My Neeg'-Er: Healing the Ontological Wound of the “N” Word

MY NEEG’-ER

Healing the ontological wound of the N Word

Written by: Caliph Zaphnathpaaneah El

Edited by:Ms. Pearlie Jewel Hampton

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2013 by Caliph Zaphnathpaaneah El. All rights reserved.

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Published by AuthorHouse 10/26/2013

ISBN: 978-1-4918-1638-7 (sc)

ISBN: 978-1-4918-1639-4 (hc)

ISBN: 978-1-4918-1640-0 (e)

Library of Congress Control Number: 2013917640

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Contents

Acknowledgements

Introduction To My Neeg’-er

The Letter J And The Name Yahweh

A Neeg’-er Called Abraham

A Neeg’-er Called Isaac

A Neeg’-er Called Jacob/Israel

A Neeg’-er Called Joseph

A Neeg’-er Called Moses

A Neeg’-er Called Phinehas

A Neeg’-er Called Simeon

A Neeg’-er Called Paul

The Neeg’-er of Neeg’-ers—King Of Kings

The Covenant People

The Stolen Identity Of The Covenant People

The Awakening And Promised Restoration

Of The Covenant People

Order And Distinction Among Equals

This book is dedicated to:

Mrs. Velma Humphrey Ferrell

My Mother

And

Pastor A. L. Cobbs, Sr.

A spiritual father, friend and my teacher.

Philippians 2:19-23

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

I thank Dr. T. J. Prince, for his daily encouragement and guidance; Dr. Daniel Mills, an older brother and researcher; Pastor Roosevelt Abbott, a younger brother and fearless proclaimer; Rev. Earnest Jackson, who has been a sounding board and balancer to this message. I am grateful for the members of Moriah for 30 years of continued support; in particular I thank Deacon Tony Ray Smith, Mr. Stephen Eubanks, Minister Brian Mims, Mrs. Mia Medlin and Ms. Vickie Billingsly.

Special thanks to Elder George Williams, Mr. Walter Reed and Elder Robert Humphrey who is representative of my immediate family, Elder James Banks, Sr. and Deacon Freddie Mouton, without whom my presence in California would not have been sustainable.

To my special friend and brother, Mr. Frank Liger, who walks daily in devotion with me on the Rattlesnake Bayou Swiftwater Plantation.

I am truly grateful for Ms. Pearlie Jewel Hampton, my secretary of twenty two years; who has collected my thoughts of thirty years and transcribed them into literature. Her contribution and research to this present work cannot be measured as we have gone over lesson after lesson in this message to compile this book.

Finally, to Mrs. Shari Humphrey, my wife of thirteen years; who has stood by me in the rain as well as the sunshine as a silent yet steady voice of love and support.

INTRODUCTION TO

MY NEEG’-ER

Now there were in the church that was at Antioch certain prophets and teachers; as Barnabas, and Simeon that was called Niger, and Lucius of Cyrene, and Manaen, which had been brought up with Herod the tetrarch, and Saul. As they ministered to the Lord, and fasted, the Holy Ghost said, Separate me Barnabas and Saul for the work whereunto I have called them. And when they had fasted and prayed, and laid their hands on them, they sent them away. (Acts 13:1-3)

The church at Antioch was one of the outstanding New Testament churches, rivaling the church at Jerusalem in size. Luke lists five of its prominent leaders in this passage. He describes them as operating in the office of both prophet and teacher. In this office, they would have been responsible for the care of the church, including its governance and doctrines. These were the doctors or masters of theology in the early church.

Among these brilliant and illustrious first leaders of the church was Simeon that was called Niger. Simeon is a Hebrew name (also spelled Simon or Symeon). The Hebrew root for the name, Simeon (pronounced shim’on or Su-me-on), is shama’, meaning to hear. ‘He is called Niger, the Latin word for black. Niger is also the root word in the names of the countries of Niger and Nigeria, as well as the word Negro. The phonetic pronunciation is NEEG’-ER, not ni-jer. The bible was not originally written in English. There is no j sound in Hebrew or Greek or in the original King James Version. The j sound was unknown in any alphabet until the 14th century. We will examine this alphabetical phenomenon and take a closer look at Simon that was called Niger" in another chapter of this book.

There were no vowels in the ancient Hebrew and African languages. Niger is from the root word N_g_r and variants of it originally referred to deity or royalty. It was the term the ancient Egyptians used for their Pharaohs who were considered gods. Negus (nigfig) is a title in the Afro-Asiatic Ge’ez, Tigrinya, Tigre and Amharic languages that denotes a King. Negusa Negast (or Nigusa Negast), meaning King of Kings, was a title used to address Ethiopian Emperors.

Nkosi means rules in Egyptian and was a term of address for an important person such as a lord, a superior, a master, or a chief. Rather than carrying a negative connotation, NEEG’-ER had a sacred meaning. Let’s look at the word as it appears in Strong’s dictionary.¹

3526. Niger, neeg’-er: of Latin origin; black; Niger, a Christian:—Niger.²

A word once used to refer to black people in a divine sense is now most notable for its usage as a racial epithet. It is now hurled at people as an ethnic slur, meant to denigrate them. Merriam Webster has the following contemporary definition for the word nigger (niger).

nig•ger—noun V ni-gor\ Definition of NIGGER

1 usually offensive; see usage paragraph below: a black person

2 usually offensive; see usage paragraph below: a member of any dark-skinned race

3 a member of a socially disadvantaged class of persons niggers . . . all the people who feel left out of the political process—Ron Dellums>

Usage Discussion of NIGGER

Nigger in senses 1 and 2 can be found in the works of such writers of the past as Joseph Conrad, Mark Twain, and Charles Dickens, but it now ranks as perhaps the most offensive and inflammatory racial slur in English. Its use by and among blacks is not always intended or taken as offensive, but, except in sense 3, it is otherwise a word expressive of racial hatred and bigotry.³

The corruption of the word NEEG’-ER may have begun during the Roman Empire when it was used in a neutral manner. It was not a derogatory insult; it simply referred to black-skinned people. John Rolfe, one of the early English settlers of North America and the husband of Pocahontas, daughter of the chief of the Powhatan Confederacy, used the word negars in 1619 when describing African slaves shipped to the Virginia colonies. Later spellings were neger and neggar. By the 1800’s it had been fully distorted as nigger and had become a pejorative word.

The remedy and solution to the seemingly endless woes of Blacks in diaspora throughout the Americas and the islands in the western hemisphere; the solution to Black dysfunction and malfunction at every level and strata of our society will be found in the restoration and proper biblical understanding of the word NEEG’-ER. Knowing who we are will lead us to looking into our history, heritage, and culture. This is a vital step because without this knowledge, others can create and impose any culture upon us they choose and exploit our gifts and abilities to advance their causes. When you don’t know who you are, others will tell you who you are. History has demonstrated this to be true.

The question must first be raised of how powerful is this word, NEEG’-ER, or what propensities does it possess, that it was seen necessary to corrupt it (nigger) in order to conceal its meaning, so that for 400 years it has kept the majority of an entire nation ignorant and blind to their identity? Second, what propensities does it possess that the people who are designated as the targets of this deprecating slander become content and do not challenge its origin and etymology? Third, what are the properties and powers of this word for a people who have been taught to defend its corruption and have succumbed to their subscribed behaviors?

Pseudo speciation is the ideology, theology and philosophy that allows a dominant group to separate itself by culture, race, language, class, dress, etc. and subjugate another group. The dominant group feels it is justified in dominating the subjugated group because it is superior to them. The subjugated group may be captured, taken into slavery and dehumanized. In the case of slavery, black people were stripped of their true identity and their memories erased over the years. The so-called three fifths of a person legislation reached as a compromise in 1787 which counted slaves as three fifths of a person for purposes of apportionment in the House of Representatives is an example of the devaluing of human life. Though it was abolished by the thirteenth amendment; the ideologies, philosophies, theologies and residues of the legislation were still pervasive in this country.

Stockholm syndrome is a psychological occurrence in which captives develop empathy and even identify with their captors over a period of time, sometimes to the point of adopting the perspective of the captor and defending them.

A person held in captivity cannot escape and depends on the hostage taker for life. The captor becomes the person in control of the captive’s basic needs for survival and for life itself. The hostage taker threatens to kill the victim and gives the perception of having the capability to do so. The captor judges it safer to align with the perpetrator, endure the hardship of captivity, and comply with the captor.⁴

In the case of slavery, this was intensified many times over. Some chose death rather than to go into captivity. Others were killed trying to escape. The ill and dying were discarded like empty bags. They witnessed children and loved ones snatched from their very arms and thrown overboard or left to die on the trek to the ship. Forbidden to speak in their native language, they went through unspeakable torture that soon wiped their very memories from their minds. They were given