Why Do Black People Get Ahead Just to Stay Behind?

Earlier today, I read a blog post over at abelleinbrooklyn.com. Belle put it down in her post “Black Relationships: The New Willie Lynch Model” explaining her ‘conspiracy theories’ on why black love is altogether non-existent in the media. The post is worth reading so when you get a chance, check it out.

As I read Belle’s post, I began thinking, ‘Why do black people get ahead just to stay behind?’ With all of our so-called progress, you would think that we would have taken over the world by now…or would have at least come close. But we haven’t.

It seems like the odds are always, in some way or another, against us. When we begin to excel in one area we start failing miserably in the next. For example, black women and education. Black women are becoming educated in growing numbers with a lack of black men as husbands or support systems to be there for us when we graduate. The men are either sickeningly unintelligent, unable to handle a woman who is more educated and financially stable, confused, or in jail**. This results in slim pickings for the ladies and a bad look for the black community. So now, even though education is a good thing (i.e. so-called progress) it is being overshadowed by the bad (i.e. the black woman’s inability to get and/or keep a black man). Now every time you hear about the educated black woman, you have to be reminded that she is single- with an inference that were she not educated, she would not be single.

Another example that deserves our attention is the election of our first black president, Barack H. Obama (He’s not really the first, but that will have to be discussed in a later post). This man is beyond incredible and shockingly popular. Seems like good news for black people, right?

Wrong.

Has anyone noticed that, since the moment we elected President Obama into office, we have completely ripped this poor man to shreds? He can’t say anything without the media jumping down his throat and opinionating his words. Every time those in the political-know speak about President Obama, they no longer mention the fact that he is black (it’s pretty obvious now anyway), rather they mention how he’s raising everyone’s taxes and complicating health care. With the abundance of negative backlash that our president receives, you would think that those who fought to get him into office would be his srong willed support system. Unfortunately, many of those who were his biggest supporters during his campaign haven’t so much as looked at CNN, MSNBC, or any other news network to see how their president is doing since the inauguration. It’s almost like we put him on this presidential pedestal just to snatch him down and stare unresponsively as he tumbles to the ground. So, we got our black president but if people are only going to remember that he is black and failing at his job, how much progress has his progressive position actually achieved?

And what of our first super-mega-star: Michael Jackson. There is no one, save Beyonce (I am being sarcastic, I have a weird love-hate relationship with that woman) that has ever reached Michael’s stature. He was the first black musician to have a music video played on MTV. He had white girls fainting and white boys moon-walking. His influence on the entire world is undeniable, yet, whenever Michael’s name is mentioned, we always have to hear about the drama that surrounded his life- specifically the drama of alleged child molestation. We can’t just have a successful super-mega-star; we have to have a child molesting successful super-mega-star. Terrible.

Even Tyler Perry is on my ‘getting ahead just to stay behind’ list. He is the first black man to own his own mega-movie studio. As great as that is, everyone knows that Tyler Perry’s success is greatly overshadowed by that of his feminine/masculine/ghetto alter ego, Madea. Just mentioning Madea’s name reminds me of the plethora of issues that I have with that man/woman fiasco. In order to prevent this post from turning into a book, I will consciously neglect to include my rants about Madea. Just know that Madea has hurt the black community just as much as she has helped us, and just like Beyonce, Madea and I have some serious unresolved cultural issues. But that, like the topic of the first black president, will have to wait for a later post. For now I will reiterate the sad fact that Tyler Perry’ success is overshadowed by Madea and all of her cultural and gender implications.

If everything that I have already said is not enough, I have also found modern black literature as somewhat of a problem. In case folks didn’t know, black people actually read! Even the hoodest of the hood read books. But guess what kind of books we be reading. (yes I said “be reading”.) We read about Bonqueesha and Tyreek’s crazy drug money obsessed love affair. I call these books hood-trash and I can’t stand them. But at least they got ni**as reading and sh*t, right?

Wrong.

If all that you read is this ghetto garbage, then imagine what you are doing to your mind. These books do not educate nor do they intellectually stimulate. Many of the novels are filled with words that are spelled wrong, horrible sentence structure, and a story line that is full of porn-like sex scenes and glorification of street life. So even though we be reading and sh*t we are still as dumb as we were before we opened whatever hood-trash book we got from our local corner store. Our newfound love for reading is overshadowed by the ignorance of what we are reading. Fo’ shame.

I could really go on and on but I have to stop. This is literally making me sick to my stomach and I need to get to the real point of all of this. The black community is making great strides in so many areas that you would think we we are flying high and sailing free. But if for every gain, we have a loss, how will we ever be able to move forward?

What is a whole generation of black women with Master’s degrees if we don’t have supportive, strong black men with whom we can share our progress? When we are ready to settle down and have children, with whom will we build families? Is there even a future for the black family?

In addition, how do we expect to be taken seriously if we vote a black man into the White House just to watch him fail? It’s not like he’s ever done this before. Heck, it’s not like anyone has ever done this before. The least we could do is support the man. Something has to change; otherwise it will seem as though we have built ourselves up just to show that we are incapable of long term success.

This issue is also prevalent with Michael Jackson. We put Michael on this unnaturally high pedestal and watched as he fell from grace. He was the biggest mega-star to ever live and look at what we did to him.

Although the nature of this post is to point out what I may not like in terms of black success, I have to give credit where credit due. I think that Tyler Perry is a genius. He has made something of himself and helps keep black actors/actresses employed. It’s just a shame that he is doing all of this at the expense of me…and my mother…and my grandmother…and his mother. Think about it.

And finally, The Great Hood-Trash Novel—thank you for nothing.

Is it impossible for us to just succeed? I mean, all I am asking for is simple success, positive success, without the extra negativity. No hovering black cloud raining on our progress, and no reminder of the bad whenever the good is mentioned. Is that too much to ask? If the bad continues to outweigh or equal the good, how will we succeed in this society that is waiting to see us fail? I know we have a black president and all, but that doesn’t mean anything if we continue to laugh at a she-man impersonating our mothers while reading incoherent sentences about drug money and sex. As usual, I’m just saying…


**Not representative of all men