A Black Man's Question: Who's Our Worst Enemy?

 by Ken Ray-Sun

Black folks, unfortunately too many of us have a habit of spreading misinformation that 'we are our own worst enemy', when you 'fact check' this sentiment statement it's disproven by history.

This statement could only be true if we enslaved ourselves for 246 years (1619-1865); then systematically repressed ourselves 'Jim Crow' apartheid for another 100 years (1865-1965): a total of 346 years of oppressing and exploiting ourselves.

Furthermore since 1965 to the present (55 years) we've caused our own selves to suffer the most in the U.S. from unemployment, poverty, wealth disparity, homelessness, incarcerations, sicknesses, and deaths, again not true!

Let us be clear Black folks we haven't had the power to be our own worst enemy, only institutionalize white supremacy has had that power from past to present to be our worst enemy. Do we engage in self-divisive, self-defeating, and self-destructive behaviors absolutely!

However to equate ourselves as our own worst enemy compared to institutionalize white supremacy is like absurdly comparing a 'regular bomb' to an 'atomic nuclear bomb'! I addressed this issue of being our own worst enemy as a result of a recent conversation I had with a Black female college student doing a class project on racism and conversating with some other young adult Black females.

I asked them what did they learn about racism in their homes and they said it wasn't discussed that much, so they didn't know that much; so what did they learn: be a nice person, get good grades, go to college, get a good job, and be aware of Black men - don't trust them!

Yet they weren't told to be aware of white male supremacy enemy in all its forms and fashions; racist random white men and police who murder their grandfathers, fathers, uncles, male cousins, and friends. No, Black men our your own worst enemy, not racist white men! It's interesting you don't hear white mothers even when their divorced telling their daughters not to trust white men.

I remember listening to Malcolm X and his response to some Black men talking about how we steal from each other, Malcolm interjected saying "you can't out steal the white man, he stole a whole people from Africa."

Yes, we got to stop saying we are our own worst enemy because it's dishonest, discouraging, perpetuates distrust/disunity, and promotes a default contradiction of dependency on racism to gain racial equality.

Moreover it prevents us from knowing and preparing ourselves through self-determination to deal with our greatest enemy 'institutionalize white supremacy'.

Black Male Pimping: Are We Living a Lie?

 by Kenray Sunyaru

This blog post was inspired by a rap ‘hook’ by Mozzy and Tsu Surf titled “Livin a Lie”:

They got some niggas rapping what they never do

They got some niggas rapping what they never do

They got some shooters that be strapped, but they never shoot

They got some niggas say they riding, they ain't ride for you

They got some niggas that be flexing, they ain't making moves

Play with me if you want, you gone have to make the news

They living a lie, I'm living the truth

They living a lie, I'm living the truth

From my perspective, Black folks live all sorts of myths and lies constantly deceiving ourselves about our oppressed socioeconomic conditions in racist America; these deceptions are our psychological defense mechanisms that stifles self-determination and prevents 'real' progress.

I want to touch on one of these self-deceptive lies somewhat, the living lie of Black men and ‘Pimping’. You hear rappers constantly rapping about pimping, there are many Black men with Youtube platforms promoting pimping.

Before I go on let's define the term ‘Pimp’; a pimp controls, manages, and exploits female prostitutes earnings from sexual exchanges. There are lesbian women pimps too; above all a pimp is an exploiter.

Black men if we keep it ‘100’ from our historical experience in America white male plantation owners were the original pimps ‘exploiting’ pimping our enslaved Ancestors both ‘male and females’.

Instead of being pimped on the street ‘track’ our Ancestors were pimped in cotton fields, rice fields, and tobacco fields. Indeed the white plantation owners controlled, managed, and exploited our maternal Ancestors sexually through ownership and rape; our forefathers were also ‘pimped’ controlled, managed, and exploited sexually (buck breaking).

I want to mention this about the beginning of the notion of pimping in the Black experience. After slavery particularly when Blacks went North there were very few jobs especially for Black men. In many cases Black women exchanged sex for money from white men for family survival.

In many instances white male customers didn’t want to pay Black women for the sex; they often raped and beat them; to prevent these repressive actions from white men, Black men would accompany them providing protection, this protecting would be later labeled as pimping.

Does Pimping Really Apply to Black Men?

Let’s apply the definition of pimping to Black men today by raising some questions: What do Black men control in our communities? To control you must have power, what power do Black men have? What do Black men really manage?

If we keep it ‘100’ Black men are the most powerless population in America; we suffer from the highest rates of poverty, unemployment, homelessness, incarceration, sicknesses, and deaths!!!!!!

Let’s apply pimping as an economic term ‘exploitation’ in our neighborhoods. When it comes to economic pimps Arab, Korean, East Indian, and other non-Black men do the ‘big pimping’; they ‘price-gouge’ making billions of dollars off Black consumer hoes that includes Black men.

Let’s take a look at the dope game, economically when it comes to selling drugs Black men are on the bottom of the totem pole, out in the streets as ‘drug selling hoes’ being pimped by non-Black males international drug cartels; then disproportionately imprisoned for drug offenses only to be pimped by the penal system!

While Black men are being pimped economically by non-Black men businesses, drugs, and prisons many want to view themselves as pimps in exploiting Black women; it’s the case of wannabe pimps who are being pimped wanting to pimp.

Black men let us stop living a lie and start living the truth; the truth is we aint no real pimps, we’ve been pimped every since the beginning!!!