25 Things Blacks Still Don't Wanna Hear

I was trying to figure out what to say for Black History Month when I realized that Black History is made every single day, whether it's a Haitian woman being pulled out of a rubble yet coming out singing, acknowledging the tenth-year anniversary of one of the last surviving Black-owned bookstores in Harlem, reminding one another of the plight of albinos in Tanzania, or the 25 things Blacks still don't want to hear!


1. We think street culture is Black culture;

2. There's a war going on between Blacks and niggaz;

3. We got mad skillz with gadgets but can't relate with one another in a manner that's intimate and real;

4. We still prefer light-skinned sistas over dark-skinned ones, especially in our music videos;

5. We can call each other nigga or dog, but not 'brother';

6. We need to walk with a pit bull in order to feel important;

7. We stand on street corners because we have nothing productive to offer our neighbors and selves;

8. We don't attend parent/teacher conferences;

9. We're afraid of telling our young boys (and a few grown ass men) that wearing your pants low enough to show your behind is not only tired but sad;

10. We don't hold our local leaders accountable, and they only come around during re-election time;

11. We forget that Obama is still a politician, and therefore can't and won't address our issues as directly and immediately as we'd like him to;

12. We'd rather look good than feel good;

13. We don't see hyper-masculinity as a cry for help;

14. We think the empowerment of sistas means disempowering brothas;

15. We don't support our own artists, but get upset when they get love from outsiders;

16. We don't question the contradictions of the Church;

17. We make fun of africentric Blacks to avoid PSP (post-slavery psychosis);

18. We think Reggae and Dancehall music are one in the same;

19. We suffer from internalized racism, religious indoctrination, depression, and denial;

20. We think critical thinking is reading ghetto drama books;

21. We think ethnic and fly is a contradiction;

22. We celebrate the myth of Langston Hughes, but not the man himself;

23. We'll buy an $80,000 truck rather than spend $10 on a self-help book;

24. We'll support a singer who likes urinating on girls to the point where we'll even buy the video, but we think same sex marriage is disgusting;

25. We can't handle the truth.