A new reign is dawning

In an attempt to regain power from their oppressor the black community adopted the word „Nigga“ to eradicate the derogatory racist historical context of that word when used by white people.

It has become common practice to use it as a term of endearment. So widely used that it would appear that it can be used by anyone who has brown skin, or has some form of connection or affiliation with brown people. Realistically, the use of this word does little, other than teach others how to see us, treat us and how easily we are willing to degrade ourselves, we then dare to get upset if it is used against us with negative intent. The question is how can other people, other races determine when it is appropriate to use this term and when it can be deemed offensive if we have made it such an integral part of our everyday language. Are we that naive and oblivious to the damage our words can have on us and the impact this word in particular has on our behavior? So much so, that we become self-fulfilling prophecies and display what is also commonly referred to as „NIgga Behaviour“. This term can be traced back to slavery when we were viewed as savages that had no behavior and had to be tamed by any means necessary. Can we not understand that by using that word we are teaching others how we see ourselves and that to an extent we accept the negativity and embrace a self-hatred and disrespect of our race and thus have no real understanding that racism has not yet been eradicated it has merely evolved, it has morphed into different forms of slavery with an assortment of slave owners.

So that we may break the cycle of seeing ourselves in less than a positive light we must break the generational cycle of only being deemed successful if we have a lot of money, drive expensive cars, live in mansions, our men can breed without taking responsibility for the children we bring into the world and for women it is feeding into this highly sexualized image of ourselves where we are merely objectified by our men and society and therefore do not need, want or require genuine love and care. We are seen as nothing more than a commodity to be misused and abused. This plays a pivotal role in the negativity that surrounds our community and therefore we as a people fail to see ourselves in a positive light. Subsequently, society cannot see us as anything other than sexual bitches and hood niggas. Is this how we see ourselves too? If our educational systems refuse to acknowledge and teach our children that black people existed before slavery then it is our responsibility to teach our children that we were indeed born from Kings, Queens, and Warriors. We did not just appear in shackles, we were born into nobility. It is our responsibility to regain that knowledge. If the elders of our communities call each other nigga and bitch then how can we teach the younger generations to value and love themselves? Are we as evolved as we would like to think or are we still very much indoctrinated to unwittingly accept our lot in life as uncivilized human beings?

Our history began long before slavery. But if our education system had its way we would never be taught the positive history of our people Hence why we have become stuck in a cycle of delusion where we naively believe we have achieved progress and using these derogatory terms affords us a power that we vehemently believe we can lord over others, when in reality these terms keep us permanently stuck in a system of oppression. We need to instill positive images, stories, and knowledge into the malleable minds of our young instead of implementing degrading language which inevitably leads to less than royal behavior. Unlike the vast majority of Europe and Asia, where females were once deemed inferior to their male counterparts and therefore too vulnerable and weak for battle, ancient Africa celebrated and embraced the power and prowess of their females, who were not simply mothers or wives, they were warriors too. Historically, stories were orally passed down from generation to generation, and within Africa, these stories celebrated the intellect, strength, courage, and victories of warriors and warrior queens alike.

Zaria, in the Kingdom of Zazzau, which was situated in what is known today as Nigeria, was in the 16th Century, ruled by Amina. Her reign as Queen of Zaria lasted 34 years. During her reign, she not only expanded the territory so much so that it inevitably became a hub for traders, but she also secured the area so they were able to travel and trade through the Sahara desert without fear of attack.

Amina’s genius enabled her to build fortress walls. Contained within these walls were military encampments and as such were so strong that many still stand today. The Zazzau people were infamous in that region for their metalwork skills which Amina utilized and at one time was credited with the introduction of battle armor made entirely of metal. Our Kings and Queens were strong, highly-skilled, innovative, intelligent, and accomplished. It begs the question, why does our history never start here? What don't they want us to know about our past. It benefits the masses that we continue to exist within a racist, ignorant, self-hating, self-fulfilling bubble of negativity, however, we deserve better and if we don't want to make that change for us, we should at least do our utmost to make those changes for our future generations so we can break these negative and destructive cycles.