PGHIMC - Pittsburgh Independent Media Center

Hey Kids!! It's Uncle Tom!!
by SAA Thursday, Jun. 30, 2005 at 9:37 AM
stackdogg@yahoo.com

Just a thought.

I really don’t like Will Smith. Big surprise there. He’s patently annoying. From his inception as unthreatening rapper “The Fresh prince”, to his star turns on film playing either subservient caddies (The legend of Bagger Vance), prototypical wisecracking black super cops (I, Robot, Bad Boys), or suave man about town in search of everlasting love (Hitch), Will Smith has never met a stereotype he didn’t like. And now he has the gall and audacity to lecture rappers about the image they are portraying to the black youth of America.
Not that I’m in favor of modern day rap music. Obviously, not one hip hop artist currently on the top twenty can hold a candle to classics such as P.E., N.W.A, Digital Underground, my good man Snoop, etc. But when Will Smith is criticizing folks for setting a bad example, someone has to speak up.
Apparently Mr. Smith has missed a few meetings, because the hip hop audience is not comprised only of black kids. There’s a whole mess of whites, hispanics, asians, etc. who are super fans of the genre as well. Are we to assume from Mr. Smith’s comments that these ethnicities are above being influenced by trivial entertainment? That only black kids are naïve enough to get snookered by the media?
In reality, I would hope that every fan of rap music, or any form of overly stylized entertainment, would be adept enough to realize that it’s merely entertainment and not a blue print on how to live your life. Don’t black children in America have bigger fish to fry, like better schooling, thwarting discrimination, overcoming other people’s ignorance and prejudice, don’t you think these issues take precedent over what you listen to on the radio?
And would Big Willy Blah rather young, black children follow his lead? Being at the white mans beck and call, performing pseudo-soft shoe, shuck and jive routines, making a career out of the “unthreatening black man” stereotype. Is that really any better?
Wealthy blacks like Smith and Bill Cosby often like to criticize their less financially stable brethren, imploring that they stop being so darn ignorant and foolish. But what they fail to address is that impoverished black folks had plenty of help on there way to such “foolishness”. Let’s face it, its less a matter of black and white as it is rich and poor. Poor people often act a certain way, lets just say unpolished. And this behaviour transcends color lines. This is like telling an abused child to “get over it”. There’s a mess of psychosis here tangled up like Christmas lights on June 4th. Some harsh words of wisdom from these putzes hardly counts as help.
If these two are so worried about the black youth, why don’t they build some schools, or libraries, or daycare centers, in impoverished, predominantly black neighborhoods? The best way to combat ignorance is through education. Are these two black men above helping the people they speak of with such disdain? It’s easy to criticize others when you live in a million dollar house and have servants and nannies to raise your kids up right. No ignorance in the Smith household, just plenty of pure unadulterated self hatred.

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