WWMLKD?

One word: Nigga. This word seems to have lost it’s meaning to the general population over the course of the last couple of decades.  It’s become a part of our daily conversations. It has become a word used to symbolize camaraderie, a word glorified by Hip-Hop and Rap music. How can we forget that less than 200 years ago, this word was used to label African American slaves? These slaves were treated horrifically, because of who they were and it was no fault of their own.  This word carried so much weight that African Americans accepted themselves as being nothing else but “niggers,” and believed it; they were dehumanized by this word and the god awful message it carried. How can we forget that only 50 years ago this word carried a vile, repugnant, and hateful meaning in our modern America, post civil war?  Men and women were discriminated against for being African American and were called this derogatory term with the sole purpose to degrade and insult.  But even more importantly, how can we forget the people who devoted their lives to changing the American views and leaving that word with such horrible connotation behind? To say this word non-chalantly brings disrespect to the best activists that America has ever seen.  I can not imagine Martin Luther King ever condoning the use of the word or enjoying hearing people say “Martin is my nigga.” I cannot fathom the amount of disrespect and disappointment someone who was involved in civil rights movement might experience in this day and age to hear this word used the way it is, being that they still live today.  They fought so hard to get away from this word, to lead the African American race in a new direction, to prove themselves more than this hateful word.  They put forth their blood, sweat, and tears into making the African American race recognized as people, not “niggers.” Neal A. Lester, dean of humanities and former chair of the English department at Arizona State University says “The word is inextricably linked with violence and brutality on black psyches and derogatory aspersions cast on black bodies. No degree of appropriating can rid it of that bloodsoaked history.” The next time you might use this word, ask yourself what Martin Luther King would do.