Esse Quam Videri

 

 

Click to hear why I am wearing this T-shirt .

 

“All niggrahs that plan to attend Florida A&M University, please meet at this time in the auditorium, all niggrahs that plan to attend Florida A&M University, please meet at this time in the auditorium.”

The forgoing are the words of G.E. Barton, principal of Taylor County High School, Perry, Florida, the little town of my birth, located about fifty miles south of two great landmarks, Florida A&M University and Florida State University, Tallahassee, Florida.

Well, if the principal of the white folks’ school calls us niggrahs, then I guess that’s what we are is what I thought to myself as I walked to the auditorium. There are social scientists who are still asking in 2008 why African Americans are still calling each other “nigger.” It seems pretty simple to me.  Anyway, as I walked pass the principal’s office on my way to the auditorium that morning, I saw Mr. Bell (Richard Bell) in an uncontrolled loud voice at the same time slightly bent over as he pointed to his knee saying, “It’s Neeegrow, like your knee sir!!!” Mr. Bell was one of several very highly respected African American teacher/coaches in Perry. This was in September of 1968 and is only one of many horrifying experiences of a young African American growing up in the south.

For personal reasons, I later moved to St.Petersburg, Florida to live with my father where in school, I met a friend who invited me to a temple meeting of the Nation of Islam.  I happened to be seated on the front row.  When the minister began to preach, he said that the white man was the devil.  As a tenth grader in 1970, I joined the Nation of Islam, practiced racism to an intense degree and sincerely worked to help African American people.  Well, in 1975, the Honorable Elijah Mohammed passed away and was succeeded by his son, Imam Warith Deen Mohammed who began to teach the true Al-Islam.  I presently serve as an Imam of a mosque in Statesville, North Carolina and I hate no one. I live a peaceful life and work for the betterment of humanity.

This entry was posted on Friday, April 24th, 2009 at 12:52 PM and is filed under Portraits. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.