The Black Male Psyche Riddled With Self-Hatred (Part 2)

The Black Male in America has been labeled...branded...marked.

Adjectives such as "Endangered Species", "Undereducated", "Unemployable", "Ignorant", and "Unambitious" are lobbed at men who look like me every day from the halls of academia, to the bright lights of Hollywood, to the simple "man on the street"....

I often ask why are we labeled as such until I think about the various self-destructive that we do within our own community. We have been trained to hate ourselves and as a result others are allowed to degrade and disrespect us.

In recent weeks and months, Hip-Hop has come under fire as the main source of this self-hatred. While I agree that hip-hop plays a role, I refuse to ignore other factors within this (not to sound like a conspiracy theorist) "grand scheme" of self-hatred. There are other factors in play here. I'll address Hip-Hop but I'll also address poverty, education, the media, societal attitudes, and the justice system.

I'll start with Hip-Hop because it's the easiest to address.

Hip-Hop

"These are more than words/This is more than rap/This is the Streets/and I am the trap..."
-Young Jeezy

I will bet a million dollars (that I don't have) that Jeezy didn't know exactly how true his statement was. Jeezy is a part of the canon of rappers that have enjoyed critical acclaim, wealth, and unimaginable success by telling their street tales in poetic form for audiences of millions. In the same vein as Etheridge Knight, Jeezy paints pictures of the late nights/early mornings that street hustlers see on a daily basis. Violence, Poverty, and Fast Money are his subjects. His Canvas is the street. His fans are afficianado's of this art.

Jeezy is, however, part of the problem. For all of his heartfelt tales, vivid imagery, and the simple beauty with which he tells his life story, Jeezy does not balance his tales of sex, money, and drugs with positive images. He's not the only one.

I don't get mad about it because it's his prerogative as an artist and entrepreneur to put out his body of work as he sees fit. I will defend his right to make his music without censorship.

I said all of that to make this point. Jeezy is not the problem with the black male mind. The problem, in effect, are the "gatekeepers" of hip-hop. MTV and BET (both owned by Viacom) are responsible for Hip-Hop being beamed into millions of homes everyday. Clear Channel, RadioOne, and Cox Communications shoot hip-hop right to the cars and ears of millions listeners every day at various times of day. I think it is an amazing thing. What disgusts me is the prevalence of only one side of hip-hop.

Tatiana Richards told me a quote that she heard someone say. "There are 35 Million different black people. That means there are 35 Million different ways to be black." Hip-Hop is JUST AS DIVERSE. You would never know it though. Hip-Hop is a culture. Rap is her music. Whenever you turn on the radio, all you hear is one type of rap music. You hear poignant street tales, guns busting, blunt blazing, crackhead serving, chickenhead chasing, booty shaking music. Very rarely do we hear "Conscious Hip-Hop" or "Trip-Hop" or "Skate Rap" or even "Rock Rap". We are force fed catchy tunes that do not feed the mind.

I am a firm believer that hip-hop was born out of the poverty of black and latino youth in New York in the late 70's. They rapped about their everyday lives. They rapped, danced, drew graffitti, scratched records, dressed, and lived for the rebellion against society that hip-hop was born from. Hip-Hop was the child of revolution. We are listening to hip-hop's fourth generation of rappers. What all the generation of rappers had in common was that they rapped about their experiences. Incarcerated Rapper Shyne once spit, "They Don't Do It Cause I Rap About It/I RAP ABOUT IT CAUSE THEY DO IT..." It is simply art imitating life.

As Hip-Hop grew up (Most recently turning 30) she became BIG business. She was taken over and distributed by the larger companies in the music making business. Now, if Hip-Hop was created by impoverished black and Latin youth and grew to be taken over by big business, who do you think is REALLY pulling the strings. Rich old men, often white, who package the most taboo and salacious elements of hip-hop culture and peddle it back to us as authentic. It's become so deeply ingrained into the mainstream of our society that you aren't "keeping it real" unless you are talking about serve the soft white or a few bricks of that tan. (Slang for certain types of drugs)

While the poverty, violence, and drug use have always been a large part of hip-hop tales, throughout history they were always told as simply stories. Now they are glorified. I'm not even calling for it to stop. I'm simply calling for a balance in the art. Period.

Hip-Hop is more than words. It's a reflection of impoverished society and many different aspects of black life.

Hip-Hop is more than rap, it's a culture. Essentially it began as a movement.

This is the streets. Hip-Hop came from the Streets. So did the blues, jazz, rock and roll, Etheridge Knight, Amiri Baraka, Ralph Ellison's Creativity, and Romare Bearden's eye for art.

I am the trap. No you're not Jeezy, not intentionally anyway.

Poverty (Specifically geared towards the large number of blacks living in poverty)

Blacks and Hispanics live in poverty in greater percentages than any other ethnic group in the country.

It has been proven that poverty breeds crime. Thus, more black males are expected to either commit or witness crimes in their living in poverty.

Also, since it's been proven that poverty is often cyclical and our living conditions determine our future and mindset often times, I'm naturally inclined to believe that the sins of the father are truly visited upon the son in these impoverished areas where crime becomes a somewhat accepted part of our existence. The more you witness or commit a crime, you less outraged you are by it. This desensitization more often leads otherwise intelligent, good black men who could get out of their situations to take chances within the illegal sector of American life. This coupled with various other factors more often than not becomes a recipe for disaster.

Education

In 2003, the average education level for black males was said to be 10th grade level. That's not even a high school diploma. Without a high school diploma it is almost impossible to get a job above minimum wage. Minimum wage is too low to feed a family or pay the living expenses for one human being. Thus, many black males turn towards crime. So, why are black males undereducated? For a number of reasons.

Black males tend to lose interest in education around 4th grade according to Jawanza Kunjufu's book Countering the Conspiracy to Destroy Black Boys (which I read for the first time actually around 7th grade). Kunjufu cites many different reasons for this breakdown. I'll try to go through it as simply as possible.

If they are impoverished, they have more to worry about than conjugating verbs, long division, and the Civil War. It's tough to concentrate on Social Studies when you don't know if you're going to eat that night.

Often times the student feels as though the subject matter doesn't relate to him. The figures in history don't look like him. The things that happen seem so far away. The math seems pointless and uninteresting. English is so very different from the AAVE he speaks at home. (African American Vernacular English) After all of that he is tested to DEATH. Standardized tests hear, Academic competency test there. Eventually he sees no point in trying. Lack of adequate attention to his problems and reconciliation with the world around him forces him to act out.

After he acts out he gets labeled. Learning Disabled. Attention Deficit Disorder. Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder. Dyslexic. Problem Child. Just Plain Dumb. Believe it or not, students at a very young age are highly aware of adult's perception of them. They are very aware of their surroundings as well. They know why they have to go to the special class even though they don't feel anything is wrong with them. They know that the medicine that they are forced to take makes them jittery and jumpy and feel bad and they know that nothing is wrong with their mind. They know when adults think they are hopeless. They know when adults think they are stupid. At some point they give up caring. Special Education is used too broadly by lazy teacher, systems, and administrators to focus on problems that are not educational or mental. That's another soapbox thought.

I would continue but my brain drew a blank on Education just now....

I'll continue with this one as well as The Media, Societal Attitudes, and The Justice System in the next blog post.

The Black Male Psyche Riddled with Self-Hatred...(Part 1)

Being a Black Man is tough. Anyone with an ounce of knowledge, understanding, and insight knows that or can see that. We are beat down en masse by society, sytematic segregation, laws slanted toward us, and various other factors that make living with a Y-Chromosome and Darkened Skin akin to fighting a war every day.

One thing that has kept the Black Man sane has been the black woman. She has been both mother and father when the black male was unable to take his role. She has raised numerous black males. She has been the backbone of the family in trying times. She's "stood in the gap" and prayed for the favor of almighty in hours of need. She has been a comforting shoulder to cry on, albeit in the dark. She has been that slap in the face when brothers needed a reality check. She is motivator. She is Wife. She is Helpmate. She is Financial Planner. She is Mother. She is Bold. She is Strong. She is Queen of Civilization...

From the Project Dwelling Single Mother to the Penthouse Residing Yuppie, The Black Woman is as versatile as they come.

With the black woman being so much of what all men want and even more of what all men need, why then do many of us as black men choose to degrade them and hate them?

I write that last sentence as both a hypocrite and a man conscious of what I love about black women. I have referred to women as "bitch" before...I have done some less than noble things to my sisters over the years. However, I have apologized and atoned for them. I am not talking about the guy who has a rough past (or present) and sometimes has a bad dealing or two with our sisters. I wanna focus on a specific genre of brothers. The educated, upwardly mobile, seemingly intelligent brother who has a good job, an advanced degree, and is as financially stable as he can be at that point in life.

Believe it or not, many of these brothers have a sort of disdain for sisters that could be viewed as a hatred. They ignore black women. They degrade them. They decry them as ghetto, combative, unrelenting, unaffectionate, unsubmissive, uneducated, and unattractive. Forgetting all the while that they were brought into this world by a ghetto, combative, unrelenting, unaffectionate, unsubmissive, uneducated, and unattractive BLACK WOMAN. That their grandmother was a BLACK WOMAN. It's ultimately a form of self hatred.

In Psychology there is a concept called "projection." This ultimately means that you project your insecurities and perceived shortcomings on those closest to you or the object of your unattainable desire in some cases. Who is closer to you as a Black Man than the woman who brought you into this world? Also, for a successful man, rejection is the ultimate blow to the ego. Who better to hate than those who may have rejected you in life?

Also, another root of this sort of hatred of black women by both fairly and immensely successful Black Men is their constant need to prove themselves. They want to make the statement, "Hey, I'm just like you guy. I am NOT one of those white t-shirt wearing, Jean sagging affirmative action cases. I got here on my own merits and by my own intelligence and their ain't NOTHING different about me." For all intensive purposes, this may be completely and utterly TRUE to the fullest extent. (Minus all of the self-hatred and jargon) As a result, these black men do certain assmilationist things to go to the extreme of proving that they are not like those "black guys." They wear certain clothes, join certain fraternities (*sigh*) , talk a certain way, act a certain way, and do certain customs associated with "Eurocentric culture." (Point, there is a difference from Eurocentric Culture and Professionalism. Don't get it twisted.) They go so far as to see black women as only objects of sexual prowess and only good for the occasional tryst than wife, mother, confidant, and companion.

Is there any hope for this brother? Probably not. Let's see how he feels in 20 years though when the current crop of sisters in upwardly mobile positions start to take over the country. These sisters often outnumber brothers 3 to 1 and are typically more motivated and driven to succeed. Then I guess I'll be writing another one of these on the sisters huh? I've already seen some out there that fit the mold....in fact I'm looking at one right now.

Ok, Here comes my hypocrisy....

I am a blogger....

This means I am vain enough to think that other people actually benefit from and enjoy reading my thoughts.

The only thing is, I try my damndest to actually make sense and articulate my points thoroughly enough for whoever is crazy, interested, or drunk enough to read my ramblings to actually follow my logic.

I am a journalist...

This means that I am trained in the art of disseminating information for mass consumption. I have been taught to take the most complicated concepts and break them down to an eigth grade reading level. I have to be intelligent enough to be able to grasp a number of concepts with varying degrees of complexity.

So naturally it frustrates me when people attempt to expound upon B.S. or articulate undefendable points. It really pisses me off when people get verbal diarrhea and try to put all of the big words they know in a few sentences coupled with asinine ideas and try to pass it off as profound, groundbreaking, or "deep."

I have a suggestion for all aspiring to be a part of the black intelligentsia and the scores of Ph.D.'s and scholars in Black America. Before you decide to write something...whether it be a few thoughts, a complex theory of yours, a concept, a political viewpoint, a thesis, or whatever do us all a favor. Actually think about it...

I am one of those people who can sit down and type in a stream of consciousness. Everyone is not able to do that. I'm not saying I'm the Rakim of the blog world, I'm just saying that it's something I do. When I get ready to rap, I sound better if I write it down first. T.I. and Jay-Z are better at freestyling their rhymes in the booth. See where I'm going with this?

I often read blogs and facebook notes and all sorts of other stuff mainly because I'm a nerd, but more so because I like to keep abreast of what my fellow black 20-somethings are thinking about. Sometimes it's Hip-Hop (Fuck Oprah!), sometimes it's Politics (Obama in '08!), sometimes it's utter drivel (my lipgloss be poppin? WTF?!?!?!), and yet and still there are those who enjoy waxing poetic about a laundry list of things much like myself. My biggest problems comes with those whom, I would like to think, are like me. Conscious balls of never ending thought. (Did I just say "Conscious Balls?" I gotta name my next album that.)

Fellow rambling bloggers. PLEASE at least try and make sense if you're going to blog and save the rest of us a brain cramp trying to decipher the dumb stuff that you put on the internet. Thank You and God Bless.