A Message to My Black People - Stop Being the Nigga in America

A Message to My Black People - Stop Being the Nigga in America PDF Author: James Whitaker
Publisher: Page Publishing Inc
ISBN: 1635681936
Category : Self-Help
Languages : en
Pages : 56

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Book Description
A Message to My Black People: Stop Being the Nigga in America, first of all, is not meant to anger or disparage anyone. I wrote this book to help my people understand that we can do things a whole lot better as a people in order to earn and gain the respect as a people that we feel we deserve. Our slave ancestors endured too much for too long for us not to respect and reflect upon that and to make ourselves better. Our people and others devoted to the cause during the civil rights era fought tirelessly to earn equal rights and respect for our people for that to be disregarded. I do not want our people to take certain rights and privileges for granted and not understand the full purpose behind them. What I say in this book is how a lot of our people feel but are probably afraid to say, especially in a public forum. A lot of us may fall into certain categories mentioned in the book or know someone who does. The goal is not to insult anyone but to bring to light that he or she or they can do things better to uplift our people and help remove all the negative stereotypes placed upon us by other races. Please take the time and read each section thoroughly to get my full message. If you agree with my points, great. If not, try to really evaluate why and see if there is anything you can do to at least understand where I am coming from when I mention the things that I do. It is time for us as a people to take responsibility of our actions and better ourselves, improve our image, and stop being the scapegoat for problems in America. It is time to stop being the nigga in America!

A Message to My Black People - Stop Being the Nigga in America

A Message to My Black People - Stop Being the Nigga in America PDF Author: James Whitaker
Publisher: Page Publishing Inc
ISBN: 1635681936
Category : Self-Help
Languages : en
Pages : 56

Get Book Here

Book Description
A Message to My Black People: Stop Being the Nigga in America, first of all, is not meant to anger or disparage anyone. I wrote this book to help my people understand that we can do things a whole lot better as a people in order to earn and gain the respect as a people that we feel we deserve. Our slave ancestors endured too much for too long for us not to respect and reflect upon that and to make ourselves better. Our people and others devoted to the cause during the civil rights era fought tirelessly to earn equal rights and respect for our people for that to be disregarded. I do not want our people to take certain rights and privileges for granted and not understand the full purpose behind them. What I say in this book is how a lot of our people feel but are probably afraid to say, especially in a public forum. A lot of us may fall into certain categories mentioned in the book or know someone who does. The goal is not to insult anyone but to bring to light that he or she or they can do things better to uplift our people and help remove all the negative stereotypes placed upon us by other races. Please take the time and read each section thoroughly to get my full message. If you agree with my points, great. If not, try to really evaluate why and see if there is anything you can do to at least understand where I am coming from when I mention the things that I do. It is time for us as a people to take responsibility of our actions and better ourselves, improve our image, and stop being the scapegoat for problems in America. It is time to stop being the nigga in America!

The N Word

The N Word PDF Author: Jabari Asim
Publisher: HMH
ISBN: 0547524943
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 288

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Book Description
A renowned cultural critic untangles the twisted history and future of racism through its most volatile word. The N Word reveals how the term “nigger” has both reflected and spread the scourge of bigotry in America over the four hundred years since it was first spoken on our shores. Jabari Asim pinpoints Thomas Jefferson as the source of our enduring image of the “nigger.” In a seminal but now obscure essay, Jefferson marshaled a welter of pseudoscience to define the stereotype of a shiftless child-man with huge appetites and stunted self-control. Asim reveals how nineteenth-century “science” then colluded with popular culture to amplify this slander. What began as false generalizations became institutionalized in every corner of our society: the arts and sciences, sports, the law, and on the streets. Asim’s conclusion is as original as his premise. He argues that even when uttered with the opposite intent by hipsters and hip-hop icons, the slur helps keep blacks at the bottom of America’s socioeconomic ladder. But Asim also proves there is a place for the word in the mouths and on the pens of those who truly understand its twisted history—from Mark Twain to Dave Chappelle to Mos Def. Only when we know its legacy can we loosen this slur’s grip on our national psyche.

Your Average Nigga

Your Average Nigga PDF Author: Vershawn Ashanti Young
Publisher: Wayne State University Press
ISBN: 0814335764
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 188

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Book Description
An engrossing autobiographical exploration of black masculinity as a mode of racial and verbal performance. In Your Average Nigga, Vershawn Ashanti Young disputes the belief that speaking Standard English and giving up Black English Vernacular helps black students succeed academically. Young argues that this assumption not only exaggerates the differences between two compatible varieties of English but forces black males to choose between an education and their masculinity, by choosing to act either white or black. As one would expect from a scholar who is subject to the very circumstances he studies, Young shares his own experiences as he exposes the factors that make black racial identity irreconcilable with literacy for blacks, especially black males. Drawing on a range of interdisciplinary scholarship in performance theory and African American literary and cultural studies, Young shows that the linguistic conflict that exists between black and white language styles harms black students from the inner city the most. If these students choose to speak Standard English they risk alienating themselves from their families and communities, and if they choose to retain their customary speech and behavior they may isolate themselves from mainstream society. Young argues that this conflict leaves blacks in the impossible position of either trying to be white or forever struggling to prove that they are black enough. For men, this also becomes an endless struggle to prove that they are masculine enough. Young calls this constant effort to display proper masculine and racial identity the burden of racial performance. Ultimately, Young argues that racial and verbal performances are a burden because they cannot reduce the causes or effects of racism, nor can they denaturalize supposedly fixed identity categories, as many theorists contend. On the contrary, racial and verbal performances only reinscribe the essentialism that they are believed to subvert. Scholars and teachers of rhetoric, performance studies, and African American studies will enjoy this insightful volume.

What Doesn't Kill You Makes You Blacker

What Doesn't Kill You Makes You Blacker PDF Author: Damon Young
Publisher: HarperCollins
ISBN: 0062684337
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 303

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Book Description
“A blazing memoir in essays” (Entertainment Weekly) that explores the ever-shifting definitions of what it means to be black (and a man) in America. An NPR Best Book of the Year A Washington Independent Review of Books Favorite of the Year A Finalist for the NAACP Image Award A Finalist for the Hurston/Wright Legacy Award for Nonfiction A Finalist for the Thurber Prize for American Humor Longlisted for the PEN/Diamonstein-Spielvogel Award for the Art of the Essay For Damon Young, existing while black is an extreme sport. The act of possessing black skin while searching for space to breathe in America is enough to induce a ceaseless state of angst, where questions such as “How should I react here, as a Professional Black Person?” and “Will this white person’s potato salad kill me?” are forever relevant. Both a celebration of the idiosyncrasies and distinctions of blackness and a critique of white supremacy and how we define masculinity, What Doesn’t Kill You Makes You Blacker is a hilarious and honest debut that chronicles Young’s efforts to survive while battling and making sense of the various neuroses his country has given him. “Young delivers a passionate, wryly bittersweet tribute to Black life in majority-white Pittsburgh . . . A must read.” —Booklist (starred review) “Young’s charm and wit make these essays a pleasure to read; his candid approach makes them memorable.” —Publishers Weekly (starred review)

Who's Afraid of Post-Blackness?

Who's Afraid of Post-Blackness? PDF Author: Touré
Publisher: Simon and Schuster
ISBN: 1439177554
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 274

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Book Description
How do we make sense of what it means to be Black in a world with room for both Michelle Obama and Precious? Tour , an iconic commentator and journalist, defines and demystifies modern Blackness with wit, authority, and irreverent humor. In the age of Obama, racial attitudes have become more complicated and nuanced than ever before. Americans are searching for new ways of understanding Blackness, partly inspired by a President who is unlike any Black man ever seen on our national stage. This book aims to destroy the notion that there is a correct or even definable way of being Black. It’s a discussion mixing the personal and the intellectual. It gives us intimate and painful stories of how race and racial expectations have shaped Tour ’s life as well as a look at how the concept of Post-Blackness functions in politics, psychology, the Black visual arts world, Chappelle’s Show, and more. For research Tour has turned to some of the most important luminaries of our time for frank and thought-provoking opinions, including Rev. Jesse Jackson, Henry Louis Gates Jr., Cornel West, Michael Eric Dyson, Melissa Harris-Lacewell, Malcolm Gladwell, Harold Ford, Jr., Kara Walker, Kehinde Wiley, Chuck D, and many others. Their comments and disagreements with one another may come as a surprise to many readers. Of special interest is a personal racial memoir by the author in which he depicts defining moments in his life when he confronts the question of race head-on. In another chapter—sure to be controversial—he explains why he no longer uses the word “nigga.” Who’s Afraid of Post-Blackness? is a complex conversation on modern America that aims to change how we perceive race in ways that are as nuanced and spirited as the nation itself.

After My Personal Stop Message

After My Personal Stop Message PDF Author: BeBop
Publisher: Trafford Publishing
ISBN: 1490775218
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 449

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Book Description
Life after having accepted the challenge to surrender the nightmare of addiction found the stage now set for the work of what I will call the first day of a new construction worker's position in the building process of a new empire. Such began the laying of the foundation for this new life with the acceptance now of the many changes and its process to be taken through in finally seeing and relishing the joy of a new life free of "yesterday". The work involved I hope can be felt in this second book as well as the joy felt with me in achieving the rewards making up the architecture of my new empire for life after all the hard worthless and cold nightmare of addiction. I do hope such is conveyed to those wanting to endure another story of success from the hardship of addiction so many encounter.

Conversations with James Baldwin

Conversations with James Baldwin PDF Author: James Baldwin
Publisher: Univ. Press of Mississippi
ISBN: 9780878053896
Category : Literary Criticism
Languages : en
Pages : 316

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Book Description
This book "collects interview and conversations which contribute substantially to an understanding and clarification of James Baldwin's personality and perspective, his interests and achievements. The collection also represents a kind of companion piece to the earlier dialogues, A Rap on Race with Margaret Mead and A Dialogue with Nikki Giovanni"--Introduction.

Views of a Southern Black Man

Views of a Southern Black Man PDF Author: Harvey Williams Jr.
Publisher: AuthorHouse
ISBN: 1504900553
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 147

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Book Description
Views of a Southern Black Man is a compilation of selected weekly editorials written by the author over a fifteen-year span. In this book, the author shares his experience with racism in the south. He also talks about the problems that continue to plague the African American community as he offers possible solutions. The main objective of this book is to improve race relations, but this will not happen until all Americans come to an agreement as to whats right and wrong, just and unjust, and be able to separate fact from fiction. While the past serves not only as a reminder of where African American have been and a tool to access where we are today, we cannot successfully move forward while continuing to look back.

Taking on Diversity

Taking on Diversity PDF Author: Rupert W. Nacoste
Publisher:
ISBN: 1633880265
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 370

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Book Description
Since the election of Barack Obama to the US presidency in 2008, some people are under the illusion that we in America now live in a opost-racial society.o Author Rupert W. Nacoste knows all too well how far we are from that imagined utopia. As a professor of psychology and the campus oDiversity Doctor,o Dr. Nacoste counsels students on a regular basis about their problems dealing with diversity-not just racial and ethnic, but gender and sexual-orientation diversity as well. In this thoughtful, enlightening book, Dr. Nacoste reports, in their own words, students'astories of their anxieties in situations involving people who are in some way different. And he describes how he shows his students effective techniques for accepting the unavoidable realities of our neo-diverse nation. a Unfortunately, as the accounts in this book make clear, there is still much work to be done. aAt campus parties, in routine social encounters, and in email and Twitter exchanges, examples of bigotry abound- the an-word is still used; some white students don't like the idea of Marc Anthony singing oGod Bless Americao because he is Puerto Rican; young men continue to project demeaning attitudes toward women; and the heterosexual majority sometimes shows little understanding of the LBGT minority. Based on his many years of experience dealing with diversity issues, Nacoste shows how we can all learn to meet these challenges. This entails sensitivity to different perspectives, open-minded attitudes, and the recognition of two facts- that diversity in America is here to stay and that, in the end, respect for diversity is the essence of the American dream.

The Rational Optimist

The Rational Optimist PDF Author: Matt Ridley
Publisher: Harper Collins
ISBN: 0061452068
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 482

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Book Description
For two hundred years the pessimists have dominated public discourse, insisting that things will soon be getting much worse. But in fact, life is getting better—and at an accelerating rate. Food availability, income, and life span are up; disease, child mortality, and violence are down all across the globe. Africa is following Asia out of poverty; the Internet, the mobile phone, and container shipping are enriching people's lives as never before. In his bold and bracing exploration into how human culture evolves positively through exchange and specialization, bestselling author Matt Ridley does more than describe how things are getting better. He explains why. An astute, refreshing, and revelatory work that covers the entire sweep of human history—from the Stone Age to the Internet—The Rational Optimist will change your way of thinking about the world for the better.