Posted on 06/24/2007 12:55:12 PM PDT by Trueblackman
I can tell you as a Black Man who has served his nation, that the Black Community has no love for you if you did.
Most of the black Community lives in a delusional state about military service and life, parroting long ago debunk myths from left of center Black Politicians and washed up as well as burned out self-appointed leaders, whose day was 40 years ago.
The truth of the matter is very simply, a majority of Blacks hate to see another Black achieve anything, from education to a well paying job; any Black who achieves something without the stamp of victimization must be destroyed no questions asked.
Those Blacks who enlist or receive a commission are often torn down as “Sellouts and Uncle Toms, who are going out to fight the Whiteman’s Wars,” but you get respect from the same Blacks as long as you blaming all of your life’s ills on White Man.
A Male you achieve “Hero or Thug Status,” in the Black Community on the number of times you have been to jail or shot, the number of out of wedlock kids you have (and you receive bonus points if you don’t take care of them), how much poison you can sell to your own people and then call yourself a rap artist after a 2 year stunt in a county or state jail.
A female is all the talk of her peers if she finds herself “A Street Soldier,” (same as Thug), who she hooks up with becoming his “Boo or Thug Bitch,” pushing out his babies and collecting welfare. These are the modern day heroes among a majority of Blacks, but if you want better than all this and use the military as a means to escape this then be prepared to hear questions like “Why are you selling out and going to the military, you ain’t keeping it real doing that”?
Granted that I grew up middle class in Prince George’s County Maryland with both parents in my home, I chose to enlist in the United States Navy after a short stunt in college given that my Father and Grandfather were both in the military. When I was growing up and attending school, my fellow Blacks and some mostly liberal White would attack me verbally and physically for striving to obtain an education and wanting more, no it is better to be Black and Dumb and thus easy pick-ins for those who promote “Black Victim Status,” but from the first day I walked through the gate at Naval Recruit Training Command Great Lakes on that cold February Evening in 1993, I was told I could be more and more was demanded of me over the course of my 7 Years from Black and White Officers and Enlisted alike, but each time I returned home on leave I had to hear the questions like “How could you go in the Navy,” “The Military is racist” and “You are out killing some of your own people.”
I often chuckled to myself at the level of stupidity of these fools, first of all as a Black Man, I have a better chance of getting killed on the streets of Washington DC by another Black Man for $10, than Terrorist in Baghdad, I have encountered more racism from my own community than outside of it and lastly at least I have a job unlike most of my so-called enlightened peers.
Blacks who make the choice to serve often get no thanks from their own community and even worst their own families often times the only respect we get is from our fellow members, veterans and those outside our community. If military service is indeed a scarlet letter in the Black Community then I wear mine proudly because I am more than just someone’s victim in life.
Hooah!
Down here on the Gulf Coast we call that a "crab bucket" mentality, where if a crab tries to get out of the bucket, the others grab him and pull him back in.
Thanks for your service, Trueblackman. Most true Americans appreciate all of our vets. As for me, I was what we jokingly referred to as a "SAC-trained killer."
Say that, Trueblackman! You are telling the truth! It seems blacks do gravitate towards the negative and cling to failure and I say that as a Black woman. Several weeks ago, two young black punks tried to break into my home. Had I decided that day to leave early and go to school, they would have broken in and God only knows what they would have done to my son who was upstairs! My being home was the only thing that stopped those punks from breaking in. Even now, there are two to three thug-like PARASITES who are breaking into people's homes and terrorizing them for money or whatever. And I'm sure it's "the white's man fault" for why they are doing what they are doing. Makes me sick!
As a black woman, I have more fear of some Black thug, breaking into my house, terrorizing and brutalize me and my family than I do of Islamofascists or a terrorist attack and that is no joke.
The trash your discussing are those that profit from the “keep the hate alive” enterprise. I don’t invest in it, don’t listen to em and as a career serviceman I let all veterans know they were, no matter what their duty or service, the reason this trash can bitch and moan for profit these days............it’s called freedom !
We payed for it , they abuse it..........
Doom on em !
Stay Safe FRiend !
Aviation Ordnancemen. Damned dyslexia! Humph...
I believe that it begins in schools. Peer pressure holds kids back. Those who don’t see a future for themselves try to hold others back.
And it isn’t about skin color. It can be observed in all sorts of social situations among different demographics (even if the group of peers all belong to the same group).
John Lydon (aka Johnny Rotten) also spoke of it in his autobiography “No Dogs No Irish”. He worked as a school teacher before joining the Sex Pistols and observed it from the eyes of a mentor.
Anyone that would hold you back from succeeding in life isn’t a “friend”. Those who see themselves as having no opportunity will often live to see their shallow dream realized but they should not feel empowered to hold others back. Then again, no one wants to be left alone or actually compare their own performance to that of their more successful classmates.
We can understand the cause and yes there are those who call themselves “leaders” that also deliberately hold their constituents back. A permanent underclass means there is always something “to change”. I don’t know what the solution is. Some have suggested that the black community look at changing leadership because those who HAVE been “looking out for them” have gotten wealthy over the past 40 years but haven’t done much to advance the state of affairs.
Is it your observation that there are parents who hold their kids back? I don’t mean breaking the news that they can’t go to college, but parents who say “put that book down” and “what do you think you’re doing? acting white”
I think that families are stronger than that and that parents want to see their kids succeed. So the community becomes neighbors who don’t want to see Mrs. Jones’ son make something out of himself. Again, they may be your neighbors but they aren’t your friends and they aren’t looking out for your (or their own) best interest.
I have been called a hero and I don't come close to those men and women that have been shot to hell and pieces of them are missing and they still want to serve and mix it up with the enemy. Now that is heroic by any standard. To those simpletons that don't believe blacks don't have any business in the military that may as well spit on the graves of the Tuskegee Airmen, The Golden 13 and the Montford Point Marines, and the men of Pea Island coast guard station and many more that have worn the cloth of the nation despite the greater society treating them less then men. That is also heroic looking beyond one's current circumstance for the greater good of the country. Because of men that served is why we had a successful civil rights struggle. I don't want thugs in my Army, Air Force, Navy or Marines I want men!
Thank you for your service Trueblackman. Its unfortunate that the black community can’t admit that it is its own worst enemy.
Great article from a terrific guy. We love you at FR!
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There was a brief vogue 10 years ago or so, led by a few film buffs like Siskel and Ebert, for "revival" of the old "black films" of the 1940's. They started in the 30's and gradually died out in the 50's, like the old Negro Leagues in baseball and for the same reason: Hattie McDaniel, Harry Belafonte and Sidney Poitier got called up to the majors in film, in much the same way as baseball players did.
But before the era faded away, what the black filmmakers recorded -- they made a record, not just films -- was the state of the "colored" community at the time. The films were eye-opening for anyone who lived through the 70's and the "blaxploitation" films: Shaft, Blacula, Sweet Sweetback's Badass Song. They featured fully-functional neighborhoods in Upper South and Midwestern cities, men with trades, businesses, and professional practices making ends meet for intact families, men and women who spoke conversational English, not "Ebonic" or some other "street" dialect.
The English used in those days was close enough to standard usage, that neologisms, turns of phrase, and humor migrated quickly across into the wider community: I remember an Encyclopedia Britannica entry, I think it was, about humor, in the 1954 edition that we had at home. The writer commented on American humor in particular and its difference from British and other Old World humor. The example given was a street scene: two black workers were talking one day (example from the 1930's, I suppose), one of them commenting on a rent collector walking down the other side of the street: "There goes vulture boy, pickin' his teeth." The point of the article was, it would never in God's world have occurred to an Englishman, to make those same easily-understood words come out of his own mouth, never mind that rent collectors were just as common in England.* They just didn't talk like that. But we did. Nowadays, the situation is different, and commented on when street slang comes up for discussion.
* I suppose it's also worth commenting on, that someone would remember that expression -- purely from memory -- more than 40 years after reading it.
I’ll take your word that this is the case. But, to me it’s something of a surprise since my experience in the military - which took place during the unsettled times right after passage of the civil rights legislation in the mid-60’s - was that there was less racial strife in the military than anywhere else on earth.
The military was at that time, and it must be more the case today than then, virtually “color blind.” It could have been that we were at war and one is never closer to anyone than those with whom he goes to war — but, it was more than that I think, it was a true camaraderie born of mutual respect without regard to race, for no other reason than your comrades had earned your respect by mere virtue of their selfless presence in a challenging situation.
Camp Springs.
Ping to a great article by Trueblackman.
:(
Thanks for your service and positive attitude.
Great story.
Me, you, Steele...some fine Conservatives coming out of that bluest of blue county.
I grew up with racial tension and as a white guy don't know what to say to you except that you got your head on right and keep fighting the good fight. You used to call into Tom Marr didn't you? Call in sometime. I'm on there every so often.
I'm sure you and your father and his are well aware that when it hits the fan, we all bleed red. Thanks for your (and their) service. It takes great courage to swim against the tide.
Regards,
GtG
bump
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