Ignorance is a Bliss

Black and discriminated by society
Slashes and whips of pain on every slaves body
“Anything is better than a life like this
Death to us became a wish
No life, no names, no rights
Just strikes of pain with no freedom in sight
Stripped away our skin but never got a hold of our dignity
So we plotted our escape knowing the penalty
Dead or alive
We were better off knowing that we tried
Scared of nothing, and our hearts just lit
Cus we knew our life began as soon as we found the guts to re-claim it
Death was upon us, but we had no fear
For once in our lives, freedom was finally near”

My mind began to wander to a place I have never been but only imagined. With Black History Month inching closer to an end, I envisioned myself in an environment where the color of my skin granted me full access to a world of torment, pain, and enprisonment. This soon led to my wrath. I empathized with people I never had the chance to meet, I created a dialogue in my mind of what I believed one in their position would say. The words leaked out of my mind, like ink from my ballpoint pen. I entered the world of slavery and found myself sitting at my desk with the only evidence I had of my adventure laying right in front of me. Black ink on a white piece of paper. I sat there staring at my poem and could not think of a title.

Nigger, Negro, Colored, Black, African American, and now even in the 21st century, the word Nigga has resurfaced. All the terms and maybe more have been the names granted to us not only by slave owners but by ourselves. Why is it that every few years, We get a change of name? In the poem "A Black American," Smokey Robinson brought forth the same question. Centuries ago during the time of Slavery, Blacks were known as Slaves or Niggers, then few years later, We were called Negros, from there the name Colored, Black, African Americans, and back to Nigger but with an 'a' at the end instead (Nigga) came about. So which term is correct, if any? According to Smokey Robinson, "Black" should be the word to describe us. As an American blessed to be tanned with a "brown" skin tone, I honestly don't mind being called Black or African American, but when the word Nigger or "Nigga" is thrown my way, then there is a problem.

The thing that really pushes my buttons is when many "Black" people revert back to the term "Nigga." How is it that we can prouldy use a term that was once used to defame and insult our ancestors. This word has been placed on a peddle stool of controversy for many years, but yet it is supposedly used as a term of endearment. Nigger, was a term not used as a tool of oppression but used for its purpose because it meant ignorant, which means lack of education or knowledge of something. Nigger did not need to be used as a tool of oppression because being a slave, having all your rights stripped away, and even in the constitution, "blacks" were categorized as only two/thirds human. Im sure that was oppression enough.

The argument that many "Blacks" use to persuade society that the term "Nigga" is acceptable is that they have taken a term that was once used to defame and insult us, and in turn reversed and changed the meaning to endearment and brotherhood. By changing the meaning to something that supposedly brings the "Black" society together, they believe takes the power away from the people that once forced that name upon us. In a way I can understand their arguement on the situation but I still disagree with the usage of the term. I believe that this term only reopens the fleshy wounds that slavery left on the black race.

We should stop dwelling in our past and take advantage of the oppurtunities that lies ahead of us that were granted by the bloodshed of our ancestors. So who am I? I am a young brown skinned, educated, American, and as I sit at my desk thinking of a title for this poem above, I decide to name it, "The People Formally Known as Niggers."