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1. The 10 biggest race and pop culture trends of 2006: Part 2 of 3 at Racialicious - the intersection of race and pop culture on 26 Jan 2007 at 12:36 pm

   […] INTERNET: Not content with minstrelsy on television, in movies and music, the same knucklehead who brought us the god-awful movie Soul Plane decided to launch a social networking site named CrackSpace, because “MySpace is great but it doesn’t even come close to fully satisfying the hip-hop generation.” Not to be outdone, some genius decided to take it a step further by launching NiggaSpace: “We just want to embrace the black culture that continues to innovate and strive!” […]

Comments

1. H. Lewis Smith wrote:

   Niggerspace.com is just as bad Damon Wayans trying to trademark the word nigga for a clothesline and other marketable items.

   http://www.hlewissmith.blogspot.com

   Posted 30 Oct 2006 at 7:06 pm ¶

2. makethelogobigger wrote:

   Next week, I’m launching Whiggaspace.org (we’re a non-profit after all). We feel by bringing the word to the forefront in an honest, open way and by repeating it a million or so times, the stigma associated with it will be eradicated forever.

   At least that’s what we’re telling investors.

   Posted 30 Oct 2006 at 7:36 pm ¶

3. MizuWari wrote:

   Maybe Angelina Jolie or Madonna could adopt the people who made the site…

   Posted 31 Oct 2006 at 3:05 pm ¶

4. this justin wrote:

   Word on the cyber street is that “white” people are behind the site….if anyone has the stomach to look at the site there are so many offensive things living there it’s hard to believe any self respecting african american could create it, much less promote it. But I guess stranger things have happened.

   Thanks for linking to that article about the Wisconsin group laying the n-word to rest. I always feel alone in thinking that word has got to go.

   Here’s my question to everybody: n*gga vs. n*gger; are we buying this idea? And if so can someone please explain it to me. Also, do we really think reappropriation works?

   Curious minds want to know…..

   Posted 31 Oct 2006 at 3:47 pm ¶

5. Adrianna wrote:

   I think the N word should die too. Where I am you have white people use it because they say that they are “down ” so it makes it ok. Really !! I think not

   Posted 31 Oct 2006 at 5:47 pm ¶

6. justin wrote:

   Oh good, someone else is named justin. I was going to check myself into a clinic.
   I think reappropriation works when there is a clear relationship to the mainstream identity occupying or overtaking it. Reappropriation can also work on an individual level, coming to terms with the environment, social reality etc and then things get objectified or carried away, because the majority rules.
   Maybe reappropriation can’t work racially because of white invisibility or because we think of race in terms of stereotypes rather than roles (?).

   Posted 01 Nov 2006 at 8:56 am ¶

7. it doesnt matter wrote:

   Black people have got to wake up-or else there may be some significance to Eugenics. How can black people be so stupid as to post their pictures on a website that is intentially promoting black denegration? What the hell happened to black people after Malcolm and Martin were killed. Are blacks inferior? Yes slavery was atrocious, however after 400 years it seems that a people could deshackle their minds and declonize themselves. The black race is torn up-from nutrition where more than half have high blood pressure and diabetes to education to the prison industrial system to the breakdown of the black family. fathers continue to abandon their kids, to live gay lifestyles or marry whites and yet black men feel this behavior should warrant respect. Black women scream at their children, and act like savages on the street. Cell phones, ipods and MP#’s have replaced museums, books and educational toys. Why dont blacks just watch everyone else and learn how to be good citizens and parents? Read Aristotle’s Ethics and learn something about self discipline-the truth is slef hate is pervasive in black rap, ghetto R&B and black tv shows-truthfully i think the black race is a dismal failure and the talented 10th of the black race needs to band together and let the rest sink on the titannic
   sign
   x black female

   Posted 13 Nov 2006 at 4:27 pm ¶

8. kim wrote:

   it doesnt matter:

   Honey, what are trying so hard not to feel that you would issue forth such a rant? We tend to run farthest, speak loudest against, and decry in others that which most mirrors a part of ourselves we wish to excise.

   There is no way to address the inherently skewed perspective and blanket assignment of shameful, lawless and primal behavior you would cover the entirety of your people with.

   What has happened? Who has so disregarded and shamed you that your wounds spill over so?

   Truly,
   Kim

   Posted 13 Nov 2006 at 9:08 pm ¶

9. kim wrote:

   Bill, as you can tell from the small amount of posts at this particular thread, nobody really cared about this idiot’s naming of his site.

   You’ll get no click-thru’s here.

   Posted 27 Nov 2006 at 12:50 am ¶

10. b mack wrote:

    I care. I just recieved an e-mail telling me about the site. There is truth in what “it doesn’t matter” has written and there is truth to what “kim” has written. The black race is struggling. The men and women are continuously being caught up in the loop holes of the environment that surrounds them. Because neither have the foresight or drive to remove themselves from negative surroundings or to stop troublesome behvaiors, they will remain where they are just the way they are… But it’s outrageous to think that 1/10 th of the “good” african americans will separate and create a super race while the rest parish. That’s just plain retarded.
    Our culture is changing and I’m not certain but I do not think that it is for the better.

    Posted 28 Nov 2006 at 9:34 am ¶

11. Lyonside wrote:

    b mack:
    “The men and women are continuously being caught up in the loop holes of the environment that surrounds them. Because neither have the foresight or drive to remove themselves from negative surroundings or to stop troublesome behvaiors, they will remain where they are just the way they are… ”

    Excuse me, so EVERY single African-American who finds themselves in a bad neighborhood with bad schools just lacks foresight or drive? Tell that to the 6 YO gunned down on his way to school last year in my city. Tell that to the 15 YO honor student whose parents can’t AFFORD to move to a nicer area and her HS diploma means nothing.

    Please. Personal poverty and urban decay know no color, and it’s not always the individual’s fault.

    Posted 28 Nov 2006 at 12:23 pm ¶

12. S wrote:

    It Doesn’t Matter:

    My goodness! Blunt, but so so true! Except for the leaving the 9/10’s of the other black people behind. I can’t do that. Tried. Failed. Can’t/Won’t save them all, but if I can help somebody, I will.

    Posted 28 Nov 2006 at 12:33 pm ¶

13. yo mamma wrote:

    i think that nigga space is good but 4 onlt black people b/c NO WHITE PEOPLE ALLOWED

    Posted 04 Dec 2006 at 1:15 pm ¶

14. Alvin Irby wrote:

    Where are the Frederick Douglass, Paul Robeson, Ida B. Wells and W.E.B DuBois of my generation? I went thirteen years through a public school system without the slightest idea that black people like Cornell West even existed. I only graduated from high school in 2003, so it was not because of a lack of black intellectuals? Where are the positive black role models (not political actors and actresses) that we need? Who will stand up for what is right and demonstrate to young black men and women that they don’t have to be what the text books, movies and so much of the music today tells them they are. What does it mean to be black? When you say it, what do you mean? Fratz Fannon said that blacks are trapped in racism both that of our oppressors and that which we exercise against ourselves. I am disturbed by both the existence and the acceptance of the websites “crackspace” and “niggaspace,” some people. I believe in free speech and I believe the people who created these sites have the right to do so, but I also believe I have the right to speak out against them and what they stand for. Many people may be asking how such websites are even created or why certain black individuals would voluntarily subject themselves to the degrading ideas expressed through these websites. Although I really would like to be shocked and initially I did have some feelings of disbelief - deep inside I am not shocked or surprised. If you went to school where I did, heard the things that I have and seen some of the things that I have you wouldn’t be shocked either. The United States has systematically excluded the black voices of reason from the educational system and only the shells of their lives remain. If you don’t believe me ask the next black person you see under the age of 30 years old or over this age, if they have read one of the following: Black Skin White Mask - Frantz Fanon, The Autobiography of Malcolm X - Alex Haley, “What to the Slave is the Fourth of July,” - Frederick Douglass, The Souls of Black Folk - W.E.B. DeBois. First of all you will be lucky, if they have even heard of these individuals and second if they can tell you something significant about their lives and what they did they will represent an exception to what has now become an entire generation of children undereducated and ill-served by our public schools and black communities. I cannot stop here, though, for the school can only do so much. The homes and communities in which many low-income blacks are growing up are not the kinds of environments that cultivate self-control, responsibility, critical thinking and academic excellence. Who is to blame? Well, the short answer to this question is a lot of people. Naming individuals or organizations does very little for the ignorant children who are being deprived of a productive future through educational deprivation and identities embedded in negative conceptions of what it means to be black. What am I doing? What are you doing to give hope and a sense of self-worth to young people who feel compelled to sign up to niggaspace.com or crackspace.com. How many hours this year have you volunteered to teach some low-income child how to read? I would like whoever reads my comment to understand that these websites are the result of racism but not in the sense that we usually think of racism. Wille Lynch in his 1712 speech, “The Making of a Slave” said that all the slave master had to do to control his slaves was put blacks against each other using different characteristics (e.g. light skin vs. dark skin, old vs. young, male vs. female, etc). He said that this would cause the slaves to distrust each other and only trust their master. Wille Lynch said this method of subordination was guaranteed to work for at least 300 years. But the genius of his method is that even after the slavery has been done away with according to the law, blacks continue to enforce these values on themselves. Modern day slavery is as Malcolm X suggests – a slavery of the mind. This is a slavery in which ignorance is one’s master. I am not referring to the ignorance of a single individual, but collective ignorance. An ignorance that is shared, embraced, and passed on to following generations within the black community. When we unquestioningly say I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America…with liberty, and justice for all, we lie to ourselves. We lie to children and we lie to the world. It is in people’s delusion of being free that they face the greatest danger of being enslaved. People have so deceived themselves as to think they can “take back” the word nigger by transforming it into the word “nigga.” They now say that it is a term of endearment and brotherhood - which may be true for some. But this type of reasoning is dangerous because it requires us to exercise collective amnesia and forget the historical context in which the word acquired its meaning for American society. Forgetting past injustices as the creators of niggaspace, would like us to do will not eliminate injustices happening today. People can claim all they want to have taken back and thus become the owners of the word nigga, but if a white person walks up to them and says, “I’m going to kill you nigga,” they are not going to greet this person with brotherly love, simply because they chose to pronounce it differently. This situation demonstrates the fact that the word nigga has meaning because we attach it to a historical context which still has meaning today as will continue to have meaning as long as racism exists. I will feel comfortable using the word nigga when American racism is gone. If you remember nothing else from this rant remember the words of Mahatma Gandhi, “Be the change you want to see in the word.”

    Alvin Irby

    Posted 07 Dec 2006 at 11:22 pm ¶

15. kim wrote:

    b mack :

    When you are able to communicate clearly just what it is that you found redeeming and worth supporting in the self-hating diatribe that “it doesn’t matter” posted here, please do.

    My post was in strict opposition to anyone who makes blanket statements so filled with hate about the intention and natural abilities of Blacks to learn, move forward and seek to live a life full of self-definition and integrity.

    As the expression goes, one bad apple don’t spoil the whole damn bunch.

    I would not click through to the aforementioned webspace because the name speaks of a misguided attempt to redefine a term used historically to strip the rights and privileges of manhood/human rights -not civil rights but human rights- from decent, hardworking, law abiding, institutionally disfranchised men and women.

    The statements you made about the will of Black people to better their situations reminds me of a conversation I had with a self-righteous, comfortable Black neighbor in Cincinnati a few years ago. As we were riding at the perimeter of the city’s most decimated area, Over-the-Rhine, she spoke of how “those people don’t have to live like that…those women don’t have to live there, don’t have to raise their children there.”

    She and I lived in an affluent part of the area, and were not eligible for any of the special programs made available to “inner-city” children. And rightly so. We owned homes, had cars, our children attended the most desired public elementary school in a five- district radius.

    This woman decided that she should not be excluded from programs for poor children, and lied about her residence, and enrolled her child in an arts program that would have cost about $900.oo a month out-of-pocket.

    She saw nothing wrong with “being one of them” when her color was the passkey she needed to do so. But she routinely cursed the existence of that “other” group. And never did anything to reach out to help anyone, never feeling it her duty, or the outgrowth of an extension of any compassion, or sorority.

    I gleaned from her constant trashing of “the poor” that were it not for her marriage, she would very much still be one of them. And she despised herself immeasurably, as was evident in nearly everything she said.

    As evident as that found in the posting by “it doesn’t matter.”

    As Rev. Dr. Allen Boesak of South Africa routinely said during the rallies and call-to-rally in New York City in the ’80’s: “the blood that unites us is thicker than the waters that divide us.”

    We are them.

    Posted 08 Dec 2006 at 12:27 am ¶

16. tina wrote:

    In regards to this article
    http://www.mediabistro.com/fishbowlny/new_media/niggaspace_a_myspace_fo_niggas_launches_46312.asp
    The owner of Niggaspace.com is actually the owner of http://WWW.Holla.US . Because of the public cry about the name he will be merging niggaspace to holla.us. check the whois info for http://www.niggaspace.us

    Posted 10 Dec 2006 at 2:06 pm ¶

17. Phat wrote:

    why do ya’ll call this website nigga space

    Posted 18 Dec 2006 at 2:10 pm ¶

18. tina wrote:

    Another Niggaspace site. Who really own these sites?

    It looks like http://www.niggspace.us is the same as

    http://WWW.Holla.US

    It claimed to have millions nation wide and It is 100% Free with more premuim services, a complete Artist and Model section.

    Very interesting how disrespectful this webmasters are.

    Posted 19 Dec 2006 at 6:57 pm ¶

19. Divo Havok wrote:

    If they really wanted to make that site the could have named it something else. The N word promotes ignorance. It is and always will be a disgusting word.

    Posted 02 Feb 2007 at 9:35 pm ¶

20. merq wrote:

    kim. gotcha.

    Posted 02 Feb 2007 at 10:14 pm ¶

21. brittany wrote:

    i luv my race

    Posted 03 Feb 2007 at 2:03 pm ¶

22. Courtney wrote:

    I haven’t personally viewed niggaspace but I know a lot of people associated with it. They do it because everyone else does. That to me is a sign of weakness and ignorance. I do believe that people honestly are trying to make it a positive word just like gay was made negative. The question you need to ask yourself is, “can we really get rid of the word all together?” Even words that go out of style either come back or are mentioned by someone at some point. Some of these young people who want to make it a positive word are not ignorant but are realistic.

    Posted 13 Feb 2007 at 4:10 pm ¶

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