From the days of slavery, up to now; Whites have gotten great pleasure from seeing African people in degrading and subservient positions. They would force intelligent slaves to pretend to be ignorant; they made it illegal for us to read, or even articulate ourselves with authority. After emancipation, we were force to act as children, to walk with our heads down and shoulders slumped, to smile in the face of disrespect. The Whites elevated the Africans who had the lowest amount of racial pride and self-respect to celebrity status. Those who demanded to be treated with dignity were publicly punished in order to served as an example to the rest of us. Whites, when they didn’t have an African to degrade, would dress up as Africans and behave in a degrading manor.
Now ask yourself: Why? Why do they get the maximum amount of pleasure from seeing and portraying us in this way? Why do they hate seeing us act with dignity and authority. Why did they hate Hip Hop when it was most conscious, when it was dominated by artist like Public Enemy, Boogie Down Productions, and Poor Righteous Teachers? Why did they become the dominant consumers of hip hop with the advent of artist like NWA and Master P?
After decades and decades of having our most dignified lynched, impoverished, and demonized; and having our most disgraceful enriched and paraded before us a heroes, we have accepted the White preference for Black buffoonery as our own. I see conscious artist struggle in obscurity, while degenerate artist rake in millions. I’ve seen Black scholars who have had to finance their own research, while idiotic Black writers, like Steve Harvey, are elevated to the best-sellers list.
We must turn this around. If we fail to elevate our cultural products, and appetites; we will never begin to address the political and economic challenges we face. Culture is at the root of it all. We need an African Culture Revolution, right now, today. We need to demand new standards for our people across the board. Our many enemies understand that, if they can degraded us culturally, then they degrade us fundamentally and totally. Del Jones told us that: “90% of all warfare is cultural, if you allow your enemy to control your culture, then you are lost!” We’d better heed these wise words and act accordingly.
