Talkin' Loud & Saying Nothin!
Chuck D said it best, almost twenty years ago in Welcome to the Terrordome w/ the lyric, "Its a shame when you blame somebody else, when u destroy yourself!" This monolith called black folk have been sold a bad bill of goods in that we have co-opted many of the stereotypes placed upon us until now it seems they are befitting when describing us en masse. I have friends of other ethnicities who ask me weekly why, "Black men wear their (insert clothes, hair, doo rags, etc here) or why black women do this that and the third." Oft times it is a hood trend of which I do not subscribe to in any shape form or fashion and oft times they are left pondering and I myself am perplexed b/c I, as an intelligent, educated black man am baffled at our idiocy.
My friend Raleigh and I were discussing the word ghetto and I'm sure if polled most black folk would say the term originated in the 70's w/ the tv show Good Times, b/c it seemed that JJ had a quota for saying that word at least once per episode. And almost overnight it became a staple in our culture and synonymous w/ black folk. The word actually has zero to do with black people in its origin way back in the 17th century!
Ghetto
Etymology: Italian, from Venetian dial. ghèto island where Jews were forced to live, literally, foundry (located on the island), from ghetàr to cast, from Latin jactare to throw
Date: 1611
1 : a quarter of a city in which Jews were formerly required to live
2 : a quarter of a city in which members of a minority group live especially because of social, legal, or economic pressure
So what does this have to do w/ the topic? I use this word quite often to describe black people and it really is a misnomer when one looks at the word's etymology. Much in the same way the media has hi-jacked the word urban and now it is synonymous with black people, and the word athletic in sports media means either one is black or u r non-black and u play like a black person. My usage of the word ghetto has even become a point of contention b/w my writing partner Angie and I b/c I NEVER use that word in a positive light. I'm going to try to abandon that word completely and use a word that has found its way into our vernacular, HOOD.
PosdNous from De La Soul said it best, "Neighborhoods are now hoods cause nobody's neighbors!" Amen brother, amen. Hood mentality has taken afoot in black society, black high society, black low society and all points in between, w/ no end in sight. Black characitures dominate the rap world, where cooning and buffoonery are making a comeback quicker than Amos N Andy on Blu-Ray Ray (the bootleg, coming to a hood near u!). We are not going to even talk about the black reality shows! I bring this up because these vehicles are the the "fuel" if you will for much of what we are lamenting on this topic.
Rappers get a bunch of funky gold in their mouths and hood boys and girls go and buy a mouth full of tin and now they rocking the hotness (NOT)! Blatant materialsm to be acquired at any cost, pimping women, robbery, drug dealing, scamming, hell its a free market so anything goes and that is the attitude purveyed in our music and media and it permeates the minds of our youth in America, not just black folk.
SIDENOTE: I know these dudes are not supposed to be role models but what the hell is up w/ these NBA cats and their prison tats?! I mean some of these cats have a permanent tattoo t-shirt stenciled on their skins b/c they have more ink than skin. If u look like u r wearing a long sleeve printed tee and u have short sleeves on u prolly went overboard. It is the classic example of what I call the Mufasa complex that men have. Its not just black men, it is just expressed in different ways for different cultures. When one watches National Geographic one can always tell who is the chief or who are the chief rockers in a society b/c they stand out, often w/ some garrish display on their person. LOOK AT ME, LOOK AT ME, LOOK AT ME, ok I see u, now what? The whole tattoo thing to me is just another layer of the thug dress code and many of the cats that are deemed to be hoodlums in the NBA are the biggest violators of wearing too much ink.
And now back to our scheduled programming....................
Is the problem that this poison exists, no b/c mankind has had to deal w/ satan, his evil and his minions since mankind started, the problem is that there is nothing b/w the ears of these victims to neutralize the poison that is being pumped into their souls via their ears, eyes and brains. If you are surrounded by ignorance one hundred percent of your life how can anyone expect you to be anything but ignorant? If grown folk always said filth, flarn and flim around you, if you could reel off a successful mo-fo by the time u were 3 years old, if you could successfully cuss out your kindergarten teacher, why should I expect you to KNOW that it is not cool for you to do a cuss show around my wife, daughter, mama, grandma? How could you know? Ignorant is as ignorant does.
Oliver Wendell Holmes, Supreme Court Justice once said, "The right to swing my fist ends where the other man's nose begins." This should be taught to every American. Instead of focusing on what you have the right to do this quote really tells you what you cannot do, liiiiiiiiikkkkkkkkkkkkkeeeeeeeeeeee
CUSS LIKE A SAILOR IN PUBLIC around women, old folk and children!
Talk loud or be on your cell phone in a movie theatre.
Touch a woman you don't know in a club.
Cat call at a woman anywhere and call her a b*tch if she doesn't respond to your stupidity.
Blame "the man" for keeping you down when u do all u can in that vein yourself!
Dress garrishly, go to an interview and get mad b/c u don't get hired even though you don't dress the part.
Play loud music w/ vulgar language and subject matter blaring out for ALL of us to hear, I don't want my kid hearing kiss this and lick that and suck my big black stuff and suck it and suck it and suck it thank u very much!
I don't want to see your underwear, man or woman (even if its a thong!)
In short ANYTHING that you do publicy that causes the discomfort of others is a violation of said person's rights, plain and simple.
Ladies and gentlemen introducing Mr. and Mrs. Loud and Wrong. You know this black person well b/c they are your friends, co-workers and prolly in your family! This is the black person that screams racism AT ANY and EVERY situation. Classism is a much larger problem in our society and is oft mistaken for racism. The current debate in Raleigh schools becoming community schools is a class issue, it just so happens that the majority of the people that support these schools live in neigbhorhoods that are predominately white. A mere circumstance, now if they don't want their kids going to school w/ people that are poorer than they are, hey what color does that reflect? GREEN! It's all about the benjamins baby!
Racism
Date: 1933
1 : a belief that race is the primary determinant of human traits and capacities and that racial differences produce an inherent superiority of a particular race
2 : racial prejudice or discrimination
Racism is a system, I repeat it is a system that is controlled by people well above your pay grade and hell even your white friends' pay grades. Unless said white friend comes from old old money and has access to levels of power that you could not even imagine. Racism are things like the black codes, and Jim Crow laws, apartheid, colonialism, all systems of oppression based on the ideology of racial superiority and imposing racial inferiority on its victims.
So the question remains, was what happended to you racist? Be careful how u answer this b/c that word has had ALL of its power taken away in the last decade. Hell its like black crying wolf when we use that word b/c too many black folk bandied it about when they shouldn't have and now for many white folks it seems that racism is dead. Let me offer a new word, ask yourself was it prejudiced?
Prejudice
Date: 13th century
1 : injury or damage resulting from some judgment or action of another in disregard of one's rights; especially : detriment to one's legal rights or claims
2 a (1) : preconceived judgment or opinion (2) : an adverse opinion or leaning formed without just grounds or before sufficient knowledge b : an instance of such judgment or opinion c : an irrational attitude of hostility directed against an individual, a group, a race, or their supposed characteristics
Ahhh there we have it. So many of the behaviors humans exhibit towards each other are a prejudice, yes even some of the things that black folk experience from whites and what we do to anybody NOT black, and sometimes even our own.
So I said all that to say this, the next time you hear someone scream racism analyze their claim and see whether or not that is really the case b/c once u use the R word u prolly gonna lose all the white people in the room b/c if they do not consider themselves racist they will not be able to identify w/ your claim. Hell even if they do consider themselves to be racist you won't get any sympathy. Now if you can explain your claim in terms of class or prejudice, that's something that is universal and we can all understand. Words are powerful so we must choose the ones we use carefully b/c connotation and denotation can be a real B sometimes! Ya feel me?
One Man's Opinion,
The Mad Afrikan
My friend Raleigh and I were discussing the word ghetto and I'm sure if polled most black folk would say the term originated in the 70's w/ the tv show Good Times, b/c it seemed that JJ had a quota for saying that word at least once per episode. And almost overnight it became a staple in our culture and synonymous w/ black folk. The word actually has zero to do with black people in its origin way back in the 17th century!
Ghetto
Etymology: Italian, from Venetian dial. ghèto island where Jews were forced to live, literally, foundry (located on the island), from ghetàr to cast, from Latin jactare to throw
Date: 1611
1 : a quarter of a city in which Jews were formerly required to live
2 : a quarter of a city in which members of a minority group live especially because of social, legal, or economic pressure
So what does this have to do w/ the topic? I use this word quite often to describe black people and it really is a misnomer when one looks at the word's etymology. Much in the same way the media has hi-jacked the word urban and now it is synonymous with black people, and the word athletic in sports media means either one is black or u r non-black and u play like a black person. My usage of the word ghetto has even become a point of contention b/w my writing partner Angie and I b/c I NEVER use that word in a positive light. I'm going to try to abandon that word completely and use a word that has found its way into our vernacular, HOOD.
PosdNous from De La Soul said it best, "Neighborhoods are now hoods cause nobody's neighbors!" Amen brother, amen. Hood mentality has taken afoot in black society, black high society, black low society and all points in between, w/ no end in sight. Black characitures dominate the rap world, where cooning and buffoonery are making a comeback quicker than Amos N Andy on Blu-Ray Ray (the bootleg, coming to a hood near u!). We are not going to even talk about the black reality shows! I bring this up because these vehicles are the the "fuel" if you will for much of what we are lamenting on this topic.
Rappers get a bunch of funky gold in their mouths and hood boys and girls go and buy a mouth full of tin and now they rocking the hotness (NOT)! Blatant materialsm to be acquired at any cost, pimping women, robbery, drug dealing, scamming, hell its a free market so anything goes and that is the attitude purveyed in our music and media and it permeates the minds of our youth in America, not just black folk.
SIDENOTE: I know these dudes are not supposed to be role models but what the hell is up w/ these NBA cats and their prison tats?! I mean some of these cats have a permanent tattoo t-shirt stenciled on their skins b/c they have more ink than skin. If u look like u r wearing a long sleeve printed tee and u have short sleeves on u prolly went overboard. It is the classic example of what I call the Mufasa complex that men have. Its not just black men, it is just expressed in different ways for different cultures. When one watches National Geographic one can always tell who is the chief or who are the chief rockers in a society b/c they stand out, often w/ some garrish display on their person. LOOK AT ME, LOOK AT ME, LOOK AT ME, ok I see u, now what? The whole tattoo thing to me is just another layer of the thug dress code and many of the cats that are deemed to be hoodlums in the NBA are the biggest violators of wearing too much ink.
And now back to our scheduled programming....................
Is the problem that this poison exists, no b/c mankind has had to deal w/ satan, his evil and his minions since mankind started, the problem is that there is nothing b/w the ears of these victims to neutralize the poison that is being pumped into their souls via their ears, eyes and brains. If you are surrounded by ignorance one hundred percent of your life how can anyone expect you to be anything but ignorant? If grown folk always said filth, flarn and flim around you, if you could reel off a successful mo-fo by the time u were 3 years old, if you could successfully cuss out your kindergarten teacher, why should I expect you to KNOW that it is not cool for you to do a cuss show around my wife, daughter, mama, grandma? How could you know? Ignorant is as ignorant does.
Oliver Wendell Holmes, Supreme Court Justice once said, "The right to swing my fist ends where the other man's nose begins." This should be taught to every American. Instead of focusing on what you have the right to do this quote really tells you what you cannot do, liiiiiiiiikkkkkkkkkkkkkeeeeeeeeeeee
CUSS LIKE A SAILOR IN PUBLIC around women, old folk and children!
Talk loud or be on your cell phone in a movie theatre.
Touch a woman you don't know in a club.
Cat call at a woman anywhere and call her a b*tch if she doesn't respond to your stupidity.
Blame "the man" for keeping you down when u do all u can in that vein yourself!
Dress garrishly, go to an interview and get mad b/c u don't get hired even though you don't dress the part.
Play loud music w/ vulgar language and subject matter blaring out for ALL of us to hear, I don't want my kid hearing kiss this and lick that and suck my big black stuff and suck it and suck it and suck it thank u very much!
I don't want to see your underwear, man or woman (even if its a thong!)
In short ANYTHING that you do publicy that causes the discomfort of others is a violation of said person's rights, plain and simple.
Ladies and gentlemen introducing Mr. and Mrs. Loud and Wrong. You know this black person well b/c they are your friends, co-workers and prolly in your family! This is the black person that screams racism AT ANY and EVERY situation. Classism is a much larger problem in our society and is oft mistaken for racism. The current debate in Raleigh schools becoming community schools is a class issue, it just so happens that the majority of the people that support these schools live in neigbhorhoods that are predominately white. A mere circumstance, now if they don't want their kids going to school w/ people that are poorer than they are, hey what color does that reflect? GREEN! It's all about the benjamins baby!
Racism
Date: 1933
1 : a belief that race is the primary determinant of human traits and capacities and that racial differences produce an inherent superiority of a particular race
2 : racial prejudice or discrimination
Racism is a system, I repeat it is a system that is controlled by people well above your pay grade and hell even your white friends' pay grades. Unless said white friend comes from old old money and has access to levels of power that you could not even imagine. Racism are things like the black codes, and Jim Crow laws, apartheid, colonialism, all systems of oppression based on the ideology of racial superiority and imposing racial inferiority on its victims.
So the question remains, was what happended to you racist? Be careful how u answer this b/c that word has had ALL of its power taken away in the last decade. Hell its like black crying wolf when we use that word b/c too many black folk bandied it about when they shouldn't have and now for many white folks it seems that racism is dead. Let me offer a new word, ask yourself was it prejudiced?
Prejudice
Date: 13th century
1 : injury or damage resulting from some judgment or action of another in disregard of one's rights; especially : detriment to one's legal rights or claims
2 a (1) : preconceived judgment or opinion (2) : an adverse opinion or leaning formed without just grounds or before sufficient knowledge b : an instance of such judgment or opinion c : an irrational attitude of hostility directed against an individual, a group, a race, or their supposed characteristics
Ahhh there we have it. So many of the behaviors humans exhibit towards each other are a prejudice, yes even some of the things that black folk experience from whites and what we do to anybody NOT black, and sometimes even our own.
So I said all that to say this, the next time you hear someone scream racism analyze their claim and see whether or not that is really the case b/c once u use the R word u prolly gonna lose all the white people in the room b/c if they do not consider themselves racist they will not be able to identify w/ your claim. Hell even if they do consider themselves to be racist you won't get any sympathy. Now if you can explain your claim in terms of class or prejudice, that's something that is universal and we can all understand. Words are powerful so we must choose the ones we use carefully b/c connotation and denotation can be a real B sometimes! Ya feel me?
One Man's Opinion,
The Mad Afrikan
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