Why are blacks still accepting the title of 'nigger?'

I often sit and wonder why my people act the way they do? When I say my people I mean African Americans, the black folks, the colored people, my niggas, that nigger, or any other term that refers to people that have a dark phenotype. I am talking about us. Why is it that most of us are in jail, on welfare, or have the highest rate of individuals with AIDS and STDs? Why is it whenever we come together we have something negative to say about our brothers and sisters? Don't get me wrong, the other cultures out there in the world have the same problems too. I just think they cover it up better than we do.Every day at school I see my brothers. Some with grillz, tall tees, sagging pants and the infamous air force ones. I also see some of my brothers with a book in their hand, a belt and some brothers might even have a suit on. I wonder who sticks out the most? Hell we do! All because of certain niggardly images that stick in our minds. I wonder, what is the motivation behind the 'grillz?' They are ugly, yet our culture embraces that style of fashion.

Grillz do not belong in college, brothers with sagging britches do not belong in college, white tall tees do not belong in college and the word 'nigga' does not belong in college. When these things are embraced in our community we send off the message that it is OK and that it is right. This is what makes the world think that we are nothing but a bunch of niggers.

It is not our fault though. America made us this way; it all starts back with slavery. They turned us all against each other. They separated the light from the dark, separated families and tribes, they tore down the black male and made black women stronger. They made her cook, clean, have babies, please the master and pick cotton. While turning to the black male into a producer of babies and products. They didn't want us to get an education, for if we had knowledge we might start trying to figure out how to fight back. They made us snitch on one another, they taught us "the way that you can get a nigger to understand you need to beat him." America knew what it was doing, because we are still in slavery today.

Look at us and think about it. Every time we get together we have to find something to argue or fight about. We beat the hell out our children as punishment. We cannot be happy for someone who does good in life, but when they fail we feel a lot better or happier. We find faults in one another's outward appearance. We cannot be in stable relationships because we don't know what commitment is, for half of our parents are divorced. We cannot get an education because we continue to hold ourselves down by accepting the fact that the white man is always going to be better, smarter and more successful than us.

The reason we have not broken these slave mentalities is because we have become complacent within ourselves and our surroundings. We have accepted the fact that the white man is holding us down and we will always be held down if we continue believing these notions.

It makes no sense how other minorities can come over here with nothing; no concept of English, or the laws and do better than us and we've been here for about 300 years. 300 years later and we are still at the bottom. We are the ones who are still on welfare. We are the ones who do not vote. We are the ones who are content with living in Section A housing. We are the ones that do not fight for our rights any more.

My people, you are the general and we are your soldiers. It is your job to tell us what is right and what is wrong. It is your job to lead us in the right direction and not let us fall into a pathway of danger. It is your job to take responsibility for your platoon's actions.

Remember, my people, we are the general, and it's nobody fault but ours if we lose the battle.

- Corey Dargan