February is the month of the year set aside to school the country on the contribution of blacks. This is usually done by pandering to black audience via shoddy documentaries that repeat the same black history fact over and over again, showing “black” movies that are about black historical figures, and there is usually a gospel choir or four involved too. So it’s Wu Young to the rescue. I’m going to try to hip the world, meaning the Thirteen of you who read this to some new black facts and issues facing us. So throughout this month most of my posts are going to be extra black. Blacker than the middle of your eye. Blacker than Crunchy Black, Flavor Flav, and Yaphet Kotto floating on old tires in the middle of the ocean at 2:32 a.m. with heavy cloud cover and a slight northeasterly breeze. I hope y’all enjoy the next 20-some days.
A few weeks ago the nation, along with Toronto, Canada and Hiroshima, Japan celebrated Martin Luther King Jr's Birthday. It goes without saying but MLK was a peace loving cat. During the days following MLK day I thought about a few issues that MLK would stand behind and all I could come up with was keeping score. MLK obviously had to know how to endure things and let things go while he was striving to carve out a place for minorities, and the nations poor. Dude honestly turned the other cheek like no other. He simply didn’t keep score; he just played the game in front of him to ensure victory.
You see I'm the type of guy that holds a grudge. This is quite the character flaw but I'm working on it. In my quest to amend my little character quirk I began to realized that keeping score and holding grudges just takes too much damn energy. Energy that I can ill afford to misplace or squander of bulls*ta** things that I cannot do anything about.
On another blog that I read often I made the comment the we, members of the Legion of Those Who Are Darker-Hued [1] have a penchant for keeping score on issues, people, and things that we feel that have slighted us in the past. This due to our troubled history in the Diaspora, specifically these United States of America. The bulk of our time here has been one tiring up hill struggle after another. These struggles have shaped our racial persona in every way possible. It is the basis of the way we walk, talk, eat, pray and treat our fellow Americans who aren't members of the Legion of Those Who Are Darker-Hued and our fellow Legionnaires.
So anyhow, like I said MLK was all about peace and part of being at peace deals with letting things go. So after some thought, I decided to jot a few things down that I, as a member of the Legion think that my fellow legionnaires should stop keeping score on.
Black men ain't.../Black women ain't...
As far as counterproductive conversations go this one may be the absolute pointless.[2] Guess what? This conversation, no matter how it starts, only leads to hours of mindless disappointment with no clear resolution. (Kind of like playing Metroid or watching one of those Tavis Smiley style town hall meetings that they have on C-SPAN with all of the self-appointed so called black leaders that no black people that I know ever voted on.) No matter the outcome we have to stop going on about what black men and women do or don't do. (We should try doing it together sometimes. That could be a step in the right direction.) The same goes for what both sides in the debate are or aren't.
Light-skin/Dark-skin Issues.
*Yawn*
You’re in the skin you’re in.
I'm not even sure why this even matters anymore. It's insane to me. My inherent yellowness does not make me any better or worse than any one else. I’ve known this for about 27 of my 31 years. Black folks are the Crayola 64 pack of people. Our aforementioned history has allowed us to run the complexion gamut like very few races. (Puerto Ricans, Cubans, and Dominicans are other very colorful people.)
Many however, seek to use our complexions as a point of contention as to how we are treated by one another. This has come up as an issue in various arenas from being a news anchor to a video vixen. This doesn't matter in the grand scheme of things. Colorism among blacks is just another hindrance that we should leave behind us and stop keeping track of if we want to get ahead. I think we should look at this particular issue as a vestigial remain like our wisdom teeth. When they/it aren’t bothering us things are fine but when the issue/teeth arises or acts up bad times will be had by all. We don’t need them for anything whatsoever.
Besides when I look at Q-Tip, he says "Black is black!"
The Confederate Flag Issue
This one is mainly for my folks at the bottom of the map. This flag, the one that you see on bumper stickers and the General Lee IS NOT THE FLAG OF THE CONFEDERATE STATES OF AMERICA. It’s actually this one right here. I still don’t understand how symbols of treason can remain flying but this blog ain’t about that.
I really wish the NAACP would forego their head-long arguments against those who wish to keep this rag flying and fight a fight with a better prize. Fight for the improvement of schools along the Corridor of Shame. Work with local chambers of commerce to get jobs and job training to those you need. These two things are worth screaming and yelling about. How about trying to keep Alvin Greene out of office. That may be cool too.
Racial Slights/Who Hates Me
Remember when I said keeping score takes too much energy? Well keeping track of how may hate you for whatever reason is more tiring is even more tiring. Let it go. Yeah it’s cool to tell them to eff off occasionally but keep it moving. You’ve got your life to live so please do it.
These are just a few things that I thought of right off bat. I know there are more things that we as individuals can stand to get the hell over and stop keeping score/track/tally on but what are yours? Give me some more issues that we need to move past so that we can get our lives on track? Remember these are just things I think, so feel free to agree, disagree, or issue a fatwa against me if I upset you that much.
Vaya con Dios.
Question: What are some other "resolutions" that black folks as a whole need to adopt this black history month?
More from Wu Young [UpHereOnCloud9]
[1] This is my cutesy name for black folks. Forgive me, I don’t do cutesy well.
[2] By "counterproductive conversations" I mean "pointless screaming matches".
