|
|
Post by No Screen Name on Sept 16, 2009 19:31:32 GMT -5
I guess this is sort of a rant/vent. I don't know what it is...this has been on my mind for a while. I think all of the stuff that was under the surface that has bubbled up with the presidency of Barack Obama has gotten me down. Also, I was talking with a friend about how we don't own anything--NOTHING! Not even the stuff we use. As much money as Black women spend on hair care products, KOREANS own the stores AND the distribution. We are always at the bottom for everything good (literacy, making money, etc.) and at the top for everything BAD (disease, domestic violence, cancer, murder, death, etc.). To make it worse, somehow I ended up on a white supremacist website--except this one was different. ALL other races were welcome. Asians, Indians, Whites, Hispanics--EVERY race except Blacks. There thing is "We only hate n!ggers, everyone else is cool". There were even folks saying stuff like, "I am Indian and I just moved here, and I realized that I hate n!ggers, I've been mugged twice by them since I've been here". And a lot of Blacks from other countries don't like us--Africans, Caribbeans, etc. And if we're REALLY honest, Black Americans don't really like each other all that much either--we tend to talk down about ourselves (statements like, "You know when a bunch of Black folks get involved, it's going to be a mess", "You know how our people do", etc.) It's just got me down. What is it about us? What is holding us back from achieving? Why haven't we been able to achieve and thrive? Why aren't our children doing better in school? Why are our neighborhoods so blighted? Are we really as BAD and lazy and depraved as everybody makes us out to be? Why does everybody hate us?  |
|
|
|
Post by 123Diva on Sept 16, 2009 19:45:34 GMT -5
damn.
Heavy is not even the word for this thread.
|
|
|
|
Post by T-Rex91 on Sept 16, 2009 20:20:11 GMT -5
Don't let it get you down Z. There's a lot of good out there too. Certain populations of us are THAT bad, unfortunately they get more shine than those who are doing what they are supposed to do.
|
|
|
|
Post by Oldskool on Sept 16, 2009 21:10:51 GMT -5
Don't let it get you down Z. There's a lot of good out there too. Certain populations of us are THAT bad, unfortunately they get more shine than those who are doing what they are supposed to do. Well said '91. It's like the bad kid who gets all the attention in a class. He draws the focus of the teacher by being loud, disobedient, obnoxious, lazy, disrespectful, etc. The other students who are diligently doing their work get little or no attention. It's a shame, Seems a&& backwards. |
|
|
|
Post by Coldfront06 on Sept 16, 2009 21:43:13 GMT -5
I'm certainly not one to point to slavery as an excuse for all of the ills of Black people, but its significance and impact on us as a people today can't be underestimated either. We're less than 150 years removed from slavery, and the overall oppression didn't stop when all Blacks were physically emancipated. It was illegal for my dad to use the public library in this city when he was a child. For generations and generations, most of our people were not allowed to learn and seek opportunities to better themselves. No other race has been held back in this country the way that we were (and in many ways, still are). I think its amazing that some of our people have achieved the things that we have, considering the history. We have been placed in a situation where we have to work as hard to improve as our oppressors worked against us. Its going to take legislation and an increased sense of community responsibility to change things.
|
|
|
|
Post by Sapphire on Sept 16, 2009 22:13:55 GMT -5
Great thread Z! I'll respond when I have more time.
|
|
|
|
Post by LogAKAlly <3'n Keef on Sept 17, 2009 6:00:41 GMT -5
I'm certainly not one to point to slavery as an excuse for all of the ills of Black people, but its significance and impact on us as a people today can't be underestimated either. We're less than 150 years removed from slavery, and the overall oppression didn't stop when all Blacks were physically emancipated. It was illegal for my dad to use the public library in this city when he was a child. For generations and generations, most of our people were not allowed to learn and seek opportunities to better themselves. No other race has been held back in this country the way that we were (and in many ways, still are). I think its amazing that some of our people have achieved the things that we have, considering the history. We have been placed in a situation where we have to work as hard to improve as our oppressors worked against us. Its going to take legislation and an increased sense of community responsibility to change things. STANDING O!!! and EX-FREAKIN-ZALT!!OMG, I could NOT have said it better myself! In fact, I'mma Exalt you every time I think about it! |
|
|
|
Post by Noble Work on Sept 17, 2009 10:16:37 GMT -5
Good Word Cold
We were beaten, robbed, raped,stripped, strapped,dragged,drowned,chained,whipped, hanged.....and all this happened before the eyes of our infants and children. That left them emotional,emotionless,fearful,panicked,disillusioned,broken,scared,mad,split,
disenfranchised,confused,misused and abused.
Yes our people took a hit but you know what......WE STILL PROSPERED!!!! Yes some of us journeyed to unforeseen places emotionally and spiritually. Some of our men and brothers lost their way tirelessly swimming through forces of hate and FEAR. But wait!! Give us a minute to collect ourselves and you'll soon see that they couldn't beat what a MIGHTY people we are out of us. We were harbored in ships. But there was something else that was also harbored and it is called a GIFT. AND it was harbored in our Blood. See we have a gift of strength and survival. And that scares the shit out of them. That's why we are TOLD THAT WE ARE POLLED AND RANKED AT THE BOTTOM. But what we have to do is tell,teach,instill and pride our children with is every thing from the instruments that was used to the washing machine to clean their clothes from the stop light to avoid accidents and the Higher Learning Black institutes their children wants to attend black men and women thought, invented and opened. These are the type of things that was harbored within our blood.
We will get there one day. Many of us got this "I got mine, now go get yours" mentality. That has to stop!!! We are always talking about we need to teach our kids and all this. How WE gone teach our kids if WE say " I got mine now....."? Who gone teach them? This is where split and confused comes in. WE have to TEACH and TRUST one another, that's how we get there. But his is where mad and the feeling of fearful comes in. LOVE HAS to be the center of it all if so the togetherness as a people will reign supreme.
So I say lost for love through no fault of our own is a key problem.
|
|
|
|
Post by LogAKAlly <3'n Keef on Sept 17, 2009 10:24:33 GMT -5
^I may let you ride in the car with me.
|
|
|
|
Post by Highly Favored on Sept 17, 2009 10:56:19 GMT -5
I'm certainly not one to point to slavery as an excuse for all of the ills of Black people, but its significance and impact on us as a people today can't be underestimated either. We're less than 150 years removed from slavery, and the overall oppression didn't stop when all Blacks were physically emancipated. It was illegal for my dad to use the public library in this city when he was a child. For generations and generations, most of our people were not allowed to learn and seek opportunities to better themselves. No other race has been held back in this country the way that we were (and in many ways, still are). I think its amazing that some of our people have achieved the things that we have, considering the history. We have been placed in a situation where we have to work as hard to improve as our oppressors worked against us. Its going to take legislation and an increased sense of community responsibility to change things. This is interesting, Cold. Please elaborate on your last sentence, especially the part about legislation, if you don't mind. |
|
|
|
Post by DamieQue™ on Sept 17, 2009 10:58:32 GMT -5
Z
I bet, if we tried, we could paint a fairly unflattering picture of every race and every culture. As 91 said it - some of us ARE that bad. But you know what? Some of them are WORSE and in LARGER numbers in GREATER poverty.
I'm surprised you gave that website a moment of serious thought. You won't ever get those 3.8 seconds of your life back.
|
|
|
|
Post by Noble Work on Sept 17, 2009 11:40:03 GMT -5
^I may let you ride in the car with me. awwww thank you Logalicious   |
|
|
|
Post by Highly Favored on Sept 18, 2009 14:23:41 GMT -5
I am not going to even pretend I know how to begin to answer your question, because I really don't. This is deep and definitely some food for thought.
I think this statement summarizes it best for me:
"I bet, if we tried, we could paint a fairly unflattering picture of every race and every culture. As 91 said it - some of us ARE that bad. But you know what? Some of them are WORSE and in LARGER numbers in GREATER poverty." (Damie)
I agree. The best advice I have for "us" is to do your own thing to the best of your ability. Someone is always going to have an opinion. The older I get, the less I care about what other people think, particularly if their thoughts are rooted in some kind of hate they need to overcome. I'm too busy trying to live my life to let some old stereotype you want to have of me (because of what my skin looks like) stop me. To me, that's like giving people power over me that they don't deserve to have. And I honestly believe that the ills of our race and our "failure to achieve" have been emphasized so much that some of us have really begun to believe (as evidenced by our behavior), we are really as bad as "they" say and we don't deserve any better. And true, enough, the odds are stacked against us in many cases because of our skin color. But President Obama has demonstrated for us that, against all odds, we can achieve.
And, yes as a Black woman, I hate the fact that I have to do twice as much as my white (and, sometimes, male) counterparts have to do to get half as far, but I have accepted that as a way of life, as unfair as it is, for now. I hope that will eventually change.
And, yes, as far as our thinking goes, we are sometimes our own worst enemies.
|
|
