What Papa Irvin Says…

Worth Quoting from the above article:

“I never understood why so many folks within the black community were willing to drink the poison of labeling one’s self as a nigger, degrading one’s self and one’s community, not just in America, but throughout the world – through videos and hip-hop and rap music, et al., all the while dancing to the pseudo-African rhythms in which some singer calls a mother a “bitch” or sister a “ho.”

I saw it as a pact made with the entertainment devil, recalling that the devil always demands his due – a note that Michael Richards paid when he shouted “niggers” right back at the audience.

Some blacks justified their use of the term as an expression of love and endearment, a homeboy kind of thing, noting the distinction between the “-igga” version and the “-er” version – and figuring that whites and everyone else would somehow know the difference between the two. This was supposedly their way of removing power from the word itself.

It may have felt good for a while, but a black person calling himself a nigger is like terrorists using suicide bombers to destroy their enemies – only to find out that once they internalize a willingness to kill their own children, they have unleashed a cultural virus.”

I guess people were surprised about Michael Richards. I don’t know why. I feel like I’m walking around people everyday who, under the right (or wrong circumstances), would call me a nigger. Shoot, they may have already done so, but I just haven’t heard them. I don’t believe that all people are like that, but I’m not surprised when they are. Racism and racist ideologies permeate our country. Oppression exists. We’ve just cloaked ourselves under political correctness so that these things aren’t as open as they used to be.

Michael Richards has apologized for his comments. And while I’m sure that he wishes he could change his words; I’d rather he change his heart.

I haven’t posted here in a long while. Partially because of time and partially because of other reasons. I haven’t really felt like I’ve had much to say and many of the things that have interested me haven’t gotten enough of my attention for me to write about it.

I think that I’ve “sold out” somewhat on this blog. I started it as a way to express myself and my feelings, really nothing more than a journal put on the internet. Down the line, there was a shift to current events and other things- all of which that keep my interest, but mostly because I wanted other poeple to read and see what your thoughts were. I suppose it fills a need for constructive dialogue, and that is definitely lacking in my life. When I started, blogs weren’t as popular as they are now. There was not a huge blogosphere, and I definitely did not check other people’s blogs every day (as I do now). Blogging is, in some ways, very commercial. And while it’s a good way to keep up with people, it’s not what I’m trying to do here anymore.

At any rate, I realized that for the most part, I don’t REALLY matter to the readers here. You may read what I write and comment and appreciate what I have to say, but it ends there. It’s not like you’re wishing harm or anything, but you’re not worried about me. I’m sure it sounds horrible to say, probably even depressing and bleak, but it is what it is. I’m on a new journey with my writing, and maybe you’ll continue with me for that. If not, that’s cool too.

“I am invisible, understand, simply because people refuse to see me…When they approach me they only see my surroundings, themselves, or figments of their imagination—indeed everything and anything except me…And my problem was that I always tried to go in everyone’s way but my own. I have also been called one thing and then another while no one really wished to hear what I called myself. So after years of trying to adopt the opinions of others I finally rebelled. I am an invisible (wo)man.”
~Ralph Ellison