When I was born way back in 1970, the second week of February was called ‘Negro History Week’. I always thought that white gave us the second week of February because the great Republican president, Abraham Lincoln has a born day on the 12th.
Now that isn’t the exact origin of what we now call BLACK HISTORY MONTH but I do have a TRUE STORY for you.
The REAL TALK history of the word NIGGER.
The word nigger is a derivative of a German word, NEGGAR. The definition for this word is ‘plowman’. In farming, the plowman is the toughest, most back-breaking and menial task. The plowman has to drive the team of animals through the field. By the end of the day, the plowman is up to his knees in shit and animal piss. The indentured servants that were assigned this work by their feudal lords were expected to do their work in any weather and in any condition.
Fast forward to the settling of America. The colonists that were wealthy bought tracts of land and they brought their indentured servants with them to assist in farming the land. Upon completion of their term of servitude, the indentured servants would become landowners themselves. With vast areas of undeveloped land, the settlers needed more NEGGARS to help them clear forestry and till the soil. The indigenous peoples of America were little interested in helping the settlers and were actually more likely than not to slit the colonists throats while they slept.
The colonists needed a relatively cheap source of labor and manpower. In steps the great Mediterranean traders with their human chattel from central Africa. The colonists were so enthralled by the prospect of these workers because they understood agriculture and could withstand the oppressive humid climate in the southern colonies. The colonists had found their new NEGGARS. For simplicity and clarity purposes, Europeans like to name areas after the resource they extract from those regions. IVORY COAST, GOLD COAST and NIGER were names that were assigned to regions for the commodities they yielded.
The German word NEGGAR begat the African nation NIGER begat the American word NIGGER. The word NIGGER has nothing to do with the Latin word NEGRO any more than the word ‘axe’ shares the same meaning as the word ‘ask’. The name of the governor in California (Schwarze-Neggar) actually means Black-Plowman.
The point of all this info is that when you do the knowledge on this word you find that white called other white the word NIGGER even before they used it as a slur against Black folks. So please feel free to call any white that you know a NIGGER.
PBS has a kick ass series on slavery and how it developed America by providing absolutely FREE labor for more than 200 years. All I have to say is two words… REPARATIONS NOW!
