Tuesday, February 1, 2011

Who is the Nigger? -James Baldwin (clip)

1 comment:

  1. Whatever you say about someone else, actually reveals who you are truly are. I’ve never really thought of it that way, but it’s so true. I can think how this relates to my life. When I hear gossip about someone, instead of instantly believing the rumors, I probably should step back and look at who is telling me the gossip. The way they judge a person based on hearsay, shows the true character of that person. Baldwin says, “I’m not describing you when I talk about you, I’m describing me.” That is so poignant because it’s true. In his time, if an angry white man shouted “the n word” at a person, it wasn’t because that individually was actually “the n word”. It was because the white man possessed hatred, ignorance and intolerance within himself and that is obvious by the way he treats another person. He goes on to say, “We have invented the n****r.” Meaning, white people created a term to degrade black people. They used it because of the fear, according to Baldwin. Even though white people used it and it still lingers in our society, Baldwin does an excellent job at explaining that actually no person is “the n word”.

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