“Niggers and flies, I do despise. The more I see Niggers, the more I like flies.”

--Clarence Thomas, Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States

 

This from the brother who succeeded Thurgood Marshall. This quote was obtained from the novel from Clarence's ex girlfriend, Lillian McEwen, who penned the tell-all book (sorry, memoir) D.C. Unmasked & Undressed: A Memoir.

You can't make this stuff up.

 

Clarence ain't nothin but a playa. If he'd have been a Democrat we would've taken him to our bosom. Where did he go wrong? Over the years, I've heard many a person utter that phrase about "niggas and flies". Who knew?

Well Cynique I did not think it was an original though of Clarence's but I'd never heard it before. It does sound like the poetry Big Buck shared with us earlier in the year.

If he were a Democrat he would not be on the Supreme Court.

Oops. I didn't mean to sound like I was defending Clarence Thomas. Like a parent who wonders how a child went wrong by choosing a life of crime, I was wondering what drove Thomas to turn to a life of Uncle Tomism. For all we know, he may have originated that phrase about flies, etc.

Oops. I didn't mean to sound like I was defending Clarence Thomas. Like a parent who wonders how a child went wrong by choosing a life of crime, I was wondering what drove Thomas to turn to a life of Uncle Tomism. For all we know, he may have originated that phrase about flies, etc.

Oh hail no..that isnt an orginal thought from Uncle TomClar, I grew up with that saying..

LiLi

“Niggers and flies, I do despise. The more I see Niggers, the more I like flies.”

Well, it may not be original, but I do aree with it......

It's definitely not original. In fact. It has variations, including one with fleas (Niggas, fleas and flies...). What's missing though is context. My mother and her good friend (both Black) used to say this in the 70s. They used it as a condemnation of riff raff (niggas) as opposed to what they believed to be more upstanding Blacks. I just remembered it (because my dog has fleas...) and wondered if its origins were from White racists, as many of our customs are. When I googled it, this forum was one of the few things that popped up, which makes me believe it may actually be from our community. If that's the case, ironically, it in some way affirms Clarence's Blackness. 

Amaru, interestingly this page attracts a lot of visitors through search.  Oh Clarence is Black, but as Cynique inferred above, he is chose a different path.  If has worked out well for him, but has not served his people very well.  But then again this is the American Way isn't it?  

Bother, I have to agree. No matter how we deny, we are not what we should be. Fathers, Mothers leading our children.

 

Not Rhetoric 

On 7/1/2017 at 2:25 PM, Guest Tweet Johnson said:

Bother, I have to agree. No matter how we deny, we are not what we should be. Fathers, Mothers leading our children.

 

 Ya got that right......

I grew up hearing this as well. I do feel it to be true but with any race. Nigger is just saying ignorant. Anyone can be ignorant. Why else would these young boys of all nationalities want their underware showing. 

A word we said had been buried....why are we resurrecting a word that means someone is going to die at the hands of their oppressor.

Clarence is a mocking bird, I recall a book entitle: To Kill A Mocking Bird. Clarence represents self-hate. Lets not join him.  The word

has been buried.  The Bible says...let the dead bury themselves (dry bones) me must struggle forward if we are to struggle.  My goal is living.

LOL   

I can't say that I like the use of the word, but I think we get the message. Regardless of race, there is a subclass mindset of individuals that many despise. I actually like Clarence Thomas though. If you study the history of the Republican Party, you'd know that it was created for the oppositions to slavery and the southern Democrats (who by the way, started the KKK). The great Fred Douglas was a Repub. Not a Dem. It was a Dem. Lyndon Johnson who said "lets pass the Civil Rights bill so we can have ni**ers vote democrat for the next 200 years". Ask yourself, why are we being fed crap sandwiches by the politicians, continue to vote Dem, and we are still at the bottom. NO PARTY deserves the black vote until real change is seen.

The Republican Party neglected  blacks during the Reconstruction era that ushered in Jim Crowism which was just another form of slavery. When FDR took office during the Depression, blacks began streaming into the Democratic party because it spoke better to their needs.  During the height of the Civil Rights movement, southern Democrats were so horrified by the possibility of equality being granted to negroes that they bolted their traditional party and formed the Dixiecrats who subsequently infiltrated and took over the Republican party. 

 

Clarence Thomas was an affable ol colored guy,  but he betrayed his people by aligning himself with the Right Wing Conservatives on the Supreme Court, and voted against everything that could benefit blacks, and this included the affirmative action and social programs that he and Uncle Ben Carson both benefited from.   

 

Are you suggesting that blacks just stop voting and wait around for one of these parties to address their problems?  What we do know is that as flawed as the Democratic party is,  the Republicans are even worse and they couldn't care less about blacks coming over to their side 

I grew up hearing this phrase, as well. 

Do you consider yourself a "nigger" or not?  We know there is a history of the term, but these days that term or the term "nigga" in my view can apply to someone who is ignorant.  I am a black woman who has come across ignorant people of different colors. I have used the term "nigga" when referring to people who are disrespectful or ignorant to the peace they are disturbing. For instance, people playing loud music (so loud to cause vibration in my home) while I am trying to relax.  Or for instance, at the park when I tried to get a peace of mind during my lunch, then comes loud music disturbing my peace.  Turned out to be black people getting out the car. The children have no choice but to go along with the ignorant adult/s.  I question you:  what do you consider yourself to be?  Someone who is black, a nigga, a negro, a nigger?  I don't know what Clarence Thomas means.  But I know what I mean when I use the term "nigga".  Ask Clarence what he meant without going by assumptions.  I do believe if I was caucasian and used the term "nigga" that I would probably be considered a racist.  I don't want to hear a caucasian use the term especially not knowing what their purpose is behind it, but I have to also understand that there are caucasians who are probably tired of ignorance just like any other black person who gets tired of ignorance. So does that mean they or any person is a racist because they use a term that has also been used by blacks so loosely (as in "my nigga").  Some people will make it known they are straight up racist but what do you call a black person who uses the term cracker? Are we excusing black people? Wrong is wrong, and at times feelings or assumptions can also be wrong. 

There's difference between  "nigger" and "nigga".

A nigger is a derogatory term for a person of African descent.

A nigga is a colloquial term....usually of endearment...that many AfroAmericans use to refer to other males.

On 3/17/2011 at 10:25 AM, Troy said:

Niggers and flies, I do despise. The more I see Niggers, the more I like flies.”

--Clarence Thomas, Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States

It’s a common saying. I remember I first heard it from a White person who worked the concession stand on the Ferry to the Statue of Liberty. When I was just a few years younger I would have fought with him. I didn’t because I didn’t take it personally. He wasn’t directly calling me a N—-r. 
 

It’s good to see you dislike of Conservatives, especially Blacks, has been long-standing. It explains your unconscious knee jerk responses.

1 hour ago, Pioneer1 said:

A nigga is a colloquial term....usually of endearment...that many AfroAmericans use to refer to other males.

The lies we tell ourselves. I thoroughly reject that sorry explanation. The reason is based on how we respond to words. The problem is that’s it is a fossilized confirmation of the property status of Blacks. 

Dan

 

 

The lies we tell ourselves. I thoroughly reject that sorry explanation. The reason is based on how we respond to words. The problem is that’s it is a fossilized confirmation of the property status of Blacks. 
 

Lol...it's no "lie".
The definition has CHANGED....TRANSFORMED.
 

WE have the power to define our own words for ourselves.
 

5 hours ago, Pioneer1 said:

WE have the power to define our own words for ourselves

Ok Roach!!! 

7 hours ago, daniellegfny said:

Ok Roach!!! 

Lol, just because I have a long antenna....doesn't mean I'm an insect.

18 hours ago, Pioneer1 said:

doesn't mean I'm an insect.

That’s your new name as a term of endearment.

3 hours ago, daniellegfny said:

That’s your new name as a term of endearment.

Nah, ain't no homo THIS way.
Nothing but a WHOLE MAN.

If you're looking for anutha brutha to "endear"....try St.Elsewhere.....lol.

On 11/17/2020 at 12:03 PM, Pioneer1 said:

A nigga is a colloquial term....usually of endearment...that many AfroAmericans use to refer to other males.

I guess you is a DL Roach 🪳 

Dan

Naaah bruh.....

We ain't having any Log Cabin Republican Parties around here....lol.

 

 

8 hours ago, Pioneer1 said:

We ain't having any Log Cabin Republican Parties around here.

A Homophobic Roach 🪳 get da spray.

On 11/17/2020 at 11:03 AM, Pioneer1 said:

A nigger is a derogatory term for a person of African descent.

A nigga is a colloquial term....usually of endearment...that many AfroAmericans use to refer to other males.

 

Interestingly, I have never really distinguished the two words in this manner, but now that I think about it "Nigga" is the word I most often hear, as in; "Yo, wassup my nigga?"

 

Now there is a distinction between different words and pronunciation. I believe nigga is just ebonics for nigger, so I'd still discourage use of the word, however you wanna pronounce it, unless you are interesting in being crass or strongly insulting someone.

Troy
 

Interestingly, I have never really distinguished the two words in this manner, but now that I think about it "Nigga" is the word I most often hear, as in; "Yo, wassup my nigga?"

 

Because it has been turned into a NEW word.

Just like "nigger" started off as a corrupt southern-English pronounciation of the word "negro"......but eventually over the years became a whole new word altogether.



I believe nigga is just ebonics for nigger

 

Yes, that's how it started off. 
But it has changed since then because now so many people of ALL backgrounds use the term and even spell it that way it has DEFACTO become a new word.

All we need is for Websters and the other Caucasian institutions to make it official...lol
 

Which is why I now allow for other races to use it sometimes.  
For years and years I didn't permit people of other races to use that term around me, but today if I DIDN'T...I'd be getting into fights nearly every day.  It's not worth it.  I know what they mean when they say it depending on how they say it and the context.

1 hour ago, Pioneer1 said:

All we need is for Websters and the other Caucasian institutions to make it official...lol

 

🙂 No, we don't need Webster to validate our language -- we do that.

 

1 hour ago, Pioneer1 said:

I know what they mean when they say it depending on how they say it and the context.

 

True. Context is everything.

Neely Fuller Jr. said we have to make up our own definitions to COMPENSATE for the deceptive and often lacking definitions given to words in the English language.
 

The only requirement is that we define a word clearly and accurately and STICK WITH that definition!
Don't waiver and change your mind on it but stick with it....and it becomes THE definition.