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Why Do Black People…
As I sat in my car angrily watching a fellow Black person mosey across the street in front of me as I slammed on the breaks, I had one of those moments where I realized I needed to write a blog post on the topic as soon as I could get to a computer. No, not just about a dude slowly crossing the street; but more so a post about why we do some of the things that we do. This isn’t a post about violence or those who distribute rocks in our communities. It’s about the lighter stuff (Like me. Just kidding) that happens on the regular. Even I’m guilty of some of the stuff. This is not about looking down on anybody, it’s just about understanding why we do some of the things we do.
Slow steppin’ across the street
At first I was trying to figure out if there’s a correlation between IQ and the likelihood of getting hit by a car. After I realized that was a messed up thought process, I tried to figure out what is it about Black people (particularly in the inner city) that makes us prone to walking in front of cars when the light is green or there is no light at all. I understand trying to get across the street with some hustle in your step when you don’t see traffic dissipating anytime soon. I don’t understand slowly walking across the street acting like moving cars don’t hurt. Move Brotha’ move!
Everybody move to the back of the bus
Given everything that happened during the 60’s, you’d think we’d take advantage of the opportunity to sit anywhere on the bus. Yet and still, myself included, we still mosey our way to the back without hesitation. Sometimes I’ll sit in the front of the bus to avoid being that guy, other times I’ll just go to the furthest seat possible. Personally, I like the back of the bus because I can see everybody. In an era of increased craziness, I don’t like the odds of the .0001% chance that someone will club me in the back of the head with a blunt object. Call it paranoia, but I bet it’s no worse that T.I. needing to keep automatic weapons and silencers in his well-protected crib.
Carving thangs where they shouldn’t be carved
As me and Seattle rode the subway back from a night of boozing it up, we noticed that our train route (which happens to go through the Blackest parts of Boston) has the crappiest trains. Mad old, ish carved into the seats, all that. We took another train line earlier in the day and it was like sitting on Cloud 9. It was OD spacious, new seats, real clean. Then we realized, much to our dismay, that if this train were on our regular route, the seats would be destroyed, there’d be a mess everywhere, and the passenger composition would be completely different. Why do we feel the need to carve words into seats and destroy anything that appears nice that is publicly funded? It’s like when a new basketball hoop goes up in the hood and the next day someone tears it down. Ish makes no sense. Grrrr!
Them Blacks…
No. Not Black people. I’m talking about Black & Milds. Those plastic tipped tobacco products that smell so good, come in multiple flavors, and only we seem to smoke. We, in this case, is cool Black men. I’ve had more than my fair share. I suppose we think they’re a better option than Newports and more pleasant on the nose. However, we’re the only ones who really puff em like that. This probably means they’re more destructive than anything else out there even though they don’t have fiberglass in ‘em. At what point did they become so common place for us? What rapper started this epidemic!?!?!
These are some of the things we’ve noticed and wondered about. What’s the feedback on these as well as any other commonalities that you don’t fully understand?
Curiously Strong,
Seattle and Slim
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I walk slowly across the street due to my modelesque strut. I need you to see ALL OF IT.
LOL. I also do it to annoy impatient drivers.
Why DO black folks go to the back of the bus? I never did, just plain nerdy that way.
“Carving thangs where they shouldn’t be carved”
when you said this, I thought you meant branding… but why do black folks BRAND anyway? We are not cattle.
My little brother has gotten into this black smoking… this stuff stinks… I tell him this, but I guess he’s too fooled by the cool. When we were in Miami, one of my girls smoked a Cuban cigar….. I was pretty shocked by that too.
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Slim Jackson Reply:
November 24th, 2008 at 10:50 am
“but why do black folks BRAND anyway? We are not cattle.”
You wanna handle this one Lex?
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RightCoastLex Reply:
November 26th, 2008 at 12:11 am
We arent either, but we were chains. Yep, sure arent cattle but I have 9 brands. To shorten the long answer, I did because I love my frat and I’ll be a Q for life, and my brands will be with me for life. (Translation-I was drunk and everyone else was doing it…)
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Nicki, you should do research on branding and where the tradition comes from. Humans were the first to get brands not cattle. Cattle branding is a rather new concept (last few hundred years) while humans been getting branded for thousands.
Now that that is done…..
Black folk mosey across the street for 2 reasons: 1) they know you aint gonna hit them 2) and they wanna get paid if u do. I always day dream about getting hit by a car, breaking a leg and then getting PAID .
I move to the back of the bus b/c that’s where the room is. When I get on the bus, all the old folk are crowded in the front and its like fighting through an army to get through. But then when you reach the back, its like a breath of fresh air. Also, when I was young, I was just get on the back of the bus to avoid paying.
White ppl carve as much sh*t too, they’re trains and buses get replaced.
I hate blacks. Not b/c they smell or anything but b/c think that they are less toxic than cigarettes.
P.S. Nicki introduce me to your cigar smoking friend please
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Nicki Sunshine Reply:
November 24th, 2008 at 12:51 pm
“Nicki, you should do research on branding and where the tradition comes from”
I’m too lazy to do research on things that really don’t mean that much to me. LOL. But thanks for enlightening me dear.
Aw man, my cigar smoking girlfriend is dating my lil cousin. LOL. IT grosses me out but whatcanyado?!
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we do and say a lot of things just to piss people off. i know i do. there’s not a lot of walking in Dallas but from times i can remember it was to get on most drivers nerves. get a honk out of them.
and to make it short and sweet, black people destroy property from a lack of respect and some have not been taught otherwise.
i’ve never smoked anything in my life, but from that good ole second hand smoke, i have to say that i enjoy the smell of a black.
one that i don’t understand is why when black women try to break it down on the dance floor we have to look at our behinds?? not a big one but i’ve always wondered.
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Nicki Sunshine Reply:
November 24th, 2008 at 12:52 pm
“one that i don’t understand is why when black women try to break it down on the dance floor we have to look at our behinds??”
This is funny as hell and it’s true. Was this put into our genes (jeans, no pun intended!)
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“Everybody move to the back of the bus”
In one case in particular, there’s a good reason for this. When it ain’t hardly no one on the bus, I definitely favor the front. But when it’s after 5pm in a crowded major city like Chicago, you MUST proceed to the back of the bus to make way for the 50 people getting on behind you. It’s hella rude to stop right in the middle of the standing aisle while others try to get on, so everyone heads to the back to make room. Otherwise, it’s an ugly traffic jam with people trying to squeeze around the people standing without stepping on the sitting people’s toes. Man, I’m so glad I take the Metra.
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“Slow steppin’ across the street”
I, personally, have such an issue with this. I have fittingly labeled these culprits Irresponsible Pedestrians (IPs). You are NOT invincible, and I am not above hitting you. And my homie Seattle aint either…
Peyso– If my memory serves me right, branding was used on humans in an effort to dehumanize and mark as territory/property—more specifically, on slaves. Even over in Britain, it was used as a method of punishment. Please drop some knowledge as to how/why this history makes the process okay? I agree with Nicki in that it’s gross and very unsexy…regardless of whether or not its history holds a more positive significance or aura of tradition.
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Nicki Sunshine Reply:
November 24th, 2008 at 12:53 pm
” I agree with Nicki in that it’s gross and very unsexy…regardless of whether or not its history holds a more positive significance or aura of tradition”
I dated a guy back, back, back in the day and he thought he was a blood.. I say thought because I live in Kentucky. Anty-who, he had a B branded into his arm… Eck. The scars gross me out.
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Peyso Reply:
November 24th, 2008 at 1:28 pm
In African and Greek traditions, warriors were branded so that if they died in battle they were easily recognizable.
Also, there are many indigenous ppl in South America that practice branding as a rights of passage and they are proud to wear their tribal brands.
Branding as a punishment is relatively new and my brands came out pretty nicely if I must say so myself. A bit of a keloid but not none of that ugly looking like worms and what not stuff.
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ife1love Reply:
November 24th, 2008 at 3:12 pm
Branding is just another form of body modification like tattooing or piercing. Body modification has most commonly been used in ritual and for spiritual exploration, but there have also been dark sides to the practices… Enslaved Africans were branded, the Nazis tattooed their prisoners during the Holocaust… but more often then not, historically speaking, body modification and has been more about expression than punishment.
In terms of branding, another historical fact to add to the ones Peyso mentioned, some Hindi sects brand themselves with sacred symbols. The branding done during a ceremony and is believed to purify the body, mind and soul, and evokes divine grace within the worshiper.
I like brands (on men, I wouldn’t get one), I’m all for tattoos that aren’t stupid (no flash please), I have 2 tats myself and am looking forward to getting my third this March. I also support piercing (I have a few of those too).
I look at it as self expression.
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Vanessa aka Miss V Reply:
November 24th, 2008 at 5:13 pm
yes… tattoos are cool… i have six myself (and maybe getting another one)!
i don’t mind branding either… i dont think i’d get one though. i haven’t seen many women rock them…
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I have a feeling this is about to get real interesting today….
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I must be a cool Black man because when I smoke, it’s Black and Milds (prefer apple flavor). I smoked squares for 10 years (Marlboro lights). A bad habit I picked up in boarding school. Then when I began smoking weed heavily, I used Blacks because they masked the smell and I could smoke in my dorm. Now, I don’t smoke regularly, but every now and then, I need some relief, I run and grab a loose Black, sit back in the park and inhale. With my hand on my crotch. Yeah, I’mma cool Black man lol
Re: Branding…
“Niggaz is a beautiful thang”- Bamboozled
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Oh, I forgot to add my little list:
Why do Black folk say “conversate,” even when they know it’s not a word? Someone once told me they say because it’s easier. Really? Last time I checked, “converse” has one less syllable than “conversate.” ::cringe::
Why do (did) Black folk put plastic on the furniture, then still not let anyone sit on it?!
Lastly (and I’m guilty of this one), why do Black folk hate going to the Doctor? Like…we avoid it all costs. My grandma would have the worst pain but would always say “I ain’t goin to no damn doctor!” In her house, Robitussin, that green Rubbing Alcohol, and Tylenol PM cured everything. Oh, and don’t forget the Vicks!
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Nicki Sunshine Reply:
November 24th, 2008 at 12:58 pm
“why do Black folk hate going to the Doctor? Like…we avoid it all costs”
This just happened to my mom last Monday.. the ER discharged her with a headache. I insisted she go to the doctor, and called and made her appointment. Ended up, she had a stroke, a cyst on her sinuses AND she needed to get a few blood transfusions.. but she is still here and you’d never be able to tell. GOD is good. {and now I have to help my granny cook Thanksgiving.
}
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Slim Jackson Reply:
November 24th, 2008 at 1:04 pm
You’re on the ball today!(pause) Word!
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Nicki Sunshine Reply:
November 24th, 2008 at 1:08 pm
I yam! I yam!
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Nyela Goodness Reply:
November 24th, 2008 at 1:41 pm
Wow. Praise the Lord she’s okay! That’s another thing about us: We got resilience for ages. We may go through hell and high-water, but you’d never know—especially when God has His hand in things!
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Nicki Sunshine Reply:
November 24th, 2008 at 2:53 pm
You ain’t never lied. God is good, yes indeed.
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Maaaan, I was at the Anthony Hamilton concert a week ago and I heard more from the peanut gallery behind me than I did Mr. Hamilton. Every Black person near the group of loud Black folk gave them “the stare”, but they didn’t shut up until a White guy told them to “shhhhhh”. It took all my soul to not bust out laughing.
So, why must Black folk talk during shows? Did you not pay the same amount of money to see this as I did? Can you please (in Bernie Mac voice) “Shut the F— Up!” before I call up a White man to shush you.
And yes, I’m from in NYC, the city where drivers will hit you with their car and then yell at you for walking too slow while you’re laying on the ground.
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Intellectual Hedonist Reply:
November 24th, 2008 at 1:59 pm
yeah Black folk know how to act a fool in a movie theater and at shows. I saw Anthony Hamilton at the Newport Jazz Festival this summer. It was GREAT! It was so chill, and I even got some close up shots of him. Good time had by all, minimal black folk in the crowd, even though Aretha Franklin was the headliner and Ledisi was the opening act.
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Nyela Goodness Reply:
November 24th, 2008 at 3:09 pm
OMG Ledisi is the bidness! Sooo underrated…
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Intellectual Hedonist Reply:
November 24th, 2008 at 3:24 pm
yes she is the bidness and underrated….
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reign Reply:
November 24th, 2008 at 3:33 pm
so true… When the Color Purple came to town you could hardly hear anyone on the stage cause black folk were carrying on their own conversations. laughing when nothing funny was happening on stage. made it a complete waste of my money.
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why do black people (not all) feel that it’s necessary to match their shoes with their top and with their accessories?? nothing irritates me more than to see someone rocking green boots with a green belt, green shirt, green earrings/hat/headband etc… i don’t mean that we shouldn’t match, but OD matching is not cool either!
personally, i dislike sitting in the front because if an elderly/handicap/pregnant person comes on, I’m forced to stand the rest of the way….
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Cheekie Reply:
November 24th, 2008 at 5:50 pm
“why do black people (not all) feel that it’s necessary to match their shoes with their top and with their accessories??”
OMG. HATE this. And then to top it off, clothing stores like Newport News are advocating this hot mess. I saw this truly horrid pattern on a shirt and then saw the pants, shoes, purse, and hat to match. Yes, with the exact same pattern. STOP it. Barack should hit up Congress so this could be made against the law.
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Slim Jackson Reply:
November 24th, 2008 at 6:21 pm
“Barack should hit up Congress so this could be made against the law.”
That made me laugh.
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Vanessa aka Miss V Reply:
November 24th, 2008 at 6:41 pm
LoL oh man… imagine if he could do that??
and what’s worse… i’ve seen some chicks that match their weaves to their outfits (i.e. have a blue, pink, green, orange etc strand(s) of hair). what the hell? so ghetto… i’m sorry !
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One of my pet peeves is when you’re driving down the street in your neighborhood and folks think they have bumpers on them—because instead of walking on the sidewalk they want to walk in the middle of the street and then want to mean mug you when you blow your horn at them to move out of the way. Every time that happens, I want to blast Ludacrious song – “Move–get out the way.”
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