Schizophrenia

...ba href=/schizophrenia/a/b of whites who idolize "crossover" black stars while holding fast to their racist attitudes.

4.

Chris Rock, "Black People vs.

Niggers." (1996) From Rock's HBO special "Bring the Pain," a brutally frank, devastatingly funny examination of the class division in black America.

"There's like a civil war going on with black people.

And there's two sides: there's black people and there's niggers.

The niggers have got to go." The audience went bananas, and he was just getting started.

The next five minutes shook the comedy world, and elevated Chris Rock to the top of his profession.

3.

The Last Poets, "Niggers Are Scared of Revolution." (1970) The Last Poets were a huge influence on hip-hop and today's spoken-word scene.

This particular piece, by Umar Bin Hassan, is a classic deconstruction of African-American complacency.

Bin Hassan says "nigger" 89 times in about five minutes, as if this were a magical ritual to transmute self-hatred into self-love.

2.

"No Viet Cong ever called me nigger," anonymous.

(1960s) Contrary to popular belief, Muhammad Ali never said this.

It was an often-seen protest slogan during the late '60s.

(The New York Times, United Press International and Time magazine reported the appearance of "No Viet Cong ever called me nigger" on placards at a variety of demonstrations and protest marches, with no reference at all to Ali.) The slogan's association with Muhammad Ali in our collective memory just proves what a potent and effective usage of the wor...

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