CRS
Chandler, Arizona, United States

There's an old saying. If you don't want someone to join a crowd, you ask them, "If everyone were jumping off of a cliff, would you?" Well, I have. So my answer would be "Yes". True story.
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The Minority Within the Minority

Tuesday, December 12, 2006

this entry brought to you by electric six, "naked pictures (of your mother)"


I was reading an interview with rapper The Game the other day. I've mentioned before that what disgusts me about rappers is they excuse their criminal behavior in their past as survival, which is something I could actually understand, but then continue this behavior well after hitting it big and being rich beyond their wildest dreams. Why would a millionaire, regardless of his background, be caught with unregistered weapons, copious amounts of hard drugs, or have members of an entourage stupid enough to physically assault, stab, or exchange fire with anyone? The reason is that these people don't know how to leave the ghetto behind them. Whether it be their parents raised them to believe they'd never amount to anything (which happens a lot amongst the poor), or through some misplaced identification with the streets, there is a very real problem that exists within our country with people that don't know how to grow up and be civilized, even when they should have every reason in the world to do so.

In the interview with The Game that I was reading, The Game said he was accepted to attend Washington University on a basketball scholarship, but was kicked out a month later for peddling drugs. The Game then went on to say that it was just as well with him, because he couldn't wait to get back on the street and sell drugs.

This astounded me. Choosing a career in music over college I can understand. You can always go back to college if your music career dries up, whereas a music career might not be there if you wait around. But to destroy an opportunity in bettering yourself so you can go back to dodging bullets while on your crack beat is completely astounding. Every story I've ever heard from people who have lived in South Central have made it sound comparable to living in Baghdad circa 2005; you would think anybody with half a brain would take any chance he could to get out of that life and leave it a distant memory.

Now, I don't mean to pick specifically on The Game, he's just an example-- a symptom of the bigger problem. And for the record, poor people everywhere have a real problem with the self-fulfilling prophecy of staying poor. People say that you always want your children to have better than what you have, but for poor people this is often not true. White people below the poverty line have just as much of a problem keeping their young trapped in poverty as black people. "What you doin' with yer head in the clouds, Buford? Quit yer book learnin' and go out and get a real job, like a real man." This isn't just some imaginary quote from some redneck cartoon character-- this is a very real scenario for many impoverished white people. But in my opinion, it's much more shameful when black people fall into this rut. There are many black young men and women purposefully ignoring better opportunities, and when they do pursue better opportunities, often continue their petty, ghetto lifestyle. As an intellectual this is frustrating. But as a person of color, this is embarrassing. Here we are, living in a nation where up until very recently, two of the highest non-elected officials were black (say what you will about Condoleeza Rice and Colin Powell, but they didn't get where they were just by waking up privileged like the rest of Bush's staff), and there is an honest-to-God serious contender for black president-- Barrack Obama. And yet there are large numbers of black people who, progress be damned, spit in the face of 30 years of pace-setting, courageous civil leaders, and while the optimistic amongst us would say these are a minority-- a minority within a minority, and I would agree-- these people are what's holding us back.
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with love from CRS @ 5:41 PM 

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