upper-middle class neighborhood. I was listening to a local news and talk radio station. Then something beside me caught my eye.
It was a group of four young black kids. Boys, all around 15 or 16. They were talking to each other, but they were yelling. I must have heard 2 or 3 "niggas" just as many "mother fuckers" and at least one "punk ass bitch." These kids were in full thug regalia, extra baggy pants, North Face coats, jerseys, wild-ass hairstyles and untied Timberland boots. And, they all had the same limp / bop walk as if anyone near them had better get out of their way. They walked past two black girls a little older than them and tried to get some squeeze hugs and ass rubs. For the most part it worked and when the girls walked away, one of the boys patted his chest and hollered at them, "Thug love, baby! Thug love!"
There was a time when being a thug was what no sensible person wanted to be. Actually, that time is still here - but for a large number of our young black men, who are still lost in a lack of positive self identity, they chose to be called 'THUGS.' And so not to have a title without a reputation behind it, there has developed an unspoken rule that THUGS must be vulgar, foul mouthed, violent, threatening, pathetic, horny, gun toting fools that travel in posses. It amazes me that such a negative mystic is embraced by so many young black men. Now, I know not all young black males that sport the braids and twists and throwback jerseys and Timbs are thugs - and thank god for that. But there is an enormous number that are. They talk loud and disrespectful and just do nothing to present their race in a positive light.
I have to try and find a way to bring a positive self identity to my young black brothers and sisters! Right now, so many are just wandering through the jungle that is life in modern America. They know nothing of where they come from and nothing of where they are going. They need a positive self image to wash away the 'thugs' and 'baby-mama's.'
TTBM
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