Reality
Make your own luck.
Every time black people try to discuss having standards for ourselves, or getting on code with something, there's a group of people who come in to muddy the waters. These people always have the same lines for why we shouldn't self-organize or self-regulate. Figure we can put it out there for everyone to recognize.
Here are the ones I've seen - which ones did I miss?:
1. "Why are we talking about [thing black people are upset about] when [other thing] is a bigger issue?"
Example: "Yall wanna worry about 3 black women twerking at the MLK museum when we still haven't gotten reparations. Clowns."
They always assume that we can't walk and chew gum at the same time. That we can't think Issue B is important while still thinking Issue A is most important. These people are semi-useless because they refuse to engage on anything that's not what they think should be black people's #1, unanimous issue. They also don't seem to see subtle connections between issues...like why permissiveness and laxness culturally might also impact our ability for focus and organization collectively.
2. "Well white people do it too." / "This is just American culture - not a black thing."
Example: "Yall worried about violence in hip hop music when white people been shooting each other up in movies for decades."
These people conveniently ignore the facts/statistics that this shyt hurts our community more than others. Or that we can't afford to pour any fuel on an already raging fire. Like celebrating black homicide in music isn't a problem when homicides are the leading cause of death for black men 18 to 44.
These are also the same people who in one thread will call American culture degenerate & evil and in another thread downplay us dialing that culture up to 11. Is it Oochie Wally or is it One Mic?
3. "Why are yall so worried about what white people think about us? They're gonna think the same regardless."
Ironically, these people can be the very 1st people to mention white people in a thread with black people saying we should hold ourselves to a certain standard. Like our standards (which are a pillar of culture) can't exist independent of whiteness.
These people also put whiteness as the central reference point for the world when there are more Asians than white people for example. And they ignore the fact that some people can NEVER encounter a black person in their life but will encounter images of black people in media - and these people more than likely ARE NOT white.
4. "[Troubling trend] has always been a factor in the black community. This is nothing new..."
Example:
"Households being headed by black women is nothing new. It's been this way since like the 1800s."
The subtle argument these people make is that things shouldn't improve over decades, if not centuries. It's the near-definition of complacency.
These people completely miss things like...yeah maybe black homicide rates shouldn't be holding steady despite higher black incomes relative to whites. They're also just flat out wrong a lot of the time in how they think things were in the past - so they miss regression.
5. "LOL. Y'all stay complaining about this but aren't willing to [take some kind of vague but extreme, violent, or otherwise impractical action]"
Example:
"Yall complaining about Affirmative Action being cut, but aren't willing to do what's necessary to really fix things in the community."
-"What's that?"
"Yall not ready to hear it."
-"Nah really. Enlighten us."
"Take up arms and wage civil war against white people in the streets / relocate 42M black Americans to Africa / colonize Antartica to make it our own."
These people talk talk talk but never lead by example. And ignore the fact that if coordinated, mass action were so easy we would've already done it at a lower level of intensity (organizing, voting) vs. something extreme (forming a black Army & Marine force).
6. "Who cares about shyt like this? Lmao. Yall need to go outside."
These people tend to be very young and/or functionally braindead to the world around them. Usually innocent enough because they don't go back and forth or engage to pull anyone else into their braindead way of thinking.
Here are the ones I've seen - which ones did I miss?:
1. "Why are we talking about [thing black people are upset about] when [other thing] is a bigger issue?"
Example: "Yall wanna worry about 3 black women twerking at the MLK museum when we still haven't gotten reparations. Clowns."
They always assume that we can't walk and chew gum at the same time. That we can't think Issue B is important while still thinking Issue A is most important. These people are semi-useless because they refuse to engage on anything that's not what they think should be black people's #1, unanimous issue. They also don't seem to see subtle connections between issues...like why permissiveness and laxness culturally might also impact our ability for focus and organization collectively.
2. "Well white people do it too." / "This is just American culture - not a black thing."
Example: "Yall worried about violence in hip hop music when white people been shooting each other up in movies for decades."
These people conveniently ignore the facts/statistics that this shyt hurts our community more than others. Or that we can't afford to pour any fuel on an already raging fire. Like celebrating black homicide in music isn't a problem when homicides are the leading cause of death for black men 18 to 44.
These are also the same people who in one thread will call American culture degenerate & evil and in another thread downplay us dialing that culture up to 11. Is it Oochie Wally or is it One Mic?
3. "Why are yall so worried about what white people think about us? They're gonna think the same regardless."
Ironically, these people can be the very 1st people to mention white people in a thread with black people saying we should hold ourselves to a certain standard. Like our standards (which are a pillar of culture) can't exist independent of whiteness.
These people also put whiteness as the central reference point for the world when there are more Asians than white people for example. And they ignore the fact that some people can NEVER encounter a black person in their life but will encounter images of black people in media - and these people more than likely ARE NOT white.
4. "[Troubling trend] has always been a factor in the black community. This is nothing new..."
Example:
"Households being headed by black women is nothing new. It's been this way since like the 1800s."
The subtle argument these people make is that things shouldn't improve over decades, if not centuries. It's the near-definition of complacency.
These people completely miss things like...yeah maybe black homicide rates shouldn't be holding steady despite higher black incomes relative to whites. They're also just flat out wrong a lot of the time in how they think things were in the past - so they miss regression.
5. "LOL. Y'all stay complaining about this but aren't willing to [take some kind of vague but extreme, violent, or otherwise impractical action]"
Example:
"Yall complaining about Affirmative Action being cut, but aren't willing to do what's necessary to really fix things in the community."
-"What's that?"
"Yall not ready to hear it."
-"Nah really. Enlighten us."
"Take up arms and wage civil war against white people in the streets / relocate 42M black Americans to Africa / colonize Antartica to make it our own."
These people talk talk talk but never lead by example. And ignore the fact that if coordinated, mass action were so easy we would've already done it at a lower level of intensity (organizing, voting) vs. something extreme (forming a black Army & Marine force).
6. "Who cares about shyt like this? Lmao. Yall need to go outside."
These people tend to be very young and/or functionally braindead to the world around them. Usually innocent enough because they don't go back and forth or engage to pull anyone else into their braindead way of thinking.
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I'm not trying to date my Mom, you Oedipal mothafukka.
