Conquer & Divide

Last week, my wife invited me to see the movie 'Precious'. I reminded her that I don't do well with emotional movies, & the subject matter that the previews alluded to made it clear that it was one of those kinds of movies that make me uncomfortable. So, I've been reading a lot of reviews on the 'Net, & boy, I'm sure glad I stayed at home & chilled with my son instead. Oprah & Tyler Perry don't need my money anyhow. Now, had they been giving out $10 with every ticket purchase, I'd have seen it at least 5 times by now.


The complaint I've heard the most referenced the contrast of the dark/light skin characters. You know the timeless "dark is bad, light is good" propaganda. I'm not one to play poker with race cards, so I'm sure that's not what I would've gotten from the movie. But, the child producing incest? That would've stuck with me, or at least tied with HIV being passed from father to daughter sexually. As I said, an uncomfortable movie.


Without getting overly critical, I've heard this light vs. dark argument within an argument my entire life, from both sides of the fence. See, I'm a light skinned dude. Your "typical" light skinned dude. I've been called Puerto Rican, Mexican, White Boy (I'm not that light...), the whole gamut of "insults". Not really insults, per se, but they were intended as such. The majority of my friends have always been of a darker persuasion. I'm not sure if that's some psychological kickback from being surrounded by a bunch of crazy-ass, gumbo cooking, 1/3 Black relatives growing up or what, but I've been like that since I was a kid. Basically, I've never once equated negative behavior with dark skinned Black people. If anything, I could say that light skinned Blacks are genuinely crazy, as a result of what I concluded started back in the slave days, when the slave master's slave children, who were light skinned, were separated from the slaves & forced to only mingle with each other. By that theory, however far-fetched, at some point, cousins would have had sex with one another in order to pro create. We've all heard about two-headed babies & other ridiculous birth defects as a result of relatives conceiving children together, which are mostly fabled stories that could be plots of science fiction movies. However, there is some truth, in that mental problems have been discovered in children that resulted from incest.


Regardless, at the risk of sounding like a bigot, some of my best friends are dark skinned. Some good, some bad, but there's no over tipped scale as to where the amount of melanin in their skin has anything to do with the amount of exhibited stupidity, or lack of for that matter. For every light skinned person that's perceived as "good" purely off of their appearance, I can show you a gorilla's handful of conceited yellow bones who think the sun rises & sets on their douchebaggery. For every dark skinned person viewed as evil primarily from the color of the skin, I can show you twice that amount of good people who just so happen to be a darker hue of brown. Good vs. Evil, Smart vs. Dumb, but definitely not Light Skinned vs. Dark Skinned, at least from my vantage point.


That's a definitive trait of the slave mentality at work. Conquer & divide, if you will. Especially if we base it off of a movie, which is only as forthcoming as it visionaries (director & producer). In that case, do Oprah & Tyler Perry truly feel this way about Black people? Isn't Oprah dark? I do think she's evil, but it has nothing to do with Africa, & everything to do with America, but that's a blog for another day.


& I can't partially mention Ms. Winfrey without pointing out that Tyra Banks & Wendy Williams have both appeared on their nationally syndicated shows in make-up that gives them a much lighter tone than God intended. Factored in with outrageous wigs & (for Wendy) admission of numerous plastic surgeries, what messages are tomorrow's women of color receiving? I'd be hard pressed to make an argument against Wendy not being the embodiment of Black female self-hatred. No shots, though. To add to that pot, baseball legend Sammie Sosa has undergone a process that has him looking like Ricky Ricardo's present-day corpse, hair & all. Just saying...


As I type this, racism is being edged out by socialism. Look around us. Between schools, jobs, & helthcare, the rich will definitely be getting richer, while the poor are left to either starve to death in the street, or die of 'Swine Flu'. If you think this has no direct, hands-on effect in the Black community, you should think less & read more. Even if the revolution is televised, half of us won't be able to afford the television sets needed to see it, much less be a part of it. We need to observe the conquer & divide strategy for what it really is. Beat "us" down, then keep us away from each other, that way, there's no chance of uprise & retaliation.


America is the hotbed for racism. We all know that. It's part of our history as Americans, & it's embraced as much as it is reviled. But, to acknowledge it, as Black people, & then turn around & allow it to fester within our own confines is self defeating, to say the least. Personal preference is completely different than blatant bigotry & ostracism. Once we can separate the two, perhaps there really will be some form of Black Power. Not money, or wealth or fame, but solidarity, knowing that we all have the same struggle, regardless of our respective pigment. Obama is just the tip of the proverbial iceburg...


[tony's note: i didn't say "nigga" one time...]