Culture Forecast: Dec. 18 - Dec. 24

Comments

[pleasantlyny]

01:35 PM on 12/22/2011

Black People - If you do not like the N word DO NOT USE IT but stop telling others what to say and not to say.... Many black people have grown up with it and use it as a term of endearment so please get over your self righteous act like you are so refined.

White people: (some of you) please please please stop with the whining cowardly "why can they say it and we cant say it..."./... First ask yourself WHY you want to say it. Secondly if you really really really feel the need to say it ... SAY IT. If people treat you different after you say it then so be it but hey some of you guys have the urge so free yourself.

[CDL1]

03:01 PM on 12/22/2011

Your post should be required reading for anyone wanting to post on this thread! F/F

[Nathaniel Calloway]

10:59 PM on 12/22/2011

"...Many black people have grown up with it and use it as a term of endearment so please get over your self righteous act like you are so refined."

And many have not. It is only a "term of endearment" for ignorant, self deprecating people. Please! Just because you didn't grow up around refined black people doesn't mean the same is true for all.

[Samirah1368]

08:30 AM on 12/22/2011

Me either Ms. Angelou. Me either

[bmitche]

11:51 PM on 12/21/2011

The word should never be used by anyone.

[gregory57]

08:49 PM on 12/21/2011

First they decommission the Concorde, now this. Poor, poor Maya.

[Max Shaw]

02:34 PM on 12/21/2011

Ouch. You pissed off Maya Angelou dude....Thats like when your mom says 'I'm not mad, just very dissapointed.' Hurts so much more.

[Denmark Vesey]

09:36 AM on 12/21/2011

Did I REALLY read a poster use the greeting ''hotep'' in one post, then use the term ''white brothers'' in another ? LORD HELP MY PEOPLE ! Either your down or your not.
I would like to see these so called 'white brothers' use the n word in any W Chicago neighborhood.

[papapj]

10:48 AM on 12/22/2011

Yes you read correctly..and what of it? Is it to be exclusively used by so-called Black people? Or, more logically, is it to be used by people who are AWARE of it's true meaning and use it accordingly?

[Ezra Black]

07:25 AM on 12/21/2011

Cmon Common you are a grown man and you have read for kids at the White House. That means you are way beyond using that word to get a message across. 39 years old and still rapping. Can't he see that people use rap to branch off into other things as they age and leave the genre to the young kids coming up.

[pleasantlyny]

01:32 PM on 12/22/2011

There is no age limit for rapping... rapping is a new genre of music so unlike rock, r&b etc... we have not seen old rappers yet.... we will.

People branch off when they have nothing else left to say or are not selling any longer. commons message is needed and I for one am happy that he is not 'selling out"/

[Ezra Black]

04:11 PM on 12/22/2011

There is no age limit for rap but there is an age limit on talking about other rappers on CD. When you say selling out does that mean he doesn't do commericals (he does) or movies (he does) or reading at the white house for kids (he does) or promoting education with his mother (he does).

Next you are going to tell me he still lives in the hood ... LMBAO

[MajorDem]

08:17 PM on 12/20/2011

Common should have known better than to associate Maya Angelou with a record that was anything but positive. He put her in a position to defend her association with him and his use of disparaging and culturally disrespectful language.

Common is a grown, intelligent middle aged man, who if anybody in Hip Hop does not know, that you do not associate an esteemed woman like Maya Angelou with anything like casual dropping of racial epithets.

[Mr Muckle]

11:08 PM on 12/20/2011

His use of the term was anything but "casual". Besides, Angelou is a grown woman and she has seen quite a bit, I think that this is definitely of that molehill/mountain construction.

[fredimessina]

03:06 PM on 12/20/2011

I think society is misinformed. That word has just as much power as it did in slave days. We are just dumbed down by so called "culture" into thinking that blacks are "owning" it. It still has every bit the power it always has. And any person of color who thinks otherwise has either never had it used on them like a weapon or are seriously kidding themselves.

[papapj]

05:45 PM on 12/20/2011

"It still has every bit the power it always has"

WHY? Why do people let a WORD have so much control over them??

[fredimessina]

08:51 PM on 12/20/2011

It seems to have more control over the people defending it.

[Gaaltero]

02:59 PM on 12/20/2011

I agree with Ms. Angelou. We don't need to be saying it. When I was growing up, I used to use it like it was going out of style. N-this. N-that. And dare a whiteboy to say it, else I walk up on him and bust him in his mouth and don't care.

Now, that I got a son, I won't say it..at least around him. He better not say it, else I go upside his head. I've cut down alot on using it. Rarely, I use it out of old bad habits. It's just a multi-purpose swear word, but you got to use it rarely and responsibly if you do, else you might offend someone and get hurt.

[wkingsolomon77]

03:43 PM on 12/20/2011

We are our own worse enemy

[Mr Muckle]

11:11 PM on 12/20/2011

You need to make up your mind, you are being perfectly hypocritical and young people pick up on that. One day, the youngster will be in a position to make his/her own decision. Seems to me that it would make more sense to have a dialogue with the the boy about the word and its history. Use the word or don't use it, but don't go blaming habits, if you can't why should the child?

[Kali03]

01:23 PM on 12/20/2011

I think that he should apologize to Maya Angelou and repudiate the song.

[greasedog]

11:11 AM on 12/20/2011

I've never understood the controversy over the use of the word in the first place. When used by whites the N-word always has and always will bare the HISTORICAL CONTEXT of it's use. We can not remove this history of the word. You can't "un-ring" a bell! Though it may not be the fault of whites living today, it is what it is.

So, that being said, the "user" IS the context. White people can't use that word when referring to black people or a black person without consequence. Period!

It's not a double standard when blacks use it either. For the "Double Standard" label to be valid, all things would have to have been equal. All things have not been equal. Black people don't have a HISTORY of systemic and institutional abuse against white people. Black people didn't scream this word at white people while lynching them and etc.
If they did then THAT would be a "double standard".

The reason there's so much trouble is because the current efforts to eliminate the use of the word, flies in the face of REASON and LOGIC.

[Pro Justice]

10:33 AM on 12/21/2011

Time is out for that "We-can-say-it-but-you-can't" B.S. Either stop using the word or shut the **** up when you hear someone else use it. Rihanna uses the word herself, ABOUT herself, and then has a fit when some ignorant editor tries to emulate her sloppy code-speak style.

I have an idea: Why don't we learn English grammar, spelling, and punctuation and stop using vulgarities as a substitute for rational thought?

[OCerInTN]

07:28 PM on 12/21/2011

"White people can't use that word when referring to black people or a black person without consequenc­e."

What is that consequence? From whom? Would there be any potential consequences to the consequence?

[xhawk2]

08:25 AM on 12/20/2011

I wonder if liberals will attack Maya Angelou for calling out the rappers who use the N word. Or are those smears just reserved for whites.

[queenietoo]

02:20 AM on 12/20/2011

Common God is watching you

[jshop]

01:56 AM on 12/20/2011

Why are so many people here arguing over the mere use of this word? That's not the hot issue of the story! Common used Angelou's poem and voice in a lyric containing a word, a concept, a mindset that she has made abundantly clear she abhors and rejects. And he didn't inform her of his intent -- apparently. Common has dissed Ms. Angelou big time. I think he ought to demonstrate that he isn't the word he so glibly uses and make a sincere, unqualified apology to her. A while back,the FAUX Fools made a big deal questioning the appropriateness his White House invite. Maybe they were right....

[xhawk2]

08:26 AM on 12/20/2011

Because you liberals attack those who call out the rappers who use the N word. Let's not forget how people like you were demanding the firing of Don Imus for a lot less. I guess DNCNN or MSNBC the Obama Channel forgot to tell you that.

[jshop]

05:01 PM on 12/20/2011

My question and my issue is not with Teabagging bigot trolls such as yourself. Equating Common with Imus is the stuff of idiots and mendacious devils.

[shelvern]

10:32 AM on 12/20/2011

I think Blacks are following the white agenda without knowing. They tear-down everything that Blacks are doing or the white media say they are doing wrong.

Blacks don't understand what they are up against, it start with "last hired first fired" The issue is that we do not have businesses that can hire and train the young people. We must have someone to look out for each other groups have it, We are told that Black businesses can not compete; therefor, lower quality and bad service. We believe.

You have no idea how this was manifested, years ago, I was assistant controller for a major food retail company - one district manager came forward to ask for more money for transferring old food to stores in Black areas. In time I had him replaced.

Not standing-up for their own, black colleges will hire people born in India for key positions. You really can not blame the university Presidents, they have been trained.

It is time to start making a change. Realize that you have been mislead for years.

[jshop]

05:02 PM on 12/20/2011

I was talking about Angelou's offense at what Common did. So, what's your point...?

[Mr Muckle]

11:13 PM on 12/20/2011

Note for ya. Black people are perfectly aware of what, at any given moment is going on. You have actually been mislead.