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One's level of self-esteem-whether healthy or unhealthy-is a direct result of the environment and is deeply influenced by daily interactions with family, school, peer group, work place, and community.

Self-esteem is the foundation of self image, independent thought, and individuality. It can encourage us to leap bounds beyond the grandest measure, or it can discourage us from pursuing a goal before it even has the ability to ripen into a full thought. Self-esteem is the result of one's own self-perception-the way one sees oneself in relation to their environment-and strongly reflects the level of self-value one attaches to self.

For years on end, the term "n**ger" has been used in the plight to keep black African-Americans oppressed and miles shy of achieving their God-given potential. Black African-Americans were taught to perceive themselves as something far less than human, and to devalue themselves-to be "n**gers". As a result of the plight's effectiveness, healthy self-esteem runs at a deficient level throughout the black African-American community.

Some black African-Americans have realized the ramifications of the term "n**ger", understand the significance attached to a healthy self-esteem, and refuse to be referred to as a n**ger. This is because they realize the term is an antagonist to a healthy self-persona, and will not permit their own self-perception and self-value to degrade so low that they to refer to themselves as such.

On the contrary, some black

First off, not all of White America is racist; neither is all of Black America demented enough to refer to itself by the n-word.   Nonetheless, Black America is under siege both from without-external forces to the black community-and within-internal, destructive forces.

The passing of the 1964 Civil Rights Act and the 1965 Voting Rights Act legally ended "official" racism; however, socially, racism lives on.   Even in this day and age, some 44 years since the passing of these history-altering acts, those still exist who harbor the mentality of a racist regime from days long ago.

Many may argue against this truth, however, one does not have to gauge too far into history to see that racism is alive and well.  The infractions are limitless: The endless list of political prisoners and Mumia Abu-Jamal readily come to mind as attestment to this fact.   Need further proof?  The shooting deaths of Sean Bell and Tarika Wilson; the unfair and unjustified treatment of the Jena Six; the DWB (driving while black) violations; the horrific kidnapping and torturing of Megan Williams; the incident regarding William McCay who was killed in 2005 while walking down a Kansas City, Missouri, street simply because he was black; and most recently, the Philadelphia cop beatings of three black men.  The notion that racism is dead and buried is, and has been, a misguided one. 

On May 2, 2008, Chief Douglas Zeigler, the head of the NYPD's Community Affairs Bureau and the highest uniformed black officer

 

The Nas Legionnaires-a herd of misguided, pea-brain sycophants melodically influenced when Nas strums his flute of musical ignorance-are absolutely ecstatic about the new rapper's single, "Be A Nigger Too."   

"Be A N**ger Too" is co-produced by Salaam Remi and Big Jack. The song explores the media's impact on peoples' perception of the n-word; pardons Eminem for using the idiom in his rhymes; and sustains and invites listeners to "be a n**ga too"-despite the historic plight of black people and the satirizing nature the term reflects upon the African-American community. The song prefaces Nas' CD-with an expected July 1, 2008, release date, "Nigger."

Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. once said: "Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere." In line with the great Reverend's ideology, the idea that blacks can use the n-word and non-blacks cannot is nothing more than an unjustified double standard-as is any other double standard-that must be immediately discarded. For an African American to utilize the term says that they do not respect themselves or the constant struggles of their ancestors; for a non-black to use the idiom expresses their disrespect for the African-American culture, and keeps alive the inferior mindsets that have oppressed the black community for centuries. No benefit comes from the use of this term. If it is not good for one group, it is not good for anyone.

 

However, Nas and supporters seem to disregard the "double standard" and its true effects.

Mental enslavement is the act of blindly and deceitfully maneuvering a person into servitude while that person believes he/she is thinking for him/herself. In realizing that one is mentally enslaved, one can begin to constructively take strides toward freeing their mind from the shackles and re-building a solid, intelligible, unshackled, independent mind state. Thus, if one wishes to be mentally freed, he/she must become knowledgeable-informed-and separate oneself from any associations of the brainwashing mechanism.

African Americans from all walks of life-ranging from doctorate degree owners, academia professionals, ministers, politicians, or corporate executives, to ill-educated people-share a commonality when it comes to the n-word: They are mesmerized by its hypnotic influence. Some Black intellectuals look at the history of race and the term n**ger as a basis for arguing against burying the "N" word. They contend that Caucasians have used it as an instrument of fear and inferiority for years, while blacks have taken the term and transformed it into a cultural construction that should only be used by blacks.

However, one must ask: How do African Americans come to accept a word, such as the n-word, as endearing and affectionate? Are these Blacks who embrace the n-word suffering from a mass delusion-put more bluntly-BRAINWASHED? It would seem so as brainwashing someone is to mentally enslave them to one's desired will or way; the n-word-and all of its associations,

In lieu of the n-word’s derogatory and demeaning definition, African Americans have still continued to uplift the n-word, protected it like a mother instinctively defends her newborn, and placed it high on the altar as if the idiom is something in which to be proud.  The purpose of this article is not to inflame African Americans against a so-called oppressor—the n-word.

Rather, the goal is to make African Americans realize their contentment with the mentality racist oppressors instilled and cursed them with centuries ago, and to make African Americans aware that their choice to continue to active the idiom—in various ways—helps keep the mental chains of enslavement intact, passing the “endowment” down to generation after generation of African Americans. 

From the first days of slavery to present day, the African American’s manhood has been questioned, insulted and disrespected. The 60s Civil Rights movement worked to shed light on these dismal and unjustified racist attitudes, and strove to enlighten and free the African American community from the inhumane and unnatural mental and physical bondages thrust upon them. However, today’s lack of self-respect, adopting of self-destructive lifestyles, and acceptance of outright acts of cultural contempt demonstrates blacks’ unconsciousness to the seriousness of the matter, and, in many respects, how the culture is retrogressing into a sea of darkness. 

Boondocks and most recently, the rapper Nas is glaring proof

Centuries ago, the Great Commonwealth of England excommunicated those citizens considered unfit members of society and common criminals to an undeveloped, God-forsaken place. This place has since become the greatest and most powerful country in the world—the United States of America.

    

In 1966, Dr. Ron Karenga, also known as Maulana Karenga, introduced to black and white America alike a debatable and revealing holiday—Kwanzaa.  Kwanzaa is a seven-day festival to be celebrated by blacks and brings a cultural message which speaks to the best of what it means to be African and human in the fullest sense. The Nguzo Saba is The Seven Principles of Kwanzaa.

  

The seven guiding principles are unity, self-determination, collective work and responsibility, cooperative economics, purpose, creativity and faith. These principles, which are applied from Kawaida, set a value system specifically for the black family and are a worthy foundation in which to base one’s conduct.  Further explanations about Kwanzaa can be found at the following sites: http://members.aol.com/klove01/nguzosab.htm and http://www.officialkwanzaawebsite.org/index.shtml. 

  

Dr. Karenga is easily and accurately described as an intellectual genius for devising such a worthy holiday: In 2002, President Bush expressed his support for the holiday, issuing a Proclamation recognizing the seven principles of Kwanzaa. However, not all view him in this same light: Some view Karenga as an

The NACCP and non-affiliates have been performing mock funerals of the n-word around the country, burying the term, its negative connotations, and condescending use.  The most recent funeral occurred July 9, 2007, during the NAACP Detroit Convention weekend.  

The purpose and importance of these mock funerals is being questioned by individuals from various backgrounds and circuits. Skeptics believe that these mock funerals are outright ridiculous. Advocates of killing off the n-word rebut with a meditating question: Denigrating African-American women, glamorizing violence, defining an intelligent group of people with a racial slur—a term heavily drenched in ignorance and degradation, and all its many associations…is this rationality, sensibility and intelligence? 

Playing devil’s advocate, H. Lewis Smith, Founder/CEO of the United Voices for a Common Cause, Inc., openly questions the importance of the funerals, and rhetorically posed that there are more pressing issues deserving of the group’s time and attention.   Lewis’ point: In order for African Americans to rise above their current state of complacency and reach their promise, all community members, regardless of status and background, must consider the task at hand—burying the n-word—a serious issue, one of highest priority, and commit to exonerating the demeaning expression from all vocabulary banks.  

One may ask how removing the n-word from African Americans’ vocabulary is the single most

It is general knowledge that when Napoleon and his soldiers invaded Egypt and saw the Negroid feature of a nose on the Sphinx he ordered his men to shoot the nose off with its cannon artillery.   Likewise with other Egyptian artifacts it has been a general practice, by those who are so disturbed,  to destroy and deface any semblance of Negroid features.  However, in coming across the following I found it to be most incredible and decided to post it here.

The following article is an excerpt from Race and History.com by Professor Mani Ampim: 

In the tombs, not only have the faces of many wall images been altered or destroyed, but the crimes against African mummies are almost beyond description. There is a tradition dating back to at least 1000 A.D. in which Arabs and later Europeans engaged in the practice of “eating mummy.” This practice has been written about by a number of authors, and it was widespread in modern Egypt and Western Europe. It consisted of countless ancient African mummies being burned, ground up, and made into a kind of powder in order to be eaten. This incredible act of cannibalism was considered an effective medical practice and folk remedy. The belief became widely prevalent that cures could be obtained by eating ground-up preserved bodies. “Eating mummy” was considered effective in treating contusions, coughs, epilepsy, migraines, ulcers, cases of poison, and as a general panacea.

Mummies or fragments of mummies were taken from their