Wigger is short for “white nigger”. It is a white person who tries to be black by dressing, talking and acting a certain way. In most cases he is not copying black people he knows, but the kind he sees on television, following hip hop fashions in music, dress and speech. Perhaps the best-known wigger is Ali G, a character played by Sacha Baron Cohen.
Wiggers might seem kind of harmless, but their racist idea of “acting black” helps to spread damaging stereotypes about blacks – blacks as thugs and hoes (the black brute and Jezebel stereotypes).
Most wiggers are white males between 15 and 25, living mainly in America and Britain – with their parents. Like the goths, it is a youth subculture that features dressing a certain way and listening to a certain kind of music – whatever music and dress seems cool and will unsettle their parents most.
Wiggers try to act as if they grew up in some poor and violent black “hood” in the city, instead of the quiet, boring, well-to-do white suburb where most in fact live.
Wiggers get that way not by assimilation – not by living in such a hood and taking on black ways almost without knowing it. Instead they do it by appropriation: copying particular aspects while remaining more or less white.
Whites copying blacks, and a stereotype at that, is nothing new. Just as hip hop has given rise to wiggers, so jazz in the 1940s gave rise to hipsters.
Hipsters had a huge effect on White America: they were seen as cool and many whites copied them. Wiggers will probably not have that kind of effect: too many people seem to look down on them.
Unlike wiggers, hipsters had at least some experience of a living, breathing black world – through the musicians they knew at jazz joints. Wiggers, on the other hand, experience a black world that was made by the music and film industry to entertain white people. Wiggers are not so much copying a black world as a black minstrel show.
It would be like blacks copying the whites they see at rodeo shows: wearing cowboy hats, riding horses, speaking like a Texan and listening to country music – and thinking that is what “being white” is all about. Wiggers make the same sort of mistake about blackness.
Do Michelle Obama or Bill Cosby greet their friends with gang signs and go out of their way to speak bad English? Probably not. Yet they are blacker than any wigger could ever hope to be.
Steve Sailer says that Barack Obama is a wigger:
The brutal truth: Obama is a “wigger”. He’s a remarkably exotic variety of the faux African-American, but a wigger nonetheless. He has no ancestors who were slaves in the U.S. Moreover, his upbringing by his white mother and Indonesian stepfather in Indonesia and by his white grandparents in Hawaii, where mixed-race children are close to the norm, was almost wholly divorced from African-American life – except for what he could see and aspire to on TV.
See also:
Abagon,
Let me process this post before I comment on it, but I want to take back what I said about Flav in your post a few days back. I saw his show the other night “Under one Roof” – man, they were calling him a Monkey over and over again. Eyes buggin’ out – clownin’ for the wrong reasons. You were right about that one man.
Damn.
-Stal
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Steve Sailer, who is he anyway? The truth be told, this man is boring, he has no imagination what so ever, even if it hit him on a raining Saturday afternoon, he would still be lost. We are all individually created. Does he know anything about African American life, not everybody comes from Compton or the Hood. So does he think Benjamin Carson is a wigger? As for the wiggers, those guys are losers!
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“Wigger”? All this crazy neologism is killing me. The comment about Obama being a “wigger” is funny ironic to me. Typically, mixed people (black + X) catch more hell than blacks because they usually get it from both sides, especially if it is obvious that they are mixed and can not or do not try to “pass” on either side. The other aspect is that white America is likely more “accepting” of Obama because he is mixed (white and black) as opposed to him just being black and of course him being raised by the white side of this family plays its part as well. Being black, without being mixed assumingly, and raised by a white family mostly guarantee’s you “acceptable blackness” status because the black person is more than likely to attend an all white or majority white school, and of course their mindset about himself/herself, all together, will likely be different from other blacks. I do not see him (Obama) as trying to “act black” and therefore a “wigger”; maybe this is beacause I do not see myself, being black, in the first place as a “nigger” which I am sure this “wigger” word was stemmed. Furthermore,I’m having trouble all together figuring out just how one “acts black” in the first place considering that black people are all different but somehow got “slopped” into this one category in the way they “act”.
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For wiggers “acting black” is based completely on racist stereotypes.
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Steve Sailer is a white racist who is open about it and even thinks and writes about it:
http://isteve.blogspot.com/
A sort of thinking man’s skinhead, if you know what I mean.
I blew a whole Saturday afternoon reading his blog one time. Most white people do not talk so openly about race or have thought about it to the degree he has.
I doubt he knows many blacks: he says that in general they have less intelligence than whites, that they were born that way.
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I agree with Indigoblu, the term ‘wigger’ is very racist.
I don’t agree with her comments about “mixed” blacks. Most of the blacks I knew and just observed on a large scale, who came from an interracial union, usually identified as black and were accepted as such by most of the other blacks.
Obama never stressed the whole “biracial” thing. He actually said that he stopped telling white people about his mother at the age of 14 when he suspected he was trying to ingratiate himself to them. He is black and has lived the black experience. Have you ever read Dreams Of My Father, his autobiography? He’s a brother, through and through.
It’s common for blacks, especially if they come from a stigmatized black/white union , to have people throw their impressions of race onto them, without even understanding or knowing the person’s story.
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Oh, and I agree about Sailer, he’s a bonafide ignorant racist. I read some of his other garbage a while ago. Just dumb biogoted trash.
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As far as I know Obama always calls himself black or African American, never biracial – that is a word other people apply to him.
Not to step my foot in it or anything, but it seems like “biracial” is something white mothers started pushing in the 1990s because they did not want their black children to be black. Those who know the facts can tell me the true history of the word.
I am about halfway through “Dreams from my Father”.
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For Sailer to call Obama a wigger only shows that he has no concept of what it means to be black.
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You hit it right on the head Abagond, with posts #8 and #9. I always said the same thing.
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The term Wigger was actually coined by Vice Magazine about 5 years ago to make fun of those valley kids. The mainstream media and others have just picked up the term. If you google “Wigger” and “Vice” you’ll find the origins.
Don’ you think, however, it’s time to stop focussing on race being the issue and start focussing on what really separates all of us:
Economics.
The community you grow up in determines how and what you act and listen to. Now, those small American towns, only a generation ago, were all middle class with families that had factory jobs where their children would all be provided for. Now that those jobs have gone overseas, the children of those parents who lost their jobs are part of an economic depression.
So then, when you’re poor, everyone’s color is always blue.
Black and White is only the issue the media wants you to focus on.
-Stal
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Mixed people, like Obama, do get it from both sides. I can recall when this campaign really started many blacks that I knew were not going to vote for this man simply because he wasn’t “black enough” and hadn’t lived the “black experience” and whites weren’t going to vote for him simply because he was “black”. Even growing up and graduating from a very diverse high school, similar things would happen. Blacks didn’t look at them (mixed people) as one of them; usually….they looked at them differently, never black, just mixed.
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Hey Abagond,
I would profoundly disagree with your assertion that “biracial is a term white mother’s put on their kids.” I’m biracial myself (my father is white), and I call myself biracial because, well, I am. I think it’s a term that biracial people need to claim and further define – but the assumption that “biracial” is just a random term is deeply flawed.
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What about that Obama is from a Single Mom? Can I associate him in that way? For me, I think that he understands the struggles that women go through in raising a child while still trying to have a career and love life.
He is, indeed, the ultimate American. Race is an issue, but not the issue. Look at the whole package.
-Stal
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Stal: white people can get away with acting like race does not matter much and say it is all about economics or the individual or whatever. It is not a delusion most blacks can afford. Those things matter, sure, but so does race.
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Hi Ryan! So do you consider yourself biracial and not black or both? How do blacks regard you? What about whites? Do they see you as one of their own?
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Hello Abagond,
It’s funny, I just wrote a short piece about what being biracial means to me. On the outside, I guess I look black… sort of. Actually, I’d say I look both. But I probably relate to being black more than being white, just because that’s what others would immediately consider me to be.
On the inside, I’m really both. My family is an intertwine of both races, and so that’s what has really shaped my outlook.
Here’s the piece I was referring to – just for a little more depth (and less ramble): http://ryanbarrett.typepad.com/cheapthrills/2008/06/obama-biracial-question—the-biracial-community-defines-itself.html
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I never said race doesn’t matter. Also, I don’t really think it’s fair to throw people into a category such as “White.” For me, my grandfather sat in a concentration camp in germany and both he and my grandmother had to watch their friends and family be burned away from existence. They came here, lucky to escape, with about 25 dollars. My father was born about 2 blocks from where I live – 155th street – and I am constantly being told that I don’t belong here.
Race is an issue for all of us. I did not say it didn’t matter – I’m just saying that using it as the dominant issue all the time should not be the case. The world will move away from that. If American thinks they can continue to perpetuate the myth, let the mainstream think that. It is, first, an economic issue. A Class issue. Race is an important part, but the other aspects are continually ignored.
We are all in this together. Remember that.
-Stal
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Stal: Sorry, I overreacted. Given your grandfather and given that you are living in Harlem you have to know that race matters. I am just so used to whites giving the anything-but-race argument and then being told I make everything into race.
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Ryan: Thanks for the link. That is interesting: “On the inside, I’m really both.”
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Ryan or anyone biracial or anyone who knows: I am thinking of doing a post on being biracial. Are there any good blogs or articles that you recommend that I should look at?
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Sure – let’s see…
I’ve been really digging a blog called Los Angelista. It’s authored by a half Black half Irish woman.
http://www.losangelista.com/
Racialicious is always a good go-to guide to all things race related:
http://www.racialicious.com/
And, of course, I write about being biracial from time to time on my blog, so you can use the link I posted above if you’d like.
Hope this helps. If I think of any more sources for you to check out, I’ll send them your way.
-Ryan
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Thank you!
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I hear you on being told what to think.
While race is important, I just am tired of it being put up and looked at as an isolated thing. Racism. How did it come to be? Who are the creators? Who are the perpetrators? Who makes money off of it?
In 20 years, from what I see, we will all be mixed.
Keep up the posts that get people thinking. Remember, nobody is right and nobody is wrong. I would hope that, eventually, we’d all listen to what we all think and then achieve a global understanding of one another!
Open and free thought.
Hell, my wife is Mongolian and walks down our block to the curses of “Damn Chinese bitch!” Now, her people were at war with China for ages and hates being called Chinese. I mean, this is universal.
Understanding of culture. Your blog is helping to create that. I thank you.
-Stal
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I have a question for Ryan:
Good for you on your own personal “racial” identification, but here’s my question: Since others see you as black and you lived as such, you are a black man as well, right? So, do you identify as both black AND biracial?
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I also agree with Abagond, whites can always say race doesn’t matter. Of course it doesn’t really apply for them but for the reason of us ….we could only wish! 🙂
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Again, “White” is a blanketing term.
But if you wish to keep things in that view, black and white, so be it.
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Hey mynameismyname –
First, I’m female (the name would throw anyone off). So, I’d definitely see myself as a black female before I’d see myself as a white one. But my outer appearance cannot negate the fact that I am half white, through and through. So, the answer to your question is yes – I identify with being black and biracial. But I’d like to see “biracial” to be a category unto itself, because it’s something entirely different from both white and black.
I hope that answers your question 🙂
-Ryan
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“White” meaning white American is a useful term because most of them act alike in certain ways. I know each one is an individual and all that, but I do not want to miss the forest for the trees.
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Agagond:
Just returned from a week’s vacation and catching up on web stuff. Good post.
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Thanks. It was way more popular than I ever dreamed it would be.
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I have to disagree about Obama being a wigger. I don’t see him as acting.
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technically there is know such thing as acting black or acting white but in a stereotypical since yes you can act black and yes you can act white but one disecreptancy with acting white is listening to rock music almost all popular music in the united states was created by black people(rock,rap,pop,jazz,blues,gospel) all black music. white people only created country so technically all whites tht listen to rock r wiggers cuz it was a black music form
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I agree: “acting black” and “acting white” are based on stereotypes. Like if you study hard you are “acting white”. That is one of the most senseless things I have ever heard. The same for listening to rock, which, like you said, comes from black music.
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I herd’ these type of people were called “chavs”
or something. I moved to a suburban area 3 years ago,and ever since people like this have been hitting on me all the time!(ESSPECIALY AT SCHOOL!)I’m not what they think I’am.a few days ago,I was waiting for my mom to come out of seven eleven and some guy in the car next to me turned up whatever rap cd he had in his car,and started singing along in perfect english!(to get me to notice him,which is something only blk guys do to me…)
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ok, abagond, please tell me you dnt support that steve sailor quote, right? cus thats the stupidest piece of writing ive read in a while. Hes not black cuz he lived in hawaii?!?, um, thats backing up the misconception that ones attitude and speech\actions define what race you are. please tell me you dont actually believe that..
as far as wiggers go in my opinion, its offensive to all involved.to me as a white person, its remanicsent of black face characters rom the early 1900s. Now, if you grew up like that, whatever, but im talkin about the suburban”im dressin like this to piss off my parents” type of guy. its like they see BET as black culture. To them, its a costume to put on and walk around in until they want to go home and eat with their family at dinner.
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i think a lot of adolescent white males want to act and dress this way the same reason why adolescent black males do the same thing. Cuz some of the crappier side of hip hop is talkin about things like drugs, money,cars,fame,and more money. oh, ya, and theyre constantly surrounded by beautiful women that are barely clothed in every video. these are things that teenage\20 year old males see and they want to personify this image, so they collect everything incorporated into this look,style, talk, etc in hopes that they will gain some acceptance, and that they too will have fame, money, and women following them wherever thay go. kind of pitiful, if you ask me. But,Its a marketing tactic. I think its less a problem of wiggers, but more a problem of how manipulated teens and young people are, regardless of age. its sickening.
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I completely disagree with Sailer on that:
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You make wiggers sound like a cargo cult. Interesting.
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“white people only created country”
actually, countery is from mexican music, the kind played w\ acoustic guitars, that was often played in the south while workers worked, and, low and behold, its now called “White” just as “acting balck and acting white” are sterotypes. where we believe our music comes from is also a fiction. no one owns music. Also, abagond, id be interested to hear you answer this: why is it that more young blacks dont listen to jazz and blues? Im in high school, a black high school, and no one does. some listen to gospel, but otherwise, its all the ignorant “money,cars,sex,drugs” stuff i wrote about above…on a musical level, its sadenning, cuz theres very little musicality to that genre. Yes, its musical and i like some hip hop, but the newer stuff is repetative and goes nowhere. now, pick up some miles davis, muddy waters,or zappa, or some tribal tech, there is musicality. your thoughts?
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what is a “cargo cult”?
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A cargo cult: during the Second World War American airmen landed on islands that had never seen a white man before. Or planes or all the amazing material wealth (cargo) they brought along. They came out of the blue and then a few years later just disappeared and never came back.
To bring them and their cargo back the islanders built airstrips and planes out of branches and stuff, copying everything they saw the white men do as best they could – some of it with amazing accuracy. But they never came back.
They thought by copying the form they could achieve the substance. Because they saw but did not understand.
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confused said:
“Also, abagond, id be interested to hear you answer this: why is it that more young blacks dont listen to jazz and blues?”
I look at it the other way: why is it whites like older black music but always think the new stuff is no good? More here:
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ok, interesting view of the “dorf” page, but you merely deflected my question. that page has nothing to do with the fact that black music such as jazz,blues, and african traditional music goes, to an extent, unappreciated in a large amount of young black audiences. now, the dorf page is interesting, but also remember that jazz blues and living colour[a fav of mine] arent fossils of the past. There is still blues, there are still jazz clubs, and living colour just reunited and came to chicago[yesss] so dont act like its not around anymore. its just not jazz and blues` hayday.
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so, you tihnk all rock music or metal is skinhead rock? see, there is a perfect example of ignorance. why dont you tell me one band name thats screaming about hitler. i never said only rap contains dumb lyrics, its just what is most popular right now. my point was is that a lot of music gets rejected my poeple, no matter their color. You, being example A, as you probly never gave rock or metal a chance seeing as its played by whites. Who knows, maybe youll like it. Look up living colour, they talk about issudes relating to this all the time. Great lyrics. i mean, you wanna hear sonmgs that dehumanize women and blacks, listen to some gangsta rap. Now, all of it aint bad, but thats said for every genre of music. You say all rock\metal is “skinhead music” an ignorant white person could say all rap\hi hop is violent gang music. even though both statements are lies.
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Wigger was actually coined by Vice Magazine about 5 years
The word was in common use in the Detroit area at least as early as 1990.
Abagond, thanks for what you put out here. I must have spent three hours on and off over the course of the day going through your archives.
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