Just Some Ordinary Street Niggas
I received a call from an intellectually celibate sister the other day about the Sean Bell verdict.
“Rajen, I can’t stop crying,” she said.
This is the same woman who said that said that Timothy Stansbury (the unarmed teenager who was shot to death by a police officer on a rooftop in Brooklyn) got what he deserved.
“His black ass had no business running on the roof,” she said.
A few years back, I told her I would not buy a diamond for any woman I chose to marry because of how they are mined and because of the many black men who have died digging for them.
“Fuck ’em!” she said.
This woman considers herself an intelligent, educated, successful, strong black woman.
I had stopped talking to her for years but people like this call me all the time on all kinds of shit as if I’m some sort of ghetto guru. After crying about Sean Bell, this woman went into a tirade about the surviving victims of the Bell shooting.
“I saw them on the news and they could not even form a sentence,” she said. “One of them had on a T-shirt that said “Don Thug Entertainment.’ Ignorant motherfuckers, I swear!”
Even coming from an insatiable idiot, this sounded interesting. If what she was saying was true and I have no reason not to believe her (she’s lame, but not a liar), then it stands to reason why the verdict came back acquitting the cops of everything.
If these guys were “ordinary street niggas,” then no judge would ever put cops in jail for having wronged them. If these guys can’t form a sentence, or conduct themselves in a manner that is acceptable to their persecutors then they will not get the justice they deserve. Not to disrespect Sean Bell and his friends, but it is what it is.
As black men, we have to rise above that stereotype and image that seems to define us and design a level of respectability for our own survival. You cannot conduct yourself as a borderline sociopath, thug, and gangster, be inarticulate, and uncouth all your life and in one day expect to turn into William F. Buckley on the witness stand.
Secondly, ask yourself: If you were shot by the police would Sean Bell, his fiancée, and his two buddies march with Al Sharpton or anyone else to demand justice for you? Or would they be just chilling at home like the next Sean Bell, Patrick Dorismond, ignoring the daily crisis in black, male America—being ordinary street niggas.
As a race we have to recognize that we have been punked. They got it; it’s their world. Then we have to recognize our ignorance and our fault in our own punkness and work from there. My alma mater, Baruch College, is now fighting to get more black students in the school and our biggest problem is not racism it’s the fact that our students are not academically qualified to walk in the building. How is this? Because we are raising idiots!
How the hell can you give a cell phone to a 12-year-old who has a third-grade reading level? Why does your son have an mp3 player, video game console, and $200 sneakers while the clown is rocking a D average? Your 16-year-old daughter just got an abortion and she is not on punishment, her cell bill is paid, and she has all the new clothes she needs? You haven’t bought her a book in five years.
This is exactly what is happening in the family next door to me. And this is considered a progressive black family! The schools are not preparing our kids and we are not picking up the slack. Our kids have everything and know nothing. Our kids wear everything and own nothing. At some point, I will have to put up a book list for black folks to look at because even the black folks doing well are not up to snuff. I spoke to a 35-year-old woman recently who is raising a 12-year-old black boy and she was clueless. She said that she listens to Michael Baisden because he keeps her on point and provides intellectual stimulation. I wish this was one of my jokes.
I like Michael Baisden but if you’re looking toward Michael Baisden for any sort of intellectual input, you are so far gone. It’s pathetic! That’s like getting African history from Bill O’Reilly.
Our children are not being prepared for the real fight. We are creating an army of ignoramuses who will one day be so intellectually deficient that they will be nothing but target practice for idiot cops. If this keeps up, we will never be able to obtain justice. Being poor does not mean we have to be intellectually inadequate. Cops will not be worried about about the consequences of murdering us. (Hell, they aren’t worried now). Because when they shoot one of us, no one cares because they are just killing an “ordinary street nigga.”
Like the students trying to get into Baruch College without a leg to stand on, the average brother is in the same predicament as the victims in the Sean Bell incident. The only way to cure this malady is to make it of dire consequence to those who harm black people. Marching will not do it. Calling your radio station to voice your opinion will not do it. We have to begin today to turn off the television set, and create schools in our homes. You cannot come home from work and turn on reality shows and stick an mp3 player in your son’s ear and expect to better people on the following day. You cannot continue to support ignorant celebrities who do not support their fans with their presence when the police have gunned them down.
Stansbury was deejaying a party when he crossed roof to get some more CDs to rock the spot. He was shot by a trigger-happy cop for no reason. Was he spinning Jay-Z, Fitty Cent, Jada Kiss, Ja Rule, Mary J Blige? Did any of these people show up in support of him or to display their outrage at his killing? In Queens, at the strip club where Bell and his boys were having Bell’s bachelor’s party, they were playing soca and reggae. They were listening to Beanie Man, Elephant Man, Marshall Montanna, probably. Did any of them show up in support? Fuck no! But our dumb assess supported Irv Gotti at his trial. We supported Lil Kim at her, Puffy at his, Tupac at his, Foxy Brown at hers and even Oprah when the beef industry tried to take her down.
Richard Pryor in his comedy routine on the Leon Spinks/Muhammad Ali fight talked about Leon being a young, nigger trying to manhandle Ali. In his brilliance, Pryor went into character and became a voice in Ali’s head and said. “This ain’t no ordinary street nigger you in here with, this is Muhammad Ali, heavyweight champion of the world!”
I internalize that and decided never to be an ordinary street nigger, never to be a push over, never to be punked. I always strive to at least have that mentality that Muhammad Ali had about himself. This is a journey we should all embark on—be the greatest or at least start on the road to greatness!
