The Exceptional To The Rule
Contrary to what many (if not most) of these posts would have you believe, I generally like white people.
No seriously I do. Stop staring at me with disbelief. I generally like white people. I don't just mean my white loved ones (who are closer to me than blood relatives) or white friends, my white readers or even white artists who I'm huge fans of.
I generally like white people as a whole. Even when I'm snarking on them, it's out of love. Truly it is.
White people have given us so many wonderful things.....none come to mind at the moment but take my word for it.
I even have a t-shirt emblazoned with the phrase, "WHITE PEOPLE ARE AWESOME."
I wear it all the time. In fact I'd wear it today but I have to go to the black part of town after work and I'm not trying to get fucked up.
But yeah, I love white people.
But some days.................................they do not make it easy.....AT ALL!!!!
White folks, I'm going to need you all to give me something to work with. Because it's becoming clear you all have no regard for Neo's sobriety.
Case in point.
This following scenario which has played out for the past few weeks. On at least three separate occassions I've had some white guy tell me how I'm such a mythical Negro of an anomaly for being all learn-ed, having a four-letter SAT vocabulary and stuff which negates my blackness.
Yet Another Stupid White Man: Neo, you're soooooo articulate. And you're soooooooo intellectual. You're sooooo not a product of black culture at all. You don't act like a thug or speak improper English or act ghetto like the rest of them. You're so regal, smart and everything. You're this unique speshul being. This magical anomaly and everything.
And of course I'm supposed to be flattered that my race just got insulted by some ignorant condescending caucasian. So they don't honestly understand why my reaction is usually:
And of course the entire time I'm sitting there with nonplussed look on my face silently repeating my mantra: the piano wire is not your friend, say no to brass knuckles to the dude's throat, the lead pipe is not for cracking his skull, stupid racist white bastards spewing racist bile is not an excuse for vehicular assault.
Now, if these dudes had simply stopped at "you're very articulate and very intelligent," that would've been cool. But nooooo, they have to say the most ignorant thing possible and risk me catching a case.
But rather than catch a manslaughter charge, I decided to keep it classy and swing the cluebat instead (for all the good it did).
As I explained to these byproducts of inbreeding, being black and exceptional is not mutually exclusive. In fact, not only is it a cornerstone of black culture but it is also the product of living in a racist society.
Here's the thing. In our culture, we know how we're perceived by society: criminals, 3/5 subhuman savages, lazy, shiftless, begging for a handout, degenerates.
White culture isn't waiting to see us thrive, they're waiting to see us fall or look for an excuse to put us down. Because of this mindset, it is instilled in many black children that we have to be perfect in all things. We have to be stronger, smarter, faster and more beautiful, superior to our caucasian peers if we hope to garner a fraction of what we're entitled to. We have to work twice as hard only to get a fraction of the accolades.
This mindset is what got us through the Civil Rights struggle. Despite all of the dehumanizing denigration we were subjected to, we walked with a sense of pride and dignity and carried ourselves with the utmost class. Not to prove to white people that we were worthy of being human beings but because we know that we are the descendants of greatness and no one would ever rob us of that.
In fact, if when you're a POC who asks for what you've earned (such as an A on essay you wrote and the professor can't justify why you were given a B. That's right UTC I'm looking at you), you often get the attitude of something to the effect of, "You'll take whatever crumb that's tossed to you, you stupid little n*****er and you'll be grateful. What do you think you are, white?"
This is why when Obama arrived, we as black people knew he was the man for the job as our first black president. Because we saw he lives those fundamentals each day. A buddy of mine made the best point: white people complain about blacks supposedly being unmotivated and uneducated, and then in the same breath condemn our first black president for being an "elitist" because he's TOO smart and not lazy ENOUGH for them to relate to.
And that's the rub. When we do beat the odds and excel. Then suddenly we're being uppity or aspiring to be white, or too militant, or we only got to our station through affirmative action or because we played the race card. Which by the by, contrary to popular opinion white folks play the race card just as much, if not more than POCs. If I had a cent for every time some caucasian told me I only got something because I'm black, Donald Trump would be my apprentice.
The Huxtables were not some anomaly from Bizarro.President Obama is not an exception to the rule. When it comes to the greatness that exists in black culture, he's par for the course.
And as I explained to the critics on my buddy's blog. When you're a POC (and a double minority at that), you know that no one is coming to save you. When you live in a world that oppresses you for simply existing, usually three things is gonna happen: 1) it'll break you and you will buy into the lie 2) it'll drive you crazy 3) it will empower you. So you have to be self-reliant, powerful, and formidable in all things.
In fact, if anyone who knows their history, then they would know exceptional is par for the course with blacks. If I am exceptional then I credit my Nanna and other personal heroes like Sidney Poitier, Diahann Carroll, Lawrence Fishburne, Tavis Smiley, Gina Torres, Cornel West, Phylicia Rashad, Dwayne McDuffie, Ororo Munroe (fictional or not), Avery Brooks and many others for proving that being exceptional is pride in blackness in the truest sense.
Shorthand, we're just that damn good.
Any previous claims to the contrary, FUCK WHAT YA HEARD!