... I started feeling differently about it though ... "Niger" is in the Bible (I think his name was Simeon).... KRS 1 was saying they didn't have the soft g in the vernacular at that time ...
I know the term "Negus" also has a royal connotation in Amharic language (king) and I think about the "Kebra Nagast" when I hear it nowadays ...
I know how it's used ... those blancos have a way of perverting things ... It's awesome how we can take words, reengineer them and form our our definitions .,.
If Africans use it, I'm not as concerned (they black, so ... There are certain dynamics that go along with that) ...
Actually, when anybody uses it, in all circumstances, you have to be the psychoanalyst... Where is the person's reference point? When you find that, things become less emotional, in theory :)
"Are they using it to make me angry and they think that's my trigger?"
"Are they just trying to be down, not really understanding the history behind it ?"
I shared this story before .. walking in Sao Paolo mall, when I see a barbershop called "Niggaz" (interestingly enough, I would meet an Afro-Brazilian, that I am still good friends with, so maybe there was something to the name ) ...
Not that we have a monopoly on the word, but I realized then how influential Black American culture is ...
Most Africans that use it, I would think that the use comes from following popular culture ... They don't really understand the history behind it ....
I've heard it where they completely understand the context and I've heard it where they use it obviously not knowing how to use it because they heard it in rap music. Generally, if they have never lived in America, have not been around Blacks who grew up in America and understand the word they will often use it thinking its cool like some Asian, Arab, Latino, whomever in their own country who are hip hop fans but have no direct experience only through the media.
Lastly some do understand its meaning and use it like a white supremacist. I'm talking about some in America as well as well as on the contient.
The people who I've heard who do understand it in all its context are Canadian and British Blacks and most Caribbeans. Not all though. Africans the least among black people. Especially non west Africans. They don't identify with us many times if not most times. So, they'll use it without the same way we do.