Lets be real. Not every black person is your friend. Not every black person cares about the black community. So, the idea of “black unity” has to evolve in such a way that helps us to understand who our friends are and who our enemies are. When I spoke to Dr. Steve Perry this week about our event in Washington DC, one thing we agreed on is that we are sometimes fooled into believing that we should stand behind another black person, just because they are black. This, my friends, is a flawed strategy.
So, in order to further clarify my point on the matter, I thought I’d compile a list of 10 black people who probably hate your guts. These are black people who look like you and me, but clearly do more harm than good to us and our children. Here it goes:
1) Rappers who hate black women and want to put your kids in a casket
2) Politicians who care more about protecting their power than fighting for the black community: A politician with a black face might actually be a politician in blackface. Many of our political leaders have pledged allegiance to the very same systems that have served to oppress us for centuries. The easiest way to perpetuate racism is to pay a black person to do your dirty work. Don’t let the makeup fool you.
3) Wealthy entertainers and business people who see no reason to give back to their community: If your community elevates you to economic success and you feel no obligation to your community, you’re no different from the man who receives 10 Christmas gifts and doesn’t buy anything for anyone. An appropriate term for someone who takes everything and gives nothing would be a “societal freeloader.” A family cannot survive if an individual extracts resources from the family, but brings nothing to the table. If you don’t care about the black community, then the black community should not care about you. Period.
4) Black people who think that being educated means you’re “acting white”: There is nothing white about being educated. This kind of intellectual bullyιng should be stοmped out where it stands. Misery loves company, so anyone encouraging you to stay inside the cage of ignorance is simply keeping you down so they don’t feel bad about their own lack of achievement. It’s OK to slαp em….just kidding….no, not really…..go ahead and slαp em, I’ll forgive you.
5) Black leaders who take so much corporate money that they don’t know who they are anymore: Part of the reason that black leadership doesn’t really exist is because many of our most prominent citizens are spending so much time trying to create profitable alliances that they forget to advocate for the people. When we have leaders that are spending more time fighting for immigration and gay rights than they are against black unemployment and incarceration, we know we’re in trouble.
6) Pastors who use the pulpit as way to get access to your wallet and your vαgina: Preachers, pιmps and rappers can sometimes have a lot in common. Unfortunately, some men and women take prosperity gospel to heart by seeing the pulpit as their own path to fame, fortune, power and women. The way the pastor repeats himself over and over again, with slow, seductive music in the background is a common technique in hypnosis designed to make your subconscious mind open for suggestion (“God wants you to give me all your money and he wants you to do what I say”). Not every preacher is working against his/her own people, but we know there are quite a few snakes in the pulpit (you hear that Eddie Long?).
7) Black corporate types who make their money convincing black people to consume unhealthy products: You know that guy who works for the marketing company that helps white corporations sell liquor and cigarettes to black people? That’s the guy I’m talking about. They can make their money, fine. But at what expense? There are quite a few of “us” who make a living by exporting “the hood” to white America and helping corporations figure out how to profit from urban and black culture. The next thing you know, there’s a KFC commercial with negroes dancing for chicken, or ads for liquor and payday loans featuring your favorite urban celebrities. Let’s stop assuming that a black person is successful just because they drive a nice car or have a big house. If you’ve sold your integrity to get a bigger paycheck, then you’ve signed yourself up for spiritual bankruptcy.
8) The neighborhood drug dealer who gives away turkeys at Thanksgiving: Addictions are one of the most costly phenomena in the African American community. It spawns abuse, incarceration, homicide, and countless tragedies in our families. If I could blow up every liquor store, crack house and weed spot in America right now, I would (wait, throw BET and Vh1 into the mix too). We’ve lost too many otherwise productive citizens to the vices of drugs and alcohοl. Nothing great has ever been achieved by a group of people who sat around getting high and drunk every day, that’s a fact. So, it’s not normal that so many teenagers think that drinking and smoking are cool… why not encourage our kids to get high on success, setting goals and learning? We have to steer our kids away from the plethora of options for self-medication and find productive ways to utilize their time.
9) The man with 10 kids by 8 different women and the women who choose to make babies with him: How much unprotected intercourse do you have to have in order to produce so many kids? So, when you stack baby’s mamas to the ceiling, not only are you a walking STD, you may have also traumαtized all of your children by forcing them to grow up confronting the struggles of abandonment, abuse and economic despair. Don’t tell me that you’re being a good dad by buying Christmas presents every year, that doesn’t mean shit (excuse my French, but I can’t help it). Being a father is a day-to-day, consistent process of self-sacrifice on behalf of those you love. Not a one-time, feel-good indulgence on a drunken Friday night.
But as we consider the perpetual baby daddy, we must also look at the long list of women who’ve chosen to sleep with him. By allowing their desire for sexual gratification to overcome the need to protect their children by choosing a good father, they are just as guilty of being a loveless parent. Our children pay for our sins and poor choices… and then they repeat them. This leads to an entire generation of children who are wandering lost in our communities without adequate structure and guidance at home. That’s where the “knockout game” comes from and how good kids like Hadiya Pendleton end up in an early grave.
10) Parents who raise their sons to be little boys instead of grown-αss men: Call me old fashioned, but I believe that men must be prepared and taught to lead. They must be equipped with the essentials of manhood, and typically, it is the father that gives this to the son. But the truth is that the lack of male role models and rise in the number of broken homes has created millions of young men who can’t fight their way out of a paper bag. They know how to make babies, but don’t feel it’s important to take care of them. They want to have money in their pockets, but don’t have the determination to go out and make it happen. They can dribble basketballs with the best of them, but can’t read the first chapter of their black history books. We must understand that, similar to faulty automobiles, WEAK MEN ARE BUILT. That sorry, pathetic man who isn’t taking care of your kids was raised by someone who probably thinks they did a good job. If we are to overcome many of the problems in the African American community, we can start by building better men. Mass incarceration has weakened and emasculated the black man beyond belief, and we must fight like hell to change this.
That’s my list, love it or hate it, and that’s what Steve Perry, Etan Thomas, Janks Morton, Towanna Freeman, Wilmer Leon and I spoke about in Washington, DC. It’s time to start having conversations that are REAL, and political correctness must be thrown out the window. MSNBC, FOX, Democrats, Republicans and all the other groups seeking African American assimilation are NOT invited to this discussion, we need to talk about OURSELVES.
Dr. Boyce Watkins is the author of the lecture series, “The 8 Principles of Black Male Empowerment.” To have Dr. Boyce commentary delivered to your email, please click here. This article was first published in Your Black World
The opinions expressed in this article are solely those of the author.
