Ok, in a friends only post in blackfolk, Bill Cosby's tired ass was discussed again, but I had a new idea, and I'd like to complain. Nothing annoys me more than the idea that the traditionally black person(who may in fact, omg, listen to rap! or wear baggy pants! or even shock and horrors, speak ebonics!) can't be successful or doesn't want to be as successful as us black people who speak 'standard' English, wear polo shirts, and like sappy white women singing about how their boyfriend is addicted to drugs, they went crazy and their dog ran away. I'd like to submit that that is bullshit.

There's no reason why a black person who 'acts black' can't study and stay in school. I mean, there's no stupidity potion that accrues to saggy pants that automatically makes you say "hey! I totally don't want to be a successful guy with a big house. I'd rather be shot at by a bunch of crazy dudes and end up in jail!" I mean, personally, what I found most helpful for my educational development wasn't not saying 'ain't' or 'I be going' but more class based niceties, as a mother that was able to teach me to read early, or the fact that I was able to have textbooks that weren't from 1986.

The truth of the matter is that a lot of the people talking about how people without the proper class markers are immoral or lazy or whatever are one generation off welfare themselves or one paycheck from being on the street. Not to mention, the fact is that even if you speak ebonics with your friends, you can still speak 'standard' if someone is going to be picky about it, and heck, my mom thinks my Emory booty shorts shock all decency, but when I'm going on a job interview, I keep them at home.

The idea that there are two types of black people- the 'good' type who have the proper class markers, and those bad n words, with their baggy jeans and rap does us all a disservice. It breeds the idea in people that merely having the right class markers is an achievement or makes one special. When the truth is that person who speaks 'correctly' but does not help others or work to make the world better is less special than one who speaks ebonics but helps better others every day.

Also, it breeds a divide between us who are secure in our black identities and those who are not. If you're secure, you can embrace a lot of different things, and still not give away what is most important, your roots and where you have come from. But if you're not, it's hard to embrace your roots, or understand why some see value in blackness.