The New Black on Black Slavery A commentary of young enslavement of Black female mentalities (using "Freaknik" as a reference)

Last weekend, Freaknik had descended upon my burgeoning college town, "Hotlanta". And like every other Joe Blow Jenkins black college student in Atlanta, I was a tad excited. Outkast was performing, as was Goodie MoB and Canibus (the illest new mc, I don't care what anyone says). Beyond that, it was the end of a very trying weekend that many a senior trying his hardest to graduate will encounter at some point in their last semester. Living from weekend to weekend, I was very happy to come upon a weekend of such a festive nature. Well, the weekend arrived and that was the only thing that happened correctly. Of course, the news had propagated the rumor that it was to storm all weekend, as it does every year. Concerts were overpriced and streets were overcrowded, and there was nothing interesting going on outside of a bunch of people standing around doing as much of nothing as I could have accomplished on any given weekend on any given street at school. Tons of people were in their cars thinking they were being unique by playing the same dang song! "They don't dance no mo, all they do is this!" Everyone had their handycams and mini cameras and their disconnected cell phones (for perpetration purposes only). I couldn't help but to notice that I am too old for this kind of superficial garbage, and in fact, I have been told old for this garbage since I was seven.

One phenomenon that is no stranger to Freaknik is the exploitation of Black women by men and "students" that would seemingly love to deem themselves in a light of subhuman and animalistic, which is the image Black men that the world has been trying to promote for centuries. I first encountered it in the mall when unsuspecting women who were dressed for both the festive natures of the even and the warm weather were rushed by these "men". I viewed this phenomenon as a mere exploitation of women by a mob of crazed idiots, but then it was later revealed to me that a large number of these women were in fact to blame as well. How, you might ask? Well, some of them were dressed in a manner that was unbecoming of any woman, and would encourage such aforementioned behavior by these so-called "men". Women would lift their skirts and spread their legs for photograph opportunities, photos they would never see. Other women would bear their chests and grin for the world to view, and men would run in droves with their over-priced disposable cameras pointed aimlessly at these women who were in fact very unattractive.

My question is this: Why is it that men will come down to Freaknik and exploit their own women? Why was it necessary for a friend of mine to save upwards of eleven women from being mobbed and raped by these so-called "future leaders of the Black community"? (These women were all pulled out of the middle of a crowd of men, some with their clothes torn off, all within one night while a Morehouse student walked towards a metro station; one city block). I came across six local eighteen-year-olds and had to explain to them what they were doing. Peep the simile:

These "men" who rode in on their SUV's, phat rides, and their boys phat rides, came into town with the intent to exploit their black sisters. Some of these "sisters" were ready to be exploited and expected it. Others who were not were forced to endure it against their will. The main pose of the accepting women was to bend over and smile for their inspection and approval of these men and their cameras. What does this look like to you?

These men are in fact not men at all. They are slave masters, who in my opinion are by way of a pathological nature, subhuman in themselves. The rides they came in on were nothing but mere slave ships, and the accepting women were the slaves. The sisters who were not accepting of the events were the true sisters who fell prey to these "men" in an unfortunate yet very real manner. What sparked my realization of this analogy? The cool pose. These girls would bend over and smile for the cameras. How were slaves inspected? Prospective masters would check their teeth and rectums. What are we doing?

The problem goes much further than this. On the videos and on the big screen, we as black people are portrayed as being fixated on prurient interests and sexual desires. However, when one sees the internalization of a slave mentality by our "promising" young black future, one can only wonder how promising the future of blacks can be. If we are only promoting and internalizing a slave mentality, how far away are we from encountering a form of slavery more horrific than anyone could possibly expect? Why must we live down to the standards of Negroes spelled out in the 1928 edition of Encyclopedia Britannica? Do we really have smaller minds? Are we always thinking about sex? If you have mockingly and jokingly scoffed this whole essay and answered "yes" to these questions, we have already lost.

It is not time for us to "Wake Up" ladies and gentlemen. No, it is instead to the point where re must come back from the living dead. But are we doing that? NO. What are we doing?

"Nuthin, dawg, just marinatin'. Just marinatin'."