Do you think it’s a coincidence that the thug rapper is more likely to be promoted than an intelligent or positive artist? Do you wonder why brilliant artists like Dee-1 and Immortal Technique can have millions of fans and go several years without getting a mainstream record deal? Do you ever wonder why many white-owned media outlets like BET promote artists who are more likely to say “I’m a thug n*gga” than “I’m a black scholar?”
I can tell you that this is not a coincidence.
The fact is that America WANTS you to be a thug. Through the act of consistent repetition, white-owned media puts the violent thug image in front of your face at every turn and wants you to believe that this is a mirror image of yourself. You’re not told to be a doctor, lawyer, business owner, or computer scientist. That’s not your place. Instead, you’re told that your job is to be a contributor to the Great American Minstrel Show, with the kind of imagery that hasn’t been used since Jews were vilified in Germany during World War II. By the way: Their goal was to exterminate them too.
Here are four clear reasons why America wants you to believe you’re a thug and why they will gladly pay a black man to behave like he’s some kind of ignorant monster:
1) Because thugs die: When a black man is born in America, two things are built for him – A prison cell and a casket. In the minds of many Americans, you are already scary, even as a child. Part of the reason that the government arranged for the killing of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr is because educated, empowered, conscientious black men were a threat to national security. So, in the minds of many whites, the sooner you die, the better. It’s even more effective when they can get us to kill each other, because they can then say they had nothing to do with it. Also, if they’ve convinced themselves that you’re a thuggish wild animal, a cop can blow you away like Mike Brown and not even be convicted. After all, “scary wild animals” need to be shot.
2) Because thugs go to prison: America incarcerates more people than any country in the world and those people are disproportionately black men. Through the mass promotion of illegal activity (smoking, drinking, carrying a gun, etc), they are encouraging you to do everything in your power to give them an excuse to send your butt to prison. Malcolm X once said, “The white man will sell you a liquor bottle, then lock you up for being drunk.” That’s why Malcolm said that he worked so hard to take the liquor bottle out of the black man’s hand so that he doesn’t give white men an excuse to lock him up.
Russell Simmons and I pushed hard last year to get The Obama Administration to declare an official end to the War on Drugs last year. Despite the fact that we got 175 celebrities, scholars and activists to support our efforts (i.e. Will Smith, Brad Pitt, Michelle Alexander, Jesse Jackson, etc.), it was extremely difficult to get anyone to care about helping an issue that mostly affected black men.
One thing I found was that, while many politicians and business leaders know that the mass incarceration of black men is wrong and leads to the extermination of the black family, many of them were reluctant to do anything about it. This lack of action was driven by two factors: 1) There is too much money being made by locking black men in prison (read the article about the prison nurse who made $630,000 in overtime pay). I’m not sure if you know this, but it costs more money to put a man in Rikers Island for a year than it does to send him to Harvard on a four year scholarship. The bottom line is that America would rather spend money LOCKING you up than LIFTING you up. Dr Umar Johnson makes this point clearly in the documentary “Elementary Genocide.” He explains that black men are now being traded on the stock exchange just like sugar, oranges, iPods and KFC chickens…..YOU ARE A COMMODITY
2) They don’t give a f*ck about us (excuse my french), since they truly believe that we don’t give a damn about ourselves. So, the point to realize is that no one is going to feel sorry for you and almost no one is going to help you. In order for black men to survive, we are going to have to work together and fight.
When you’re in prison, major corporations make billions from your labor and then don’t pay you hardly anything to do a $30 an hour job. This is not a coincidence, it’s the same business model that was used during slavery. In fact, the 13th Amendment of the United States Constitution states that slavery is legal, as long as someone finds a reason to label you a felon. So, you get caught with a little bit of weed and they slap that label on you, they have a legal right to make you into a slave. Seriously.
3) Because thugs love to give away their money to white people: The American economy survives off of what we finance professors might call “excessive consumerism.” That’s where you convince people to borrow money they don’t have to buy things they don’t need. In no place is sloppy spending more readily promoted than mainstream hip-hop. Rappers will even shout out corporate brands that have never cut them a check because they’ve been taught that the best way to achieve success as a black man is to give all of your money away to the white man. The whole time you’re giving your money to that white man, he ain’t giving sh*t back to you….not even a job.
4) Because wannabe thugs don’t typically compete for economic and educational opportunities: The coonery being promoted in mainstream media is helping the powers-that-be to keep young black people from competing for the best jobs and economic resources. If you’re busy trying to imitate Rick Ross and Young Thug, you’ll probably never compete with Bill Gates and Mark Zuckerberg. If you’re busy trying to get a record deal or NBA contract, you usually won’t be fighting to get a spot at Harvard Medical School. It’s what some might call “Weapons of mass destraction.” If they keep you in your place (broke, uneducated, incarcerated or dead), there is less competition for those who want to be at the top.
FYI – Bill Gates and Mark Zuckerberg are only given as examples, and I am well-aware that not everyone wants to be a doctor, lawyer, professor or computer scientist. My point is that you must be suspicious when white American society creates images of black men that they do not create for their own sons. This means that black people “have their place,” and it’s not in a position of power, control or meaningful self-determination. It means that you’re merely relegated to being a resource, used for the intents and purposes of someone with more power than yourself….kind of like a hammer, an oil well or a horse. Some people say that black people don’t know how to create jobs, but that’s not entirely true. We actually create quite a few jobs for white people.
That’s the message, do with it as you wish. In capitalist, racist America, some people prepare their kids to be BOSSes and some prepare their children to be slaves. So I ask right now, which one are you?
Dr Boyce Watkins is the author of the lecture series, “The 8 Principles of Black Male Empowerment.” To have Dr Watkins’ commentary delivered to your email, please click here.
