What is it that’s deficient in Negroes that makes us go to beyond end of the spectrum of common sense and decency simply to be seen?
This statement may not pertain to all Black people but it’s far more than we realize and way more than it should be.
We will make fools of ourselves in public just to be the center of attention to the point of losing what little dignity we have remaining if there was any there in the first place at all.
In the shopping malls you will hear us coming long before you see us. We are loud and abrasive and will get downright insulting and even confrontational if we don’t stop what we are doing as strangers as you march through to give you our undivided attention as you soar to new record breaking heights in the recorded annals of buffoonery.
I just don’t get it.
This overriding need to be seen at all costs is an indication of a much deeper issue that’s going on with our psyche and we need to address it before it’s too late.
As may of you may well know, one of my many jobs is that of being a bus operator. I have the birds-eye view everyday of the inner workings of this thing called human nature and I must say that it is a very entertaining display indeed.
Now understand that I drive through many different neighborhoods whose core makeup will contain an interesting blend of various nationalities, cultures, races, ethnicity, religious beliefs and sexual orientations.
That being said, there is “NO ONE ANYTHING” when one would attempt to categorize the cultural blending and overlap of the melting pot that has become the society that I see on a daily basis.
But there seems to be one trait that holds true with an overwhelming amount of the home grown Black people of the United states as well as those who were born abroad but who have arrived to these shores to embrace the foolishness that is oh so common place today.
What is that trait?
…….we must have attention at all costs!
Did this ever present trait trickle down from slavery as we sought out to entertain the slave master that we feared in order to gain favor from him?
It appears so because we seem to have these mentality that if we demean ourselves to the world that maybe we would be liked better because we have made a joke of ourselves.
I mean, is it a wonder that we have some of the best comedians and entertainers in the entire world? I’m not saying that everyone who is a performer of some sort is seeking validation from the outside world because of a severe deficiency that lurks below the surface of our cool exteriors but it’s worth taking a look into for some of us.
It’s definitely a void, some kind of constant need and a yearning that needs to be fulfilled because if it weren’t the we couldn’t possibly act the way that we do in public.
If we purchase a car, we have to have the loudest brightest colors. We have to blast our music the loudest and if you don’t pay us any mind at the red traffic stop light while we are waking up the entire neighborhood with our noise, we will then turn it up louder and peer over at you in disgust if you ignore us!
If we are moving about in public, the women have to reveal more of their body and push the limits of public decency laws as you will see more titties, cleavage and butt crack usually with a fully visible thong on full display for the etire world to see.
The women who do this are seriously suffering from some low self esteem issues coupled with a bad case of daddy-hunger.
They mistake the lust in the eyes of the men who get caught soaking in their bargain basement charms for them having some type of actual beauty.
But deep down they don’t feel beautiful and when they run across a true lady who is really attractive without having to reveal her ass for attention, they will become angry, jealous and do all that they can to ridicule her and bring her down.
The unnecessary money spent on weaves, makeup, loud tight revealing clothes set our wayward women apart from all others as we win the top prize for self degradation because of our need to be seen.
Sure, these low down traits have rubbed off on other races indeed but we still hold the crown and are set to be the champion in this respect for a very long time with no contenders in sight!
Our young men have a few issues of their own in this regard that need to be addressed.
They say that fashion trends come and go in cycles. But the disturbing practice of sagging ones pants seems to have overstayed the welcome it never officially received in the Black community long ago and doesn’t seem to plan on going anywhere in the foreseeable future.
Sagging pants can be compared to that unexpected house guest that appeared at your front door – perfectly timed just as dinner was ready – without calling and took advantage of the kindness that you displayed in letting them in to turn it into a draining evening of tolerating their presence.
Sagging just doesn’t want to leave no matter how many hints of disgust are shown this twisted practice and like those roaches that inhabit a dirty ghetto apartment even more so after spraying, they just seem to get worse as the years roll by.
But have you noticed that when you see a person sagging their pants really low in public that if you don’t look at them they will look back at you with a subdued look of subtle shock?
It’s because they know exactly what they’re doing as they carry on with these antics for attention!
What’s disturbing to me is that our need to be seen has taken us into behavior that truly borders on a mental issue and beyond.
It seems that any attention is good attention and it must be gained by any means necessary. Now I’m seeing many of our young men seeking to stand out from the crowd by not attending to their personal hygiene needs and stinking the joint out because of it.
Church? HA! Don’t get me started on THAT faction of Black life…….
Let me ask you, is our motivation to go to church more so to keep up with the latest gossip as well as being seen in our latest outfit and hairstyle or is it truly to be there to worship the Lord?
If we were all told that from now on that it was mandatory to attend services in gray workout sweats only and with your hair pulled back how many would still show up?
In the year 2014 it baffles the mind to see how Black people have regressed into having our lives ruled by cheap narcissism as there is nothing to be gained from it at the end of the day.
At least several decades ago our need to be seen made us groom ourselves properly and strive to be the best so that at least we earned any attention that we garnered.
It made us better in every facet of our lives and it made us strive for excellence in everything that we indulged in regardless as to the stresses of growing up in a country that had so much civil and racial unrest.
But now that many of those older obstacles have slightly diminished externally, internally we have become our own worse enemy and our need to be seen is causing us to waste the precious time that we could be using to build our communities up.
If you follow half of these hood-rat chicks home as well as the men who would rather roam the streets with no direction, you will most likely find that their home is filthy, clothes all over the place, dirty dishes in the sink all locked behind the door of a fortress in disarray.
Facebook leads the pack of these social media platforms that encourage Black people even more so in their need to be seen and acts in the same manner that would accelerate making a house fire even more of a daunting task to extinguish.
While we worry about how our hair looks or if our butt looks good in a tight pair of jeans, other cultures and races of people are coming here to this country and feverishly working toward getting an education to become the movers and shakers in their communities as opposed to the ignorant consumers that we are content in being.
The sad part is that we are not even the movers and shakers or even the decision makers in the downtrodden areas where we live. We never attend any community meetings to see what will be going on or even have a say in what will transpire in our neighborhood.
But if we heard that there would be free pork and liquor given away at these very same meetings, our attendance would soar to record breaking figures without fail in NO TIME FLAT!
Our need to be seen gets us played by others in ways that should have been so obvious to see.
We want to be stars so bad that when most of us attain a certain level of success in the entertainment field, we foolishly forget to manage our financial affairs properly and die with our money in someone else’s pockets whose names might be Goldstein, Silverstein, Goldberg or Finkelstein.
We want to be in front of the camera so badly that we forget that the most important factions in our career are decided behind the camera as well as off camera.
But we are too caught up in our need to be seen and will always suffer the consequences because of it.
I can’t say in retrospect that I see us getting any better with our psychosis. But I will say that for those of us who have some sense, let us put our energies into the areas of life that will leave a viable legacy that the wise of us who will come afterward can build on.
Looks fade, breasts droop, penises all eventually give in to gravity forever and all new cars end up on the junk heap.
Work on developing the qualities and characteristics that can truly make you stand out!
Dignity, class, manners, decency, self respect, love for self, civility, cleanliness, respect for others, knowledge, hard work and a love for obeying God’s word will always be in style and will keep you in the spotlight long after the curtain drops on the tired old act on the stage of Negro buffoonery.
Peace & Righteous Love Always,
Your Bold, Raw & Uncut Brother,
LanceScurv
407.924.8793
