By: Vincent L. Hall
“The more things change, the more they stay the same!”
– Jean-Baptiste Alphonse Karr
If you spend any considerable amount of time on social media, especially TikTok, you have no doubt been exposed to the latest slur/slang regarding Black Men. You will hear them referred to as YN’s on the regular these days.
According to one AI source (and let me say that AI is not useful to me because it can only regenerate the ignorance it finds on the internet), “YN is a controversial slang term used primarily on social media platforms like TikTok. It is a term with a complex history and several key aspects to understand.”
It went on.
“The acronym YN stands for “young nigga” and it generally refers to young, reckless, and impulsive Black men, often associated with street culture and a “fast money” mindset.
Many young Black men strongly dislike the term and find it to be a disrespectful and degrading slur. It is often used to generalize and condemn young Black males by assuming the worst about them.”
Ain’t it funny how anyone who is outside the mainstream in the Black community gets labeled? We get the YN, the “chicken-head,” we are the Angry Black Man and Woman, and anything else that White folks use often enough to make it stick.
But why is it that when White people do it, their actions are not tethered to everyone in the race, just the offenders?
Last week, an explosive article appeared in Politico, regarding some racist citations among the national leaders of the Young Republicans, or as I call them the YR’s!
Politico blew the doors off the Young Republicans outhouse as they released an exclusive report on their chat strand.
“A White House official said that it has no affiliation with Restore YR and that hundreds of groups ask the White House for its endorsement.
When Luke Mosiman, the chair of the Arizona Young Republicans, asked if the New Yorkers in the chat were watching an NBA playoff game, Peter Giunta responded, “I’d go to the zoo if I wanted to watch monkey play ball.”
Giunta and others referred to Black people as monkeys and “the watermelon people” and mused about putting their political opponents in gas chambers. They talked about raping their enemies and driving them to suicide and lauded Republicans who they believed supported slavery.
Man! YN’s get a bad rap, but them YR’s be thuggin’ fa real!
The YR’s are avid Trump followers despite their youth. Apparently, they have gleaned some of their leaders’ tactics. According to Syracuse.com., the YR’s did a drive-by just before their White supremacist views were revealed to the world.
“When the New York State Young Republicans Club disbanded Friday amid an uproar over its racist and antisemitic rhetoric in a group chat, the club left behind unpaid bills from extravagant social gatherings.
At two of those events, the club ran up bills of more than $23,000 over a weekend at a Syracuse hotel – spending big on a three-course, plated dinner with filet mignon and open bars – but then didn’t pay, according to records obtained by syracuse.com.
I bet the YN’s couldn’t get a room in that hotel, even if they paid cash in advance.
The more things change, the more they stay the same. Black men and Black folks get stained with the most debilitating forms of racism that you can imagine. YN’s catch hell.
Meanwhile, these YR’s get a pass, and before you know it, they get elected to White House.
Ain’t nothing changed! Young ninjas are still catchin’ hell!
A long-time Texas Metro News columnist, Dallas native Vincent L. Hall is an author, writer, award-winning writer, and a lifelong Drapetomaniac.
