"Ask about me, they'll tell you
I don't play, n**a
And I don't smoke bullS**
I smoke HASH, n**a
For real, n**a
I don't shoot n**as in the leg
I shoot to kill n**as" -- Green Lantern, featuring Fingerprint

One of my pet peeves has got to be the ignorance of people, and their numb-skull arguments. I love seeing black people go into hysterics when they hear a white person use the term nigger or nigga. Yet, some of these same black people will have little to no reaction when a black person uses these words in their vocabulary. Now, when it is used in the former instance, 'nigger', by whites, black people have cause to be offended. In the latter instance, 'nigga', used by blacks or hip-hop whites, I just think it's silly to differentiate or get offended by the white guy using it, and have no reaction or understanding of its significance. In case you are wondering the difference, allow me to present two separate instances.


Picture with me, if you will, a white guy with a Nascar hat, confederate flag t-shirt, chewing tobacco dribbling out of his mouth, a tattoo tattered on his arm that says something mysterious like: 'One in the same -- my sister, my wife', and he has a name like Biff or Buster or Shooter or Cooter or Hunter. Ok, are you holding that image? (See above picture to the left, if you are having trouble). Good. Now, picture that same man seeing a black person walking down the street, and snarls as he turns to his sister/wife and says, "I wish I could shoot that nigger." See? That is the first usage of the word.

In the second usage, I would like for you to picture with me a black male, gold teeth, sporting excessive jewlery, baseball cap, oversized shirt(s) and jeans, with a mugshot snarl, and a mysterious tattoo that says, "Real Niggaz iz Thug Niggaz". .. Ok, are you holding that image? (See picture, above to the right, if you are having difficulty). Good. Now, picture that same man seeing another black person, not from his neighborhood, walking down his street, and he snarls to his boys, "I'm gonna shoot that nigga!" See? This is the second usage of the word.

Now, some black people get offended if white people use either usage of the word. In the first instance, it is just racist, and in the second instance, it is not appropriate, thus making it still racist. Black people who use the word will claim that when a white person calls a black person "nigger" it's racist, but when a black person calls another black person "nigga" it is a sign of mutual understanding and respect, a shared experience, commraderie.

And that's where I get stuck. See, I just heard this song on MySpace at 7:15 in the morning that said, "I don't shoot niggas in the leg; I shoot to kill niggas!", and I can't help but to think of the 41 shots into Amadou Diallo, the rising blood of Emmit Till, and the bullet that scarred our dreams at some Memphis Hotel. And strangely, the two usages of the word, no matter what color, has the same searing tones.