“You have Black folks and you have N-”
I personally prefer the word “Negroes” here.
This is a quote from taken from Chris Rock back in the day. It is also my response to Sherri Winston’s recent article entitled “The growing divide between poor and middle-class blacks”. She writes:
The May Essence magazine examines the growing divisiveness between poor blacks and the black middle class today. Of course there is a divide: Those of us who’ve “made it” have been taught to despise those who didn’t. However, we’ve also been taught that if we turn our backs on poor blacks, we’re no better than racist whites. (more…)
To this day, folks still give a chuckle or two to what Chris Rock said because IT IS TRUE! In every race you will find two groups of people: those who do what it takes to move ahead and those who fit the “Junebug” profile. So yes, Junebug can be found in all cultures. In the movie Johnson Family Vacation, there was a scene in which family members were trying to distance themselves from this brotha because they knew he was going to tail them for some sort of “hook up”, not because he was poor.
Junebug is not always poor, but has a history of making the point that he/she cannot survive unless you are constantly giving them a free “hook up”. Never mind the fact that it wasn’t free “hook ups” that got you where you are today–you worked your butt off! On the other hand, Junebug will rarely WORK to get his.
While I do believe that we can always do more to help those who are truly unfortunate in our society, Winston’s assertion here that middle class Black folks are taught to despise lower class/poor Blacks is way off. Now if SHE has been taught this, she is the one with the problem, not “we“, because most middle class Black folks I know do not think this way. Deeply woven in our culture is a concern for those who are TRULY less fortunate than us. Check out just about any Black church to see that in action. Junebug is the one we “despise”, not poor folks.
Face it! There will ALWAYS be a portion of society that will do nothing no matter how much you reach out to help them. For those who truly desire to move out of poverty, in most cases help is out there for them–and Black folks will oftentimes be right there helping them out.
There is a whole lot more I could say in response to this piece, but I think I will hold off on it for a later comment or post.
I got a bunch of relatives who you simply can’t help. Anything done for them is an unappreciated waste of effort and they wind up robbing you of something when ever you turn your back on them for a minute.
Being a naturally good hearted guy, it took me a while, and some considerable cash loses, to realize they weren’t going to change. Now I simply got no time for them when they come around and don’t return their phone calls.
My dad used to say :fool “me once shame on you, fool me twice, shame on me”. My dad was right. I’ll give anyone a chance, but nobody gets a second one once they’ve screwed me. I’ll accept appologies, but I never trust’em with anything again.
Comment by Purple Avenger | May 21, 2007