Black History Month…The Legacy We’ve Betrayed

“During this month, I just wanna say thanks to my ancestors who fought and died for me to have the right to vote, sit at the front of the bus, to be able to proudly call my bruthas…niggas, get jobs with equal pay, to be able to proudly call my sistahs…bitches and hoes. To my ancestors and forefathers, I say thank you. #extremesarcasm”
I posted this on Facebook earlier today. I know I’ve been absent lately from my Hard In The Paint responsibilities. So without further delay, we go Hard In The Paint on Black History Month and how we’ve betrayed the legacy left to us. Leggo!!!!
Yesterday I posted on Facebook how I noticed that females used profanity far worse than their male counterparts…on Facebook. One female challenged me on my stance which was cool. I like a good debate just like the next person. I came to understand her point that males are whine just as much as women do these days. I can’t say she’s wrong. Men these days do have a tendency to whine a lot. She also added that men curse in the bedroom. Now I don’t know about the next person but…well frankly when you getting that good loving ain’t no telling what might come outta your mouth.
That being said and you can read the full context of the post just by looking me up on Facebook under Theo Butler. Look for the brother standing next to a tree with a mustard colored dress shirt and khaki dress pants on. That will be me, now back to the matter at hand. That conversation in itself made me take a closer look at some things. First this is Black History month. This is supposed to be the month that African Americans take the time to reflect on their history as a whole, especially in America. After doing some self reflection, I just shook my head. My goodness haven’t we tarnished a legacy left for us by our ancestors.
Listen before I come across as super conservative…I’m not. I like jokes just as much as the next person and I’m so pro black, I really don’t watch television shows that don’t feature us and I try my damndest not to watch the ones in which we make complete and utter fools of ourselves (insert whichever reality based show you would like here). So please understand, I loves me some silliness just as much as the next person…I do own “The Boondocks” season 1-3 so trust me when I tell ya, I loves some ignorance.
The Boondocks though is a cartoon. It’s fiction. This other stuff that’s going on around us is supposedly reality and I just gotta say it is also dumb as hell. I am so damn sick and tired of supposedly grown women cursing more than sailors it is absolutely sickening. These are our mothers and grandmothers running around acting like they don’t have the sense God gave them. It is pathetic. What’s worse I see our young women gravitating towards this foolishness. Facebook, WorldStarHipHop and Mediatakeout just to name a few are strife with black women doing their best to be more ignorant than the black woman.
And before anyone asks why am I up on these sites…sad to say that these are the few sites that cater predominantly to African Americans. It would be nice if we as African Americans knew how to act towards one another. We beefing over Twitter and Facebook. This star doesn’t like that star and how do we find out about it? Because the star tweeted they didn’t like the other star. Pause. Since when did singers become thugs? Wtf? Seriously…you singing falsetto one minute and the next minute you outside throwing hands? But wait, you’re not throwing your hands; your crew is throwing hands for you? You’re a grown ass man and you have other guys fighting your battles for you? These are some soft ass bruthas these days.
No wonder our sistahs are running around here acting harder than us. They cursing more than us and they’re quicker to run up on each other…no questions asked. That being said though ladies, what happened to the whole being a lady in the streets but a freak in the bedroom? I guess this generation of women just didn’t get that memo, huh? Damn the lady thing, I’m knocking a bitch out if she look sideways at me is the thought process behind today’s woman. I can only shake my head because I used to really want to be with this one popular female but damn. She’s newest housewife on this reality show and all I can say is, “You wonder why you still single?”
I know; I know these are just my opinions and they are just like a butt hole, “Everybody has one” but damn this is getting ridiculous. Ladies and I use the term loosely. Cut back on the cursing. Stop referring to yourselves as “Bitches” and “Hoes.” You’re supposed to be the nurturer out of the two of us and really what are you nurturing if you use profanity like I use air…in essence, constantly? It’s time for women to start respecting one another and loving one another. This ignorance that you’re portraying on television, through your music, on Facebook and Twitter has just gotten old and sad. Be the women that Harriet Tubman and Rosa Parks died for. You know better so do better and if you really don’t know better…than that’s just tragic.
To the men out there it’s high time we started being leaders to our women and our children. Instead of referring to you as “My Nigga” I can just as easily refer to you as “My Brutha.” Those should be my sentiments when addressing another man and to my queens, my beautiful queens, if I can’t call you anything else, I should definitely call you by the name your parents gave you instead of referencing a garden tool or an animal. Malcolm X, Martin Luther King, Medgar Evers fought and died so that we could be better than what we are representing today. Each of us…black man and black woman should strive to more Barak and Michelle and less Nigga and Bitch. I’m out.