Last week I was a part of a phenomenal panel that led a discussion on the use of AAVE (African American Vernacular English) or Black English in America. We covered everything from codeswitching (it's real folks, you better ask somebody) to the use of and differences between "nigger" and "nigga."  This part of the discussion got particlularly tense but nevertheless was still a necessary conversation.  This week, that's our focus.  We'll be discussing the contextualization of derrogatory words such as "the n-word" and their implications in American society where there is an increasing move for us to ignore race or, as Vijay Prashad observes, be blind to the color line.

Side note:
While I've been on Twitter I've met some of the most AMAZING and TALENTED people.  Their hustle is contagious. One of my new "tweeps" (Did I use that right? lol) sent me the music video/documentary of one of his aspiring artists Young Brodee.  His lyrics touched a sista.  And so did the video.

The song  "The Good Die Young" hearkens back to those Boyz in the Hood and hood film era tracks and imagery from the early-to-mid 1990s. Only difference here, folks, is that it was not fiction. The interviews and images of teen violence from across the country seamlessly flowed into the powerful lyrics Brodee delivered, a 'hood bildungsroman or coming of age story.  He does not glorify the 'hood discourse.  Instead, he presents an awareness and sad acknowledgement of the consequences for rebelling against this code.  One such infraction for many of the victims was "being at the wrong place at the wrong time" (a justification used by many for the horrific murder of Derrion Albert placed on YouTube); but when is there ever a right time to navigate a difficult environment where death at a young age is a coping mechanism instead of an epidemic?

When I get the link to the song, I'll post it.  Be easy, blog nation.