Crossing The Line

Most days, as I listen to my local radio station, I feel the responsibility of my generation. The full weight of a mere decade's worth of years seperation between the 30-25 year-old crowd and the 15-20 year-old generation, or as Whitney put it "our future". "Why," you may ask either quietly or out loud? Because we set the standard, then, in what is seeming to be the calling card of this generation, changed our fucking minds as to what is deemed "normal" or "acceptable" by society's norms. Case in point. About a month and a half ago, on a beautiful Sunday afternoon that normally would've had my kids and wife (emphasis on KID'S, here) in the car with me on our way to Sunday dinner (instead, I was leaving work), across the radio comes the commercial for, I swear on a stack of anything I hold holy, a BIG BOOTY White Girl contest at a local nightclub... I'll pause while you compose yourselves. Now, not only was this a contest to determine an opponent for the following week's winner of a Big Booty Sista contest (sigh), apparently my generation's definition of a big booty "white" girl, is ANY female that's not black... Asian, Hispanic, Indian (red dot AND feathers), any persuasion "other than" automatically gets lumped in under the "white" label.
My disappointment lies not only with our fascination with the celebrated posterior anamolies of white girls, but with how our generation will be remebered throughout history. We seem hell-bent on being the most sexually explicit, most promiscuous, least educated, least motivated, least politically aware generation THIS side of Jesus' birth and death. Now, though this may seem like a tirade directed squarely at my fellow Afro-turned-Americans, it's not. It's not COMPLETELY our fault, but damned if we aren't standing still watching this shit happen (a stance that will be discussed in a later blog). This is a collaborative effort FROM all races that needs to be addressed BY all races. The decline of standards is not due to hip-hop music, rock music, television or movies. The decline of standards is due to the lack of families behaving as families and NOT as individuals living under the same roof. The lack of standards are due to the acceptance of mediocrity within our school systems. None of these are racial or classist flaws, yet, we being a racist and classist society, these are seen as problems ONLY within urban demographic areas.
We crossed a line decades ago when we decided that the fate of this nation rested on the shoulders of the wealthy and disassociated minority. Now, I'm FAR from being a Karl Marx-supporter (I'm VERY pro-capitalist), but I do believe in the quote, "a country for the people, by the people." That's the dichotemy of being American, I guess.

I realize that the responsibility I feel as I listen to the radio, or catch myself stupefied by an episode of "Maury" (and get excited EVERY time I hear "You are NOT the father!"), is simply maturity finally catching up with me. With that reality check, I look back at my generation at 15-20 and see eerie similarities (2008 = Soulja Boy, 1998 = Freak Nasty... need I continue?) to the current crop of tomorrow's future. Though I bitch and moan now, much like my mother did when she didn't understand the bullshit that I fed my brain THEN, I must have faith that we will be of the same assistance that OUR elders were in guiding us on the path we're on (be it positive or negative). And pray that a "white" girl never beats a black girl in a "Big Booty Shake-off"...