In the early 90’s there was a female rapper/spoken word poet/Black activist named Sister Souljah.
Most people know her for the song she did with Terminator X and Chuck D from Public Enemy called “Buck Whylin'”.
WATCH IT: www.youtube.com/watch?v=VMbD_dFe0aA
She made an album many people laughed off, but I thought it was amazing. It was called “The Hate That Hate Produced”.
Her first single was called “Slavery is Back in Effect”. The video was off the hook. In enacted a scenario where Black people were put back to work in plantations and moved to mass concentration camps.
She was hated by almost all the mainstream press. Only Phil Donahue gave her a fair platform to speak. Even Bill Clinton hated her.
She is a hero of mine on many levels, though I never agreed with everything she always said.
You thought this was about Kramer though? It is.
I saw her do lectures several times. She was and is an amazing, intelligent Black woman. One time when asked about the word @#%$, she said something profound. Basically, she said it did not matter if White people stopped calling Blacks ******s, because WE (Black people) would never stop using it. This, she asserted, was due to centuries of miseducation and lack of cultural clarity.
I grew up in the Bay Area suburbs. I got into a fair share of fights over the “n word”. That’s how my dad raised me and that’s how I raise my son and my daughter- to defend their racial and cultural dignity.
But most people who have called me @#%$ are Black. I don’t care if they meant it in love, or hate…More Black people have called me @#%$ than anybody else.
That is an actual fact. In fact, if I go to any ghetto in the Bay…I’ll get called a @#%$ more times TODAY, by Blacks, than I did in my entire life by Whites.
But you thought this was about Kramer? It is.
Since Kramers obvious mental breakdown/rant, Black people from all over the country are banning together to “Stop the N Word”.
Good luck with that.
Even Paul Mooney, the KING of using the word in comedy decided that he was going to stop. He claimed to be so shocked and upset. I respectfully suggest Mr. Mooney shut his mouth. I believe he is a liar. A LIAR.
He made millions using the word. So the real question is, how much money does it take to make Mooney stop using the n word. Who paid him to do it and why did they?
You see, Mr. Mooney comes from a generation where Black men were still hung, beaten, murdered, and lynched….He comes from an era where Black women were spat on and called that word just for trying to get a drink of water…Just to eat a sandwich…Just to read a BOOK- they were called that word, humiliated, and attacked.
But he claims now that it’s because of Michael Richards he had an epiphany!!! Get the f**k out of here.
I ain’t buying it. Just like I am not buying all these so-called Civil Rights leaders shucking and dancing to meet with Michael Richards. Meanwhile, over in NY, Black men are getting killed by cops on their wedding day. Meanwhile, Black men in the Bay are frying their brains on mushrooms and E pills. Meanwhile, I just walked out of DVI penitentiary and SAW with my own eyes the overcrowded jails with men of all races (but mostly Black and Brown)….But Kramer is where these so-called leaders run to????
The rise of N.W.A. wasn’t enough? All the decades of everybody from Master P, 50 Cent, Fat Joe, Kid Rock, Non-Phixion, Necro and even Jennifer Lopez using the word gave nobody a clue about how rampant this word was being used???
Public Enemy addressed the issue with their LP in 1991. The Coup addressed it years before that. Tons of rappers and social activists have spoken out against it. But the media ignored them.
I’ll tell you a story. A long time ago I interviewed pro-Black rap group X-Clan. They rapped about self empowerment and respect for women and promoted a lot of Kemetis (aka Egyptian) spirituality.
They also use the N word all the time on their albums and in interviews. I asked them why. I was told by Brother J and Professor X that the word would always be around. That you could never get rid of the word.
What puzzled me at the time was, how could they ask young Black people to call to new Gods, if they still called themselves n*****s? How could you call them to a new spiritual plane, but still encourage them to use a term Black people never KNEW, until they were enslaved on the shores of North America? Sister Souljah knew the answer…She was right.
Najee Ali of Project Islamic H.O.P.E. is the only man who kept a steady pressure on the media and entertainment companies for their constant abuse and use of the word. A lot of people who laughed at him then, should align with him now.
Michael Richards is a red herring for these so-called Civil Rights leaders. He is the red herring reason people like Paul Mooney say despite the Watts Riots, the LA riots after OJ’s acquittal, the centuries of Black men and women being killed in America etc., MICHAEL RICHARDS is the cancer we must rally against???? I don’t think so. These times are filled with such fakes. Black America is in shambles and attacking Michael Richards won’t fix it. Neither will any new rap songs.
Sister Souljah was right in 1990 and she is right now. The masses of Black people still use it, and still love the word.
What Marcus Garvey, Macolm X, Eliah Muhammad, Martin Luther King and many others said still rings true today. It does not matter what ANYBODY thinks of you. It only matters what you think of yourself.
I just wanted to thank Michael Richards for helping Black America showcase it’s own hypocrisy.
I mean, if it was’nt for him, we’d NEVER know how wrong it is to use the word. I mean, he taught us more than Malcolm, Martin, Rosa Parks, Dr. John Herik Clarke, Angela Davis, Public Enemy, PRT, Sister Souljah, Betty Shabazz and the Nation of Islam ever could. America clearly needs Michael Richards to help Black people understand themselves better.Thanks Michael, we could not win this war without you. See, I told you this was about Kramer. No go eat some puddin’.
Holla at a scholar,
Adisa Banjoko
bishop@lyricalswords.com