The prominent sign behind the front desk of the high school read: “No caps allowed.” As I read the bright red sign with a picture of a baseball cap masked by a large X, I noticed several teenage boys walking by with their pants sagging to their thighs, exposing their buttocks. I asked to speak with an administrator about it, but he never came out of his office. I mentioned my disapproval to the school counselor and she laughed.
The school administrator and counselor represent the attitude of so many African Americans. We don’t always take our social perception seriously. Ironically, though, we want other people to respect us and take us seriously. Sometimes people of other races try to establish a greater code of respect for us than we demand of ourselves. Dr. Alan Gribben, co-founder of the Mark Twain Circle of America, is introducing a new edition of Huckleberry Finn that replaces the N-word with the word “slave.” Dr. Gribben, who happens to be Caucasian, wanted to remove what he calls a “debasing label” and an “indefensible slur.” Meanwhile, many African Americans, including me at times, use the N-word in jest to identify someone we know or to describe someone who fits a stereotype.
A minstrel show was a popular 19th century American stage show consisting of comic skits, dancing, and music performed by Caucasian males with their faces painted black. The shows perpetuated racial stereotypes, depicting African Americans as ignorant, lazy, buffoonish and superstitious. By the 20th century, black performers started their own minstrel troupes. It seems that our history is laden with examples of African Americans adopting, refining and ultimately creating their own debasing behavior.
When the N-word becomes a term of endearment, our most pervasive fashion statement is sagging pants, and our mainstream music is about money, cars, the club, and hoes, we have to wonder if other people are really taking us seriously. It’s no wonder that some African American professionals try to distance themselves from all things “hood.”
Now that sagging pants have been criminalized in cities throughout the country, will it cure our desensitization to it and other debasing habits? It hasn’t thus far. I think the only time we consider our social perception is when one of our own, such as Bill Cosby, revolts or someone from the outside, such as Dr. Laura Schlessinger, comments about it. We then go into attack or defensive mode to preserve our right to denigrate ourselves.–annette johnson
Annette Johnson is the owner of Allwrite Advertising and Publishing (www.e-allwrite.com), and the author of “What’s Your Motivation?: Identifying and Understanding What Drives You.” She is the host of Allwrite Radio at www.blogtalkradio.com/allwrite.
