Who really sold out the Black Community?

Response to video: Educated Lames SOLD OUT THE BLACK COMMUNITY

To unpack this, we must first understand who is considered a so-called Pookie and Ray Ray. “Pookie and Ray Ray” are considered individuals living in the black community that do not want to make change/progressive for the betterment of the Black community. They tend to live and promote the THUG mentality (i.e. dope boys, rappers, etc.), which has been proven to be a cancer to our community. Also, most tend to hold on to the past of white supremacy as an ever-present roadblock stopping Blacks from making better choices in their life.

Secondly, who is considered the so-called “educated lame”? Mostly these are brothers who have survived the hood experience and want something better from themselves. They have seen the death and destruction in the Black Community and desire to get away from those situations by any means necessary, but not to the point of selling out. Therefore, they go to school, get an education, then dive into the workforce to compete or start businesses. However, the reason they are called “lame” is that they never come back to attempt and help the black community, according to some.

Now I will acknowledge some points made in other discussions. The black community has faced and continue to face problem in today’s society created by those individuals who run this country. I believe that white supremacy is real because I see it in my everyday life. However, this excuse has been used enough. It is time to stop blaming are shortfalls on issues from the past because we continue to fall behind by not seeing what is right in front of us. 

Dope Boys

I agree that a lot of this country was created and funded off of criminality which has allowed various other groups to become a part of the dominant society. During those different eras, these groups were able to capitalize on the opportunities they created for themselves by committing these crimes. However, for the black community, nobody seemed to do the same. I was not alive during that time but I believe there was a selfish mentality that caused no one to care about the betterment of the black community, which was an effect from white supremacy. Crabs in a bucket mentality. No one “bothered to or could not have” capitalize on the opportunities that could have been created from those criminalities the same as other groups. Nevertheless, today is a new day. The dope game is dead. The mafia is dead, mostly. Instead of focusing on the failures of the past, we should look at what is right in front of us today.  We have all the opportunities to capitalize on the new industries under STEM today. I believe black people are still being held back, but race is not a factor when it comes to these new industries.

Rap Game

I love rap music! I listen to it every day. But the problems I see with it is not shared by many. Rap music is a reflection of our community but it should not cause our community to continue down the same paths. I remember riding around Baton Rouge listening to Lil Boosie, with “dat thang” on my lap, daring someone to try me. In my opinion, this is one of the effects of listening to rap music. It affects you mentally which is why I think it is destructive to our community especially sense people live/emulate the life being rapped about in the 3D. In short, I have a love/hate relationship with rap, because not everyone has the mental capacity to not act out these stories in real life.

Code does not see Color

I believe STEM is the future and the great equalizer. When it comes to technology, there is no color, race, or creed. There are countless of individual building all sorts of businesses no matter their background. You just have to make a conscious decision to put in the work to create something. Some may argue that the so-called “educated lame” has sold out the black community by not returning to teach, create jobs, and build communities. However, the so-called “educated lame” does do this but is mostly not welcomed back to the community to do so. Since we are not welcomed, educated lames tend to get their education and focus on improving the financial situations of themselves and their individual families because of this problem. Some try but it only so much you can do for someone who doesn’t care about what you’re bringing to the table.

“Why should I care about you, when you don’t care about me” which is what tends to keep being said by the so-called educated. That statement is a learned behavior from the response these brothers tend to receive when attempting to return. On YouTube, this way of thinking is also not beneficial to the black community. Instead of creating content on simply saying, “I made it, so can you”, we should focus more on the education piece. Not saying that some do not, but we should really focus more on creating content that will bring awareness to the various new technologies and industries being created every day. As well as educational content which is currently not being supported by the black community as a whole. 

This is why I have great respect for the brothers from the “The Black Brain Trust”, who seem to get this. Their content is directly focused on space, technology, and economic topics that are happening behind the scenes where most black folks do not have a clue about. In addition, their contents goal is improving black people as a whole but the majority is ignoring it. For example, you can head over to DJ Akademiks page, where all the so-called pookie and ray ray topics are shared/discussed and you see millions of views. DJ Akademiks has even said he is not a “street nigga”, in other words, an “educated lame”. So this should show you it’s not the person, it’s the content/topics that the black community is interested in. Anyway, by focusing on the educational topic this is how the so-called educated lame can reach back to help the black community.

Conclusion

Lastly, this isn’t coming from someone who is not currently trying to help the black community. I run a YouTube channel on technologies surrounding the Linux operating system (KeepItTechie). Linux has been accelerating over recent years within the information technology field (Cyber Security, Penetration Testing, etc.) which black people should get into and start learning. It’s just sad that most of the support myself and others in the STEM fields receive is from other races. 

What are your thoughts? 

– Josh from KeepItTechie