What You See,
Is What You Get
By Markus Rice
The images we see of ourselves as black people, are most of the time are negative. Drug dealing , Gangsta rapping, Baby making, Welfare taking people. So that's what we seem to have gotten.
So many young people are missing the boat to success. They are being stagnated by all these negative images they see of themselves,
If a young brother comes to the hood and says what's up I just got my degree, the first thing the his boys say to him is,
Oh you must think you all that huh, you think you better than me now.
But if a brother comes to the same hood and says what's up son? I just got out of Rikers Island. He is treated like a hero.
Why is that?
Our youth is being poisoned by all the negative images they see. Today's culture for young blacks is not a culture of success but of Poverty, Unemployment, Irresponsibility, Crime, and Violence. The music they listen to glorifying violence and other sociopathic behavior. Our youth is bombard with negative stereotypical images all of the time, They see it on t.v. In thier music and in the toys they play with, but most of all they are taught these things at home. It seems that self-victimization has become a cultural legacy for many Blacks and has become the largest barrier to Black progress, Racism notwithstanding. Because that is were most of these stereotypes come from. Blacks have been manipulated by images they see in the media and for years those images have been negative.
I really wonder what a child feels growing up under a constant psychological barrage, nearly all of the time of negativity. No wonder why we have so many young minds damaged with low self-esteem and so much emotional baggage. We need to try to find a way to try and break this tide and restore a feeling of pride in our youth so that they can see there is so much out there for them to get if only they can be shown the right path.
I will finish up with this African proverb:
"It's not what you call me, It's what I answer to."
Here is an excerpt from a news article I read that relates to this subject, Click on it and check it out.
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Updated 8/26/99 M.B.Rice