Its funny being an African immigrant in America (that doesn’t make me African American by the way) and reading the headlines. Today I was going through my Facebook feed and it turns out America (mainly black America) is triggered about some young women (who happen to be white) and Kanye West fans.
The sorority sisters at the University of New Hampshire were celebrating some new intakes and had Gold digger by Kanye West thumping in the background. We all know the lyrics,
“She was spose to buy ya shorty TYCO with ya money
She went to the doctor got lypo with ya money
She walking around looking like Micheal with ya money
Should of got that insured got GEICO for ya money”
Seems like the sisters of Alpha Phi Sorority should have got that GEICO for singing the hook to the song which goes, “Now I ain’t saying she a gold digger/But she ain’t messing with no broke niggas.”
Seems a large portion of black America is triggered that they sang the words to the song out loud and posted the video on social media.
In an America, where people can get triggered just because you are wearing a Make America Great Again hat, it is safe to say there is no need to be surprised about why people are angry about this.
But black America please the hypocrisy needs to stop. At the risk of being called all kinds of coons, we need to stop acting like words are that important. Especially the words to a hip hop record that even 6 year olds were singing along to when the song was more popular and probably some till today, if their parents happen to be Kanye fans.
It was just a record and they are just music fans. If we spend our time looking for something sinister in every innocent intention, like when a white woman wears braid and she is accused of cultural appropriation, or when a police officer is doing his job and he is accused of racism because he is white. Not to say that there are no instances of cultural appropriation or racism but it seems we as a people there is a need to focus on the mundane in order to feel empowered, but where does the conversation lead.
Why has there been no outcry from the black community about all the racism in hip hop music directed at white people? Lyrics containing crackers, rednecks, white devil etc. You cannot allow behavior from your people and try to criticize it when it stems from others. The scales of equity can never fall in your favor under those circumstances.
And even if CNN attends all your rallies funded by the opposition, you will never be more than the boy who cried wolf till everyone got tired of paying attention.
The world is watching. The Black Lives Matter movement is a fallout of the Fuck the Police movement of the 90’s. Where was your outrage then? When black men instead of going to school and joining the force, were picking up legacy jail sentences for drugs, violence?
The most affluent black American demographic in this country probably does not comprise of the descendants of black slaves, yet other blacks are coming into America, and becoming very wealthy.
They are not focused on who is singing along to the niggas in songs, but they are going to school to the Doctorate level; starting businesses leveraging on funds for minorities etc
There needs to be a paradigm shift in thought for the black mind. Vindictiveness and bitterness will not build any monuments and win any wars. We must put aside childish things and focus on lofty ideas and ideals.
Leave the sorority sisters and focus on your neighborhood, your contribution and your legacy to the world. Because it seems the most famous words at this time, are the ones in rap lyrics. Is that the legacy we want to leave? A legacy of explicit lyrics.
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