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A
Hip Hop Clothing Store
in
Malawi Called "Niggers"
By David Sylvester
I recently completed a charitable bicycle trip in
Africa, riding over 7000 miles from Cairo, Egypt to Cape Town,
South Africa . The trip made me the first and only African
American to cross two continents on a bicycle. I have plenty of
great and fascinating stories. Many are funny, others
bittersweet, some are poignant, but all are entertaining.
Surprisingly one story has stood out and if it was not for the
fact that I have a picture of it, many would never believe it.
and it is for that reason that I am sharing it with you.
While in Lilongwe, Malawi, I came across a store by the name of
"Niggers" ---that's right " Niggers"! The
other riders, who were all white, could not wait to inform me of
this to see my reaction. Initially, I thought that it was a very
bad joke but when the other riders were adamant about the
existence of the store, I had to see it for myself.
What I found was a store selling what the owner called 'hip hop'
style clothing . It was manned by two gentlemen --- one of them
asleep! (Talk about living up to or in this case down to a
stereotype) I asked the guys what was up with the store name.
After hearing my obvious non – Malawian accent and figuring
out that I was from America, the man thumped his chest proudly
and said "P-Diddy New York City! we are the niggers!"
My first reaction was to laugh, because many things when
isolated can be very funny, but it quickly dawned on me that
this was so not funny at all. It was pathetic. I did these
bicycle trips across the USA and through the 'Mother -Land' in
honor of one of my good friends, mentors and fellow African
American, Kevin Bowser, who died on 9/11. Here I am, a black man
riding across the world on his bicycle in honor of another black
man, riding 'home' and what do I see?? Some Africans calling
themselves Niggers! They
were even so proud of it they put it on their store front to
sell stuff. When I relay the story to folks back home in
Philadelphia, most of them laugh too and rationalize it by
saying 'well, we can say it to each other' or 'there is a
difference' or even 'they just spelled it wrong. It should have
been 'nigga's' or 'niggah's' Gee like that would make a
difference.
The issue is not the spelling. I was wrong. We are wrong. There
is no justification for an infraction of this magnitude. The
word and the sentiment behind it is Flat out wrong! We have
denigrated and degraded ourselves to the point that our
backwards mindset has spread like a cancer and infected our
source, our brothers, our sisters, our Mother Land. I have
traveled all over the world and have never seen a store by the
name of "Jew Devils", 'spic bastards' , 'muff divin'''
dykes' or anything like that- Only the store niggers!
I am to blame for this. Every time I said the word I condoned
it, by not correcting others or rationalizing it gave it
respectability, by looking the other way when others said 'hey
nigga what's up' allowed others to see it and ultimately that
when I purchase CDs, DVDs, T-shirts and other stuff, I enriched
it. I now see the error in my ways and I am so so sorry black
men and women. The flame that we called entertainment, that was
only to warm and entertain us, now engulfs us and scorches our
own self-esteem. If a child only knows to refer to men and women
as niggers, bitches, pimps and hoes, then what is he/she to grow
up thinking of themselves and others as he/she gets older?
This is no joke you can see my site http://www.contribute2.org/
and read some more stories. The bottom line is this I rode over
12000 miles on 2 continents through 15 states and 13 countries
and broke 2 bikes in the process to get to a store in AFRICA
called niggers. I am willing to step and admit my part in the
havoc that we have wrought on our mindset but I think that We
all are to blame.
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posted 26 august 2005 |
