Monday, June 28, 2010

Am I Losing My "Blackness"?


A couple of weeks ago, I was sitting in my office talking to a guy servicing some electronic equipment for me. Some of my staff got to talking about some events occurring around the the downtown area that weekend, which included a hip-hop/rap concert featuring Yo Gotti, 8Ball & MJG, Young Dro, and a couple of other artists.

I proceeded to joke around with the service guy, who was white, that he needed to come back to Montgomery on Sunday to go to the concert and see 8Ball & MJG. Expecting him to look at me crazy, he says "they are really going to be here on Sunday". My mouth popped open and I was told the look on my face was priceless. I am a black man and never listened to 8Ball & MJG (knowingly). He said that he had their latest CD in the service van which had my jaw hitting the floor. However, another reason that he knew who they were was because he was from Memphis, Tennessee - the same as 8Ball & MJG.


Of course, I got a ribbing from my co-workers that I was not familiar of the lyrical stylings of 8Ball & MJG. I like my old school hip-hop-rap from the 80's and 90's. I am going to sound like my parents, but most of the new stuff today sounds the same and is not that entertaining. Every now there is a gem in the middle of a lot of noise.

It made me feel a little like I am losing my "blackness". I have been told that I was an "Oreo" or they said that "one of the whitest black guys" they knew. I do not talk with a lot of "urban" slag; I do not wear clothing fron South Pole, Ecko, Coogi, or Rocawear; I don't watch "The Game", "Tiny & Toya", or "College Hill" on BET." So with all of that being said - am I lacking "blackness".

I realize that I am still surrounded by a lot of young black men and women in my interaction with staff and the public who are still living their young "black" lives. I am older and more conservative nowadays so I cannot always relate. I have been blessed to see things outside of a stereotypical urban black environment. I have interacted with, made friends with, and dated people who may have also "lost their identity" like myself and you cannot truly label.

All of this reminded me of some unflattering contact I had with a woman earlier this year in "Basically She Called Me an Uncle Tom". I cannot say she was acting like "some typical black woman" because she was truly just a stupid woman who didn't have any sense and thought someone owed her something but even then she made me wonder.

So I guess the question is do we, as we grow older and more mature, conform more to some non-racial sense of self? I think the only ones who can answer that question might be those who follow the adage of "When I was a child, I spoke as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child: but when I became a man, I put away childish things" (1 Corinthians 13:11).

Thursday, June 24, 2010

Jaw Dropping Racism - In Your Face Beotch!

I really have got to find more time to write but I guess when you grow up, your life gets so much more packed with stuff that you cannot find enough time in the day.



I was watching television yesterday morning and caught the latest episode of "Real Sports with Bryant Gumbel". They did a story of racism in soccer called "Fields of Hate". My jaw hit the table when I saw the blatant racism being displayed by the fans of European soccer games.

There were fans who would make sounds like a monkey or would throw bananas on the field when a player of color would get the ball. There are instances when the fans have spit on players to the point where they jersey was soaked. There are parts of the stadium that are "controlled" by organized neo-fascists or neo-Nazi groups that would display the Nazi swastika openly. In this semi-politically correct world, you would think that racism such as that would not be present at an organized sporting event with a television audience. There are still pockets of racism in the US but you would never see anything such as that at an organized sporting event here.

Seeing this has partially changed my outlook on Europe. I have had the opportunity to live there twice - once as a adolescent and once as a young adult. I also got to travel a little bit while I was there and never experienced anything that would make me think that someone didn't like me for the color of my skin. I used to believe Europe practiced a more liberal society. How can such hatred go unchecked?



Why do those who scream hate so loudly truly believe that they are right? What makes one believe that the removal, extinction, or separation of a race other than theirs is what God intended? In a world were MOST people believe in racial harmony, why does this "minority" of people think they can change the minds of so many who do not believe in their rhetoric?

An example of this line of thinking was made by Johann Friedrich Blumenbach (1752-1840), a German physician, physiologist and anthropologist, who made the statement "Almighty God created the races white, black, yellow, malay and red, and he placed them on separate continents. And but for the interference with his arrangement there would be no cause for such marriages. The fact that he separated the races shows that he did not intend for the races to mix." REALLY?

Everyone has a right to their opinion but the purpose of sport, in my opinion, has always been camaraderie, sportsmanship, and community pride. Why would someone let a bunch of idiots represent their community? Maybe there need to be some diversity on the governing body of UEFA, the Union of European Football Associations. Maybe they need to walk in the shoes of soccer (football) players of color to see the effect that their "inaction" is taking on them.