About the Book
In the following work, there are three separate but related works. The first work focuses on the power of language, the specific example being that of the so-called "n" word. There are several key thoughts and questions worth keeping in mind as you read the first work, The Village of Nigger-Nigga. First, the more "forbidden" or "taboo" something is, the more powerful it becomes. In view of that, the question arises: "Who benefits from the negative power created by preserving the "n" word as a "taboo"?" Primarily, if not exclusively, so-called "white" or "non-black" people. In other words, those who would use it as a "weapon" to hurt others emotionally. And who suffers from the negative power created by preserving the "n" word as a "taboo"?" Primarily, if not exclusively, so-called "black" or "non-white" people. Conversely, who would benefit by neutralizing the negative meaning/use of the word "nigger" and/or giving it a new and positive meaning? Virtually, all of society in general, both here in America as well as the world at large. Although the first work, The Village of Nigger-Nigga, is a work of fiction in the strictest sense, there is a significant degree of linguistic truth in principle regarding the message of this short story. For example, unlikely as it may seem in terms of the feasibility of converting the "n" word from something negative to a positive, linguistically speaking, language is more than sufficiently capable of accommodating such a change. The second work, Corruption...a Precondition for Power, addresses the matter of power in general. In terms of the message in this essay, it can readily be applied to the other two works, The Village of Nigger-Nigga and Nigger Music.
About the Author: Harold Price is an African-American born and raised in Pottsville, county seat of the once-thriving coal-mining Schuylkill County in east central Pennsylvania. After one semester in college on a football scholarship, Harold withdrew. He would spend the next four years being trained at the Defense Language Institute in Monterey, California, and working as a Russian translator for the Army Security Agency (ASA), an above top secret military branch of the National Security Agency (NSA). Subsequent to his four years with ASA/NSA, Harold returned to college and earned a B.A. in Russian from Penn State, which included advanced studies at the University of Leningrad in the former Soviet Union. His undergraduate program also included further studies in Spanish, German, linguistics, and religious studies (academic theology/social ethics). In addition, during that time and later, Harold continued working as a freelance translator of Russian, Spanish, and German for such agencies as the Defense Intelligence Agency. Following a year of study in social ethics in Penn State's Graduate School of Religious Studies, Harold worked for two years developing a community relations program for a bank in Philadelphia, Pa. Soon after that, he went on to teach Spanish, English as a Second Language, Russian, and German for the next 26 years at Valley Forge Military Academy and College (VFMAC), a prestigious private boarding school outside of Philadelphia. During his last six years at VFMAC, Harold also served as the academy's foreign language department chair in addition to his teaching duties at both the middle/high school and college. Throughout that period of his life, he continued to pursue his formal education further; that included two master's degrees (religious studies/social ethics and Spanish) from Temple University as well as his Pennsylvania K-12 teaching certification in Russian, Spanish, and German from the University of Pennsylvania's Graduate School of Education. Harold and his wife, Robin, now live in Orwigsburg, Pa., several miles south of his hometown, Pottsville. After having traveled most of the world, Harold has returned to the area of his roots. His family has resided in Schuylkill County, Pa. for nearly 200 years, having first arrived via the Underground Railroad. Presently, Harold continuing preparation for Volumes II and III of "White People: The Great White Hoax," which is based on 45 years of research and study of American racism.
