Michelle Obama gave a speech over the weekend at Bowie State saying that too many Black kids fantasize about being ‘ballers and rappers’..Her exact quotes were as follows…
Today, more than 150 years after the Emancipation Proclamation, more than 50 years after the end of ‘separate but equal,’ when it comes to getting an education, too many of our young people just can’t be bothered,”
“Today, instead of walking miles every day to school, they’re sitting on couches for hours, playing video games, watching TV. Instead of dreaming of being a teacher or a lawyer or a business leader, they’re fantasizing about being a baller or a rapper,”
She concluded that many Black kids think getting an education is acting white… Her quote was “reject the slander that a black child with a book is trying to act white.”
Damn Michelle who the hell wrote your speech??
A few things to think about.. First lets just go on record and note, those ballers and rappers that many fantasize about, played a key role in getting Michelle and her husband into the White House, not once but twice..From Lebron James to Jay-Z to Will I am to Common to Beyonce who the First Lady famously asserted was role model for her daughters, were all up in the mix during their campaigns and subsequent inaugurations..These rappers and ballers went out and engaged their fans, by doing songs, concerts and special appearances to go to the polls and vote in what we are now seeing to be record numbers..
If we really wanna keep it 100.. I saw Diddy and Jigga hanging out at the inaugurations in 08 and not prominent scholars like a Cornel West who actually went and campaigned in 60 + cities for the president. We’ve seen countless pictures of rappers all up in the white house..Why wouldn’t a kid fantasize about being a rapper or baller when its them hob nobbing with the Obamas not his teacher or preacher?
Second point.. For the love of God, lets dispel with this 25-year-old cliché first uttered by Spike Lee back in the late 80s at the height of the crack epidemic about Black kids not wanting to read because it would make them appear white.. People who are trying to do the tough love thing have been running with that quote for far too long and it has no bearing in reality.
In the age of Youtube, the Internet and other forms of technology we have all sorts of cross pollination taking place. You have some kids in the hood rocking skinny jeans and skateboard gear made popular by white kids and in the burbs you will see white kids rocking a hat to the side and sagging pants made popular by their Black counterparts. Slang and patterns of speech are damn near universal at this point in time. In short if we’re going by style of dress and surface mannerisms one can question about what does it mean to be Black or white?
If we wanna talk about Black kids reading books and stereotypical perceptions behind that, we have to couch that in the context of disparities in education and how that plays out on the ground.
President Obama and Common
The fact is many of the ballers and rappers who kids MAY fantasize about are actually moguls in their own right with lots of money and perceived power which many have come to understand is the result of them having hustle, a willingness to grind and intelligence to navigate the systems before them.. Whether its Jay-Z, 50 Cent, Common, Rick Ross, Kobe or Beyonce, you name it all have made it abundantly clear their success was the result of them grinding ..
Its been made clear their mogulness has been the result of them soaking up game and learning the business aspect of the worlds they enter. As Jay-Z once famously rapped..I’m a businessman, I’m a Business, Man If that hasn’t been made clear, its up to people like Michelle Obama to highlight that aspect vs deriding one’s ‘fantasy’
With the devastation that took place in Moore, Oklahoma this afternoon leaving 91 dead including dozens of children and massive EF4 and EF5 storms for all of us to be in deep reflection about, we offer heartfelt prayers and condolances..No one deserves to have a lost one lost especially their kids..The look on people’s faces and seeing the storm itself on TV will no doubt leave ineligible marks on our minds..Whats more disturbing is more severe storms are expected..
Mystic is one of Hip Hop’s most overlooked emcees..She’s incredibly talented, extremely prolific and a serious artist who brings thoughtful lyrics in the form of singing and rapping to every song she records..
We talked about the recent revelations of JDL members supposedly extorting money from rap artists including the late 2Pac. Heller claims he had no knowledge of that, but it was no secret that in the aftermath of the Suge Knight shake down incident where Eazy was forced to sign over Dr Dre, Michele and DOC, that Ruthless was protected by Israeli trained/ connected security forces.
What was going on in Benghazi and throughout Libya was ignored by our President who traces his direct roots to Africa. It was ignored by many white progressives who saw any and all uprisings in the region as one and the same. They figured since Al Jazeera which is owned by the rulers of Qatar and were staunch supporters of this anti-black armed rebel cabal, that they were somehow ok.. They were ok even after Black progressives and other international human rights organizations, many who had been to Libya, many who lived in the region issued report after report from folks on the ground about the horrors of Benghazi and Black Africans being torched. Many folks simply turned a blind eye….
So now we have hearings about what went on in Benghazi and no one is talking about imperialistic actions or regime change or the fact that the US had a US Libya Business Association which was made up of all these Big Oil companies that made 1.2 billion a year and stood to make even more once Libya was taken over.. It should be noted this US Libya Business Association had its website go dark during the NATO invasion creating the illusion that we weren’t doing robust business in Libya when in fact the US and quite a few companies were.. You can see the newly revamped site here.. 
While all this is going on in Baltimore, 3000 miles away in Kern County California, 8 sheriff deputies beat a man to death in front of multiple people and then ran around confiscating cell phones and terrorizing those who witnesses the tragedy. Some say they fear for the lives. Others have been arrested on trumped up charges.. The video below explains the horrific beating of David Silva.
Mario Romero was murdered in front of his on September 2, 2012 by Vallejo Police officer Dustin Brent Joseph as he waited for someone to open the front door, not because he was going in right away but because he was letting his brother -inlaw out of the car and was going around the corner to pick up his daughter and wife who were at her mothers. a call was placed inside of the house and one of his sisters came outside and hid on the side of the house attempting to scare them but in the moments from the phone call and her getting outside and hiding Mario’s car was illuminated with a police light and to officers hopping out of their car both beginning the sentence “put your hands up” but only one officer completing the sentence and the other firing his weapon repeatedy and at one point hopping onto the hood of Mario’s car and continuing to unload his weapon as family members and neighbors knowing the character of the men inside of the car pleaded for them to stop shooting.