My Appeal to Black America . . .

The media constantly bombards us with negative stereotypes of us Black folks….meanwhile….there are many Black folks doing and saying things to advance our race everyday, yet you hardly hear about that at all. Hum? We live in a culture that is transfixed and mesmerized with material gain and celebrity bullshit. Instead of striving to be citizens who can change the climate of these turbulent times, we seek to be idols of worship. We’ve been ignored for so long; we’re satisfied with just being heard—regardless of the message. Hum?

 It has become popular for Blacks to glorify this much distorted idea mainstream America sells back to the Black community.

Pre-Civil Rights Black entertainment had a very different vibe back then. The idea of the loveable Coon is what was celebrated. Black men were consigned to buffoonery and women were reduced to mammies if they were to be successful in the industry. Post-Blaxploitation led to a different type of Negro…the gangsta or the Black bitch!! This type of menacing depiction of us Black folk was not tolerated before integration. We Black men were often emasculated because the imagery of a strong Black man was way too threatening for the mainstream. Even our Black children had to subscribe to this bullshit.

The first two kids to play “Buckwheat” in Our Gang (The Little Rascals) were cast as female pickaninnies (Carlena Beard and Willie Mae Taylor). Even though the most popular Buckwheat (Willie “Billie” Thomas) was a boy, they initially still made him dress as a girl. Hum? At one time pop culture would only accept us Blacks happily finding thrills on Blueberry Hill; now Universal is releasing CD’s with that monkey Lil Wayne talking about beating pussy like Emmett Till.  Emmett Till is the 14-year-old child who was beaten to death in 1955 by a couple of rednecks for allegedly whistling at a white woman. How soon we forget our plight that now it’s commercially and socially acceptable for us to tarnish our legacy for a few pieces of fuckin silver. The gangsta or the Black bitch is allowed to channel their rage….at will…as a spectacle for the entire world to see. Damn!

Yesterday’s tommin is today’s blingin. We too busy ballin’ and poppin’ bottles to elevate mindsets.

The desire to be a star took the place of any moral responsibility this ugly asshole showed towards a violently murdered child and his remaining family. While I know there is good to be found in almost any circumstance, I’m afraid this won’t inspire any youth not knowledgeable about Emmett Till or why making his beating similar to having sex with a woman is offensive to do anything but repeat or try to top this bullshit.

While the non-minority (the new white) corporate structure is behind funding such garbage, at this point, Black America is primarily to blame. We Black Americans have far more opportunities now than we used to, but for the most part, use them for entirely the wrong reasons. When we do have our own TV shows, record labels and radio stations, we tend to only enable the violence and ignorance.

The shackles of slavery have long come off, but we have yet to shake the vestiges of servitude.

Today, select members of the Black American community have enough money, power, influence and intelligence to really change the pattern, but most are too caught up in the system and their own personal fame to reflect on where they came from. This is what post-racial America looks like. Not only is it OK to pretend not to be Black in a country which never lets you forget, but you can actually desensitize yourself to the point that you no longer have a historical conscience. Hum?

The river of blood that washes the streets of our nation flows mostly from the bodies of our Black children. 

Black America doesn’t want its own houses. We want to be up in massa’s house. We only see ourselves through the lens of colonialism. We collectively have yet to figure out who we are outside of white supremacy. Black America only feels valid or successful if massa pats us on the head and tells us we done good. We measure our success by the same system that was designed to oppress and divide us.

Black America has been kept away from a piece of the pie for so long that all it takes is a corner of the crust to catapult us into a state of oppressive amnesia.

So, now that we have a lot more free time on our hands in an era where we stay attached to electronic devices that allow us to fetishize our fame on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram, please take a few moments to think about what it is to be a Black American!!