The bigger issue.

I have been seeing a lot of posts like this lately, and quite frankly its starting to irritate me.  Its true politicians, as well as police officers are less likely to lose employment over domestic violence issues.

Although I agree that there is a huge double standard here, I am questioning whether the men who are posting think that all these men including Rice need to get fired for hitting women, or that if the politicians, and policeman did not get fired, Rice should not get fired either.

If its the latter of the two, which I am going to assume that it is for the majority of men posting these types of memes.

The NFL did try to throw Ray Rice under the bus in order to try and save their image.  Although they got caught, does that make Ray Rice any less wrong for hitting a woman?

 I think the bigger issue is ignored. All these men that use physical violence against women to express themselves are wrong, and thats what gets lost when memes like this are posted.

I am not sure what the penalty should be, but I lean more towards a zero tolerance, but, do not totally cut them off stance.  Provide help for men and women in those situations.

The bigger issue is that men need to keep their hands off of women.

Cultural Analysis of African American males Hip Hop. Part 1. Misogynistic Hip Hop lyrics

Although I feel like in some cases hip-hop does represent all black people both men and women in a very positive manner, the majority of mainstream hip-hop is dominated by misogyny.

Hip-hop reinforces the welfare mom stereotype, it justifies men not raising their kids, and it justifies and promotes domestic violence.  Most young black men do not realize how sexist they really are.  Unaware of the power of our words, we totally ignore the fact that we make it twice as hard for black women to grow, mentally, emotionally, socially, and financially. 

We rarely hear male rappers, spitting positive lyrics about women.  Not saying that these lyrics are nonexistent, simply saying they do not receive enough attention in the mainstream. 

There are rappers that make a conscious effort to use respectful lyrics when speaking about women.  One that comes to mind is Common.  He is not as popular within mainstream hip hop.  Although corporations recognize his talent, they do not necessarily want to hear his message.  Some black males reject Common altogether due to his lyrical approach, and consider him extremely soft.    

Some rap contradicts itself, by honoring a women for her love and devotion, but still comes off as misogynistic due to the fact that the male rapper is referring to his love as a bitch. 

One example comes from the second most influential hip hop artist of my time, Biggie Smalls.  A hip-hop “classic”, an inner city love anthem titled “Me and My Bitch”.  I totally ignored the word bitch, and just thought it was a good song.  Recently, I listened to it again. 

The lyrics suggest that Biggies girlfriend was more of a sidekick than an actual girlfriend or partner.  He talks about beating her if she acts up.  He talks about cheating on her from time to time.  In the end his actions actually got her killed. 

Another example that comes to mind is T.I.’s “Chilling with my Bitch”.  It’s another example of a song in which the young male is clearly expressing his affection for his lady.  Again I feel like the lyrics suggest T.I.’s woman is more of a sidekick. 

  The fact that he is announcing that he is going to take a day to hang out with his lady suggests that this is not his lady at all, but rather the female he shows more affection compared to other women the young man is messing with.  Instead of hanging with friends he makes an exception to hang out with his lady.  As a man, that seems backwards, but as a young man I thought that he was a good man for deciding to hang out with his “bitch”.     

 This ideology is common among African American males both young and old.  Although they may not be intentionally trying to make songs that promote infidelity; Fact of the matter is, they are. Biggie’s song takes it a step further casually talking about beating her.    

Biggie, and T.I. add another obstacle to the already complex task of repairing the black family.  How do we erase the idea that it is okay to cheat on our women?  More importantly than that, how do we erase the idea that it’s okay to hit our women?  The idea has been embedded into the majority of young black males through movies, politics, TV, sports, school, and music.    

Although most men do not realize it, the word Bitch is the most disrespectful word you can call a woman.  It is the equivalent to the word nigger for black people.  It’s been used to subjugate and oppress women for centuries.  It’s hard to find mainstream rap music that does not use the word bitch to describe a woman.

One could make an argument that mainstream hip-hop influences how the white dominant culture view black women. 

All men, white black or whatever justify the use of the word bitch by pointing out a woman’s actions.  These actions in some cases can be as small as a woman ignoring a man trying to hit on her, or something that truly hurts, like a woman using a man, showing him affection with the sole purpose to receive money and other gifts.

 I may be speaking from a misogynistic point of view but I really do not like when humans take advantage of each other in any capacity, but especially when it comes to emotional and mental stability.

Black men are either unaware, or genuinely disinterested in the consequences of their negative lyrics towards black women, they give all other men and women of other ethnicities permission to judge and form negative false perceptions of black women.

The reality is that black women are the hardest working demographic in the nation.  For every 100 black men in college there are 200 black women.  The lyrics we hear on the radio do not reflect that.  There have been many attempts by men to distinguish what type of women is a bitch.  My favorite rapper Tupac Shakur, has lyrics full of misogyny.  Tupac has a song called “Wonder why they call you Bitch”. 

Tupac uses a misogynistic moral approach basically saying a women is a bitch for reasons as follows:

·         A women that only talks to rich men, or men she thinks are rich either based on deception by the man, or just an assumption made by the woman based on the visual appearance of the male.

·         Sleeps with lots of men.  The fact that a man regardless of the amount of sexual partners he has can determine whether or not a woman is morally wrong is a contradiction in itself.  Whether we agree with a person’s actions, it should never give us the right to label a person.  One of the most common sayings in the inner city is “you cannot turn a hoe into a house wife.”  Some men right now would tell you this statement is true. So caught up in image, some would actually leave a woman with “bad” reputation.  It can be as bad as a young man leaving a woman to raise the child on her own. 

Another artist who has tried to distinguish the difference between “bitches” and “women” is Jay-Z.  One song of his comes to mind, is off the Blueprint 2, titled “Bitches and Sistes”. 

In “bitches and sistes”, Jay-Z compares what “women” do, to what “bitches” do.  He bases this off his experience with women.  Although he may not realize it, Jay-Z is attempting to define womanhood from a male’s point of view.

 That’s where we have to take a step back and ask ourselves is it our place to do that?  Some would say yes.  I however feel that if we try and define womanhood, without any idea of what it’s like to be a woman we end up with a very blurry view of what a woman should and should not be.

Without a women’s perspective to counter this song, this message becomes a dominant view.

 Tupac and Jay-Z are the biggest rappers of their respective times.  The influence they have over the masses is comparable to the Beatles, Elvis, or any other big star who influenced the culture of not only their communities but the world.  So when men hear these types of songs, they buy into these lyrics.  They don’t think about alternative ways to view women. 

Although I do not like the word bitch when used to refer to a woman.   I cannot write off hip hop because of that. 

As I write this, I have gone back and forth as to whether or not these men are wrong for using these misogynistic lyrics.  I cannot answer that. 

I keep getting caught up on the fact that at one point if not now, these kids, as well as men were expressing themselves and talking about what they experienced.  As I have gone back and listened to all these songs, I hear the hate, and anger towards themselves as well as women.  I question how black critics of Hip Hop, like Maxine Waters, and Oprah ignored these lyrics, and simply wrote them off as disrespectful. 

Not one person listened to the music and thought, that although the language was a problem, the bigger issue was how these kids came to think the way they did? 

If we eliminate the root of the problem than it’s much easier to eliminate negative views of women. 

One would have to look at the 70’s and the dismantling of the black panthers, Blaxploitation movies and the glorification of the pimp.  Look at the crack epidemic of the 80s, and the breakdown of the family. 

Boys growing up resenting their mothers for things ranging from choices in men, and/or drug use, to working long hours.  It may be a result of having a father who beats and disrespects his lady.  So many potential issues that are ignored when questioning the use of misogynistic lyrics. 

The biggest issue is the absence of other views to counter the misogyny.  In the 90s you had female MCs like Mc Lyte, and Queen Latifah, as well as male MCs in the mainstream that would balance out the ultra-misogynistic views of other artists.  Sad to say, that’s not the case today. 

Even the biggest female rap artist Nicki Minaj uses the word bitch to describe herself.  I don’t agree, from a male perspective, it seems like she is setting women back a few decades.

 I am not a woman though, it would be 

interesting to know what the majority of women thought about Nikki Minaj? 

 

I want to take this subject a step further, in the next few weeks I am going to write about specific terms that perpetuate hatred towards woman. 

M.O.B., which stands for money over bitches.  Another term is bad bitch which I still don’t get.  

Cultural Analysis of African American males. Intro

Although African Americans are not in control of structural barriers like racial discrimination, and lack of employment opportunities. We are in control of certain aspects of our culture.  It is vital to identify what aspects of our culture are hindering our progress as a community. 

Athletics, music, and street life are the three areas of urban black male culture that I want to focus on. One could make an argument that young black males have adopted the very ideals that have been used to oppress the black community.  There are issues within all three areas that legitimize this idea.

I wanted to start off with music considering the fact that it is the most powerful of the three areas. The majority of music we hear on the radio stems from some original form of black music.  Music actually encourages young kids to go into both street life, as well as athletics.   Music has always been a large part of African American culture.  Hip-Hop specifically,  has been the voice of urban black males since the mid 80’s. 

At one point in time Hip Hop was anti-establishment.  The people who created hip-hop were the ones not allowed within the establishment.  Now you have descendants of the original wave of hip hop artists who have capitalized off the initial rise and success of hip hop, and used capitalism in order to progress financially on an individual basis. 

Hip-hop is still the voice of young African American males in America.  The difference between now and then is that the amount of voices in which we are exposed to is very limited.  This is due to the fact that African American males do not control their own voice. This is another issue I will be writing about in the next few weeks.     

It was mandatory for rap artists lyrics to make people think.  Yes, there have always been exceptions, dance music, pop, different fads that come and go.  But when you get down to it, a good hip hop song is supposed to paint a picture, and make you bob your head.  You should come away feeling like you just learned some shit, even if what you leaned was a new dance.  What these young black artists do not realize is that corporations are exploiting them, and have no concern over what message is sent out to the masses as long as it makes money.  Music can be very dangerous in the wrong hands. 

Hip-Hop is my favorite form of music.  Sad to say, the impact on the community is not always positive.  The ideals we hear within hip-hop to a large degree reflect the white male dominant culture.  Misogynistic lyrics, glorification of black on black violence, and an absence of intellectual/revolutionary lyrics that were prevalent in the 90s are the issues within hip hop that I am going to focus on.

Is Floyd Mayweather dumb?

I remember years ago watching Allen Iversons post game interview after a great game during his rookie season in the NBA.  As I listened to Iverson speak, I noticed his public speaking skills were horrible.  I told my dad, who was watching with me, that Iverson was dumb due to his poor use of the English language.

My father got really upset and told me "never determine a persons intelligence by how they speak. or how well they can read.  Intelligence is way more than that." Over the years I have come fully understand what he means.  Although reading is extremely important, not knowing how to read does not make a person dumb. 

So when I hear Floyd Mayweather struggle with reading, I do not consider him a dummy.

It is unfortunate that he can not read from the stand point that he is one of the most notable black athletes of his generation.

However, if you look at what he has done from a business standpoint, he is either a smart business man, or smart enough to have people around him that make excellent business choices.  He is also  intelligent enough to not allow himself to be exploited.  There are many athletes out there that speak as if they majored in Public Speaking, that are not intelligent enough to understand that they are the commodity and someone else is making lots of money off of their sweat.

In that sense, Floyd Mayweather is an example all black athletes should take note of, as he capitalizes on his dominance, and popularity.  He is powerful enough to stop the Mayweather-Pacquio fight which would have gone done as the biggest fight financially speaking in boxing history.  Floyd Mayweather established that he will do what he wants, based on his own rules period, regardless of  what critics think about him.

With that said, I can not escape the fact that he is sending the wrong message to our youth, in the aftermath of clips of him struggling to read promo cards surfaced.  Although his illiteracy has not impacted him from making money and putting himself in a position to possibly never have to work again, he should not send the message that its okay to be illiterate if one has money.  So what I cant read I have money, is a horrible message.  That type of message should never be okay.  Reading is extremely important for our young.  Its nearly impossible to function without knowing how to read.  Hopefully he donates money to some reading foundation to show that he stresses the importance of reading for our youth.

The fact that he is a boxer makes it unrealistic and irresponsible to encourage kids to go his route, add that to the fact that he is the best at what he does makes his message that much more unrealistic.  The odds of one kid having the same type of career financially speaking as Floyd Maywether are slim to none, so a whole generation should not adopt the message that if I get money, I don't have to read.  

Is Floyd Mayweather a  positive role model?  I would say yes in some respects, despite his lack of reading ability he has not allowed that to stop him from being an extremely successful athlete that has been able to capitalize off his talent.  He is a role model for any boxer that wants to pursue a career in that field.  He is a role model for all athletes in some ways.  Mayweather is one of the hardest working athletes ever, he is consistent, and as much as he is on the scene he never allows that to affect his main priority which is boxing.  His involvement on the business side of boxing as I mentioned before should be studied and executed by other athletes.

While we have fun laughing at him for not being able to read.  Lets recognize that its a serious matter in some ways.  Lets also recognize Mayweathers ability to make power moves.  Not only does it take intelligence, it takes a forward thinker to realize he should be making the majority of money off his work.