"I see that black students at the University of Texas at Austin are pissed about the racism that is reflected in the Longhorns school song “the eyes of Texas” well you could've chosen to attend either Texas Southern, Prairie View A&M, Langston College, Paul Quinn College, Texas College, St. Phillips College, Huston Tillotson College, and Wiley College, and not had that problem. Come on home where you are loved. You will get that special HBCU kinda love that you will never find where you're truly not wanted except for their entertainment purposes. The eyes of Black America are upon you."

#theblackblogger

Recently I was asked by a close friend of my mine my feelings about the word “nigger”.  Why did that word cause some much angst, and foreboding thoughts? How that word be used to define the myriad of inequalities that so many black people in our community face every day. Why that word became synonymous with skin tone and not attached to those who created the environment that has allowed the inequalities of the black community to exist. This analysis required some deep thought for me because, after almost 7 decades in this country, I’ve been labeled many negative things, The absolute worst of these labels for me personally has been being called a nigger by a white man or white woman.

Today, I’m taking a different approach to the use of that derogatory term this morning. Because it is my true belief that there is some “nigger” and in some cases a whole bunch of “nigger” in so many White Americans reared and taught to hate race in this nation. White Americans that have never been able to confront the realities of racism in their everyday life. Many White Americans have been conditioned to enjoy the depravity that people of color face.  White Americans have learned to close their eyes to the many visible ills of a sick nation. 

Many White Americans have never and will never recognize that an entire race of people was snatched from their native lands to build the wealth of a nation that they consider theirs and not anyone else’s. This simple recognition, two words, We are sorry, so many White Americans unable to say I’m sorry. Unable to say we owe you a debt of gratitude, a debt of reparations for every black soul we took; White Americans unable to say they are sorry for those black bodies that hung from trees of injustice. White Americans whose ancestors either participated directly in those malicious acts of murder or watched the acts for the pleasure of entertainment. White Americans refuse to acknowledge that black women were raped because that black woman was powerlessness to say no. White Americans who refuse to acknowledge that their ancestors tore black families apart for the economic betterment those white plantation owners. White Americans refusing to acknowledge every black dream deferred. White Americans refuse to acknowledge the shame that in the supposed greatest nation in the world a hungry black child cries while his/her black parents weep in separate corners of the room. White Americans allowing the despicable schools that are run down due to poor economic support. Schools that even in the 21st Century still aren’t part of the digital revolution that is prevalent in almost every school that enrolls a white student. White Americans refuse to acknowledge that this nation’s leaders allowed illicit drugs to be flushed into Black communities, drugs that wasted minds and destroyed hope. White Americans who have blind eyes to the weapons that were flushed into black communities that destroy dreams every day. White Americans would rather support the building of jail cells to house Black American males than building and rebuilding cities that would bring hope and wealth to those who are locked in those jail cells. White Americans who have no compassion that black children are still exposed to lead on the walls of the dilapidated homes that they live in, or the supposedly clean water that they drink. White Americans seem to feel victorious about the disaster that is the lives of so many Black Americans. For you, White America, you placed the nigger as a derogatory descriptor of Black Americans but in reality White America the term “nigger” describes the actions of you and your ancestors, not mine.