The AC Phoenix
December 2002
Page 45
Time For Us To Redefine Us
By: Min. Paul Scott
^=-Guest Columnist—
Sometimes, when i wake up in the morning, I don’t know who I am. Not
that i bump my head in the middie of the night and wake up with amnesia,
but I am at a ioss to come up with a working definition of what it means to
be a Black Man/Afrikan/Brotha in 2002.
If I go by the headline story in the newspaper, I am a potentiai sniper, if i
go by the images on cable music channeis, I am a THUG or by the other 100
channeis on my digitai box, I am nonexistent. So, i waik around aii day,
confused. I am a sociai chameieon adapting to whatever background i find
myseif. I am the victim of a continuous, unstabie metamorphosis with no
soiid form other than which White America wouid like me to have at any
given moment.
Now more than ever, we must begin a process where
by we, as Afrikan people, begin to redefine what we are
(not in our worst state, but at our best). There must be a
careful analysis of where we are and where we are going.
As the hip Brothas from the 1970 blaxploitation movies
would say, “What it is, what it was and what it shall be.
Ya dig?”
Historically, the image of Black people popularized in
the media has been whatever serves the purpose of
White folks at any given time. Whether it was the image
of short Africans with bones in their noses circling around
“innocent” European explorers chanting “yum yum eat
‘em up,” or a brotha named O’Dog blasting away at a
convenience store owner and stealing the surveillance video to show his
boyz over popcorn and malt liquor, the manipulation of the Black image has
a strong precedent.
What is disturbing is that these images are "Always followed by some sort
of action from the White power structure. For instance the image of African
people as soulless cannibals was used to try to justify America’s legacy of
slavery and many politicians have gotten elected by pushing “get tough on
crime” laws based on the 0-Dog character.
We see these backward characterizations so frequently, that many in the
Black community have become desensitized to the far-reaching
ramifications of these images both in the news media and the entertainment
industry. We have forgotten the way that the media/entertainment industry
has a way of making fantasy into reality and vice versa.
The images have also served as membership boosters for the Ku Klux
Klan and other organizations who feel it is their god-given duty to protect the
virtues of White womanhood from rowdy colored folks and other blood
thirsty Negroes. I remember when the news that the suspected snipers were
Black broke, I got such a cold look from an old White dude in the grocery
store that I thought that he was going to roll up on me like the rapper NORE.
“What ya gonna do...nothin’! What ya tryin’ fo do...nothin’!” The reason for
this shift in attitude is because White folks know that at this time in history
they have the full backing and support of the entire police force and military
and all they have to do is yell “Help!” to have a Brotha locked down for 5 to
10, whether guilty or innocent. White paranoia runs deep. I can see it now.
Upset that the price of coffee has gone up to 35 cents, Junior Executive
Tyrone Jefferson protests loudly at a staff meeting and walks outside, only
to find his car surrounded by FBI agents. We are approaching a time that
any Black man who is not bowin’ and scrapin’ will be considered a sniper or
terrorist.
This should be of special concern for the Hip Hop Community, especially
rappers who have a strong, socially conscious message. According to the
rules and regulations of a paranoid, post 9/11 White America there is a thin
line between kickin’ tha TRUTH and inciting a riot or some other sort of
Historically, the image
of Black people
popularized in the
media has been
whatever serves the
purpose of White folks
at any given time.
illegal anti-establishment activity. It is no wonder in this era that White
America has so readily accepted rappers like Nelly, even putting his music
in car commercials. As long as the subject matter surrounds taking your
clothes off instead of fightin’ the power, Hip;Hop will have no problem
getting mass exposure.
Economically, the warped image of Black people has been good for many
industries, including the gun industry, the prison industrial complex and
door-to-door security alarm salesmen. I am sure that the young high school
kid who comes on the intercom when I’m trying to find a new shirt shouting
“Security, aisle Four!!!” has been fully briefed on what a potential shoplifter
looks like—if not by management by the media images that bombard her
every day. Call me paranoid, but I still get a little nervous when I walk
through those electronic theft detectors at the mall. Even though 1 am not a
thief, I know one of those sucka’s is gonna go off one day and a Brotha is
gonna have a lot of explainin’ to do.
We cannot even begin to start thinking politically,
unless we change the way the media portrays us as a
nation of thieves, robbers and cutthroats. Even if we do
get people elected into office, most of their time will be
spent passing new laws to protect them from us.
There seems to be a need in the White community to
have a Black boogey man hiding behind every bush.
Every generation seems to need a Willie Horton or an
O.J. Simpson. I cannot count the times when I have
heard a Brotha on a White talk show begin to run down
the long list of atrocities that the European has commit
ted against the non-White people of the planet in
chronological and alphabetical order, only to have the
host use a comeback, “Yeah, but OJ did it!!!”
So, our goal today must be to come up with a consensus of what it means
to be Black/Afrikan. We must establish a code in our community that must
not be violated under any circumstances, such as Black on Black violence,
the degradation of women, selling drugs to children, etc. Once this is done,
we must challenge, as a collective, the forces ^hat continue to put anti-Black
propaganda before the world. Every instance of anti-Afrikanism must be
met with resistance, even if it comes from the hands of other Black folks. To '
define and redefine ones self is not an easy task and takes a lot of soul
searching and inner thought. This is especially hard for a people who have
been taught by an educational system not to think, but to go along with the
flow.
As the old saying goes, “I think, so I am.” We, as Afrikan people must
begin to think again, so we can be again.
(Min. Paul Scott is founder of Durham, N.C. based New Righteous
Movement. He has also started the National Hip Hop Reformation
Campaign. For more information contact operationmedia@yahoo.com.)
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