HellRell804
Banned
I remember reading a thread on here and one poster mentioned that the black family was stronger during the Jim crow era, posters rushed in to condemn his statements and acted like the black community before integration was an irredeemable cesspool that would never have advanced and would have been stuck in the dark ages forever.
My grandfather died in 05 at 90 something years old. He was a wise man and often spoke in parables and metaphors (a trait which I've inherited). But I vividly remember him telling me about his childhood, the just of it being, "even though we didn't have much, we were happy". Even into the modern era, I remember the whole family showing up after church every week where my "big ma" and my aunts would cook dinner for the family from scratch (even down to cakes and pies), while the men would be outside helping granddaddy cut fire wood in the winter, or harvesting the fruits and vegetables he grew during the summer. The kids would help if they were able or explore the woods and play outside. There were generations of family all together.
Put simply, these are some of the best memories of my life. When granddaddy passed, the family gatherings became less frequent, nowadays we only really get together once or twice a year. As I've gotten older I realize that, despite my material gains and perceived "success", I'll never know the happiness my grandfather had. I often wonder how we as black people got so far off the mark, to the point where we all seem to be at odds with each other (man vs women, old vs young, city slickers vs country bumpkins, etc)
The answer is complicated, but I believe it boils down to the media we consume which not only divides us, but also never ceases to remind us that we should always strive to be like white people. From plays like raisin in the sun, to the media spotlight put on Martin Luther King for his message of integration (while ignoring his economic stances), the underlying theme was always "forget being happy and building, nothing you ever create will be as good as what the white man has. The fact that a black wall street could even exist just 60 years after being in chains proves we were on the right track. The fact is that white people were so threatened by our advancement they had to develop ways to fracture us, physical ways and psychologically.
When it comes to family relationships, we can point to the media again. Books like the color purple and beloved were written to appeal to women and painted the old style relationships as slavery, and all black men as potential abusers and oppressors. This line of thinking has influenced generations of women and that rift still exists today. There was and always will be bad men out there, but we threw the baby out with the bath water so to speak and women became so vigilant against being "Sealy" that the idea of working on a marriage became foreign. The government stepped right in with welfare and public assistance and the black marriage was dead.
Black men weren't immune to this propaganda, the black women of old media that men liked to consume were always portrayed as loud, aggressive, nagging shrews, always out to stop a man from reaching his dreams or even having fun. Later they were portrayed as a hypersexual succubus looking to "trap" a man and feed off of him until there was nothing left, thus stopping him from fulfilling his dreams or having any fun. Black marriage got its do not resuscitate order.
The only things needed to actually survive in this life is food, shelter, and water. After slavery, farming was the top profession of black people. A group that can feed themselves will always be more resistant to control from outside groups than a group that cannot. Slowly but surely the media introduced the trope that farming was for uneducated country bumpkins. The stories of the day began to feature "small time" country boys who dreamed of making it in "the big city". In real life, while some made it, the big city only offered back breaking factory work broken dreams, and a lifetime of debt trying to keep up with "big city living". Millions of dollars of hard earned farm land were sold to white people or were left unclaimed and brought for cheap through auction. Now black people, without access to fresh fruits and vegetables, live in "food deserts" and have a disproportionate amount of food related issues. The malnutrition of children also contributes to their poor performance academically.
When it comes to clothing, any time a black person creates clothing that becomes popular, its immediately brought out, if it can't be brought out, the media is used to devalue it. Who can remember white mike from the wayans brothers being decked out from head to toe in fubu. Black designers rarely get mainstream coverage and "our" entertainers do more to promote European designers than anyone.
In housing, black neighborhoods are always portrayed as violent places, while living among whites is prioritized. The news will take incidents from black neighborhoods far and wide to create a narrative that, if you can afford it, you should get away from black people. As a result, the best and brightest flee to white enclaves and the property values plummet, leaving the neighborhood ripe for gentrification. The loss of tax revenue guarantees the schools are subpar, perpetuating the cycle of ignorance and the lack of jobs or connections needed to make advances keeps the illegal activities high. When the economy needed a boost they started offering loans to people who normally wouldn't qualify. Desperate to escape these "bad neighborhoods" a disproportionate amount of black women took these loans to move to better (white) neighborhoods. When the bubble burst it was one of the largest thefts of black wealth in history.
I guess the point I'm trying to make is, we have to stop falling for the okey doke. I'm not saying to blindly support all black people because black people can and will be used to derail our progress, but our overconsumption of media and the idea that "white is right" is leading us to become a perpetual underclass. The "losers" of capitalism
My grandfather died in 05 at 90 something years old. He was a wise man and often spoke in parables and metaphors (a trait which I've inherited). But I vividly remember him telling me about his childhood, the just of it being, "even though we didn't have much, we were happy". Even into the modern era, I remember the whole family showing up after church every week where my "big ma" and my aunts would cook dinner for the family from scratch (even down to cakes and pies), while the men would be outside helping granddaddy cut fire wood in the winter, or harvesting the fruits and vegetables he grew during the summer. The kids would help if they were able or explore the woods and play outside. There were generations of family all together.
Put simply, these are some of the best memories of my life. When granddaddy passed, the family gatherings became less frequent, nowadays we only really get together once or twice a year. As I've gotten older I realize that, despite my material gains and perceived "success", I'll never know the happiness my grandfather had. I often wonder how we as black people got so far off the mark, to the point where we all seem to be at odds with each other (man vs women, old vs young, city slickers vs country bumpkins, etc)
The answer is complicated, but I believe it boils down to the media we consume which not only divides us, but also never ceases to remind us that we should always strive to be like white people. From plays like raisin in the sun, to the media spotlight put on Martin Luther King for his message of integration (while ignoring his economic stances), the underlying theme was always "forget being happy and building, nothing you ever create will be as good as what the white man has. The fact that a black wall street could even exist just 60 years after being in chains proves we were on the right track. The fact is that white people were so threatened by our advancement they had to develop ways to fracture us, physical ways and psychologically.
When it comes to family relationships, we can point to the media again. Books like the color purple and beloved were written to appeal to women and painted the old style relationships as slavery, and all black men as potential abusers and oppressors. This line of thinking has influenced generations of women and that rift still exists today. There was and always will be bad men out there, but we threw the baby out with the bath water so to speak and women became so vigilant against being "Sealy" that the idea of working on a marriage became foreign. The government stepped right in with welfare and public assistance and the black marriage was dead.
Black men weren't immune to this propaganda, the black women of old media that men liked to consume were always portrayed as loud, aggressive, nagging shrews, always out to stop a man from reaching his dreams or even having fun. Later they were portrayed as a hypersexual succubus looking to "trap" a man and feed off of him until there was nothing left, thus stopping him from fulfilling his dreams or having any fun. Black marriage got its do not resuscitate order.
The only things needed to actually survive in this life is food, shelter, and water. After slavery, farming was the top profession of black people. A group that can feed themselves will always be more resistant to control from outside groups than a group that cannot. Slowly but surely the media introduced the trope that farming was for uneducated country bumpkins. The stories of the day began to feature "small time" country boys who dreamed of making it in "the big city". In real life, while some made it, the big city only offered back breaking factory work broken dreams, and a lifetime of debt trying to keep up with "big city living". Millions of dollars of hard earned farm land were sold to white people or were left unclaimed and brought for cheap through auction. Now black people, without access to fresh fruits and vegetables, live in "food deserts" and have a disproportionate amount of food related issues. The malnutrition of children also contributes to their poor performance academically.
When it comes to clothing, any time a black person creates clothing that becomes popular, its immediately brought out, if it can't be brought out, the media is used to devalue it. Who can remember white mike from the wayans brothers being decked out from head to toe in fubu. Black designers rarely get mainstream coverage and "our" entertainers do more to promote European designers than anyone.
In housing, black neighborhoods are always portrayed as violent places, while living among whites is prioritized. The news will take incidents from black neighborhoods far and wide to create a narrative that, if you can afford it, you should get away from black people. As a result, the best and brightest flee to white enclaves and the property values plummet, leaving the neighborhood ripe for gentrification. The loss of tax revenue guarantees the schools are subpar, perpetuating the cycle of ignorance and the lack of jobs or connections needed to make advances keeps the illegal activities high. When the economy needed a boost they started offering loans to people who normally wouldn't qualify. Desperate to escape these "bad neighborhoods" a disproportionate amount of black women took these loans to move to better (white) neighborhoods. When the bubble burst it was one of the largest thefts of black wealth in history.
I guess the point I'm trying to make is, we have to stop falling for the okey doke. I'm not saying to blindly support all black people because black people can and will be used to derail our progress, but our overconsumption of media and the idea that "white is right" is leading us to become a perpetual underclass. The "losers" of capitalism
