Do We As African Americans Have A Culture?

[DSTCHAOS]

Originally Posted by pinkies up

Why do you think that we have subjected ourselves to lower standards than the generations before us?

We don't have lower standards than before. We've just allowed the ignorant to overshadow the plethora of non-ignorant. There have always been the ignorant but previously we had informal social control that kept the community in order and told the idiots to sit down and shut up.

By "ignorant" and "idiot" I'm not talking about the poor. I'm talking about anyone who uses excuses and wallows in negative circumstances. Black people have traditionally been working poor and there was a segment of middle to upperclass. But regardless of the social class, we were always taught to be a prideful and hardworking people. Those of us who remain prideful and hardworking need to be at the forefront.

Sidebar: And, no, I don't believe that all of the images on BET are negative as some people believe. The negative part is the lack of balance between the BET images and other images of blacks. Everyone's looking for ONE THING to blame and fix but there isn't just one thing.

Originally Posted by pinkies up

Also, who do you guys think are the new black leaders?

We don't have or need "black leaders."

[pinkies up]

Originally Posted by DSTCHAOS

We don't have or need "black leaders."

DSTCHAOS can you elaborate on your answer. ( I tend to agree with you) However I am asking because it seems like we have always had those select leaders who were in the forefront. Is your reasoning that everyone in the community is a leader and we don't need someone to ban us together?

[darling1]

a big problem is that we as a community dont know our strength and power. imho, we dont need to be 'led' by anyone. personally, some of our so called 'leaders' were just placed out in the forefront to make 'others' feel comfortable. i feel that as diverse as our culture is, our viewpoints are just as diverse and therefore one or two people cant and will never speak for af/am people.


to answer the original question we have a culture. it has been other cultures who took from us and created something new. we took it back and recreated it. like its been said, the more we buy into the notion that we are lost and need to be saved the worse will be as a community.

Originally Posted by pinkies up

DSTCHAOS can you elaborate on your answer. ( I tend to agree with you) However I am asking because it seems like we have always had those select leaders who were in the forefront. Is your reasoning that everyone in the community is a leader and we don't need someone to ban us together?

[DSTCHAOS]

Originally Posted by pinkies up

Is your reasoning that everyone in the community is a leader and we don't need someone to ban us together?

No.

Having a "black leader" is meaningless and it will always alienate a segment of the black population.