Anthony Samad
Then there are those who believe things can change, or will do anything to try to make a change (again, desperation), but because they’re limited in their belief, knowledge and understanding—things don’t change. Why? Because the whole engagement was an act of false hope. Hope is the belief that something can be achieved if faithfully pursued. Faith without works is dead. What makes hope real? Not faith alone, but the will to bring forth change. False hope is faith without the will (works) to bring about change. The Nigger does not believe he (she) has the power to make their life change. They don’t believe their reality can change—but they hope it will—while they do nothing to bring it about, or they wait for someone else to change their lives. The longer they wait, the more despair engulfs their lives, the more even their false hope fades and their Niggerism grows into a rage that has our communities nationwide in death and destruction.
I attended two events on the same day a couple of Fridays ago. One, was the Urban Issues Forum where Dr. Julius Garvey was discussing the legacy of his father, Marcus Garvey, who once said, “Up you mighty race, accomplish what you will,” then proceeded to build the greatest mass movement of American Africans in the 20th Century. One of the most profound things that Dr. Garvey said was that “nobody can keep you from knowledge; nobody can keep you from being yourself.” Nobody is holding back Black America. Nobody is stopping us from acquiring knowledge or being ourselves, except our own ignorance and despair. If we only believed our reality could change, it would change—but the Nigger will never tell you he doesn’t believe. He, instead will continue to suggest that he does—but his (her) actions indicate that they don’t. False hope is larger than the knowledge they desire acquire that would change the reality of their lives.
The other event was the Amer-I-Can Graduate at NFL Hall of Famer, Jim Brown’s home. A class of the most maniacal and self-destructive young men and women in our community went through a 14 week program to change their lives—an example of what real hope, faith and works (the will to change your reality) can do. One of the young men was shot four times with an AK47 (by some of his homies that didn’t want to let him out of the life of death and destruction) a month earlier—but he made his graduation. He was just as profound in his comments when he said Amer-I-can taught him that success in life is “Mind over matter; If you have a mind—things matter, if you have no mind—than nothing matters.” Dr. Garvey’s words that nobody but you keeps you from knowledge and purpose (of self) coming from a young man who moved from life’s dungeon to higher ground. This young man comes from a world where Niggas think “putting in work” is going out and killing someone else. He instead chose to put in a different kind of work, and his reality is changing before his (and our) eyes. Real hope replaced false hope, and success replaced his despair. It is not until we truly understand that our destiny is in two hands, God’s, and our own (Garvey’s Universal Negro Improvement Association has a motto, “One God, One Aim, One Destiny”). And what we leave our children is statement of what our lives truly represented. Dr. Garvey stated that we have to teach our children that wealth is more than money. Their developed sense of cultural knowledge and awareness, passed from generation to generation, is worth more than money. The problem with Niggers is that they’ve lost their sense of self, their working faith and their sense of destiny. They now believe what they oppressor told them they were, and they have now passed it on to their children and grandchildren. What has that done to their destiny? Let’s look at it. A recent study calculated what the baby-boomer generation will pass on to the “X” generation. It’s $43 Trillion Dollars. Of that amount, black “boomers” will pass on one trillion. Blacks are ten percent of the national population, but will pass on less than one-half of one percent to the next two generations. Of the one trillion dollars to be passed on, 28% of black families (middle upper class) will pass on 70% of that marginalized wealth. What will the rest pass on—nothing, other than the word, Nigger, to future Niggas. And that’s all they will have, the legacy put on them by their oppressor, if they continue their false hope, and perpetuation of their despair.
America not only made Niggas, they will keep making Niggas, and Niggas will keep making themselves in their refusal to give up a simple term and in their continuation to keep that term alive. Let’s kill the use of the word, Nigger. When we stop seeing “Niggers,” just maybe we’ll see ourselves for who we really are. There is no dignity is being a Nigger, a Nigga, or Niggaz. There is dignity in being ourselves. Maybe that’s the new beginning we’ve all been looking for.
- Anthony Asadullah Samad is a national columnist, managing director of the Urban Issues Forum and author of 50 Years After Brown: The State of Black Equality In America (Kabili Press, 2005). He can be reached at www.AnthonySamad.com
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