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Amandla Stenberg: Don’t Cash Crop On My Cornrows
This entry was posted in Soul Brother Presents and tagged african american, Amandla Stenberg, black, commentary, life, message, race, racism, United States. Bookmark the permalink.
soulbrotherspeaks.com 
I saw this yesterday and thoroughly enjoyed it!
Hello. No doubt Mr. and Mrs. Stenberg are proud, intelligent loving people who carefully conspired to raise a mature, well spoken, talented, adorable young lady who loves and appreciates them for all their hard work guiding her toward becoming a peaceful, thoughtful person.
Listening to Amandla speaking about black culture got me thinking. Going back to my thoughts of the first black culture person I met in the early 60s after my dad returned from Korea, made me with mom, and opened a auto repair business with a black culture man who grew up a few miles away from him, but he did not meet until they were deployed by our military to repair heavy trucks and tanks in Korea.
Like my dad, Jesse married and had a couple of kids, Like my dad Jesse worked mostly six days a week and spent time with his family when he was not working.
As I matured my experiences with black culture people was listening to the music they made, There is not point naming black culture musicians, composers and performers who made beautiful music because back then they all produced great sounds…including the best voice ever, Mr. Nat King Cole.
Fast forward to the eighties when I used my basic HS education to gain employment with the NYPD which subsequently assigned me to Brooklyn Rap Hip Hop influenced community.
There I worked with black culture people, many who lived in the same community I provided police services to. The black culture people I worked with were no different from Jesse, my dad’s friend and business partner. They were trying to raise peaceful kids and prosper, just like many American families.
However, the moms I worked with who provided police administrative support services and maintained the building I worked out of, had added stresses my mom and dad did not face to any significant degree.
My black culture co-workers who lived in the Rap influenced community were stressed dealing with their neighbor’s children who were not being properly nurtured and supervised by their moms and/or dad’s.
In his 2015 Grammy award winning Rap Performance titled “I”, Kendrick Lamar writes, “I’ve been dealing with depression ever since an adolescent.”
For nearly a dozen years I tried to protect my black culture co-workers from countless depressed adolescents like Kendrick.
During the same time I witnessed the number one reason why children develop into teens, young adults and adults, who share their frustrations and anger resulting from depression, with their peaceful black culture neighbors and my peaceful black culture co-workers. Though the child abuse I witnessed on a grand scale is for another discussion.
This discussion is about ‘cultures’ which according to Merriam-Websters is defined as: the beliefs, customs, arts, etc., of a particular society, group, place, or time OR: a particular society that has its own beliefs, ways of life, art, etc.
Amandla speaks about black and rap hip hop cultures. What I am curious to know is why she believes Rap Hip Hop is a culture? Is Rock and Roll a American culture..or is it entertainment?
I remember being sixteen, still wet behind the ears, still unaware of many human ignorance’s and human hypocrisy. It was not until I began living life, witnessing hypocrisy and ignorance that I began to have a better understanding of people and how many will ignore truths in order to satisfy or expand their own agendas.
Amandla seems pretty sharp, I am sure as she matures and experiences our world she too will learn of human ignorance and hypocrisy.
For now, I would like to know exactly what is ‘black culture’ and how it differs from American culture?
The peaceful black culture people I worked with and hang out with seem to enjoy much of the same entertainment I enjoy, they also embraced many if not all the peaceful values I embrace.
What I am real curious to learn is how the black culture Amandla speaks about differs from mainstrean American culture that many black people I know embrace, enjoy and prosper within.
I am also curious to know if Amandla has ever read the lyrics to Shawn ‘JayZ’ Carter’s ‘Brooklyn’s Finest’ rap performance?
If she has, does Amandla believe the harmful anti-social activities Shawn (and many other rap composers) writes/raps about committing against his peaceful neighbors is fantasy, or if she believes Shawn actually engaged in the conduct he raps about, conduct that I personally witnessed cause fear, as well as emotional and physical pain to his peaceful neighbors?
#protect-kids-from-irresponsible-caregivers