Brandelyn: Lyrical Contradiction

Sometimes I feel like my life comes full circle and the things that I experience are not new or even surprising. The other day, my friend and I went to see Blades of Glory and we had about an hour before the show started so we went to Borders to hopefully find a good book. Yeah right. We rolled to the minuscule black section, which was literally one small shelf and I don’t know why, but I found myself shocked by the titles that accosted my eyes. “The Good Girls pole riding club” and “Thong on Fire,” sat right next to the 30 copies of “Their Eyes were Watching God” and “The Color Purple.” As I continued to glance over the dozens of Zane books, I really began to wonder, where is Black America heading?

            Last night I found myself excited about watching the finale of I Love New York. The show I swore up and down I would not support, eventually became a part of my weekly routine. As I watched a Black woman behave in a truly sad manner, and as I watched a black man berate her, I really got sad. Every day it seems that there are more and more negative stereotypes being perpetuated around Black people. The truly sad part is that the media isn’t even responsible anymore. We are. We are the one who are falling into the ‘Sex sells’ trap and allowing our brothers and sisters to be exploited so some higher up can sit in his office and collect the dollars. Our sections in national bookstores are filled with Toni Morrison and Zane, with very little in between. It truly is no wonder why our kids are starting to have sex in elementary school and discuss their sexual exploits with pride, young brothers earning an invisible badge of honor for each young woman they desecrate. It is no wonder our young sisters don’t know that it is okay not to give a man your body just to get his attention, and that it is not a sign of affection to call your friend Bitch as though it was her name. Where are the positive role models? Now even the teenage television shows and music is focused on sex and getting ahead. Where are the mentors and adults who are willing to step out of their “I gotta get mine” mentality and teach our kids that this is not okay?

            We need to take back our culture. We need to take back all of the beautiful and powerful pieces of our past and apply them to our future. Or better yet, we need to take those things and apply them to our right now. Maybe I’m getting older, but it irritates me to see young black kids standing on the corner screaming and running around and cussing and looking like they are ready to fight. Who can teach our kids to have more pride in themselves, in where they come from? Allowing our children to assimilate into “popular culture’ is going to eventually kill off any sense of self we may have. Pretty soon drinking water will be completely replaced by drinking red soda. Reading will be completely replaced by television and I wouldn’t even be surprised if Black face came back into the mainstream. Something has to be done. Some changes have to be made. I long for the day when I can walk into a book store and not see images of Black women sliding down poles and bending over to show their thong on the covers of books. I long for the day when music videos will make sense and being half naked won’t be the mark of success.

            To all of my fellow artists, it’s up to us to start taking things back. We have such an opportunity to do something powerful.  Maybe this revolution can start with us. I know I’m ready.

Peace Y’all

B