WHO IS THE NIGGER?

(2013) BY NIGEL WRIGHT

In 1963, San Francisco, CA, James Baldwin during in an interview with KQED Television focuses on the niggers existence in response to the heavy racism during his era. In his segment, Take this Hammer Baldwin poses the question, who is the nigger? A term that was made by America to portray blacks as sub-human during slavery, Jim Crow laws and segregation. Although the term nigger doesnt hold the same weight today as it did during the 19th and 20th century, Baldwin wrestles with the beings existence and asks the interviewer if it applies to himself and African Americans who continue to make progress and strive to achieve excellence in America. In response to Baldwins question, I say that the Nigger is lost in the trenches of society and that the term no longer applies to African Americans any more.

ALL MEN CREATED EQUAL REMAINS A SHATTERED NOTION STUCK IN THE TRENCHES OF AMERICAN SOCIETY. TO THE ILLEGITIMATE DARK-SKINNED CREATURE CREATED BY THE MOTHER COUNTRY, REST IN DISCOMFORT.1 THE CREATURE WAS ADJUSTED IN THE WOMB, WALKED THE EARTH, AND DIED FOR TRUTH AND A VOICE TO BE HEARD.2 THE CREATURE WAS DESIGNED TO FOLLOW ONE SIDE REINFORCED WITH MISCONCEPTIONS WITHIN DOCUMENTATION. UNDER NO REGULATIONS AND WITH NO WARNING, THE REVOLUTION OF EVOLUTIONARY MAINSTREAM MEDIA KIDNAPPED THE NIGGER AND BUILT A GENTLE SLOPE TO WALK ALL OVER.3 MISREPRESENTED BY THE UNDERBELLY OF MEDIA MAKES THE HUMAN LESS IMPORTANT. THE NIGGER APPEARS INVISIBLE TO THE INDIVIDUAL.4 HA-HA5 * * *
Conceptual Sample from Gil Scott-Heron. Comment No. 1/Who Will Survive in America. Def Jam. 2010
1

Emily Dickinsons I Died for Beauty (Adjusted in the tomb / When one who died for truth was lain -- conceptual sample)
2

This and the preceding line uses the definition of a ha-ha as a metaphor. Defined as a ditch with a wall on a its inner side below ground level, forming a boundary to a garden without interrupting the view. The metaphor also shows some ambiguity to the Nigger and its existence. The nigger was used an object
3 4 5

An indirect reference from James Baldwins, PRICE OF THE TICKET.

For using this word metaphorically I am describing that the Nigger itself is the ditch reinforced with different meanings and connotations that has continued to a follow a straight path in our society and the view has yet to be interrupted.

WHO IS THE NIGGER? THE PRINTED WORD STANDS NEXT TO ME AND BY NO CIRCUMSTANCES IS NEW THE GHOST OF LITERAL MEANING IS GONE. A CONTEMPTUOUS TERM THAT DOES NOT LIE BETWEEN THE PIGMENT AND THE FLESH. ITS LITERAL MEANING NECESSARY FOR ANOTHER MAN'S SUCCESS MOTHER HOW DARE YOU NEGLECT TRADITIONAL POSSESSION, SAYS THE OTHER MAN ALTERED OVER TIME, THE (ER) AND (A) HAS SHAPED AN ERA OF MASS DISTORTION AND LED TO NEGATIVE OUTCOMES, LAWSUIT, RIOT, IT IS WRONG, SHOUT REFORM, BECOME MORE PERFECT MOTHER6 WHO IS THE NIGGER? THE NIGGERS LITERALNESS IS DEEMED NECESSARY TO YOU (AMERICA), BUT UNNECESSARY TO ME, AND AT THIS AGE I MOVE ON.7 I KNOW I AM NOT COMMON, I AM AN INDIVIDUAL WITH A COMPLEX MIND THAT INTERPRETS SITUATIONS DIFFERENTLY THAN OTHERS. THE WORD NIGGER AND ITS EFFECTS REMAINS AN INTERNAL YET HUMOROUS DISCOURAGEMENT. HOW AMERICA PORTRAYED BLACK AMERICANS 373 YEARS AGO NO LONGER EXISTS THE NIGGER NO LONGER EXISTS NO LONGER SLAVES, NO LONGER MASTERS THERE ARE ONLY A FEW OF US THAT THINK WE ARE ALL MASTERPIECES CREATED UNDER GODS IMAGE. SO, REFORM THE WORD ALTOGETHER. AND LET THOSE WHO CONTINUE TO BREATHE LIFE INTO IT BE CLOWNS THAT SPEAK NO MORE THAN IS SET DOWN FOR THEM AND IN THE MEANTIME THE NECESSARY QUESTION MUST BE CONSIDERED.8 WHO IS THE NIGGER? THE ANSWER IS THIS IT NO LONGER EXISTS SOMEWHERE HE HAS HID HIMSELF. HIS LITERAL MEANING NO LONGER LIVES AMONG US.

6 7 8

Inspired by T.S. Eliots Wasteland, I. The Burial of the Dead (35-40, 76) Indirectly sampled from James Baldwins Nigger Sampled from Tragedy of Hamlet: Prince of Denmark, Act III Scene II, (38-45)

BENEATH THE TIPS OF OUR VOICES IS THE WORD THAT HAS GROWN TO BE HURTFUL BUT MEANINGLESS. AMERICAN TRADITION BEGS FOR THE NIGGERS EXISTENCE, ALWAYS OPENING AN EMPTY CASKET AND TRIES TO PUT ME IN IT. I SAY NO I KNOW WHO I AM, BUT I DO NOT KNOW WHO I WILL BECOME... YET HOWEVER I KNOW AND I WILL ALWAYS KNOW WHAT I AM NOT A NIGGER AND IF I AM NOT THE NIGGER THEN WHO IS?