White Folks and Hip Hop : Know your Role.

So I\’m normally about being all open minded and allowing the thoughts and feelings of others to either influence me in a positive way or just totally bounce and roll into the gutter when they pop off with some craziness. Every once in a while though, somebody suggests something to me; something so mind-boggling, that will not allow a quick drop off at the nearest garbage can. It burrows into my psyche and takes root.

A few weeks ago, (and no, I still can\’t let the shit go) I was formally chastised. I was told to clean up my act. I was told I was a problem. He suggested I was a bigot. What was the catalyst of this young white male\’s outburst? I used the word Negro.

Just so you understand the context, I wrote that the package a particular white lyricist wrapped himself in was bothersome and schizophrenic. I wrote he didn\’t have to constantly surround himself with his merry Gang-o-Negroes to get the respect he so desired. I suggested his attempts at being hood appeared contrived and using black people as props was not a good look.

What I found most interesting about this young man\’s anger was not his issue with my vernacular because I can be harsh. It wasn\’t that he disagreed with me. That happens often as I am wrong more than I would like to admit. It was that he lashed out at me when it was clear the person cheating with the race card was the emcee. It concerned him not that a black person had an issue with his favorite dude. He didn\’t care about that.

I\’m still, I swear, I\’m still mystified by this guy. \”You have no right!\” he cried. I have no what?!? I have no what?!? He was so out of pocket it was ridiculous.

Look, I understand the hopelessly optimistic see Hip Hop as one big color-blind world party in which all of us fans hold hands and sing Kumbaya amongst mountains of cd\’s and mp3\’s. And while the music has drawn us together, it\’s not just the music that ribbons through our relationships. The music is the catalyst, but there are still understandings and acceptances. There is still respect. The door is open and you are more than welcome to come in, but know the vernacular caste system still applies.

Just because you are a fan, it doesn\’t mean you get carte blanche in the black community. It doesn\’t mean you can consider yourself black and it doesn\’t mean you can tell me what\’s acceptable when I either talk to or talk about my folks. I would never be so presumptuous as to do that to you.

So pull the reigns and stay in your lane, please.

It can be a comfy situation, but it is a comfort that, for me, always has a bit of contention thrown into the mix. I can\’t speak for anyone else, but there are times when I\’m at an event or I\’m viewing video from the event and I\’m like, \”Damn, there are a lot of white people here.\” Do not get me wrong. I am not saying that\’s a bad thing. Lord knows the world can use a little \”see past the obvious\” pixie dust spread around. And I\’m included as a needy recipient as I wade through all the convoluted issues that swirl around this subject in a state of confusion. But as the non-black audience grows, you know there is always someone who feels a little too at ease.

There are some non-black folks with Hip Hop and other general elements of black culture engrained in them so deeply that they drop the n-bomb without a second\’s hesitation. I know that their friends do not censure this behavior because to many, it\’s no big deal. They don\’t mean anything by it. It\’s a term of endearment. He\’s a black dude who was born in a White/Latin/Asian mans body.

Whatever.

How yall do is how yall do. It\’s not up to me to tell you what should happen in your circle or what should come out of your mouth. But how are you going to tell me what is acceptable for me? Balls. Big ass huge fucking balls, I tell ya.

Of course, me being me, the next thing I wrote incorporated the word Negro over 100 times. The article had no meaning except to showcase my wonderfully imaginative use of the word in a multitude of contexts without repeating the same thought twice. I was actually very proud of it. One day, I will figure out how to use it.

So, there you have it. One little dude attempting to explain to me why I as a black woman could no longer talk about my people like that got me so exacerbated I had to write something just to vent my unhappiness with the situation. His stab at righting my ignorant wrong exposed an ease this kid has that he needs a refund on. And I\’ll bet you a million dollars he has about 100,000 friends he needs to carry to that store with him.

Exhale.

Maybe now I can uproot this e-confrontation from my psyche and throw it in the garbage where it and angry commenter\’s favorite emcee belong.