Hi Black Folks!
My name is David Sylvester and 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! {mosgoogle}
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.
I finish with 4 things:
if you don’t like
being called a nigger, bitch, faggot, dyke, spic, Jew dog, wop, towel
head or anything of that ilk- then THINK. THINK before you speak those
words, write those lyrics, support that rhetoric and most of all THINK
before you purchase! Purchasing is akin to compliance- I may like the
beats and rhythms of some songs but I can not support it any more. You
rappers are intelligent- find another word to describe your selves
A PICTURE IS WORTH A THOSAND WORDS!
read the quote below. If they call you a nigger is one thing but if you answer to it then there is really something wrong!
please forward this to the black folks that you know and let us please, please stop the madness
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