Who Am I?

Create a playlist at MixPod.com

Well it just dawned on me that I've been posting a blog without giving a glimpse into who I am or why I've chosen to name my blog what I have. Shyne began his debut self-titled album in 2000 with an Intro he named "Dear America." In the intro he gives an insight to the common plight of the most inner-city African-American males as he states;

"Dear America,
I'm only what you made me, young, black, and fuckin' crazy
Please save me
I'm dyin' inside, can't you see it in my eyes?
I'm hopeless, and fearless on the outside, gun on my side
Shit, Maby if yall niggas build schools instead of prison,
maybe I'll stop livin' the way I'm livin', probably not.
I'm so used to servin' rocks and burnin' blocks, I ain't never gonna stop.
Been doin' this shit all my life, I'm a lost cause,
And what about the rest? Don't them suckers deserve a chance? Somethin'
better then shoot-outs, liquor stores and food stamps? Maybe if y'all teach
them niggas a craft an' a trade, they wouldn't have to play that corner, know what I mean?
Servin' that yay. America, you got a fuckin' problem, an I ain't never goin' away
There's about 20 million other mutha fuckers just like me,
reparations is due, y'all gonna pay"

So I chose to give my blog the title "Young, Black, and Krazy" because I truly am a product of my environment. I'm not talking about the Lower 9th Ward of New Orleans, its much bigger than that, but then again, I don't mean the world because that's a little too big. I'm talking about the United States of America. The reason why I feel the way I do in terms of issues that affect little old New Orleans and the Earth are all embedded in my head because of what I have experienced in America. From being a little bit too hood for corporate and white America to being slightly too educated to be considered hood, I have yet to really find where I belong. I know what it means to be hopeless and fearless at the same time and yet America calls me crazy because my passion for the uplifting of my people is misunderstood as anger, and some of my ideals aren't readily accepted when they come from a 25yr old black man who has two degrees.

They say that America uses statistics in order to determine where the nation's budget is best spent. And with the incarceration rates among African-American males on the rise who can blame the country for putting more money into correctional facilities than institutions for the primary, secondary, and higher education for the only ethnic group who was brough to this "great" nation against their will, and had a 400 yr handicap against their development. But even if the nation chose to invest in the future of the black race, its another thing to get these kids to school. Its almost imbedded in our minds that the American dream wasn't meant to be shown when we are aslssp so the way that most of us have been reared as that "lost cause." Too afraid to pursue an education for fear of being educated, with a nice resume, and unemployed (a feeling I know all too well). So are they crazy for pursuing the easy money? Not entirely. Lyfe Jennings expresses a similar sentiment in "Stick Up Kid," the song that's at the top of this post...I hope you pressed play.

But what about the rest? Maybe if they teach them a craft or a trade, they'll be educated enough to find work, but not accepted enough to be the threat that America desires not to see us become. But the thing about this is that the vast majority of us feel the closing of this peice. We aint going away and we all fell that a part of America is entitled to us. In the end reparations have been due for the longest and all though we may not want or expect the same form of payment, America, when we come to collect, you'll have one helluva debt!