 |
On March 2, 2008, Jamiel Shaw Jr., 17 was gunned down by 19 year old Pedro Espinoza, a 18th Street gang member who had been arrested on the same day of Jamiel’s funeral according to the Los Angeles District Attorney. Espinoza had spent nearly four months in a Los Angeles County jail for exhibiting a firearm and resisting arrest before he was released March 1, 2008 just 28 hours before he murdered Jamiel. Within a week, the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agency had filed paperwork naming Espinoza a potential candidate for deportation. If convicted for this crime, he will most likely received a life sentence, so the immigration hold brings no heavier punishment for this offense. It turns out that when Espinoza was four years old, he was smuggled into the United States from Mexico and he grew up in a neighborhood just west of Shaw’s Arlington Heights home.
When the murder was reported in the local news, Jamiel was characterized as the son a military mother, who was a successful high school athlete that was not involved in street gangs in any way. The media described this murder as “senseless” and when it was determined that Espinoza was an illegal alien, the story of Shaw’s murder was being highlighted by the media’s strongest critics against illegal immigration, including Sean Hannity, Bill O’Reilly, and Lou Dobbs. According to Bill O’Reilly, “Jamiel was just walking around, he wasn’t a bad kid, he’s an athlete, he was at the wrong place at the wrong time” (March 24, 2008 – The O’Reilly Factor).
Jamiel wasn’t a bad kid, but he did have relationships with gang members in his community that led to Espinoza’s fatal assault on him. Jamiel lived in a community occupied by Bloods that have been at war with 18th Street for 12 years. With witnesses pointing out that a Hispanic was responsible for the murder, the only logical assailant would be a member of 18th Street, a predominately Mexican-American gang with some illegal alien members. Reports that 18th Street gang has a membership that is 80% illegal is false. Of the County’s total gang population approximately five to 10% are illegal.
The 18th Street gang formed in the 1960s in the Pico-Union community of Los Angeles and has formed over 20 separate gangs within Los Angeles County. Collectively they are the largest Hispanic gang operating under the same name, but in actuality, each of the 20 or so discreet 18th Street neighborhoods should be treated as individual autonomous gangs, since many of the separate neighborhoods clash and have internal rivalries in an unstable network. Reports that 18th Street as a “supergang” are media myths that also include gangs such as MS13, Maravilla, Surenos, Crips, and Bloods, all which are NOT gangs but umbrella labels that hundreds of gangs in Los Angeles identify with. If there were any truth to the existence of these “supergangs,” then the Crips, predominately black, would be the largest street gang in Southern California with approximately 20,000 members in Los Angeles County alone and several thousands more in the surrounding Counties. Since the Crips and black-on-black violence was yesterday’s news, our media is no longer concerned with their violence, even though they are responsible for the majority of gang crimes in our city. Mainstream media attention on gangs for some has now shifted to highlighting the violence that the smaller illegal alien gang member population have committed.
In the Arlington Heights neighborhood, a preliminary investigation reveals that the shooter from 18th Street went to the door of one of Jamiel’s neighbors and shortly thereafter saw Jamiel walking on the street, who was wearing a red belt, a common gang identifier in that neighborhood. According to a witness, the shooter asked Jamiel what gang he was from and then he shot him. All indications about Jamiel was that he was a good teen with a bright future, but what may have caused the shooter to single Jamiel out was his association with the neighborhood including amiable relationships with Blood gang members. His relationships with these gang members should not take away from his good character nor does it justify his murder, because people such as Jamiel inevitably interact with gangs because they are in the neighborhood, on the school bus, protecting residents from other gangs, on the street corners and at the high school.
Many of our City’s 40,000 gang members in the database are teens like Jamiel, just mere associates that interact with those in the community and play sports. They are not of the criminal element, but based on his associations, law enforcement would categorize young Jamiel as a gang member, and if they read the following quote that Jamiel wrote on one of his myspace pages under “people I’d like to meet,” it would raise more eyebrows to his gang affiliation:
“I'D LIKE 2 MEET OTHER B-DOGS SOME FREAKY GIRLS BECAUSE U GOT 2 BE A VERY FREAKY 2 TALK 2 ME. SOME crabs SO I CAN BEAT THOSE c-monstas. BUT MAINLY OTHER GIRLS. aND 2 TALK 2 MY FREAKS”
Source: http://www.myspace.com/lilckaboom
The term “B-DOGS” in the above quote is a reference to Blood gang members, and “crabs” is a derogatory reference to Crip gang members. I would characterize the above statement as normal adolescent behavior but law enforcement will call this gang related. Jamiel was not a bad kid, but he was specifically targeted because of his gang association. Some find it difficult to believe that such a talented athlete would even talk or affiliate with gang members, but college athletes and professional athletes alike are known to have strong ties to their neighborhood gang. Just last week, Boston Celtic’s star Paul Pierce, threw a Piru Blood gang hand sign to Al Horford after a spat during a playoff game that represented his Inglewood neighborhood in California. Stacey Augmon who has gang ties to the Denver Lane Bloods in Pasadena has had a successful career in the NBA and won a national title in 1990 playing for UNLV. In 1996 many skeptics warned about drafting Keyshawn Johnson out of USC because of his "gang ties" to the Fruit Town Brims but Johnson has had a hall of fame career without incident and now a commentator for ESPN. Baron Davis, the star point guard for the Golden State Warriors, has gang ties to his South LA neighborhood and he’s currently producing a film about LA’s gangs, and he is the godfather to Harlem Caron Taylor, the son of gangster rapper The Game. Additionally, Charles Jordan, a Blood member from the LA Swans gang played six seasons in the NFL for the Miami Dolphins and Green Bay Packers and was known to tribute his gang with a hand sign after scoring a touchdown.
Jamiel’s association with the Bloods was strong enough to cause the shooter to target him, making this shooting purely gang related as the shooter’s purpose was to benefit the 18th Street gang’s objectives. When the shooter asked, according to a witness, where Jamiel was from, that provided the shooter’s motive lessening the role of race in this shooting. The murder of Cheryl Green in Harbor City in 2006, the murder of Kenneth Wilson in 1999, the murder of Christopher Bowser in 2000, and the murder of Anthony Prudhomme in 2000, all in Highland Park were black residents killed in purely racially motivated fashion where the victims had no gang affiliation in communities where black gangs were not even present. Additionally all the Hispanic assailants in the above murders were US Citizens.
In nine years as testifying as a gang expert in criminal courts, I have seen dozens of individuals wrongly classified as gang members, including mothers, brothers, and other relatives for just being seen in the neighborhood or having an association with someone who is in a gang. Read about Mario Rocha. This vague identification process that police officers use is the reason why the City claims 40,000 gang members with nearly 100,000 gang members County-wide. Many of these young men never know they are being entered into a gang database, and all it takes is an officer to complete a field information (FI) card and write “admitted gang member.” The purpose for including gang affiliations on as many FI cards as possible makes any offense that the individual commits in the future prosecuted with gang enhancement penalties even if the offense was not gang related.
I have always been against lumping people like Jamiel as a gang member, but because of this conundrum, we must look at gangs not as vicious criminal organizations, but as naturally forming delinquent groups, rooted in community, that include everything from non criminal associates to the hard core elements and everything in between. Many of these adolescent youth will mature out of the gang within their first year and never acquire a criminal record or commit violence. Gangs are complex organizations that require a deeper understanding than what media sensationalism and law enforcement depictions offer on the topic.
Of those 40,000 gang members in the City today, we should only be concerned with about 4,000 to 6,000 of those members who are the habitual repeat violent offenders responsible for approximately 90% of all gang related crime. The rest of these “gang members” are close friends, associates, peripheral players, relatives, school friends, wanna-bes and community residents. Assuming Espinoza is guilty, one has to attempt to explain why this murder took place before we even try to work at mitigating future violence in this community and certainly before anyone can draft law that is suppose to prevent these types of murders from happening again. Many will suggest that if Espinoza was deported, this shooting would have never occurred, but lets take it further and understand that if 18th Street and the Bloods from this neighborhood were not engaged in conflict, not only would Jamiel be alive, so would several other people.
Anyone truly committed to mitigating the violence between the Bloods in Jamiel’s neighborhood and 18th Street should try to organize a truce between the two neighborhoods that have been feuding for over a decade. I am certain that with proper financial resources being used to organize and sustain street worker’s efforts on the conflict between the Bloods and 18th Street, a resolution to this conflict can be achieved that would have a regional impact on other neighborhoods that will educate young people and save lives. Thus far all I have seen is a demonstration of politics among people who have no understanding on gangs and the problems that plague these communities while another family grieves the loss of a great son.
05/01/2008: How to Lose an Argument Everytime
Alex Alonso
04/19/2008: Good Liars Must Deceive oneself
03/28/2008: Newly added gang member to top ten list captured
Sixth Top-10 Gang Member Arrested
LAPD News Release
Wednesday, March 26, 2008
Los Angeles: Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa and Police Chief William Bratton announced the capture of 18-year-old Soperry Chea, also known as “Baby Face,” who was listed as one of LAPD’s most wanted gang members. Chea is the six most-wanted gang member captured since the list was created February 8, 2007.
“Chea’s capture is significant for two reasons,” said Chief Bratton. “First, he was arrested locally, by LAPD officers, and second, it demonstrates that this particular gang initiative is working.”
On March 26, 2008, officers developed information that Chea, a wanted Top-10 gang member was in the area of 14000 block of Valerio Street in the Van Nuys Area. Uniformed officers from the Van Nuys Station converged on the apartment complex.
Approximately three hours later, officers recognized Chea after he was seen entering a vehicle. Chea was stopped and taken into custody. Inside the vehicle, was a handgun which, was recovered by the officers.
Chea was placed on the most-wanted list for a murder that occurred back on April 17, 2005, during which he stabbed an unarmed man to death while pinning him to the ground. After committing the murder, Chea through the knife over a fence which, was later recovered by police.
http://lapdonline.org/newsroom/news_view/37916
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
03/06/2008: The Jamiel Shaw murder in Los Angeles
A few days ago, Jamiel Shaw was murdered by Hispanic gang members that were rolling through 5th Avenue just south of Washington in what the media has been calling Arlington Heights. This area is commonly know as Mid City, and it is a gang neighborhood and has been so since T. Rodgers founded the Black P Stones almost 40 years ago down the street.
Reports about this community are not emphasizing both the gang conflict that has been part of this community for decades and the racial/ethnic conflict that has been affecting this community since 1996 when Billy Hurd, a long time resident of this community was the first victim gunned down by 18th Street gang members next to the United States Post Office (Rimpau Branch) on Washington Avenue. A few years ago Lil Dogg was killed just a few blocks away and now Jamiel Shaw.
Although no one has been arrested, it is safe to assume that 18th Street gang members were responsible for the murder of Jamiel Shaw, but what makes this murder different is that young Mr. Shaw was not a member of the Black P Stones but an aspiring athlete from a loving home. Because of his achievements though, the murders of other Black males in our city are over shadowed and the previous Black victims from this community have been nearly forgotten.
When Billy Hurd was killed, there was no media coverage. Where was Earl Ofari Hutchinson and other civil rights advocates when Hurd was killed? Where were the community leaders when Lil Dog was killed? Fox 11 was the only media outlet to cover this killing and I was there, and even that coverage was limited compared to the attention that the Jamiel Shaw murder is receiving. If we continue to ignore this conflict because we believe that certain victims deserve to be killed because of their gang ties, we will have more victims like Jamiel Shaw. Some people consider the Jamiel Shaw a "senseless murder" but we need to look at all these young male victims, Black and Mexican alike, in the same light if we are ever going to make progress in this conflict.
This is a small community that can be contained if we examine the root causes to this conflict and give every victim equal weight in our quest to mitigate violence and bring peace to the community. We should have been up in arms when Billy Hurd was murdered in 1996, but it is never too late to make forward progress.
Listen to "Killer" who is a Black P Stone member talk about how life has been like dealing with this ongoing conflict with Mexicans in an interview with Laura Diaz February 2007
At about 7:00 pm last night, a hit-and-run driver crashed his vehicle into a tree next to the southbound lane on Crenshaw Blvd just south of 57th Street. As the suspect was shaking off the effects of the collision, one LAPD cruiser pulled behind and asked the motorist to exit the vehicle. Using the bull horn the officers continued to tell the motorist to exit the vehicle but he did not respond. The officers did not approach the vehicle and were taking extreme precautionary measures as they continued to tell the motorist to exit vehicle.
About five minutes later, a second LAPD cruiser pulled behind the motorist, but the driver did not exit the vehicle and the situation appeared to be getting tense. There were paramedics treating some of the hit-and-run victims one block away on Crenshaw as this stand off continued. The air unit was now over head as several more LAPD cruisers pulled in behind the motorist.
At about 7:21pm the driver abruptly exited the vehicle and began to back peddle away from the police, and after a few steps, the LAPD fired about three shots. The motorist began to run at full speed into the US Bank parking lot on Crenshaw & Slauson, entering the lot on the north side of the bank. The LAPD officers gave chase following him into the parking lot from his rear while other officers cut him off on the Slauson side. They fired on him multiple times from both directions and the suspect fell in the lot behind an LAPD cruiser on the Slauson side of the parking lot.
The suspect was on the ground and moving after being shot, and then the officers took him into custody. The paramedics arrived and transported him to the hospital. He either died in route or at the hospital.
11/01/2007: Polygamy in Utah
Carolyn Jessop
...The LOTT (Living On The Top) gang is based in Los Angeles and East Los Angeles. It started in the 1970s as a group of friends who got together at a vacant lot to get stoned on hard drugs, according to the Web site streetgangs.com, published by USC doctoral student Alejandro Alonso.
As members went to prison and the drug trade grew, the gang grew more violent and evolved into a traditional street gang, complete with tattoos, organized drug dealing and killing, according to the site.
The article states the that information about the LOTT gang is "according to" my website StreetGangs.com, but the article was posted in the magazine section of the website by A. Martinez, and clearly on my website states that "Street Gangs does not endorse or support all the views in this section" but the author makes it appear as if it was according to Street Gangs or myself when it was not.
Even more appalling, he makes statements about the article that never appeared in the article. No where in the article did the author mention, "complete with tattoos," that the LOTT was an "organized drug" dealing operation, or that they where involved in "killing," but Mr. Baeder decided to sensationalize his article by creating those statements.
These kinds of writers are the reason why many working professionals do not trust the print media. They take the worst quote, add their own words, and twist the meaning. They embellish the story for viewership and I will never talk to Baeder again.
You can read the entire article that Baeder falsley quotes at:
http://www.streetgangs.com/hispanic/lott13.html
04/15/2007: Won't You Please Be My Nigga: Double
It was a word that the European settlers used to dehumanize, demoralize and weaken the spirits of defenseless Africans and their slave families. The word continued to be publicly used after Emancipation, and during the civil rights period in the 20th Century it was popular with Southern Democrats. George Wallace publicly used it as he campaigned on the segregation ticket when he was elected governor of Alabama in 1966.
It was not until the 1970s that whites publicly diminished the use of that word as the political will of the country was telling us that the word “nigga” was unacceptable in any context. Nearly 370 years later the word became unacceptable and offensive in public speech. A successful effort to remove that word from our imaginations took form, but did it?
The word “nigga” not only has never left our vocabulary, but it is becoming increasingly popular in recent years. In addition, other racial denigrations have become popular in mainstream speech.
For example, Shaquille O'Neal, the center for the Los Angeles Lakers said, “tell Yao Ming, ching, chinh chong” when asked about playing against him in an upcoming game. Although many from the Asian community were offended, Shaquille O'Neal did not suffer a serious backlash and his endorsement deals were never in jeopardy (Nestle, Burger King, Swatch Watch, Radio Shack, etc). The word “chink” has appeared on T-shirts, and “white boys” has replaced the 1970s word “honky” for white Americans.
Black Congresswoman Maxine Waters, and Donna Brazile, black Democratic Strategists have both publicly used the word “white boys” with absolutely zero backlash. Waters once said, “I don't see them slamming young white boys on the hoods of police cars,” when referring to a questionable use of force by an Inglewood Police officer in Los Angeles County during 2002.
But for non-blacks using the word “nigga” one can expect a certain level of backlash regardless of the contexts. Ironically though, elements of our popular culture are bombarded with the word “nigga” everyday and there is not doubt that the word has not escaped the vocabulary of blacks, young and old, from the inner cities to the ivory towers, among the underclass and elite.
In what context do blacks use this word today, and do their justifications of the use of the word create a double standard where non-blacks are vilified when the word from their mouths, but it is socially acceptable and should be when blacks use it in any other context?
Brandi Polk, undergraduate at California State University, Los Angeles said, “blacks should be the only ones that can say that word”, and this view, extremely popular among blacks, has created for others a double standard. If the word is highly distasteful and unpleasant, some believe (mostly non-blacks), the word should not be used by anyone, especially in public settings. Let's examine the popular uses of the word “nigga” among blacks today.
Casual
The most common use of the word nigga is the term of endearment a shout out, a greeting to a fellow brother. Sit on the 4, 5, or 6 trains heading uptown, and after you pass 96th Street you might hear a young lad on the train say to a friend, “Hey what's up my nigga.” This is said among millions of times among inner city blacks and has actually reached the mainstream, when in the movie Rush Hour, Jackie Chan said the exact phrase to Chris Tucker.
The line garnered many laughs from black audiences across America and Jackie Chan received no public backlash, partly because Rush Hour is considered Chris Tucker’s movie and as a black comedian he has a “pass” to use that word with little to no backlash. The word “nigga” in this usage can easily be replace by, brother, partner, buddy, homie, dude and homeboy to convey the same point in the above quote.
Comedian Alex Thomas used the word “nigga” in this casual nonchalant manner just over 100 times in a 50-minute comedy performance at he Ebell Theatre in Los Angeles in 2001. His show was entitled “Straight Clownin” and at times he used the word so repetitiously it began to lose it’s meaning. He said the word more times than Richard Pryor did in his 1974 performance of That Nigga’s Crazy.
Aaron McGruder, cartoonist of The Boon Docks, used the word “nigga” nonchalantly when responding to white guest Michael Graham on Bill Maher’s HBO Reel Time show (April 1, 2003). The discussion was about the validity of the SAT examination used as a college entrance requirement. McGruder was making the case that the exam was racially biased and not a useful way to measure the potential of students, especially blacks. Mr. Graham suggested that the exam was indeed a very effective way for universities to gage a student's potential, and half the exam is based on the neutrality of mathematics, and this difference of opinion caused McGruder to respond to Graham by stating nigga please.
Within a few seconds McGruder went from making a strong case against the SAT, by weakening his argument with an unexpected response to Mr. Graham on national television. This extreme casual use is what has created a double standard of the word for many.
Threatening
When blacks assume an aggressive posture with one another, and that exchange gets heated, the word “nigga” will be used in an extremely threatening way that challenges the other to react or respond to some threat. One may tell the other, “What's up nigga, what you gonna do nigga?” This is commonly said before a fight, or a more serious assault. This is beyond casual use and almost used in a way to demean and belittle the other person who is often Black too. When blacks are in confrontational situations with whites, Hispanics, or other non-Blacks, the word “nigga” is not commonly used to provoke the other. The word is exclusively used in a self-hate method specifically reserved for confronting other blacks. This is true with street confrontations or in prison conflicts.
An example of this use can be seen in the movie Baby Boy, when Snoop Dogg is confronted by the character played by Tyrese in the scene where Omar Gooding shoots and kills Snoop Dogg. Snoop used the word “nigga” in the same way that it is used to confront or challenge the other “nigga” in an attempt to out punk and to mentally challenge an opponent. Another excellent example is how Ms. Tate would call little Antoine “nigga” in the film, The Antoine Fisher Story (2002) Ms. Tate exclusively called Antoine a “nigga”, and she did so in a demeaning hateful way. It was as if Ms. Tate, his foster mother, was the oppressor and Antoine was her slave child.
Self Identification
In this form, blacks proudly use the word to show pride about their ghetto roots and the social problems associated with their inner city lives. Tupac proclaimed himself as a “nigga” and used the word in the title of his second album, Strictly for my N.I.G.G.A.z. (1993). For many male youths you have to be part of the “ click” and be known as a rider, or a brother that will not hesitate to commit the ultimate assault if need be. Most people are not murderous thugs, but like most of American youth they are fascinated with depictions of crime and violence, that include movies like the Godfather, Goodfellas, and Scarface. This was Tupac's audience and they loved the nigga identity.
When asked about the west-coast/east-coast beef in rap music, rapper Notorious BIG responded that “I don’t concern myself with that, I am just trying to be a million dollar nigga“ (Luke’s Peep Show, 1996). By self-identifying as a “nigga”, Biggie included himself in that category of uneducated thug affiliated youth fascinated with the criminal underworld, a proud association for young insecure brothers trying gain a reputation. The rap group NWA also proudly self identified themselves by the word “nigga,” which reflected their “gangster” persona that they glorified and proudly proclaimed. Eric “Eazy E” Wright, the founding member of this group reveled in the nigga identity and it created a large underground following for N.W.A. and future artists such as Snoop Dogg, Biggie, Tupac and W.C. Unfortunately many associated with this form of rap expression have followed trouble or have died young and tragically.
Historically
The word “nigga” is almost necessary to use to make a case about the legacy of racism in the United States and the social consequences of the racialized activities of the past such as slavery, Jim Crow laws, Dred Scott ruling, and extreme school and residential segregation that occurred in the United States. Black scholars such as Cornell West, Michael Eric Dyson, and Todd Boyd may say “nigga” to express a point, but this is not to be confused with the casual use. Some blacks have charged that no matter how successful and educated they are, much of mainstream white society still considers them “niggas.” The significance here is that there is never complete inclusion into the American way of life for blacks and that they will always take the back seat no matter how successful they become. Blacks can become extremely educated, own professional sports team, become billionaires, run television networks, get elected into state and federal positions and perform as the best attorneys (Johnnie Cochran) and doctors (Benjamin Carson) in the world.
But many maintain that blacks, no matter how successful “are still niggas” in the eyes of white society. An extreme view of this philosophy is that the state of race relations in America are either the same or worse than in the past.
Elitist/Difference
Some middle and upper middle class blacks have used this word to distinguish themselves from the black underclass that is suffering from many of the social ills that has plagued the black inner city for the last 30 years. Many middle to upper-middle class blacks are usually characterized as the conservative bourgeois class. Some have even taken the extreme to call these blacks “uncle toms.”
Blacks that have taken advantage of affirmative action, earned educations, moved into the private sector and created businesses have not for the most part experienced the socials that many blacks in the inner city experience. For their success and their more moderate and slightly conservative political views, they have been characterized as “uncle toms.” But these blacks have often expressed disdain for the underclass, and their behaviors that include teenage pregnancy, single parent households, drug use, gang activity and concentrated poverty. These lifestyles are viewed as repulsive.
Some successful and privileged blacks believe that many blacks do not reach their potential and stigmatize hard working successful blacks. For some upscale blacks these people are considered “low lifes” or “niggas”. Chris Rock has discussed this difference in one of his comedy routines.
Hip Hop
As mentioned earlier, the word “nigga” is heavily used among many of the top rappers and among those that have mainstream audiences. For example, Billboards top 40 included 11 rap songs during the first week of April 2003 and those lyrics had the word “nigga” in the lyrics 17 times. The number one single in the country, In Da Club by 50 Cent, used the word “nigga” 9 times.
Not surprisingly though, NAS’s positive song, I Can never used the word, along with Lil Kim’s song, Busta Rhyme’s song and the two Eminem songs that were in the top 11 rap songs. For the other seven rap songs, the word appeared 17 times in the lyrics. Eminem, who has been know for making controversial comments in his lyrics, told Rolling Stone Magazine (November 22, 2002) that he would never use the word “nigga” in his lyrics, but many have suggested that his two underground
albums that were circulated regionally did use the word.
In the late 1980s, rap group Niggas With Attitude (NWA) hit the rap scene with their gangster style but the group was more commonly known as NWA. They used the term in a self-identifying manner and an expression of how they viewed themselves. They later released an album entitled, Efil4zaggin (1990) or Niggas 4 Life spelled backwards. They became extremely popular during the 1990s and Ice Cube & Dr. Dre, members of NWA, are still are still very active and successful in the rap game.
Using the word “nigga” for NWA never damaged their reputations but actually added to their credibility as ghetto rap stars. In 1993 Tupac Shakur released his second album entitled, Strictly for my N.I.G.G.A.z, an anthem about the ghetto. This album put Tupac on the hip-hop map for those that were unaware of his first album, Tupacolypse Now or his appearance on Digital Underground’s his first album. Tupac is arguably the most well known rapper in history with his songs still charting nearly seven years after his death. 50 Cent’s debut album, Get Rich or Die Trying (2003), shows how popular the word “nigga” is in the lyrics of rap songs. His album sold 872,000 albums during the first week of release in February 2003 breaking the old record of 803,000 set by Snoop Dogg’s 1993 album, Doggystyle (both albums were produced by Dr. Dre). The new rap sensation from Queens, New York used the word “nigga” a total of 131 times in his debut album, and his hit single In Da Club, which had the word “nigga” in it nine times, was the number one single on Billboard chart during April 2003. Rappers almost always used the word “nigga” in a casual way.
During the 1970s, comedian Richard Pryor released a comedy album called That Nigga’s Crazy where he poked fun at his ghetto experiences that included crime and drug use. More recently Chris Rock used the word “nigga” in his comedy routine to distinguish between blacks and underclass blacks. In what can be considered one of the most popular lines of his routine, Chris Rock referred to “niggas” as black folks that you don't want to encounter and should avoid at all costs. He makes a very clear distinction between “niggas” and black people where he says, “niggas have got to go, but I love black people but I hate niggas.”
Niggas for Chris Rock where of the criminal elements of society that break into your house, cause clubs to close down early have low expectations in life. “When I go to the money machine tonight, I am not looking over my back for the media, I am looking for niggas.” Chris Rock was using the word in the elitist manner that I described above and as a black man he received little backlash for his use of the word “nigga” of course because he is black.
On June 9, 1997 during a tour to promote his September 13, 1997 bout with Oscar De La Hoya, Hector Camacho was asked his opinion of Mike Tyson after he bit Evander Holyfield's ear in their 1997 rematch earlier that year. Camacho responded in part by saying, “That's what Mike's problem is, he's got too many 'niggas' around him.” For many, that was an unexpected and inappropriate response. Two days later he felt the need to clear up what he said so that there was no misunderstanding, but in his attempt to apologize for what many believed was an inappropriate use of words, he just dug a bigger ditch when stating;
“And I also want to clear up a little thing that the people are repeating around about niggers, OK, when I made the comments about Mike Tyson, they asked me, `What do you think about Mike and what is going to happen to Mike?' I said, `Mike is a very unhappy character. Instead of having classy African-American people with class who make him look good, he got all these nigger-attitude people around him that make him act the way he does, like a little beast. And he ain't. I love Mike. He's a great man.” (June 11, 1997)
His comments made a clear distinction between “classy African-Americans” and low class “niggas”. He stated that if Tyson had surrounded himself with “smart African Americans,” instead of “niggas” he may not have found himself in as much trouble. Camacho was born in Puerto Rico and grew up in el barrio of Spanish Harlem, and he is a straight shooter. So his use of the word “nigga”, offended many people.
There was a sizable backlash that Camacho endured for using the word “nigga” in the same way that Chris Rock did but the difference, Camacho is not a comedian and he is not black. If Camacho was something other than a boxer, we would be talking about his comments as the country did then Jennifer Lopez said the word. Another Puerto Rican, Jennifer Lopez, used the word once in a 2001 remix song “I'm Real.” Immediately the critics surfaced and began to attack her for the use of the word in her song. Hot 97 radio (NYC) program hosts Star and Buckwild had publicly criticized Lopez for using the word, and called to boycott the album until she issued an apology.
They also petitioned their listeners to call Lopez’s record label, Epic, to complain. Even though the remix was written by a black rap artist JaRule, and the word was used in the casual form non-maliciously, Lopez continued to receive further criticism from blacks. Not a one criticized Ja Rule for writing the lyrics. The controversial line states, “people be screamin' what's the deal with you and so-and-so / I tell them niggas mind their biz but they don't hear me, though.” The “so-and-so” in that line is a reference to Sean “P. Diddy or Puff Daddy” Combs, a black man that she had a relationship with for two years. Her relationship with Combs should serve as a clear indication that she herself does not have racist thoughts about blacks, and one could argue that her level of comfort with black people, living in Bronx, led her to feel at ease about using the word
in the first place. But many blacks believed that she should have never used the word and the comments on the radio when that occurred was indicative of that opinion.
Arthel Nevel, host of Talk Back Live (CNN show now canceled) discussed the controversy around Jennifer Lopez using the word in 2001. Stephanie Eccles, 22, a Queens College student who is black told the Washington Post, “Her [Jennifer Lopez] using that word shows you that she doesn't care about black people. She has no right to use it. Children look up to her. She's saying it's okay to use it. It's not okay and it will never be okay. Eminem is the top rapper in the world, and he has never used that word. He has respect for black people.” But what Ms. Eccles is unaware of is that before Eminen became a star rapper, he used the word “nigga” in many of his underground demos.
The attack against Jennifer Lopez, was completely unwarranted, especially by those in the music industry, because these same radio personalities played the songs of Christopher “ Big Pun” Rios, who said the word “nigga” several times in many of his songs before he died of heart complications in 2000. Not one voice of opposition to Big Pun’s use of the word “nigga,” another Puerto Rican from the same borough that Jennifer Lopez is from, who also became the first Latin rapper to go platinum, but Big Pun does not have nearly the celebrity of J. Lo and those that attacked her but said nothing about Big Pun exposed an obvious double standard that turned criticism of a word into a personal attack against Lopez. These people are nothing but J.Lo haters because for the last several years she has clearly been the most talented all-around artist. I don't hear anyone hatin' on Fat Joe, Angie Martinez, or Cuban Link whom have all used the word nigga in their lyrics.
Scholars such as Mike Dyson, professor of African American studies at the University of Pennsylvania and Cornell West from Columbia University have used the word in a more historical sense described above. Todd Boyd, professor in the School of Cinema and Television, in the department of Critical Studies at the University of Southern California wrote in his recent book, The New H.N.I.C.: The Death of the Civil Rights and the Reign of Hip Hop (2003) “I love the word “nigga.” It is my favorite word in the English language because no other word incites more controversy today. To me, hip-hop has redefined the word. “Here, Boyd makes a distinction between “niggers” and “nigga” where the latter has been redefined and has a completely different meaning from the negative connotations of “nigger” and “the more you say it, the more you desensitize it.”
At the beginning of the 21st century the word “nigga” remains as popular as ever among Blacks, but also among others living in America whether it be used in music, among politicians, entertainers or used in the privacy of our own home. Comedians such as Richard Pryor and Chris Rock did not hesitate to use the word in performance and Pryor actually entitled his classic comedy album, “That Niggas Crazy.”
One of main issues surrounding the use of the word is whether it is racist, insensitive, and disrespectful when it is used. A double standard has formed from the use of this word, a word that is all around us everyday even on Billboard’s music chart. There is no doubt that our society is cloaked with double standards and they will always exists but these senseless attacks against Jennifer Lopez, Hector Camacho and others such as Lt. Governor Cruz Bustamante for saying the word nigger have gone too far because it is not always used maliciously.
Regardless of the long nasty history of the word, it is part of American culture, literature, and music. You will hear this word used in casual conversations, mostly among Blacks, young and old. “Hey, what are you doing today my nigga?” can be heard everyday when riding the 4-train from downtown New York to Uptown. Get on the Crenshaw bus in Los Angeles from Adams Blvd to the City of Inglewood and I can assure you that you will hear young Black males and youth using the word as often as one would use a definite article. We need to get to a point where our society gets beyond whining about words and start dealing seriously about problems that exist in our communities.
There are far too many other issues we should be consumed with rather than the speech of another person.
Larry Elder
On April 6, 2007, talk radio host, Larry Elder was talking about the argument that Bill O'Reilly and Geraldo Rivera had about an illegal alien drunk driver that killed two other persons in the commonwealth of Virginia during O’Reilly’s FOX cable show, The O’Reilly Factor. Elder stated that Rivera was factually in correct on the following statement:
"illegal immigrants commit crimes at a lower rate than citizens"
Elder challenged this statement by first misquoting Rivera by stating that he said there are less "occurrences" of illegal citizens committing crimes, but Geraldo's point emphasized "rate" and he never said "occurrences" which is a big difference. Occurrences measure actual numbers, and rate is a measurement of percent or proportion. If Rivera did say there were less occurrences of illegal immigrant arrests or those being incarcerated, then Elder would be absolutely correct. But Rivera was not wrong in his statement because he used the term “rate.” Elder went on to cite a study to further disparage Rivera’s statement that actually supported it.
A study by Federation for American Immigration Reform (FAIR) entitled “Illegal Aliens and Crime Incidence: Illegal Immigrants Represent a Disproportionately High Share of the Prison Population” states:
“Adult illegal aliens represented 3.1 percent of the total adult population of the country in 2003. By comparison, the illegal alien prison population represented a bit more than 4.54 percent of the overall prison population.”
First off, the second half of the statement is not correct and their own study reveals that, but let’s assume that these figures are correct. According to that quote, illegal immigrants are incarcerated at a rate that is 1.4 percent higher than their population, which means that the incarceration rate among illegal aliens are extremely low as Rivera suggested to O’Reilly. For example, compare that to Black Americans who represent about 20 percent of the California population and 31.4 percent of the prison population. Additionally Blacks represent about 12 percent of the US population but an alarming 49 percent of the total U.S. prison population (Blumstein, 1993; Tonroy, 1995; U.S. Bureau of the Census, 1996).
Further more, this low incarceration rate for illegal immigrants is based on an estimate of 7 million adult illegal immigrants in the US in 2000. If this figure is an underestimate, as many suggest, then the illegal immigrant incarceration rate would drop from the 4.54 percent percentage cited in the report.
The conclusion that illegal immigrants are incarcerated at a higher rate than their population, according to the FAIR study, compares the illegal immigrant adult population to not the illegal immigrant prison population but to the number of days that illegal aliens spent in prison compared the total number of days that all inmates spent in prison. This is flawed, because those total days that illegal aliens spent in prison include repeat offenders. I have never read a scientific study in a peer reviewed journal that would compare a population (7 million illegal aliens) to days spent (27 million) and conclude anything of merit from that comparison, but this is the article that Elder cited and this is why he is factually incorrect about what Rivera said on O’Reilly’s show. Even using these flawed statistics, the illegal immigrant population is incarcerated at a low rate compared to their share of the population, and if the FAIR researchers determined a way to extract the repeat offenders from that figure, that rate would be more accurate (could be higher or lower).
Watch entire interview
Blumstein, Alfred. (1993). Racial Disproportionality of U.S. Prison Population Revisited, University of Colorado Law Review, Vol. 64, No. 3, 1993.
Tonroy, M. (1995). Malign neglect-race, crime, and punishment in America. New York: Oxford University Press.
U.S. Bureau of the Census. (1996). Census information on the State of California. Database C90STF3A. http://venus.census.gov/cdrom/lookup/876173508.
