BLACK APATHY

I've been wanting to write about this for the longest, but I've avoided it because I didn't want to air "dirty laundry," in front of potential readers who might not be part of the group that I'm addressing. (As if I have a huge readership); but, screw it! Here goes:

How long are we going to go on, as black people, African-Americans, doing nothing, saying nothing while we, as a people, self-destruct? I can't stand it! Did our ancestors really go through centuries of torture and oppresion so that we could have the freedom to physically, spiritually, mentally and psychologically kill each other off? Ever wonder why you don't hear much of anything about the Ku Klux Klan anymore? Who needs 'em! Why should they risk derision and jail when they can sit back and watch us do the job much more effectively than they ever did?

I know - there are reasons that we (collectively) are like we are now - the government has stacked all the cards against us: all black people aren't like that; every generation thinks that the generation after them are all screwed up, etc, etc! As they say, "Yeah. Whatever." I'm tired of excuses and rationalizations! Believe me, I've tried them all.

I live in "the hood" for the first time in my life, and I never cease to be amazed at the behavior and attitudes of too many people in my community. Mothers calling their children out of their names and threatening bodily harm to them like they're talking to some fool on the street! The kids cussing and demeaning each other in ways that I never imagined! And I mean "kids!" Small fry! Young children, barely old enough to talk calling each other all kinds of "bitches" and "mf's!" Out at all hours of the night! Trash strewn about everywhere! Young girls, bodies just developing, dressed like hoochie-mamas! The boys with their pants hanging off their ass! Urinating in public! Not behind the tree or bush! In public! Right on the sidewalk! Like that's cool! Blocking the streets with their cars! You dare not honk! You go to the grocery store and not only the customers, but the staff are cussing! Like that's acceptable now! To carry on like that in front of someone's small child! I've had to ask friends of mine, who I would think know better, not to use profanity in front of my kids! We tolerate too much! We have begun to accept the most immoral behavior! I'm just as guilty as the next man (or woman). I was in an auto franchise one day and they were playing obscenity-filled music over the speakers in their establishment! I told myself that I was going to call their headquarters and file a complaint, but I didn't. I thought that I didn't want to call the "white man," and get my "brothers" in trouble. Then I thought that they (the white man) won't do anything anyway. "Let those jiggaboos play their jungle music!"

Which brings me to the music. Let me say, first, that I was in my mid-twenties when rap first began to really catch on, back in the 80's. I was an avid listener until the mid 90's, and I listened to many artists that weren't exactly wholesome. Biggie, Ice Cube, Wu-Tang, etc; but I also listened to Public Enemy, KRS-1, De La Soul, etc. And you were just as likely to hear one of the latter as the former. Now? Seems like they only play the most ignorant, profane, self-hating, debasing, violent, materialistic crap that they can find on the radio! It's like dope though. Do black folks control the mechanisms that bring drugs into the country? No. Do black folks control the radio stations, the major record labels? No. We are playing right into "their" hands. I don't think that it is any coincidence that even our most "positive" rappers can't get through more than a few sentences without cussing. "Oh! They're just words," you say? How often are these "words" utilized to convey a positive sentiment? Has "bitch" become a "term of endearment" like "nigga" supposedly has? Probably. Unfortunately. Is it a coincidence that so many of our people, particularly our youth, act out the worst aspects of those terms? Why does being a "real nigga" basically mean being as ignorant as humanly possible? Why are sisters proudly saying, "Yeah. I'm a bitch!" meaning that they "use" their bodies for gain, that they are flippin-the script on these niggaz?

I think that we have lost our minds! I went to a festival a few weeks ago, that was alledgedly celebrating our emancipation from slavery. I passed a booth that was playing some hip-hop and it was completely unedited! I've got my four-year old daughter with me and they're blasting this mind poison! I'm so tired of it! I'm tired of biting my tongue! I saw how some people blasted Cosby for daring to say that we are "f***ing up!" Yeah! I said it! Call me a hypocrite! I never claimed to be a saint! But, I can tell you this...you won't see me in the grocery talking like that! Because I respect what my parents and so many others worked for - a vision of a day when black people could live with dignity, not act in a manner completely devoid of any!

note: there's so much more that I could say, and I'm basically writing this in a storm of frustration. I'm not taking the time to be deeply analytical. I just want to get it out! I'm not saying this to apologize for anything, I guess that I'm saying that this isn't an intellectual analysis; it's a diatribe, a rant, and I don't pretend that it is anything else!