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June
5, 2005
Throughout the course of the trip, there were many
poverty-stricken areas that we visited. In America
they are called ghettos. Here they are known as townships.
The sight of poverty in these places is unbelievable.
But what crushed my spirit was a comment made by a
9-year-old boy today at the McDonald’s.
As I was walking into the fast food restaurant, the
young black boy with the sun glaring on his face looked
at me and said, “Nigga, what’s up?”
The
tone in his voice, especially as a child, made me
stop for a split second in awe. I have never heard
it pronounced in that tone before and coming from
a young black kid it made me feel as if I was being
disrespected for the first time, even though he was
saying it to be friendly.
In
a few seconds, many of the kids began to swarm on
me; some of them asking for food, others for money.
Then a little girl about 11 or 12 kissed me on the
left side of my chest. I was shocked at how bold these
children were, but it’s not their fault. A role
model and leader, someone whose morals and values
are about uplifting others, is needed in South Africa.
Whether
it’s “nigga” or “nigger,”
the word is a derogatory term used to demoralize blacks.
But over a period of time, we, as black people, especially
in my generation, have lost our sense of self-realization.
We’ve lost who we are and what the meaning of
this word was intended to represent. It took that
little boy calling me a “nigga” in that
tone of voice and environment to stop me from using
the word myself. I will stop using this derogatory
word because it does not mean “friend”
or “my boy.”
In
“I Write What I Like,” by Steve Biko,
a South African activist and journalist who was killed
by the apartheid government, the issue of what Biko
calls “Black Consciousness” and “Inferiority
Complex” are addressed:
“I
think basically Black Consciousness refers itself
to the black man and to his situation and I think
the black man is subjected to two forces in this
country,” wrote Biko. “He is oppressed
by an external world through institutionalized machinery,
through law that restricts him from doing certain
things, through heavy work conditions, through poor
pay, through very difficult living conditions, through
poor education, these are all external to him. And
secondary, but most importantly, the black man in
himself has developed a certain state of alienation.
He rejects himself precisely because he attaches
the meaning white to all that is good. In other
words, he associates good and he equates good with
white. This arises out of his living and it arises
out of his development from childhood.”
A
CIDA student said that he would trust a white person
before he would a black person. With a comment like
that from the little boy, I feel that many have unknowingly
created an inferiority complex from within. When I
asked the same little boy if he would call a white
person a “nigga” he said, “NO!”
I
think some blacks reject other blacks and themselves
in so many ways. That’s why we turn our backs
on each other. We have to start teaching our youth
the truth about their culture, our culture. These
truths also should be taught in the school systems.
Africa is the cradle of life and we were once the
teachers of the world -- teaching mathematics, beauty
techniques and ways to substantially improve agriculture
– to the Europeans and many others who relocated
from remote areas around the world.
Over
time, many minds have been traumatized and brainwashed,
but we need to gain trust among ourselves or we will
never liberate our race from mental and physical oppression.
As Henry Goodgame ‘84, the director of Alumni
Relations, has told me time and time again,
“We
should never expect from others that which we do not
demand from ourselves.”
Brian
Buchanan ’07 is a biology major from Atlanta,
Ga. When he graduates from Morehouse College he plans
to enter dentistry school.
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