“Acting Black” = Underachievement
I feel that understanding this attitude is important because many of them bring this same attitude into Islam and dress it with righteous vocabulary. If a black child is asking another one “why aren’t you acting black?” it is the same as asking “why aren’t you underachieving and acting ignorant?”. An entire culture of underachievement has been formed. Laziness becomes “zuhud”. Not having a job becomes “sacrifice”.
However, the article below states that even white kids are asking this question now of black children…They expect them to act like the one black, fast talking, underachieveing street-wise character who “acts black” (the polar opposite of the Magic Negro) in those movies that otherwise have a cast of straight laced white people.
Sam came home from the overnighter visibly crushed. He curled around his hurt as though he’d been punched in the gut, and he refused to say what had happened. My husband and I fought panic as all the horrible things that might happen to a 14-year-old away from home pounded through our brains. We cajoled and interrogated as he tried to disappear into the living room sofa, until finally, enough of the story emerged to reassure us that our oldest son hadn’t been physically injured. But his suffering was still real.
His friends had asked him why he didn’t act black.
My husband and I were dumbfounded. We had been challenged ourselves with variations on this same question 30 years ago. But back then, we were being teased by our African American peers, many of whom were growing up in communities where they saw little opportunity for success or achievement and where frustration took root early. Sam’s questioners were white suburban teenagers, living college-bound lives of comfort
[...]
“People think I should be able to rap or something,” he said. “Like they see in movies and crap.” Strong words from our almost silent son. “They want me to act like something I’m not.
Filed under: Children's Issues, Convert Issues, Posts of no Benefit
Yep, just like my step-children who think books, learning and libraries are “for whites”. Raising your hand to answer a question in class is the “white thing to do”. Oh, and I got this one the other day after being able to answer some obscure question, in detail. “Dad, you’re so white”. White, in this instances, equals intelligence.
So to young kids today, ignorance has become moniker of people of colour. Smartness, intelligence, wanting to learn, has become “whiteness”.
I cannot stand that and my wife and I scold the kids when they come up with this stuff, but they are getting it out there in society. We live in an upper middle class area, so this isnt ghetto ideas.
Infact I can extend this “ghetto” idea to societies everywhere in the world. Poor sections think only the rich can be intelligent and beautiful. There are so many examples. When stereotypes are set in society, and someone breaks the mould, its harder for other sections to unlearn their generalizations and biases.
Its sad, but it makes a person stronger most of the time.
Wow, I relate to this article on so many levels. As the child and now as a parent. I don’t think many people realize how difficult it is to fight this influence on our children. I can’t even trust Muslims to help me protect them from this negative influence. As my husband tells me often of how he has to reprimand Arab and Pakistani kids who say n***** or curse constantly when he plays basketball with them. It may seem cool and novel to them but the affects of this culture can be devastating to a young Black boy who tries to emulate it.
At the same time, I do worry about raising boys who are too “soft” for lack of a better word. I have learned to let my husband push them in sports while I push them in academics and Islamic studies. Insha Allah we can work this balancing act out.
Taken from the Washington Post comment section of this article:
“I really get tired of this idea that if only that evil Hip-Hop disappeared every Black person would have a well paying job with a huge house and two car garage and White people would love us. When was this magical time when racist and/or ignorant White people had a positive perception of us?”
By grap | Mar 18, 2007 9:42:40 AM | Request Removal
Exsactly!!
Many negative elements of Hip Hop have excerbated this culture of underachievement amongst AAs. It is not about others. Many Blackamerican children believe that they have to underachieve and act silly in order to “act black”
Yes, I was just reading those comments. And in re-reading the article I definitely see that some of this is the parents fault. These are things that should have been discussed/prepared for before you enroll your child in an all white environment., as far as race relations in America, cultural dynamics of African American community, etc. I do wonder if they really thought their son was just going to be accepted as white without incident. And I am sure that most of the kids in the school are respectful to him and he probably overall has a good experience there. But since they never brought these issues up with him before, this one incident is going to leave a strong impression.
I was thinking how this relates to Muslims as well, you can’t put a child in an all non-Muslim environment and then not give them the tools to navigate it. Which is why you see a lot of “schizophrenic” behavior in Muslim youth.
Um Abdullah
On the last paragraph of what you said, this is what I mean about teaching children about realities and not creating false images for them and letting them grow up in a bubble
Simple as we make it, this is a very difficult topic to deal with. You have to have kids to really appreciate how hard it is to strike that balance. I think we should just be honest with them
I have a love/hate thing with rap and hip-hop. More hate nowadays since I’m in my mid-thirties. Even though I still get misty thinking about the good ole’ days of hip-hop in the mid to late eighties (as I’m sure all purists do) when it was about the skill on the mic and the intricacies of the lyrics. Not to mention the strong social aspect of it during that time. Yeah I also listened to my share of the early gangsta’ stuff like Ice-T, NWA, Eazy E, Getoboys, etc. - they didn’t have a monopoly in that people like Eric B. and Rakim, PE, BDP, etc. also had a voice. There was a balance. Plus in those days, the gansta stuff was so cartoonish, no one really took Dre’ and those guys seriously.
That being said - my father hated it and levelled the same criticisms at rap then that most of us are saying now. Now, I do believe that since it has become a global, corporate, massed produced commodity - what used to be our own little nuances and in-jokes have been turned into caricatures and minstrel shows for mainstream comsumption. And that leaves African Americans, who for the most part don’t dress, act, or speak like Ludacris or Lil- John - to be seen as minstrels all around the globe who jump up and down and holler with no sense of dignity or conscience.
As-Salaamu ‘alaikum,
This phenomenon isn’t restricted to Black youth; in many schools, kids are ridiculed as “swots” or “boffs” (boffins) if they want to get on with their work and achieve something and as “snobs” if they don’t speak with a “working-class” accent (dropped H’s and T’s in the case of UK English). I went through much of my own school life listening to people mock me with an exaggerated posh accent, and in some towns there is something called “uni bashing”: kids who left school early with few (or no) qualifications attacking university students.
This behavior is not restricted to blacks but it hurts us the most and is epidemic in inner city schools. 76% of black males in Baltimore don’t graduate high school. 45% of the jails are filled with blacks, yet we are only like 12% of the population
We can try to dress it up all we want, and try to point out that this and that race have this and that problem as a way of deflecting from our problems, but we need to seriously clean house. And as Tariq mentioned, these problems are carrying over into the masjids!
Ludacris is doing great things for the youth. When you find time, check out the Ludacris Foundation http://www.theludacrisfoundation.org/programs.php . I don’t care for his music, but he has my utmost respect.
Umm Abdullah, many times parents move into other areas in an effort to protect their children from certain societal ills. I grew up in a predominately white environment and know what it’s like to hear things like “your different,” or “you don’t act black.” On the other hand, based on what I’ve seen and heard happening in the inner cities, I say they went with the lesser of two evils. Childhood is difficult anyway, had the boys been in a predominately black area, they would have faced other hardships – teased for being smart, not black enough (or you think you’re better than I) because of complexion or hair texture.
As a mother, I now understand why my folks protected us from the black community (and I am forever grateful to them). I for one do not want my children to grow up thinking it’s normal or acceptable for teenage girls to walk around with their bellies poked out, or a trip to jail is part of a black’s man journey in life. I don’t want them to think being black men, means being a thug or living off some female who has low self esteem, or not being married to your children’s mother. Paying child support is not equal to being a father. I don’t want my children embracing derogatory terms - N and B words.
I remember reading someone’s blog, the person said funerals were social gatherings - that’s abnormal and very disturbing to me. The first murder victim I know was a dear friend who was hit by a stray bullet last Friday in Lanham, MD; everyone else died of old age, with the exception of two of my brothers (one had a motorcycle accident and the other had an aneurysm. We just celebrated great grannies 100th birthday.
If we provide our children with the right tools - solid foundations, they will not stray regardless of the environment. We cannot shelter them from the harsh realities of this world or pretend the entire world is all white, black or Muslim. It’s like the little muslimahs I see in the masjid dressed like mini hookers, then mom and dad are looking STUPID when she hits puberty and suddenly can no longer wear miniskirts and tight pants – HELLO, pay attention folks mixed messages. My mother never dressed my sister or me in skimpy clothes, so I never got used to wearing them. At 34, married with 3 children, to this day there are certain things I cannot do because of foundation mom and dad laid (Islam only strengthened it).
We have schizo Muslims because most of us are living a lie. We act one way at the masjid and on message boards/forums and another when we are not around Muslims. It’s too hard to fake humility, piety, and modesty as most folks see right through it..
bint Will: I completely understand the parents intentions. I would probably do the same thing if I had the means and there were no really good Islamic school around. Yes teasing would occur in an all Black school. Basically you just have to instill good values in your children and that they have to be secure in who they are, period.
Anyway, I whole heartedly agree with your comments.
As-salaamu ‘alaykum bint Will, that was very powerful. My parents sought to raise us children from their culture’s deep malaise. So when Hip-hop became prevalent in our household, it disturbed them greatly. All my CD’s were entirely of Black emcees, whereas they had mostly material by Caucausian muscians. For years, I was severely scorned with contempt. My mother would yell, “We left [country of origin] for a reason. We wanted to get away from that crap.” In my adult years, I eventually cleansed myself of the negative influences I had absord as an impressionable youth. No more music, foul language, substance abuse, or criminal activity. Fortunately, I was never caught for my petty crimes. Young people today now laugh at me, because I’m a brown man who speaks fluent English and reads books. It seems that is very criminal, in the eyes of many young coloured people today.
The media-imposed definition of “black” behaviour probably makes this ore intense. There was- perhaps still is- a West Indian definition of being “black” which involved using the knowledge of your oppressors against them- C.L.R. James and Derek Walcott are good examples.
BintWill - I do see some other changes in Ludacris - he cut the ‘rows off and has started wearing grown-up suits for the most part. I guess it’s hard to keep “throwing them ‘bows” when you realize that you’re in your mid-thirties.
However, that’s the current dilema of Hip hop…how do you keep an industry alive that’s based on the perpetual adolescence of it’s artists. And if people imitate this, you end up with grown men (African Americans especially) acting and dressing like kids. I bet its hard (if you’re a rap star) to pretend that you’re still 19 when in reality you’re 37 with a wife and a few kids. But the industry (and the demand) forces them to continue to act like teenagers. That’s why a lot of them have to diversify as they age - clothing lines, acting, buying NBA teams, etc.
African American boys need strong examples of what it takes and what it means to be a man and sadly - a lot of the only images they get are from videos and artificial concepts of what “black” is. This too has found its way into African American Muslim culture in that a lot of the kids that have been and are still being produced in these pretentious multiple psuedo marriages have no REAL example of a strong independent, responsible man. To use Tariq’s word (exacerbated - I love that word) - our brothers’ skewed understanding of ’sunnah’ and ‘haqq’ combined with a romanticed fetish with all things 7th century Arab - have indeed exacerbated an already existing issue with AAs.
Rashad, you are right. Regarding Hip Hop, all I can do is shake my head, but give thumbs up to Lyfe Jennings for the S.E.X. (I posted it on my blog) song - very effective coming from a man. KRS-1 needs to stop writing books and pick up a mic LOL
African American children, let’s not forget about our girls, need strong and better examples to emulate. Many of these “mothers” are_____________________. Our young muslimahs should not be in miniskirts, tight clothing or heels! The only makeup they should be aware of is making up an exam.
Our teen girls shouldn’t be allowed over sister so and so’s house when she is not home, especially if she has a teen son – many pregnancies have occurred this way. Parents must learn to do their part instead of waiting on Safi Khan, Karim, Faizul, Johanri, Musa… to instill values and morals in their children. If mom is cursing, she’s a fool to tell little Leroy or Hakim to stop cursing. Really, he will not respect her because she will be untrustworthy in his eyes.
The best thing we (decent folks) can do is be a living example to the youth and nonMuslims. I get on the kids around my area when I see them out of line, as I do with the children at the masjid. Late last summer one little boy told me, “I’m not bad anymore.” LOL When non Muslims meet me, they learn Muslims are not perfect, but decent people contrary to popular belief. When non-Blacks meet me, they learn blacks are not perfect (and do keep their homes clean), but decent people contrary to popular belief. Our lifestyle is all we have to dispel the myths. Sadly, when Muslims meet most don’t like me because I don’t care who they are married to or where they are from or where they live. I don’t give nasty looks to sisters who’s heads aren’t covered or a string of hair is sticking out from the hijab. Alhumdulillah, one sister who never covered recently came to me at the masjd and told me thank you. I asked why, she said because I’ve always been kind to her and treated her well whenever she came around without a hijab on. Similar things have been told to me by the nonmuslim mothers of some of the children. It’s a shame many nonMuslims are turned off by islam due to the ugly character of Muslims. It’s sickening how many of our nonblack brothers and sisters jump on the bandwagon about blacks BECAUSE of what they’ve seen on TV, yet cry foul when the media does the same to them *FAINT*….I’ll end it here (for now)
This is an interesting topic Tariq. Because I have my own personal bone to pick about this type of stuff. Yes, I was accussed of acting white before but it never really phased me. I am on my way to becoming an academic and I am teaching courses at my university. On campus, I see Pakistani, Arab, Iranian girls in full hijab (some niquabi) attending classes praying together. I have seen one or two AA Muslimahs. I am sure there are some who don’t wear hijab. I have taught Pakistani students yet no AA Muslims. Where are they??
I don’t know but in this area (Philly area) there are a lot of niquabi sisters who are embracing the “I just need to stay at home” all day thing. Fine. I support the choice but I find it interesting that in a community that is still struggling to build institutions and to educate our youths so many sisters are opting to not only, drop out of high-school and college, but also “home school” their girl children more often than their boys. I say home school not to mock it, I know it can work; but only if you are really doing it! I know one bright girl who just was pulled out of school and now spends her days on the internet, watching t.v. and talking on the phone. To me I feel like it’s just taking a step backwards. Allahu Alam!
Salaam alaikum,
I think the whole dichotomy that developed happened with the break up of the Black community. There was a time when the black community had its share of professionals, artists, and intellectuals, as well as blue color workers, laborers, or farmers in rural areas.. For instance during the Harlem Renaissance, a Black Lawyer or professor living in Harlem was no less Black than the jazz musician or boxer. Today, where doesthe doctor, business man, store owner, school teacher live? They often leave the cities or the South in order to move into suburbia where their children struggle with their identity, where they may encounter racism, where they may have less exposure to Black culture. For the AA youth in both the inner city and in integrated areas there few AA role models. Our elites move to enclaves separate from their working class brothers and sisters. In Northern California, there is no Middle Class Black community. Educated and Professional AA sort of dissappear. With this disconnect, certain levels of success are linked to removing one’s self from the Black community. I am not saying that segregation is the answer. But integration has not helped the image of the Black community, nor a vibrant Black culture. We used to have vibrant communities that were self sufficient. But now people equate the Black community with pathologies. What is Black Culture if there aren’t Black communities to replicate it? Likewise in the past 14 years, I have seen the decline of some formerly vibrant and large AA Muslim communities.Sure a number of our learned brothers who study overseas come back with mannerisms and cultural borrowings of their host countries, but learning and travel should not make anyone any less Black. Is this reflective of the general state of things? Being a strong AA Muslim does not mean rejecting education and success. Anyways, I would love to know more about what you all think.
Kudos Margari,
I don’t need to write anything, lol.
Perhaps the true strength of this negative imagry can seen in the effect it has had on Hip-Hop as a movement. Whereas rappers once wrote about bettering their situations, social, consciousness, took pride in having an expansive vocabulary and son on as a means of distancing oneself from the street element. Some rappers of old even had college degrees - such as Guru. Now, and I say this as someone very far from the hip-hop scene, it seems the opposite with people talking about how many times they have been shot and so on. I remember an article entitled ‘They’re saying teks we’re saying technology’, by Reginald Jolley, that dicussed this phenomenom at length.
Salaam’Alaikum
Thank you brother Tariq for the article! As usual, you keep it real! : )
I apologize in advance if I’m a bit long winded in my response here.
I am deeply disappointed, and frusterated that this psychosis is still so prevalent in our community in the twenty first century. I am outraged and shocked that we as a community have allowed so many pathologies to remain active within our community.
As a Muslim, there is just no legitmate justification for remaining ignorance or practicing it. Unless your mentally ill and lacking serious life skills, I’m trying to figure out in my head right now, how you could continue to remain uneducated, and uncultured? The Qur’an it’s self REQUIRES Ilm- not just of Islamic science but of every science. It’s truly a shame becuase this attitude is carried over upon reversion to Islam amongst many AA brothers and sisters. Unfortunately, many were pandered to by that psychotic Salafi movement. It served to reaffirm their ignorance by reinforcing it with so called Islamic daleel.
I dealt this with this issue through my entire secondary public school education and when I first re-verted to Islam years ago. As a young child, I grew up in the Apostolic Pentocostal Church. Young girls were “trained” and I literally mean “trained” to be ladies. So I had a double whammy. Our Bishop taught us that we attract with our minds, and skills not with our looks and reproductive organs. Furthermore, our dress code was strict, and we all went about dressing like a school marms so were clearly distinguished from the rest of our public school pears. I remember the isolation, bullying, confusion, and emotional distress I went through as a direct result of such psychotic thinking in our community. I was in 8th grade and I was tired of being isolated. So I went from dressing like a school marm ( blouse, ankle skirt, and modest jewlery) to dressing like Brittney Spears. I went from being an Honorol student to deliberately getting C’s and D’s.
To conclude on a lighter note. My white American princpel called me into her office to ask me if anything was going on at home that I wanted to talk about or if I had been sexually harassed. She was trying to understand the extreme change in my behaviour. So I told her ” I want to be black” lol : ) My White princpel looked at me confused. She smiled. She than headed for the door and whispered ” You are black.” She brought back the Vice Principal who was AA and we all had a nice talk about what I was going through. I’m sure allot of the isolaiton was due to my former religous affilation but the whole acting white issue overshadwowed that.
Salaam Thanks again
[...] achievement gap separating black boys from just about everyone else springs from a powerful, anti-education culture rising in the black community, a local black think tank argues in a new [...]
i think this is a good article to post because a lot of black youth get this. at my school i see everyday people getting taunted and tommented by their friends about not acting black. in this time and age, “acting black” is considerd cool or slacking of or using foul language or inproper launguage also. so why do you think that this article is posted?