No! is a complete sentence and easy enough that anyone should understand its meaning. Yet when told no by a female, most men’s response is not “okay” but instead “well, why not?” or “how come you said no?” or “you don’t mean it!” or “but you’ll like it if you try it.” Such questions put females on the defensive and are nothing but denials of a woman’s right to say NO! and be taken seriously.
The 49ers have filed tampering charges against the New York Jets regarding top San Francisco draft pick Michael Crabtree, Jets coach Rex Ryan confirmed Monday. "My understanding is they filed charges with the league," Ryan said. "I'm saying my response is it's not true. I mean, it's not accurate.
We embrace calling ourselves niggers, like that’s empowering, when in actuality, it’s disrespectful to our ancestors and just plain ignorant. To believe yourself to be a nigger, to behave like you are an ignorant sub human (the true implied meaning of the word) has no benefit or value. Defending the use of the word, trying to rationalize that it has been changed into something positive is insanity. Nine times out of ten, the usage of the word is meant to be disparaging and degrading, EXACTLY the way white people intended it to be used, and on the tenth time, it’s an empty a sign of self-hatred masquerading itself as a term of endearment.
White people expect us to behave like niggers, so calling ourselves that, ESPECIALLY in front of them, does nothing but reinforce to them that we are inferior. To carry yourself like royalty, to walk with dignity, to boldly declare that you are not only equal to but better than white people with your speech, your actions, and your intellect is FAR more threatening to white people than calling yourself a nigga. Want proof? Write a blog calling yourself a nigga and talking about cars, drugs, guns, rap, sex, sports, and how much you love living in the ghetto. You won’t get a private response or two from white people. Well that’s not entirely true. You might get a response or two asking you to fulfill their sexual fantasies. Then, write a blog, grammatically correct and spell checked, that talks about the greatness of black people, our strength, and our ability to excel despite racism, oppression, and bigotry. Write about how our true history of greatness has been distorted with white lies and deception. Discuss, academically articulated with footnoted and documented proof, advanced African civilizations and how white people re-wrote history to make themselves appear superior. White people will crawl out of the woodworks to tell you that Black people are ignorant and that you are nothing but a nigger.
You have to ask yourself, what would you rather be called, what benefit do you get from calling yourself a nigga? If calling yourself that makes you feel connected to other black people, consider yourself a slave on the plantation. If you do nothing else this year, decide to stop using the N word to describe yourself, to describe other black people you want to look down on, or as some sort of synonym supposedly meaning Black person. It’s negative, unenlightened, and stupid.
Posted by: Rasheed Young
The point I’m trying to make is that humility breeds success. Its obvious I knew he was joking when he made the comment, which actually made several colleagues laugh and feel rejuvenated at end of day. Life teaches us things in funny ways. I realized that its so important to keep your head down and do the work at all times. Its better to see the beautiful things in life than focusing on the negative things. But this can only happen if your willing to be ego free and willing to learn. I’m happy that Russell has taught me to breathe, smile and show love always. In the words of Russell “Be still. See God everywhere.”
Rasheed Young
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