The Rose That Grew From Concrete Still Has Thorns

I'm sitting here watching a CNBC re-broadcasting of Jay Leno & Conan O'Brien (I have a sick addiction to late night TV) and I'm suffering from a severe bout of writer's block. I've got a 2,000 word essay for my Movement class due on Tuesday (Thank God, I'll have Monday to procrastinate) and I can't think of any decent way to start the paper. Its another one of these open ended, BS essays that asks you to discuss some random paragraph long quote. No author, no context, just given to us to interpret & relate to our experience somehow. Shoot, it sounds like the professor just opened a book & pulled a random, nice sounding quote out of it at 11:52 the night beforehand. And you wonder why we students procrastinate? Anyway, I was looking for something to write about & get some exercise for the brain muscle, then I remembered that I wrote blog post in my journal last week. So, I'm gonna use this space to exercise my brain & hopefully be slightly entertaining as well.

Its been just over 2 weeks since Barack became our President elect. Elation, pride, & relief could be felt as soon as the final image was final projected on our TV screens. We had done it. We finally got it right. Our voice will finally be reflected in our Government (fingers crossed, knock on wood, and all that good stuff; I got the 4 leaf clovers too, so we're covered). And until we the brotha takes office, we're all gonna party (literally and figuratively) like its 2099. We got white people blasting will.i.am's Obama songs in celebration, while the Us's are bumpin Jeezy's "My President Is Black" like its our new national anthem. But what happens when the party's over? What happens when the reality sets in that this brotha ain't the only person with a job to do?

The aftermath after this momentous occasion has left me feeling a little unsettled though. It seems like some people's rationality has been blinded by our good fortune and faith. It reminds me of the unsettled feeling you get sometimes after eating a really good meal. I know its a random metaphor, but let me explain myself. It's like we've been eating poorly for years (a Super Size Me last 8 years) and then we get the bright idea to get in better shape before we really hit rock bottom. So we spend all day cooking & finally get this healthy, energy boosting meal to feast on. We're drinking red wine with it, feeling so good that we start to sing and dance with whoever is around, but in the midst of it all, our stomach still rumbles a lil bit. We may wanna forget, but we can't shake the fact that our body is still sick & that one healthy feast ain't gonna cure us no time soon. Once again, I admit its strange, but it serves its purpose.

From damn near every Irish person I spoke with last week, I heard that "America's back!" and that we've instantly got our credibility back. Then I started hearing from celebrities & public figures such as Oprah, Will Smith, and Al Sharpton (I already know, but lemme make my point) that "Black people's excuses are all gone" and "Rappers will have to change their image since Barack will be the new image of Black cool". After those statements, I'm reading some of my favorite political blogs and seeing comments from Black conservatives gloating about how the rest of the Us's would start coming over to their way of thinking now that we can see that hardwork alone can afford us the same opporuntity as anyone else in this country. No matter how ridiculous these statements are, the sentiment that reeks from them diminishes the history of African-Americans and lacks the nuance and thoughtfulness that would appropriately reflect Obama's triumph.

At first, I just brushed it all off. Its whatever, everyone's entitled to their own opinion. But eventually, it started to irk me. It ain't just a matter of opinion, some stuff is just wrong. I mentioned in another post how it irked me when some of my fellow American classmates over here act all ashamed of being American in front of our Irish counterparts. So, now I'm starting to take offense to Irish folk (and I'm sure the rest of Europe too) telling me that America instantly has regained credibility. You ain't gotta tell me about Bush's fuckups, I remember both elections clearly & knew better than to vote for his dumbass back in 2000 (and I was only 13!), but let's not act get too crazy now. America's still at the top of the food chain & if we ain't doin good there's gonna be major rammifications for everybody else (i.e. the economy), so stop throwing rocks at the throne.

As for Will & Oprah, I love y'all, but Negroes please! Stop peddling this idea that all Black people do is complain about our situation & racial harmony has arrived. Y'all just got another in your stratosphere of mega successful Black people who White people don't necessarly think of as "Black" anymore, but that don't mean that you gotta throw the rest of us under the bus. There ain't but so much room in your category, so instead of acting like we all should be where y'all are at (which is an impossibility in our capitalistic society) maybe y'all should help us do better at our level. Some of us aren't making excuses, but rather looking at facts & reading up on our history and asking why so much has stayed the same as we've progressed so far. Instead of being helpful with those soundbites, they're up there stiring the pot of confusion.

Al Sharpton. I respect dude's history & his efforts on behalf of our civil rights, but he stays losin when it comes to speaking on Hip-Hop (among other things). Yeah, Barack is cool as a polar bear's toenails (OutKast all day, ery'day), even Ebony magazine said so. But does he think that we can only have one image of cool at a time? Just as 50 Cent only represents a small portion of us, Barack only represents a portion of us too. What Hip-Hop needs, and this specifically applies to its images, is balance. At one time, you could hear Biz Markie on the radio as much as Kool G Rap. Beautiful, that's what we need. Little Brother should get as much play as G-Unit. Wale should be as uqibutous as Lil Wayne. And Jim Jones, Shawty Lo, and Soulja Boy should be silenced forever. That would improve the image problem in Hip-Hop & for Black youth, not just funneling kids from one image to the other.

I'm not even gonna waste my fingers (pause) on them Black conservatives. To even be one means that they're past talking to or about. But I suppose my point is that what happened on Nov. 4th, as of right now, only means that we're willing to give change a chance. Whether it really happens or not is up to us. The economy is still in the tank, we're still at war, still occupying other countries, still racially divided, still denying rights to homosexuals, still underpaying teachers & underfunding schools, etc etc. For every good thing we have going, we got another huge issue to face, and so is life. Let's keep that in perspective as we continue to move on from here.