bohemian wrote: It simply a shame to admit it, but black americans (and plenty of other blacks around the world for that matter) are in a horrible predicament. The "sympotoms" that you all are describing are the result of our callous history here in america. I think that blacks are responding to the mistreatment in a deppressed manner. THIS IS OUR MAIN PROBLEM!!!
>> LOW SELF ESTEEM & PRIDE - we find that we are unable to be proud of the same things as white families (financial prosperity, livable surroundings, numerous excellent institutions of education, etc.), so we invent a world of materialism and consumptionism in order to make up for our social lacking. this is why we begin to degenrate toward flashy clothes, jewelry and cars. like ****, they temporarily soothe the pain that springs from the dogmatically belived notion that we are inferior and therefore should aim for other lower things in life. (Examples of this notion are apparent in the black belief that "standard engilsh" is synonymous with "selling out" or not being "down" seeing as how we tend to think that we are not meant to speak English on a level that is considered "educated". lots of blacks dont value education, so why value educated speech?).
SOLUTIONS:
>> racial/human pride should be promoted among young blacks (not the type that spurs hatred, but the type that spurs confidence and understanding of the self.).
>>more should be done by BLACKS to establish and maintain control of our own public/private instituions (i.e., hospitals, schools, businesses, etc).
>>GET RID OF BET!!!!!!!!! and start the Hip Hop Reformation/Renassaince!! lol
Peace...
totally agree wit those solutions and those problems. And I am sure countless others think the same way. HOWEVER, and I ain't tryna come down on you, but what do YOU yourself plan on doing to make our predicament better??
hot_coco wrote: I think the problem with young people idolizing the people they see on TV is that some forget that they are not real. People in the industry produce an image that they can sell. You do not know Jay Z or Lil John personally. Why idolize someone you don't know on a personal level and will never meet.
I also blame some of the older generations that are slowly leaving us young adults with no one to look up to, and us young adults who are doing the same to our younger generations. You can't look up to a father that isn't there (fellas). You can't look up to a mother that doesn't respect herself as a woman (ladies). So now young people turn to the TV instead of their own community. It's a cycle
I agree with you as well. One of the main problems is our lack of positive role models in our faces. The Black family is practically inexistent now, and blacks in the media don't really act in ways that should inspire young people to want to follow them. As far as I am concerned, the only young black man I look up to is P, Russell as well. They made it to the top and didn't have to hustle crack to get there. Big ups to P. Diddy...wit his dancin' a$$. And Russell wit his...uhm.....whateva.
