WHAT SAY YOU ABOUT THE SEEMING RECENT INCREASE OF THE USE OF THE ‘N’ WORD?
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“‘A Lesson Before Dying’: The Burial of the ‘N’ Word.”
On Wednesday, February 27, 2008, 1 – 2:30 p.m., the Black Heritage Month
Planning Committee will have a funeral to “bury” the n-word. Using a
funeral ceremony as the backdrop, this event will discuss the history and
social significance of the most offensive word in American culture.
Eulogies, songs, and an intellectual treatment of the n-word will precede
burial. Members of the SIUE community will bury the N-word as a symbolic
gesture for improving race relations and racial sensitivity.
On behalf of the Black Heritage Month Planning Committee, I am asking for
your help in creating an outstanding event. Specifically, we would like for
some of you to speak out against the n-word. Anyone willing to participate
will be asked to speak for about 1 minute. Your contribution will be
considered “remarks” in the program.
If you would be so kind as to state a few words under the remarks portion,
then please contact me using the information below. Please suggest others
you think might want to participate also. At least spread the word.
Thanks.
I’m not so sure everyone wants to bury the word… it might greatly affect some record sales (see video below)! Also hear the ‘tame’ debate below between Cornell West and Michael Eric Dyson!
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Never Forget: A Journey of Revelations [Digipak]
Release Date: 08/21/2007 Original Release: 2007 # of Discs: 1 J&R Item # 986098_CD UPC # 894096001269 Label: Hidden Beach Records |
![A Journey of Revelations [Digipak] *](http://images.jr.com/musicimages/986098.jpg?WID=175&QLT=67&FTR=7&CVT=jpeg)
The-N-Word
| Current News | |
| Cornel West Debates Michael Eric Dyson Over Use of the N-Word on New CDby Jamal Watson Aug 21, 2007, 21:37 |
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| Dr. Cornel West, one of the nation’s most recognized Black public intellectuals, this week released his second hip-hop CD, a collaborative project with some of the biggest names in rap and R&B.The CD titled, “Never Forget: A Journey of Revelations,” by West, who teaches religion and African American Studies at Princeton University, enlists the sounds of artists like Prince, Talib Kweli, Jill Scott, Andre 3000, KRS-One and the late Gerald Levert. It’s the second socially conscious CD for the academic who released “Sketches of My Culture” in 2001, a CD that was harshly criticized by former Harvard University president Lawrence Summers who publicly questioned West’s scholarship. Summers ridiculed the CD, arguing that it was not befitting of real scholarship. The public spat eventually caused West — who felt disrespected — to abandon his alma mater for Princeton.“Sister Tilghman is qualitatively different than Brother Summers,” says West, referring to Dr. Shirley Tilghman, the current president of Princeton University, who helped to lure West to Princeton from Harvard. “The hip hop scared Brother Summers. It’s a stereotypical reaction.” In a recent interview with Diverse, West said that he wants this latest CD to help “the older generation raise their voices and listen to the younger generation so that there can be an internal dialogue between the two generations.”He adds: “We wanted to provide a danceable education that highlights the need for an awakening, for political engagement, for progressive politics and for sheer fun.” In recent years, hip hop has become an important cultural form of expression that many Black intellectuals have embraced. For example, Dr. Michael Eric Dyson, a professor at Georgetown University, has published a new book called Know What I Mean? Reflections on Hip Hop, and Dr. Marc Lamont Hill, a 28-year-old professor at Temple University and a protégé of Dyson, routinely appears on television shows discussing this cultural phenomenon.This strategy makes sense to West. “The academy and the street is all one world,” said West, who has written 17 books including the best-selling Race Matters, a collection of essays that examine racial issues in the United States. “A lot of people are trashing hip hop and demonizing our young Black brothers and sisters, but it’s important to bear witness in a variety of contexts and to be multi-contextual.”And yet, West says that hip-hop artists who demean and disrespect Black women should be held accountable as well. He also said that artists should become more sensitive to the use of the ‘N’ word and is heard on the CD debating Dyson, who defends the use of the word. On the CD, the conversation between Dyson and West is moderated by television host Tavis Smiley. “I don’t think it’s possible to overstate the importance of engaging and utilizing the ideas and energy of young people in activism geared toward addressing injustice here and abroad,” says Kevin T. Smith, co-founder and co-editor of SleptOn.com, a socio-political online journal that features news analysis and commentary on politics, entertainment and culture. “A major impediment of progressives and radical lefty activists today is the failure of the imagination … a failure to adapt beyond the old mobilizing ideas and to adopt some of the new, popular modes of reaching people,” says Smith, who applauds West’s initiative. “Hip-hop music is an international phenomenon that has really captured the spirit of this generation. It only makes sense for those concerned to try to capture and harness the enormous potential of cultural art forms such as hip hop while engaging its listeners.”- Jamal Watson | |
HOW ABOUT DOG, SHOULD HE GET A PASS? SHOULD WE THROW A DOG A BONE?
Is this just a cool trend now gaining popularity, or is it just being reported on more? Could there be some agenda on the part of the media to either make this an issue to encourage or spark some type of resolution, or are they ramming something down our throats to prove the point that African-Americans really don’t matter in America (for purely sensational reasons)? Michael Richards (aka Kramer) and Don Imus did not get a pass… should ‘Dog’ or should he get the newspaper?!
http://www.cnn.com/2007/SHOWBIZ/TV/11/01/dog.chapman.ap/index.html#cnnSTCVideo
http://www.cnn.com/2007/SHOWBIZ/TV/11/01/dog.chapman.ap/index.html#cnnSTCVideo
Just curious: Are they burying the word, ‘Nigger’ or ‘Nigga’? In other words are they burying the ‘Hip-Hop’ use of the word or the old slave usage? What will be the tombstone’s epitaph?