... the other Black experience
Black People Stick Together
Do "we"? I had this one Latin gangbanger tell me something when I was 21 and it stuck with me. Nothing profound...he goes "one thing I love about Black people dawg no offense, is at least yall all stick together!" I went "HUH??? what world are you living in?" but I realize now it's just my weird life experience maybe why I had that reaction.
I didn't go to high school for one thing...I was working all that time. Family didn't have enough food. I lived all around the country when I was a kid. I lived in Charlotte, NC for 6 years...which was the longest I lived anywhere besides Chicago. When I spent 6 years down there, we had less than 10 Black kids in my grade school...3 of them in my class. Only one would be my friend, the other Black kids didn't wanna get singled out so they were ALWAYS like "fuck you! get away from me" for no reason.
After that strech down there we moved back to Chicago minus my father...I went "FINALLY I'll be living back where Black people stick together" well I was young and niave at 12 years old u know...all my young eyes saw was my people fighting little power struggles, kids putting each other in the hospital, gangs, kids getting knocked out in gym, in the yard, jumped upstairs for some candy, getting busted for selling guns out of thier locker...and like I said this wasnt even high school. After school I was working underage, fighting little baby "gangstas" who tried to steal my shoes, food, coat, hat, fuck with my sister etc... I saw the few law abiding house holds on my block routinely robbed (not mine cause I shot at them with a shot gun when they tried to rob our garage), and even set on fire...etc.
...and these are stories I have heard from some other people from hoods all around this country. So when I hear "we stick together" and "yall stick together" I figure, maybe the only reason my outlook is different is because I missed high school. maybe in high school, you get bussed in around the other races and you're all the freaks...you have to stick together more. I hear it even more nowdays since our stereotype revolves around gangs...what do you think, do you think "we stick together"?
I think we spend more time tearing each other down, cause that's just natural for miserable people to do. your uncles, cousins and everybody has drug problems, goes in & out of jail, the mothers in your family get abandoned & so do the kids, the neighborhood is like a pirate ship...I don't really blame people, but that's what I see...not us "sticking together" but instead misery loves company sometimes & not a whole lot else.
I didn't go to high school for one thing...I was working all that time. Family didn't have enough food. I lived all around the country when I was a kid. I lived in Charlotte, NC for 6 years...which was the longest I lived anywhere besides Chicago. When I spent 6 years down there, we had less than 10 Black kids in my grade school...3 of them in my class. Only one would be my friend, the other Black kids didn't wanna get singled out so they were ALWAYS like "fuck you! get away from me" for no reason.
After that strech down there we moved back to Chicago minus my father...I went "FINALLY I'll be living back where Black people stick together" well I was young and niave at 12 years old u know...all my young eyes saw was my people fighting little power struggles, kids putting each other in the hospital, gangs, kids getting knocked out in gym, in the yard, jumped upstairs for some candy, getting busted for selling guns out of thier locker...and like I said this wasnt even high school. After school I was working underage, fighting little baby "gangstas" who tried to steal my shoes, food, coat, hat, fuck with my sister etc... I saw the few law abiding house holds on my block routinely robbed (not mine cause I shot at them with a shot gun when they tried to rob our garage), and even set on fire...etc.
...and these are stories I have heard from some other people from hoods all around this country. So when I hear "we stick together" and "yall stick together" I figure, maybe the only reason my outlook is different is because I missed high school. maybe in high school, you get bussed in around the other races and you're all the freaks...you have to stick together more. I hear it even more nowdays since our stereotype revolves around gangs...what do you think, do you think "we stick together"?
I think we spend more time tearing each other down, cause that's just natural for miserable people to do. your uncles, cousins and everybody has drug problems, goes in & out of jail, the mothers in your family get abandoned & so do the kids, the neighborhood is like a pirate ship...I don't really blame people, but that's what I see...not us "sticking together" but instead misery loves company sometimes & not a whole lot else.
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Ghettopunkrocker on -
Depends on how you look at it. I think we do stick together more than we think we do.
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Permalink Reply by PFunkJAzz on -
Got a bunch of Mexicans on my shift and we're out watching employees arrive for work. One guy goes careening down the lane almost hitting an approaching car.
I yell out "HEEEYY!!!"
The guy swerves; barely avoiding an accident. All the Mexican guys are silent. I stare at one of 'em with a "WTF!" look on my face. He says, "See brothers try to look out for each other, but a Mexican just waits for the accident to happen".
I laugh and say "Yeah so he can go gethis uncle from the autobody shop to come make the repair." They all laugh in agreement.
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Permalink Reply by Rage_Proletaire on -
Well, needless to say, I don’t have any statistics or any solid truth above refutation, but per my experiences, I’m certainly not convinced that “blacks stick together”. For the last year or so, I’ve believed that the ‘hood doesn’t respect me (or anybody, really), despite all the perpetually-trendy catchphrases about “respecting the ‘hood.” Your pirate ship analogy is perfect, or at least congruent with my worldview.
The Jena Six thing … I remember a few co-workers expressing pleasure at having something worth wearing on their shoulder like a chip (some of them believed they now had the perfect “excuse” to go out and be rude to as many whites as possible whilst making grocery; a rather pathetic strain of bloodlust) – I highly doubt the solidarity was genuine. Blacks (like every other human thing) are prone to accept the mob mentality like some kind of band-aid, as if reparations are at stake, no matter what the cause may be.
When I was in the ninth grade, much of my school stuck together to block this kid from launching a Gay-Straight Alliance club before he left for college. We called it a protest, but it was basically kids trying to get onto television, with picket signs and all manner of undiluted anti-gay sentiments expressed as having the blessing of our parents and stalwarts of "the respectable black community." So, when the principal likened the anti-gay mobbing to her brother being hosed down and bitten by cop dogs on the way to school (in the sixties), we all said that "the white people won" because the "gays won their club." For whatever reason, we thought our principal had "betrayed" the black community. People want to feel a part of something, no matter how baseless the cause. And these folk who think "we" stick together behind a race banner are deceiving themselves. The Jena Six shit was all about people getting their violent rocks off "vicariously", some perceived retribution against institutional racism. A farce, if you will.
I often times feel like I have to lose a little self-respect (and wear the deficiency like a banner), in order to be respected by many of my so-called race-mates, especially in the neighborhood. People want apologies for my skin shade, for being married to an attractive woman, for wanting to elevate myself and my family, for dreaming (even if I’m no more equipped to put those visions into action than the next man). And there always seems to be plenty of hate to go around – I’m definitely not alone in that boat.
Like Calvin said, misery definitely loves company. And I’ve been in too many absurd situations, with life and/or limb at stake, because somebody’s feelings have been hurt all their life, and they have to spread the disease. Black people certain like to complain together.
I remember some old head scolding me in a Circle K with, “Good morning, Black Man! See, we speak to each other, down here,” (he mistook me for a snooty, “high-yella” northerner since I passed him without any acknowledgment). And then I reminded him that there are no discernible commonalities between the two of us, other than that box we’d both check under “ethnicity”; I do love how certain types will pretend, and swear up and down, that we’re all out for each other. I’ve learned to operate in opposition to that fallacy, because it keeps me functional...
Grass is always greener, they say...
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Permalink Reply by Darkness Unlimited* on -
Well i can certainly tell you that i to was once "stupid & niave" a long time ago. You see, when i was still a kid i had the NERVE to actually think that Black people had [almost] an obligation to "stick together" & the reasons were more than obvious. We simply have soo many enemies! Most White people couldn't be trusted. Rich & old White people most definately were our enemies - them & there slave religion. WE simply don't have the coladeral to be low-down to each other in such thought-less, self-destructive ways. To ME atleast, it was such a given that WE "stick together; that's kinda how i felt waaay back then. So it took me years to get over why other young niggas MY age fucked with me so sevrely just b/c i was a Metalhead(i blame religion, ignorance, & hypocrisy). Still don't get it, but hey i'm at the point where i just don't give a fuck no more.
Since i've been soo soundly rejected by White people too, i've simply picked up allies where-ever i could find 'em - in small handfuls. I'm stll convinced that Black solidarity is a noble & priceless cause. But in large part it just doesn't happen. Not unless ours backs are against the wall atleast, but it certainly shouldn't have to take an distress situation like the "Jena 6". But the same could be said for liberalism as a whole, too.
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Permalink Reply by Rage_Proletaire on
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Darkness Unlimited* said:So it took me years to get over why other young niggas MY age fuck with me so sevrely just b/c i was a Metalhead. Still don't get it, but hey i'm at the point where i just don't give a fuck no more.
Since i've been soo soundly rejected by White people too, i've simly pcked up allies where-ever i could find 'em - in small handfuls...
Co-sign.
Some might say said experiences are merely capable of "jading" people. I'd say such experiences help you stay awake.
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Permalink Reply by Darkness Unlimited* on
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Rage_Proletaire said:
I'd say BOTH are extremely true!Darkness Unlimited* said:So it took me years to get over why other young niggas MY age fuck with me so sevrely just b/c i was a Metalhead. Still don't get it, but hey i'm at the point where i just don't give a fuck no more.
Since i've been soo soundly rejected by White people too, i've simly pcked up allies where-ever i could find 'em - in small handfuls...
Some might say said experiences are capable of "jading" people. I'd say such experiences keep you awake.
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Permalink Reply by Rage_Proletaire on
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Darkness Unlimited* said:Rage_Proletaire said:
I'd say BOTH are extremely true!Darkness Unlimited* said:So it took me years to get over why other young niggas MY age fuck with me so sevrely just b/c i was a Metalhead. Still don't get it, but hey i'm at the point where i just don't give a fuck no more.
Since i've been soo soundly rejected by White people too, i've simly pcked up allies where-ever i could find 'em - in small handfuls...
Some might say said experiences are capable of "jading" people. I'd say such experiences keep you awake.
Ah, touché...
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Permalink Reply by Darkness Unlimited* on
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Rage_Proletaire said:
Ah`ight nigga, that's enough. Go away! You crampin' my style! lolDarkness Unlimited* said:Rage_Proletaire said:
I'd say BOTH are extremely true!Darkness Unlimited* said:So it took me years to get over why other young niggas MY age fuck with me so sevrely just b/c i was a Metalhead. Still don't get it, but hey i'm at the point where i just don't give a fuck no more.
Since i've been soo soundly rejected by White people too, i've simly pcked up allies where-ever i could find 'em - in small handfuls...
Some might say said experiences are capable of "jading" people. I'd say such experiences keep you awake.
Ah, touché...
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Permalink Reply by Rage_Proletaire on
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Darkness Unlimited* said:Rage_Proletaire said:
Ah`ight nigga, that's enough. Go away! You crampin' my style! lolDarkness Unlimited* said:Rage_Proletaire said:
I'd say BOTH are extremely true!Darkness Unlimited* said:So it took me years to get over why other young niggas MY age fuck with me so sevrely just b/c i was a Metalhead. Still don't get it, but hey i'm at the point where i just don't give a fuck no more.
Since i've been soo soundly rejected by White people too, i've simly pcked up allies where-ever i could find 'em - in small handfuls...
Some might say said experiences are capable of "jading" people. I'd say such experiences keep you awake.
Ah, touché...
lmao.
Ah, ya make me get carried away...
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Permalink Reply by Compound Egret on -
I think from the outside every group gives that appearance. There are varying amounts of unity within every group, but it seems like everyone's ideal is always far greater.
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Permalink Reply by Calvin Chaos on -
this is pretty much where I'm at too. I have always had high standards for friends so I just limit myself now that I'm older to a small group.
Rage_Proletaire said:Darkness Unlimited* said:So it took me years to get over why other young niggas MY age fuck with me so sevrely just b/c i was a Metalhead. Still don't get it, but hey i'm at the point where i just don't give a fuck no more.
Since i've been soo soundly rejected by White people too, i've simly pcked up allies where-ever i could find 'em - in small handfuls...
Co-sign.
Some might say said experiences are merely capable of "jading" people. I'd say such experiences help you stay awake.
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