A Black ‘Soul Check, One-Two,’ On the Social Consciousness Spike ‘n Perry Mic

You Get What You Pay For So Pay Spike’s Price, or Get Perry’s Buffoonery.

In Life you get what you pay for and Black folks have chosen apathy, materialism and entertainment over activism.  We lack the social consciousness or motivation to do anything significant about our dismantled family units, double unemployment rate, on-going poverty, or our exclusion from TV and Film (other than playing buffoons).  And when we do get a “decent” show like, say  “Undercovers,” most of us look for flaws and don’t support it.

Only the truth can set you free, and the truth is that too many Black folks are great at talkin’ loud, but doin’ nothin’.

You know, an empty can always makes the most noise?

Case and point:  I participated in an online vote on a Black website asking which filmmaker I prefer, Spike Lee, or Tyler Perry – two filmmakers whose works represent polar opposites.  Upon clicking on the results, I disappointingly discovered Perry won with 69 percent of the vote to Spike’s 29 percent.

The vote results reflect the some in the Black community’s corrupted mindset and is another example of why our families and community has deteriorated over the last 30 years or so.  The vote results also reveal that we cannot be taken seriously and do not have the mental fortitude to overcome our dire circumstances or fight racism.

Is that an empty can I hear rolling down the street?

From “School Daze” to “Inside Man,” Spike’s movies are complex, while Perry goes for laughs in drag.  Just one of Spike’s messages: be a man Black man; Perry’s message:  Black boys, you can be a girl if you want to.  One must conclude that even those Black’s who were educated and technologically adept enough to read an online survey and vote, obviously cannot differentiate the importance of Spike’s work from Tyler’s buffoonery.

How did we get here?

Part of the reason is that there are no Black leaders we can trust anymore.  Tavis Smiley doesn’t want to discuss why he led Black folks to sub-prime loans with Wells Fargo.  A large number of our pastors are nothing but pimps, and Black people at Pastor Eddie Long’s church even stood and cheered after discovering that it’s more than likely that he abused young Black boys.  Disgusting!  And Al Sharpton is quieter now that he’s been placated and given a seat at Obama’s table.  Not to mention that Spike, who often criticizes Perry and others, designed a logo for Absolute Vodka (as if we need more Black alcoholics).

Additionally, the NY Times reported that from 2004 to 2008, the Congressional Black Caucus (CBC) collected about $55 million from corporations and unions, including the exploitative rent-to-own industry, and spent more on its annual dinner party, $700,000, than it did giving out scholarships in 2008.  And some CBC members were giving scholarship money to their families.

Black folk’s insanity is also revealed by way of our blind support for President Obama (received over 90 percent of Black vote), who refuses to put Race/Racism on his agenda, much less do anything politically for Black people (told the CBC, “no special treatment”).  It’s been 40 or 50 years since the civil rights movement and we’ve regressed as a people, outside of a few Blacks making more money and superficial “firsts” like a Black president being voted into office.

The bottom line is we, Black people, are really the leaders we’re always looking for.  So step up or step off and be quiet.

Why Do We Watch?

Hollyweird and advertisers will continue to feed the Black community an abundance of comedies like “Norbit” and “Big Mammas House” as long as they see that we prefer the Intellectual Low Road.

Even Black networks – BET, Centric TV, and TV One – who are supposed to uplift us, fill their programming schedules with reruns like “Martin” and “Sanford & Son” from 15 to 30 years ago.

Hey, Mr. Hollyweird, did you say just throw them Blackies some old cans and they’ll relate to the empty noise every time?

Most Black folks are so disconnected from their spiritually conservative roots that you can turn on any type of media outlet and even hear Blacks like Russell Simmons calling other Blacks homophobic.  Well, uhhhhhhhmmmm, isn’t that being heterophobic?  But such is the “twistedness” of Black people.  Our priorities need to focus on a Black Agenda that fights racism, because you cannot hide being Black or avoid the daily, immediate, dire consequences of racism.

Also, Black women are going to have to give up the bogus Down Low Black man myth meant to further destroy the Black male image, like is being done by the “The Real Housewives of Atlanta.”  In fact, there are more men wearing heels and dressed like women on that show than straight men. Glamorizing Black men in heels and halter tops will not rebuild our decimated Black family units.    Black men in heels cannot “chase” down racism, nor do they want to.

And putting Antione Dodson, the effeminate Black caricature, on the BET Awards shows Black people have lost their damn minds.  Or are they just shuckin’ and jivin’ for their Viacom Plantation Owners?

Say, Mr. Mainstream, are you really so threatened by Black intelligence and talent that you have to go out of your way to find and glamorize our emptiest cans to degrade us?

Tell me, why should other communities respect Black people when we don’t respect ourselves?

Our we have become such a jaded people that we are now comfortable with being walking contradictions with no manners or class.  For example, I just watched a video of Charlie Murphy telling a Grambling University audience – “Fuck You” and drop the check he received from the college on the stage after they started booing him.  But they had it coming to them.  Unfortunately, you can’t be nice when Black folks are on the Black-on-Black Put Down warpath.

Similarly, I’ve been appalled at the criticism of Toni Braxton after her second bankruptcy filing.  For some strange reason, Black people who don’t have any talent or have never achieved anything, actually pride themselves on ridiculing and booing successful Blacks who’ve achieved more than they ever will in their entire lives.  This has always amused me.  You can’t do better, but have so much to say.   Toni Braxton faces ridicule, and the “teenager breast signing” Nicki Minaj is a role model and contemporary hero.

Uhhhmm, is anyone going to pick those cans up?

Too bad for our Black children.  We have failed them.  The ghettos remain; most Black people are still acting like cowards in the workplace; and we still cannot get along.

Shame On Us!!!

After awhile, mainstream America is going to feel like there are too many “empty cans” lying in the Nation’s Street, and somebody’s going to come through the Black Community to clean up what they see as the rest of the garbage.  In fact, the Prison Industrial Complex has been cleaning up by locking us up for 30 years.

Yes, Black people should really be worried.