Two Wolves

One evening an old Cherokee told his grandson
about a battle that goes on inside people.

He said,
"My son, the battle is between 'two wolves' inside us all."


"One is Evil. It is
anger, envy, jealousy, sorrow, regret,
greed, arrogance, self-pity, guilt, resentment
inferiority, lies, false pride, superiority and ego.

The other is Good.. It is
joy, peace, love, hope, serenity, humility,
kindness, benevolence, empathy, generosity,
truth, compassion and faith."

The grandson thought about it for a minute
and then asked his grandfather,
"Which wolf wins?"

The old man replied simply:
"The one you feed."


Today, I witnessed youth in its lowest state of emergency. I am unemployed, and during this time, I decided to go back to school and get some semblance of a degree. While walking from my first class to the cafeteria to get a bite to eat, I saw a group of young black males sitting at a table, just hanging out, being young, I guess. I was wearing my Ipod, but didn't have it on, so I could hear what they were saying. This is big for me, because usually, I just keep the music up, and blot everyone out. I wish I had done it today.

As I was walking by, I heard one of them say to the others, "N word, get a look at that n words clothes!"
They were talking about me. I looked at my clothes, decided they looked great, and kept stepping. But as I kept stepping, I kept hearing the same word.

The n word.

Black, white, asian, hispanic. Males, females. Young, older. People walking with their kids. Every two conversations, you would hear that word. And no one cared. Everyone talking at the top of their lungs, and no one listening. Because if they were listening to what was coming out of their mouths, they could only be ashamed.

Just to make sure that I was still remembering the definition of the N word correctly, I went to dictionary.com and looked it up. Now before you look, you should already know, that the definitions are offensive.

The term nigger is now probably the most offensive word in English. Its degree of offensiveness has increased markedly in recent years, although it has been used in a derogatory manner since at least the Revolutionary War. Definitions 1a, 1b, and 2 represent meanings that are deeply disparaging and are used when the speaker deliberately wishes to cause great offense. Definition 1a, however, is sometimes used among African-Americans in a neutral or familiar way. Definition 3 is not normally considered disparaging—as in “The Irish are the niggers of Europe” from Roddy Doyle's The Commitments—but the other uses are considered contemptuous and hostile.

Okay, I get that. But when did it become SLANG?

1. Slang: Extremely Disparaging and Offensive.

a. a black person.

b. a member of any dark-skinned people.

2. Slang: Extremely Disparaging and Offensive. a person of any race or origin regarded as contemptible, inferior, ignorant, etc.

3. a victim of prejudice similar to that suffered by blacks; a person who is economically, politically, or socially disenfranchised.

And when did this rule come about?

nigger

noun

(ethnic slur) extremely offensive name for a Black person; "only a Black can call another Black a nigga"

You know, the dumbest statement that I have ever heard was that to take the sting out of a word, make it your own. Thus, a vernacular that was initially used to offend black people by white people is now being used to disparage ourselves, and white people aren't allowed to say it. Unless, of course, if they are friends with a black person. But now, as far as I can tell, anyone can say it, as long as they are down with the 'hip hop culture.' That is what a kid at school told me.

But here is the thing. Real hip hop doesn't rejoice in that word. Original hip hop didn't use that word as a staple; they used it as a reminder.

I wanted to tell those kids, don't fall into the trap of thinking that bringing down your knowledge, your self respect, is cool. Don't perpetuate the fallacy that people want you to talk like that.

But they weren't listening. They were too busy acting ignorant, hooting and hollering, making sure that everyone could see and hear them.

I guess they were trying to live up to the standards that they had set for themselves.