Chris Rock said it best when he said “There’s like a civil war going on with black people”. He continued by by saying that on one side you have Black people and on the other side, niggas. His words, not mine.
For years now, the bulk of this civil war has been waged not on the grassy fields of Kentucky or the rolling hills and mountains of the Carolinas. Instead, this battle has been fought on the digitized fields of the media. Every music video that shows young Black women and men gyrating, wearing little as possible and using the foulest language imaginable is huge score for Camp Nigga. On the other side, shows that display Black people as doctors, lawyers, executives, etc. get a 21 gun salute from Camp Black.
Since this is war, the object is quite simple: Wipe the other side off the face of the earth.
But anybody who knows a little bit about history knows that even in civil wars, the losing side is never completely annihilated. They simply learn to adapt just enough to the winning side’s rules while still holding on to their true belief systems. The American Civil war ended a lot like that. Although the North won the war, to this very day you still have pockets of people throughout the South and beyond who have not changed their views regarding Blacks. As long as their ideologies do not recapture the level prominence they once held in American culture, most Americans just consider these individuals as just one small part of everyday life under the diversity quilt of this nation.
Now I was recently reminded of Rock’s routine as much of the Black online community micro-analyzed the second installment of CNN’s Black in America series. To the “Black” side, the first installment not only bombed, but amounted to yet another victory for the “nigga” camp because it focused primarily on the problems that exist in our communities. In other words, to them it made all Black people look bad. These are some of the same people who feel embarrassed after looking at television with a bunch of White co-workers and all of a sudden the face of a Black man accused of murder flashes on the screen. It is an interesting phenomenon to watch. If the murder or just outright loon is White, the White co-workers will in most cases do not feel the need to connect themselves to this individual. On the other hand, many of us in the Black community feel that the stupid actions of a few pushes the entire Black race off balance in the overblown ethnic PR war.
This is why BIA2 was so important to Camp Black: Something was needed to counter the negative imagery presented in BIA1. Mind you, the information presented in the second installment wasn’t even new to Camp Black. Instead, this was merely a infomercial to inform others not involved in the civil war that not all Black folks are like “that”.
The whole notion of diversity these days is one big misnomer. In fact, the word itself should include an asterisk at the end. Why? Because anytime a person of a background or point of view seeks to engage the status quo, that person gets hammered on their diversity by the very people who preach diversity. When then senator Barack Obama announced he was running for President, Democrats in the media repeatedly asked the question “Is he Black enough?” This was due to both Obama’s mixed heritage and the fact that he was born in Hawai’i (we think–lol). When Soledad O’Brien decided to focus on some of the negative facets of Black culture in the first installment of Black in America, I personally heard some people criticizing her mixed heritage and the fact that she was married to a White man. Bryant Gumbel was one of the few Black men years ago on television who smashed other televised stereotypes of the Black male. For years even before his divorce, he was hammered for acting and sounding “White”. Then you have Wayne Brady, Sammy Davis Jr., the list goes on and on. Never mind the good contributions these individuals have made to society. If the crowd determines that you have strayed “too far” from the status quo, your “diverse” perspective on life will be the very thing used to string you up and leave you swinging from a tree just off the freeway of inclusion.
I am old enough to realize that people know generally just what they want to know. And what they don’t know is often due to the fact that they simply do not want to know. So why should I engage in a never-ending PR campaign to convince other races that we are just like them?
Bottom line and like it or not, the Black experience is just as wide and diverse as any other race. Every race has its great examples of exemplary individuals, individuals that make the annual family reunion…ummm…interesting, and various character types between the two. None of which as individuals carry the full load of PR duty for the entire race.
There was a time in our history where Blacks by and large were judged based on imagery presented in films like Green Pastures, Birth of a Nation, Amos and Andy, Gone with the Wind, the whole Black exploitation genre of the 70′s, etc. . These were altered, perverted and very limited snapshots of Black culture to mainstream America. In today’s America, we are presented with a wide array of clips of the Black experience that go beyond cultural bloopers.
There is no one voice or one representation of the Black experience. So why continue to fight for one? We are just as complex and diverse as any other culture. CNN could have used that airtime to sell ShamWow, not a race.
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The struggle for one voice
by Duane on August 2nd, 2009 at 12:00 pmChris Rock said it best when he said “There’s like a civil war going on with black people”. He continued by by saying that on one side you have Black people and on the other side, niggas. His words, not mine.
For years now, the bulk of this civil war has been waged not on the grassy fields of Kentucky or the rolling hills and mountains of the Carolinas. Instead, this battle has been fought on the digitized fields of the media. Every music video that shows young Black women and men gyrating, wearing little as possible and using the foulest language imaginable is huge score for Camp Nigga. On the other side, shows that display Black people as doctors, lawyers, executives, etc. get a 21 gun salute from Camp Black.
Since this is war, the object is quite simple: Wipe the other side off the face of the earth.
But anybody who knows a little bit about history knows that even in civil wars, the losing side is never completely annihilated. They simply learn to adapt just enough to the winning side’s rules while still holding on to their true belief systems. The American Civil war ended a lot like that. Although the North won the war, to this very day you still have pockets of people throughout the South and beyond who have not changed their views regarding Blacks. As long as their ideologies do not recapture the level prominence they once held in American culture, most Americans just consider these individuals as just one small part of everyday life under the diversity quilt of this nation.
Now I was recently reminded of Rock’s routine as much of the Black online community micro-analyzed the second installment of CNN’s Black in America series. To the “Black” side, the first installment not only bombed, but amounted to yet another victory for the “nigga” camp because it focused primarily on the problems that exist in our communities. In other words, to them it made all Black people look bad. These are some of the same people who feel embarrassed after looking at television with a bunch of White co-workers and all of a sudden the face of a Black man accused of murder flashes on the screen. It is an interesting phenomenon to watch. If the murder or just outright loon is White, the White co-workers will in most cases do not feel the need to connect themselves to this individual. On the other hand, many of us in the Black community feel that the stupid actions of a few pushes the entire Black race off balance in the overblown ethnic PR war.
This is why BIA2 was so important to Camp Black: Something was needed to counter the negative imagery presented in BIA1. Mind you, the information presented in the second installment wasn’t even new to Camp Black. Instead, this was merely a infomercial to inform others not involved in the civil war that not all Black folks are like “that”.
The whole notion of diversity these days is one big misnomer. In fact, the word itself should include an asterisk at the end. Why? Because anytime a person of a background or point of view seeks to engage the status quo, that person gets hammered on their diversity by the very people who preach diversity. When then senator Barack Obama announced he was running for President, Democrats in the media repeatedly asked the question “Is he Black enough?” This was due to both Obama’s mixed heritage and the fact that he was born in Hawai’i (we think–lol). When Soledad O’Brien decided to focus on some of the negative facets of Black culture in the first installment of Black in America, I personally heard some people criticizing her mixed heritage and the fact that she was married to a White man. Bryant Gumbel was one of the few Black men years ago on television who smashed other televised stereotypes of the Black male. For years even before his divorce, he was hammered for acting and sounding “White”. Then you have Wayne Brady, Sammy Davis Jr., the list goes on and on. Never mind the good contributions these individuals have made to society. If the crowd determines that you have strayed “too far” from the status quo, your “diverse” perspective on life will be the very thing used to string you up and leave you swinging from a tree just off the freeway of inclusion.
I am old enough to realize that people know generally just what they want to know. And what they don’t know is often due to the fact that they simply do not want to know. So why should I engage in a never-ending PR campaign to convince other races that we are just like them?
Bottom line and like it or not, the Black experience is just as wide and diverse as any other race. Every race has its great examples of exemplary individuals, individuals that make the annual family reunion…ummm…interesting, and various character types between the two. None of which as individuals carry the full load of PR duty for the entire race.
There was a time in our history where Blacks by and large were judged based on imagery presented in films like Green Pastures, Birth of a Nation, Amos and Andy, Gone with the Wind, the whole Black exploitation genre of the 70′s, etc. . These were altered, perverted and very limited snapshots of Black culture to mainstream America. In today’s America, we are presented with a wide array of clips of the Black experience that go beyond cultural bloopers.
There is no one voice or one representation of the Black experience. So why continue to fight for one? We are just as complex and diverse as any other culture. CNN could have used that airtime to sell ShamWow, not a race.
Sphere: Related Content