Cultural Suicide

Black people, we are killing ourselves.

Not the “man”, not “them”, US, one another, OURSELVES.

And I am not talking about the astronomical black on black crime rate, or our poor state of health. Culturally, economically, and social WE are the ones pulling the trigger of the gun that we have pointed at our own head.

How are we doing this? First of all, we devalue anything that is considered “black” by calling anyone who is doing the opposite “white”, “oreo”, “sell-out”, “Uncle Tom” (which is the wrong term by the way as it was Adolph who was the suck up to the master). You know how to speak somewhat proper English? You’re talking “white”. Don’t want to live in the hood? You want to live “white”. Go on a diet, exercise, and eat healthy? “That’s what white people do.” Have mental issues and seek help from a psychologist or self-harm? “That’s what white people do.” So, by this argument, being “black” is living with mental instability, having poor health, living in a bad neighborhood, and speaking in a vernacular similar to a feral human who has never had any contact the outside world.

Black has always been linked with negativity. In the early days of the Roman Catholic Church, they refused to play the black keys on the piano, the passage in the bible which states something along the lines of “light shall not interact with darkness” was used as a justification of slavery and no tolerance of interracial dating. Former emperors and rulers who were known as “The Black” were called such because of their ruthless and heartless nature. This video from the film “Malcolm X” where he reads the definition further shows the negativity of anything “black.” This is “their” view of us, but why do we do continue to do this to ourselves?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kE84dHl5Nr0

Now, I’m not ignorant to the Willie Lynch syndrome that we have been suffering from. But something is wrong when we spend 3-5k fixing up a car while still living in the projects our or momma house, which more than likely is a Housing Authority owned unit. But nope, we just “hood rich”, we really broke and have no finical support but “hey, everyone in the hood see we got money so we good!”

Miley Cyrus at the VMA’s last week, at the time of writing, shook her ass all over Robin Thicke doing the dance known as ‘twerking.’ The “white media” put her down in every way imaginable, calling her “out of hand” calling the dance “out of line.” Know, as someone who doesn’t have cable, I have no clue if it has been brought up yet, but I’m pretty sure someone, somewhere, has brought up that this is a “black” dance. Everything the “white” media has said about Miley Cyrus doing a dance that I have had the pleasure of being on the receiving end of MANY of times in my clubbing days, further shows how anything “black” is negative. But its not going to stop us from posting videos on Facebook and YouTube of our women and girls doing the same dance, in a more vulgar fashion.

A white girl told me one time that I didn’t “act black.” When I asked her to elaborate, she said it was because “You have manners, you’re not rude or loud and you know how to talk.” In middle school, I hate a white classmate tell me “You’re a black person, but those other kids (the “ghetto kids”, the one’s who always got in fights, picked on everybody, had the nicest name-brand clothes, barely passed their test”) are niggers.” (Don’t think he actually said “niggers” but its all the same.) This is what “they” think of us. But we continue to perpetuate these exact stereotypes on a daily basis. In high school, when I transferred from a predominately white school district to a predominately black school, a girl in my Spanish class said, after we got our interim report cards on which she had a grade of a 45, “I’m not doing anything in this class cause the teacher gave me a 45.” Really? Like you were doing anything before? But we get mad when they point out our low high school graduation rates. We get mad when they point out our low exit exam passing rates. But due to our culture, its awwright, because “you’re down, you didn’t do your homework and study like them white folks and bougie niggas!”

Black people. Do you see what we are doing to ourselves? This culture of adopting nothing but negativity is killing us as a people. For the past 200 years, in America atleast, we have been on the ledge, and every passing day we seem to move closer and closer to its edge. We haven’t jumped of completely, but we are slowly slipping farther and farther down. Its time we reject this negative culture and make “being black” “acting black” STAND FOR SOMETHING uplifting, not for everything that is wrong with society, but what we defend as “our culture.”

The State of the Black Race

THE STATE OF THE BLACK RACE

We have been in this country for over 400 years, dating back to when the first slave was brought to the colony of Jamestown in the 1600s, yet, 150 years after the signing of the emancipation proclamation we find ourselves in the same social status that we were in from our arrival; we are seen as less than, worthless, subhuman, degenerate, unworthy, stupid, uncontrollable, and helpless, just as our ancestors were. There was a time were we used to fight against this image that was perpetuated by America, but now, we find ourselves living up to the standard that was bestowed upon us; we have the highest high school drop rates, less of us finish college and are in the “white collar” work force, there are many of us on government assistance, we have the highest rate of abortion and teen pregnancy, there are more of us incarcerated or with a criminal record than there are walking the streets. We have given in to the white man's view of us, and the sad thing is, we don't care.

The state of the black race is in a sad place, we have let foreigners from central and South America & Asia overtake us when we have been and contributed more to this country than they have. It is time we wake up and FINALLY progress forward as our great leaders wanted us too. Medgar Evans was assassinated for standing up to his belief that we should all have equal education; yet we are the lowest in graduation rates from college and high school. Sarah Barrtman was considered a “freak show exhibit”, but yet our women continue to objectify themselves and risk their lives with butt injections and plastic surgery for the attention and gratification that comes along with it. Our men, have been emasculated, placed at the lowest end of society, seen as nothing more than misogynistic, dumb, violent hooligans, who don't deserve the respect that comes with being a MAN first, and a BLACK second. 

In the black community, we laugh off our problems and chalk it up to “oh, thats just how niggas is hahaha” but when a person outside our race tells us about ourselves, we get angry and THEN decide to do something to make a change. This mindset that we can't do for ourselves has to change, with other races and ourselves. The state that we Americans of African descent find ourselves in, is a state that has to change - such as when a liquid becomes a solid - we need to come together to form one solid whole. Its like when you are on a sports team, the coach isn’t going to put you on the field or court until you as an individual can show that you can contribute to the team to make it better. We have to put in the extra hours after practice, in the weight room, the film room and evaluate ourselves so that we can build ourselves up to find our rightful place in society and not only progress ourselves or people forward, but society as a whole. 

In our present state, we are nothing more than a gas; like nitrogen or carbon dioxide, we know its there but we can see it, but its been there for as long as we can remember. We are the coal, deep within the earth's crust, that over time, with enough pressure, can become the shining crystal of a diamond. This is the pressure that is upon us; 150 years after “we got free”, we are still trapped in the slave mind state, that there is nothing to look forward to in life than staying on the plantation, whether that plantation is a physical or mental manifestation. 

We have to believe that there is more for us, that we can officially grasp the freedom that our ancestors DIED for. That we can be looked upon in our society as an EQUAL, not an exception because of the color of our skin, the style of our hair, the culture we come from, or our mannerisms. We need to find our cultural identity and not be ashamed because of it, because its not what “they” seem as “normal”. We need to not be the butt of jokes because of how we are as a people, we should be proud of who we are, and not let “them” tell us otherwise. We need to better ourselves, not just to be accepted into a world that has always excluded us, but for our own benefit; our children are nothing more than genetic copies of us. If, as a father, our children see us as nothing more than absentee, our sons are going to grow up thinking that’s how they should be, and our daughters shouldn’t depend on a man who isn't going to be there. This leads the vicious cycle that is present in our communities today. We need to learn to trust one another again, to help one another instead of beating each other down again, to work together to become a whole instead of the sum of parts.

The black race in the United States can overcome. The question isn't can we, but WHEN will we? We are approaching another half-decade. The time to overcome is NOW!