A highly difficult, risky and dangerous activity or skill, designed to allow non-Negro personnel to safely transit violent Negro-controlled territory. Typically, the practitioner has perfected a series of individually non-threatening, non-obvious moves that when finally all complete will have transformed him or her (to the casual viewer) into a typical person on the street in a Negro neighborhood. Some examples:

  • Pulling a large cap backwards over one's face to hide it
  • Dropping trousers low enough to create a noticeable baggy area around the crotch and cause the rear to sag almost to the mid-thighs
  • If available, donning jacket or gloves to hide incriminating skin tone
  • Subtle change in walk, reflecting (to the user's best ability) a loose, flava-rich gait
  • Addition of noticeable jewelry, both for camouflage and to deceive based on the notion that scared people wouldn't wear flashy stuff
  • Large headphones are sometimes used to help hide the ears and provide a reasonable excuse for ignoring hails
  • Sunglasses are a perpetual favorite, especially at night

If done properly, this technique can often serve to transport a particularly vulnerable person (read: white mo'fo) through any number of areas otherwise likely to kill his o' her ass dead.


This is a Nodeshell Rescue! And for the humor impaired, Thpwhhppppbbbbbbbbbbbt. Dat's dis black person dissin' on ya.

In Neal Stephenson's book Cryptonomicon, there is a reference to a military manual titled "Tactical Negro Impersonation Volume III: Negroes of the Caribbean". It gives advice on how a ship's crew should behave to fool passing submarines into thinking that their ship is crewed by dark-skinned natives and not white US Navy personnel.

I don't know if this book actually existed, or if it was something Neal made up when writing his novel. The fact that I can't find any reference to this on the Internet (other than a few links on E2) indicates it is probably fictitious -- or classified.

Log in or register to write something here or to contact authors.