Black Imagination – what’s a nigga to do? Part 1

In his book, The Souls of Black Folk W.E.B DuBois describes the existence of the Negro male in America as “a problem.” He explains the Negro as a social problem because he lives in “a world, which yields him no true self-consciousness, but only lets him see himself through the revelation of the other world.” His existence as a problem is further complicated by the far-reaching implications of his perceived problematic status and the manner in which it manifests within the institutions of family, community, faith, and economics.

In Race Matters, Cornel West explains this phenomenon as Nihilism, “the lived experience of coping with a life of horrifying meaninglessness, hopelessness, and lovelessness. The frightening result is a numbing detachment from others and a self-destructive disposition toward the world. Life without meaning, hope, and love breeds a cold-hearted, mean-spirited outlook that destroys both the individual and other.” I wanted to find a way to track the effects of the word “nigga” on the life of the African American male and its ability to create for us a subconscious and outwardly manifested nihilistic destiny. That is when I realized I would also need to find away to weigh the effects this word has had on Urban Pop Culture, which is better known as youth culture. If image is indeed everything, then the challenges facing a generation of youth who have been raised with this word inhabiting daily residence within their sentence structure is two-fold.

Primarily, there must be a reintroduction to the vile historical connotations attached to this word and then an education of what the power base’s intentions are for a generation, which proudly identifies themselves as “niggaz.”

I mean if “nigga” is indeed just a word.

If it is true that the image, which is impressed upon you, is the image which one literally owes one’s life to, then what is the outcome when the image that is being sought is one of a “nigga”? I wondered about what historically had been the outcome for African American men and those family members closest to them who suffer because of the misogynistic repercussions attached to this word? Or what the cultural/family/economic implications could be for subsequent generations?

This particular topic presents numerous challenges due to the inflammatory nature of the word - Shit, I throw the word around like a beach ball myself.

I felt my only chance at capturing the true essence of the extremely convoluted emotions attached to this subject was through the medium of media. I interviewed twenty people with rural and urban roots because I figured the perception of the word could also have a lot to do with your own geographical orientations. I also only interviewed African Americans because I wanted to limit the discussion to those who live with the ramifications of the word on a daily basis, asking them seven questions with eight follow-up questions.

I began each interview asking them to share with me the first image that comes to mind when I said the word “nigger.” And I ended each interview asking their opinions on why other race groups do not use the derogatory epithet directed towards them as “terms of endearment” the way we do as African Americans.

The standard interview process lasted approximately 20 minutes in the beginning stages of the project but the conversations steadily began to grow because each person who participated left me with even more issues to bring to the table in subsequent interviews.

Each interview also provided opportunities for symbiotic learning to evolve between people trapped in the same prison; subtly separated by the issues produced by gender, time, and perspective.

It was quite evident that as African Americans we deal with an enormous amount of duality, openly conflicted about our “love/hate” relationship with this word. On some level I thought I was alone in this journey but as dialogue took place I learned I was certainly not the only one who felt the abysmal weight of this graphically profane dysfunction. We shared in our travails with what we proposed to be an outwardly endearing term, which intrinsically produced profoundly unspeakable violence to our inner essence. It was almost like recounting our shared experiences at the hands of a vile abuser.

Every time we tried to give context to the reasoning we had for allowing this word to live amongst us as African Americans, we would promptly and almost instinctively disqualify that particular line of reasoning.

Another interesting finding was how this word surfaced in our interaction with our European (White) brethren: the older the person, as history would dictate, the more violent the usage of the word. With the younger participants the murky and convoluted nature of the word was perpetually present in their interaction with people of European decent. Almost every inclusion of White people into Hip Hop culture produced awkward moments of misidentification on the sides of both parties, causing the “cool white-boy” to feel so comfortable that he would chose not to edit himself when reciting his favorite rap lyrics. Some reported even deeper levels of self-loathing by admitting the allowance of some white people the “honor” of saying the word “nigga” as well as inclusion on terminology, “that white-boy is my Nigga” or “ya’ll my Niggaz”, to present a few examples.

This point also uncovered another layer within our discussion, the inclusive effects of Hip Hop culture, and its easily accessible counterparts - misogyny, murder, and materialism. When we settle in to examine and exegete the content of Hip Hop Culture we are bombarded with images which emanate from the Black Experience.

“Pimp”, Player”, and “Hustler” are words which are rooted in the African American psyche as we attempt to identify ourselves. We search for markers, which symbolize our independence from supremacist thought process, while simultaneously presenting an image of edge and danger.