Ok... things are going to be real random this morning, because they're at least TWO pressing things I'd like to touch on.
1) WHY DON'T BLACK PEOPLE CARE???? I woke up to the news that we'd (Philly) reached it's 171st murder LAST night, ALL having took place near me. One man was killed in a Rite Aid parking lot over a PARKING SPACE. WHY PEOPLE...WHY DON'T PEOPLE CARE ABOUT LIFE. Bill Cosby came and spoke to the residence of West Philly (where Will Smith was born and raised...on the play ground...SORRY, got caught up). Mr Cosby walked 11 blocks talking through the streets, but I get the feeling people were just coming out because it was Bill Cosby and not to take in what was being said. THE MADNESS CONTINUES.
2) STILL WONDERING WHY BLACK PEOPLE DON'T SEEM TO CARE!!! I was on the bus this morning and this guy was sitting in the back ARGUING AT THE TOP OF HIS LUNGS WITH HIS GIRLFRIEND ON THE PHONEEEEEEEEEE (sorry for all the e's, but I was FURIOUSSSSSSSS...sorry). I mean this dude was off his rocker and didn't seem to want to get back on. DUDE...GET OFF THE BUS BECAUSE YOU'RE AN IDIOT AND YOUR EMBARRASSING THE FRIG OUTTA ME (since we share skin-color). -sidebar- I just noticed the word ASS in embarrassing (you guys be quiet...I'm not that smart ALL THE TIME) lol. I was wearing my headphone listening to Rashan Patterson's first cd (loves it) but I could STILL hear this dude acting like a NUT-JOB and he didn't even care.
AND STILL THE MADNESS CONTINUES...
Tuesday, June 5, 2007
Morning Ramble
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31 comments:
Unfortunately, there will never be a shortage of ignorance.
Yo JMW good post. I know exactly what you are talking about. Anyway I think what is going on is that way too many black people are engaged in a contest to see who can act the realest,most ignorant or the most obnoxious.
Also you have black folks making excuses for such behavior and dysfunction even suggestion that they (we) have no control over some of the ridicilous behavior too many of us display in public.
Unfortuanately on the train when I see someone acting a fool/talkig loud they are usually black.
JMW I think the over the top behavior is a symptom of a larger dysfunction(s). Like some folks said in the comment section of field negro article the 12% percent rule. Thier is this great urge by black folk to have every see us, I think it stems from our low self esteem.
Because of this low self esteem some of us are not balanced enough too know what to do with themselves, thus some of us never learn to just be and live in harmony with other humans including black human biengs.
Because of this low self esteem too many of us have bought into the notion that obnoxious and ignorant behavior is authentic black/real behavior.
Once people have reached this state of conciousness the perfomances will follow.
Good post and goodmorning baby girl.
Good post. I can TRULY relate to the bus thing. I have a book and my CD player always to zone out the nonsense. My pet peeve are folks on the phone while riding the bus. I don't want to hear about how you put it down on some dude or chic. Or hear you bitching to your mate. Damn STFU! That is what I want to say. I can expect at least 2 people on the phone when I get on the bus. SMH. I mean is it that serious you gotta be on the phone while riding? If it is important at least talk lower, the whole bus doesn't want hear your business.
soj: YES... and what a shame.
mark: MARK, MARK, MARK...I'm almost speechless because you've said IT ALL, and there's NOTHING ELSE TO SAY... I'm going to have to print your response because I LOVE IT.
Our people are so lost and there's no real solution, but I'm working on a campaign proposal now, but it's hard it's too many areas that need attention and my mind just goes in to many directions. Mark, I know there's so many things to work on within the afrosphere, but there's too many places to start.
I was watching the news last night and Philly was one of the cities where violent crime actually increased. How anyone can think that's NOT serious definitely boggles the mind. It's unfortunate, but a lot of people don't care unless they are DIRECTLY affected.
Personally I think there should be a law against phones on the bus. If it's distracting and annoying to passengers, it has to have a similar affect on the driver. I will never understand why people are so callous that they don't care whether perfect strangers hear the intimate details of their entire conversation or not.
As the saying goes...Ignorance is bliss.
Gawd I can't stand the loud cell phone talkers on the train. Especially when it's friggin 8am and they are just yapping about nothing of importance.
Go to http://inquirer.philly.com/graphics/homicide%5Fmap%5F2007/ and sort by "black" and "male" on the left. Notice that very few of the dots disappear. I think the unemployment rate for Black men in this city is hovering around 50-60% -- in my mind that explains the murder rate. For me the question is how to change those rates? It's tough because the school dropout rates are high so we start losing them early in the game. They don't understand that blue collar jobs that pay a living wage are few and far between. It's such a multi-layered problem and I could write a whole blog about it but I'll stop now.
wow...just breathe and know that you don't have deal with it everyday. besides that, better to deal with day to day problems rather than not being able to live to talk about it.
I'll say a woooo saaaw for you there, ma'am.
shai: girl I WISH I could make citizens arrest on the bus, becasuse I know there's a no loud music law and I think there's something being done about the cell phone,but I'd like to kick the people off the bus...I'd be like 'ol' Otis (from Martin)..."GET OFF THE BUS" (nic, did you laugh at that)LOL.
op.d: You know the problem is we're ALL directly affected...the streets are soo unsafe, you don't want to send your kids to the store...so it's everyone's problem, but you know most black people would feel like..."I ain't got nuffin to do wit dat" like fools, then a bullet shoots through their window...NOW WHAT. We've got to find our way COLLECTIVELY... that's the ONLY way ...the only HOPE for us.
k: YES...I still have the map from last year and THAT'S THE PROBLEM...IT'S ALL BLACK ON BLACK CRIME... Lord willing a plan will be in motion and will bring a resolve, but at the SAME time...we've got to revert back to where we came... GOD.. and " if my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then will I hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and will heal their land. (2 Chronicles 7:14) We've got to get (Back to Basics-previous post title) people. I don't link previous post, but you can check my archieves and read that post if you'd like...it was one of my first.
dc: LOL...thanks, but I've never really been able to settle into isolating myself from the despair and confusion going on above, about and around me...the whoooo saaaaaa doesnt' work anymore...the head-phones don't even work...somethings gotta give.
Do you like the way Bill Cosby talks to people?
YES...YES AND YES... He has to do what's needed...HOW WILL THEY HEAR OTHERWISE. Girl, I loved ALL HIS SPEECHES, because he's TIRED of this foolishness and SO AM I... so I'd be hallen at people too...LOL.
LOL @ hallen, but I feel you.
Well, this type of behavior isn't just limited to one race. Yesterday I watched a white lady damn near come to blows with a clerk at a gas station, because the clerk "miscounted" and cheated her out of 37 cents change.
Even after the clerk fixed the problem, she insisted on holding up the line so she could bitch about how the clerk couldn't count. She could have care less that those behind her were being held up, just so she can prove some stupid silly point. She cared about no one but her self.
This issue goes far beyond race, it's a social epidemic.
nic: naw...you'd betta say more then that...LOL. what are your thoughts on his approach???
terry: hey, yeah, I know like diva said, ignorance is surely bliss, but what I'm talking about is a great personl offense to me.
When you mentioned the campaign you are trying to mount, Bill Cosby is the first iconic figure who came to mind (Martin was second, then Spike Lee) around whom you might build such a movement. In my mind's eye I can see a series of placards inside trains and buses featuring quotes from him designed to make black people give pause and consider their public behavior:
"Black people are doing this to themselves!"
--Bill Cosby
"...Your dirty laundry gets out of school at 2:30 every day. It's cursing and calling each other 'nigger' as they're walking up and down the street. They think they're hip--can't read, can't write--50 percent of them."
--Bill Cosby
Put it in our/their faces (and hopefully they can read well enough for it to have an effect), use his likeness, too, and do T-shirts, hats, bandanas, the whole nine.
Whatchoo think?
LOL...YOU'RE IN MY HEAD (MIND YA BITNEZZ). I'll share what I've come up with.
Ok, Sojourner, how we (yeah, I said "we")gon' make this thang happen?!! I'm a Hampton Institute/University grad, so maybe I can track down those two brothers he's putting through school down there (I hear they might wanna pledge my FRAT!) and get Bill's digits. Then you can run all this by him.
Girl I don't know what the deal is with some of our people....
I will say true it is--Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.'s quote: "Nothing in the world is more dangerous than sincere ignorance and conscientious stupidity".
LOL...well 'AIN'T I A WOMAN'...LOL I sure don't mind being likened to her NOR linking our ideas...LOL. You get to cracking over there and I'll be working some politicians over here... I feel something bout to break...
" my mind just goes in to many directions. Mark, I know there's so many things to work on within the afrosphere, but there's too many places to start."
mark bey: Same thing here I think what needs to be done is to orginize around issues that bother individuals the most which they are most passionate about.
Once you have a group of serious people then it will be time to go after the folks hurting our community the most first.
I say we should force the churches to stand up and lead on common sense issue. For instance Jamal Bryant a hot young mega church preacher is going to hit the streets of baltimore these summer and from what I understand he is going to try to get other churches in the streets to directly confront the drug boys.
Hes saying that preachers need to get out in the heat, dirt and niegborhoods and take thier ministry directly to the streets.
You know how I feel about all religions (Islam, Christianity ect) but I would march with Jamal Bryant anyday of the week and 5 times on sunday.
ms.b: YES...YES... we're in a sad state...and we've GOT to get it together.
mark: YES...THAT BOY IS ON POINT...HE'S A SHEPARD LOOKING FOR HIS LOST SHEEP AND NOT GOING TO STOP TILL HE FINDS THEM. It's going to be hard, but I think we can do it...my passions right now and pretty much ALWAYS is our people, repairing the damages we done to each other,our children and our communities. so that's where my focus is...and i just can't shake it...so we've got to get together...you got me bout ready to make a trip to DC...LOL. Man, I need to quit my job...LOL.
JMW, i've learned not to take anything anyone does as a personal reflection of me - INCLUDING people who are related to me.
when i find myself in situations that would annoy me - i remind myself to turn on my writer's perspective: how could I write this into a story? it's not always easy, but with practice it gets easier:-)
regarding Bill Cosby...all i know is none of our "drawers" are immaculate, how are HIS kids doing (may his son rest in peace)? Take care of your own house before you start criticizing the habits of others...
Detroit ain't full of nothing but niggas (yes niggas) who don't care... People don't care because they are desensitized and most likely they never had nobody to discipline them...nobody to tell them to value life.. i know... because i know ppl who do stuff like shoot ppl over parking spaces (seriously no BS)
and that bus thing... i hate it when i'm on the buses at school and some young black boys get on the bus.... who are not u of m students and str8 act a ignorant ass... i remember this one time (bus full of white ppl mind u) this boy kept calling me out "hey girl" i ignore... "hey girl with that blue jacket" i ignore... "hey black girl look at me" so i look up and this nigga is LICKING HIS NIPPLE on a bus full of people... I was soooooooooooooooooooooo irritated... thats the type of ignorant shit that makes me cuss! and i said i was gonna stop cussing!
" my passions right now and pretty much ALWAYS is our people, repairing the damages we done to each other,our children and our communities"
mark bey: We are soulmates on this issue. Baby girl sometimes after debating some of these people I almost think I am crazy.
What I cannot understand is why these folks ( and some of them are absolutely brilliant) cannot figure out that even if everything they say about the system holding us down is 100% true. Black people will still need to change our behavior from the way it is currently jut to defend ourselves from the ravages of the system.
I am convinced that half of these so called concious folks want to have a conversation about racism forever. While at the same time doing nothing to influence progressive and needed behavioral changes.
Peace JMW
Cap: yeah...I'm gone write about it alright...right on some brains...lol, but seriously... a change NEEDS to take place. I guess the annoyance in this particular brings cause to change to me, so I've got to be on the move. On the Bill issues...well I'm with the dude...the people who allow their kids to go around acting a fool NEED to be told...and I'm glad he made it his business to do to...but of course in other instances judging a person isn't cool.
mzcoko: YES...THAT'S EXACTLY WHAT THEY ARE 'N'...I'm trying to stop using the word but we've got to draw the line...there's a great divide between us blacks and 'N'. So, do we just let them be and keep their name for themselves, or do we speak up again the division they've caused within OUR race; well God gave me a big mouth...and some words to use; He's unsettled my spirit with regard to certain things so I can't rest in the nonsense....I totally feel your pain sistah.
mark: YES...but that's why you've/we've just got to do what we know to be right... people don't always agree, but that doesn't make anyone more right or wrong then the other...so at the end of the day, you've got to stand on your beliefs, so you KNOW I feel you brotha.
Your blog is great! I see the power of generational curses in this. Many times meaness and ignorance are passed down. These youth are ignorant, because their parents are ignorant. English teachers shouldn't have to struggle to teach our youth correct grammar, but they do because it's not used or endorsed in the home. Someone has to break the mold. It's a fight to break the mold and generational things that have been placed on us in some communities, so sometimes people remain comfortable where they are rather than stepping outside the box. I'm not sure where they went, but motherhood, fatherhood, respect, and dignity need to come back fast. I've decided to try my best to expose our youth to other forms of life and make intelligence hot.
This mentality ridiculus and sad. A teenage girl was working the register at Target. She opened her mouth and had a blinging grill. She was probably 16. I felt bad, but I had to try hard not to laugh. It didn't make sense.
beautifullife00
beautifullife: I'M SO WITH YOU... I feel the same way; our children are this way because of improper rearing...they've not be taught morals and values...they've not been shown what's REALLY important in life and their lost. MAN...I think I want to do a book study with the book, "Why Our Children Hate Us"...you guys have GOT to check it like (I still don't have it, but know it's on point) thanks for the compliment and visit...please go come back again.
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