Poor Pharrell.
He was trying to sound SO PROGRESSIVE when he tried to disassociate himself from Black people who are consistently hurt by the system that drips White Supremacy and who speak up about it on a regular basis.
He tried to illustrate that he is where he is because he no longer blames the White man, and decided that if he wanted to be successful, he just has to work for it.
That his skin color won’t stand in his way if HE doesn’t ALLOW it to.
That White people will admire and appreciate that, thus dismantling their privilege to let him into their club.
Poor Raven.
She, also, tried to sound very progressive when she said she didn’t want to be labeled African American because she doesn’t know how far back her lineage goes, but then labels herself…an American.
Then says she is colorless, because America should be that way. We should not see color, just people.
Because though people have different skin tones, and different cultures, we should ignore the skin tones instead of…embracing them.
… . .
See, the problem with Black people like Pharrell (the coiner of the term “New Black,” to the mainstream) is that they have this way of believing that we who fight for our civil rights are fighting a fight unnecessary. They’re the type who are tired of talking about race, who point out Black-on-Black crime when we speak of police killing us, who believe we can live if we dress/behave the part. “New Blacks,” as Pharrell calls them, live in this mental state where the issues Black people face on a regular are things they bring onto themselves, and that if they want it to stop, dance the jig. They don’t take into consideration that there are many hard working Black people who get shat on regularly, getting fired with no financial preparation, get their businesses taken away, and who aren’t given chances. That there are Black men and women who wear suits, get degrees, weren’t raised in an environment where ebonics were spoken, who get Caesar cuts and perm their hair, and yet STILL get killed by police.
The thing about being Black is that White people will always see you as such, and to them, it won’t be a good thing. Doesn’t matter if you’ve been able to pop champagne with them in the same room, or have had them call you to play mini golf in their 40 acre backyard. Doesn’t matter if they let you produce their album, and doesn’t matter if they funded your film. You may be the exception, where they’ll ridicule another Black person who doesn’t “dress the part” or “speak properly,” and then praise you because you do. But you may also be the exception that they praise, all while giving an under qualified white person the promotion you’ve worked so hard for because, well, y’know… “I get you, I know who you are, but… the big guys? They don’t. And they don’t want to. No hard feelings, right?”
RIGHT.
Someone said that Black people shouldn’t penalize this specific group of people because they’re living in the ideologies we’ve been taught for years by our parents, just so we stay safe.
Uh … you do realize a lot of these people have SEEN and/or EXPERIENCED the racism that plagues this world on a regular? Have lived the same hardships, and, because they “made it out,” have now believed they did it because they choose to not allow those same hardships to “define” them? These people are smart enough to understand what it is that they’re saying. They just choose to ignore how problematic it is because, hey, if they got out, you can, too.
But as Jay-Z said in his book, “Decoded”:
If you encounter someone Pharrell considers a “New Black,” either use a small percentage of your time to school them, or walk the other way.
If there’s anything I’m learning on this journey to understanding and embracing my Blackness, it’s that YOU CAN’T SAVE EVERYBODY.
titsay
germansingergirl
prguitarman
jacobvanloon
discoholicmusic
areudirty
