I Had This Lonngggg Entry In My Mind

[lovelylind]

I still may write it, but the long and short of it is: despite the fact that we (as minorities--really as all human beings) have so much farther to go, I am THANKFUL to have gotten thus far

Comments

[dyvinesweetness]

"And then............I felt like we took two 9874 steps back. I really don't know what caused this to happen (If you have any idea, please comment and let me know)."I think there's more than a few reasons for it. For starters while I agree that a lot of the atmosphere was positive, a lot of it was also trendy. The "It's a Black thing. You wouldn't understand" shirts, the Africa medallions, making every cartoon character into their Black alternative. A lot of it was nice, but part of a fad. And all trends/fads end. So some of it was destined to end based on that alone

[dyvinesweetness]

And I meant to comment in the last entry and tell you I love your icon!

[lovelylind]

Thanks! It's old, and you know I don't look like that everyday.... but I like it! lol

[lovelylind]

Interesting that you say this! And, first of all, thank you for indulging in my request. :)

I was DEFINITELY thinking that it all took a turn during the "gangsta rap" phase. I was afraid that it would come off as "rap is evil!!" or as though rap had that much power. I think I'm underestimating it, but I was afraid that I would be overestimating it

[dyvinesweetness]

"I was DEFINITELY thinking that it all took a turn during the "gangsta rap" phase. I was afraid that it would come off as "rap is evil!!" or as though rap had that much power. I think I'm underestimating it, but I was afraid that I would be overestimating it."Yeah, it's a funky line to balance. Rap definitely has a major influence as media types of all kinds influence all of us. And music, in particular, has always had a major influence on youth. Influence youth, you influence the future. It certainly couldn't be a "rap is evil" argument because "gangsta rap" is not all that Hiphop has to offer. Part of the reason why I went into my perspective on the civil rights movement was to show that it started long before the emergence of "gangsta rap" (and even before the CRM). And clearly the blame can't rest entirely on the civil rights leaders because we had been told for what, well over a century prior that being white and/or being close to whiteness meant you were right and "good" (good hair, good job, good wo/man). While I think

just a theory based in my truth

[forwhataim]

The crack epidemic definitely happened in the 80s. My father's uncle was a heroin addict. He told me he never saw himself being like him. But shortly after I was born in '81 he got into crack and didn't come back til the 90s. Crack was new. They didn't exactly know what they were getting into back then. I'm not excusing him, I am acknowledging part of his truth though.

Around preteen years is when you wake up to reality, right? So if there are a bunch of people like me who lost a parent or parents to crack, they would've been in the grounding, angry phase of that reality in those teen years, the 90s. That's when the popular music changed. Popular music is youth music. Even as someone who was living relatively well and had a large family to step in and fill the void, I felt the pain and anger of that music. The fuck everyone. The promise is not fulfilled and we're more fucked than ever sentiment. This is why I'm a 2pac fan.