Man, I'm tired......
Okay, this post is going to be a bit scattered, as there is so much that has happened in a couple of weeks and I initially wanted to write about everything that I have read about. I haven't had enough time to write here, as freelancing has picked up and as you know I am perpetually broke, so I gotta hustle for my coin. But there are so many fantastic bloggers out there who have reported on these issues, especially the one that made me spit my morning coffee through my nose last week, I thought that I would just post a snippet from this fantastic post by a blogger that I hadn't checked out in awhile. Thanks Field!
"This just reinforces the fact that I am (and other African Americans collectively) justified in my caution and scepticism when dealing with certain kinds of people of other ethnic groups. It’s as if we always have to be on guard. There are a few people that I have worked with in the past who I would have loved to hear during their dinner table discussions. It would be interesting to be the fly on the wall to hear what is being said.
But the Dog Chapman’s among us serve a purpose. They serve as a reminder that it’s not safe to let the guard down. Perhaps it will take 100 more years before we can start cutting back our vigilance... I don’t know. I always judge my friends/acquaintances on an individual basis ….and I can usually figure out who the Dog Chapmans are. But it seems as though I always have to be on the lookout. I wish we didn’t have that burden in 2007, but it’s still necessary." The Angry Independent' s Blog "Mirror on America."
An aside......if any future employers are reading this, I'm sorry....but I mean everything I am about to say. so last Thursday(?) or Friday, I am surfing the Web before I get ready for work, and I read about Dog the Bounty Hunter's racist tirade against his son's girlfriend, who is, of course, black. I wasn't really surprised about what he thinks about black folks, as I think that a lot of people share the same opinion...what made the coffee come out of my nose was what he did after the audio was leaked. He ran to his black spiritual leader to help him beg for forgiveness, as you know, he isn't a racist. He was worried ( as I would be) about how his calling his son's girlfriend a 'fucking nigger' would effect his A&E reality show. Fair enough, I guess. What made me laugh is...and here it goes, as I'm about to generalize here, white racists who when caught with their proverbial pants down, go to find a black religious figure to help them save their asses. On top of that, they really are so deluded that they think that by claiming that they are not racist, that somehow they will be absolved of all of their ills.
I don't know what bothers me more: The black religious leaders who actually take these white racist's calls... for what? For their own chance to be in the media's spotlight? Or the gall of the person who when caught in the act,' tries to get out of their misdeeds by denying the voracity of what came out of their mouths. Now, as I mentioned above, allot of people don't like folks who don't look like them. But when you are a media figure, when your income is based on your popularity from people of all ethnic, cultural and economic backgrounds, you best be representin.'
On the other hand, who really cares about this shit? It's not like Duane Chapman is an important politician. There are other more important issues, such as the cultural genocide that is quickly destroying the black community...which leads me to Bill Cosby!!
I caught his appearance on Larry King last weekend along with Dr. Alvin Poussaint and thought that perhaps that he would say something that might make me change my mind about him. It's not like I totally disagree with some of his sentiments, it's just that I don't like how he phrases them, as though every single African-American is not living up to their (his) expectations. During his appearance he did make one point that I thought was interesting, which was that it was the media's fault that his words of 'tough love' were manipulated to seem as though he was lambasting all black folks. And it's true, the (white dominated) media loves it when one of us does their dirty work for them - they know damn well that if they were to publicly say the same things as Cosby did they would be branded as racists. But on Oprah, he said that when he would speak in front of largely black audiences, we assumed that he was only speaking to them, that what he would say would not be leaked to white folks. I guess he doesn't see the cameras and technical crew in the room. I don't think he is that naive.
Cosby did acknowledge that yes, racism, in all its different variances does play a factor in some issues negatively affecting the black community. He also added that since our forefathers were so strong, we should 'pull ourselves up by our bootstrap's and soldier on. My problem is this: Why the fuck should I?
In this day and age where consumerism runs rampant, where stupid untalented people become millionaires overnight, I think it is difficult for people to always be resilient and strong when the world is crumbling around them. Personally? I'm tired, man. I am so tired of working ten times harder at work than my non-black colleagues so I won't be branded as a black bitch and risk getting fired. I'm tired of getting up early to make sure that my hair is pressed, makeup is done and my clothes are presentable and conservative enough to be considered 'respectable.' Of smiling fake smiles and shucking and jiving so I can keep a gotdamn roof over my head. You know that every morning when I put on my work clothes and heels I feel as though I'm in fucking drag? What the fuck for?
'Cause I know that at the end of the day, sometimes being 'strong' - i.e not knocking out your co-worker's teeth when they are continuously condescending towards you - isn't going to get you very far. People are going to treat you the way how they want and there is nothing you can do about it. The only choice you have is how you react. Hmm, do I want to go to jail today?
Maybe that's why the Dog the Bounty Hunter thing riles people up. Just another indication that despite living in the 21st Century in a culturally diverse country, people are going to think and act the way they want. At this point, it's not exactly hurtful, it's just sad. Folks give up when they hear crap like this and I think that Cosby needs to address the rampant issues of declining self-esteem and self-worth in our community, instead of blaming folks for not being as strong as he feels they should be.
I'll get to the rest in another post.
