Class Warfare in the Black Community

Have you ever wondered why hip hop entertainers are glorified in the black community, but people like Colin Powell and Clarence Thomas are not? What about the glorification of uneducated black leaders like Rev. Sharpton over educated models like Frederick Douglas?

If class warfare exists, it exists amongst the black race. We've seen countless incidents where blacks of one group were going for the throats of blacks of another group. We especially see it in our rampant gang activity in some black neighborhoods.

Blacks that don't care about education treat the blacks that do care as if they aren't "black enough". The old timely, outdated slave mind is what black people expect each other to have, and if they are smart, they are called an "uncle tom" or and "elitist". Totally unfair, right?

It's sort of like we try to scare each other into staying dumb and uneducated. I remember when I was in school, there was a couple of incidents when I would be reading, and another black student will come up and knock the book out of my hands as if there is something wrong with reading. For some reason, our culture thinks that education is pure nonsense.

If a black person grows up in the hood, he or she will be treated as if they are some kind of traitor if they choose to leave the community for something better. Even if they become wealthy, they are still expected to "think like a n*gger" in order to stay respected by the rest of the black community. This is why hip hop artists are put on a pedestal over other well deserving black role models. The crime, misogyny, and lack or morals in the black community is glamorized in hip hop music. These rich and famous hip hop artists are mentally still in the hood.

I listen to hip hop music myself, but I don't listen to it all the time because it can freeze your brain into one way of thinking. To me, hip hop is dumb music. If you listen to it too much, it will in fact make you dumb. The things that these rappers say are shameful, disrespectful, and they seldom use proper grammar! There is nothing to learn from them. They hardly know how to assert themselves, and these are the people that many young black kids listen to on a daily basis. That's the scary part.

Black people have been at the bottom for so long that we are convinced that we belong there. Anyone that wants to physically leave the bottom must mentally remain at the bottom in order to stay loyal to the rest of the black community.We too often identify with our lack of knowledge and education. It is almost like it means something special to us. We try to hold on to it as if it helps us to survive or something.

Black culture is one of mental bondage. Our culture has been created by those who are physically free from slavery, but mentally still a slave. 400 years of slavery taught blacks to self-destruct. We now limit our own opportunities, deny our own right to education, and tear down our own community! It is not white people that are doing this. It is all our fault at this point.The question is: when will we start to take responsibility for ourselves and change our bad habits?