Maybe it was where I was brought up or maybe it was how I was brought up - but I just don't quite understand all of the resentment that is going on between Blacks and Browns.My hometown was far from perfect - but it makes the effort.
In the above photo, one can see the district football stadium at Martin Luther King High School.
Sure, a lot of municipalities put their stadiums in the "Black side" of town.
And a lot of towns have a school named after Martin Luther King Jr..
But look at the houses in the surrounding neighborhood.
Those are not small shacks in the ghetto - instead, they are nice homes in a nice part of town.
When the school was proposed and a name sought, many new residents from the O.C. wanted to name the school Ronald Reagan High or Bob Hope High.
But the district and long-time residents wanted to send a different message - that Dr. King's ideas were not important only to Black people, but for all people.
Being a product of a Black and Brown marriage, my perspective may be a little different from many others'.
When I first moved to this small Southern town; "I hate Mexicans", "Mexicans are dirty", and "They are taking all of our jobs" were the statements made by most Blacks with whom I'd come into contact when speaking about Hispanics/Latinos.
When I'd tell them that I was half Mexican, "Well, they're not all bad.", or "Yeah, you work hard and fast like a Mexican." were the most common responses.
I understand resource competition and having pride in one's culture - but when did things get this bad?
http://pewresearch.org/pubs/713/blacks-hispanics
Hip Hop is often thought of as a purely Black culture.But one of the early elements (break dancing) in this culture was dominated and brought mainstream by the Hispanic group The Rock Steady Crew.
Another aspect of Hip-Hop was the art of graffiti.
For every Dondi White, there was a Zepyr.
Black and Brown used to get down to create art out of almost nothing.
Rollin' in your '64?Got a long Steve Harvey type Zoot-Suit?
The Brown brotha's made these moves within the same communities that often included Blacks years ago.
Being that it is Hispanic Heritage Month - I just had to weigh in on the disconnect between our communities.
But what the heck is HHM?
HHM is a celebration of Hispanic/Latino culture that was endorsed by Lydon Johnson in the sixties as Hispanic Heritage Week.
In the eighties, Ronald Reagan expanded the week into a month.
Why is it celebrated from September 15 - October 15?
Because five countries celebrate their Independence days on September 15 (Honduras, Nicaragua, Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala) or close to it (Mexico-Sept.16, Chile-Sept.18,Belize -Sept.21.)
A Black v. Brown beef?
Well, that's between them.
As for me, I'll just enjoy a cerveza mas fina with my Brown brothers (until I celebrate Oktoberfest with my white homeboys).
On Christmas Eve I'll celebrate with my Brown brotha's once again as we eat tamales made by by boy Fernie's mom.
The beef in the tamales with a red sauce is the only beef I have with Mexicans.
It's coming from the prisons with the rise of the Mexican Mafia. I was at a school charity event in Compton giving a speech and a Old Dj from when I grew up was there Julio G. Me and him talked about Rap Music and he couldn't believe I was from Comnpton until we started naming gangs. He's from Lynwood so he's just next door.
ReplyDeleteEither way we got to talking about the Black vs Brown issue in LA. He said it's the drugs and the gangs in jail. He talked about how Dr. Dre put him on at the radio station and that he was always cool with all Blacks. He said it's getting worse as the Mexican Mafia is getting bigger and controlling drugs. That's when we shook our heads because the school I was at was about 50/50 Black Mexican and everyone got along just fine. Something is brewing in LA that is changing things here.
In the South at least where I was in Houston they seem to see it differently. My brother and I feel nothing really as we eat at Mexican restaraunts or talk to Mexicans on the street or just overall live amongst them. I mean it's not a big deal to us, but the native Blacks over there seem to hate them. I don't know if they bought into the Immigrant shit that is being tossed around, I don't know if it's over jobs or just if Mfers are mad but down there it's different than LA.
Actually it saddens me a bit because I remember participating in Cinco De Mayo celebrations when I was a kid. I played soccer with their fathers, played basketball with their sons, and couldn't get a date with their sisters LOL! We've always lived right next to each other so the familiarity made it not a big deal to speak Spanglish.
Something is changing! I don't know if it's the rise of the Central American cats who are here now and don't have the history. I don't know if it's drugs. Maybe it's just the rise of the Brown people and they don't have to be nice anymore becuase they are the majority!
Yeah... and it's getting pretty effed-up.
ReplyDeleteIt seems like there used to be a lot more Blaxicans like me.