In Daniel Beaty’s conversational poem Duality Duel: The Nerd vs the Nigga, he explains the battle being fought between the nerd and the nigga by speaking as both the nerd and the nigga. The battle is being fought within many African Americans. Many believe that there is no place in the elite society for the nigga, so they abandon the nigga within themselves and embrace the nerd or the image that seems “proper” to the behavior and image of the upper class or elite society. The battle between the nerd and the nigga is in serious need of a resolution. The battle may not be able to be won by one side, therefore the question is can the nerd and the nigga coexist?
What is a nerd? What is a nigga? Before the question can the nerd and nigga coexist can be answered the nerd and the nigga must be defined. According to dictionary.com a nerd is an intelligent but single-minded person obsessed with a nonsocial hobby or pursuit (“Nerd”). What is a nigga? The legendary Smokey Robinson once said “I think it’s a shame that every few years black people get a change of name,” but nigga was one of the earliest names, probably the first name after black or African (Robinson). Back in slavery days the slave masters use to call the slave “niggers,” the term “nigga” is just the slang version of the word nigger. Today the word is only respectfully used by black to other black people. The use of the word by the white race is thought of as being highly disrespectful. Early 1990’s “gangsta” rap artist revived or more so reclaimed the word in their music (“N-Word’). Today black people use the word as form of affection or endearment. It’s common to go out and hear a black person greet another black person by saying, “What’s up nigga,” and their goodbyes will...
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...e thing is true, inside you is a hard ass nigga you gotta let come through” (Beaty). Don’t deny yourself of being who you truly are. Take Mr. Beaty’s advice and journey to the nigga in you.
Works Cited
Beaty, Daniel “Duality Duel: The Nerd vs The Nigga.” Online video clip. YouTube. YouTube, 20 Mar. 2010. Web. 1 Apr. 2014
"Channeling Your Inner Nigga." Web log post. AverageBro: Channeling Your Inner Nigga. AverageBRO, 07 June 2007. Web. 01 Apr. 2014.
"Nerd." Dictionary.com. Dictionary.com, n.d. Web. 02 Apr. 2014.
"'N-Word' Going Mainstream?" ABC News. ABC News Network, 10 Apr. 2014. Web. 02 Apr. 2014.
Robinson, Smokey “Black American by Smokey Robinson- Def Poetry Jam.” Online video clip. YouTube. YouTube, 19 May. 201. Web. 1 Apr. 2014
Rock, Chris “Black People VS. Niggaz (Bring the Pain 1996)” Online video clip. YouTube. YouTube, 28 Nov. 2010. Web. 1 Apr. 2014.
In both their essays, Naylor and Leong introduce a word that is meant to humiliate, hurt and ridicule. Naylor, being of African decent, was introduced to the word nigger at a very early age. Naylor asked her mother what the word meant, but she knew it meant something terrible. Black people raising their children in America would have to explain what nigger meant sometime in their childhood. Naylor's mom explains that the word
Since the decade of 1920, America has been the setting for a progressive "Black Arts Movement." This African-American cultural movement has taken shape in various genres, gaining mass appeal, through multiple capitalistic markets. Even with the use of capitalism this cultural arts movement has stayed set upon its original purpose and direction, by aiding in cultural identity awareness. The knowledge of the duel-self through community awareness as it pertains to economic perceptions and other social boundaries or the metaphysical-self; what W.E.B. Du Bois coined as "twoness," or a division of one’s own identity as a African-American. (Reuben 2) A realization of the existence of two beings within one’s mental identity, where time alters attitude and identity through environmental influence of passing events. The discovery of the "New Negro" in the Harlem Renaissance marks the beginning of this essential philosophy contributing to the 1960’s Black Arts Movement and the Civil Rights Movement; continuing to be evident in current forms of black art, such as within the lyrics of hip-hop music. These revolutionary Ideals of reform have been voiced in the lyrics of many rappers of urban realism, like the New York M.C.’s Rakim, Run-D.M.C. and west coast rapper Tupac Shakur. Though this form of expression is opposed by most academic elitists and fundamental conservatives due to their vulgar expressions of sex and violence depicted within the genre of Hip-Hop; it in opposition actually presents an internal cultural conflict revealed through the redefinition of one’s own identity with poetic lyrical expressions of realism.
The words Negro, nigger, and nigga have always been a sensitive topic, yet it is a topic that needs to be addressed in light of the more common use of its vernacular. One word is used to describe a color, while the others are used to define a people. It’s very clear to many the negative connotation these words carry, but where did these words come from? Furthermore, is there a difference between the word nigger and nigga; and why is it that African-Americans now use the word nigga to degrade each other in today’s society? These words, in spite of their spelling, still holds the same degrading power as it did during the time of slavery, and they are still spoken out of cruelty and ignorance, but who is to blame? Can one still blame the Spaniards for considering people of a darker skin tone –Black? Can we blame the Europeans for perpetuating their hatred and ignorance of superiority over a race of people to the point they felt it lawful to define and dehumanize them? Or does the blame lie with the African-American race as we use this degrading labeling on our own kind, thus becoming the victimizer. Either way nigger or nigga are words that should be eliminated from the vocabulary of every human being.
The Meaning of the Word “Nigger” I can recall the first time I paid close attention to the word nigger. In junior high a school fight would occur about every week and of course the whole school would gather together and watch. Well this particular fight sticks out in my mind because it was between two boys of different races, Hispanic and black. During their conflict the Hispanic boy bluntly called the black boy a nigger, and that was when the rest of the black students became verbally involved. I remember screaming out “ who do you think you are calling him that?”
Colored people were neat and quiet, niggers were dirty and loud” (Morrison 189). A character in the novel named Geraldine, a fare skinned African American women, married, one child, lives in a nice home with a cat, symbolizes the division of African American within their own culture. The ability to get an education made or broke an African American’s stance in society. While the irony in Geraldine’s characterization is that while she feels she is an upper-class African American, she is still viewed as inadequate as and less prosperous than White Americans. The desire for societal recognition evolved into the need for verification of societal status; with status entailed an education. Society began to allow African Americans who were not as fortunate to attend school r who were not given the same equal education the title of the N-word to remind them of their lack of racial and societal
"Songs and the Civil Rights Movement." Songs and the Civil Rights Movement. N.p., n.d. Web. 12 Dec. 2013.
Irvine, Reed, and Joseph C Goulden. ³The ŒBlame Whitey¹ Media.² USA Today Magazine January 1994: 78+.
Close your eyes and try to visualize a black nerd. The person you’ve probably come up with most likely resembles Steve Urkel or Bill Cosby. But a better, more relevant answer would be someone like Kanye West or Rosario Dawson. Before, being a black nerd was something to be ashamed of because it was associated with being an outsider of the black community and acting white. However in recent years, the subculture has undergone a rebranding and being a black nerd has flowed into the mainstream through artists like Childish Gambino, Richard Ayoade, and Kanye West. This new generation of black nerds call themselves blerds. There is some controversy surrounding the word blerd because of its embrace of blackness and some people believe it is exclusionary.
I have not used the N-word since February 25, 2015. Reflecting back to the first time I had ever heard that derogatory word, I distinctly remember we were living in Long Island, New York, and on this specific day my father and I, driving down a very busy street in an old pick-up truck, while turning into our local Home Depot my father made a very wide turn causing a white lady to miss her turn. She screamed out the window, "You dumb ass nigger". At that time I didn't grasp the meaning of that putrid word, but it didn’t take me much longer to realize the force and hatred behind it.
According to its first definition of the word, a nerd is a "foolish or contemptible person who lacks social skills or is boringly studious." That sounds about right. But Oxford's first definition of geek is synonymous: "An unfashionable or socially inept person." Oxford's second definitions of both words are also synonymous, nerd as "an intelligent, single-minded expert in a particular technical discipline or profession" and geek as "a person with an eccentric devotion to a particular interest. (Goldsborough, 2010)
“With this in mind, i faced Cecil Jacobs in the schoolyard the next day: “you gonna take that back boy? “You got to tell me first! “My folks said your daddy was a disgrace, and that nigger outa hang from the water
Blacks considered the N-word to be one of if not the the absolute worst and most offensive word throughout history. Why should that suddenly change because the last two letters are changed to an a? The meaning and history of the word is something of which many members of the younger generation are completely oblivious. Why should this dehumanizing, demeaning word be used freely in songs and everyday speech? In the words of Martin Luther King Jr: “We hold these truths to be self-evident: that all men are created equal.” If all men are created equal, then why should blacks be discriminated against in everyday language and in popular songs?
5. Rose, Patricia (1991, Summer). ?Fear of a Black Planet: Rap Music and Black Cultural Politics in the 1990s,?. The Journal of Negro Education, 60 (3).
“You are a nothing little nigger” is one of the demeaning phrases African American human beings have heard over the years in an effort to keep them in a state of persecution. This paper will discuss the persecution of the African American. The following documents the struggles, gut wrenching pain, and heart ache of African American people have endured and are still suffering with today.
The word nigger is an offensive term used by a white slave owner during the 1800’s. It is used in the beginning of a slaves name to indicate that this person is a slave. It comes from the Spanish word negro and the French word nègre. It is one of the most offensive and controversial words in the English language. With this word comes many years of immoral and unethical treatment of the black man by the white race. This word is used in the book Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain. One of the 60 minutes videos is on the controversy on the N-word in the book Huck Finn. Stating that many different school districts have banned this book because of the word “nigger,” a word so offensive it’s usually called the “N- word.”