Stop Being Niggardly: And Nine Other Things Black People Need to Stop Doing

by Karen Hunter

nig·gard·ly (adj.) [nig´erd-le]

1. stingy, miserly; not generous

2. begrudging about spending or granting

3. provided in a meanly limited supply



If you don’t know the definition of the word, you might assume it to be a derogatory insult, a racial slur. You might be personally offended and deeply outraged. You might write an angry editorial or organize a march. You might even find yourself making national headlines



In other words, you’d better know what the word means before you pour your energy into overreacting to it.



That’s the jumping-off point for this powerful directive from Pulitzer Prize–winning journalist and bestselling author Karen Hunter. It’s time for the black community to stop marching, quit complaining, roll up their collective sleeves, channel their anger constructively, and start fixing their own problems, she boldly asserts. And while her straight-talking, often politically incorrect narrative is electrifyingly fresh and utterly relevant to today’s hot-button issues surrounding race, Hunter harks back to the wisdom of a respected elder—Nannie Helen Burroughs, who was ahead of her time penning Twelve Things the Negro Must Do for Himself more than a century ago. Burroughs’s guidelines for successful living—from making education, employment, and home ownership one’s priorities to dressing appropriately to practicing faith in everyday life—teach empowerment through self-responsibility, disallowing excuses for one’s standing in life but rather galvanizing blacks to look to themselves for strength, motivation, support, and encouragement.



From our urban communities to small-town America, the issues Hunter is bold enough to tackle in Stop Being Niggardly affect us all. Refreshingly candid and challenging, certain to get people everywhere talking, this is the book that takes on race in a new—yet also historically revered and
simply stated—way that can change lives, both personally and collectively.

Genres: Nonfiction

224 pages, Hardcover

First published April 27, 2010

Reviews

[Nikhil P. Freeman · Rating 1 out of 5]

This book was a schizophrenic miasma of capitalism, race pride, and religiosity. I do not know how this author maintained a career in writing for so long because her prose is subpar. She makes wild proclamations such as believing that “Blackness” carries special power, considers all Hispanics and Latinos as Black, stating that Brazilian football legend Pelé spoke Spanish, and extolling that one of best things about America is that it is a capitalist society...not to mention that she also believes there is a Black America (community), that Black people need Black leaders, and Black people are not individuals, but are representatives of the entire Black race.

Her anecdotes about being niggardly—stingy fell short because they illustrated, ironically, some of the reasons why one should not to extend themselves financially to help others. Overall, her authority is questioned in writing this book because she speaks of a “reading diet”, as in what you read you become, and if this is the case she is a brazen hypocrite having help produce Confessions of a Video Vixen, On the Down Low: A Journey into the Lives of 'Straight' Black Men Who Sleep with Men, and Pimpology: The 48 Laws of the Game. With her muddled musings throughout this book, it’s hard for me to believe her claim of being a “race woman” having co-authored so many other books that goes against her thesis.

[Larry · Rating 1 out of 5]

Why the f are you people saying that we need to fix our problems our self.We already are I don’t know why we get hate from people the reviews are comment bots.just shut up and make a book about what white people should stop doing
Unless you don’t think you don’t have to change

[Marc Medley · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book was outstanding. For the second time this year I have come across a book that speaks the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth. Earlier this year I read the book ENOUGH by Juan Williams and I could not sing the praises of the message of that book enough and now I have discovered the book STOP BEING NIGGARDLY by Karen Hunter and I cannot stop singing praises of Ms. Hunter's message. The reason being, the messages of both Ms. Hunter and Mr. Williams are very similar. They both, like Bill Cosby and Minister Farrakhan seek to help African Americans see the inappropriate behaviors that we (African Americans) partake in that keep us from being as successful as we can be.

Ms. Hunter and Mr. Williams express so eloquently in their books my personal views and opinions concerning why African Americans as a race is not as far along as I know we could be. In both books, one might think the authors are Anti-African American even though both are indeed African American. As I have written in previous blogs, the problem that I see with African Americans (and yes I know I am generalizing and that there are individual cases) is that we really do resist hearing the things we need to either stop doing or start doing to improve ourselves as a whole. Not only do we resist hearing it, we don't make the necessary changes needed for improvement. This could never be more evident then what Bill Cosby experienced when he delivered his now famous “Pound Cake Speech.” He was lambasted by both African Americans who have quote unquote made it and by those who were nowhere near making it, all because he had the courage to speak the truth in terms of what African Americans need to do to move forward. Like President Barack Obama, he heard that he wasn’t “Black enough,” or had lost his “blackness” because he expressed his views on why African Americans stay gridlocked in terms of moving forward in society. He dared ask the African American community to look within her own house or in the mirror and as a result was ostracized and nearly outcast from the African American community. Minister Louis Farrakhan has been preaching the same messages for years concerning our (African Americans) being able to do for ourselves to no avail. We still tend to gravitate towards any silly fad that comes along, i.e. sagging pants; being fascinated by the “Bling, (which is usually fake)” having to show that we spent the most money on an item albeit automobile, sneakers, jewelry, etc. ; calling each other derogatory terms and thinking it is cute; not taking the importance of education seriously; and the list goes on and on. When someone points this out to us (African Americans) we then want to get an attitude or try to justify these behaviors in every which way possible. Usually it has something to do with the “white man” or our having been enslaved for over four hundred years. Yes, there may some truth to these justifications, however, we cannot continue to be paralyzed by the fact that we were once slaves or by what the white man does or does not do. Karen Hunter says it well in her book STOP BEING NIGGARDLY, when she says, “I can’t control white people. I can only control me.” It has been my experience that we are quick to not do what we are supposed to do and then turn around and blame the white man for what we feel we ought to have received if we had done what we were supposed to have done. How can you blame the white man for your not having a job because you dropped out of school? How can you blame anyone for your limited options, when you did not take your education seriously?

So just as when I wrote the blog concerning The Pound Cake Speech, I expect folks to be critical of my views and I am okay with that. I agree with Karen Hunter when she says that she knows that drops of water on any hard surface will over time wear through that hard surface and she hopes as do I to be yet another drop of water. She likens the drops to the words of Nannie Helen Burroughs, Marcus Garvey, Marva Collins, Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Malcolm X, preachers, and teachers who attempt to inspire and motivate people to have full lives. The message is not new, but it is resisted and denied. It is our hope that enough of us will continue to be drops of water eroding that rock like surface of denial and resistance in order for African Americans to move to higher heights. More of us must get to the point where we realize the truth and take action to move us further forward. Being in denial or getting mad at the messengers will keep us stuck in mediocrity and will continue to move us further and further away from excellence. Like Ms. Hunter, Mr. Williams, Mr. Cosby, and Minister Farrakhan, I will continue to be that drop of water continuously hitting that hard surface of African American denial of our issues. I am not anti-white, however, I am pro-black and because I am pro black I cannot just sit by and watch us as a people continue to move backward while making a bunch of excuses as to why. Making excuses for why we ought to be able to call each other “nigger” and "hos;" why we ought not speak correctly, or parent our children correctly; why we ought to be happy being mis-educated and under educated and the list goes on. I for one will not hold my peace because someone might say that I am not black enough or have lost touch with my blackness. We can and must do better than what we do. Nannie Mae Burroughs wrote in the 30’s Twelve Things the Negro Must Do and the twelve things she outlined still are applicable in 2010 and as we move into 2011. I say again, we can and must do better than what we do. Let us face it and fix it.

Twelve Things the Negro Must Do
by Nannie Helen Burroughs


(1) The Negro Must Learn to Put First Things First
(2) The Negro Must Stop Expecting God and White Folk to Do for Him What He Can Do for Himself
(3) The Negro Must Keep Himself, His Children and His Home Clean and Make the Surroundings in Which He Lives Comfortable and Attractive
(4) The Negro Must Learn to Dress More Appropriately for Work and for Leisure
(5) The Negro Must Make His Religion an Everyday Practice and Not Just a Sunday-Go-to Meeting Emotional Affair
(6) The Negro Must Highly Resolve to Wipe Out Mass Ignorance
(7) The Negro Must Stop Charging His Failures Up to His "Color" and to White People's Attitude
(8) The Negro Must Overcome His Bad Job Habits
(9) The Negro Must Improve His Conduct in Public Places
(10) The Negro Must Learn How to Operate Business for People -- Not for Negro People, Only
(11) The Average So-Called Educated Negro Will Have to Come Down Out of the Air
(12) The Negro Must Stop Forgetting His Friends. Remember!

[Aimee Massey · Rating 2 out of 5]

Full disclosure: I'm not the book's intended audience. I'm white. But I have never limited myself to reading things only intended for my own demographics, and I believe I am richer for it.
Karen Hunter published "Stop Being Niggardly" in 2010, so it does feel dated. That isn't her fault. She also is a big fan of Bill Cosby. This was before we knew way more than we ever wanted to know about him, namely that he is essentially a serial sex offender. I haven't read anything Hunter's written about Cosby beyond what she has in this book, but I'm afraid that knowing what I know now, it doesn't do wonders for her credibility. Again, that's not entirely her fault.
Now, the book. It's a fast read, but also a jumbled, disorganized, often highly irritating read. I find it hard to keep in mind that she was ever on the editorial board of any major newspaper; I have seen letters to the editor in my local paper that are written more concisely and eloquently than this.
She makes a lot of good points, ones which probably the majority of Black and white people can agree with. But it's all couched in so much mingled rant and brag (not humblebrag either, just plain old blowing-her-own-horn) that it is not worth trying to pick out the wheat from the chaff.
And when you do, it's a lot of preaching to the choir.
There was a lot of potential here that got wasted. Hunter would have had a much better and more powerful book if she had been less focused on "the brilliant career and boundless success and shiny toys of Karen Hunter."
I was also very disturbed by her devaluing and denying of the entire Hispanic culture and experience. She flat-out refuses to acknowledge that there is such a thing as Latino/Hispanic culture aside from actual Spaniards from Spain. Instead, she uses a fast and loose approach to history to declare that nearly everybody from South American, the Caribbean and Cental America is in fact Black. And this was in a chapter entitled "Stop Dividing Us." Again, this woman is very well-educated and has worked on an editorial board, among many other things. Incredible.
She has another chapter called "Stop Tearing Down Our Heroes." Herein, she defends Barry Bonds (and other baseball players) by saying that steroid use really only enhances performance in track and field, swimming, football (maybe) and wrestling ("But we know that isn't real.") That isn't the point, Karen. The point is, these players did something they knew was not allowed, and they expected to get away with it. She claims everyone is allowed to be human and make mistakes. Fair enough, but she cherry-picks the people she thinks are allowed to "make mistakes" (read: deliberately do things you know you shouldn't) and Bonds made the grade, for whatever reason. Jesse Jackson didn't; Clarence Thomas didn't. Bill Cosby, who at the time she wrote this was already known to have fathered a child out of wedlock (or rather, while in wedlock with someone else) just as Jackson had, did get that favored status. I seem to recall at the time there were already rumors of far more serious misconduct, but she never mentions those.
Can you say hypocrisy?
Look, I lost respect for Cosby; he did really terrible things and broke a lot of people's trust, and he knew he was doing it; he's not stupid, not even within driving distance of it. Arrogance led him to think he could get away with it.
BUT, and it's a large but, that doesn't invalidate his views on education and hard work. Unlike Karen Hunter, who grew up upper-middle-class by her own admission and had every advantage, Cosby really did start from the bottom. He grew up poor and began finding success at a time and place where he didn't have the advantages later generations would have. So I actually do think he was more qualified to say some of the things he and Hunter say than Hunter is. And he usually said them more articulately and plainly than she does in this mess of a book.
So as Hunter cherry-picked, so must the reader; the reader must pick through the hypocrisy, the bragging, the wonky grasp of history, and find the kernels of truth. The sad thing is, if we didn't have to pick through all the junk, this could have been the kind of book that makes you think, rather than one that makes you think "Do what?!"

[Divine Edwards · Rating 4 out of 5]

Don't let the N word fool you.

A beautiful light this was It made me wary but speechless from her words.

Hopefully more minds get to read this book.

[Nicola · Rating 3 out of 5]

I don't think I had ever heard of Karen Hunter before I came across a copy of Stop Being Niggardly: And Nine Other Things Black People Need to Stop Doing. Hunter is described in the book as "a Pulitzer Prize–winning journalist, a celebrated radio talk-show host, and coauthor of numerous New York Times bestsellers" and "an assistant professor in the Film & Media Department at Hunter College." Stop Being Niggardly was first published in 2010, which is, of course, way before the Bill Cosby revelations. I mention Cosby because Hunter refers to him frequently in a couple of chapters as a critical voice of reason in the Black community—which, true or not, is awkward.

So anyway, Stop Being Niggardly—what is the title all about? You can take a look at the Amazon description to see how it's defined, if you don't already know. Frankly, now that I've read the book, I'm left to conclude that the title is mostly a marketing tactic (if the large white letters against the bold red banner across the cover doesn't convince you). Hunter doesn't really go into why she chose "niggardly" as part of the title until the very end of the book—and even then, she's not very convincing. But none of that really matters.

Looking back on her failed financial and career experiences, as well as her successes, Hunter offers an appreciated perspective on what may be keeping some Black Americans from advancing in the ways they may need to. She gives advice (kinda like Cosby) on health, finances, faith, being in the workplace, having pride in one's home, etc. There's nothing very deep about Stop Being Niggardly and Hunter doesn't say anything new. But that's OK, because some things are worth repeating. Her words mostly come across as a tough talk or motivational advice from a big sister or mentor-type, but I wouldn't be surprised if some readers find some if it elitist or condescending. At 224 pages, Stop Being Niggardly is a quick, compact read. As with anything, you take the meat and leave the bones. You'll either like it or hate it. Personally, I think it's an OK read.

[Meka]

This was a tough book to read because my experiences differ from that of the author. I didn't believe in everything that she said, but her words and advice were powerful. We need to stop being stingy with our time, our talents, our abilities. Powerful book, but title floored me at first.

[Desiree Watson · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book was excellent. Talks about our ancestors and how we dishonor them when we don't do what is right. Talks about owning property and carrying ourselves in a way that is respectful. Excellent read. Read: 2010.

[M.G. Hardie · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a powerful book.

Read the Review:

[Camina · Rating 5 out of 5]

All I can say is that Karen Hunter hit it right on target with this book. People of color really need to read this book and reflect on our lives and the lives of our brothers and sisters.