American Urban Dollars Yielding International


9K! JInfluence: A Hip Hop Clothing Store Called 'Niggers'


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Faith in .ending E
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Proud merchants sho%%n abo'e a their makeshift store in RlNfalaii.


 by David Sylvester
 I recently completed a charitable
 bicycle trip in Africa, riding over
 7000 miles from Cairo, Egypt to
 Cape Town, South Africa. The trip
 S p i made me the first and only African
 pyrighted M material American to cross two continents
 on a bicycle. I have plenty of great
 and fascinating stories.
 Syndicated Content Many are funny, others bitter-
 sweet, some are poignant, but all
Available from Commercial News Providers" are entertaining. Surprisingly one
 story has stood out and if it was
 not for the fact that I have a picture
 of it, many would never believe it.
 And it is for that reason that I am
 sharing it with you.
 While in Lilongwe, Malawi, I
 came across a store by the name of
 "Niggers" that's right "Niggers"!
 The other riders, who were all
 white, could not wait to inform me
 of this to see my reaction. Initially,
 SI thought that it was a very bad joke
 Sbut when the other riders were


adamant about the existence of the
store, I had to see it for myself.
What I found was a store selling
what the owner called 'hip hop'
style clothing. It was manned by
two gentlemen one of them
asleep! (Talk about living up to or
in this case down to a stereotype) I
asked the guys what was up with
the store name.
 After hearing my obvious non-
Malawian accent and figuring out
that I was from America, the man
thumped his chest proudly and said
"P-Diddy New York City! We are
the niggers!"
 My first reaction was to laugh,
because many things when isolated
can be very funny. but it quickly
dawned on me that this was so not
funny at all. It was pathetic. I did
these bicycle trips across the USA
and through the "Mother Land" in
honor of one of my good friends,
mentors and fellow African


American, Kevin Bowser, who died
on 9/11. Here I am, a black man
riding across the world on his bicy-
cle in honor of another black man,
riding "home" and what do I see??
Some Africans calling themselves
Niggers! They were even so proud
of it they put it on their store front
to sell stuff. When I relay the story
to folks back home in Philadelphia,
most of them laugh too and ration-
alize it by saying "well, we can say
it to each other" or "there is a dif-
ference" or even "they just spelled
it wrong. It should have been 'nig-
gas' or 'niggahs'." Gee like that
would make a difference.
 The issue is not the spelling. I
was wrong. There is no justifica-
tion for an infraction of this magni-
tude. The word and the sentiment
behind it is wrong! We have deni-
grated and degraded ourselves to
the point that our backwards mind-
set has spread like a cancer and


" ~t~-;


.V.


Convention of Gospel Choirs and

Choruses Names Local Company

 Advertising Agency of Record


I


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SI :


 Bishop Kenneth Moales, presi-
dent of the National Convention of
Gospel Choirs and Choruses,
 announced
 advertising con-
 tract awardee,
 The Adkins
 Agency, at the
 72th Annual
 Convention held
 August 7-14 in
 Ken Adkins Orlando. The
NCGCC is headquartered in
Bridgeport, Conn.
The Adkins Agency accepted this
contract under the auspices of pro-
viding service to over 4,000 mem-
bers through the development of
communication tools which
includes building and maintaining
the headquarters' website and creat-
ing each local choir and chorus
chapter website. However, the more
attractive aspect of this contract
enables the agency full advertising
responsibility for the 2006 conven-
tion scheduled to be held in St.
Louis, Mo.
 "We are most grateful for this
opportunity to build an evolving
business rapport with the outstand-
ing, nationally recognized organi-


zation," said Agency Director Ken
Adkins.

 Charles Spencer,
 John Clark Among
 New International

 Business Coalition

 Appointees
 Jacksonville Mayor John Peyton
and Jacksonville Regional
Chamber of Commerce Chairman
Bob Helms have appointed 15
Board members of the Jacksonville
International Business Coalition.
 "The newly appointed members
of the JIBC will focus on long-term
strategies for international business
development, combining corporate
and government leadership ," said
Peyton.
 Board members include Mayor
Peyton; Kevin Hyde, president of
the City Council; JEDC Chair
Ceree Harden, Rick Ferrin, execu-
tive director of JAXPORT; John
Clark, executive director of JAA
and Charles Spencer, regional V.P.
with the International
Longshoreman's Union.


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 .- .o.r, "stat-s e de irg,

ase: u Fair Housing. It's not an option. It's the law.

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August 25 31, 2005


Page 2 Ms. Perry's Free Press


infected our source, our brothers,
our sisters, our Mother Land. I have
traveled all over the world and have
never seen a store by the name of
"Jew Devils", "spic bastards", or
anything disgusting like that Only
the store niggers! I am to blame for
this. Every time I said the word I
condoned it, by not correcting oth-
ers or rationalizing it gave it
respectability, by looking the other
way when others said "hey nigga
what's up" allowed others to see it
and ultimately that when I pur-
chase CDs, DVDs, T-shirts and
other stuff, I enriched it.
 I now see the error in my ways
and I am so so sorry black men and
women. The flame that we called
entertainment, that was only to
warm and entertain us, now engulfs
us and scorches our own self
esteem. If a child only knows to
refer to men and women as nig-
gers, bitches, pimps and hoes, then
what is he/she to grow up thinking
of themselves and others as he/she
gets older?
 The bottom line is this. I rode
over 12000 miles on 2 continents
through 15 states and 13 countries
and broke 2 bikes in the process to
get to a store in AFRICA called
niggers. I am willing to step and
admit my part in the havoc that we
have wrought on our mindset but I
think that we all are to blame.
 I finish with 4 things: if you don't
like being called derogatory name
THINK before you speak those
words, write those lyrics, support
that rhetoric and most of all
THINK before you purchase!
Purchasing is akin to compliance.
 If they call you a nigger is one
thing but if you answer to it then
there is really something wrong!
please forward this to the black
folks that you know and let us
please, please stop the madness.


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