Thursday, May 7, 2015

Code Words: Why and How Did Thug Equal N-word?

thug - a brutal ruffian or assassin
How did this little four-letter word come to define an entire race of people negatively? I'm certain that whey you compare its current use to the word nigger, the meaning are not alike in any way, shape, form, or fashion, as the latter means a lazy, shiftless person NOT a default term for one with black skin. While a few bad seeds exist in every group, why does conservative media - and some of its liberal counterparts - resort to the use of code words to mask their true feelings?
What do we call the rioting sports fans after their teams win professional titles - or in the case of college athletes - after a blue blood program such as Kentucky basketball loses in the Final Four? I'm waiting. When Penn State fired the late Joe Paterno for not reporting former assistant coach and known pedophile Jerry Sandusky, was the student body unfairly labeled after tearing shit up? Crickets. Those are college kids.
Well, had this happened fifteen years ago at Henderson, I guarantee I would have a criminal record a quarter-mile long and an exorbitant bail to match not to mention an education wasted. Let's be real, who in this state is going to hire a felon for anything beyond fast food and backbreaking labor, let alone a black man?

Shaming black men has happened long before today and while we hope the exposed serve as examples of what not to do, history has proven to the contrary. Genetic attribution - the practice of classifying an entire group based on the actions of one individual, typically African-American - has mutated to naming prominent black men as thugs (ex. Seattle Seahawks cornerback Richard Sherman, President Obama) as a way to denigrate forward thinking. To be truthful, any black person including myself who chooses to stand up for ourselves and not live out specific caricatures are fully aware of this "thug-shaming". Case in point:  the day I posted a picture of my Obama 2012 bumper sticker to Facebook, white conservatives and brainwashed black people came out of the woodwork with particularly strong vitriol. Well, I thought he was the best candidate for the job. I didn't expect the bigotry to be included - and so crass.
Moreover, when brothers were dressed to the nines, we were still called niggers. Dress has nothing to do with your hearts. The "pants up, don't loot" crowd easily lost that argument.
Why does the word thug equal to the word nigger? Easy. Some white people - and older blacks - tend to view all of us as criminals. Even if we're all doing the same dirt in large groups, the black guy gets the brunt of the treatment even if he is completely innocent of the charged action. As an unintended consequence, I have had to prove my objectives were not nefarious to make safe passage, in effect a travel pass to come quickly and leave sooner during daylight hours.

Well, why are older black people quick to shun the youth as thugs? For some people, it is a hypocritical label despite the fact they did the same things in their younger years and are now unwilling to share the lessons from their mistakes that they are not repeated. Others have had a lifelong hatred of their own melanin (as easy as it is to poke fun at Clarence Thomas and black Fox News correspondents/analysts, I won't do it); everyone has a varying existence. Those minds are nearly impossible to change, as they are the ones who always seek approval from the ruling class and are openly willing to play Sambo or Auntie for their proverbial extra slice of cornbread. Like white-on-black racism, black-on-black self-hatred is passed down from one generation to the next. They do see themselves as better than the collective group, fully believing in the bootstraps narrative; however, they are often the most delusional people forgetting that a community helped them become successful. That lifetime of being "yes" men and women only to be spoken of as "one of the good ones" upon death means squat.
I have never known a lazy thug if the dictionary is to be taken at its word and meaning. Consequently, I have seen niggers of all colors because of their lazy acceptance to the media's slant on modern language. Some people are dying to use that term to intimidate and belittle black folks, but we're stronger than that. The real thugs work in Congress and certain sectors of mass media or serve as Daddy Warbucks-types to perpetuate a broken ideology of the greater world.
Posted by at

No comments:

Post a Comment

Keep your comments civil and clean. If you have to hide behind anonymous or some false identity, then you're part of the problem with comment sections. Grow up and stand up for your words/actions.

Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)