MAXIMUM CULTURAL DEVELOPMENT vs. SURVIVAL CULTURAL EXISTENCE - Part Two

Part two of a list from Haki Madhubuti's book Black Men: Obsolete, Single, Dangerous?


MAXIMUM CULTURAL DEVELOPMENT
Revolutionary Mentality

13. Respects elders.
14. Dislikes incompetence and mediocrity.
15. Fights against Black-on-Black crime and understands that its root is white-on-Black crime.
16. Loves Black art, music and literature.
17. Can give and follow instructions. Encourages experimentation and criticism.
18. Committed to Black liberation, local, national, and international.
19. Does not use drugs.
20. Politically active. Not crisis-oriented; acts on information rather than reacts. Plans for the long term; alert; prepared for change.
21. Self-confident. Respects others regardless of race or culture.
22. Understands the economic forces that control our lives on a local, national and international level.
23. Rational in decisions and actions.
24. Rewards merit and achievement.


SURVIVAL CULTURAL EXISTENCE
Accomodationist/Riot Mentality

13. Puts elders in nursing homes and forgets them.
14. Gravitates towards incompetence and mediocrity.
15. Involved in Black-on-Black crime or is apathetic about the issue.
16. Loves any kind of music of the new generation.
17. Can give instructions but not follow them; avoids/rejects criticism.
18. Committed to self-liberation only.
19. Drug dependent - cigarettes, alcohol, hard drugs, etc.
20. Politically inactive; crisis-oriented; reacts.
21. Egotistical, ignorantly arrogant, has little concept of culture; feels he will forever be the racial underclass.
22. Naive about economics; unaware of the international nature of capitalism that touches all of our lives.
23. Rewards "yes" people.

MAXIMUM CULTURAL DEVELOPMENT vs. SURVIVAL CULTURAL EXISTENCE - Part One

Part one of a list that compares a progressive mentality to one with one that is overly concerned with adapting to its status as society's victim. Very interesting.



From Haki Madhubuti's book Black Men: Obsolete, Single, Dangerous?

MAXIMUM CULTURAL DEVELOPMENT
Revolutionary Mentality

1. Study-oriented: reads, evaluates, and debates books, newspapers, magazines and scholarly journals. Accepts the challenge of education
2. Worker: looks for ways in which to actively work for self; may hold a job outside in order to sustain self and family. Self-reliant.
3. Organized and systematic. Efficient and diligent.
4. Progressively collective; conscious of others; cooperative.
5. Family-oriented-oriented: regards mate as partner in struggle; loves children. Values trust in relationships.
6. Land conscious: realizes that the only thing that nobody is making any more of is land.
7. Disciplined; strong, unyielding and energetic.
8. Serious. Practices fair play, order and punctuality. Honest and dependable.
9. Analytical and critical.
10. Frugal: buys mainly on need basis; saves.
11. Social life is developmental and involves children.
12. Creatively aggressive: will dare the impossible if it is possible.




SURVIVAL CULTURAL EXISTENCE
Accomodationist/Riot Mentality

1. Does not read or study after "formal" education. Buys few books; reads mainly newspapers, sports pages or popular novels and magazines.
2. Works eight hours a day for some one else. Welfare conscious, get-it-for-nothing attitude.
3. Unsystematic and definitely not organized unless it is for some one else.
4. Backwardly individualistic: I, me, mine mentality.
5. Not family-oriented: regards mate as property; rates children low; generally single-minded; does not want children or responsibility of home life.
6. Not land conscious.
7. Actively fights against discipline.
8. Non-serious majority of time.
9. Not critical or analytical; prefers not to think for self.
10. Consumer junkie; if it's advertised, he's got it. Cannot distinguish wants from needs.
11. Loves social and night life (i.e., lives for the weekend, loves sexual conquests).
12. A defeatist; has few goals other than acquisition of material artifacts.

Sharpton, Hip-Hop, and Decency

After the "Imus" controversy in which Al Sharpton campaigned for Imus to be fired for calling the Rutgers basketball team "nappy headed ho's,” Sharpton and others decided to refocus on the music industry, going on a "march for decency" in hip-hop music. According to Sharpton, "There's a standard that says Ice-T can't rap against police. There's a standard that says you can't rap about gays, and you shouldn't. They had standards against Michael Jackson saying things anti-Semitic. Where is the standard against 'nigger,' 'ho' and 'bitches?'"

But, there's a big difference here, one that is not being acknowledged. Did police rush to the store to buy Ice Tea's Cop Killer song? Are gays buying songs about killing gay people? Are Jewish consumers helping to send anti-Semitic songs to the top of the charts? No. Yet, the majority of black youth I talk to just see songs about killing "niggas" and "pimpin' bitches" as pure entertainment with very little regard for the social, philosophical or cultural ramifications of such songs.

Don't get me wrong, marches are great for when "they" are doing something to you, and you want them to stop, or when "they" are not giving you your "rights" and you want them to start. But while it is clear that most media companies are out to make a dollar, it is also clear that there is a cultural issue, a minds and hearts issue that needs to be addressed. And as long as we pretend it’s just about “them,” in the long run nothing will change.

When a march, protests, sit-ins, or boycott is needed to shine light upon a situation Al Sharpton and Jesse Jackson will definitely get the job done! However, as the saying goes, when all you have is a hammer everything looks like a nail. And unfortunately civil-rights era tactics, and political solutions are all we seem to be getting from old-school civil rights leaders. Does any one really think that we are any closer to eliminating the words "nigger" "bitch" and "ho" from music than we were a month ago? If not then it is up to a new generation of black leaders to decide “what's next?”

Censorship is just a temporary quick-fix solution at best. Instead of focusing on getting rid of three words, we need a change of mindset that can only happen when positive messages begin to overtake negative ones in the minds of our youth.

If any leaders are listening, NAACP, Urban League, young black leaders, I'm talking to you, here's an idea that may work better than censorship. All media companies that are in the business of black music should be pushed lay out a plan of action to increase their promotion of positive, progressive black culture. This would have the effect of both making changes in the industry, and making changes in the mindset of young people. And if the media companies refuse, then they would have Sharpton to deal with. ;-)

Thoughts From One Black Citizen

So let me first say that I'm writing because I'm fed up...

As a black man in America, when I look around it looks like we as a whole are not making progress. Not that there aren't people out there doing positive things, but it seems like for every step forward there is a step back. I talk to people about this subject on a regular basis and I know I'm not the only one who feels this way. So, as one black citizen, I decided to just write down some of my thoughts here. Talk to you later.