Post by rascar on Mar 10, 2008 8:15:31 GMT -5
First off, let me just state that I am not trying to PLACE the blame, but relieve the blame. To blame either the black male or the black female alone for this rift is pointless and ignorant to the core. Anyone who does so is immediately caught out and exposes themselves as an idiot. Also I am speaking only for those who can recognize themselves in this 'game' and NOT black people as a whole. Many men and women have stayed 'loyal', as many put it. Let me also clarify that I, as a young black male, am a lover of the black woman. I always have been, and I always will be. She is my personal preference and will always be my first choice. Whenever I enter a room, I look for her first.
But it is not because of this undying love that I harbour for her that I am going to sit idly by and watch as she tries to blame me for something she did to me first. Sorry.
This problem has recently made headlines on internet archives and community newspapers, and has even been interpreted into film; Diary of a Tired Black Man, and I think that it is safe to say that it is Americans who are, at this junction, making the most noise on this subject, so let us start from an American standpoint.
First off, remember that sexually, as in all other affairs, as far as the white man is concerned, the black woman could never pose as much a threat to them as could the black man, if only for sexual reasons.
1724 marked the year in which blacks and whites, by lieu of the anti-miscegenation act, were forbidden to intermarry. First in Louisiana, but then it spread. You must know that not all black women were raped by their slavemaster. You must know that many agreed and consented, if only because they knew the dynamic. But I don't blame them. I have long maintained that we are still in a colonial and enslavement process, although the plantation has been replaced by a seemingly 'freer' urban space. Think about it; a slave woman on a plantation. Her first concern is for herself, and for her child, born or unborn. The men are not her priority. Every woman needs security. Every woman needs to know that she and her offspring will be looked after. That is the most natural thing, and naturally, at that time, the black man (as many would argue now) was in no place to give them that. Now imagine that you are a slave woman on a plantation, and that you have to breed black babies (especially after 1807-8), what are the odds? That baby will be raised to become a slave, and nothing more. What prospects does s/he have? And what can the black man possibly do should master decide to beat, torture, rape, kill or sell the child off? Answer; not a damn thing. That, and the fact that black marriage was outlawed on the plantation, and so any meaningful union between them would be ruptured, seeing both of them sent to different plantations, for any woman, isn't much incentive to reproduce with black men now, is it? The black man was incapacitated and as a result the black woman got smart. She learned how to "play the game" as it were. She knew that, as was the case in certain states and other countries throughout the Americas, if she bore a mulatto child, the child would be, from birth, considered 'free' or would be given employment within the house-hold. A former-slave woman once recounted that there was rarely a house in the Deep South that did not have a lightskinned, biracial child, and she was at no pains to hint as to their provenance. The 'mulatto' would guarantee a place for the mother within the house hold, and the mother would find herself, in return for sexual favours, receiving extra food, money, clothes, etc. The biracial child, often shunned by his father, although acts of generosity abounded from time to time, as was being born free, was raised by his mother who, as ANY mother would, would try to console her child when s/he would notice the dynamic. What exactly do you think she would tell this child? It's not rocket science. She would give the child a sense of worth and pride, understanding the dynamic, by making the child believe in it's inherent superiority over the darker, field slaves. She would make the child know that the owner of the plantation (or his son, or nephew, etc) was in fact his father, and that, by rights, the plantation, and everything in it, was half theirs. And she WAS right, technically. The slavemaster would look upon the child with more favour than he would the blacks, and so set the standard (light skin; good, dark skin; bad), but it was the black woman who enforced it. And this is just being truthful for the black man was in no social position to do anything of the sort. I once read an article in a newspaper by a woman who spoke of black women's sadness and disappointment at black men with white women or biracial kids at some carnival, I think it was. No offense but, come on. On the plantation whenever the black man would try to "holla" at these girls, many times he would be told "sorry, but you can't do anything for me". Sound familiar? And how do you think he felt? And when white men were invited into the plantation to have sex with the black women, and the black men would watch, helpless. Did anybody care for them then? Nobody gave a damn, but now black men are being made to feel guilty for every little bit of sexual/racial jealousy felt by black women? That's not fair. Now this dynamic has come back, especially, to haunt dark skinned black women, but to sit there and blame black men for it, is every bit just as inane as blaming interracial dating on black men alone. But one makes this mistake when all one does is watch TV.
In Brazil and Belize, amongst many other places (Argentina springs to mind..and yes, I did say Argentina, look it up) white slave masters would FREE black women slaves in order to marry them. When were black men EVER exposed to such clemency? For some reason, I don't see slavemaster offering to free some big black Yoruba slave named Adewale to marry his dear daughter Chloe, now, do you?
In Haiti, there was a system called plaçage, a union in which a french slaveowner and an African slave chosen as a concubine would reproduce, provided you understand that a concubine is not raped, but consents. "By this system, the children were free people and could inherit property. Thus originated a class of "mulattos" with property and with wealthy fathers".
These same mulattos then waged a war on black MEN, not women. When have the offspring of black men and white women ever been responsible for infliction of any true pain on black woman, apart from sexual jealousy? Many black women resent mixed raced girls from black fathers and white mothers, but to me, that is very hypocritical.
The Anti-Miscegenation act was imposed to stop black men marrying white women, as George Washington supported it, as did Jefferson, and yet they were both involved with a number of black women. The law was passed to stop freed black slaves from settling down with white women, and yet was only revoked in 1967 to allow a black woman to marry a white man. When you understand that dynamic, you understand a lot, and if you don't, I'll show you. A lawyer, a man by the name of Roddenbery, speaking in court (to applause) on interracial relations;
"Intermarriage between whites and blacks is repulsive and averse to every sentiment of pure American spirit. It is abhorrent and repugnant to the very principles of Saxon government [...] ultimately this slavery of white women to black beasts will bring this nation a conflict"
As for other races; In America, after the 1882 Chinese Exclusion Act, the Chinese sought protection within the black communities, and settled down with black women, and in the West Indies in the 1860s the Chinese came from a region in southern Kwangtung, near Hong Kong, and almost immediately intermarried with black women.
Now, like I said, I love black women, and I will stick by them, but some of the BS needs to be cleaned up right away. Many black men don't read, and so every time they are confronted with this issue, they sit there and take it like idiots, and know not how to counteract. They are actually blamed for many things, and it would seem as if black men were the lowest, and that black women were simply unlucky at having been paired with them. Many black women today are saying "it's about time we started dating white men"..sweetheart..what the hell are you talking about? You've been doing JUST THAT for the past 500 years at LEAST (I won't even get into West Africa), whereas we've only been, collectively, doing it for the past 40 to 50 years..or has everyone already forgotten 14 year old Emmit Till? Try to extend your memory further back than the last decades gone by, or even more real, last week's Ice T and Coco MTV Cribs feature. This is a centuries old thing.
People say that black men are abandoning black women, when in reality, if you care to check, the first of the two to turn around and say "I'm sorry, but you're on your own" was NOT the black man, but In fact the black woman; fact, however unpleasant and subversive it is to the “poor neglected-in-favour-for-white-woman black female” image many black women try desperately to paint. This dynamic was created by white men, and enforced by black women and is now being reciprocated by black men, but yet black men are continuously blamed, and I don't ever see a white man or black woman mentioned anywhere. That puzzles me.
But for what it's worth, I identify all black people in today's Western society by plantation standards. The girls who know about history, just find themselves a black man (yes, there are still some left, contrary to popular belief) and love and respect their family and heritage are the strong black women who resisted and were brutally raped by the slave master, many a time, led to them by another black MALE. Yet the females ones who obstinately chase the 'ballers', 'shot callers'. 'shottaz', ‘big suit and tie money makers’ and the rest, and are usually the ones who end up complaining are the ones who would have ran to slave master without so much as a second thought if the price was right. If it's the paper you're into, then you know what you have to do, because at this juncture, money is the least of our problems. I love the black woman and I do NOT blame her AT ALL for what she did, just like a snitch or an informant can't truly be blamed for his/her actions, whatever your personal feeling towards them may be. She was smart and used her femininity to her advantage, but all I ask in return is that I am NOT labeled a 'traitor to the race' because I say Angelina Jolie is pretty, as some girl did last week; how dare you? Many of these black male bashers act as if black women went through oppression alone, it's ridiculous. If there is a 'traitor' here, it is not me, believe it. After all, what better house slave than the one who sleeps in slavemaster's bed?
Respect to anyone who stays real, but there are far too many ignorant fakes out there.
Sanka Tulasie
But it is not because of this undying love that I harbour for her that I am going to sit idly by and watch as she tries to blame me for something she did to me first. Sorry.
This problem has recently made headlines on internet archives and community newspapers, and has even been interpreted into film; Diary of a Tired Black Man, and I think that it is safe to say that it is Americans who are, at this junction, making the most noise on this subject, so let us start from an American standpoint.
First off, remember that sexually, as in all other affairs, as far as the white man is concerned, the black woman could never pose as much a threat to them as could the black man, if only for sexual reasons.
1724 marked the year in which blacks and whites, by lieu of the anti-miscegenation act, were forbidden to intermarry. First in Louisiana, but then it spread. You must know that not all black women were raped by their slavemaster. You must know that many agreed and consented, if only because they knew the dynamic. But I don't blame them. I have long maintained that we are still in a colonial and enslavement process, although the plantation has been replaced by a seemingly 'freer' urban space. Think about it; a slave woman on a plantation. Her first concern is for herself, and for her child, born or unborn. The men are not her priority. Every woman needs security. Every woman needs to know that she and her offspring will be looked after. That is the most natural thing, and naturally, at that time, the black man (as many would argue now) was in no place to give them that. Now imagine that you are a slave woman on a plantation, and that you have to breed black babies (especially after 1807-8), what are the odds? That baby will be raised to become a slave, and nothing more. What prospects does s/he have? And what can the black man possibly do should master decide to beat, torture, rape, kill or sell the child off? Answer; not a damn thing. That, and the fact that black marriage was outlawed on the plantation, and so any meaningful union between them would be ruptured, seeing both of them sent to different plantations, for any woman, isn't much incentive to reproduce with black men now, is it? The black man was incapacitated and as a result the black woman got smart. She learned how to "play the game" as it were. She knew that, as was the case in certain states and other countries throughout the Americas, if she bore a mulatto child, the child would be, from birth, considered 'free' or would be given employment within the house-hold. A former-slave woman once recounted that there was rarely a house in the Deep South that did not have a lightskinned, biracial child, and she was at no pains to hint as to their provenance. The 'mulatto' would guarantee a place for the mother within the house hold, and the mother would find herself, in return for sexual favours, receiving extra food, money, clothes, etc. The biracial child, often shunned by his father, although acts of generosity abounded from time to time, as was being born free, was raised by his mother who, as ANY mother would, would try to console her child when s/he would notice the dynamic. What exactly do you think she would tell this child? It's not rocket science. She would give the child a sense of worth and pride, understanding the dynamic, by making the child believe in it's inherent superiority over the darker, field slaves. She would make the child know that the owner of the plantation (or his son, or nephew, etc) was in fact his father, and that, by rights, the plantation, and everything in it, was half theirs. And she WAS right, technically. The slavemaster would look upon the child with more favour than he would the blacks, and so set the standard (light skin; good, dark skin; bad), but it was the black woman who enforced it. And this is just being truthful for the black man was in no social position to do anything of the sort. I once read an article in a newspaper by a woman who spoke of black women's sadness and disappointment at black men with white women or biracial kids at some carnival, I think it was. No offense but, come on. On the plantation whenever the black man would try to "holla" at these girls, many times he would be told "sorry, but you can't do anything for me". Sound familiar? And how do you think he felt? And when white men were invited into the plantation to have sex with the black women, and the black men would watch, helpless. Did anybody care for them then? Nobody gave a damn, but now black men are being made to feel guilty for every little bit of sexual/racial jealousy felt by black women? That's not fair. Now this dynamic has come back, especially, to haunt dark skinned black women, but to sit there and blame black men for it, is every bit just as inane as blaming interracial dating on black men alone. But one makes this mistake when all one does is watch TV.
In Brazil and Belize, amongst many other places (Argentina springs to mind..and yes, I did say Argentina, look it up) white slave masters would FREE black women slaves in order to marry them. When were black men EVER exposed to such clemency? For some reason, I don't see slavemaster offering to free some big black Yoruba slave named Adewale to marry his dear daughter Chloe, now, do you?
In Haiti, there was a system called plaçage, a union in which a french slaveowner and an African slave chosen as a concubine would reproduce, provided you understand that a concubine is not raped, but consents. "By this system, the children were free people and could inherit property. Thus originated a class of "mulattos" with property and with wealthy fathers".
These same mulattos then waged a war on black MEN, not women. When have the offspring of black men and white women ever been responsible for infliction of any true pain on black woman, apart from sexual jealousy? Many black women resent mixed raced girls from black fathers and white mothers, but to me, that is very hypocritical.
The Anti-Miscegenation act was imposed to stop black men marrying white women, as George Washington supported it, as did Jefferson, and yet they were both involved with a number of black women. The law was passed to stop freed black slaves from settling down with white women, and yet was only revoked in 1967 to allow a black woman to marry a white man. When you understand that dynamic, you understand a lot, and if you don't, I'll show you. A lawyer, a man by the name of Roddenbery, speaking in court (to applause) on interracial relations;
"Intermarriage between whites and blacks is repulsive and averse to every sentiment of pure American spirit. It is abhorrent and repugnant to the very principles of Saxon government [...] ultimately this slavery of white women to black beasts will bring this nation a conflict"
As for other races; In America, after the 1882 Chinese Exclusion Act, the Chinese sought protection within the black communities, and settled down with black women, and in the West Indies in the 1860s the Chinese came from a region in southern Kwangtung, near Hong Kong, and almost immediately intermarried with black women.
Now, like I said, I love black women, and I will stick by them, but some of the BS needs to be cleaned up right away. Many black men don't read, and so every time they are confronted with this issue, they sit there and take it like idiots, and know not how to counteract. They are actually blamed for many things, and it would seem as if black men were the lowest, and that black women were simply unlucky at having been paired with them. Many black women today are saying "it's about time we started dating white men"..sweetheart..what the hell are you talking about? You've been doing JUST THAT for the past 500 years at LEAST (I won't even get into West Africa), whereas we've only been, collectively, doing it for the past 40 to 50 years..or has everyone already forgotten 14 year old Emmit Till? Try to extend your memory further back than the last decades gone by, or even more real, last week's Ice T and Coco MTV Cribs feature. This is a centuries old thing.
People say that black men are abandoning black women, when in reality, if you care to check, the first of the two to turn around and say "I'm sorry, but you're on your own" was NOT the black man, but In fact the black woman; fact, however unpleasant and subversive it is to the “poor neglected-in-favour-for-white-woman black female” image many black women try desperately to paint. This dynamic was created by white men, and enforced by black women and is now being reciprocated by black men, but yet black men are continuously blamed, and I don't ever see a white man or black woman mentioned anywhere. That puzzles me.
But for what it's worth, I identify all black people in today's Western society by plantation standards. The girls who know about history, just find themselves a black man (yes, there are still some left, contrary to popular belief) and love and respect their family and heritage are the strong black women who resisted and were brutally raped by the slave master, many a time, led to them by another black MALE. Yet the females ones who obstinately chase the 'ballers', 'shot callers'. 'shottaz', ‘big suit and tie money makers’ and the rest, and are usually the ones who end up complaining are the ones who would have ran to slave master without so much as a second thought if the price was right. If it's the paper you're into, then you know what you have to do, because at this juncture, money is the least of our problems. I love the black woman and I do NOT blame her AT ALL for what she did, just like a snitch or an informant can't truly be blamed for his/her actions, whatever your personal feeling towards them may be. She was smart and used her femininity to her advantage, but all I ask in return is that I am NOT labeled a 'traitor to the race' because I say Angelina Jolie is pretty, as some girl did last week; how dare you? Many of these black male bashers act as if black women went through oppression alone, it's ridiculous. If there is a 'traitor' here, it is not me, believe it. After all, what better house slave than the one who sleeps in slavemaster's bed?
Respect to anyone who stays real, but there are far too many ignorant fakes out there.
Sanka Tulasie