“The colour of a man’s skin should not determine the colour of his mind.”

- Xenocrates

hy is it so common for black people to be associated with negativity? I bet most people looking at the photo above will automatically think that it’s a depiction of black men in a prison. You wouldn’t be too far off if that’s the first interpretation you had – but you’d still be wrong. It goes to show that your mind is automatically trained to think of black people in a negative way. But that aside, even within the race itself, there seems to be a destructive propensity that drives the collective. It’s not limited to blacks in America, but blacks everywhere. Because of this and the civil rights upheavals which have occurred over the decades, almost everywhere you go in non black cultures, people walk on eggshells whenever a black man walks in through the door. Those who don’t are immediately labelled as being “racist” or “bigots”, whether or not it’s true. In fact, black people have made so many people of other ethinicities, races and cultures so uncomfortable around them, that it has made many people who were not even racist to begin with, start to develop a strong dislike for people of African descent. For some people, it’s easier to just be racist, simply because they don’t have the patience to put up with the hypocritical B.S. But it’s not just non blacks who’ve become frustrated with their culture being hijacked by this hypocrisy. Even people within this ethnic demarcation have expressed such misgivings. This post is dedicated exposing the fallacy of the ignorant mindset that people of African descent like to call “black culture”. Black people, pay attention. This is going to hurt, but it will challenge you to think about the way you think and how you perceive yourselves.

The ‘All men are created equal’ Myth

In the United States Declaration of Independence, we read that “all men are created equal“. However, history seems to disagree with this notion. Even though scientists agree that mankind is rooted in Africa, the groups that migrated out of Africa seem to have done comparatively better than those that remained behind. As the earth’s climate changed over the ages, groups that chose to move north carried most of the genetic markers that made them fairer skinned with more varying features in hair, nose, skull and eyes as they seemed to prefer cooler northern temperate regions of the continent. Those that remained behind carried most of the genetic markers that predicated darker skin and a more monolithic aesthetic features in the nose, eyes, hair and body structure as they seemed to prefer the harsher, torrid zones closer to the equator. After several thousand years of interbreeding within these separate groups, the genetic markers most common to each group became the de facto traits of each group’s third generation offspring and races were formed. White races appeared in the north, and darker races in the south.

However, an interesting thing happened. The races that moved north developed faster than those that remained in Africa. In fact, when the white man found black folks in Africa, they were still toting wooden spears, woven shields, wearing loin cloth and living in mud huts. At this time, white men were already wearing sophisticated embroidered cotten clothing and leather boots, had already discovered the new world, conquered the oceans in water faring vessels, had mapped the earth, the seas and the stars, created governments, world trade, economies of scale, mathematics, chemistry, geography, had invented point and click weapons that he didn’t have to use at close range and lived in brick and mortar homes. What is the explanation for this disparity in technological evolution? Why didn’t the darker races in Africa evolve just the same? There are several theories:

Theory #1: Not All Men were created Equal

The first theory suggests that the original groups that left Africa not only carried the genetic markers that made then fairer in complexion, but also the genetic markers that were more likely to produce people who evolved cognitively at a greater pace. This, purports the theory, is evidenced by their natural propensity to explore the rest of the world (hence leaving Africa in the first place). That propensity to explore is the same that produces a greater degree of cognitive evolution, since explorers are people who naturally think outside the box. So it’s like saying that all the smart people packed up shop and left Africa once the climate changed. This we see in a greater degree through the ages as white men became smarter, and theorised that the world wasn’t flat and set out on a voyage to prove it, thus discovering America and the new world. The rest is history.

This theory is the one that most people dislike even though it has the greatest degree of historical and scientific proof. People dislike this theory simply because they prefer to think that all men were created equal. Who can blame them? Nobody wants to think that their race is intrinsically stupid – irrespective of the overwhelming scientific evidence to the contrary.

Theory #2: Africa didn’t feed the mind

The second theory suggests that all men were created equal and that the migration out of Africa was due to internal struggles in the original groups that settled in various parts of the dark continent. This theory suggests that after several eras of conflict, the physically weaker groups were forced out of Africa, and further north (which explains why black people are generally physically superior to most other races). The theory then suggests that when these people moved north and their offspring became white, they discovered more fertile soil, which was better for raising crops and livestock. Much of Africa is well known for being a desert land that is rich in mineral ore and other precious gems. This however comes at a trade off, as it doesn’t make the land suitable for growing ground produce. This subsequently led to the groups that moved north being better nourished than those in Africa. The better nourished groups thus developed better brains and thus evolved faster.

This theory, however plausible, fails to explain how the aryan caucasians who lived in the icy tundras of northern Europe (now Norway, Switzerland, The Netherlands & Germany) still evolved even faster than their dark haired counter parts in middle Europe (now Spain, France, Portugal and so on). It simply fails to explain the phenomena where the further north men moved, the smarter they seemed to get. It’s a nice theory though – however inconclusive.

Theory #3: Slavery did it.

The third theory suggests that over the ages, after the dark and fair races were formed and the migrations took place, that the people who migrated north came back and conquered Africa – multiple times. They suggest that over the ages, black people were enslaved so often that it didn’t give them a chance to evolve socially, economically or technologically as a cohesive society. They suggest that when the Egyptians (who were dark skinned), Greeks, Persians, Babylonians, Romans and everyone else in between conquered the known world, they kept hitting the “Reset” button on the black race, thus inhibiting their otherwise natural propensity for cognitive evolution.

This theory has plenty of flaws. First of all, it fails to account for why the races which moved north evolved faster than the black race to the point where they could return and conquer Africa multiple times. The mere fact that they conquered Africa suggests that they were at least more technologically advanced. Secondly, this theory doesn’t explain why in every recorded account of a first encounter between white races and black ones, that the black people – get this – bowed down and worshipped them. It also doesn’t explain why black people sold their own kin into slavery. Yes, you read right. Check your history books. Slavery was not only the white man’s fault. Barring those situations where blacks were outrightly kidnapped, white men merely capitalized on the black race’s collective lack of cohesion (and perhaps, intelligence). Whether he tricked them into slavery, kidnapped them, coaxed them or traded with nefarious African kings is irrelevant. It demonstrates that the white man must have been cognitively superior to pull off this heist in the first place. In case you haven’t realised, he’s still doing it to this very day through modern capitalism.

Exposing the Myth

We are taught today that all men were created equal. However, I have a hard time believing that teaching. If all men were truly created equal, then there’s no way that black folks would’ve been outsmarted to where they could be subdued by so many kingdoms and races so often in history. It doesn’t explain how these other cultures had more advanced technology and social development even though we all started at the same position in Africa. Black people would have been on more or less the same or similar level of technological and social development as everyone else if all men were created equal. It’s such a pitiful situation that comic book giant Marvel even had to invent a ficticious African nation called Wakanda (home of the aptly named super hero Black Panther) which equalled the same level of social, technological and economic advancement of white countries. It goes to show that the very notion of ‘all men were created equal‘ is most probably a myth.

What makes this more darkly humorous is that although most of the world’s ore and precious stones come from Africa – it is the poorest continent on Earth. Even though black people claim Africa as their home, one cannot deny the irony of the fact that they didn’t realise the value of its resources until the white men came along, raped and pillaged it for its resources, and enslaved them to do it. These things will make one wonder if God is playing some kind of cosmic joke on the black race that only He and every other non-black race gets. Clearly somebody got the short end of the genetic stick here.

However, irrespective of the historical short comings of the black race, they do have the capacity to do just as well as others once they apply themselves – even though scholastic statistics say otherwise. Let’s assume for argument’s sake that black people and all other races are somehow on equal cognitive footing. There are still some issues that must be addressed:

On Language and Misnomers

First of all, ‘Negro’ is not a bad word. It’s actually Latin in origin and it means “Black”. Black is not a bad word either. In fact, Black is not actually a colour. In terms of physics, it is an absence of colour. This means that the term “coloured people” which refers to blacks is a misnomer. The term ‘African-American’ doesn’t make you less Negro and it doesn’t make you less black. It’s just white people’s way of over compensating for the fact that their forefathers and your forefathers didn’t get along. That’s why they call it being “politically correct”.

With that said, you can’t call each other ‘N*gger’ in a ‘brotherly’ context when the white man invented it to demean you. That word is the southern slang of the word ‘Negro’ and it only attained it’s “Bad” word status because of slavery. So when you call each other using that word, that’s the same thing as you demeaning yourselves. White people don’t call each other ‘cracka’ in brotherly love. They say “dude” or “bro”. Asian people don’t call each other “chink” and “yella” in brotherly love. In Japan they say [your name]-chan if they mean to do that. So where did black people get this stupid idea that using a derogatory word to refer to each other is an expression of brotherly love? I’m not even going to touch the fact that it is a double standard to suggest that other races can’t do it. This is one of the many reasons why other races will never take black people seriously. Ever.

You cannot call your women “bitches” or “Ho’s” in your everyday language, because it would imply that your mother was also a prostitute or an obnoxious woman (or both). However true that may be, you should not demean your women. Women are a precious element of society. Therefore even if some of them are stupid enough to dance naked in your music videos and allow themselves to become even more so objectified to satiate your super-masculine propensities, once you belittle your women, you will never respect them (black women, please take note!). You’re only disrespecting yourself and your race when you do that.

Calling white people “crackas” and not expect them to respond to you with “n*gga” is hypocritical. I don’t care if their forefathers called your forefathers “n*ggers”. Their offspring do not have you in shackles. Therefore you are not entitled to be disrespectful to them or anyone else in this context. Being black doesn’t make you a victim. So don’t try to play that using this type of language as your most common defence just because you are unable to formulate a valid defence upon being criticised. You only expose your ignorance in doing so and is the primary reason why Asians have a particular distrust of your kind.

On Biological Demarcations

Speaking of being black, please note that the colour of your skin is not a disability claim. Therefore you are not entitled to special rights or privileges because you or your forefathers were oppressed or by virtue of belonging to this ethnic group. Therefore you cannot use this as justification for being lazy. Although most of you don’t have the capacity to realise it yet, most non blacks with whom you have to deal with in business didn’t really care about your skin colour until you brought it up. In fact, when it comes to money, they were mostly of an open mind until you opened your mouth and confirmed all those negative stereotypes about black people they always heard about. Most white people who you think dislike you are not people who are racist. They are actually people who have very little respect for you because you have no respect for yourself or your kin. Your skin colour is also not a valid argument. You can’t claim your race as a valid point in an argument that you just lost because of your inability to respond adequately.

Black women, I need to address several issues related to your self perception. About those wigs you weave into your hair – they make you look fake. You were not born with naturally long, straight hair. You also don’t have naturally blond or red hair. I’m not sure if you know this, but black people don’t naturally have blue, green or hazel eyes either. Brown eyes maybe (if there is mixed parentage), but not usually. Don’t make the other races believe that you envy them. You give them the false impression that they look better than you when you do that. Celebrate your blackness. Short hair styles can look just as great when done tastefully. You don’t need long hair to look beautiful. Even though white women try to get a tan, or even fuller lips, or thicker buttocks, I very sincerely doubt it is because they envy black women. Victoria’s Secret and every other company that accentuates white beauty through runway models and television & product marketing all seem to insinuate quite the opposite.

Remember, white people still mostly own television and radio, so their standards of beauty will naturally predominate the airwaves. That’s what appeals to them. It was not meant for your race. Furthermore, many white men like their women pasty, bony & shapeless (as per Hollywood standards). So there’s no use trying so hard to mimic the biological traits of a white woman. Don’t try to accede to beauty standards that only apply to white women. I don’t care what silly excuse you women come up with to justify this kind of self-deprivation. It’s a form of self-hate, and screams of insecurity. Furthermore, there are lots of white boys out there who would love give you the time of day of you bothered to care. Real men will love you for who you are, and not what you look like.

And what’s with this bleaching of the skin? A lot of black folks have taken up this nasty habit of systematically applying chemicals to the face and hands which have bleaching agents in them, in a bid to “lighten” the complexion of their skin. This is a manifestation of what psychologists call an “inferiority complex“. Some black people have somehow managed to convince themselves that being dark skinned means that they are ugly and thus have taken steps to change that. They feel that the world prefers people of fairer complexions. Even if this could be proven to be vaguely true, bleaching the skin is foolish. Even if you manage to change the tone of the skin in your face and your hands, can you imagine how ridiculous you’ll look if you show up at the beach in a bathing suit or just your trunks with your face in one colour and the rest of your body in another? Don’t be stupid. Some of these agents can actually cause permanent damage to your skin and in some cases cause deadly skin cancer. The melanin in your skin gives you protection from harmful UV rays that many other fairer races do not naturally carry. You are dark skinned because of natural genetic evolution – not genetic malformation.

Speaking of skin tones, if you’re a black person, wearing tatoos is silly. Wearing excessive makeup is also silly. Most of these things were invented for people of fairer skin tones. It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to know that if you have dark coloured imagery on a dark background, it’s not going to show up well. I’m not even going to get into the other dangers of tatooing. Even though there is makeup that complements the skin tone of black women, most of it is invisible. So unless you’re covering up a blemish or evening out your face, or applying some kind of medication, wearing excessive makeup not only makes you hideous, but it reeks of how frighteningly insecure you are about the way you look. Maybe if you spent less time watching BET, your sense of self perception (or that of your race) wouldn’t be so dangerously shallow.

On Racism & Slavery

Slavery ended over 300 years ago. Therefore it is no longer a logical defense in any argument that seeks to examine why the black race suffers from seriously self destructive attitudes, behaviours and grossly underdeveloped societies that even to this day depend heavily on white governments to aid them in social development. That shortcoming in the black race is so pervasive that one is tempted to think that it points to something in the building blocks of the black race’s genetics. It’s a horrific thought and I’d like to hope that there’s no truth to that whatsoever, however hard it is to ignore.

In almost every society where black people are found, there is relatively poor performance with respect to education, economic stability, social and family development in comparison to fairer races. While this is most obvious in the United States, you can see the same kind of social ills in virtually every black population around the world. It is characterised by developing societies which have significantly high crime rates, fatherless families, poor educational performance, high levels of governmental corruption, poor social development, economic instability, a high level of dependency on white states for economic buoyancy and the occasional social unrest, especially as it relates to political affairs.

You will find these ills in every black society on earth – from the sunny islands in the Caribbean, to the streets of the USA to the dark continent of their origin. This is one of the reasons why we know that racism had very little (if anything) to do with it. Racism doesn’t explain that behaviour in societies which are predominantly black. Slavery doesn’t explain that behaviour in countries where it never existed or in European states where black people migrated to in the 20th century. So that pretty much rules out racism and slavery in most cases. Furthermore, this sort of behaviour is predominant in black communities where there are simply no white people. So this also rules out the white man as black people’s problem – especially in some African countries.

With that said, I won’t deny that racism still exists today. There’s no denying that black folks still have a harder time in the world, depending on how dark their skin complexion is. There’s no denying that a fairer skinned black man is treated better than a darker skinned counterpart. There’s no denying that inequality still exists in the world. However, the world has changed greatly and black people no longer have a glass ceiling over their heads. Therefore, racism, slavery and the white man are no longer convenient excuses for all of the race’s problems. Therefore, the following problems are not likely because you’re black;

1. If you didn’t get a job, try getting educated. People with degrees tend to fare far better than those without.
2. If you didn’t get funding for your project, you should probably blame the way you sold the idea. Project managers have a business to run. So if your idea got turned down, it’s probably because it stunk, not because you’re black.
3. If a cop gives you a hard time, try being respectful and co-operative. Most cops don’t want to be labeled ‘racist’ or ‘pig’ and they don’t have the patience for unnecessary aggression. Also, don’t run. If you run, you insinuate that you’re guilty of something and they will lock you up.
4. Just like how many white people use a few bad black people to judge every black man, when you collectively hate white people, you are doing exactly the same thing. It’s still racism. Most white people aren’t racist, just like most black people aren’t necessarily ignorant. If you treat white men like your brothers, there’s a very good chance they’ll return the favour.
5. If your white next door neighbour calls the cops on you when you were just walking down the street, try pulling up your pants, getting rid of that ridiculous swagger in your step, quit grabbing your crotch, turn your hat forwards, and look like somebody’s child, instead of a gang banger. Comb your hair too. It makes you look less like a thug or a trouble maker. And for God’s sake, pull down that hood. It’s the middle of summer. This is also why you get followed around in the Korean grocery store.
6. Being “ghetto” is not cool and is one of the many reasons white folks still have issues with the race. Being civilised doesn’t make you an oreo. Speaking loudly or behaving in a boorish manner in the cinema during a film won’t win you any brownie points either.
7. And for God’s sake, while you’re at it, read a book. You’ll eventually see why white people have the most dominant civilizations on earth.

On Education

Why should a man’s ethnic identity be questioned if he is black and educated? I’ve seen many situations where a black person’s peers thought them to be “too white” to be black or “acted too white” or thought that they were “trying to be white” or were even accused of “hating their own race“, just because they’re educated, went to constructive social activities that were predominantly white, went to a white college or just because they had white friends. What the hell? Where did this idiotic teaching come from? Since when was being educated equivalent to being white? That’s when I check black entertainment, and I finally realise why.

Black music predominantly celebrates thuggery, gangster life, violence, sex, debauchery, pimping and whoring. Black movies predominantly celebrate all of the above things, plus obnoxious and ignorant behaviour, often played up for cheap laughs (as per many Tyler Perry movies and similar predecessors). We have many black comedians who play up black stereotypes for comedic effect (like Dave Chappelle) which does absolutely nothing for the black community’s image. We are told that these things iconify blackness and that as a black person, they should embrace this rubbish as purported by MTV and BET. If you fail to do so, you are labelled a “sellout” or an “Oreo“. What a steaming pile of bull.

Almost every facet of black culture surrounds the theme that blackness is what it is, as if being black automatically means that the corresponding behaviour should also be black. I have one thing to share with all black people: The colour of your skin does not predicate the colour of your mind. Just because you were born into a culture that celebrates ignorance, it doesn’t mean that you must therefore identify with this ignorance (or the culture for that matter). Education will change your world.

Education will make you realise that just because you were born into a fatherless family that you don’t have to do the same thing to your own children. You will realise that you can become married and still live a happy life with picket fences, a dog named Scruffy and two happy kids, just like you see on TV. Education will spare you the challenges of raising children out of wedlock, dropping out of school, being incarcerated for drugs or violent crime, being unemployed, getting caught up in gangs and all that other rubbish. You’ll realise that you don’t have to become another statistic just because your skin colour is different from the majority race.

Education will elucidate the fact that money is something that should be invested – not spent wantonly and indiscriminately. Furthermore, you should only spend money on things that you can actually use, not things that make you look shiny. It’s like you’re trying to overcompensate for the fact that your skin colour doesn’t reflect much light. Only children obsess over expensive shiny things they don’t have any practical use for – especially when they stick those things into their teeth. Speaking of children, when you call your home a “crib”, it speaks volumes about the cognitive maturity of the race.

Conclusion

These things are known by every non black person who has interacted extensively with the race. However, none of them will share this knowledge with black people for fear of being unfairly called “racist”. There is only one major solution to black people’s problems:

Break the stereotypes. Your music shouldn’t reflect how dark and ignorant you really are. I don’t care if the record companies will only sell records of yours that make money because they market filth. I also don’t care if your music reflects the reality of your life. Even though sex, violence and immorality sells, “the man” is using your own ignorance to contribute to the destruction of your race to make himself rich. Sure, you get rich when your record goes platinum, but the company owns the copyright to your record. So long after you’ve become a has-been, they’re still getting rich selling your tripe to BET and MTV so that your young ones become influenced by your music to become gangsters, pimps, drug dealers, whores, irresponsible fathers and the like, thus repeating the vicious cycle. Shame on you. Shame on all of you.

Break the stereotypes. Stop calling all of this tripe a part of “black culture”. You are hurting those blacks who are being collectively labeled as being ignorant, lazy, stupid and poorly dressed even though they are none of these things. Every time a black man calls his peer his “n*gger” you destroy a little bit of the race’s image. Every time a rapper appears on MTV with his pants half way down his waist, with diamonds in his teeth and several half naked women ass-dropping in front of the camera, he destroys a little bit of the race’s image. Every time a Jamaican DJ tours Europe talking about “gun stick” and “kill batty man”, he destroys a little bit of the race’s image. Every time you wrongfully use the race card, every time you call somebody racist just because they criticized your behaviour, every time you act ignorant or use that behaviour to sell cheap laughs, you’re destroying the black race’s image.

Break the sterotypes. Get an education. Go to college. Get a degree. Get married before you have children. Become a man before you become a father. Become a woman before you become a mother. If you are an unmarried woman and you have a child for a man who hasn’t married you yet, GET SMART – he’s only using you for the sex. There’s nothing wrong with having an education. There’s nothing wrong with having white friends, being a part of white clubs or playing golf. Moving out of a violent black neighbourhood into a civil, peaceful white suburb doesn’t make you a sellout. It makes you SMART. Being properly dressed doesn’t make you white. It makes you properly dressed. Speaking with a clear distinctive voice inflection doesn’t make you a white wannabe. It means that you have proper diction. Aspiring after the good and proper things doesn’t make you white. When you say such ignorant things, you insinuate that the white race is indeed better than you (thus adding to the myth of equality of all men).

Break the stereotypes. These cultural stereotypes don’t define you. You define yourself. Your skin colour is just the result of a genetic permutation – nothing more. The mind you have is not controlled by the shade of your skin or the expectations of others who look like you. Education will make you see that being black is just one of the many qualities that is a subset of what makes you human. It is just a biological trait – not a cognitive or social limitation. It doesn’t predetermine what type of music you should listen to, the race of the person you should marry, or the kinds of crowds you should move with. Your skin colour is not what makes you human. Your mind is. Education will allow you to emancipate yourself from such mental slavery, to free your mind from the blackness that your black culture has imposed upon you and to embark upon the world as a free mind, a child of the world whose individuality adds to the variety of our species and makes humanity so special.

Whether you are black, white, asian or somewhere in between, you must realise that there is no such thing as race. What we call “race” only accounts for less than 3% of our genetic material. That means we are 97% the same all around. Don’t use your race to limit your thinking, your hopes, your attitudes or your dreams or that of others. Free your mind. Become one with the world, not as a black man or woman, but as a human being.