Thursday, December 18, 2008

University of Black America


Have yall heard about the Georgia senator trying to get two black colleges to merge with two white schools close to them? Well if not check it out http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/28262287/ . But this got me thinking about the role that black universities and colleges play in the U.S. and in the black America. I'm a true believer that if it were not for these institutions of higher learning that even more blacks wouldn't attend school or complete it. We all know education is important and it is lacking in our community but I also question if these schools are doing all they can. First off a lot of these schools curriculum's are actually behind there white counter parts...mostly because the public school systems blacks grow up in is in shambles and not teaching anything, thus forcing black colleges to focus on the "ABC'S" of there college courses. The classes are sometimes slower, easier, and less demanding that at white schools. I also think that sometimes black students get pushed through a little bit because the administrations at these schools knows the scarcity of college degrees in our community. But does this help or hurt? Yes it's great to have the paper that says your graduated but then what happens when you get that job and have no idea what your boss is talking to you about? It is kind of like the "no child left behind" program in D.C. I know white America makes it harder for us to achieve success but is making it a little easier the right message to send to our youth? You be the judge on that. I also think that since we do not learn how to interact with one another while growing up that should be a point of interest to the schools. Teach these young men and women how to speak, listen, and respect one another. By making it easier and not working on those kinds of issues we play right into the "MANS" hands. Now by all means I'm not saying if you went to a black school you had an easy ride. I'm just bring attention to thing we should discuss. We all went to school with that kid who never came to class but some how got a grade better that yours. I went to Shaw University (brief stint), I had friends at Hampton, Norfolk, Morgan, and Howard. That being said a black campus is also not a great representation of the real world. There are only a handful of places where you will see that many blacks for extended periods of time. Very few places in the country offer all black work environments. The more money you make the fewer people like us you see. Sad but true. My women went to Towson. As much as I hated them drunk as white boys..."dude lets get a keg"...A school like that represents a better picture of the America we live in. So when I talk to my siblings about going off to college I always tell them that it was a great experience at Shaw and made a few life long Friends (Shot out to Dave, Nana, and Jeremy...fuck it and Chico, Chub, Cali, Turk, Lavar, and Bone Nose Kev lol) don't just go there because it's white or black, go because it gives you a chance to grow and succeed.

Wednesday, December 17, 2008


Black people, brown people...my people. I love all yall. We all the same but i don't think that everyone feels that way. There are different stereotypes associated with the different shades in which we come. For example if your a light skinned sista you may be perceived as stuck up or you think you cute...maybe even an air head just like blond haired white women. If you a light skinned brotha you are judged as a pretty boy or a playboy. If your a brown sista you may be looked at as more intelligent than your red bone counter parts but only because you have to compensate in some way for being more...chocolate. But of all the stereotypes I hear the brown brotha gets the most props. He is perceived as a protector, hard worker...more well rounded. Now any smart person will tell you the shade or color does not make the person so any of those aforementioned stereotypes could apply to us all. Now up until i was 23 all of my girlfriends had been of the red variety. It's not that I didn't find my brown sistas attractive but it just seemed to me that light skinned girls were more attracted to me and the brown ones didn't like what I was about(probably do to the stigmas i mentioned). Then I had my first brown girl at 23 and at 27 I'm in a serious relationship with a fine brown honey dip(not the one I dated at 23). But to get back on track, why do these perceptions exist? With every myth, joke, or wives tale some truth is found. I think all of this started with slavery. You had the lighter slaves working in the big house and the darker ones in the fields. The house slaves thought they were better because there work was easier and they may have had better clothes or even ate better. The field hands resented them and may have even looked at them as the weaker of the race. And with the slave masters sneaking down to the slaves quarters to get a little black love, more and more babies were being born with fair complexions. Because these were kids of the master they might have even been treated better. That is were the division started. Nowadays you have fraternities and sororities that do what is called the "brown paper bag test" to judge if you are light enough. Employers seem to hire those who are lighter. Black people get all up in arms when whites discriminate on us but we do it to each other all the time. And you know what? That's what the "MAN" wants us to do because divided we will fall. I don't think that one shade is better. I mean I'm light skinned (or so they say) and I don't like the stigma associated with me. I'm goal oriented, a provider, and most importantly I'm strong. All of us have flaws and strengths that you can't always see but one thing you will always see is that we are all BLACK. Once that sits in, we can stand up against anything. And that's the reality of the situation.

Monday, December 15, 2008

IT AINT HIP HOPS FAULT


I grew up listening to every thing from death Row to MC Hammer...(and don't laugh cause I wasn't the only one). I knew (and still do) every word to the Chronic and Doggy style. Rocked Ready to die until my tape popped. Everyday Ice Cube told me it was a good day. Now with all that said I didn't go down the wrong path. I didn't want to shoot anyone. I didn't want to sell crack. I didn't want to pimp hoes. But there was those who did, and instead of looking at the state of which these individuals grew up in, most adults immediately said it was because of the music. Really?...is that true? Nope, it isn't. The music is a reflection of the environment these rappers come from. Martin and Malcolm were products of there environments...in short without the mistreatment of blacks you wouldn't even know who those two great men were. It's not the music that makes kids want to kill/deal/or use its there surroundings. In the movie American Gangster, TI plays the nephew of Frank Lucas. TI's character is a great athlete and may be able to play pro baseball or go to college and play. Movies, music, or the media doesn't influence him to give up that dream...it is his uncles (Frank Lucus) success as a drug kingpin that does. He sees that and wants it. Same with reality. Kid sees what his daddy is doing or maybe his uncle or a friend and as wrong as it may be they emulate it. These kids know these rappers are actors. These rappers (at least the successful ones) are not back in the hood chillen on the stoop. Hell no. They have sense cause they wanted out and go out. If anything the rappers are mimicking what they saw growing up and like Denzel in American Gangster, they are acting. Jay Z isn't chillen around the Marcy Projects anymore...unless he has security. But allow me to get back on track cause I got off a little bit. Why is it the the hip hop community gets blamed when black kids act up? You don't hear the white community blaming Arnold Schwarzenegger when lil Johnny goes terminator and kills 10 people. Man look, if we clean up our communities then our means of expression would change. So if you don't like how rappers act or what they say look at who there role models were. Hip Hop is a young music genre. Only around 30 years old. Most of these rappers come from fatherless homes, raised by mom or grand mom, drunk uncles and prostituted aunts. Peanut butter and jelly and sugar water dinners. Music is a reflection of the world. The problem is black people have a hard time admitting that hip hop is a mirror image of our community...not vice versa. Rappers flaunt there riches because through out history that's what African kings and queens have done as well as African Americans. We are a stylish group who will wear our Sundays best everyday. Rappers treat women as objects that can just as easily be disregarded because that's what are fathers did...mess with one, skeet skeet, and mess with another. They are loud and in your face just like your drunk uncle. The girls (both rappers and dancers), seek attention from men because they lacked fathers. They show off there goodies because you can attract more bees with honey than vinegar...even if those bees are killer. Surround your kids with love and discipline and stop blaming everyone or everything when they do wrong. Even though I have my flaws I am blessed because I was raised with a strong foundation of self worth so even if I'm rockin to "it ain't no fun if the home's can't have none", I know that the homies ain't gettin none of mine...and that's the reality of the situation.

Thursday, December 11, 2008

Undercover brothas...sad but true


Damn where do I start? We have all heard about these dudes. The brothas who date women, have girlfriends, and even wives but yet they have a disturbing secrete. The dudes who act the hardest, walk around with there chest all poked by day out only to have there ass poked out by night...disgusting. My thing is if you gay than you gay. I have no problem with that, just don't come round these parts cause I don't play...it ain't that kind of house party. But for real why all the faking bruh??? I mean why the cover up? Wait wait wait I know, you see in the white community it's acceptable to be gay but in the black community that's more taboo than...well everything. A black man is not supposed to be a sissy. So you know you can't go to the basketball courts if you come out. You can't face your family. Hell, you can't even go to the same barbershop (shot out to Supreme Cuts)...you got to go to the salon. And you don't want to lose all of that. I mean it's hard enough being black in America without having the gay tag associated with you. But if you don't want people to know that's cool. That your business but then why drag our sistas through that buuulllllshit? You out there creeping with Tommy "n" nem bringing home god knows what to your women...sad. Plus for you dudes who are married with kids you should be taken out to the shed and whipped Kunta Kinte style. You know better. Not only are you bringing home disease to your wife, once your family finds out you more open than all outdoors what does that do to your kids...messes them all up. And for real, I don't care if you have slept with 1,000 women, if you mess with one dude you gay. Stop frontin. Bottom line...you are who you are so leave all the faking to the rappers and actors.

Wednesday, December 10, 2008

When all else fails...blame a black man


So this topic comes up alot around me. You know, "black men ain't shit", "black men are dogs", "I'm going to date a white man"...WHAT. Us black guys sure have our flaw but we get a bad wrap and black women don't take responsibility for there short comings. Allow me to elaborate. I have had many black women tell me that if black men would get themselves together than our race would get on track. OK as a young man who's dad got low (left my mom) when I was born and who I did not even meet until I was 17 and just last year started to have some kind of relationship with, I know that alot of black men don't raise there babies. They you you pregnant and then they get shorty from around the corner pregnant. No dout that may be the single greatest thing a black man can do to hurt his family and his community. I've said it once and I will say it again, as great a job as black women do in raising black boys than fall short when trying to raise him into a black man. Only a man can raise a boy into manhood and only a woman can raise a girl into womanhood. My question is if we know that black dudes don't always raise there kids and leave everything on the mother and in most cases her mother, than why do so many black women keep spreading there legs with out being on birth control or using some kind of contraceptive? Why do you keep believing a dude really loves you after 2 dates and 5 drinks? Then you get pregnant and hate not the black man that screwed you over(no pun) but every other black dude. There is no excuse for a black man not taking care of his child but you should take a good look at the person in the mirror because you are just as much to blame for a fatherless child as a man is. I mean it is very simple, who do dogs sleep with? Bitches....and no I'm not calling you a name that is what you call a female dog. And if you think a white man will treat you better guess again. The only difference between a white and black man is credit...as in his credit score. Do you think he really wants to take you home to his mother and father in bum fuck Idaho? Do you think he wants you sipping tea with his friends wife Susan? HELL NO. It's a fantasy that white men have had since they first laid eyes on the big breasted, bubble but, curvy African women 500 years ago, sneaking down to the slave quarters to get some of that black love. Bottom line is a white man can be just as bad as those BROTHERS you are trying to get away from. I mean just pick better men to date. I love the woman I have now but when I was dating I treated the search for quality black women like I was in need of a person to run my fortune 500 company. You want someone there who can do the job, you can trust, and when shit gets funky, there not running out the backdoor. So if I were letting you into my life I'm doing a serious background check...what Martin say to the jeweler when buying a ring for Gina"lady i need your social security #). I don't play because this person could be in my life in a good way or a bad way for a long time. I guess what I'm getting at is both black men and women have flaws and alot to do with the problems facing our households. Only through helping one another can we improve upon these flaws and develop better friendships and relationships.

Tuesday, December 9, 2008

Black Athletes




Doesn't it seem like everytime a black athlete does something wrong its worse than anything int he world? Pacman Jones throws $80 grand at strippers, Mike Vick fights dogs, Plaxico Burress shots himeself...need i go on? There are so many cases my head is spinning. The media paints these blackmen as unfit citizens who should be stripped of there celebrity and sent back to the hoods they have come from. Meanwhile white athletes commits crimes or make stupid mistakes and it gets overlooked such as Matt Jones getting caught with cocain before the NFL season starts and he is just now being suspended and the media hasn't given that story near the time its gives lesser offenses by "blackletes". White america likes to build these blackmen up but LOVES to see them fall. And for you blackfolks out there who say "well they need to make better choices", please tell me if you were 23 years old with $10 million in your account how would you act? Would you not go out at night? Would you disown all of your friends? Would you not make any mistakes? I will tell you what, when I was 23 i could have just $10 in my account and I could make a mistake. Law enforcement and the judicial system say that they want these stars to be treated like regular people but if you or I were fighting dogs would we have to give back $20 million to our employer? Would our faces be plastered all over the tube? Nope. Whatever happened to being inocent until proven guilty? These things should outrage blacks becuase its just another sign of the double standard that exist and the racsim thats still very much alive in the US. The sad part is most black people are content with the scraps that have been given to them when they are entitled to so much more considering it was OUR ancestors who built this place.

Monday, December 8, 2008

MR. OBAMA


Congrats to Mr. Obama for a job well done in making history as the first BLACK President. Now that I have that out of the way its time to get down to business. Black people...now that Barack is commander and chief that doesn't mean we don't have a long way to go in America. Racism is still very much alive and we are still very much at the bottom of the food chain. Obama can not eliminate crime in our community by himself. He can't stop black teen pregnancy by himself. He can't stop these or the hundreds of other problems hurting our progression without help from us all. So what you went out and voted for him...big deal that's what you should have done. Now make sure he has your support through out his whole first term so that he may be re-elected into a second one. I know some of yall think since a black man is in office you can do whatever you want... "WRONG" (in my Charlie Murphy voice). You can't go acting up and he can't just do things that benefit the black community. We didn't just put him in office and he has to play the game to win. He must help everyone. He is a great symbol for this generation because we didn't march next to Martin or fight back with Malcolm. Barack is proof that no mountain is to high and no valley is to low. He is proof that we can be more than rappers and athletes. More than drug dealers and users. More than deadbeat dads and baby mamas. More than just statistics and more than just the status quo. He has set the bar and now YOU must raise it.
 

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