Keepin’ it real
“Dogs, water hoses that tear the bark off trees, Emmett Till,” he [Bill Cosby] said, naming the black youth who was tortured and murdered in Mississippi in 1955, allegedly for whistling at a white woman. “And you’re going to tell me you’re going to drop out of school? You’re going to tell me you’re going to steal from a store?
CNN: Bill Cosby has more harsh words for black community
There were many guys at my high school who spent school hours “keepin’ it real” by cutting class, getting stoned, and chasing girls rather than working to secure a good future for themselves through education. As Robert L. Jamieson, Jr. points out, many African immigrant children do better in school than African-Americans. Why is this? Some parents simply haven’t placed a value on education, some have. It’s not racism — it’s what your family values.
Chris Rock has also pointed out this problem, drawing distinctions between African-Americans who are hard-working, honest people just trying to get ahead (”black people”) and those who wallow in ignorance, crime, and self-pity (”niggas”). Check out Roll With The New.
I encountered a bit of the “blame whitey” attitude in Seattle’s Central District several years ago. While I was breaking down my kit after a gig at which the mayor was present, I overheard one young black guy talking to another about how “white people don’t really care about anyone in the hood”. I can’t speak for then-mayor Paul Schell, but we were three blocks from my good friend Nick Roseboro’s house.
There are white liberals who think that the problems of black youth are all the result of conspiratorial racism and deliberate oppression. Bullshit. Even if you are an impoverished racial minority, you still have the power to make your own choices. Whitey doesn’t make you smoke weed or waste your money on frivolous things. Whitey doesn’t make you shoot somebody over a verbal slight or steal a car. Nick is doing very well for himself at New School University’s Mannes College of Music because of his wise decision to stay away from the doped-out morons in his neighborhood and focus on developing his musical and computer skills to provide college scholarship opportunities.
The anti-intellectualism and abandonment of personal responsibility common to some African-Americans is troubling. With that said, it is very important to remember that it is only some African-Americans, who don’t form a tightly-unified whole as many whites think. There is no monolithic “black community”.
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