Something that's never talked about in the black community is middle class kids that

[GetSomeMoney]

At the end of the day, as parents or a parent, its important to have your children learn responsibility. I don't get how many of the kids today don't have jobs. Middle Class kids aren't the only ones given what they wanted

growing up, I tended to see this be a big issue with single mothers and especially their sons, practically treating them like their boyfriends, buying them jordans and any video game system they wanted. It's true, you run into many middle class

kids that don't amount to much, but the number don't lie, 80 percent of inmates are born to single parent households, so the discussion should still be focused on the problems in the hood

 

[tjwettem]

Do it!!

It's a very important issue not just for black people, but for everyone. I saw this because I've been around many non-black people who have such a stereotypical view on identity.

I'm gonna do it, I've always kind of felt like I had a unique perspective to share but I wasn't sure if anybody would be interested in hearing it.

 

[Guess Who]

I'm gonna do it, I've always kind of felt like I had a unique perspective to share but I wasn't sure if anybody would be interested in hearing it.

I'm sure there would be many many people interested in hearing it.

 

[Homeboy Runny-Ray]

Look, people in low-income areas respect power just like anyone. But in our community, authenticity is almost always defined those who are lower-income or at the bottom. It's our heritage. It's like you guys have never taken African-American studies courses or read books or just witnessed it first hand.

What you didn't get is I was saying that the definitions of cool may change according to the high school. But what does not change is that "blackness" is largely defined by the urban underclass. That is inescapable. Right or wrong. So you're confusing people just wanting to be "down" the way someone would want to be a jock with something that is part of the African-American psyche. You're confusing something that is not necessarily transferable across school districts to something that will be an issue for every African-American who looks to succeed or achieve success at some point in their life.

One is a constant, the other is an indeterminate variable. You cannot conflate the two.

i dont need to take any courses. i lived it.

im just saying that its not that deep. the bottom line is that GENERALLY SPEAKING, the coolest street kids tend to possess all the qualities of popularity, including all the qualities that you listed. thats the bottom line. theres really no issue. i noticed this at a very young age. i dont need to do any studying. all that is mostly outsider looking thru the window talk.

what chitted my grits was when you tried to equate all of this to low levels of intelligence and all that. especially considering that the main street kids that the conversation has been built around are the ones that go to school outside of their neighborhood, meaning the parents are trying to insure that their kids stay in school & graduate without getting caught up around the way. but i see you back-peddaled out of that argument.

 

[acri1]

At the end of the day, as parents or a parent, its important to have your children learn responsibility. I don't get how many of the kids today don't have jobs. Middle Class kids aren't the only ones given what they wanted

growing up, I tended to see this be a big issue with single mothers and especially their sons, practically treating them like their boyfriends, buying them jordans and any video game system they wanted. It's true, you run into many middle class

kids that don't amount to much, but the number don't lie, 80 percent of inmates are born to single parent households, so the discussion should still be focused on the problems in the hood

Let's be honest though, the economy is .

There are lots of people without jobs that would like them. I know people with degrees and no job. It's not like the 90s where it was much easier to get a gig. A lot of people get frustrated trying to find a job and end up dabbling in illegal shyt.

 

[Rakim Allah]

If you don't think hiphop factors into to this then you're playing your self

Hip Hop doesn't factor into it but negative/ignorant rap music may have.

 

[No1]

i dont need to take any courses. i lived it.

im just saying that its not that deep. the bottom line is that GENERALLY SPEAKING, the coolest street kids tend to possess all the qualities of popularity, including all the qualities that you listed. thats the bottom line. theres really no issue. i noticed this at a very young age. i dont need to do any studying. all that is mostly outsider looking thru the window talk.

what chitted my grits was when you tried to equate all of this to low levels of intelligence and all that. especially considering that the main street kids that the conversation has been built around are the ones that go to school outside of their neighborhood, meaning the parents are trying to insure that their kids stay in school & graduate without getting caught up around the way. but i see you back-peddaled out of that argument.

You lived what? You're isolated experience? Did you live every high school in America? So what you're saying is that your anecdotal experience surpasses years of research and courses by African American Studies scholars? You're saying your anecdote is greater than mine? Stop it. GENERALLY SPEAKING, you're completely off base. Being cool did not eqaul being drop out where Drake grew up and his mother was a teacher. The dude still wanted to be a rapper. Cut it out.

I won't even respond to the rest of that nonsense you're saying because obviously I and everyone who dapped me are talking over your head. I never said anything about low levels of intelligence. I said low-income areas. Learn to follow and argument. Read what I actually said and then come back.

 

[Homeboy Runny-Ray]

But it's nowhere near with Black Americans where being completely anti-intellectual is defined as cool. You're mistaking people wanting to the be the popular kid in high school with wanting to be a dropout.

this is what you said.

i dont know what planet you live in where black people look at anti-intellectual as cool. the more common term is "dumb nicca". and youre not gonna see any dumb niccas in the cool crowd unless they can ball their ass off or theyre goonin.

i dont need any studies to know common sense chit like that. thats dumb-smart nicca activity. i dont indulge in that. ive had the pleasure of actually experiencing these crowds. the overall blueprint is pretty much the same everywhere. i mean, we are talking public schools right?

also, youre bringing up dropouts when this thread was really focusing in on kids who go to school outside of their neighborhoods. the dropout rates for those kids arent nearly as high. im sure your studies have shown that. and im sure that they also touch on all the white kids in the cool white crowds that drop out of those same schools.

You lived what? You're isolated experience? Did you live every high school in America? So what you're saying is that your anecdotal experience surpasses years of research and courses by African American Studies scholars? You're saying your anecdote is greater than mine? Stop it. GENERALLY SPEAKING, you're completely off base. Being cool did not eqaul being drop out where Drake grew up and his mother was a teacher. The dude still wanted to be a rapper. Cut it out.

I won't even respond to the rest of that nonsense you're saying because obviously I and everyone who dapped me are talking over your head. I never said anything about low levels of intelligence. I said low-income areas. Learn to follow and argument. Read what I actually said and then come back.

i never said being cool equated to being a dropout. youre the one jumping to those conclusions.

what does that have to do with him being a rapper? youre all over the place.

i dont know if you took my post out-of-context or vice-versa. one things for sure, you need to calm the f**k down. it aint that serious.

 

[KTD2]

I've had kids with a single divorced mom working min. wage with 3 kids to feed who end up becoming college grads.

Then I've had kids who are only children with dentist dads and lawyer moms who have every socioeconomic advantage known to man who graduate with a 2.0 and get arrested for selling weed. Boggles my mind.

 

[bouncy]

It all comes down to what people experince not how much money you have. If a person feels like they are less then they tend to do self destructive things. A person could be dirt poor but if they are told they are the shyt they strive to live a better life. If they are well off but are being put down constantly they will do things to get a quick sense of self worth and these are usually negative things in the long run. A lot of people tend to be narcisisstic and hurt people in subtle ways and the more money and credentials bring on extreme narcisissm which can cause a child to be a codepedent or as some will say "the goodchild" and the other the rebellious or loser child when in fact they are trying to escape that mental pain instead of giving into it like "the goodchild" who will eventually become just like their parents due to being spoiled and never really maturing and seeing things as they truly are. Plus being they adore the narcisisstic parent so much, despite being a victim to the mental and sometimes physical abuse, they will never admit how fukked up the parents really were and make excuses for them like "they took care of me" ,"they gave me a good life" etc. The pain is so strong that seeing their parents for who they really are never fully develops and the child will always be in a state of adolescence when it comes to their parents . Sadly this is most people and a major reason why the world is still doing dumbshyt that when I was young could have sworn would be gone by 2012 like racism. It basically comes down to not looking at where someone lives or how much money they have as a tool to figure out how much morals and good character someone has because if that was the case only poor people would be using hard drugs, they would be the only one cheating on their spouses, the only ones killing people(middleclass and rich wanted war with saudi arabia). I could go on and on.

 

[itsyoung!!]

Don't get me started on dudes reinventing themselves as goons in college. shyt was ridiculous and pissed me off to no end.

one of the worst things to witness


I feel my generation (mid to late 80s baby) started this.. you was a lame in high school now you in community college around new people and you a different person than you were the whole 18-20 years before huh

I feel the next generation is even worse with twitter.. Twitter really be gassin these dudes and females heads up to some crazy shyt..

 

[TLR Is Mental Poison]

this is what you said.

i dont know what planet you live in where black people look at anti-intellectual as cool. the more common term is "dumb nicca". and youre not gonna see any dumb niccas in the cool crowd unless they can ball their ass off or theyre goonin.

i dont need any studies to know common sense chit like that. thats dumb-smart nicca activity. i dont indulge in that. ive had the pleasure of actually experiencing these crowds. the overall blueprint is pretty much the same everywhere. i mean, we are talking public schools right?

also, youre bringing up dropouts when this thread was really focusing in on kids who go to school outside of their neighborhoods. the dropout rates for those kids arent nearly as high. im sure your studies have shown that. and im sure that they also touch on all the white kids in the cool white crowds that drop out of those same schools.

U never heard the term "acting white" thrown at a kid speaking properly?

U dont see folks like Waka Flocka and the like being glorified?

"O u think u smart? U tryna kick knowledge?" Do you know where that's from? You don't think that was rooted in reality?

Keep in mind, its not even an all black phenomenon... case in point: Larry The Cable Guy

But the point is, to say there isn't a large contingency of people, but in the context of this convo specifically BLACK people, who celebrate ignorance + negative behavior is silly. It's damn near a lie.

 

[Homeboy Runny-Ray]

U never heard the term "acting white" thrown at a kid speaking properly?

U dont see folks like Waka Flocka and the like being glorified?

"O u think u smart? U tryna kick knowledge?" Do you know where that's from? You don't think that was rooted in reality?

Keep in mind, its not even an all black phenomenon... case in point: Larry The Cable Guy

But the point is, to say there isn't a large contingency of people, but in the context of this convo specifically BLACK people, who celebrate ignorance + negative behavior is silly. It's damn near a lie.

maybe theres a communication gap on the part of one of us here. i never disagreed with any of this. im just pointing out the fact that yall are dealing with extremes....possibly because you dont have any actual experiences with the groups that we're supposed to be talking about?(i.e. dudey bringing up fictitous studies & statistics on some "smart-dumb nicca 101" chits as if theres some type of stenographer monitoring all the popular crowds in depth.) or maybe yall drifted off-topic a bit and i missed it? - if thats the case, then i would sincerely say "my bad".

you do know that you can speak "properly" without sounding white.....right? another extreme.

who the hell glorifies people like waka flocka? by glorified, do you mean as an entertainer?(and even then, i still have to give you the ) socially, people like him are considered dumb niccas or sloppy. unless hes gooning, can play ball, CAN DO SOMETHING, or seems to just be tied in with "the click", hes usually considered to be "not in our class" and at best is just a guy that gets dapped up by the "popular" people he knows.

im sure it sounds funny reading this chit, but hey, i cant believe i actually had to explain it. and im willing to bet that waka flocka himself was a d*ck in school, unless he was really bout that street life(i.e. his compensation for being a d*ckhead).

and since you people want to play the deeply rooted card, where were you when kids used to get teased for being in the L.D. class? how about the way kids who had even the SLIGHTEST trouble reading would get teased un-mercifully?

 

[old soul]

Grew up poor, black and nerdy. Got called white all the time, despite my upbringing. Perhaps as a result, I hated all those middle class black kids who were trying to be perceived as thugs. It's strange to see the direction that kids from high school, many who had every advantage, have gone in. I think it's an extension of the... I guess myth that many began creating for themselves in middle school and high school.

I truly believe that young, black culture, or being perceived as cool in young, black culture, requires the willingness to embrace: anti-intellectualism, glorification of crime, and identification with those who engage in the same behavior. Or something along those lines? Hip hop plays a role, certainly, but to ignore other pervasive influences (single-parent homes; lack of critical thought, which is pretty damn common in American culture, etc.)

It's frustrating because the stakes are just so much higher in the black community. Between discrimination in hiring (the more "black sounding" your name, the less likely one is to get a call back), in sentencing policies and criminalization (the drug war has had a profoundly negative affect on black families), racism, lack of connections (lol meritocracy) and a terrible economy that exacerbates all of these things, American blacks are damn near the wretched of the earth. That's not even mentioning easy access to weapons, overcrowding in urban settings, and often disinterested police. I think urban, black american poverty is relatively unique in those ways. Basically shyt's rough as is, some aspects of our culture further damage our chances.

I'm not one of those dudes that believe that we should all be accountable for the actions of other black people, though. I hate that shyt. It's just racism packaged up as caring for the success of "the other."

 

[DaChampIsHere]

I like this thread and it got me to thinking.

(1) Black people who grow up in middle class black suburbs and (2) black people who grow up and middle class white suburbs live completely different lives.

I think Group 1 probably do face a lot more problems with "keeping it real" or whatever, basically more social pressure to fit into that mold of "blackness"

Group 2 is completely different. I never had to deal with a black person telling me I talked "white" in my own zone or whatever. I also think our parents tend to make more of an effort (for the most part, some parents don't) in making sure we are conscious/knowledgeable about black history and they try to make an effort to make sure we hang around black people more.

Other than the only problems that exist for a middle class black kid in that situation are growing up too fast. My parents (and my friend's parents) didn't really have rules for us like that. Definitely a lack of structure there. A lot of things my parents used to let me get away with/do, I soon found out weren't regular/acceptable when I left home. Some part of "life" definitely starts a little bit earlier for people in Group 2, just from my experience and my friend's experience.