impatienceprojectbpl

[impatienceprojectbpl]

Welcome!

This project examines instances of Black mogul’s rhetorical impatience in regards to harming each other in our community and perpetuating the same hate that we experience from our oppressors.

Here is a blog with songs, shows, analysis and resources to expand your mind and grow. 

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Thesis.

It has been argued that to maintain this system of racial oppression, there has to be a psychological element that is self-perpetuating and internalized by the oppressed group. Once racial oppression is accepted and internalized, the need to enforce this system of oppression by the White majority is eliminated because the oppressed group will impose the oppression upon themselves(“Apa PsycNet” ).

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I have combined the impatience of Ari Lennox and Issa Rae on representation and self-love in the Black community with Jay Z and Kendrick’s impatience with colorism and self-hate in the Black community with Meek Mill’s impatience with self-hate and violence in the Black community and tied it under the influence of Malcolm X’s “Who Taught You To Hate Yourself?” - much is to be discussed. 

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- MUST READ - 

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Not exclusive to Black women - Self-Love is the first and most powerful tool to loving others. 

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STREAM BLACK ARTISTS!

Courtney Shanade Salter, known professionally as Ari Lennox, is an American R&B singer from Washington, D.C. - She uses her platform to promote Black women in a beautiful light. Self-love and Shea Butter is her MO. 

Ari Lennox’s impatience lies within representation, she often talks about yearning for better and more representation of Black, dark-skinned women in the media. Ari Lennox does an amazing job at this in her overall persona and song “Shea-Butter Baby.” Ari uses her platform to glamorize Black people and empowers Black women like herself. "Shea Butter Baby" represents not only dark-skinned women but naturals as well. Hair is a very touch topic in the Black community, and just like Issa Rae, Lennox makes it her goal to change the narrative that natural hair isn’t sexy. Lennox displays confidence in this song as well as her album cover, this is so important and she’s inspired others to love themselves whole regardless of how they choose to represent themselves.

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Issa Rae is an actress and producer who has built her career around the issue of misrepresentation that contributes to self-hate in our community. Her career is centered around proper Black media portrayal and emphasizing that the Black identity is multilayered. 

Her show, “Insecure” is what Issa references as an “awkward show” that showcases the experiences of a modern-day Black woman. In an interview with Cosmopolitan, Issa talks about the power within showcasing Black women’s vulnerability and embracing softness. Issa often mentions the importance of showing the “full picture” with representation because this helps to extinguish tropes. In addition, she doesn’t work with casts and crews that aren’t diverse and the lead women of her show are dark-skinned, her goal is to make women like herself desirable.

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A great movie while we’re on the topic of ISSA RAE and representation. 

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ISSA RAE: Spotlight

Jo-Issa Rae Diop, credited professionally as Issa Rae, is an American actress, writer, and producer. Rae first garnered attention for her work on the YouTube web series Awkward Black Girl. 

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For a refreshing form of media representation: Check out the trailer for the hit show, INSECURE!

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In lieu of colorism and featurism :)

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Educate yourself! 

Featurism is the preferential treatment of people with features that are closer to eurocentric standards of beauty.

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Lines to pay attention to + Lines explained

“Let the Willie Lynch theory reverse a million times with…”

This mentioning of Willie/William Lynch refers to the slave master who advised other slave masters to divide their slaves according to skin color. The lighter slaves became house slaves and were assigned "easier" work, whereas the darker slaves were assigned to work in the fields. Slavery was the root of the divide amongst Black people via skin tones and started the negative connotation of darker-skinned people. In modern-day society, this is lived by the #lightskin vs #darkskin rivalry on social media. Darker-skinned people of color are perceived to be less attractive, masculine, and undesirable than their lighter-skinned counterparts. Dark skin is associated with being substandard, and by including this Kendrick is bringing attention to this in hopes of shifting the thinking that allows this to continue.

“Dark as the midnight hour, I'm bright as the morning sun.”

Kendrick views himself as dark as the midnight hour, but the “bright as the morning sun” quote is referring to his intelligence. This is specifically important to anyone who feels inadequate because of their skin color. This is especially important for anyone who feels insecure about their skin color. Colorism frequently elicits beauty-related insecurities, but it can also cause self-esteem issues in other areas. Colorism's racist roots stem from the belief that white people and their white skin are superior. The more closely you look at white people, the more preferred you are. It's not just your fair skin that gives you this advantage; it's any feature that contributes to society's perception of "beauty."

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To Pimp A Butterfly, Kendrick Lamar's debut album was released in 2015, and it promotes black pride, self-love, and resistance against everything that doesn’t align with that. This album in particular touched on a wide range of issues affecting the black community, from institutionalized racism to police violence. The authenticity of this album and all of Kendrick's work is why he is idealized and played during protests and spoken about during social justice movements. Colorism is mentioned in his song Complexion (a Zulu Love) ft. Rhapsody. Colorism is a symptom of racism that is an issue presenting itself within the black community for quite some time; it is a prejudice against skin tones that keeps darker-skinned people feeling inferior.

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The question posed in the title, “Who Taught us to Hate Each Other?” is also meant to address the way we operate as a culture. We as a collective do not move in love, in addition to self-hate, we hate each other to the degree that we scorn at others' success and even kill one another.

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This database lists the names of everyone killed by another person in the city of Chicago. It’s compiled from Chicago Sun-Times reporting and information from law enforcement agencies and the Cook County medical examiner’s office and updated every day. - 

Side Note: Not all of these people were killed by Black people, but a large majority is. I wanted to put this here to emphasize the urgency of the issue of killing each other. 

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 A mogul that has lived this experience and often brings attention to loving more is Meek Mill, specifically in his song “Young Black America.” The line that his home for many follows: “Young niggas killing young niggas, shit is like the Klan I said.” This line is powerful because despite the oppressive system young Black people have to operate under, and despite the inequality of resources, there is no valid excuse for why we kill each other at such high rates. The reference to the Klan shows impatience, this is a live experience of Meek Mill and he’s grown frustrated with the senseless killings in his home of Philly and beyond. Many people pose the concern of gaining respect from other groups when we cannot respect one another, although this can be controversial, there is some truth to this. In addition to police killings, we’re killing off one another.