"We Black men have a hard enough time in our own struggle for justice, and already have enough enemies as it is, to make the drastic mistake of attacking each other and adding more weight to an already unbearable load." - Malcolm X

"Blacks ought to help themselves more and stop crying about what they don't get. It's true they don't get much, but stop crying about it and go on and get more." - John Hope Franklin 

Let me start this post by saying I am GUILTY ya'll. Everything that I am about to expose, I am guilty of. Don't judge me.

So the last week or the week before, I can't remember when, I was listening to Roland Martin on The Tom Joyner Morning Show. And Roland usually has some good stuff to say and he's very well spoken so I listened. Well, this particular morning, he was talking about Black people feeling as though anything Black is not as valuable or "less than" anything that is white. You can listen to the full segment here.  Now usually, I can say that when segments like this come on, I can get on my high horse and say that they're not talking to me. I'm so conscious. I'm so pro Black and Black Power and all this and that. But I felt like this morning he was talking directly to me. And I almost passed out and died.

So the gist of the segment was basically talking about how Black people don't feel like Black TV shows, Black awards, Black channels, or anything that is exclusively Black is as good as anything that is exclusively white. Now the history major in me thinks this is just one of the pit falls of desegregation. During Jim Crow, Black people had no choice but to have their own everything. Hospitals. Schools. Clubs. Bars. Housing communities. We were forced to be separate so we had to have our own way to survive. But once Jim Crow came crumbling down and everything had to be integrated, Blacks inherently thought White was better because they had been taught this for so long. So naturally, they would seek out white establishments and the like because they had been forbidden from them. Curiosity surely does kill the cat. But I digress.

Now like I said ya'll, I'm guilty of this. I do not like Black Clubs, apart from this cozy little lounge outside of Atlanta that I just fell in love with. And when I tell you this place is in the hood. it's in the HOOD!! I do not like patronizing stores in Black "urban" neighborhoods. The service is usually subpar and the products grossly overpriced. Not because they staff is not capable or the products they provide are somehow of better quality (it's actually the opposite). But because they were not trained correctly and the standard of service is not upheld. I don't shop in "Black Malls" because I would like to purchase something besides sneakers, tight jeans, weave, Shea Butter, and/or Victoria Secret Perfume. And living in Black neighborhoods? You can forget that. And now because of the crime. But because of the environment. It's so negative, dreary, and hopeless. Your mind just gets dragged down to the pits of a dark place. I've lived in a place like that before. And I certainly don't want to go back.

I had a particular Vendetta against BET. Boy, I used to skip over BET, TV One, and Centric like they didn't even exist. I wanted nothing to do with that. I used to say Black TV was ghetto TV and I didn't live in the ghetto anymore. Until I was forced to watch Being Mary Jane by one of my blog editors. I was hooked from the first episode. A successful Black woman with a tangled up love life (Gabby played the side piece as usual....come on now!), a messed up family, and work struggles? And then dealing with issues like obesity, motherhood, race relations, your own biological clock, homosexuality, and uplifting youth? You couldn't pull me away from that TV if you tried. Then I started seeing the commercials for the other shows on BET. The nightly news. The different mini serious and forums they had when they weren't playing the booty shaking videos I hated so much. I gave them another chance and I must say that I'm impressed. Most of the time.

Ironically, I didn't get what some people would call "bourgeois" until I went away to college and got out of Brooklyn. I never saw a problem with dirty subway trains. It gave the city character. I watched 106 & Park every day after school. I wore Jordans, Nikes, tight jeans, pulled my belt too tight around my waist, and tucked my too small shirt into my pants. I loved what is now characterized as "urban life." So who am I now to think that anyone living that life is less than or not as valuable? Hell, had I not been fortunate enough to have a mother who told me I can do something with myself, I would be there too. It makes no sense that I wear turbans 89% of the time, wear an ankh in my ears and nose, exude Black Power and Black Consciousness and then hate the very people I claim that I represent. Huh? Reality check.

In case you haven't realized, Black life has it's own grade of class and sophistication. Check out the new BET website. Listen to Tom Joyner one day out of the week during your morning commute. Check out my favorite Black news source, Black America Web. Of course they still have their ratchet moments. But nothing like World Star Hip Hop. And I am not linking that website here. You can look that up on your own. I love Unsung on TV One. The stories are pretty much the same. Someone gets famous. Someone rich rips them off. Drugs. Attempt at a come back. Death. But it's nice to see Black faces get recognition for things most of us didn't even know they accomplished. It gives us a platform to tell our stories outside of church and around the Sunday dinner table.

I'm all over the place. Let me get to the point at hand. Now Roland touched on a good point. Without Black support, most entertainers would not be where they are. Black or white. You have to have the support of the poor and working class Blacks in order to get somewhere. Think about Brother Malcolm and Dr. King. They would have gotten nowhere without the support of the masses. Strength is in numbers. And there are a lot of Black and Brown people in America and around the world. Imagine what all those people could do if we decided to join forces and start making some demands. Mother Mary help whoever we're standing against.

Okay, let's wrap this puppy up. I'm still guilty of not shopping in Black neighborhoods. The pickings are scarce and like I said, the service is usually mediocre at best. But I am way more open about Black TV, Black social clubs and especially Black award shows. I am way more open to supporting Black Businesses because if we don't support each other who will? I watch the NAACP awards and think about the heritage and history of the organization and cannot bring myself to think of those awards as less than an Oscar or a Grammy. It's a recognition. From your peers. And that's huge for Black entertainers. It may not flood your Facebook timeline or be trending on Twitter, but it's for us. It's our way of saying to our entertainers, our youth, and the entire world that Black people matter, we are important, and we can hold our own. Take that.