people (by and large) have nothing in terms of wealth and this in a capitalist nation that says wealth is everything.
2. We have no wealth because powerful men have used violence and laws to keep us that way, and we, for our part, have suffered from a stepchild relationship with white people, created by slavery, sexual and psychological subjugation. Oppressed and enslaved people throughout history have had the same problems, but we have had it in the modern age and in a nation which says there is no place for it, but then hypocritically works to create these problems.
3. We have been unable to overcome these disadvantages in part because cultural, social and political opposition has been used on us to keep us at the bottom of capitalism's pyramid, because that's the way capitalism works. Poor and disadvantaged people are defacto enslaved to keep wealthy people wealthy. And what better people to keep in virtual slavery, than people who were actual slaves. Half the work is already done.
4. Liberals lie to us and work to keep us oppressed and conservatives tell us that we can do it on our own and then manipulate the system so that we cannot succeed. And when we overcome their evil efforts, they have literally murdered and burned our accomplishments to the ground.
5. And with these forces against us, our personal efforts are never enough to break the cycle of mental dependency that others break who have neither our internal history nor the external opposition. Miss me with that "immigrants do it" shit. For them, assimilation does not feel like defeat, it is in fact ascension.
6. At the apex of that cultural, social and political opposition referred to in number 3, is the word and meaning of nigger.
7. Non whites use the word to denigrate, enrage and taunt blacks whenever they feel like it, distracting us from the economic tyranny that faces us and giving us an identifiable enemy to vent our frustrations against but offering no hope that we will ever defeat this enemy because it is not a person. It is a theory, the ghost of a lie, an evil demi-god which is given power only by those who believe in him. It's so bad, that we have given the word a "nom de peur," like Voldemort, a name we dare not say: the N-Word.
8. Black people transformed the word culturally, hoping to weaken it but we also gave it power by continuing to be angered by its use by white people, even going so far as to say that "we can use it, but you can't." Think of that, a word which is forbidden by race. It's downright Orwellian.
9. But just like liberals and conservatives conspire to keep us weak, they also conspire to keep the word nigger powerful in propaganda used against us.
10. Liberals sympathize with us and are outraged by the word, call to ban it, and agree that only we can say it. When in reality, they benefit from our enslavement to the word and our enslavement in general. They are offended by the word nigger but not the invidious discrimination in business and the way capitalism continues to shut us out of having legacy wealth. Isn't it funny that a black person can get a credit card, a car loan or even a mortgage but struggle to get business loans because we lack "collateral" the same collateral others have attained by legacy which was purchased with blood and tyranny?
11. Conservatives agree that nigger is a "bad word" but use it in private and in secret emails. In public, they use other ways of conveying the word. Still, they believe in deifying the word nigger because they know they can go there anytime they want, use it or refer to it and get black people to go apeshit (pun intended).
12. And thus, because black people are frustrated by losing in the capitalism game, we claim property that has cultural worth but no economic value. And just like that, the word nigger owns you.
13. We claim ownership of the word because it makes us feel better and it gives us a fight that never ends and which makes us feel like we are always doing something, when in fact, all we are doing is playing into the hands of those who never want us to be free.
This is how the word nigger owns you and why you should not care who says it and why you should give it no power in your life. So, black people let it go. Stop feeding a monster that was created to terrorize you forever. Non-white liberals, stop pretending you care about our feelings and know that the jig is up, we see you and your shit and it no longer works. We can be allies, but you no longer get to have it both ways, you can't claim you have my interests at heart, ask for my loyalty, use my vote and appropriate my culture, all the while slipping little knives into my back and disappearing when you have to participate for real and meaningful change.
Non-white conservatives, you can say any word you want, but there will be no more anger and drooling wrath because of words. When you act to oppress me, then you've got a real problem and words will not be used. And the next time you want to use that false American equivalency shit, think of this joke: A white man tells a black man "Why don't your people just do like we did when we came here?" So, the black man kills him, rapes his wife and daughter, enslaves his sons and steals all of his property.
In my heart, I know that this blog will not change the world, but it has made me feel better. I know you all, black and white will keep using the word nigger as a fake battleground for the fights you are all afraid to have. And you will do it because we are all scared of change, that without these petty differences, we might fall back into our most violent of tendencies and so it is better to have surrogate violence than real violence.
But I am not afraid of what we can do if we are free from lies and specious philosophy. So, I say to black and whites, paraphrasing Baldwin:
I am not your nigger.
Copyright ©2017 use by permission only
Here is how black and non-black people use the word to keep us weak and powerless. I'll use numbers because this is very simple logic that operates under our bullshit lofty ideals.
1. Black people (by and large) have nothing in terms of wealth and this in a capitalist nation that says wealth is everything.
2. We have no wealth because powerful men have used violence and laws to keep us that way, and we, for our part, have suffered from a stepchild relationship with white people, created by slavery, sexual and psychological subjugation. Oppressed and enslaved people throughout history have had the same problems, but we have had it in the modern age and in a nation which says there is no place for it, but then hypocritically works to create these problems.
3. We have been unable to overcome these disadvantages in part because cultural, social and political opposition has been used on us to keep us at the bottom of capitalism's pyramid, because that's the way capitalism works. Poor and disadvantaged people are defacto enslaved to keep wealthy people wealthy. And what better people to keep in virtual slavery, than people who were actual slaves. Half the work is already done.
4. Liberals lie to us and work to keep us oppressed and conservatives tell us that we can do it on our own and then manipulate the system so that we cannot succeed. And when we overcome their evil efforts, they have literally murdered and burned our accomplishments to the ground.
5. And with these forces against us, our personal efforts are never enough to break the cycle of mental dependency that others break who have neither our internal history nor the external opposition. Miss me with that "immigrants do it" shit. For them, assimilation does not feel like defeat, it is in fact ascension.
6. At the apex of that cultural, social and political opposition referred to in number 3, is the word and meaning of nigger.
7. Non whites use the word to denigrate, enrage and taunt blacks whenever they feel like it, distracting us from the economic tyranny that faces us and giving us an identifiable enemy to vent our frustrations against but offering no hope that we will ever defeat this enemy because it is not a person. It is a theory, the ghost of a lie, an evil demi-god which is given power only by those who believe in him. It's so bad, that we have given the word a "nom de peur," like Voldemort, a name we dare not say: the N-Word.
8. Black people transformed the word culturally, hoping to weaken it but we also gave it power by continuing to be angered by its use by white people, even going so far as to say that "we can use it, but you can't." Think of that, a word which is forbidden by race. It's downright Orwellian.
9. But just like liberals and conservatives conspire to keep us weak, they also conspire to keep the word nigger powerful in propaganda used against us.
10. Liberals sympathize with us and are outraged by the word, call to ban it, and agree that only we can say it. When in reality, they benefit from our enslavement to the word and our enslavement in general. They are offended by the word nigger but not the invidious discrimination in business and the way capitalism continues to shut us out of having legacy wealth. Isn't it funny that a black person can get a credit card, a car loan or even a mortgage but struggle to get business loans because we lack "collateral" the same collateral others have attained by legacy which was purchased with blood and tyranny?
11. Conservatives agree that nigger is a "bad word" but use it in private and in secret emails. In public, they use other ways of conveying the word. Still, they believe in deifying the word nigger because they know they can go there anytime they want, use it or refer to it and get black people to go apeshit (pun intended).
12. And thus, because black people are frustrated by losing in the capitalism game, we claim property that has cultural worth but no economic value. And just like that, the word nigger owns you.
13. We claim ownership of the word because it makes us feel better and it gives us a fight that never ends and which makes us feel like we are always doing something, when in fact, all we are doing is playing into the hands of those who never want us to be free.
This is how the word nigger owns you and why you should not care who says it and why you should give it no power in your life. So, black people let it go. Stop feeding a monster that was created to terrorize you forever. Non-white liberals, stop pretending you care about our feelings and know that the jig is up, we see you and your shit and it no longer works. We can be allies, but you no longer get to have it both ways, you can't claim you have my interests at heart, ask for my loyalty, use my vote and appropriate my culture, all the while slipping little knives into my back and disappearing when you have to participate for real and meaningful change.
Non-white conservatives, you can say any word you want, but there will be no more anger and drooling wrath because of words. When you act to oppress me, then you've got a real problem and words will not be used. And the next time you want to use that false American equivalency shit, think of this joke: A white man tells a black man "Why don't your people just do like we did when we came here?" So, the black man kills him, rapes his wife and daughter, enslaves his sons and steals all of his property.
In my heart, I know that this blog will not change the world, but it has made me feel better. I know you all, black and white will keep using the word nigger as a fake battleground for the fights you are all afraid to have. And you will do it because we are all scared of change, that without these petty differences, we might fall back into our most violent of tendencies and so it is better to have surrogate violence than real violence.
But I am not afraid of what we can do if we are free from lies and specious philosophy. So, I say to black and whites, paraphrasing Baldwin:
I am not your nigger.
Copyright ©2017 use by permission only
