Ngozi “You know we Igbo girls we too like money”
Morenike “LOL”
Next day………….
[i]Morenike “You know you Igbo girls una too like money”
Ngozi “Are you mad? How dare you say that about us? You Bigot!!!!
Morenike “eh…eh…Huh?”

[/i]Sound familiar? No? How about this then?

Jackie Chan “whaz up my nigga”
Black Bartender “What did you just say?”
Jackie Chan (slowly) “Whaz up my nigga”
Bartender grabs Jackie and attempts to strangle him. Other man tries to break his hand and generally the men in the bar try to kick his ass.

If you are white or any other race that is not black, you know by now that calling a black man a nigga is a big NO NO. In fact even calling your white friend a nigga is a big NO NO.
Yet blacks call themselves Nigga all the time and any white person who says it, is termed a racist. Tupac best defined the distinction between the two.

NIGGER- a black man with a slavery chain around his neck.

NIGGA- a black man with a gold chain on his neck.


Earlier on, I found it extremely hypocritical (I still do in some ways) Like how can you tell if the white guy is saying ‘Nigger’ or Nigga’( I wonder how many people actually know that the word “Negro’ means black in Spanish, Portuguese and Italian.)Don’t they sound the same?

Black guy: Hey cracker.

White guy: You can’t call me cracker, that’s racist. Now if you change 2 letters and call me a cracka, it’s all good.

Black guy: That doesn’t make any sense.

White guy: See how stupid it sounds when you guys do it.


If you believe that the word negro has been tainted by slavery and find it derogatory, do NOT call each other that(it sounds pretty simple but apparently its harder than it seems). Did you know that the term “Black” was deemed offensive before the 1960s, that was why the term Negro came into being? (You can read that up on Negro). As I grew older and reality set in(I do hate reality but I hate growing older even more) I realise a LOT of us are guilty of this in one way or the other. Let’s look at some examples.

1. Girls calling each other bitches but are ready to leave a stiletto on a guy’s head when he calls them that.


2. I have a friend who hails all his friends “Ode (fool), how far?”. However, let a stranger or an acquaintance greet him in the same way and all hell breaks loose

3. Me personally I hate when people insult my University except you went there yourself. Yeah, I know the school was crap most of the time, but its MY crap and the crap of all the other students that went there, not yours. It ain’t your business. (Strangely, I am not offended when people tag Edo girls as prostitutes, same as some whites don’t care if they are called cracker. If only we could brush all slurs aside)

4. Rodney Dangerfield, Woody Allen and John Steward makes fun of Jewish people all the time. You make fun of them. You are labelled Anti semitic.

5. You calling your brother or cousin a loser but if a third-party were to call them same, you are ready to beat them to death with a toothbrush.

The list is endless. I know it is double standard to think that it is ok for you to say something and not ok for me to do the same, but we all do it. We are Human. One of the beauty of being Human is our irrationality(imagine a world where we all applied common sense (which is strangely not so common) all the time). So I realise it is hypocritical to get so mad at black people doing the same when we all do it in varying degrees. (Not that i don’t mind being hypocritical, but only when money is involved..)

In conclusion, the mindset of many people is simply put -it is ONLY ok when I say it, but when you say it, it’s NOT okay. Simple? Yes. Fair? No. Caring if it is fair? Nope.


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