Zoya Zaidi
This has a lot hidden in it, and a lot overt in it!
Colour of the skin, Aparthide! It still exists and is one of the most painful experieces a man can have... the worst crime against humanity!
((Hugs for a very important text!)))
Welcome to the bay!
Love,Zoya
2007-03-16

Saheed Giwa
Someone sent this to my box and I believe it will do more good, if it's posted hear.
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Thanks for the expansion of the explanation on that. I was kind of wondering where you were from. I noticed in your intro on that you mentioned that you checked the "English" dictionary so I thought that English was probably not your native language.

I've often joked with my dad about that. When he uses the word, I would tell him that he's miss pronouncing it... "It's pronounced 'Niger', it's a country in Africa". :) I've never been able to stand racism... It's not that my dad is racist. I mean, he doesn't have any problem with people other races. He doesn't approve of inter-racial relationships (I consider that being racist, it's more than an acknowledgement of the different races). And of course he does use the word "niger" to refer to just any black person. If it is to be used as an insult, then I suppose that that could be somewhat acceptable. But not in a racist way. To be used like "whitetrash". But still, I really wouldn't approve of it's usage... It's just what is meant by it. Even though the word itself only means that a person is black, what is implied by using it is racism. No one usually would use that word unless they are racist. Negro would be more acceptable. What people think of a particular word can sometimes change it's meaning over time. I believe now that it means more than calling a person "black". There is an insult lied within it's usage... How do you feel about that?

You're welcome for the comment,
T.

And I replied with this;

I believe the word has been created to stay to the end of time, irrespective of whether it remains offensive or acceptable for it true meaning.
I originally used white trash in the composition of the poem but I realised that the inclusion might give a negative effect of my stance on the poem. So I used another word to reduce the effect without destroying the intended phrase.
If you read the poem again, you will find out that when the offended person was using racial phrases, he was being reprimanded with racial statements [in question format] until he used proper white man. Then, he was told that nigger is just niger which is just black. It was just like I was telling him to stop being racial until he used the right phrase to get the right explanatory statement in question format. The poem was written to bring people together instead of tearing them apart. The word became offensive because the ancient english are far more knowledgible than their black co-habitants of that time. In modern age, the black is now been given the chance of equal education which, I believe, to have destroyed the inferiority of begin black.

"There is only one race
and that is human race"

I believe, it is time to put the mistake of the past with the past and take a step forward to eliminate the unnecessary racial tensions for the sake of those like that six year old boy, the coming generation of equal one race.
2007-03-14

Individuality
it matters not where the word originates if someone is using it as a term of racial abuse, the only fact that does matter in that instance is it is used to cause harm verbally which can lead to abuse physically for people are temperamental. as times change so do words with the majority of their use in application. most will automatically think of nigger now as being a term of disrespect because of its racial connotations.
2007-03-12

Saheed Giwa
Thanks for your comment.
You have my agreement with your comment on ignorance in association with racism. The word actually originated from the latin "nigri/niger" which planely means black. The word nigger originated from badly pronounced latin niger "black" by the ancient english. It has being in usage since the ancient time when colours were named. It doesn't have much to do with slavery as widely believed. I've never met a white man who is offended by been called white. Niger is just a colour which is widely known as black.
If you are a good observer, you would have noticed that the term black is not only used for african blacks in modern age. Black is now used for every coloured people or mixed bred like halfcasts. If nigger means black then they are all niggers.
The words niger also have another mean in africa from the name of a river that links west africa to the rest of the world. My country Nigeria was named after the river and if you check oxford dictionary, you will find out that Nigger was actually descibed as the people of Niger.
With the advent of colonialism, a lot of white people were born close that river. That makes them, the white nigger when we go with the explanation of oxford dictionary because they are people of the Niger.
Your contribution is well appreciated.
2007-03-12

Individuality
words, though they may originate from one source or more their meanings change with time too, slang words often become dictionary words in their own right if used enough in the common language. the inflections behind the word hold the power, nigger is often used by white people as derogatory though amongst black people they use it as affection a lot i have found. a black man can call another black man a nigger but a white man will seldom get away with using the word without some sort of hostility.
2007-03-12