Tell Them Why You Mad Son, Tell Them why you Mad!

You know what really pisses me off, I mean really pisses me off. Every time there is a story in the news about some sort of racial incident, people at my job find some sort of way blame the incident on the behavior of Black people. Regardless of the topic, no matter what the situation, it’s always our fault to some degree. Sean Bell got shot, oh he shouldn’t have tried to run over the police with his car, oh his friend could have run off with a gun, oh he has a record, BLAH BLAH BLAH! If they don’t find a way to blame it on the behavior of Black people, they dismiss it like it isn’t important. “I haven’t heard anything about the Jenna Six, yeah I watch the news everyday, but I haven’t heard anything. How about those mortgage rates? Go Yankees” I can’t stand it anymore!!! These people are really trying to drive me crazy.

I write these long blogs just to keep from snapping, but these people just keep pushing and pushing. Today there was a story in the New York City news about a professor at Columbia University that had a noose hung on her door. In Queens there was a story, about a lady who threaten to kill “the little Black babies”, then flashed a noose at a family over a bicycle. (Links to these stories are provided at the bottom of the previous blog posting). In Long Island, a police deputy cheif had a noose hung on his locker (http://video.wnbc.com/player/?id=161951 ). The Columbia University story made the front cover of the Daily News (The third string paper in the city), and caused some conversation at work over lunch. First I don’t know why I eat with these people, and secondly I don’t know why I am shocked sometimes by what come out their mouths, both Black and White.

I have a clear understanding of the mental locks put on the minds of some Black folks, and I understand, to a degree, the white washed world that most white people live, but it is beyond me why people are so silly. Many things that are clear as day to me seem so foreign and obscure to other people. Maybe it’s me, maybe I think too much. Maybe I need to relax, and not let my emotion control me so often. My blood starts to boil when I hear some of these ridiculous statements that come out of these people’s mouths. But, I digress. I know it’s not me, and I also know that a part of the strategy of the powers that be is to make me believe that it just me. But, I know I’m not alone out their, I know some of you feel what I’m writing. I know some of you feel that there are thousands of people that should be happy that we don’t spass out when we should. In fact we should start a national “Spass Out Day”, but I digress again, sorry.

The white people at work often speak from a level of superiority. (once again why am I surprise). They speak about issues like Columbia as if it happened in a vacuum. How can you read a story in the Daily News about a noose at Columbia University, and a noose in Queens, and not make the “noose” connection to what happened in Jenna. They say things like “I wonder what she did to piss of the person that did that?” Once again why would she have had to do anything, they find anyway to lay the blame for an incident on the Black person. They also made comments like “Why did this story make, the front cover of the paper” As if the Yankees loosing is more important, to their world. The mentality literally makes me hot, like I can really feel myself getting hotter. I know I should let these things bother me, but they do. There is an interesting article about that in regard to the health of Black men, but I digress again. (Check the article out here: http://www.latimes.com/features/health/la-he-blackmen24sep24,0,4092176.story?coll=la-home-middleright )

Then you have some of these Negros, which speak from an educated yet, subservient position. They find any reason to co sign the ridiculous comments of the white folks, and will look at you like you are the unruly one if you speak up. There is woman at my job that said “I don’t know why the students are protesting, or why they are planning a walkout. Its not Like Columbia can do anything, what do they expect Columbia to do, ban twine and rope on campus.” It’s almost as if she enables some of the thoughts of the white folks by:

A. dismissing the incident as trivial and

B. suggesting that the students at Columbia demanding some sort of action about the incident is inconsequential.

I think her comments pissed me off more that the white peoples. I know her comments don’t actually co sign the comments of white people, but it a shame that she doesn’t see it.

I tried my best to drop some sanity into the conversation, by trying to connect the Jenna Six, to the incident at the deaf university, to the naval academy, to the Queens story, to the historical framework of the whole issue. Instead of bringing some understanding to the conversation do you know what I get? I get the infamous “Angry Black Man Look”. For those of you who don’t know what the “Angry Black Man Look” is Ill explain. It a warning look that I think white people and Negros have developed that alerts them to try to cool a conversation down, because they don’t want to push too much in an environment where there may be repercussions. They will push you enough to get a rise, but when they all get the feeling that “The Angry Black Man” might come out, and then they try to pacify the conversation, by putting on the “Angry Black Man Face” in the room face. I know this may sound silly, but I swear there must be some research out their that will support my theory. But, I digress.

The fact that they make these faces, and put out this kind of calm down energy pisses me off also. If I was going to flip I would have along time ago (any one who knows me, knows that to be the truth), and secondly why can’t I explain what I think on an issue, without resulting to smacking them around. As much as I would like to some time, I understand that would add fuel to the fire already burning in their mind. I have more formal “education” than everyone who was in the conversation, yet I still get the “Angry Black Man Face”. Why am I surprised, beats me, this consequently further aggravates me because I know it shouldn’t bother me but it does. Why would my level of education stop such riduculous comments, I know this quite clearly, but often I cant escape my thoughts!! Some would say this is some sort of class struggle, but I don't think so, I think its just the after affects of society on my brain. But I digress, again, sorry.

I guess the moral of the story is you can’t fix them, so why worry about. I should focus my time and energy in trying to help people that can actually be reached by my effort. Those are the people I should have a lot more patients with: my extended family, friends, siblings, wife, cousins, parents, grand parents, neighbors, students, community etc. etc. Why worry about folks that are designed to act the way they act. Changing them isn’t going to help my cause or change the condition in which our community exsits; helping people help each other will help my cause. We can all help each other; I obviously have some issues I need to workout also, I can definitely use some help. LOL

For all of you that are reading this at work don’t let the “crazy bald heads” as Bob Marley put it get you down. I think a big part of what holds the power inside off us back, is that we spend so much time trying to fix them, and very little time trying to help each other. This blog is a way we can help each other, VENT PEOPLE, VENT!!! We have all the time in the world to discuss the impact of socialism v. capitalism, whether or not we should use the “N” word, or the validity of Christ reality versus the pictures that are hanging in many of your churches. Best believe we’ll get to all that, but some times we just need to VENT. “Knowledge of Self” as the Egyptians and Ethiopians would say is of the up most importance, and absolutely essential to solving the problems in our lives. But, I’m sure even the Egyptians and Ethiopians would have to take a break just to VENT for a minute, even if it was just to chit chat about the temperature out their in the Nile River Valley. LOL You now have a place where you can do that, among people that will understand. This whole blog thing started from you guys talking about my long e mails discussing why I was bothered about something. You might as well join in the fun while we got the space and an audience. I get e mail responses from all of you and it's cool, but I think some of you have some great things to say, that should be shared with every one that reads the blog. It only takes a minute to sign up, trust me its therapeutic.

In short, Check those "crazy bald heads" if you have too, but otherwise don’t raise your blood pressure worrying about what Suzy thinks about the Jenna Six or Columbia University, in all reality, doesn’t matter anyway. What matters is how we are going to affect our own destiny and how we are going to regain “Knowledge of Self”. (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bN1KYkeBYTk&mode=related&search= , http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rKn4k389-nA&mode=related&search= http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TAHKGlQpJUo&mode=related&search= We shouldn’t concern ourselves with fixing Suzy, or worrying about why she is so stupid. I bet if most of us would stop worrying about Suzy so much and focus more on our community our blood pressure wouldn't be so high. That just my theory, I don't know if there is any reseach to back me up. LOL

Marvo