Supremacy: Our Role and How We Play Along

I've gone in on respectability politics in several blog entries. I mentioned what respectability politics look like in detail (See the Key and Peele skit under number 3 in this link), but I never went in on what they are and where they come from.

That answer is in the title, and I'll tell you what it looks like. I already touched on what it looks like in the form of teaching:

Because they want to be the teacher in some cases, but don't want to learn anything new. They want to be the all knowing one, but won't expand on it at times. I think those are the people I have the most trouble with. I think we need to learn to teach each other instead of going for the student/teacher role, which I feel may be a bit Eurocentric at best, because some of those who use that model will find a way to talk down to people they don't think that fit the description of awake. They look at those who aren't awake as "sheep" or "lesser than" and it shows in their teachings . That outlook is essentially enforcing Supremacy once a person gets right down to it because they want to reach down from their podium or pedestal and give to those they feel are "lesser" than them.

And the self proclaimed teachers aren't willing to accept questions raised by the pupils, should they decide to ask questions in the first place. It's like they just want the pupil to absorb information and agree with them for fear of making the teacher feel or look dumb because the pupil forced them to think as well. As a result, the teacher gets irritated with the student, and says something mean. They might cuss them out. As a result, nobody learns. The teacher thinks the pupils are dumb, and the student is left feeling like, "Fuck all of this. I'm through." And they tune out. Or should I say "drop out".

And respectability.  This is why so called "conscious" folks will be quick to call other people "coons" if they parrot something they think that sounds like enforcing White supremacy, but will neglect to recognize supremacy within themselves.

If you listen real close, or read closely (in this case) some of what they say sounds like the stuff rich White republicans will say when it comes to women. They're fine with throwing women under the bus, but will discount that Black women have stood up for Black men in every instance, even in the Civil rights movement up until current times. Whole movements have been pushed to the forefront in order to tell people that Black men are not a monolith to the point of creating Youtube videos, but there are entire Youtube channels created by Black men that are devoted to shaming Black women and throwing them under the bus.  

Sandra Bland died by the hands of police brutality and she was a BLM supporter, but Black men were saying that she had an attitude. Nobody could pony up five hundred dollars to make bail for her in the first place, but she DIED in the jail cell because of it. They might as well have said, "She was too uppity."

In fact, during the Civil Rights movement, there was a person by the name of Claudette Colvins who was the first to deny her seat to a White person in the south. But because she didn't fit the respectability narrative, she was ignored after it was brought to the Civil Rights leaders of that era. Since Rosa Parks fit the narrative, she was the one who sparked the bus boycott. 

I've also seen posts of men complaining about Black women being the breadwinners in relationships. Somebody actually said that Black women are taking all of the jobs, and should be married and raising families, as if they actually believe the filth being slung about Black women is truth.

So let me get this straight. The problem is that the Black women are successful? That's the problem? One would think there would be no problem because I've seen many,many posts about Black men graduating college, inventing new procedures, and all kinds of accomplishments, but when it comes time for Black women to do a bit of shining, all of a sudden they should be raising families?!   Really? -_- 

And then when someone voices their concern about some things pertaining to Black men, somebody comes out of the woodwork to say "#NotAllMen" , which is the same as saying, "#NotAllWhitePeople" as if that needed to be said in the first place. It's the equivalent to saying #AllLivesMatter in response to #BlackLivesMatter. 

And when the issue is brought up, here comes the "What about us? What are you going to do for us?" Which looks like the following, " Heeeey!, White people die by the hands of police too. Where's our rally?" As if it is Black people's (or women's) job to organize a rally just so you don't have to feel left out. Start your own. Figure out what's wrong and go for it, and the people will come, or in this instance, figure out what's wrong and fix your own shit.  

But they left Sandra Bland high and dry, called her "uppity." ,which leads me into the next example:

If a woman doesn't wear enough clothes, you get this: 

and if she does, she gets this. Please read the caption under the pic to see what I'm talking about:



Sometimes, it seems a lot of Black men stay talking shit about women. It doesn't matter what we do. If we did do all they asked us to do, then they'd still complain. They'd say we think were 'too good' or 'not ghetto enough' (Yes. Unfortunately I've heard the second one before.). One of those instances is shaming a woman for enjoying sex, but they say they want a freak in the sheets and a lady in the street. Do they know that in order to become a freak in the sheets, one has to gain experience by having sex?

And we can't forget the complicity of folks who defended Rachael Dolezal, and how nobody brought up her husband's stake in the entire thing.  Here's an excerpt of the blog where I mentioned those who allowed this as well as those who ignored it:

The same people who defend her are the same ones who:

1. Believe that those were Michael Jackson's biological kids.
2. Gave such a pass to Bill Clinton because he "got head" under the desk of his White House office while he was president.
3. Let their White and other non Black friends say "Nigga" because they were the ones who gave them permission.
4. Didn't feel "Black enough" in the first place because other kids called them "sell out", "oreo", etc "because smart equals 'wanna be White'."
5. Married a light skinned person in hopes their children wouldn't be dark skinned like themselves.
6. Have a complex about Black women, but have voiced it through various negative behaviors towards them.
7. The ones who want to be accepted so bad by White people that they use the "black on the inside" argument to appease them.
8. The ones who secretly believe that White women are fragile and need to be coddled, cared for and protected.

     9. The ones who are afraid of White backlash against them. (job, etc)

... They want to compare her with Black women wearing blonde weave, skin bleaching, and straightening their hair. But this argument goes back to how they didn't fabricate entire racial identities to live lives as White people, nor did they fabricate hate crimes.

And that last bit was actually used as a legitimate argument as if they were making a valid point.

What is the root cause you ask? Here it is:

I think they battle between wanting to be seen as men, and Black men, so they adopt supremacy to the point of throwing black women under the bus. But only when they just want to be seen as men...like they want to put their color down just to be accepted. I see that attitude in corporate settings especially. 

And Black women do this to men as well. I see it in those "bitches and niggas be like" posts. I hear it whenever they describe somebody as "rachet" or "basic".  I hear it whenever they critique someone's appearance. I'll share with you a piece I wrote in a very early blog entry pertaining to this idea and you'll see how it works with supremacy. Fair warning, this entry is not as structured as the blogs have been lately. I was new to blogging and the main goal was to get these thoughts out of my head and in print. It basically goes into detail on how America loves to ascribe ratchetness to Black people, when the country itself was founded on being proud of ratchetness:

First, lets take a look at some of the various definitions of the word, "ratchet".  I was under the impression that it came from a rapper by the name of Hurricaine Chris back in 2009, but I found no actual definitions that traced it back to him even though that's where I thought I first heard the term.  However, I did find two interesting  definitions, listed on a blog which explored where the writer thought it came from. The blogger mentions that it may be possible that the first use of the word came from a character in the book "One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest". The character's name was "Nurse Ratchet". For those who hadn't read the book or need their memory refreshed, Nurse Ratchet was described as not a very nice woman. She was cold, calculating, manipulative, and controlling especially when things didn't go her way.  Some may go out of their way to describe her as a "bitch" but I'll get to that term a bit later.

The second idea the blogger had was that it came from the word "wretched", which can be described as deplorably bad , miserable or distressing.  It seems that the author was on to something here.

I looked a bit further and I couldn't help but start to see a pattern. Urban Dictionary.Com, Ny Mag.com, YahooAnswers, all imply that ratchet is a term meant to be applied to "ghetto",or "urban" people,(read Black people) in particular.  When I saw that, I said, "Get the fuck outta here!". One must not simply deem a whole section of people as "ratchet" just because the term was heard in a couple of songs by a particular group of people within said group who coined the term to describe generally tacky behavior. If all Black people are ratchet based on that, what does that make everyone else?  The real difference is what each sub culture calls this type of behavior, and how it is presented. For example, many movies have been centered around that behavior. Some television shows often have mean girls (or women in this case) nicely tucked into the story to keep things going.  In these cases, we are likely to watch these kinds of shows and are quick to give the character with ratchet behavior the title of "bitch" if she's a woman, or "mean girl" if she's not classified as a woman yet. Do we go around and label all women in the subculture represented here as ratchet ass females, or ratchet hoes? No, they get to be called mean girls, or bitches. And what about the guys? If they are ratchet, we call them douchebags, assholes,dicks (see 2nd definition) or alpha males. Don't front like this behavior is not celebrated in America by one sub culture of people verses the majority.  Not taking the time to look at both sides of the coin in attempts to demonize an entire culture is ratchet in itself.  America as a whole LOVES that crap. Why do some people reward this behavior? Why does the ratchet person get rooted for in the movies by some people? Why are people getting rewarded with the chance to be on a reality tv show with the promise of fame and money as long as they act as sorry as possible?  Why do we have ratchet cartoons? I can't act like I'm not guilty of enjoying a bit of ratchetness, in fact, that cartoon I listed is something I watch in small doses when I'm in the mood. Others watch Family Guy, South Park (which has some good social commentary sometimes), and many more. I just find it very interesting when Black people came up with the term, all of a sudden, all Black people get assigned to being ratchet.  Get the fuck outta here with that.

Not only can ratchet behavior be celebrated on TV, but it is also lauded as a sign of leadership in some circles (hence the alpha male title).  I already mentioned the Washington Post article  about what happens when mean girls grow up. The article also points out ratchetness in the work place and how the behavior may not necessarily be a bad thing. Let's be honest, we have all had a boss or co workers (male or female) who acted crazy from time to time. That behavior may include passive aggressiveness, snarkiness disguised as sarcasm,general bitchiness, and quite possibly verbal abuse. Last time I checked, that kind of behavior makes for a caustic workplace environment, and yet, some people can still get ahead using those tactics and are seen as straight forward, assertive and bold.

Maybe it really isn't like that for some people. Maybe we can blame their ratchet behavior on genes rather than poor parenting. Maybe they had O.D.D as kids and didn't grow out of it. Maybe we can come up with all kinds of euphemisms to describe otherwise tasteless behavior while ignoring the fact that it exists in this country. This way, we can sit on our high horses and call every Black person ratchet all day and every day while turning a blind eye to The Dunkin' Doughnuts incident sort of thing, this lady going batshit crazy over Obama's re election, the Huntington Beach Riots, the entire cast of Jersey Shore, Lindsy Lohan, Cory Monteith's death, and Heath Ledger's death. But waaaait. Celebrities don't coooouuunnnt. They're entertaaaaainers, and some of them are troooooubled. It's really haaaard to be a star. They have so much pressure put on them and some handle it better than others.  <<Get the fuck outta here and tell that to Whitney Houston especially after reading all of the comments on any article pertaining to her eventual death after the discovery of her drug use that was strewn all across the internet. Let Amy Winehouse know about it also. I guess she was different since people judged her anyway because she was White and from the UK. I just never heard anybody refer to her as ratchet.

By now, you're probably asking, "What's the reason why Black women talk that shit? There are two reasons :

Supremacy (read as, "Gotta get that Lot A slot on them other bitches and hoes by any means necessary."). 

And they're just plain tired. (Read as "That's why them niggas ain't shit")*. 

But that's just my interpretation of the situation.

* Added disclaimer. Those are not my views, but interpretations. I would not disrespect Black men in any instance in order to further my agenda. I see that attitude as more supremacy. Again, that's not US. That's THEM. I advocate that we don't copy them. That's all.