Sidenote to the sidenote: If you are easily offended by the word "Nigga" or any variation in between, you probably don't know me anyway #sorrynotsorry
Ok, between the #BaltimoreUprising and the shit that's been going on on social media this past week,my mad is in several different directions. So this is going to be a quick stream of consciousness so bear with me.
It's begins with this: I really can't stand 125th St Niggas. What are 125th St Niggas you might say? Well you know that hyper masculine dude who will post anything in their social media the remotely looks like a conspiracy toward the Black Man? That is a 125th St Nigga, a hypermasculine, misogynistic black guy who claims to be for the Black folks, but is really for Black straight
Now lets break this down with my profesion, entertainment. There are many who believe that hollywood is trying to destroy the black man through the entertainment industry. They believe that characters like Olivia Pope are the White man's whores(oh yeah, that's actually a thing too,) and that the strong black male character in Hollywood is literally a thing of the past. When Fox's Empire premiered, one of the first dramas with a predominantly Black cast on network television in almost 15 years(I actually had to google it,) Dr. Boyce Watkins, Professor 125th himself, called the show "ghettofied coonery" and the inclusion of a gay character, played by Jussie Smollett, was a concerted effort to "emasculate the Black male." Now I'll get to that in a second. The inclusion of so many people of color on televison in recent has been so wide spread that people are calling it the "New Black Renaissance." I'll admit that not all black shows are created equal(see Tyler Perry) but many people who subscribe to Black respectability politics want every show to be The Cosby Show. And as we have learned recently the Cosby Show wasn't the Cosby Show.
And there's the homophobia(which was the reason I wrote the damn post to begin with.) With many 125ths, homosexuality=Femininity and Femininity is bad, especially for men. For example, the character of Jamal on Empire is pretty hardcore, hanging in hood studios, dangling people off roofs Suge Knight style, and basically standing firm in who he is, dispite what the world and his father say. However, the ONLY thing many 125ths think when they think of this character is one scene in the Pilot where the child version of Jamal puts on a scarf and his mom's heels(ad is subsequently thrown in a trash can.) Another example is DeRay McKesson, one of the leaders of the #BlackLivesMatter movement. While working in Baltimore, I guess somebody(@VibeHi on twitter) decides to "out" DeRay and basically has a flash of people talking shit, mainly how they can't take the movement seriously if its being lead by a gay man(google Bayard Rustin.) First of all, if you are that quick to skip out on the movement because one of the leaders is gay, yo ass aint worth shit anyway. Second, GOOGLE BAYARD RUSTIN!!! One of the main people who spearheaded the 1963 March on Washington was a gay man!! Look at Gazi on twitter, who is outspoken in the movement. Check out Netta(because women an be leaders too, scary huh) who has been outspoken in both Ferguson and Baltimore. Maybe you should be worrying about why police are killing us and less about who someone is fucking.
Now I understand where this mindset comes from. Black physical and mental abuse is a trend in American history,especially among black males. It's the reason for the uprising in Ferguson and Baltimore, and a lot of Black men have internalized this subconsiously. However turning on the people who recognize and are equally angered by it is not the way to go. There are so many people who are marginalized who need your help too and their/our time is now
#BlackLivesMatter
#BlackWomensLivesMatter
#BlackQueerLivesMatter
#BlackTransLivesMatter
Brothers...We're not the only ones.
Thanx 4 Lettin me Vent,
Lawrence J. Weber, Jr
"The Arrogant Observer"
