The DISH

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Volume 10 Issue 29…Dedicated to the Dialogue on Race…July 20, 2007

Buried But Not Gone

By John Burl Smith

Juxtaposing two events that occurred over the last two weeks involving the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) foretell dark days ahead for slave descendants in the United States of America.

The first event recalled the triumphant battle to overturn Plessy v Ferguson (separate but equal) in Brown v Board of Education of Topeka (1954). On June 28, 2007 in a majority 5-4 opinion, the Supreme Court in Petitioner v. Seattle School District No. 1 et al. and Crystal D. Meredith, Petitioner v. Jefferson County Board of Education et al. decided that in Seattle, Washington, where school districts voluntarily adopted student assignment plans that would achieve racial balance within a predetermined range based on the racial composition of the school district, and in Virginia, where the district allocated slots for elementary and high school for the same purpose, race could not be considered. Although the lower court and the Courts of Appeals upheld the plans, the five horsemen of the Apocalypse, Chief Justice John Roberts, Antonin Scalia, Clarence Thomas, Samuel Alito and Anthony Kennedy, outlawed the use of race in determining school assignments for K-12 students, effectively killing Brown and resurrecting Plessy.

The second event occurred on Monday (7-9-07) during the NAACP national convention in Detroit. The organization held a symbolic funeral for the "N" word. Blaming the caustic word for how people use it and their hurtful intent and affect, leaders of the nation's oldest civil rights organization elevated "nigger" to the status of Jim Crow segregation. Pledging time and resources to entomb a word they will not say in public, the group vowed to wash the foul palindrome out of the mouths of Americans. Pointing fingers at pariahs, such as comic Michael Richards, radio shock jock Don Imus and rappers for allowing the pejorative come out of their mouths and off their pens, the NAACP is contemplating bringing back stocks, pillory and dunking stools to punish offenders.

Born in 1943 at the end of one of the most desperate periods for blacks since emancipation, I learned what it meant to be a "nigger" early in life. The designation Negro had replaced Colored people; however through it all nigger endured. Problems facing slave descendants were life and death matters -- lynching, poverty, police brutality, unemployment and inequality in education, housing, etc.-- as black and white signs guarded the color line. The NAACP led the fight to overturn Plessy v Ferguson, gain black voting rights and access to the bounty of America.

I remember that fall day in 1954 when my fifth grade teacher, Mrs. Cargill, came running into our classroom, teary-eyed shouting the news. "We won! We finally won! The Supreme Court just outlawed segregated schools. Separate but equal (Plessy v Ferguson) is dead and buried, thank God!" Brown changed everything about the way most Colored people or Negroes thought of themselves. But one thing didn't change, nigger continued to endure.

Brown gave birth to the civil rights era and the NAACP was the hero. They stayed the course and prevailed. We were on the move. There was integration, court ordered busing, desegregation plans and race riots. But through it all nigger endured by taking refuge in backrooms. Slave descendants no longer wanted to be colored or Negroes, we were black and proud nappy-headed niggers. The NAACP never gave up colored people in its organization's name.

The US Supreme Court's decision in June stood Brown on it head and with the burial of the "N-word" the NAACP stood on its head. Facing a crisis in education, which was made worse by the court's latest decision, the NAACP want black people to believe the N-word is more deserving of attention. We have buried the likes of Mary Burnett Talbert, W. E. B. Du Bois, Roy Wilkins, Thurgood Marshall and many others, who must be turning cartwheels in their graves at the NAACP's change in course. Devoting time and limited resources to target a word, which is only a symptom of our problem, is ludicrous.

Institutionalized racism, the 3/5 Compromise of Article I Section II of the US Constitution, which is the legal justification for Plessy v Ferguson, is the real problem. If symbolically burying anything makes a real difference then bury that. We thought separate but equal and segregation were dead and gone that day in 1954, but the Supreme Court's latest decision raises Plessy v Ferguson from the grave.

If symbolic burials are effective, the NAACP should have buried the words that came from those five justices. That would have been an occasion to discuss the 3/5 Compromise and the institutionalized racism it supports. Such a decision would have high lighted the significance of the court's decision and taught black children how some words really do matter. Unlike nigger, which may hurt and stigmatize, we have survived its negative impact, but words like those uttered by former Supreme Court Chief Justice Roger B. Taney in Plessy v Ferguson have doom black people to second class citizenship in perpetuity. "A black man has no rights that a white man is bound to respect." Now those are some words that need burying!!!!!

Bit of History

Nigger (1800-2007)

In English, the noun negro (black person) is frequently traced to the Latin word niger, meaning black. In early modern French, niger became negre and later negress (black woman). One can compare negre to earlier English substitutes such as negar, neegar, neger, and niggor. It is probable that nigger is a phonetic spelling of the white Southern mispronunciation of Negro.

No matter what its origins, by the early 1800s, nigger was firmly established as a derogative name for black Americans. In 1874, the McLoughlin Brothers of New York produced a puzzle game called "Chopped Up Niggers." Beginning in 1878, the B. Leidersdory Company of Milwaukee, Wisconsin, produced NiggerHair Smoking Tobacco; decades later the name was changed to BiggerHair Smoking Tobacco. A 1916 magazine ad, copyrighted by Morris & Bendien, showed a black child drinking ink. The caption read, "Nigger Milk."

In 1917, the American Tobacco Company had a NiggerHair redemption promotion. NiggerHair coupons were redeemable for "cash, tobacco, S & H Green stamps, or presents." The J. Millhoff Company of England produced a series of cards in the 1930s, which were widely distributed in the USA. One of the cards shows ten black dogs with the caption: "Ten Little Nigger Boys Went Out To Dine."

In 1939, writer Agatha Christie published a book called Ten Little Niggers. Later editions sometimes changed the name to Ten Little Indians, or And Then There Were None, but as late as 1978, copies of the book with the original title were being produced. It was not rare for sheet music produced in the first half of the 20th century to use the word nigger on the cover. The Howley, Haviland Company of New York produced sheet music for the songs "Hesitate Mr. Nigger, Hesitate," and "You'se Just A Little Nigger, Still You'se Mine, All Mine." This last example was promoted as a children's lullaby. Some small towns used nigger in their names, for example, Nigger Run Fork, Virginia. Nigger was a common name for darkly colored pets, especially dogs, cats, and horses. So-called "Jolly Nigger Banks," first made in the 1800s, were widely distributed as late as the 1960s. Another common piece with many variations, produced on posters, postcards, and prints is a picture of a dozen black children rushing for a swimming hole. The caption reads, "Last One In's A Nigger."

In 2003, the fight to correct the shameful availability of this word had positive results. Recognizing their error, the Merriam-Webster Dictionary no longer made the word nigger synonymous with African-Americans in their publication. In 2007, the NAACP held a mock funeral to bury the word "nigger." (Source: www.aaregistry.com)

News You Use

Alive in the Language

Historically, racial slurs have victimized all racial and ethnic groups; but, no American group goes through as many racial nicknames as blacks: coon, tom, savage, picanniny, mammy, buck, sambo, jigaboo, buckwheat are just a few. The word nigger carries with it much of the hatred and disgust directed toward blacks. Yet, today, the term is popularly used as part of the hip hop culture by blacks in movies, music, poetry and videos.

The following shortlist of terms containing nigger, their use and meaning, illustrate the difficulty of ending its use in everyday language.

Niggerish: Acting in a lazy and irresponsible manner. Niggerlipping: wetting the end of a cigarette while smoking it. Niggerlover: Derogatory term aimed at whites lacking in the necessary loathing of blacks. Nigger luck: Exceptionally good luck, emphasis on undeserved. Nigger-flicker: A small knife or razor with one side heavily taped to preserve the user's fingers.
Nigger heaven: Designated places, usually the balcony, where blacks were forced to sit, for example, in an integrated movie theater or church. Nigger knocker: Axe handle or weapon made from an axe handle. Nigger rich: Deeply in debt but flamboyant. Nigger shooter: A slingshot. Nigger steak: A slice of liver or a cheap piece of meat. Nigger stick: Police officer's baton. Nigger tip: Leaving a small tip or no tip in a restaurant. Nigger in the woodpile: A concealed motive or unknown factor affecting a situation in an adverse way. Nigger work: Demeaning, menial tasks. (Source: www.aaregistry.com)

Venue for an Artist

NAACP or NWA: Buryin' the "C" Word
By Paul Scott

Let's get this out the way from the jump. I'm not down with using the "N" word. Frankly, if I was rollin' through tha hood and saw the NAACP scrappin' with G Unit, I'd just grab a big bag of chips and a Big Gulp and watch. However, in wrestling terms, this is more like a triple threat match between the old school Civil Rights Leaders, the commercial "gangsta" rappers and the Hip Hop activists all vying for the coveted World Championship of Black Culture.

It's a tough question but someone has to ask it...Is it really fair to come down on tha Brotha's for using the "N" word, when in 2007, you still refer to Black folks as "colored people?"

Is there a real qualitative difference between the name NWA (N***** With Attitude) and the NAACP? I guarantee you that most rappers will not put up half the fight over the "N" word as the folks in the NAACP would if folks demanded that they take "colored" out of their title.

While many can trace the history of Hip Hop from its South Bronx origins most people are totally oblivious to the history of the NAACP. Many people automatically assume that it was always a "black thing." In reality, the first members of the NAACP were white, including its early presidents. Also, the integrationists of the NAACP fought against the self-empowerment movement of Marcus Garvey and the UNIA.

Although many people argue (and rightly so) that corporations have ruined Hip Hop, white philanthropists/corporations have always invested heavily in the NAACP, and as the old saying goes "whoever pays the piper picks the tune." I find it ironic that the most notorious "gangsta" rapper, 50 cent is promoting bottled vitamin water while the NAACP promotes Anheuser Busch, the company responsible for the "hood" drink King Cobra Malt Liquor.

So, commercial Hip Hop and the NAACP have a lot in common. The NAACP had a white man as its first president and Hip Hop had Vanilla Ice. Many of the West Coast Rappers repped St. Ides while the NAACP rep's Budweiser. The rappers drink Moet and Hennessy the NAACP gets money from Moet Hennessy USA. Hip Hop headz give R. Kelly video awards and the NAACP gives R. Kelly Image Awards for songs like "I Wish) that dropped the "N" bomb a couple of times. Not to mention the remix that set a new world's record for "N" bombastics in 2001.

While some old heads may not understand the "stop snitchin' code" in Hip Hop, it must be noted that the Black community's hatred for rats is rooted in the actions of people like former NAACP chairman of the board, Joel Spingarn, who, according to an article in the March 21, 1993 edition of the Memphis Commercial Appeal, started spying on the NAACP for the Military Intelligence Division during WWI.

While some may see this article as another attempt at hip hop apologetics, it is not. This is an attempt to expand the dynamics of this country's long awaited "great conversation on race" that was supplanted by a "weak conversation about the evils of Hip Hop." What could have been a discussion about anything ranging from white male dominance in the media to the historical disrespect of black women quickly devolved into a weak, long drawn out discussion about rappers and dirty words.

What is most disturbing about the post Imus anti-Hip Hopism is that a movement to give Black children an analysis of Hip Hop by activists of their same age group was hijacked by Civil Rights activists trying to prove to white America that they were still relevant. Don't get it twisted! A Black leader is only as good as his number of constituents, either real or imagined. That's why some of them feel the need to continuously hold march after march after march.

The one great equalizer of the universe is TRUTH, no one is above it ; no one is below it. This truth is a double-edged sword, it cuts on the right and the left.

Should Black people refer to themselves as the "N" word? No, but we ain't "colored" either. Should rappers be criticized for their actions? Sure, but we also need new Black leadership. Should we be having a conversation in 2007 about the effect of Hip Hop on Black children? Of course, but a similar critique of the NAACP is about 90 years past due.

So, as the NAACP carries out its burial of the "N" word, let us remember the saying "TRUTH crushed to the earth shall rise again."

About Me: Paul Scott is a writer and activist based in Durham NC. His blog is http://www.nowarningshotsfired.com. He can be reached at info@nowarningshotsfired.com.

Hood Notes

Genarlow Wilson Update

The case of Genarlow Wilson, the young man serving a 10-year prison term for consensual sex with a teenager, has garnered nationwide attention and protest. Wilson was convicted under a 1995 Georgia statute, which made it a felony to engage in sex (oral or otherwise) with a minor. At the time of the crime, Wilson was seventeen; his partner in consensual oral sex was fifteen. The law was changed in 2006 to make such consensual teen sex a misdemeanor.

Unfortunately, the Georgia Supreme Court has already ruled the 2006 law can not be applied retroactively. On Friday, July 20, 2007, the Court heard arguments over whether a Monroe County judge's order in June freeing Genarlow Wilson should stand. The judge's decision was appealed by State Attorney General Thurbert Baker, keeping Wilson behind bars.

The state Supreme Court earlier declined to hear an appeal of Wilson's conviction and sentence, but agreed to hear the state's appeal of the judge's decision to reduce Wilson's sentence to 12 months and to free him based on the time he has already served. In handing down his decision, the Monroe County judge called the 10-year sentence a "grave miscarriage of justice." Wilson's attorney, B.J. Bernstein, called it cruel and unusual punishment, a violation of the US Constitution.

Disgruntled says: Chief Justice John Roberts has led the US Supreme Court for less than a year but substantially reverse Brown v Board of Education, standard of the US' pledge of equality. Overturning Brown, the court has revived the doctrine of "separate but equal." A concept most Americans thought was dead, Jim Crow segregation and black and white signs abhorred as they were, have returned as real possibilities. Based solely on race and skin color, blacks were prevented by law from attending schools with whites. Brown established that blacks were denied equal protection, and the court ordered the injustices corrected. Outlawing the use of race in efforts to correct the injustices created by a legal system based solely on race reestablishes white man/lynch law rule. This decision is not based on legal precedent, it was done because they could. This is how segregation started before. Upholding Plessy for over fifty years, the Supreme Court based every decision it made solely on race and denied blacks equal protection. Now Plessy is being brought back as equal protection for whites by preventing the consideration of race to correct injustices the court helped to continue.

Disgruntled wants to know: Baseball great Henry "Hank" Aaron viscerally angered white America when he neared Babe Ruth's homerun record. Whenever Hank came to bat, white baseball fans called him 'nigger" and hurled other racial slurs at him. They issued death threats, if he dared tie or surpass their white hero's record. Pitchers refused to pitch to him; instead, he probably broke some record for the number of walks. Now that Barry Bonds will likely break Aaron's record he is being cast in the media as unworthy of hero status, because of possible steroid use and any other excuse. It should come as no surprise that Bonds would not be fully embraced for his accomplishment, given this nation's history of racial discrimination. But, the question is, when did white America stop hating Hank Aaron and made him a national hero?

Disgruntled feels: Contemptuous! That's precisely how the Bush/Cheney administration feels towards the American people. Examine the facts. The nation was lied into an illegal war of choice. Still, Bush and Cheney use the same propaganda in public speeches today to justify continuing its illegal occupation of Iraq. To continually repeat its lies shows utter contempt. Moreover, it is obvious this administration does not care what the people think. It is contemptuous! Too bad, Congress is impotent!

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