This Is How I'm Feeling Right Now...A Vent
I wrote this letter to a friend of mine this morning out of angst with all that's been going on. I've kept quiet lately, and I guess I just had to get it out. I figure people may not agree with what I've said, but these are my thoughts as of right now.
Lately…with the Imus thing, and the Duke players, and all of this talk about race and the Black community…I’m just fed up. I’m so tired of people passing the buck and looking back and talking about marches and Dr. King, and romanticizing the civil rights movement. I’m just not impressed, I’m just not moved, and I think the Black community has gotten used to pumping out a lot of hot air and it’s starting to piss me off. With Imus, aight yes he was wrong and what Snoop said was just plain dumb. Now that Imus is gone, I really honestly don’t think that the Black community will do a blessed thing. The greater population of us is too into the hood life and all things associated with it and I don’t think that we as a people are up for holding ourselves accountable, which is plain sad.
And I’m tired of Al Sharpton and Jesse Jackson. Lord bless them for the roles they’ve played in the civil rights movement, but those days are gone and they just strike me as sensationalists who are ready and willing to throw up the race card and make Black folks seem like victims. Yes, we as a people have undergone some heinous treatment in the country and the effects of some of the racial, social, and economic discrimination established during slavery is still being felt today, HOWEVER, we are NOT victims! Sharpton just makes my head hurt because the man just does not move the people towards positivity and growth with the same fervor that he uses to move us to anger the moment some white person does something stupid. I’m just tired of him and Jesse too, for that matter…just a lot of loud talk when the cameras are on, but that’s just my opinion.
What is wrong with us? It’s just frustrating and I’m starting to see what you’re talking about in terms of action or the lack thereof. I once wrote in one of my poems about how Blacks have given way to complacency so there’s no desire to change, but what I’m seeing or have been hearing lately is that the more educated of us just want to talk and intellectualize things versus acting upon them. I read the article you sent, and yea…I think that the ‘talented tenth’ is part bull and part useful. I don’t care how many make it ‘out’ the point is to go BACK and help get others out. Yes, uplifting our community is a daunting task and it cant be done in one large swoop, it’s a continuation of service and showing love, compassion and understanding. It’s a changing of attitudes towards one another and gathering a better (and more informed) understating of who we are as a culture, where we came from, and why things have come to be. We can do it, but like anything, it is going to be a struggle. The ‘successful’…no, some of them (because you can’t ignore those out there who have ‘made it’ and do go back) have just gone for self from the beginning with no intentions of giving back. And you know what? Lord have mercy on them when the time comes, because to not help your people is severe ignorance and cold-heartedness on their part.
I feel like I’m at my wit’s end. I’ve been very quite lately, for months it seems I’ve just been taking things in and just observing what’s going on. With the Imus situation popped up and Black folks all of a sudden got passionate and where basically calling for his blood it seemed, I just remained a lil indifferent. They didn’t let him go because they were listening to Us, they let him go cause the advertisers took away that $$, and that’s real. Now if we’d just take that same anger and turn it towards ourselves and the artists who perpetuate hate and derogatory attitudes towards our own, then MAYBE we could get somewhere. But, call me cynical, but I just don’t see us doing that collectively as a people.
I’m just tired. I want more. I want better. I want us to stop b*tchin and start a revolution. Who am I kidding tho? We aren’t ready for a revolution. We don’t even want one. We just want to continually make the White man walk on eggs about race while the rich Blacks get richer and ease on out of the community and those who have any semblance of intelligence just settle for discussion groups and hold forums and conventions, talking themselves into circles. It just really makes me feel sick to my stomach. I haven’t put all this out there, I’ve kinda kept it inside, but I guess the reason why I’m venting to you is because I felt like you were the only one who gets it. Cause I’ve seen what you’ve gone through with Uppity Negro (www.uppitynegro.com) and with trying to get us to mobilize and move, and now I understand how even we who love Black folks so much can get so discouraged and pessimistic about the state of affairs.
Ha, and we’re lookin at Obama like he can save us? lol, Lord have mercy on us, we are just so freakin lost and blinded by our own ignorance and complacency.
1 comment:
Hey Storme, this is Elliot. I'm not black [of course], but I feel what you are saying here. I think you hit the nail when you talked about the TV networks pulling Imus off the air because of the loss of $$ from their advertisers. It is sad that in America society is ultimately all about the dollar.
I also agree with your comments about how we, as consumers, need to use our purchasing power to stop patronizing artists who use their God-given talents (or lack thereof) to spread messages of hate, intolerance, shirking of personal responsibility, and revenge. A lot of this, as you must know, occurs in current rap and hip-hop music. I will not blame the genres themselves; rap and hip-hop of course are not inherently offensive. Unfortunately, we as a society indulge in artists who shamelessly glorify drugs, laziness, misogyny, male dominance, homophobia, unbridled wealth, corruption, revenge, lying, despising responsibility, and even racism. It is downright despicable, and as a culture we should hang our heads in shame.
Some may right away blame African Americans, but I refuse. While it is true that blacks buy a lot of this type of music, white people--many of whom have no idea about where some of these artists came from and just live sheltered suburban lives--were all too eager to jump on the bandwagon to express their 'gangstah-ness.' What rubbish! Such ignorance is an insult to blacks.
Basically, we need a spiritual revival in our culture. And that all begins with personal transformation. I think us Americans are not willing to reflect on our lives enough to discover areas in ourselves that need change. We just want to ascribe blame and then look smugly at ourselves. As if we, who make up our very society, are innocent and not responsible for our culture's growing ills.
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