"...I guess I've shedded some tears."
Recently, I'm really starting to regret A LOT of the decisions I made during my high school years. For a long time, I made peace with those decisions and often said "I regret NOTHING I've done in my life." That was a crock of horse shit. I made that statement to kinda sound rebellious, which i now realize was foolish. Of course I didn't regret them then; I hadnt reaped the sour fruits that were to grow from a lot of moves I made. Now, I've come to see that had i done just a few things differently, I'd be in a better position now (for myself, but mostly for my daughter.). I would probably still regret some of the stuff I did if my daughter wasn't here, but having her here... fully knowing now I could've been better prepared and definitely on my way to where I wanted to be in life, it kills me. I DEEPLY regret the decisions I made in high school, and especially the main decision I made after high school...
For the 4 years after I dropped out of high school, instead of planning ahead and building toward something for myself, I just rode along. I had a steady gig (I co owned a couple of retail stores), and I was makin' pretty good money for the first half. Then when the recession started in mid 2007....that was a crucial moment that I should've seized. When the recession first hit, us small businesses got hit first, and baby did we take a blow. It didnt kill me/us yet though, and it was at that point I should've started making a real PLAN B. I made it clear to my partner that I wans't trying to do the shit anymore; we had been reducing the size of our stores, and a separate project that she had going with my twin was startin to be a liability. She was cool with the fact that I was trying to go elsewhere, but when she asked what I wanted to do/what I was going to do, I couldnt even give her an answer. At least a real answer. I gave her some bullshit ass answer, and she quickly deflated it. I just knew that I wanted...needed to get out of retail for a second. I didn't care where I went. The problem now was deciding what I was going to do next.
Until the recession hit, I had planned on riding on the stores back for a while. I mean, my life was pretty straight. (Shit, I began 07 with my first apartment by myself, my own car, a lil money saved up, and a tax refund. Shit was looking sweet. Everyone I knew kept talking about how fucking awesome 2007 was about to be. I was getting ready to turn 21 too...muh fuckas couldn't tell me shit.) While we had slow spots in the two years and some change I was running shit (and more before I was running shit and just workin there) none of those events prepared me for a full scale recession. That shit wasn't even in my vocabulary. Didn't exist. By mid 2007, we all realized something was wrong. By summer time we knew shit was fucked up, and that's when I started to back out (and not because of the recession though, it was mostly because I wasnt happy with the relationship my partner and I were having around that time). So at the time when I decided that I was done with the store (summer 07) I now had to figure out what I wanted to do with my life. And I had NO real idea, since my life had been wrapped up in the store since pretty much 10th grade. The store had been my plan after high school, but I didnt plan pass that. I can not stress that point enough. Right before we closed down the home store (my store) and moved everything to our second location, I was lost. I still hadn't figured out anything yet, and I was sorta depressed. I had lost hope.
I made the decision in the new year of 08 to start smoking again full time. I eventually threw caution to the wind, after regaining some confidence in my business. I stopped planning past the store once more, as my partner had me kinda gassed about running the store again. Then my wife and I got back together. We had been on and off for over a year after I left high school, and us getting back together was kind of a big deal. I was enthralled. The event completely threw me off course. Even though I hadn't been really planning my future, at the beginning of 08, she was the fuuuuurthest thing from what little plans I did have. It just sort of happened, and almost instantly she moved in. I and me became us and we rather quickly. We eventually started planning our collective get a way from all that was going on at the time. Alas, after one too many gambles of unprotected sex, she became pregnant. We actually had made the decision to start using condoms again a month before we found out she was pregnant; too little too late. Needless to say, our plans were to change...
The week we found out she was pregnant, we also found out that an ongoing dispute with our land lord had come to a head, and we discovered that he planned on locking our store up. No way Jose. Tuesday we found out she was pregnant, Friday we found out our land lords plan, Saturday we moved everything out of the store before he could lock it up. We spent 12 hours straight packing and moving. Anyhow, it was a new ball game now; it didnt matter what I (we) wanted to do anymore. It had switched to the survival game. All of this was pretty much exactly a year after I had told my partner that I didn't want to be in the business anymore. Had I made a concrete plan then, or at least started hoarding some of the money I was still making, things would've been easier. Over the course of the next 4 months our work van that we had had since 2004 had finally broke down, I was facing eviction, and we were flat broke. Oh and Antoinettes pregnancy was getting ready to be in full swing. These were dark times...
I'm going to stop this little trip down memory lane right here. The main point, which I've reiterated a bunch of times already, is this:
Lately (the past 3 months or so) I've come to regret almost every major decision I've made since my high school years. I know now that I made some big mistakes, but that doesnt mean I cant change my life. I'm still young. I still have dreams and even with a child to look after, I can still make moves to set myself up for my future. I've actually learned from these specific mistakes now (not that I never learn from any of my mistakes before, it just took a while to learn from these particular mistakes). Anyhow, I'm once again starting to see great things in my/our future. I'm actually looking too far ahead in these visions, but nonetheless, I see great things. All I/we gotta do now is PLAN...
Friday, July 24, 2009
Tuesday, July 14, 2009
Celebs/*Monday June 29-twitter
On the real though, clebs (whether talented or not) are real people. Real people do stupid, inappropriate, unclassy, and just plain wrong stuff from time to time. If these folks who talk so much about what celebs do, spent that same energy gettin at people they know personally who do dumb shit, then we'd be better off. These celebs are coming from places, and these places (no matter where) probably have a whole tribe of other people just like said celeb, so obviously, we need to kill it at the source. Stupid behavior of any type is part of the human condition. Now, the degree of said act dictates how you should approach the problem.
The point is pretty clear: celebs start off as real people with real people problems. Those specific problems vary according to their environment and their upbringing. When they become celebs, these problems become not only public domain, but they become compounded(most of the time) with the person's reaction to fame or augmented by it. How they handle this new found fame is the crucial part of the whole thing. For some (or most, i guess) the FAME adds new and even bigger problems. They begin to deal with these problems in front of their audience. can you imagine having hundreds of thousands (or millions) of people judge the decisions you made in high school? A peanut gallery making comments on your crazy college years? Strangers taking pics of you and your family? Commentators on your love life? People watching your marriage crumble and making light of it? Some terrible stuff man.
I'm not saying this to make an excuses for these people; some of them are just genuinely fucked in the head, ignorant, slutty, etc, etc, before they become celebs. the fact that they are ridiculed so much and commented on so much is just sad, cuz it's not ALL their fault So when you see a celebs do somethin that upsets you, and you wanna make a fuss about it, go find someone in your town or family doing something similar, and tear into 'em. they need it. If someone is doing wrong, needs guidence, or just a plain old ass kickin, we as a community( and I say that in the broadest of terms) should take it upon ourselves to try and help out.
If we start helping the people around us fix their life when they need it, then they wont make an ass outta themselves later in life and especially if they become famous, which is REAL fucking easy to become now-a-days between "reality shows" and stuff like youtube.
Fuck it, example: Souljahboy. He came out when he was 16, right? I remember hearin maaaaaad older shcool hip-hop heads gettin mad at him. Dude was still in Highschool! He's immature, and if you wanna make a big deal, go find some kids/teenagers from your area, and school em. Make sure their heads are right. You know why souljahboy's famous? His audience is made up of kids and teens (any adults over 24 that listen to him=FAIL, and that's being generous). The music wasnt made to reach YOU, it was made to reach THEM, the other not yet mature and still experiencng life as non adult audience. If you constantly complain about his antics, then you just make yourself look OLD. You dont like souljahboy, dont watch or listen to him.
The point is pretty clear: celebs start off as real people with real people problems. Those specific problems vary according to their environment and their upbringing. When they become celebs, these problems become not only public domain, but they become compounded(most of the time) with the person's reaction to fame or augmented by it. How they handle this new found fame is the crucial part of the whole thing. For some (or most, i guess) the FAME adds new and even bigger problems. They begin to deal with these problems in front of their audience. can you imagine having hundreds of thousands (or millions) of people judge the decisions you made in high school? A peanut gallery making comments on your crazy college years? Strangers taking pics of you and your family? Commentators on your love life? People watching your marriage crumble and making light of it? Some terrible stuff man.
I'm not saying this to make an excuses for these people; some of them are just genuinely fucked in the head, ignorant, slutty, etc, etc, before they become celebs. the fact that they are ridiculed so much and commented on so much is just sad, cuz it's not ALL their fault So when you see a celebs do somethin that upsets you, and you wanna make a fuss about it, go find someone in your town or family doing something similar, and tear into 'em. they need it. If someone is doing wrong, needs guidence, or just a plain old ass kickin, we as a community( and I say that in the broadest of terms) should take it upon ourselves to try and help out.
If we start helping the people around us fix their life when they need it, then they wont make an ass outta themselves later in life and especially if they become famous, which is REAL fucking easy to become now-a-days between "reality shows" and stuff like youtube.
Fuck it, example: Souljahboy. He came out when he was 16, right? I remember hearin maaaaaad older shcool hip-hop heads gettin mad at him. Dude was still in Highschool! He's immature, and if you wanna make a big deal, go find some kids/teenagers from your area, and school em. Make sure their heads are right. You know why souljahboy's famous? His audience is made up of kids and teens (any adults over 24 that listen to him=FAIL, and that's being generous). The music wasnt made to reach YOU, it was made to reach THEM, the other not yet mature and still experiencng life as non adult audience. If you constantly complain about his antics, then you just make yourself look OLD. You dont like souljahboy, dont watch or listen to him.
The Gospel According To...Me?/*Sunday June 28-twitter
This was in response to a few tweets made by my homie Courtney:
you're right, to a certain extent. What's starting to happen is in an effort to bring a bigger audience, gospel seems to be crossing over into the rap/r&b market, but instead of on it's own terms, it's sort of cross pollinating. It's still praise music, but with a real solid hip-hop asthetic. As opposed to older gospel luminaries trying to bring in a younger, hip-hop/r&b audiance by utiliazing those genre's key elements, it's a younger, already hip-hop influenced generation, trying to find common ground between the music that's popular amoung their peers, and the message of gospel, the music they make and love. Music changes with the people and times ; you can always learn about an era' people through their music. even today's "traditional" style gospel is completely different from that of it's golden age and beyond...
on another note, gospel music has done a better job of keepin it's hands on it's artist since the 80's. That's why contemporary r&b has suffered so much since the 90's; one of the 70's 60's and even 50's popular black music's greatset strengths was the fact that a huge percentage of it's performers came up in the church, or lovers of gospel. Almost all of the GREATS came from a churhc background, let alone the "lesser" artist (for lack of a better term). Since the 80's, the church has held on to it's biggest assets, and because of that, we started dealing with a whole new generation that had been seperated from "church music" (which really says a lot about society at the time, dontcha think?). Less soul, less passion, and more emphasis on image and all the new styles that came with the huge musical technological advances and trends. I'm ramblin now, and if I dont stop, it'll never end. lol
you're right, to a certain extent. What's starting to happen is in an effort to bring a bigger audience, gospel seems to be crossing over into the rap/r&b market, but instead of on it's own terms, it's sort of cross pollinating. It's still praise music, but with a real solid hip-hop asthetic. As opposed to older gospel luminaries trying to bring in a younger, hip-hop/r&b audiance by utiliazing those genre's key elements, it's a younger, already hip-hop influenced generation, trying to find common ground between the music that's popular amoung their peers, and the message of gospel, the music they make and love. Music changes with the people and times ; you can always learn about an era' people through their music. even today's "traditional" style gospel is completely different from that of it's golden age and beyond...
on another note, gospel music has done a better job of keepin it's hands on it's artist since the 80's. That's why contemporary r&b has suffered so much since the 90's; one of the 70's 60's and even 50's popular black music's greatset strengths was the fact that a huge percentage of it's performers came up in the church, or lovers of gospel. Almost all of the GREATS came from a churhc background, let alone the "lesser" artist (for lack of a better term). Since the 80's, the church has held on to it's biggest assets, and because of that, we started dealing with a whole new generation that had been seperated from "church music" (which really says a lot about society at the time, dontcha think?). Less soul, less passion, and more emphasis on image and all the new styles that came with the huge musical technological advances and trends. I'm ramblin now, and if I dont stop, it'll never end. lol
Sorry Farrah.../*Friday June 26th-Twitter
so I get to work, and I hear these white chicks talking about how Farrah Fawcett was being "totally overshadowed" by MJ's death. stupid broads. Look, all respect to the dead, but c'mon. If u mad that everyone's talkin bout MJ, and you dont understand why, lemmie break it down into easily chewable terms with a minute example of his reach: Farrah Fawcett was very famous but she wasnt famous like dat. she could do ALL the movies and tv shows she wanted, but c'mon, "Thriller", the album, BY ITSELF sold over 100 million copies! that was just one album out of his entire catalogue (not to mention how many people saw the damn video) and that was 14 years into his professional career! his 2nd* solo album. he'd been in the game for a while, and wouldbe in the game for another decade and a half. So the point I was making was, Farrah Fawcett had no where near the amount of influence and notoriety that MJ had. Shit, I'd bet ANY amount of money that she was a HUGE fan herself. Being mad that MJ's gettin mo attention than her is like someone being mad that Farrah Fawcett was gettin mo attention than Koko Taylor did. the man's legacy is much more far reaching and touched way more people than Farrah. He goes across all kinds of barriers. Farrah doesnt. Sorry Farrah fans, IIWII! for those who dont know, that means It Is What It Is. R.I.P. Farrah Fawcett, R.I.P. MJ, R.I.P. David Carradine, R.I.P. Koko Taylor, R.I.P. Ed McMahon and most of all R.I.P. to all the folks who died yesterday, who WERN'T famous at all. You guys are the ones who are truly overshadowed. R.I.P.
Our "Representatives"/*Fri 6/26/09 6:30 PM
this was a message I sent in response to a blog I read by Dee Dee Williams. You can check her original blog at: http://abklynbeauty.blogspot.com/2008/08/representative_30.html
My email to Dee Dee:
I often think about our representatives. I think about how when I see a black person on tv, doing anything remotely embarrassing, I get a lil angry at them. But why? When I see a group of black people in real life, doing something ignorant (for lack of a better term), and there are "others" afoot, I want to scream. But why? I'll tell you why. I've pondered over this for quite sometime, and you're probably the first person I've articulated these thoughts to, so bear with me; this happens because we (as black people) want so much to be taken seriously in this society, that any foolery in front of the people who run this society, is not tolerated. In private, amongst ourselves, we let it happen. Even those of us who don't act "foolish" or "ignorant" in public can be a little of both around our own people ("our own people" extending to friends outside the race who we are just plain comfortable with).
The bigger (and more important) question than why we are so up in arms about our people "representing us" is why don't white folks let labels bother them? Follow me...
The thing is, we only make up about 13% of this country (last time I checked). White people make up about 80% or so. They don;t see themselves all in the same category; they recognize that there are many different types of white people: the red neck, the businessman, the stoner, the frat guy, the dumb blond, the poet, etc, etc, etc. They have these many different titles to bestow upon their people, that if I were to call "the businessman" a "redneck", not only would he not be offended, he'd probably laugh at me. They (whites) are displayed in tv, movies, book, etc as so many different types of characters, that we've (others) have come to understand them as totally 3 dimensional characters. The sheer amount of white people being displayed gives us (everyone) the impression that there are all these types of whites, including the proverbial "everyman" (regular white guy).
Now, as for us, there's so little of us in this country, that it's easier for them to lump us all together. Until as recently as the 90's, we were still displayed in MAJOR media outlets( the outlets that reach a huge portion of that 80% of white folks, and then the rest of us) in a limited amount of categories (the dope dealer, the hoe, the slow witted nigger, etc, etc, some of which are stereotypical renderings that have been used as far back as the Minstrel Shows of the 19th and early 20th centuries). Add to that the Media's coverage of black folks in the news outlets (the medias already long standing use of mostly negative images, whether black white or candy stripped, is a huge factor),and you've got a recipe for ignorance on both sides. Not only does the mainstream (white folks) begin to actually believe we're a bunch of ignorant, savage hooligans who don't know their worth, they begin to take that image and run with it, just like the Minstrels. Also, in some cases, black folks begin to believe this is what we are, and perpetuate the image. The image of our people is pretty much in the hands of the people who run the media...but it goes back further...
Our image of ourselves is DEEPLY rooted in our history in this country (a very very complex history which has, as far as the mainstream goes, been vastly generalized and not completely explored). The initial split between the first generations of american born African slaves into one of two factions (either you tryna be more like massa or you arent; either way you lose), was made more complex by the 20th century, when a black middle class emerged. (that's another story for another time tho...I'm starting to get off track, but imma bring it back.)
I'll finish this rant up by actually answering the questions you posted in the blog directly:
Why did I feel that he represents me and the entire African American race?
Because to most white people, he does represent the entire race. They tend to lump us all together, because a lot of them have never experienced black culture as something outside of TV and other media.
Do other black people feel represented when that 1 black person does something stupid?
For the most part, yes. But's that's just a guess.
Should we feel represented by that one person?
No. We (you, I, and other "regular" black folks) all know that there are many different types of black people, so we should ignore the notions that 1 isolated black person is our spokesperson when they're in the company of "others".
Does that person actually represent us?
Here's the kicker; the fact that there are numerous (media & multi media) examples of the many types of black people (I'm speaking of the last part of the 20th Century til now), doesnt matter. Those numerous types are still relatively "new" to the mainstream audience. You cant undo centuries of harmful imagrey, stereotypes, and plain ol' ignornace in just a few decades. So, sadly, in the eyes of the vast amount of white folks who have lived the majority of their lives w/o seeing, experienceing black people on a large scale, that one black person does represent the whole race. And the killer is that it only takes one bad apple to ruin the bunch: If a white guy from Iowa meets his first black person, and they act in any negative way, that's not only a first impression of said black person, but of the whole race. On the flip side, if that white guys cousin met 3 "regular" black people, and 6 "eccentric" (for lack of a better term) black people, the impression of the 6 usually outwieghs the 3. He rationalizes it with "well, Jim, Bob, and Kevin act more like white people than Hakeem, Malik, Willie and their friends. That (the latter group) must be how "real" black people act."
Do you feel like a representative when you are one of the few black people in a crowd?
It depends on the situation, but for the most part, yes. You have to be aware that whether you feel like you represent the whole race or not, there are going to be a lot of folks who think you do. The way to combat this is, well, to be yourself.
Are you instantly on your best behavior?
Lol. that's a funny question. For the most part, yes.
Do other races feel the same when they are alone in a group?
That's a great question that I wish I had done enough research to answer emphatically. Alas, my expertise lies in our race, history and culture. But the answer(s) to that question would give a better understanding of how the relationship between whites and blacks in the history of this country has shaped their descendants views. All those outside of white and black (as far as this country's history and culture) are pretty much, well, outsiders. That's not to say that white and black cultures are the only cultures that make up or have affected america, but that those two opposing cultures have had the greatest and lasting affect on this country. To hear how an Asian, Brazilian, or even a Polish person percieves themselves in this country (in contrast to black folks) would be a terrific study to do. Stay tuned...
With all of that said, perhaps the most important question is: WHAT DOES IT MEAN TO BE "BLACK"? We, as a people, cant agree on an answer, so by default, we've left it up to white people to define what being "Black" means. That's the problem. We have to sit down as a unit and discuss what being black in america means to us, and ignore what teh mainstream says that means. On top of that, we must ALL realize that there are many different types of people in this world, and that doesnt change because you narrow that down to a certain group of people. We are mostly, and truly, products of our environments, and that is the way this whole thing needs to be looked at.... I'm rambling now...
Forgive my longwindedness. I've been typing this between work assignements for a while, and everytime I came back to it I thought of another point. The subject could have a series of books written on it, because of it's complexity, and trying to sum it up at any level feels like I'm doing the subject a grave injustice. Anyhow, I have not had a chance to go back and reread. Oh well, I'm just gonna have to give ti to ya raw and uncut, lol.
My email to Dee Dee:
I often think about our representatives. I think about how when I see a black person on tv, doing anything remotely embarrassing, I get a lil angry at them. But why? When I see a group of black people in real life, doing something ignorant (for lack of a better term), and there are "others" afoot, I want to scream. But why? I'll tell you why. I've pondered over this for quite sometime, and you're probably the first person I've articulated these thoughts to, so bear with me; this happens because we (as black people) want so much to be taken seriously in this society, that any foolery in front of the people who run this society, is not tolerated. In private, amongst ourselves, we let it happen. Even those of us who don't act "foolish" or "ignorant" in public can be a little of both around our own people ("our own people" extending to friends outside the race who we are just plain comfortable with).
The bigger (and more important) question than why we are so up in arms about our people "representing us" is why don't white folks let labels bother them? Follow me...
The thing is, we only make up about 13% of this country (last time I checked). White people make up about 80% or so. They don;t see themselves all in the same category; they recognize that there are many different types of white people: the red neck, the businessman, the stoner, the frat guy, the dumb blond, the poet, etc, etc, etc. They have these many different titles to bestow upon their people, that if I were to call "the businessman" a "redneck", not only would he not be offended, he'd probably laugh at me. They (whites) are displayed in tv, movies, book, etc as so many different types of characters, that we've (others) have come to understand them as totally 3 dimensional characters. The sheer amount of white people being displayed gives us (everyone) the impression that there are all these types of whites, including the proverbial "everyman" (regular white guy).
Now, as for us, there's so little of us in this country, that it's easier for them to lump us all together. Until as recently as the 90's, we were still displayed in MAJOR media outlets( the outlets that reach a huge portion of that 80% of white folks, and then the rest of us) in a limited amount of categories (the dope dealer, the hoe, the slow witted nigger, etc, etc, some of which are stereotypical renderings that have been used as far back as the Minstrel Shows of the 19th and early 20th centuries). Add to that the Media's coverage of black folks in the news outlets (the medias already long standing use of mostly negative images, whether black white or candy stripped, is a huge factor),and you've got a recipe for ignorance on both sides. Not only does the mainstream (white folks) begin to actually believe we're a bunch of ignorant, savage hooligans who don't know their worth, they begin to take that image and run with it, just like the Minstrels. Also, in some cases, black folks begin to believe this is what we are, and perpetuate the image. The image of our people is pretty much in the hands of the people who run the media...but it goes back further...
Our image of ourselves is DEEPLY rooted in our history in this country (a very very complex history which has, as far as the mainstream goes, been vastly generalized and not completely explored). The initial split between the first generations of american born African slaves into one of two factions (either you tryna be more like massa or you arent; either way you lose), was made more complex by the 20th century, when a black middle class emerged. (that's another story for another time tho...I'm starting to get off track, but imma bring it back.)
I'll finish this rant up by actually answering the questions you posted in the blog directly:
Why did I feel that he represents me and the entire African American race?
Because to most white people, he does represent the entire race. They tend to lump us all together, because a lot of them have never experienced black culture as something outside of TV and other media.
Do other black people feel represented when that 1 black person does something stupid?
For the most part, yes. But's that's just a guess.
Should we feel represented by that one person?
No. We (you, I, and other "regular" black folks) all know that there are many different types of black people, so we should ignore the notions that 1 isolated black person is our spokesperson when they're in the company of "others".
Does that person actually represent us?
Here's the kicker; the fact that there are numerous (media & multi media) examples of the many types of black people (I'm speaking of the last part of the 20th Century til now), doesnt matter. Those numerous types are still relatively "new" to the mainstream audience. You cant undo centuries of harmful imagrey, stereotypes, and plain ol' ignornace in just a few decades. So, sadly, in the eyes of the vast amount of white folks who have lived the majority of their lives w/o seeing, experienceing black people on a large scale, that one black person does represent the whole race. And the killer is that it only takes one bad apple to ruin the bunch: If a white guy from Iowa meets his first black person, and they act in any negative way, that's not only a first impression of said black person, but of the whole race. On the flip side, if that white guys cousin met 3 "regular" black people, and 6 "eccentric" (for lack of a better term) black people, the impression of the 6 usually outwieghs the 3. He rationalizes it with "well, Jim, Bob, and Kevin act more like white people than Hakeem, Malik, Willie and their friends. That (the latter group) must be how "real" black people act."
Do you feel like a representative when you are one of the few black people in a crowd?
It depends on the situation, but for the most part, yes. You have to be aware that whether you feel like you represent the whole race or not, there are going to be a lot of folks who think you do. The way to combat this is, well, to be yourself.
Are you instantly on your best behavior?
Lol. that's a funny question. For the most part, yes.
Do other races feel the same when they are alone in a group?
That's a great question that I wish I had done enough research to answer emphatically. Alas, my expertise lies in our race, history and culture. But the answer(s) to that question would give a better understanding of how the relationship between whites and blacks in the history of this country has shaped their descendants views. All those outside of white and black (as far as this country's history and culture) are pretty much, well, outsiders. That's not to say that white and black cultures are the only cultures that make up or have affected america, but that those two opposing cultures have had the greatest and lasting affect on this country. To hear how an Asian, Brazilian, or even a Polish person percieves themselves in this country (in contrast to black folks) would be a terrific study to do. Stay tuned...
With all of that said, perhaps the most important question is: WHAT DOES IT MEAN TO BE "BLACK"? We, as a people, cant agree on an answer, so by default, we've left it up to white people to define what being "Black" means. That's the problem. We have to sit down as a unit and discuss what being black in america means to us, and ignore what teh mainstream says that means. On top of that, we must ALL realize that there are many different types of people in this world, and that doesnt change because you narrow that down to a certain group of people. We are mostly, and truly, products of our environments, and that is the way this whole thing needs to be looked at.... I'm rambling now...
Forgive my longwindedness. I've been typing this between work assignements for a while, and everytime I came back to it I thought of another point. The subject could have a series of books written on it, because of it's complexity, and trying to sum it up at any level feels like I'm doing the subject a grave injustice. Anyhow, I have not had a chance to go back and reread. Oh well, I'm just gonna have to give ti to ya raw and uncut, lol.
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