There's a market for watching black people ruin their lives in front of the world. They'll televise that. They'll stream that. They'll repost that. They'll retweet that. I wonder why.
There's a market for imitating the styles created by the genius ingenuity of women of color from the ghetto. Yeah...first they'll ridicule that, so it's stigmatized and criticized by society when women of color do it originally...then eventually they'll steal that, rename that, upload that, monetize that, and possibly even end up on the cover of Forbes magazine with a watered down, gentrified version of that. But they won't pay women of color from the ghetto a dime...or even an ounce of homage for that. But shhh. No one's supposed to pick up on that. You know, women of color aren't supposed to know their worth.
There's a market for ignorance particularly when displayed by those in historically disenfranchised communities. America loves to watch black people lose...talent down the drain like dirty Flint water. They love to see it. Self-hatred is encouraged. Not only are the men applauded for glorifying toxic male traits and objectifying women, but ironically, women are too. Sex has a price tag in a dollar amount...like selfish ass men were ever going to have a problem with that concept. Not at all. That's perfect for a creep. "Keep chasing that bag baby. We'll gladly pay for it". What they won't do is grow out of immature, adolescent tendencies of assuming people, especially women, are purposed solely for their convenience and self-indulgence. Toxic masculinity thrives when a boy who reaches a man's age refuses to rid himself of childish expectations and behaviors, thus growing into depraved habits fueled by an inflated ego. It is also validated by those who encourage this mentality and/or discourage the males who purge themselves of it.
Rape culture is emblematic of a deep misconception of life and what freedom should be by the society that breeds it. Where purpose is unknown, abuse is ultimately inevitable. There becomes a market for abuse when respect is no longer expected while disrespect is the norm, and the masses don't even care to consider why. Ignorance is easy, blissful, charming and often hilarious. Fear often shows up disguised as comfortability and accessorized in familiarity. In essence, we've gotten so comfortable losing, we assume it must be winning.
They say "if it don't feel like 90's r&b then I don't want it" because it sounds cool in a caption, but often times they don't want that type of it. Something real and long-lasting takes far too much effort and patience. Ain't no shortcuts to authenticity and genuineness. That type of it doesn't comply with streaming culture's addiction to chasing the latest quick thrill. It has been replaced with heartless, detached energy, content with wasting time chasing crack-quick pleasures, never relating on a solid level or building intimacy by finding a common thought process. The vibe is completely surface, watered down and stepped on.
But shhh. Speaking an unpopular opinion that challenges us to dig deeper, be greater, and realize how critical our relative, social interdependency to one another is to our families, communities, ecosystems and planet, and how that very concept is being starved daily like a tortured prisoner of war won't get you them likes. Shit, it might even get you cancelled...in these internet streets.
Maybe we've been hoodwinked into thinking that race is THE defining social construct, when in reality racism only exists because there's a market for it. Maybe the majority (people of all colors) remaining poor, low self-esteemed crabs in the proverbial bucket, programmed to be overly critical of one another, placing clearance-level price tags on our divine gifts, feeling predisposed to doing ignorant shit that divides us and being encouraged to be proud of doing it provides that much more financial gain for the greedy, privileged, wicked, toxic, demonic, slave driving elite whose main addiction is hoarding power and avoiding any accountability for historical transgressions they continuously profit off of. I know that was a run-on sentence but that particular grammatical error just hit different.
Big pharma, private prisons, cash-hungry state governments with their corrupt judicial systems and many more parasites profit off the pain of the people. It makes perfect sense when connecting the dots that the same companies that financially gain from sickness, lack of education, criminality, violence and even death, just might purposely play an integral part in causing these horrible things to happen in our communities. What if it turns out that the oppression of the poor is not the result of a broken system, but rather an established tradition carefully designed to continue the cycle of poverty. It's not far-fetched to infer that companies who supply drugs that subside the effects of cancer might actually collaborate with food companies to distribute food containing cancer-causing agents. All it takes is a few greedy psychopaths and a boardroom.
The last few months of quarantining have reminded so many of us just how much we love gathering in crowds to party and celebrate. But what are we gathering to celebrate? Being professional time wasters? Being poor role models for the youth who depend on us to lead the way? Being people who are too lazy in our selfish bubbles to see the bigger picture? To celebrate ignoring those who paid the ultimate sacrifice so that we could have the freedom to post dumb shit through a smart phone? To feed our addiction to fame and/or just some regular, plain ass attention? What are we toasting to now? What are we dancing for now? Or is the actual forgetting of ourselves what we're celebrating? Because if so, we're trapping ourselves. We're making us vulnerable to being pimped out by those who love our styles, food, jokes, fashion, music, athleticism, academia, and every spice we bring to the table, but don't love us. We're opening the gate for the same ones who plan and plot on us never having a seat at the very table we so willingly and diligently serve.
In this capitalistic life, we don't get what we deserve. We get what we leverage through negotiation. We're empowered to win the very second we're willing to not only dream, but to hope, to have the audacity, to unite, to stop settling, to plan, to work viciously in the spirit of our ancestors, to persevere with the intent of receiving not one penny less than we are worth. Until then, we lose. And as long as we allow that, there will always be a market for it.
As always, love, peace, and hair grease.
