Monday, March 1, 2010
Saturday Afternoon Funny Concluded: Tough Talk on Black Women and the Black Community-Rest In Peace Black America
Talk about tough talk: one more voice on the "crisis" that is black male and female relationships. But is it tough love?
I teased this video on Saturday. It is priceless. Quite literally, I do not know if this video is worthless and therefore one cannot put a price on it, or it is such cockeyed genius that its value is beyond measure.
I was going to annotate this clip, but I kept saying "damn," "double damn," and "ouch." Thus, my powers of normally erudite analysis were stunted. This brother is the black male version of Alexyss Tylor. I have always said that the ign't underclass man is a lost cause. For me, the hope lies with black women. They are the foundation of the home in these communities. I have always suggested that if the sisters would stop rewarding the hyper-masculine, violent, and pathological behavior that makes many of our communities into failed States, this nonsense would stop t0morrow.
Yes, that may sound mean spirited. But, translating this intuition into policy would be one hell of an experiment.
My racial and gender id also tells me another truth that I hope folks will accept as honest, however under-theorized...it is from my id after all so please give me a little slack. Who raises these baby boys? Who makes these criminal, street pirates at age 8 into the "man" of the house? Who models and rewards this behavior--feminizing men in the worst way possible, molding young boys into hyper-emotional man children without respect for civil society and comportment in the world outside of the 'hood? Sadly, who often dates and lays with these baby boys once they are "grown up?" Birthing their children and repeating this cycle of socially degenerative behavior?
As one of my favorite sociologists once observed, fathers and men socialize boys into respecting the notion of abstract authority, i.e. the rules are the rules and you obey them. Mothers and women socialize boys into empathy and sympathy. A person needs both in order to be balanced, and it is very difficult for any one parent to give this balance to a child.
If an angry and frustrated brother tried to update and revise The Moynihan Report--a much unfairly maligned document by the way--after a bit too many libations and self-medication, the above video would be the result.
Some questions.
1. Is the brother in the video serious? Or is he being satirical?
2. Is there 90 percent truth mixed with 10 percent hyperbole? Or is it 100 percent nonsense?
3. Is this video saying what many of us think in private and are afraid to share?
4. Is our narrator a sexist or misogynist? Should it matter? Are those terms misapplied?
5. Is this video high comedy or semi-refined tragedy?
6. Is the creator of the video disqualified from offering any opinions on the state of the black community by virtue of his near fetish like worshiping of white women?
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9 comments:
I watched the video up until 6 or 7minutes or so. Was that Rush Limbaugh narrating? It is the most skewed thing I've ever seen. Black women think with their crotches? And all the white women at the playboy mansion dont--OK. White women are grabbing the "good" black men? Not when I look at the Jerry Springer show. Black women are raising "bad" boys? Who are raising those "good" black boys?
Ok. I'm new to this blog and don't quite understand the tone of it yet but we all know that we can spin anything whichever way we want. This spin is interesting. I could spin it a different way and white men would look like fools or latino women or respectable negroes, would look like fools.
Visit my blog for a different spin.
But to answer your questions
1. That's not a "brother"
2. It all truth and all lies and all hyperbole
3. It depends on who "us" is
4. Our narrator is channelling Rush Limbaugh
5. This video is neither high or low comedy, neither tragedy or art
6. Why should he be disqualified? The entire damn world is "expert" on the black community! Let him bring it on!
The real question is whether we black folks have the gumption to test the validity of all of these "reports" on our pathology, or do we simply believe it on its surface? One last answer to your most important question: "Who makes these criminal, street pirates at age 8 the 'man' of the house? Who models and rewards this behavior...." AMERIKKKA, that's who! Dig deeper!
black-folks.blogspot.com
Chauncey,
This was powerful, and very profound. There is a lot of truth in what he is saying. However, as always, the message will be lost as everyone would seek to attack the messenger. His message was an answer to the clarion call for black women to "Divest" from the black community as far as dating and relationships go. But that's gonna be overlooked.
I've said this before in conversations with people who read my blog - people who are of the opinion that I'm "sexist" by being harder on black women: The black woman is the first line of attack by white supremacy. For it was the black woman who was most valuable when we were all commodities traded like livestock.
Suggested Reading: Post Traumatic Slave Syndrome by Dr. Joy DeGruy Leary.
[quote]Who raises these baby boys? Who makes these criminal, street pirates at age 8 into the "man" of the house?[/quote]
Chauncey:
(In all seriousness) Could you detail the etymology of the word "Street Pirate" that you used?
When I use the word in my posts some people are offended.
It is not a slanderous word but instead a word that FUNCTIONALLY describes the behavior of a selfish person who will assail his own community to get what he wants: materially, sexually, emotionally (via terrorism and intimidation)
Was that Sgt. Willie Pete who got kicked off of Youtube?
I enjoy his rants sometimes. I don't think it's all meant to be taken seriously. I think it's 50% truth and 50% hyperbole. But it is a response to similar rants from various black female empowerment blogs or other media outlets.
Basically whatever situations exist between black men/women are up to both to fix because both are to "blame". Willie Pete goes over the top but as mentioned, it is a corrective.
These guys' legitimate criticisms of the "black men aint shit" industry are tainted by their poor logic, stereotypes and sweeping generalizations. They are the male versions of the uncritical loser black women they hate.
These types are the first ones to bitch about people painting black men with the same negative brush, yet they talk about "the black woman" as if there is one archetypal neckrolling jezebel/mammy that defines all (or even most) black women.
They get upset about black men being blamed for black women's poor decisions, yet he is letting black deadbeat dads off the hook by claiming that black women chase them away.
This has no value as social discourse or thought, but I do find it entertaining. The funniest thing about this and the Blacktown.net videos are the pictures. They only show pics of celebrities when they are talking about "good black men" and everything is so literal: whenever they say "strong black woman/man" they show pics of people flexing their biceps. It's ridiculous.
Sigh...I don't like the "all black men are sh*t" discourse, but videos like this disgust me. As a black woman, the gross generalizations about us in this video are absurd. All black women are not alike just like all black men are not alike.
I notice that this guy keeps harping on out-of-wedlock births. Out-of-wedlock births are on the rise throughout America, not just in the black community. And last time I checked, women can't make babies on their own.
So many of these "black women ain't sh*t" videos seem to long for a time when women in general basically shut up and had very little control over their lives. It's entirely possible I'm reading too much into this video, but this guy is just a straight up misogynist.
The problems in the black community are not going to be solved by a "all black women are sh*t" vs "all black men are sh*t" back and forth.
@Anna--I think folks believe this stuff wholeheartedly. Consider, if you are having trouble finding love in your life, is it easier to transfer responsibility elsewhere or to look in the mirror.
@Rippa--I agree with you. There is truth here that folks may not want to hear.
@Constructive--It is my term. Sounds good, no?
@Shady--When will the "female empowerment types" own their responsibility in this mess? In many ways there are the Fox News of black gender politics.
@Gordon--You are always sympathetic to nonsense. Brother, you done gone soft. You know this video is on point!
@American Black Chick--You want nuance in 21st century America. Lord you are asking for a great deal...
The moment dude said "Who has been raising these men? You have" I stopped listenting.
That's some crazy blame shifting right there. Blaming black women for poorly raising black boys alone after black men have failed to meet their responsibilities is ridiculous.
Yes, sisters make bad choices. They have to live with those choices. But, ultimately, any man who fails to take care of his children, hell, any man who has slept with a woman he didn't believe would be a great mother, is just as guilty. Blaming one gender over the other is ridiculous. We've both failed miserably.
i watched this video a while ago and presented it to my facebook/blog communities and the general sentiment is that it is blame shifting.
In a time when we (black people) need to ban together to repair the aforementioned issues within our communities, yet again pointing finger is the resolution. No reconstruction can begin if there is no one willing to admit their faults.
Until recently i was a single mother of a black male child. For 7 years it was just him and I. Yes i made a conscience decision at 17 to have a child knowing that the likelihood of active particular from his father would minimal. Am i to blame because he did not want to accept the responsibilities of fatherhood? NO. Maybe, we can blame his absent father and drug addicted mother.....its a self perpetuating cycle.
I married a young man who came from a two parent home. He came from an existance that i NEVER experienced as a child. With both parents coming from a medical background he grew up in the "upper middle-class" of black america. I met him in college shortly before becoming pregnant. What i have learned from him is that regardless what type of upbringing you have ultimately the decision is yours.
The male who decided to blame all black women alone for the failures of our society--is misogynist. he is soo angry with black women that his anger had turned to bitterness/hatred. He did make some valid points but even they lose substance when paired with the rest of the bullshit.
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