Obama Keeps it Real!!!

10 07 2008

I was doing my morning Internet surfing and came across a quote Barack Obama made at an event in Powder Springs, Ga. His comment was in regard to the idea that many young black males aspire to be entertainers like rappers and athletes, while at the same time undervaluing the need for education.

Below is his quote:

“You are probably not that good a rapper. Maybe you are the next Lil’ Wayne, but probably not, in which case you need to stay in school,” Obama, D-Ill., told a cheering crowd, brought to a standing ovation at a town hall meeting in Powder Springs, Georgia. The presumptive Democratic nominee was speaking about high school drop out rates and the need for people to be committed to working hard in school so they can get a job after school. Obama said he knows some young men think they can’t find a job unless they are a really good basketball player. “Which most of you brothas are not,” Obama, who played basketball in high school, a sport he continues to play to this day, said jokingly. “I know you think you are, but you’re not. You are over-rated in your own mind. You will not play in the NBA.”  Source

“Say it Loud” A Short special on Young African American males and education

One of my favorite Lil Wayne songs “Trouble”

Another favorite Lil Wayne song “On My Own”

This is a classic “500 Degreez”


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I, Trifling Black Man.

3 07 2008

I’m trifling.

I recently learned about the Black Masculinity Writing Competition sponsored by the National Black Programming Consortium and the writer Greg Tate. Of course, being a young black male, I was intrigued by the subject and the opportunity to show off my loudest and most audacious opinion — especially since I feel that pop culture and our elders give guys in my age group a bad rap. I made several mental notes on what I would write, and even talked up the contest to a few friends.

But I missed the deadline for submission.

Trifling black man, right?

In a way, my tiny lapse represents an element of black masculinity. Talking a good game, but when the time comes to deliver, being elsewhere or doing otherwise. To be fair, to err is human. No subgroup of people deserves the brunt of being seen as the most noncommittal or irresponsible. Yet, this is uniquely “common” among black men today.

This is the part of the piece where I’m supposed to talk about how often I hear black women complain about how “no-good” we are (and how defensive I get), or how ashamed I am of how so many of our men and boys are lost in wanting to be pimps and thugs (and how the best I can do is to just represent the best way I can and hope they/white people notice), and lament how there just doesn’t seem to be any models of Malcolm, Martin, and Medgar left (but slide in how I will be the next in line) — but all of this is preposterous.

Yes, there are partial truths in each of those arguments, but no matter how many opinions and staged dialogues we “just put out there,” anything resembling progress will be elusive until we change the starting assumptions. The “black community” has never been and will never be uniform. While black men face common enemies, tactics to defeat those enemies will need to be focused, and as diverse as our individual sub-communities are. And quaint though it may sound, it may just take on brother who cares to take on the task of helping another. No more grandstanding. No more big talk.

Let’s just get to work to be the difference where we can. And at the very least, work on being on time, because no one really wants to be, well, trifling.

Image by ADRIANHOPKINS.COM

UPDATE (7/6/08): The deadline for submissions has been extended! Oh, the irony.

Chris Rock, “Bring the Pain (1996)” [Excerpt]


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