Nigger

Randall Kennedy takes on not just a word, but our laws, attitudes, and culture with bracing courage and intelligence—with a range of reference that extends from the Jim Crow south to Chris Rock routines and the O. J. Simpson trial. It’s “the nuclear bomb of racial epithets,” a word that whites have employed to wound and degrade African Americans for three centuries. Paradoxically, among many Black people it has become a term of affection and even empowerment. The word, of course, is nigger, and in this candid, lucidly argued book the distinguished legal scholar Randall Kennedy traces its origins, maps its multifarious connotations, and explores the controversies that rage around it. Should Blacks be able to use nigger in ways forbidden to others? Should the law treat it as a provocation that reduces the culpability of those who respond to it violently? Should it cost a person his job, or a book like Huckleberry Finn its place on library shelves?

The story of Dick Greagory, welfare case, star athelete, hit comedian, and front-line participant in the battle for Civil Rights.

The twentieth anniversary edition of one of the most controversial books ever published on race and language is now more relevant than ever in this season of racial reckoning. In addition to a brave and bracing inquiry into the origins, uses, and impact of the infamous word, this edition features an extensive new introduction that addresses major developments in its evolution during the last two decades of its vexed history. In the new introduction to his classic work, Kennedy questions the claim that “nigger” is the most tabooed term in the American language, faced with the implacable prevalence of its old-fashioned anti-Black sense. “Nigger” continues to be part of the loud soundtrack of the worst instances of racial aggression in American life—racially motivated assaults and murders, arson, intentional infliction of emotional distress, and workplace harassment. Consider this: twenty years ago, Kennedy wrote that any major politician credibly accused of using “nigger” would be immediately abandoned and ostracized. He was wrong. Donald Trump, former POTUS himself, was credibly charged, and the allegation caused little more than a yawn. No one doubted the accuracy of the claim but amidst all his other racist acts his “nigger-baiting” no longer seemed shocking. “Nigger” is still very much alive and all too widely accepted. On the other hand, Kennedy is concerned to address the many episodes in which people have been punished for quoting, enunciating, or saying “nigger” in circumstances that should have made it clear that the speakers were doing nothing wrong—or at least nothing sufficiently wrong to merit the extent of the denunciation they suffered. He discusses, for example, the inquisition of Bill Maher (and his pathetic apology) and the (white) teachers who have been disciplined for reading out loud texts that contain “nigger.” He argues that in assessing these controversies, we ought to be more careful about the use/mention distinction: menacingly calling someone a “nigger” is wholly different than quoting a sentence from a text by James Baldwin or Toni Morrison or Flannery O’Connor or Mark Twain. Kennedy argues against the proposition that different rules should apply depending upon the race of the speaker of “nigger,” offering stunningly commonsensical reasons for abjuring the erection of such boundaries. He concludes by venturing a forecast about the likely status of “nigger” in American culture during the next twenty years when we will see the clear ascendance of a so-called “minority majority” body politic—which term itself is redolent of white supremacy.

The first, and most obvious questions, which should be asked are, "What are niggers? Who turned Africans into niggers? When were Africans turned into niggers? Why were Africans turned into niggers, and how were Africans turned into niggers? These are the questions, which this book endeavors to answer. Although this book talks about White Supremacy, and the effects of White Supremacy on Black people, this book is not about White people. This book is not about blaming White people, or having any hatred for White people. "Blame and Hatred are distractions," and when we spend our time blaming and hating White people, we are wasting valuable time; time that could instead be used to improve, and empower us as a people. Black people must awaken that "Spiritual Afrakan" inside of them!

Embrace Leadership to Combat All Forms of PrejudiceIs there a “nigger” in you? If you have attempted to avoid and/or escape oppression, been made to feel as if you are a problem, been treated as “lesser than” or even like a criminal, all just because you are different in a given context, then what Dr. J. W. Wiley asserts through the title of this book inescapably applies to you. Through any of our multiple identities—stereotyped, marginalized, or ostracized by our socio-economic class, level of education, gender, disability, age, race, sexual orientation, or religion—we are all potential victims as well as perpetrators of denigrating language and discrimination. Dr. Wiley borrows the agency of nigger, arguably the quintessential, most universally known term of disparagement of those negatively considered the Other, to re-frame the word as no longer just a racial term but one that symbolizes many of the ways we disrespect or bully one another, are inconsiderate of one another, prejudge one another, and internalize our demonization. He defines the word in a way that demonstrates its equivalence to other dysfunctional language (retard, bitch, fag, trailer trash, etc.) that suggests that those so targeted are unworthy of consideration in our society. By creating a conversation around such language, Dr. Wiley challenges us to recognize that, when we give in to our prejudices and stereotypes, the “nigger in you” is what we are apt to see when we encounter those different from ourselves.The author, who is Director of the Center for Diversity, Pluralism, and Inclusion for the State University of New York–Plattsburg, a Lecturer in Philosophy and Interdisciplinary Studies, and president of his own consulting business, engages diversity in a uniquely inclusive way and as inseparable from social justice. By dissecting the offensive language we often use, consciously or unconsciously, Dr. Wiley provokes us to recognize that, since every one of us has multiple identities beyond just the color of our skin, it is virtually impossible for most of us not to have felt the sting of oppression, or the power of privilege that some of those same multiple identities may confer on us. Consequently, it is morally incumbent on us to contest and ultimately transcend oppression wherever we encounter it, to respect the humanity of those different from us, and become allies in the war to protect and advance people’s right to be different.Through personal stories, scholarship, poetry, commentary on current affairs, lyrics, and his experiences as a Black man both rooted in African American culture and the culture of the academy who daily has to navigate and negotiate multiple worlds, Dr. Wiley leads us on a journey toward social justice. In doing so, he empowers us—in whatever sphere, private or public, in which we have some agency—to embrace our leadership moments by engaging those who would perpetrate dysfunctional language or behavior, and help create a world in which differences are respected and validated.

Revolutionary, reflective and romantic, I Am Nobody's Nigger is the powerful debut collection by one of the UK's finest emerging poets. Exploring race, identity and sexuality, Dean Atta shares his perspective on family, friendship, relationships and London life, from riots to one-night stands. Longlisted for the Polari First Book Prize 2014'Go Dean Atta. Speak the truth. Tweet the truth. Upload it. Let it ring out over the digital domain and strike at the heart of the offline wireless and disconnected.' Lemn Sissay 'Dean Atta's poetry is as honest as truth itself. He follows no trend; he seeks no favours ... Beyond black, beyond white, beyond straight, beyond gay, so I say. Love your eyes over these words of truth. You will be uplifted.' Benjamin Zephaniah 'Righteous and forceful' Peter Tatchell'I can do nothing but take my hat off to Dean Atta for speaking out, saying what he believed, and doing it so effectively and powerfully that countless people heard it who would never normally have done so. Poetry is a powerful tool, and I Am Nobody's Nigger is a perfect example of when that tool shows its full strength.' Huffington Post' Huffington Post 'Raconteur Dean Atta doing what he does best; articulating London's dark, deep-rooted social cancers through a beautiful and intricately personal narrative.' Clash

Capitalist Nigger is an explosive and jarring indictment of the black race. The book asserts that the Negroid race, as naturally endowed as any other, is culpably a non-productive race, a consumer race that depends on other communities for its culture, its language, its feeding and its clothing. Despite enormous natural resources, blacks are economic slaves because they lack the 'devil-may-care' attitude and the 'killer instinct' of the Caucasian, as well as the spider web mentality of the Asian. A Capitalist Nigger must embody ruthlessness in pursuit of excellence in his drive towards achieving the goal of becoming an economic warrior. In putting forward the idea of the Capitalist Nigger, Chika Onyeani charts a road to success whereby black economic warriors employ the 'Spider Web Doctrine' – discipline, self-reliance, ruthlessness – to escape from their victim mentality. Born in Nigeria, Chika Onyeani is a journalist, editor and former diplomat.

From high school dropout and convicted drug dealer, to successful entertainment industry executive, eventual law school graduate, and college professor, this is an explosively emotional inspirational journey exploring the ups & downs of growing up bi-racial in America. Born just a few years after the Supreme Court made discrimination against interracial marriage unconstitutional, the author takes you from his time as an impoverished youth, living in a predominantly white neighborhood, to his move to the inner city and predominately black school system. From being called 'nigger' in the white neighborhood to fighting daily for being attacked and called 'white boy' in the black neighborhoods. From the brutal murders of friends and family members, to providing an insider's look at the author's time in the entertainment industry, working on projects that went on to win Grammy Awards and garner numerous Gold, Platinum and Diamond records, through all the highs and lows of a life full of extreme challenges and inspirational triumphs. REVIEWS & PRESS "Simply brilliant"- Nancy Bonilla, Cabrera Press "The must read book of the year!" - M.J. Brown "Stunningly blatant and non-apologetic, this is a must read for anyone that is searching to find understanding in our current racially divisive times. For the first time, I feel as if I have a real understanding of the struggles associated with being bi-racial in America..." - KnowledgeOfself.online Comparable works 'The Autobiography of Malcom X' by Alex Haley 'Makes Me Wanna Holler' by Nathan McCall 'Manchild in the Promised Land' by Claude Brown 'Nigger' by Dick Gregory