Savon
Smash Ace
Link to original post: [drupal=4546]Homophobia in the black community[/drupal]
Before I begin I REALLY hope that anybody who ends up reading this blog can relate to what I am talking about, and a lot of what I am going to talk about comes from personal experience and that will be what I base most of my statements/theories off of.
Yesterday I was out with my mother and brother shopping for things before I move into my college dorm on Wednesday. While out of the house we decided to eat lunch at this little Chinese buffet. Although my family is not nearly as politically aware as me I like to try and start a conversation about things going on in the world around us just to spark some healthy discussion. I told my mom about an article my friend posted on facebook about changes Rick Perry wanted to make to the constitution, and how I agreed with one or two, but thought the rest were absurd. The change that bothered me in particular was the one about him making a constitutional ban on gay marriage across the entire nation. My brother is not even remotely politically aware and pretty much everything he says relating to issues in the world is something stupid. He begins to spew nonsense about how he hates gays and how if you accept the gays you ARE gay. (Part of his nonsense was him just being a troll, but is still EXTREMELY homophobic for no reason). When I asked him why he disliked the gays his responses were all basically just "Because they are gay".
Trying to be reasonable I attempted to draw and analogy to the rights of blacks who were denied basic rights not even a lifetime ago for some people. Nonetheless he still refused to see my logic. He constantly said that he should not have to put up with gay people. I was quick to remind him that racist whites in the 40s/50s felt the same way. It was an ignorant irrational hatred for blacks that had nothing to back it up or support it. "I don't **** because they are gay" I don't like ******s because they are black". Is there a difference in this logic? Why is the black community in particular so homophobic? I acknowledge that homophobia exists in all many places and groups, but in my life I have seen it is particularly strong amongst black people. With that being said I somewhat have a theory about why it is like this. It always bothered me how my own people who were so recently discriminated against could EVER stand against the innate rights of a fellow human being.
Now I will go on to my theory. To see the roots of this problem one must look far back into the past. Due to the after effects of slavery and the civil rights movement, not only did many blacks spend their entire lives in extreme poverty, but there as always been a cultural focus on being successful to escape the nightmare that is poverty. This tends to especially be the case when it comes to men because of the role the man has always played historically in the African-American family. What I am talking about can be especially seen in the 80s up until now. It was during this time that many young black males began to see success as athletes and musicians. The prime example being Michael Jordan and the dawn of his shoes. People like him began to represent a chance for the young and poor to become extremely wealthy despite the challenges that await them. The same can be see with many successful rappers as well. But at this point you are probably wondering what the heck any of this was to do with gay people?
The connection comes from what type of mentality this idea of materialism fosters. Basically I believe that it all fosters a strong concept of hypermasculinity. Ones success is gauged by the quality of ones clothes or how much money they are making. This concept of the idea "man" totally shuns any inkling of homosexuality. It is also made worse by the general behavior that one can see in rap music. You see young black males surrounded by the "dream". They are surrounded by jewels, money, cars, women, clothes. If any of things are not in place than you obviously are not living the "dream" right? So the quickest way to drag a man living this "dream" or one who wants to live this dream is to question his wealth and make him less of a man by calling him gay. This entire post I made is also the same reason I feel that the black community does not emphasize education compared to other minorities in America. I think that basically our priorities are ****ed up beyond belief.
I am not gay, but I deeply care about the rights of my fellow man, and I think that the homophobia i see in my own people is extremely hypocritical considering how our own situation once was not too long ago.
Before I begin I REALLY hope that anybody who ends up reading this blog can relate to what I am talking about, and a lot of what I am going to talk about comes from personal experience and that will be what I base most of my statements/theories off of.
Yesterday I was out with my mother and brother shopping for things before I move into my college dorm on Wednesday. While out of the house we decided to eat lunch at this little Chinese buffet. Although my family is not nearly as politically aware as me I like to try and start a conversation about things going on in the world around us just to spark some healthy discussion. I told my mom about an article my friend posted on facebook about changes Rick Perry wanted to make to the constitution, and how I agreed with one or two, but thought the rest were absurd. The change that bothered me in particular was the one about him making a constitutional ban on gay marriage across the entire nation. My brother is not even remotely politically aware and pretty much everything he says relating to issues in the world is something stupid. He begins to spew nonsense about how he hates gays and how if you accept the gays you ARE gay. (Part of his nonsense was him just being a troll, but is still EXTREMELY homophobic for no reason). When I asked him why he disliked the gays his responses were all basically just "Because they are gay".
Trying to be reasonable I attempted to draw and analogy to the rights of blacks who were denied basic rights not even a lifetime ago for some people. Nonetheless he still refused to see my logic. He constantly said that he should not have to put up with gay people. I was quick to remind him that racist whites in the 40s/50s felt the same way. It was an ignorant irrational hatred for blacks that had nothing to back it up or support it. "I don't **** because they are gay" I don't like ******s because they are black". Is there a difference in this logic? Why is the black community in particular so homophobic? I acknowledge that homophobia exists in all many places and groups, but in my life I have seen it is particularly strong amongst black people. With that being said I somewhat have a theory about why it is like this. It always bothered me how my own people who were so recently discriminated against could EVER stand against the innate rights of a fellow human being.
Now I will go on to my theory. To see the roots of this problem one must look far back into the past. Due to the after effects of slavery and the civil rights movement, not only did many blacks spend their entire lives in extreme poverty, but there as always been a cultural focus on being successful to escape the nightmare that is poverty. This tends to especially be the case when it comes to men because of the role the man has always played historically in the African-American family. What I am talking about can be especially seen in the 80s up until now. It was during this time that many young black males began to see success as athletes and musicians. The prime example being Michael Jordan and the dawn of his shoes. People like him began to represent a chance for the young and poor to become extremely wealthy despite the challenges that await them. The same can be see with many successful rappers as well. But at this point you are probably wondering what the heck any of this was to do with gay people?
The connection comes from what type of mentality this idea of materialism fosters. Basically I believe that it all fosters a strong concept of hypermasculinity. Ones success is gauged by the quality of ones clothes or how much money they are making. This concept of the idea "man" totally shuns any inkling of homosexuality. It is also made worse by the general behavior that one can see in rap music. You see young black males surrounded by the "dream". They are surrounded by jewels, money, cars, women, clothes. If any of things are not in place than you obviously are not living the "dream" right? So the quickest way to drag a man living this "dream" or one who wants to live this dream is to question his wealth and make him less of a man by calling him gay. This entire post I made is also the same reason I feel that the black community does not emphasize education compared to other minorities in America. I think that basically our priorities are ****ed up beyond belief.
I am not gay, but I deeply care about the rights of my fellow man, and I think that the homophobia i see in my own people is extremely hypocritical considering how our own situation once was not too long ago.
