Wednesday, February 9, 2011

Obama Is Not 'Your Nigga'


                                                                            

First of all, the first ‘Black’ President of the United States is not a full-blooded Negroid. Sure, for the most part, no Black American residing in the United States is one hundred percent of African descent, yet he is a first generation mulatto, for lack of a better word. If we are to subscribe to the notion that the race of the child always follows that of the mother, as was the case during the Antebellum days of U.S. slavery per the 1662 Virginia miscegenation law passed by the Virginia colonial assembly (matrilineage)-- also "one drop rules" were applied differently in different states; in Mississippi, black if 1/32nd African American; in Louisiana, black if 1/64th, then Barack Obama is really a ‘white’ man. The aforementioned, in and of itself, puts the public and closeted racists at ease, even if only minimal.

Now, I imagine, and even know, the readers of this article will be offended by my use of the word ‘nigga,’ but I’ll offer a few hundred words of explanatory rhetoric in hopes of it serving as a disclaimer for my colloquial use of the term so that no set of eyes will confuse my usage of ‘nigga’ with the inflammatory epithet ‘nigger.’

There is a profound difference in the use of the term ‘nigger’ and ‘nigga’ and can be pejorative or endearing depending on the ethnicity of the person who is utilizing the term(s) and the inflection within the speaker’s voice. In no way am I trying to dehumanize or connote the President of the United States with being a socially, intellectually, and physically inferior being. I am merely using the term nigga as I would use it when referring to any descendant of the Sub-Saharan area of the continent of Africa who shares, hurts, and rejoices in the struggles and triumphs associated with the Black American’s sojourn through North American, and more specifically, United States’ History. While the origins of the term nigger (derived from the Spanish noun negro meaning black or dark or the Latin adjective niger) are commonly associated in modern history with the Spanish and Portuguese use of the word to describe a person of a darker skin hue, and having no derogatory connotations but was merely a descriptor of persons from Africa, who happened to be first enslaved by the Spanish and Portuguese, the term became derogatory once the American hierarchical system heaped gross caricatures and negatively stereotypical behavior to the nigger. Thus, nigger and any variations of the word (i.e. nigga, nig, nigglet,) have been deemed vulgar and inappropriate at best.

On the contrary, the world in which I was reared and reside in today utilizes nigga as a term of endearment, even a tool of empowerment in the sense that I, and many from the Hip-Hop culture, have deconstructed and reconstructed the American- English lexicon by redefining a vocabulary word, if you will, so that the word, in and of itself, is juxtaposed positively against the original intent. No longer is it a term that subjugates and subordinates individuals of the darker complexion, but it exclusively elevates and separates the Black American as being a member of a fraternal order that can only be infiltrated by one’s ethnic origins by the very usage of the term nigga. A good friend, a loyal companion, a brother or sister of the educational, social, political, and economical struggle that exists and flourishes in America, if one is Black, is considered to be a nigga or my nigga or your nigga. That brings us to the conundrum as to whether or not Barack Obama can be considered the American Niggas' nigga.

So, by now, everyone in the relevant world knows that the current President of the United States was born to a white mother and a Kenyan father and was raised by his maternal grandparents in the alien state of Hawaii. The fair-skinned, yet coarse-haired Barack attended one of the best Ivy League schools in America while admittedly, in his own words in his book Dreams from My Father, not being the best high school student and loafing during his Freshman and Sophomore years at Occidental College. The man literally and literarily knew he was a conflicted mulatto stating, "Junkie. Pothead. That's where I'd been headed; the final fatal role of the would-be black man. Except the highs hadn't been about that, me trying to prove what a down brother I was. Not by then, anyway. I got high for just the opposite effect, something that could push questions of who I was out of my mind. Something that could flatten out the landscape of my heart, blur the edges of my memory.” He obtained his undergraduate and law degrees from Columbia University and Harvard College respectively and persisted in slumming in Chicago by being a grassroots community organizer on his way to the Illinois Senate. Now, how many niggas, from my definition of a nigga earlier in this piece, have had such an experience?

How could our ‘Black’ President, reared by an elderly white couple in the multicultural environment of 1970s Hawaii, truly identify with the African-American, or American Nigga, experience. A few years as a grassroots organizer/community/political activist and political opportunist does not qualify one’s membership into the nigga club. He is no grizzled veteran of the uphill struggles and de-facto discrimination endured by the nigga without the Ivy League or mixed-race pedigree.

Interestingly enough, he married a legitimate Black woman which seems situationally ironic considering his upbringing, his mother’s parentage, and his frequent encounters with Anglo-Saxon females that were the majority of possible romantic candidates at the institutions of higher learning in which he was enrolled. Sure, the man plays basketball, yet he also enjoys golf. Sure, his wife’s family are niggas, for all practical purposes and outwardly appearance and physical attributes, yet his family, the one who reared him, are white. This, in and of itself, may be the reasoning behind him being chosen as President Elect in November 2008. He was far from threatening, he was far from a graduate of a state school or an HBCU. He didn’t have the dark skin that so threatens, for only reasons white Americans can explain, the American status quo.

Do niggas really identify with Barack Obama? I, for one, do not. Those ignorant of what it means to be a nigga may beg to differ because niggas voted for him. But niggas voted for him only because he ‘looked’ like a nigga. Niggas didn’t know who he was or where he came from. They heard him speak at the 2004 Democratic National Convention and enunciate his syllables and pronounce his words like he was an educated nigga and thought, “This nigga could be the President one day. Hell, I’d vote for him. He’s what I want my son to be like,” yet they didn’t dissect the nigga. They didn’t research the nigga. They didn’t interrogate the nigga. He may have the base and the soul in his voice that is so often associated with Black Cool, and the rhythmic walk of a nigga and the so-called and over-exaggerated pop culture swag of the American Nigga, yet his avoidance of the Black American struggle and the Black American agenda and public pronouncing of those struggles and inequalities lend me to believe that he is masquerading as a nigga like a man masquerading as a woman at a costume party. Maybe this is why he doesn’t address the unemployment rates of the nigga, and when he does it is always in terms of decreasing the entire country’s unemployment rate and thus, decreasing the unemployment rate of niggas in America. Obama even advocates for the civil and occupational equality of the nations lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender population on a more public platform than he does for niggas in America. So, we must ask ourselves, when is the President going to disrobe himself and end his Halloween celebration? We all wear a mask, the only difference between niggas and him is that due to his socioeconomic and hierarchical position in this country is that he can take his off. I can’t—Black don’t come off.

-Gee Joyner

22 comments:

  1. I totally agree with the opinions expressed on this blog. President Obama has articulated, swagged, hooped, and exhibited alot of black of black characteristics. There is no discussion of any inner-city reconstruction so far in his term and it is important. I remember my mother's excitement that a man that looks and speaks like her sons was on deck to be the president. My response was "mama he's a politician, do some research before this hollywood type low tone skinned man is given your complete trust." I voted for a man b/c he was black and smart. Is he black?

    ReplyDelete
  2. Well stated. I don't believe he can take off his "mask" and remain POTUS (especially if he wants a second term). I, like many, wish he was more prophetic in his stance but he is more akin to Pharaoh if by nothing less than his political affiliation.. Nigga or not he represents a system that is unfavorable towards the underprivileged, many of whom are people of color. The challenge then becomes how do we who embrace our collective "nigga-dom" to the point where we hold the POTUS (and there elected officials) accountable for our true representation irrespective of the mask or misnomers of racial purity and affiliation.

    ReplyDelete
  3. My comments will not fit so I'll put them in two post

    Post 1 of 2:

    If being a nigga can only be identified by blacks then the white folk don’t know that, ‘cause even before becoming POTUS Obama would be looked at and treated like ANY other black when he walked into a store or entered a room. The same looks of “what is he going to steal” or “keep an eye on the colored guy” that the average black man may get upon appearing at an event for the glitterati-type, is the same look that Obama got when he walked the halls of Ivy League institutions and entered the fancy galas of the Senate elite.

    In 2007 one of my employees (a Black man around 55 years old) was talking about how he could not see Obama beating Clinton in the Democratic Primary. The guy—who grew up in one of the most low-income places in America—said that, “Obama can’t relate to me, I’m voting for Hillary”. I asked the employee, how he related to a 60 year old white-female lawyer who had become a millionaire? The employee went on to talk about all the things that Clinton would do for Black-folk but Obama wouldn’t be able to do it. I’ll digress for just a few lines…I understand how people felt like George W. Bush would be a great President for them; they really did want someone who they could sit down and have a beer with. I understand how many Black Americans felt they could directly relate to someone because of their color…of course there are those who would say they voted for him because it was a real chance to see someone that didn’t look like your typical president in the White House (both Blacks and Whites fell into this category). Back to the point, people really don’t want a President whom they can relate to; a guy who could sit down and drink a beer with us almost wrecked the country. Obama (like many affluent blacks today) can not relate to the average plight of the ‘poor black’, but which poor black do any of us really want to elect to be our leader? (Malcom, Martin, Jessie, Al…well, Al can truly speak for the poor, he had his car repo’d back in 2002 or 2003 but seriously).

    I feel like I came up in a nice po’ area of Memphis (over in Castalia). I certainly didn’t have a lot, not as much as the folk I went to high school with---while their parents dropped them off in Lexus’ (Worthy) and Benz’ (Bridges)—just to call out a few---I rode the bus or copped rides with my friends. I was poor. I could relate to the plight of the poor man (Black, White, Hispanic, or other). Since my high school days I have amassed a few things, I don’t have to go to the corner-store to get a pound of sliced bologna and crackers anymore. I go back to the hoods of America regularly; these neighborhoods have made me a comfortable living. I go back to the hoods and sometimes I do buy a pound of sliced bologna and sleeve of crackers from the corner store. But the difference now is I get in a fairly comfortable vehicle and with my seat coolers or seat warmers adjusting the temperature on my $300 jeans, I drive my ass back to a part of America where sliced bologna by the pound is not sold at a corner-store. A part of America where there often is more golf carts on the road than cars, where crane other exotic fowl float through the air (not the pigeons of urban cities). I can not relate to the very thing I grew up with. I CAN relate to the poor communities only because my business takes me to their front door---and in full disclosure---my business is often a means to remove them from the densely populated, extremely poor area so that I can assist with the gentrification of their neighborhoods; not saying that it is a great thing but it is what it is.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Post 2 of 3:

    The whole point to my personal story is simply that Obama—even if he grew up in Orange Mound or Harlem---could not relate to what is going on in those communities today. Bill Cosby, Oprah Winfrey, Russell Simmons, even Jessie Jackson can not relate to the struggles of poor people, as they have been removed for a good deal of time from face-to-face poverty. Barack Obama has two best-sellers, probably not the kind of money of an Oprah but the kind of money that won’t have you driving through Dixie Homes without a tour guide. Despite the books, Obama and his wife had fairly good jobs (at least on paper) or potential to obtain fairly good jobs with their academic background, and then there is that ole President of the United States thing. Well, it is the kind of job that keeps you from relating to most Americans (no matter the race). To say it bluntly, while you can’t take the hood or ghetto or country out of someone we all have evolved from where we were. Ask any rapper (or any of your closes niggas) do they eat, live, or maintain the same life style they did before they came into money. Nigga might be perceived as a commonality between people of the same ethnic background wherein the shared tread is struggle or being oppressed by another group; but it is tough for me to believe that there was no oppression for blacks with funny names at Ivy League schools---it would be tougher for me to believe that there is no struggle for blacks that are raised by whites. Are we niggas because of the type of struggle, the level of the struggle---is a dirt poor kid from Mississippi more of a nigga than I am because his family would be equal to modern day sharecroppers? Is a black artist who is selling mixed tapes ‘under-ground’ more of a nigga than a black artist that plays classic violin for the local symphony? Are our nigga statuses depicted on where we come from or where we are or the experiences we incur regardless of the aforementioned wheres? From a non-Black point of view, most of us are the same---some with a little more articulation, some with a few more valuables but black nonetheless.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Forgive me if I rehash any points that have already been made, but there is way too much to read here.:-) I just wanted to provide my two cents and let you all have it. I believe that my POV will differ sharply from many of you and you may even vehemently disagree. No matter.

    First of all, let me correct something. The rule during slavery about the child following the condition of the mother was put in place to protect WHITE men whenever they fathered slave children during their romps in the slave quarters with Black slave women. Furthermore, the rule about the 1/32 of Black blood would officially make the POTUS 'Black'. This whole thing about him not being a 'full blooded American Negro' is frustrating. To suggest that there is an authentic Black experience and it is somehow connected to the historical aspects of American society is highly short-sighted. Before there was America, there was Africa. The man's father is from Kenya, so I'm curious as to how Black do some of us need him to be?

    Secondly, there is no real benefit that Obama has had by being a Black man. If anything, he should have catered to his White side for the benefit of gaining the advantage. But let's be honest, if this man came out saying he was White, then the majority of White people would call him crazy and completely reject him. Based on our current political standing, Black people alone could not have put Obama in office. He had to get White folks to vote for him too. Further proof of that is when Jesse Jackson ran for office. He captured the majority black vote both times, I believe. If Black vote could make an election, then Obama would be the second Black POTUS behind Jackson.

    What it seems as if you are asking him to do is be a Black leader by upholding and contending with Black issues. I am not interested in Obama being a Black leader but instead the POTUS. The office of President is the highest political office in the nation. All political offices are designed to uphold policies and structure. That's the nature of the job and that's what I expect him to do.

    As for the issues in the Black community and our respective struggle, what are all of us wonderful, educated Negroes doing to correct the plight? Our day of having one central Black figure is over -- besides haven't we learned by now that this is the surefire way to kill a movement?

    Lastly, but not least, whether you want to call him your nigga or not, all of the hell that's going on with scary White people is the result of that man being in office. Therefore, his supposedly 'safe light-skinned' self is still being regarded as a 'nigga' as far as they are concerned. They're not stopping to take the time to make the distinction. No, that's only going on with us....which lets me know that we still have a long way to go. Peace is already out.

    ReplyDelete
  6. @ work but will comment something thanx GEE!but it getting reposted on the book!

    ReplyDelete
  7. I enjoy all healthy debate and dialogue. Please send this link to each and every one of your Facebook friends and Twitter followers

    ReplyDelete
  8. @KMFR I find it difficult to fathom that you no longer identify from whence you came. It's great to have the finer things in life and feel as if you have accomplished a level of success, whether socially, economically, or both, but if you forget where you came from, you may need to go and see a shrink. Remember, all of the accoutrements you maintain can be loss just as easily as you obtained them. You don't have to be the type of nigga I speak of, but I do know you personally and I consider you one; A Black man that is "down" for his race and doesn't neglect the struggles of the past in which our forefathers and ancestors conquered in order for you to have a nice home, fine car, expensive jeans, and a arm-piece wife. lol Seriously though, I grew up in a white suburb/enclave outside of Memphis when there weren't any Blacks for 10-15 miles at the least; I don't like niggas that don't identify with the poorer classes, which, in the U.S., has an ethnospecific attribute, are marginalized because of discrimination. Damned a second term. I understand the POTUS doesn't have, or need, to be a Black Revolutionary or Civil Rights Activist, but if the POTUS is of African descent, how can he not be?

    ReplyDelete
  9. Wow, Gee! I have to put some serious thought into this before I even attempt to reply. A very compelling argument from you to say the least, but also from others. Way to invoke thought! Very well written and very convincing, but Im not sold. . .I"ll be back :)

    Jen

    ReplyDelete
  10. You have got to be kidding me. How can you sit there and say that you are a nigga thats been through something and the President aint Black. Im a true Black Man I take care of my own. I have always been taught to not point fingers and spread drama cause thats what women do. I was raised hard by two black parent 1 from Mississippi and one from Alabama. I agreed with the President when he said in his book he didn't wanna be the Average Nigga. WHY? Because the average nigga is either dead by 27 has a sexually transmitted disease, has baby(s) out of wedlock, or either incarcerated in jail. This blog shows the incompetence of plenty that would rather look at someone else's flaws instead of looking in the Mirror. I was taught growing up that everybody is dealt a hand its how you made it through and made it work that made you the man. Even the speaker of the house has a rough story with growing up with 12 brothers and sisters in a 2 bedroom home, does that make him a nigga? Bill Clinton said he grew up with black folks does that make him a nigga? But i guarantee you that although Tiger Woods said he wasn't a Nigga but America and ESPN and CNN shore did give him a dose of reality. The fact of the matter is whatever your skin tone you can deny if you want but if you a shade of black you will always and remain a NIGGA. And the bad thing about Niggas is they will bring you down quicker than white folks will. Sell you out Quick good example "Michael Steele the biggest Obama critic next to Glen Beck and yourself." And white folks aint gonna sell nobody out I dont care if he European, Swedish, German, Russian, Ukrainian, French or any of those decent are gonna stick by them. Even Arabs stick by each other wrong or right. I have not had one white guy tell me George Bush really fucked up. But you wanna get your black ass on here and talk about some Barack Obama aint no nigga? What type of nigga are you? That is the Question? This furthers my knowledge of knowing that he is a Nigga cause when you got WHITE, YELLOW, BROWN, and Black hating on you, you have to be a Nigga. Trust me cause I know because I am and always will be a Nigga.

    ReplyDelete
  11. @Jarrell....this post is designed to open minds on the subject of Barack Obama's roots and as you can see there are fence strateling opinions...not to deconstruct him. Please sir be opinionated, not infuriated. If Gee did not post this then you could not have expressed your own personal views. The media has fixed all ways of thinking to american's and it seems that you have bought in to the sterotypes that t.v. has dominated minds with. It's actually ok for a child to want to be a rapper, but as a parent supporting a child in that field....what should happen is helping to educate that child about producing, being an executive producer, royalties, copyrighting, and other aspects of music. Seems like you also listen to statistics based on 100 people surveys given to you through publications that serve white people more than blacks. I would assume there was some research done b4 this blog was posted as you should, but your anger although genuine is unnecessary.

    ReplyDelete
  12. This comment has been removed by the author.

    ReplyDelete
  13. @KmFR....no one cares about your $1000 jeans bra...lol. But the moves some of our parents made had to do with equity in a home and building clientel and client comfortability. You did make some excellent points ofcourse we can't begin to know what was going on in each other's homes. It is my belief that all the white Presidents took care of there own, so I do expect Barack to do the same "in his way" I stress. Yes he is under a microscope, but who isn't. People must understand that there are more poor white people than blacks, more whites with std's, more whites with Hiv, I read statitics and still make my own assumptions. Black people will constantly be villafied and dirtied up, but I refuse to believe most stats that I see. The world is scared through propaganda and people fail to remember that. Its beautiful to become a success story, but to me its about raising your children successfully, not really about your stature because racing to make more money usually leads to less time with your family....the trade off. So If u can balance that properly then you are successful. I said something about taking care of your own.....Who are Obama's own?

    ReplyDelete
  14. I love this...we need more participants!!!!!

    ReplyDelete
  15. PLEASE INVITE YOUR FRIENDS ON FACEBOOK AND TWITTER TO 'FOLLOW' THIS BLOG; WE ARE ENCOURAGING INTROSPECTIVE AND INSIGHTFUL DISCOURSE TO UPLIFT HUMANITY!! PEACE TO THE RIGHTEOUS

    ReplyDelete
  16. @ CHANDRA: excellent point about if Obama said "he was White, then the majority of White people would call him crazy and completely reject him." I'd go even further, though: if Obama said he was white, I and everybody I know would think he was crazy. But this is ironic b/c he IS part white! Yet while he was in the Senate, as far as I recall, Obama was regarded as one of the few BLACK Senators in US history.

    ReplyDelete
  17. @ KMFR: excellent point re: "Here is the long and short of it, I do not want my President to be my nigga---I need him to be smart, savvy, and diverse". However, I do have some concerns about your not relating. Actually, I think its impossible for someone (you or Obama)to not relate to their past experiences, unless that person has amnesia or some other mental ailment...

    ReplyDelete
  18. I dont know where I stand on this article but I will respect your point of view. I will that I voted for Obama because I believed in his platform. Initially my support was for Hillary Clinton but then I paid more attention to what he saying and bought into his message.

    Gee, I am Black, and I think Obama is part Black and its not about his "RELATE-ABILITY" with Blacks that got him office, it was his offer of HOPE for us a race, as a whole. Its not his job to become President to merely focus on the Black agenda. What Blacks need to do, to me, if get off there ass and be productive and quit sitting around here waiting on a handout. Take a look at our people, realistically, the things we focus on, the lack of togetherness, the evilness, the hate, the stupidity that is praised daily in our inner urban areas as that which is good. I am at work so I cant go into detail.
    I never knew so many details behind the word Nigger beyond that which was negative and not the positive so I definitely thank you kindly for that. As you said above, many voted for him simply because they viewed him as THE BLACK MAN and FINALLY WE COULD GET A BLACK PRESIDENT with no idea of who he actually was.

    ReplyDelete
  19. Nigger and Nigga are the same words no matter how you try to polish it up...and why would you even want to do that in the first place, same as whore and ho are the same words. "Ho" is no better nor does it have a better meaning just because you like to use it. Now, girls/women call themselves and their friends ho's, as well as their enemies--that's the result when people "get lost". The word "nigger" has a history and that history cannot be changed just because you change the spelling of the word. Willie Lynch said in his papers that the techniques he developed to control the Black man would last through generations. I'm not sure if he said they would try to embrace the evil against them by changing the spelling of a word. Today, he would even be surprised of how effective he was/is. You can't make evil better--it has to be pulled up and it's roots exposed and then left to die. Wake up people!

    ReplyDelete
  20. This comment has been removed by the author.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. So the pro-nigga argument is petty and without merit.

      Delete
    2. Thank you for informing me that my argument is 'petty.' Also, thanks for reading and responding. It is greatly appreciated.

      Delete