Discrimination

[Eldanuumea]

Too many of the young African-Americans I know and see every day are allowing the music industry to define who they are. I'm not one to blame everything on the Hip=Hop scene....I like some of that stuff myself!.....but there does seem to be a dangerously negative image going out to young people about what it looks like to be young and black in America.

[Darth Tater]

Hrmm, sounds a lot like the ghetto-mentality of Russian Jews earlier in the century.

[Lizra]

Eldanuumea, you could just plant a seed and maybe it will germinate and grow someday ( many seeds lie in the soil for up to 15 years before the right conditions cause the plant to spring forth!) Something like "It's what black folks do if they want to be poor and have no future", with a smile of course. The seed of thought might not grow in the particular mind you're talking to, but another young person might pick it up and save it. You probably do this already, thanks for being a teacher!

[azalea]

What happened? (I mean with the Russian Jews).

Yes, it's so sad to hear young black men saying that getting a legit job, etc. is "being white", "selling out their race", etc. I saw a program about a black cop whose beat was around the projects of some city, and he was berated by the young black men living there. It made me want to weep, because here was a nice man who was doing something important to lift the black community up by ridding the area of crime, a brave man who put his life in danger every day to protect those who couldn't protect themselves or the ones who get themselves into stupid situations, a man who was living a life of service to his fellow man, and yet he was being "picked on" by people who wanted to give him narrow definition of himself, who put him down for doing what he wanted to do. It was sickening, and I just hope he knew who he was enough to let those comments roll off his back and not to let them bother him.

I have heard other situations where blacks were put down for speaking SAE, for falling in love with a white person, things like that. It's sad to think people are so fixated on skin color in that negative way.

[afro-elf]

You've just described my life in many ways.

Because I've traveled across the globe the 1st thing people what branch of the service am I in.

They are amazed that I did it without the military.

I have a few degree's so now " He's all that"

There's probably not a ethnic background of woman I haven't been involved with but if i date a black woman people say I'd never thought you would do that. They assume so damn much.


I used to love heavy metal and ice hockey. if it wasn't for my height I most likey would have had my a$$ kicked every day


I have a fairly distinctive voice so I get " why you wanna be all white'

as a teenager it was difficult i just shrug it off now

if i date a white girl and they don't like that's their problem. THEY don't like it but they tend to turn and rend you.

[Rána Eressëa]

I would like to take this time to say one thing: retribution.

It's not punished severely nowadays to make fun of Christians or white people or men, because of particularly one thing: in the past, they were the majority of people that discriminated almost everybody else. Take for instance the black slaves of the south, and the women burned at stakes for being accused of "witchcraft", not the mention the denied equal rights of females. The mistakes of our ancestors are just coming back to bite us in the ass - that's all there is to it.

It used to be the non-Chrisitans were discrimated by Christians. The blacks discriminated by the whites. The women discrimated by the men. But now, the tables have been turned, and all the once discriminated groups are getting "revenge".

It's quite unfair for some, I agree, but that is basically the most honest answer you're going to receive. We're paying for our ancestors' wrongs, and I can't think of anything else it really could be but that.

I myself jump in to say my two cents about white people, men, and Christians (yeah, I know I'm one of them - long story). These groups used to be the ones putting everyone in the hot seat, and you want my opinion? I think it's time for payback, baby! (Okay, that was a joke, but I kinda meant it.)

[BeardofPants]

Good points RE. However, I don't know if retribution is really the right word to use, since as you say, it's a backlash against our ancestors wrongs.

Following on with the nigger culture thing; over here in NZ it has permeated into the maori and polynesian culture as well. Not only are they listening to "hip-hop", but they're also letting themselves be defined by this negative culture. Believe me, there's nothing scarier than an urbanised maori culture trying to emulate the "nigger" philosophy. I'm waiting for the guns to come out, I really am.

It's just so sad, because maori culture is an amazingly beautiful, and truly rarified thing. Nowhere else in the world are there a people like them, and yet here they are trying to be these bad *** mother******s from da ghetto. Truly sad.

[Rána Eressëa]

It's retribution against the wrongs of our ancestors, true, it's just not being directed against our ancestors, because they're . . . well, already dead. Therefore, we're the ones who are going to end up getting the blame and taking the fall.

It's probably better to use the word revenge. Someone else is getting blamed for what happened, but they're going to blame someone already as it is. It's that whole "an eye for an eye" thing. Think of it as, "your grandfather jabbed my grandfather's eye, so I'm going to jab yours". Senseless, I say.

[afro-elf]

EVERY country i've been to the ghetto ethic hip hop gangster rap culture has infiltrated

[Wayfarer]

Rap sucks anyway.

I don't care if your black or white or yellow with purple spots, but rappers are just subhuman.

[Lizra]

Why is hip hop culture so successful? cause it's crammed down the throats of guillible young folk by capitalists,or is there something about it that fills a need?

[Khamûl]

Living in the South, discrimination used to be a big issue, and still is to a point. One big problem people have is the Confederate Battle Flag. To most people it is a part of our history. To others, they take it to be a sign of hate and discrimination. Granted, some people use it like that, but most people are just proud Rednecks. In Selma, Alabama, there is a statue honoring Nathan Bedford Forrest, and his defense of Selma during the Civil War. People want to get rid of the statue because he just so happened to be a founder of the Ku Klux Klan. Why don't they just let the statue stand for a heroic deed and in memory of a battle? In my school, it's against the dress code to wear anything with a Rebel flag on it. You will have to turn it inside out or go home and change. My general opinion in the whole matter is expressed by a bumper sticker that you see every now and then- "Heritage, not Hate."

[afro-elf]

as rock n roll was the "rebel yell" of yester year

Rap it the rebellious culture of today.

for me it was heavy metal, now its rap, tomorrow?

rappers are just subhuman.

well I disagree here. there are a handful of intelligent rappers out there (ex. krs one) just as the lyrics to many iron maiden, fates warning tool are not dumb or trite.

but the bad boys get the fame

[Rána Eressëa]

Originally posted by Lizra
Why is hip hop culture so successful? cause it's crammed down the throats of guillible young folk by capitalists,or is there something about it that fills a need?

I like hip-hop. It's the quick-witted rhyme that you get to have a fun time trying to keep up with while bobbing your head to the beat that makes me enjoy it.

[BeardofPants]

I have nothing against rap. I like some of it for eru's sake. (Run DMC are soooo funny!) It's gangsta rap that I can't stand; although Coolio was pretty funny.

[afro-elf]

Originally posted by Lizra
Why is hip hop culture so successful? cause it's crammed down the throats of guillible young folk by capitalists,or is there something about it that fills a need?

i addition to what is said above i will add so is bubble gum like brittany spears and all those boy bands


i think its the subversive edge of gansta rap that makes it popular

[Lizra]

It seems rather macho, could this attract the young guys, which then attract the young girls? I guess you could call that subversive. Sex sells.

[BeardofPants]

Yeah, sex does sell. I think it's more the power dynamic though. Teens feel so powerless (and rebellious) when they hit puberty, and something like gangsta rap probably allows them to develop a sense of identity which in turn, lets them throw off their perceived restraints, or something.

[Lizra]

rebellion is fun but then it gets dumb. I guess most of us outgrow it intact.

[BeardofPants]

Yeah, I sure listened to rebellious music!

"She loves you, yeah, yeah, yeah...."

Such a rebel.