This was so powerful, especially considering how the crowd first responded to him, only to be shamed for their ignorance. But then he turns it around, and educates the audience on empathy and respect for their ancestry and unites them...freaking beautiful. This is a masterpiece.
I'm a teacher and I use this video in my class every year, and every time I watch it after a year has gone by I forget how damn powerful it is and I get goosebumps
I love love love love this poem. I am so happy i ran across this for I will be sharing this with the 26 students in my program this summer. Thank you Julian for your poem
This shit is sick def one if the deepest meaningful peom I've ever heard all these def poetry poems are sick as hell but this the the truest I'd give anything to be half as good as this guy
I am an Ethiopian who grew up with zero ignorance of racism but the moment I stepped my feet in Europe I learned all about it. It is very sad but the truth is, it is not really the past. There are many many ignorant people that still need to learn the equality of people. We still have centuries to go!
This should be an awakening to the society we live in ...We all need to wake up and understand what truth is and become educated on the words that we use repetitiously throughout the English language so that the younger generation understands things before they speak. As they say Knowledge is power!! Love the poem..very deep!!
Preach it, brother!! I'm black and this is the truth!! We used to get kicked down with that word and now somehow it's been made into a term of endearment. I hate it when anbody says black, white, green, red, purple, etc.
Im a 17 black Male that use this word in almost every sentence and not feeling nothing was wrong with it but after watching this. wow its making me want to change alot more then not jus saying a word. Ima spread this video to my peers and hopefully they have the same reaction i did.
this poem is so the buisness!!!ii relate soo much and i appreaciate it 2 dah fullness of my soul and body!!if its one word i dont say and i dont respond 2 its "niqqa" and "bitch" and i thank god 4 this poem and the brutha that wrote it!!!
I love this poem so much. I don't even say the word, and I'm black. I don't tolerate it from my own people, let alone from any other race. I believe that this word should not be used at all, especially when I can still call my great-grandmother on the phone (yea she still alive) asking about her experience with the word, and hear her say how it made her feel inside. Do away with the word that was used to keep us down.
I am a White women and I just want to say AMENNNNN! The word has been tossed around enough! Its time to stop! God said love thy neighbor He didn't say only love the only color of neighbor. We have come so far from those days and yet not far at all. God Bless ALL of you Black, white, yellow, red whatever color you were created, You were created in the Fathers image and that IS BEAUTIFUL!
The use of "nigga" is far more complex than this simple but very compelling argument within Julian's poem. Have you taken into account that if people ceased using this word--in both its soft and abrasive ways--then the succeeding african generation would most likely begin to stop asking about power dynamics of such a word, and thus eventually making that aspect of history less known and valuable. By the mere use of "nigga", a person is forced to remember history...very powerful indeed.
Let me tell you how it broke my heart to hear my black, Latino, Indian and white students call each other niggas. I played this for them. They under stood it on some level and understood on some level that it offended and hurt me personally. Buts its a habit now hard to break. Its all so full of contradictions because they know I love them and most of them feel affection for me, BUT it's cool to call each other that and "everybody's" doing it. The forces if ignorance and habit are strong.
Julian Curry should have been America's first black president not Obama Dayum this man speaks the truth.I wish i could have been there to listen to this in person
Ya know, when i was kid, i was taught that calling anyone "nigga" was bad. But i saw whites, asians, blacks, everyone calling each other " nigga" . This is what I think. I think they call each other that because they're trying to tell us that they are unaffected by that word anymore. It's kind of like "sticks and stones will break my bones but words will never hurt me". It's like they adopted that saying.
