What has happened to the black intellectual

[jcsump]

These individuals can transform society yet we don't see any new thinkers with passion. We need thinkers that aren't tainted by either political party and can boldly take on the dominate culture's elitist system without fear and still come to the inner cities with an effective game plan on dealing in this capitalist society. If we don't have fresh new thinkers with heart,the current two party system will always keep us seperate within there social class system.

[jamesfrmphilly]

Originally Posted by jcsump

These individuals can transform society yet we don't see any new thinkers with passion. We need thinkers that aren't tainted by either political party and can bodly take on the dominate culture's elitist system without fear and still come to the inner cities with an effective game plan on dealing in this capitalist society. If we don't have fresh new thinkers with heart,the current two party system will always keep us seperate within there social class system.

the black intellectual couldn't get any poontang cause the sisters was all about the thugs so he gave up his mind in order to embrace hip hop and gain street cred.

[Goodrain]

What about the McKinney sister?

[darkreign]

jamesfrmphilly i have to agree with you bruh.


Our black intellectuals have relegated themselves to pimpin.they say that rap is used to educate and inform the masses but I see none of this. Look how much the rap that degrades us as a people, promote violence against ourselves, and disrespect our mothers, daughters, and sisters get played on the radio non-stop as compared to rap that is positive and up lifting. They played nas’s positive effort like once or twice every six hours and it was gone in about 3 weeks but luda, lil jon, ying yang twins and others that spew degradation towards our race gets played forever it seems.

I have the opinion that people in the rap game are still slaves even thought some of them own their own label b\c they are allowing themselves to be used by whites in the worst way. Yes they own their label but they don’t own the “parent” company of their label and that’s what makes the different..
lets take Def Jam records (they are big) a lot of people think they stand on their own but they don’t, they operate under the bigger company Island Def Jam Music Group which has a lot of smaller labels under it. Island Def Jam Music Group is own by the parent company Universal Music Group (UMG), formerly MCA records which is one of the big four record label which in Feb. of this year became totally own by the french conglomerate Vivendi SA.

Now tell me what do the french care about how we make ourselves look or how much we kill each other. They don’t. they aren’t privy to the struggle, the debasement, or the dissolution our race is faced with and these ignorant, ill informed, and bemused rappers are allowing themselves to be used by a whites thousands of miles away that could less than a damn about us, just as long as they get their money and trust me our black representation stops at LA Reid and from then on it’s white.

[jamesfrmphilly]

water is one of the most useful substances on earth. you can drink it, cook with it, clean with it.
but if you use it the wrong way it will kill you.

hip hop is not bad in itself but it has been co opted by the devil and turned against us. that is the new trick. take something good and turn it bad. most non thinking people will be caught up in the trick.
sex, music, those things that we once looked to for pleasure have been turned to poisons and set against us.
after all, a brother cannot go without can he? that is the trap.

the rappers idea of keeping it real was to bend over and sell out.
the black intellectual was close behind.

skip, cornell. i often wonder how we got such weak, soft brothers in the forefront.
i guess that's what happens when you let the devil pick and certify your leaders for you.

[serenity]

The so-called "black intellectual" of today is a different monster than those of yester-year. They are not a self-taught Frederick Douglas but conditioned in white-run institutions, often picking up many of the same fallacies the white man holds out as true. He tends to adopt the white man's stereotypes of himself and his people. This makes him wary of our struggle. Black people aren't trying; they blame whites for everything - the usual stereotypes. If he can make it why are these other black people being lazy?

And he can definitely make it now. The black intellectual used to have to bend over backwards to get damn near nothing, even when he had more talent than the whites he was competing with. But now that he can actually get his foot in the door and make enough to support himself and his family in their cushy suburban home, he doesn't make waves. He's content where he is. He's moved out of the ghetto and doesn't think black people are struggling as much as they used to (at least not him right?) He has nothing to be angry about right now. Those other black people do.

Because he's not talking about "our" struggles and the imperfections "we" need to overcome. He's talking about "their" problems. He can't relate to drug use, crime, and vice the way a Malcolm X could. "Those" black people need to get it together, not me, I got mines. Those white schools also taught him white individualism. He's too proud and successful to be accountable for all these black social ills. But he'll be the first one to tout the successes of Martin Luther King and the like. Only the good things we do reflect on him now.

He only does good things. He has religion too. But it's not that "come to the lord with all your ills and you will be made whole" religion. He has that modern, white-fueled, "my god hates you because you're a teenage mother, someone with HIV/AIDS, a prostitute, gay, a drug user, or an ex-con" religion. Or else he’s just that much better than you naturally, a morally upstanding guy. He could help but only those he's not disgusted by, and by now, that's just about anybody that could use his help. And it's not like they'd accept his help anyway since he's already alienated them.

Or to put it short the average "black intellectual" today lacks compassion for their community’s problems, is complacent, doesn't feel a sense of responsibility for their community, and/or is often too close-minded/religious to do any good.

[jacqui]

I couldn't have said it better Serenity.

[sekhmet]

I think the real problem lies with the fact that we as a people keep waiting around for someone to step up and lead...sometimes it seems as though we don't know what we want or how to get it so we want someone to tell us. It's not going to happen that way. We don't need another march or convention, we need to just all get out there and do our part to make the world a better place for us.

If we keep sitting around waiting for another Malcolm X or Dr. King...we're going to be waiting for awhile. The world was barely ready for them then, they are definitely not ready for leaders like that now. There's just so much decay within our own community and the so called 'Black Intellectual' isn't too concerned with helping a people who don't seem to want to change or be helped.

[serenity]

I mean honestly, most of the people in this forum seem to fit the text book description of what a black intellectual is. I haven't seen any dummies in here anyway. Why aren't YOU stepping up to change society?

Is it one of the reasons listed above? Are you planning to/ want to and something is holding you back? Do you feel like you're not a leader?

Or do you already consider yourself to be something of a leader in your community? Why is that?

I'm very interested to know if anyone here would be willing to answer as it concerns them personally.

(I'll answer of course, but I want to see what you have to say)

[sekhmet]

Originally Posted by serenity

I mean honestly, most of the people in this forum seem to fit the text book description of what a black intellectual is. I haven't seen any dummies in here anyway. Why aren't YOU stepping up to change society?

Originally Posted by serenity

Is it one of the reasons listed above? Are you planning to/ want to and something is holding you back? Do you feel like you're not a leader?

Or do you already consider yourself to be something of a leader in your community? Why is that?

I'm very interested to know if anyone here would be willing to answer as it concerns them personally.

(I'll answer of course, but I want to see what you have to say)

I'll give it a go...
I am and am constantly trying to step it up, to do better. I feel like we can do a lot better, and instead of side-lining it, I'm trying to get out there and do my part. I volunteer, I mentor, I try to be a good example and help people when I can. I'm trying to go to law school so that I can hopefully make some changes in the system in addition providing my services to those who need it. It's never enough to talk about it, so I've always tried to be about it. Call me young and naiive, but I do think that I can make a difference, so I'm trying to put myself out there to get that done.