I don’t identify with being called an African. I hold know ill feelings toward the embrace of such a rich and meaningful title, but I just don’t ‘feel’ it. To truly be African and know first hand how it feels, smells, and taste on a spiritual level and in my soul I’m sure would be an amazing thing, but that isn’t my reality. Why should I feel lost or empty for it? I don’t and never have. I embrace my misfortune of being an American in the skin I’m in and use it to empower the person I am and to treasure the strength of those who bleed to allow me to walk in any room with my head up.

I have yet to see Africa shed a tear for my condition, though I’ve heard some touching stories where there are some Africans that call us “The Taken Ones” that shall come home one day, but I can’t see that right now. When I meet Africans I enjoy the dialogue and seeing the different strenghts and struggles they have, because there is a kinship there. I appreciate them and their representation of their African culture, but I love what I am as well. Not what was or what’s to come, but what I am right now and hope to show more young men and women how to do that for themselves. It isn’t about integrating with “The Man”, but being able to look in the mirror and say all that I am and all that I get I deserve…the good or bad is on you.

I am growing everyday and live to accept all people for who they are. I respect people love and passions for what they believe and try not to judge them for the things that enforce positivity and their truth. I don’t see the Black man in America as some lost vessel floating adrift awaiting the hands of Motherland to pull him to safety/sanity. I see the Black man in America as symbol of the brilliance of resilience waiting to be claimed. There is a power in our condition that when put to task is and has meant freedom for people all over the world. We are truly are bearers of the scars that many others where saved from.

That is a very powerful concept to embrace. My forefathers where beaten to death (physically, mentally, spiritually), so that people all over the world could breath a little easier. Take it or leave it…It is a truth that I hold to heart. Black men can be promoted as the dirt of the earth, but from the dirt is soil and their is life. I choose to claim that possibility of life. Cultivating that soil and placing it in the proper conditions hopefully will one day bare the fruits of our collective labor.

If you can’t love you right now, then how can you treasure the past or truly value your future. Black in America is not a curse and it is not a gift…it is just a reality. Not loving who you are is a curse. Loving who you are is a gift…

Lupe Fiasco’s “Bitch Bad” should be getting a lot of attention period. Great use of imagery in this video to compliment very direct, sharp and pointed lyricism. This is Lupe’s staple…he has the ability to wrap consciousness into the simplicity of what a great song is. The topic matter is of major concern and should be of major concern to all. Not just Black people or poor people, but all people. Our children are bombarded with images everyday and have to process what they all mean.

Many of these images as adults we don’t notice and have already consciously or subconsciously filed away in our minds and emotions to the point where we don’t think twice about them. We definitely don’t think enough of them to know to analyze and establish some sort of sensory armor to keep them for digesting the poisons that come with consumerism, marketing/branding, and just life. I love this video, song, message and the type of artist Lupe Fiasco continues to be.

He has a Grammy nomination for Rap Album of the year for whatever that means to people. This will be my go to song to share with young(er) people to spark conversations around self image and how they see the world they live in.

I Hate Niggas…Of All Colors…Even Myself?

I love Chris Rock’s Bring The Pain “bit” on Niggas, because it speaks to the deepest most guttural truth many people have. Though I don’t like the relation ‘nigga’ is paired with Black. Or it’s predecessor ‘nigger’. I’m not offended in the sense where these words give me personal pause, because I’ve resolved that within myself through education, self-reflection, and a lot of love/encouragement for great people that raised and taught me into a man.I speaking more to global sociocultural aspects which more often then not govern the framework we have to educate people out of.

There is a piece of self-hatred that I believe Black people by and large have to deal with and self hatred for others as well seeing that we are all one race of people. This is my personal experience. You don’t want to admit hating yourself, because it is painful, but what about your Mother or Father…still too painful? Okay your brother or sister…still too much? Okay your friends and neighbors…getting easier to project your cultural displeasure and denouncements now??

Well we can journey the six degrees of hatred outside of ourselves, but it will still lead back to within us as individuals. You can deal with the a problem without dealing with the pathology and you can’t deal with the pathology outside in, but from the inside out…

I hate niggas…a clean convicted controversial, yet casual comment. Casual in the since that as long as we keep it about “those niggas over there” and not the nigga staring us back in the mirror first it is fun and easy to talk about.

I’m not saying we are all niggas or trying to defend a state of seeming shiftlessness, but I am saying that this fervent hatred and emotion when going on about how much we hate niggas is more often fueled by something a lot closer to home that we fail to deal with. That family member struggling with addiction, the scares of slavery still open wounds, the bitter taste of poverty that never fully leaves your tongue, the racialized indignities suffered purely of skin color or more commonly perhaps your economic standing. 

There is a maze of attrition with respects to our humanity toward one another that is as baffling as it is unaddressed. There is so much good (still) to our humanity. One of the best parts is our ability to not just make it through the maze as we can see many animals do, but also have the ability to analyze our shortcomings in getting to a point of solvency. With that we are not only able to improve on our previous efforts but construct mechanisms to measure that improvement and even encourage it. That should be the goal! Lets not just hate niggas, but lets create conditions where there are standards and supports in place to assure there is no need to rest in “niggerdom”. The more resources poured in the more agency given. The more knowledge poured in the more ignorance drowned out. 

I hate that which provokes niggas to be niggas more than I hate niggas.

Look Inward and Bring The Pain indeed… It isn’t about being self righteous, but right within yourself ~

Onajé Malik Lott

Quick acknowledgement that I could have used The Last Poets’ “Niggas Are Scarred Of Revelution” as a reference point as I believe that is where Chris borrows this bit from, but Chris is more close to the gut/raw than the brain/introspection.

The Last Poets - Niggas Are Scared Of Revelution:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cpo11TxSdVg

Ashe!!

Skin-Dread Emotions Run Deep

The article posted above was really poignant. 

I really file stuff like this away…Even now I tell my daughter how special she is and how unique she is. These are things that make her beautiful, not blending in. I keep he around people that enforce that. I remember growing up watching people slyly abuse their darker skinned children for no other reason, but what I deemed was self hate. The darker the worst African Americans tend to be toward a person…it is the lead joke or insult, but never the lead compliment…

If most people were honest they would admit and address this ugliness in them. You can be light or darker skinned and have these same thoughts and action. The handsome/cute “to be dark skin” thought process needs to die. It is ugliness worst than the psychological disorder that is racism, because it is SELF Hatred. To hate your self is lowest existence you can exist in. The first woman that called me chocolate sparked that in me…Hell who doesn’t  like chocolate?? This along with Dr. Joy DeGruy’s breakdown of the male self hatred and how it destroys us had me crying in the middle of a crowd.

I know running from painful things mentally has been the communal approach we’ve taken on to “adjust” to being in a space where hatred was/is home…It is past time that we all check ourselves and make sure we believe it if we are going to teach it to our children. Self Love has to be first mission otherwise how do we expect values and any lessons of decency to stick? Rarely can you find someone who love themselves destroying themselves, who love their community destroy their community, etc…

Good piece and an even better topic that needs to be addressed and played out in all homes one one level or another. Re-educate or Reinforce, but don’t ignore it. 

Do you have Skin-Dread or know someone that deals with it?

Onajé Malik Lott (King In My Own Mind)