By H . Lewis Smith Guest Columnist
HAS BLACK AMERICA LOST ITS BACKBONE ?
America Lost Its Backbone N-Word H . Lewis Smith Washington , DC Mother ' s Day 2018
By H . Lewis Smith Guest Columnist
All by-product of African-American ingenuity , Negro pirituals , blue and jazz were created to help African American maintain a . ense of internal calmne and hope during strife ; cultivate , embrace and expre , individuality · and erve a living connection · to and trophies of cultural hi tory , know ! dge and heritage .
In pite of alJ the adver itie and calamities en laved African American ancestor · were forced to endure , they demon trated an unrelenting capacity to urvive de pite the odd overcome and prevai I . rom the a . he of despair arose a olid , magnificent race of peopl mbodying the very . sence of genuinenes , pride , dignity , and per everance . With thi vigor of relentle re ilience and faith at their core , the en laved captive . continued to defy barrier and become fruitful and re pected contributor in so i ety by taking on · uch role · a inventors , entrepreneur cholar , writer , religious and political lead r , athlet , ent rtainer , teacher , doctor lawyer and · cienti t .
The Jackie Robin . on '. Lena Horne , C . Delore . Tuck r , Malcolm X ' s Martin Luther King Freedom Fighter and many other understood the foundation that had been laid beneath them and chose to continue to build upon the solid ground de pite any maliciou n they would have to endure . A ide f r om th ir individual stride and achievement within their respective field , the e black heroes fought for advancement of black pe pie . They withtood tremendou amount of heinous treatment , humiliation , and d gradation simply to live up to their God-given individual potential and prove that intellect , talent po itivity and the de ire to achieve aJ o runs de p within the veins of black people .
During the years of the Civil Rights Movement and strnggles for equality people died , and in · ome cases outright sacrificed themselves ill order to secure cultural dignity , respect and II her the advancement of the Black America1t . These brave and convicted spirits only purpose was to be viewed a whole human-beings , as men - and not as some savage , ig11ora11t sub-Jmma11 better known as a 11 '::::= g er . Eve11 as they gave their last breaths for this purpose the last words they would often /z ear were the jeers of the 11-word ringing in their ears . However, the serious , iess of their purpose was u11dertood , the intestinal fortitude of Black America was u11waveri11g , and they were able to die as dignified self-respecting men and womell in their own right .
nlike their a cendants , many contemporary black lack the am conviction or determination to continue to trive for and demand ultimate re pect and equality . For ome reason , black n-word u er , proponent or apathetic --- wh ther high ch ol drop out or degreed profe ional -- feel an affi nj ty toward the term and se m to b unabl to fre th m elve from it clutche . The phy ically en laved were left no choice but to identify with the n-word . Today , Black have a choice , but rather than exerci · e the right to f r ee elf and ociety f r om tl1i · dem ni term far t o many in the black c m munity continue to blindly embrac it and th helple m ntality ; tllll inten ifying th fight again t m ntal en lavement and the inability for a [ colas al percentage ] of Black America to acknowledge the effectl of the n-word on their p yche .
Thi lack of intestinal fortitude wa never more evident than when rappers tran formed rap and hip-hop into a " n ** g rized " form just to make money . Rather than continuing to u e mu ic a . a vehicle to re-in ttll culturaJ pride , dignity and cultivate a en . e of elf-worth a did the sound of the earli r years they arrived on the cene with their Pied Piper mu ical me age of elf-destruction . The " new noi e " mentally deba ed and corrupted myriad of black America ' yout11 . Mini ter , community leader , and civil right leadec did ab olutely nothing to derail thi proces . ; in tead , they gave thi incorrigible trave ' ty it · pathetic bles ing .
The n-word i not ju ta word a o many au ally and nonchalanlly try to make it out to be . The black c m mun.ity ' prai ing worshiping and glorification of it make it mor than ju ta word , but rath r their Ma . t r , th ir God whom th y willingly bow down Lo . On bla k comedian ha . boa ted about how he bru . he his teeth with the w rd and that it make hi teeth white . It is going to take much strength , ourage , and ba kb ne for Black America to tand up and eliminat - a 400 year old mind control habit - the n-word from it peech .
Some have and are already demon trating ome backhon and mental liberation from thi word : In 1994 Attorney Roy Miller ucceeded in having the w rd removed from a major dictionary . Attorney Mill r i a