Jam Piper Jam
Truth Seeker
"The PIMPing of Black America By Black America"
By A. DeShields
On August 28, 2003 tens of thousands of Americans celebrated the 40-year
anniversary of Martin Luther King's "I Have A Dream" speech. That same night
thousands of other Americans, mostly teenagers and young adults, had their
minds assaulted and insulted as they either watched or actively participated
in the MTV Video Music Awards broadcast. I forced myself to watch 30 minutes
of the second hour in an attempt to see what clever thing Chris Rock might
have to say as I had heard he was the host. In the whole of 30 minutes I saw
him a total of 2 minutes. However, the things I did see and hear was enough
to make my heart weep, because what I saw was the unabashed PIMPing of Black
America by Black America.
It hurt me to see Black Lebron James -who is certainly on his way to
becoming a major superstar to some, and role model to many others-get on
national television and spend most of his time on stage wielding his new
found status and illusion of power to make a move on a scantily clad
Ashanti. Though she tried to rebuff his overtures, he would not let her say
"no" in any shape, fashion, or form. So Ashanti, thinking she had no other
choice, finally gave in to his demand for a kiss. The PIMPing of Black
America....
But Ashanti, and all of you other mislabeled "divas" out there (Beyonc?,
Lil' Kim,....), I'm not finished with you! Little girl when will you and the
others learn that if you dress like a whore, that's how the brothers (and
others) will treat you?! Once upon a time in America, not even 40 years ago,
Black women had so much respect for themselves that all they wanted to do
was "come correct." And if you stepped to them they demanded and commanded
that you "came correct." These days, in the music industry in particularly,
the young Black girls w! ho strut across the stages rarely have on clothes
anymore. They wear pieces of cloth held together in strategic places by a
chain here, a strap there, a button here, or a belt there. And whatever the
pieces are meant to hide, they rarely do. Then you wonder why your men (and
nobody else's) don't respect you. Well why should they?! You don't respect
yourselves as young ladies! What's even sadder is that if anyone were to
take a poll, most of you would probably claim to be church going
Christians.... And if that turned out to be the case, then I guess He's
getting PIMPed too!....
It would have been so much better (and meaningful) had you seized that
moment in the spotlight to let Mr. James know, in no uncertain terms that,
despite the way you were dressed, you are a young lady. Even if it meant
stopping the whole show to command the respect Black women as a whole
deserve, you should have done it, because believe it or not you are some
little girl's role model. How would you fee! l if a daughter or yours
prostituted herself on national TV? But you didn't command the respect. What
used to be a husband's privilege, what our slave masters used to have to
rape or kill us to just to see, we now boldly display on national TV for
anyone to see. The PIMPing of Black America....
The next morning I learned I had missed (mercifully) what would have been,
for me, a particularly disturbing spectacle when "artists" 50 Cent and Snoop
Doggy Dog "graced" the stage to perform 50 Cent's song "PIMP." The song is
done in the first person and is about a pimp who obviously enjoys and is
proud of being a pimp. I guess, so as to give the performance added flavor,
Mr. Cent, with permission of the White producers, brought in some real life
pimps (all Black) to parade around stage, dressed in their finest furs and
diamond rings as their new found anthem was being sung. Then, adding insult
to injury-and make no mistake, Black people were injured that night! -a
group of women (! all Black) dressed as "Ladies of the night" proceeded to
parade around the stage as well. After the song was over I'm told Chris Rock
returned to the podium and, after noting America was that day celebrating
the 40 year anniversary of Martin's famous speech, satirically remarked how
wonderful it is that all of Martin's dreams have come true. A young friend
of mine watching the program said he discerned that the audience didn't
quite know how to react to Chris' remark. He said he couldn't believe that
there wasn't at least one person in the audience who thought the whole
spectacle of "PIMP" had been wrong. My question is, if there were people in
the audience who believed it was wrong and damaging to the Black race as a
whole, where were they?? Why didn't they stand up in protest? Why did they
sit there quietly as that big piece of manure was being shoved down their
throats?? The PIMPing of Black America....
1960s
By the 1960s, after four hundred years of oppression, this country had
birthed a Black nation that woke up, stood up, and spoke up with one very
loud voice to say "We tired, and we're not going to take it anymore!"
Consequently, we were able to bring White America to it's knees and make it
do things it never would have done on its own-such as recognizing our
God-given birth rights and our rights as citizens of the United States. But
a sad thing happened....
1970s
Somewhere along the way the reality of Martin's dream became a memory in the
minds of Black people. If the 1960s saw the "Great Awakening of Black
America," it can be safely said that the 70s saw Black America become too
full of itself....
We were now accustomed to not only voting, but seeing ourselves (thereby,
appearing to somehow validate our existence in this country) not only on the
small tube, but on the big screen (remember all of those Black exploitation
films?); we were being educated in the finest schools (formally all white);
w! e could patronize any business we could afford; we were getting elected
to high places; and, not insignificantly, we were able to cross date and
marry in numbers never before seen in this country. So many Black people
did, en masse.... We got caught up in a stupor and were so busy enjoying our
hard earned freedoms and the spoils of our Civil Rights War that too many of
us lost focus and stopped thinking about our future as a race.
1980s
Enter the 80s - "The Big Cross-Over." [Of course a lot of Black women would
call it "The Double Cross" as many of the men they had stood and fought
beside had abandoned them to make it with "the other side"....]
The 70s afforded White America a chance to get to know Black people in more
intimate ways than, just 10 years before, they ever thought they'd want to.
And what they learned shocked them, because they learned that they liked
Black people! -and our culture. Particularly Young White America. They
couldn't get enough of our music, our dancing, our clothes, our language,
Us! They "found" what had been under their noses for 400 years and
discovered they liked it! But a funny thing happened.... Older White
America became afraid, because more and more It saw Its offspring "acting
Black." Can you imagine that? In the 60s and 70s we had taught them how to
dance and clap on beat. Now, they wanted to talk, dress and sing like us,
because we were everything "cool."....
1990s
By the time the 90s rolled in it was beginning to be difficult to tell where
Black America ended and White America began. Many young White boys could
dance, rap and sing Black music as well or better than Black people could.
They were piercing their bodies and wearing dreds like they were straight
out of Africa.
And in those times when it was hard to tell, there rose Denzel. And thank
God for Denzel! He has not forgotten. He played Steven Biko in "Cry Freedom"
and "Malcolm X," for which he should have ! gotten an oscar-but he didn't.
Unfortunately for Denzel, by this time White America was starting to say
back, "We're tired too; and we're not going to take it any more." After
decades of watching their young become like us, White America decided to
fight back in whatever way it could. They targeted our brightest and best
and all but told them, "We don't care who you are or how good you are,
you're still a *$#&@#; and we're still White and we still have the power!"
So it was only after Denzel played a character they could relate to (a rogue
cop), and only after Halle Berry bared her feminine virtues for a White man
on the set for all to see on the big screen did the White powers that be
decide to "reward" two of Black America's finest. The PIMPing of Black
America....
2000
Now, the opening years of the new millennium finds Black America fast
eroding from the inside out. We're no longer the largest minority group, our
seeds are poisoned at birth, and we're losing all of the gains so many of
our fathers and forefathers bled and died for just 40 years ago.... The
White man waves a dollar sign and our young people swagger after him like
mice after the Pied Piper. Either they never had pride, or they lost it
along the way. Either way, the enormous pride and unity Black people
mastered in the sixties to bring this country to its knees is gone. Never
again in America will Black people as a race become angry enough to demand
the respect from others that we should have for ourselves. Why? Because
we're too busy helping with the PIMPing of Black America.
To Medgar, Malcolm and Martin, if they could hear me, I'd say...thank you
for your lives given in death, and thanks for the memories....
By A. DeShields
On August 28, 2003 tens of thousands of Americans celebrated the 40-year
anniversary of Martin Luther King's "I Have A Dream" speech. That same night
thousands of other Americans, mostly teenagers and young adults, had their
minds assaulted and insulted as they either watched or actively participated
in the MTV Video Music Awards broadcast. I forced myself to watch 30 minutes
of the second hour in an attempt to see what clever thing Chris Rock might
have to say as I had heard he was the host. In the whole of 30 minutes I saw
him a total of 2 minutes. However, the things I did see and hear was enough
to make my heart weep, because what I saw was the unabashed PIMPing of Black
America by Black America.
It hurt me to see Black Lebron James -who is certainly on his way to
becoming a major superstar to some, and role model to many others-get on
national television and spend most of his time on stage wielding his new
found status and illusion of power to make a move on a scantily clad
Ashanti. Though she tried to rebuff his overtures, he would not let her say
"no" in any shape, fashion, or form. So Ashanti, thinking she had no other
choice, finally gave in to his demand for a kiss. The PIMPing of Black
America....
But Ashanti, and all of you other mislabeled "divas" out there (Beyonc?,
Lil' Kim,....), I'm not finished with you! Little girl when will you and the
others learn that if you dress like a whore, that's how the brothers (and
others) will treat you?! Once upon a time in America, not even 40 years ago,
Black women had so much respect for themselves that all they wanted to do
was "come correct." And if you stepped to them they demanded and commanded
that you "came correct." These days, in the music industry in particularly,
the young Black girls w! ho strut across the stages rarely have on clothes
anymore. They wear pieces of cloth held together in strategic places by a
chain here, a strap there, a button here, or a belt there. And whatever the
pieces are meant to hide, they rarely do. Then you wonder why your men (and
nobody else's) don't respect you. Well why should they?! You don't respect
yourselves as young ladies! What's even sadder is that if anyone were to
take a poll, most of you would probably claim to be church going
Christians.... And if that turned out to be the case, then I guess He's
getting PIMPed too!....
It would have been so much better (and meaningful) had you seized that
moment in the spotlight to let Mr. James know, in no uncertain terms that,
despite the way you were dressed, you are a young lady. Even if it meant
stopping the whole show to command the respect Black women as a whole
deserve, you should have done it, because believe it or not you are some
little girl's role model. How would you fee! l if a daughter or yours
prostituted herself on national TV? But you didn't command the respect. What
used to be a husband's privilege, what our slave masters used to have to
rape or kill us to just to see, we now boldly display on national TV for
anyone to see. The PIMPing of Black America....
The next morning I learned I had missed (mercifully) what would have been,
for me, a particularly disturbing spectacle when "artists" 50 Cent and Snoop
Doggy Dog "graced" the stage to perform 50 Cent's song "PIMP." The song is
done in the first person and is about a pimp who obviously enjoys and is
proud of being a pimp. I guess, so as to give the performance added flavor,
Mr. Cent, with permission of the White producers, brought in some real life
pimps (all Black) to parade around stage, dressed in their finest furs and
diamond rings as their new found anthem was being sung. Then, adding insult
to injury-and make no mistake, Black people were injured that night! -a
group of women (! all Black) dressed as "Ladies of the night" proceeded to
parade around the stage as well. After the song was over I'm told Chris Rock
returned to the podium and, after noting America was that day celebrating
the 40 year anniversary of Martin's famous speech, satirically remarked how
wonderful it is that all of Martin's dreams have come true. A young friend
of mine watching the program said he discerned that the audience didn't
quite know how to react to Chris' remark. He said he couldn't believe that
there wasn't at least one person in the audience who thought the whole
spectacle of "PIMP" had been wrong. My question is, if there were people in
the audience who believed it was wrong and damaging to the Black race as a
whole, where were they?? Why didn't they stand up in protest? Why did they
sit there quietly as that big piece of manure was being shoved down their
throats?? The PIMPing of Black America....
1960s
By the 1960s, after four hundred years of oppression, this country had
birthed a Black nation that woke up, stood up, and spoke up with one very
loud voice to say "We tired, and we're not going to take it anymore!"
Consequently, we were able to bring White America to it's knees and make it
do things it never would have done on its own-such as recognizing our
God-given birth rights and our rights as citizens of the United States. But
a sad thing happened....
1970s
Somewhere along the way the reality of Martin's dream became a memory in the
minds of Black people. If the 1960s saw the "Great Awakening of Black
America," it can be safely said that the 70s saw Black America become too
full of itself....
We were now accustomed to not only voting, but seeing ourselves (thereby,
appearing to somehow validate our existence in this country) not only on the
small tube, but on the big screen (remember all of those Black exploitation
films?); we were being educated in the finest schools (formally all white);
w! e could patronize any business we could afford; we were getting elected
to high places; and, not insignificantly, we were able to cross date and
marry in numbers never before seen in this country. So many Black people
did, en masse.... We got caught up in a stupor and were so busy enjoying our
hard earned freedoms and the spoils of our Civil Rights War that too many of
us lost focus and stopped thinking about our future as a race.
1980s
Enter the 80s - "The Big Cross-Over." [Of course a lot of Black women would
call it "The Double Cross" as many of the men they had stood and fought
beside had abandoned them to make it with "the other side"....]
The 70s afforded White America a chance to get to know Black people in more
intimate ways than, just 10 years before, they ever thought they'd want to.
And what they learned shocked them, because they learned that they liked
Black people! -and our culture. Particularly Young White America. They
couldn't get enough of our music, our dancing, our clothes, our language,
Us! They "found" what had been under their noses for 400 years and
discovered they liked it! But a funny thing happened.... Older White
America became afraid, because more and more It saw Its offspring "acting
Black." Can you imagine that? In the 60s and 70s we had taught them how to
dance and clap on beat. Now, they wanted to talk, dress and sing like us,
because we were everything "cool."....
1990s
By the time the 90s rolled in it was beginning to be difficult to tell where
Black America ended and White America began. Many young White boys could
dance, rap and sing Black music as well or better than Black people could.
They were piercing their bodies and wearing dreds like they were straight
out of Africa.
And in those times when it was hard to tell, there rose Denzel. And thank
God for Denzel! He has not forgotten. He played Steven Biko in "Cry Freedom"
and "Malcolm X," for which he should have ! gotten an oscar-but he didn't.
Unfortunately for Denzel, by this time White America was starting to say
back, "We're tired too; and we're not going to take it any more." After
decades of watching their young become like us, White America decided to
fight back in whatever way it could. They targeted our brightest and best
and all but told them, "We don't care who you are or how good you are,
you're still a *$#&@#; and we're still White and we still have the power!"
So it was only after Denzel played a character they could relate to (a rogue
cop), and only after Halle Berry bared her feminine virtues for a White man
on the set for all to see on the big screen did the White powers that be
decide to "reward" two of Black America's finest. The PIMPing of Black
America....
2000
Now, the opening years of the new millennium finds Black America fast
eroding from the inside out. We're no longer the largest minority group, our
seeds are poisoned at birth, and we're losing all of the gains so many of
our fathers and forefathers bled and died for just 40 years ago.... The
White man waves a dollar sign and our young people swagger after him like
mice after the Pied Piper. Either they never had pride, or they lost it
along the way. Either way, the enormous pride and unity Black people
mastered in the sixties to bring this country to its knees is gone. Never
again in America will Black people as a race become angry enough to demand
the respect from others that we should have for ourselves. Why? Because
we're too busy helping with the PIMPing of Black America.
To Medgar, Malcolm and Martin, if they could hear me, I'd say...thank you
for your lives given in death, and thanks for the memories....
