Hey! Read This!

An essay was posted on the Very Smart Brothas website regarding the friendship that Trayvon Martin had with Rachel Jeantel. Young Ms. Jeantel was on the phone with Trayvon moments before he was killed. Now, Ms. Jeantel was clowned terribly by many people for her perceived lack of education during her testimony. While it was their job to attempt to discredit Ms. Jeantel's testimony, the defense attorneys for the accused seemed to take special effort to make Ms. Jeantel seem as if she did not have the mental capacity to understand what was going on the night Trayvon was killed. A photo of the primary defense attorney, Don West, was posted on Instagram after Ms. Jeantel's testimony was completed. Mr. West was shown eating ice cream with his daughter and one other person. The photo was captioned, "We beat stupidity celebration cones". The photo was hashtagged "#zimmerman," "#defense" and "#dadkilledit."

Meanwhile, Ms. Jeantel's friend is still dead and the heartache of having to relive the night of his death is still fresh in her mind while a good portion of the country laughs at her or insults her appearance. My heart hurts over this kid's death. My heart hurts over any 'good kid's' death. And, I'm disgusted at the way this culture treats its children. In a span of months, it has trivialized the death of a child with statements like "Sorry, 'innocent' boys don't try to beat up anyone, much less the local watchman" and then followed its callous disregard of the loss of the life of this young man with its mockery of the victim's friend.

*smh*

Shame on us all.

Anyway, I recommend that you go to the Very Smart Brothas website and look at the article to get an insight on the interpersonal relationship of Trayvon and Rachel.

Deuces...

Sources
George Zimmerman trial: Instagram photo posted by defense attorney's daughter comes under fire
Rachel, Trayvon, And The Saddest Thing I've Ever Read
Trayvon Martin Was One of the Few Guys Who Didn’t Tease Rachel Jeantel- ROD VEREEN

Urban American Culture & You

Bangalore Hip Hop Photo, Culture Picture – National Geographic Photo of the Day

I'm moved by a lot of what I see on National Geographic's website. People and their cultures are shown in vivid detail. The Your Shot feature allows readers to submit photos of their own for display on the website. National Geographic's efforts to study, showcase and savor humanity in its diversity can only be applauded.

I look for representation of my own culture, though. I've been seeking photos of the beautiful things in Urban American culture. So far, no luck! Maine...Nevada...Wyoming...even Alabama are all on photographs. Bombed out buildings in Afghanistan are even featured in shots of surprising complexity. But, Urban America? I've found one photo of some women in New York.

Hip Hop? NatGeo went to Bangalore to get a shot of hip hop. C'mon, son! Know what, though? That's not all National Geographic's fault. Those of us in & from urban environments need to photograph those things that we find inspiring & beautiful. There's no evidence that beauty even exists in the 'hood, yet NatGeo manages to find beauty in all other parts of the world. Step up, y'all. Don't just record shenanigans and dumbassededness for YouTube & WorldStarHipHop. Show some depth & sophistication by taking some stills of those moments that we know are there.

Black Ice

The Music Industry Exposed

Felonious Monk

Awesome Rant To The US Gov't

Mr. Nigga

The whole N-word controversy really only stems from the innate belief that Black folks are too ignorant to formulate language and to know what they mean when they speak. No language anywhere is static. If people use a language and their geography changes, their economy changes, their circumstances change, then that language is GOING to be affected. New words are formed as new ideas occur.

This is one of the basic ideas behind anthropology. Anthropologists ideally want to study a culture, including its language, without any outside influence to avoid what they consider contamination. African cultures after the diaspora that spread its people all over this planet underwent a change. They could not stay the same. The languages of the people snatched from their homes and taken to The New World underwent all sorts of change. Cultures clashed violently and like any oppressed people, those who were and who had been slaves took their small victories where they could get them.

Now, consider this: I'm from Detroit. Detroit's first Black mayor was elected in 1970, the year of my birth. My entire existence has been in an environment where the descendants of slaves who are my people were self-aware and self-governing. In that environment, the word 'nigga', as it was used, was & is different than the word "nigger".

Now, this is the part where you start squirming in your chair and declare that, based on your experience, this is semantics. You cannot wrap your mind around this. Even though, you call your female friend your "friendgirl" rather than your "girlfriend" to avoid confusion, you can't see it. Even though you can call your best male friend "ya boy", but would be insulted with him if a White man called him 'boy', you don't comprehend.

So, let me just make it clear to you and to those knucklehead White folks who are clamoring to use the word because we can. I can say 'nigga'. I'm not saying 'the N-word". Fuck that. I know what I mean when I say it. My boy knows what I mean when I say it. That is the essence of communication in this changed English language, Urban American dialect. Until you understand the proper usage, context and differentiation between 'nigga' and 'nigger', you can't use the word. It's one of those things like the "'i' before 'e', except after 'c' rule". It doesn't have to make sense. It can even not apply sometimes. Just roll with it.