I see I have some new followers. Welcome and thanks. If you don't know, this is the 'Keep It Real' section of the world wide web. LondonDiva has and always will be very opinionated. Some may get offended [so what], others like what I have to say.I've been a lil AWOL from blogging world [both reading and writing] as since being laid off I've been busy as hell. And the thought of sitting down other than to eat whilst sneaking in a few minutes of Sex & The City, on DVD just seems lazy to me right about now.
I've got the heavy grafting out of the way. Still busy, but haven't devoted much time to my movie pastime. I got a DVD this morning. A film called Cass [true story] from my DVD rental club. To sum it up it's about a Jamaican baby who was adopted by an English, elderly, white couple and he grows up in East London as a West Ham and notorious football hooligan.
So I'm there, Twittering away on the Blackberry and watching this film. And I thought let me switch on the computer and blog. This place [blogville] is my outlet and I need to get it out.
The film is on pause downstairs. Prison scene. A black man has entered prison in the 70's and I got to thinking....
I am not the one to come at with this whole bullshit excuse about black men and the system. Wanna know why from MY PERSPECTIVE. OK here goes.
Over, say the last 20 years. More so in the 90's and 00's if there is anything wrong with you in any capacity there is a name and a condition for it.
- You get depressed when the clocks go back, you can buy a clock which brightens up your room in the morning and say you suffer from a condition called S.A.D.
- Your ass is lazy in school. You got A.D.D.
- You throw up after meals, you're bulimic.
- You starve yourself, you're anorexic.
- You rob, steal, murder and rape. It's because you never had a father whilst growing up and your mother had to work two jobs.
Spare me the mother fucking drama.
Don't get it twisted. For some things I do believe there is a condition and people have it like the S.A.D. and A.D.D. amongst others. But not every lazy ass kid in school has A.D.D. and not every person who dislikes the winter months suffers from S.A.D. How about bright and summer months are preferred over dark and cold days? If I was still in school I think they would have given me the A.D.D. tag. Seriously. I never did homework and never revised for my GCSE exams. I even dropped out of college, because I skipped class to hang out and socialise. I left school passing my exams. I was clever still am, just lazy, didn't pay attention and had a short attention span. No condition. LondonDiva was a lazy student. PERIOD! All I knew was I wanted money and I wanted it now. Luckily I was never 'bad mind' to be a criminal. But I can see where the desire stems from.
When you read report after report after report you begin to believe all the BS these doctors and scientists are spouting, please go find a cure for AIDS and Cancer. If Hitler was alive and in full effect today, guess what? There would be a childhood reason PLUS condition for the way that he is that would excuse his behaviour or give us reason to somewhat sympathise and understand to a degree.
Tired of it!
I'm a Chris Rock fan. And in one of his shows he was referring to crazy people [namely criminals] and he said along the lines of "whatever happened to just plain old crazy?"
Yes Chris **applauds**. Whatever did happen to just plain old crazy? We gotta put a label on every damn thing. So much so I even tried to find out a name of a condition as to why I went to bed in the early hours of the morning and not like 10pm like most normal people. There is nothing wrong with my black ass. I just like going to bed when I feel like it. I got suckered into finding a condition for my own sleep pattern. Which was just that, a sleep pattern.
You know why I get so tired, so pissed off when my own black people want to start going off on the damn police all the time for GUILTY brothas being incarcerated? They are missing the damn point, that is why?
What is your black ass doing committing crimes to the point where you're gonna get caught, then stand there and talk about the police being racist? In 2009 are you that simple? And on top of that, people on the sidelines what are you getting so angry for at someone breaking the law and getting caught. That's supposed to happen, black, white, Latino or Asian. You do something illegal. There is a penalty for it. I'm not going to start sticking up for dumb folks because we share African lineage. *Shakes head* sorry, no.
Black folks here's a warning for those still on the basic levels of pure common sense. If you know the police are racist and always on a brothas ass, then don't do some dumb shit to give them reason to put you away. Even smoking weed in public. They will tear you up before the white boy in your crew. So don't get vex about it!
The 'I wish you would' syndrome. We black folks have it. I surely do. Remember Cedric The Entertainer talking about it in The Original Kings of Comedy?
Of course I think it's wrong for the typical pulling a brotha over because he's driving a nice ride earned with legit money. Or throwing him in a cell because 'he fits the description' and we all know they think we all look alike. Well guess what, to me white folks look alike too [especially blond white women]. So do Chinese, Koreans, Japanese and Indian folks. I don't know the bloody difference half the time. I can pretty much tell it with my people. I'm not saying I agree with it [the police], but I can understand [to a degree] with them looking the same to me also. And yes even some of my friends say a lot of white people look alike to them too, so it's not just me. And if we think it then other races think it too. So let's stop with the rubbish and feeling insulted by THEM thinking that WE all look the same, when we do it to each other.
I'm not backing the police 100% but I'm not hating them 100% either, because when you are in need your gonna be looking to dial 911 or 999 with a quickness, so I'm not quick to disparage that public service when I personally haven't been hard done by them....yet in 29 years. Some cops are straight FOUL, some are OK. That's the way I see it personally.
Anyway this isn't 100% blog about the police. It's about our actions as a people and why we do it.
There is a psychological explanation for every damn thing, isn't there? **Yawn**
Whatever happened to just plain old BAD MIND! [Jamaican term for simply put, bad on purpose].
Black folks are a minority IN CERTAIN COUNTRIES [white people make up 16% of the GLOBAL population. THINK ABOUT THAT WHEN YOU CALL US A MINORITY], but in the US [12-13% population] and UK [2% population] there is a high concentration of black males in the prison system.
Why?
Oh yeah, I forgot *smacks forehead* Police corruption. A majority [98%] are innocent. It's the man's plan to lock us all up. Tyrone and Dae Dae grew up without a father. The school system failed them. No one was around to show you how to 'ack' right. Mama had to work 12 jobs and you had to cook dinner for your little brothers after school when you were 7 years old.
*SCREAMS*
What happened to just being bad mind?
Don't get it twisted. For some things I do believe there is a condition and people have it like the S.A.D. and A.D.D. amongst others. But not every lazy ass kid in school has A.D.D. and not every person who dislikes the winter months suffers from S.A.D. How about bright and summer months are preferred over dark and cold days? If I was still in school I think they would have given me the A.D.D. tag. Seriously. I never did homework and never revised for my GCSE exams. I even dropped out of college, because I skipped class to hang out and socialise. I left school passing my exams. I was clever still am, just lazy, didn't pay attention and had a short attention span. No condition. LondonDiva was a lazy student. PERIOD! All I knew was I wanted money and I wanted it now. Luckily I was never 'bad mind' to be a criminal. But I can see where the desire stems from.
When you read report after report after report you begin to believe all the BS these doctors and scientists are spouting, please go find a cure for AIDS and Cancer. If Hitler was alive and in full effect today, guess what? There would be a childhood reason PLUS condition for the way that he is that would excuse his behaviour or give us reason to somewhat sympathise and understand to a degree.
Tired of it!
I'm a Chris Rock fan. And in one of his shows he was referring to crazy people [namely criminals] and he said along the lines of "whatever happened to just plain old crazy?"
Yes Chris **applauds**. Whatever did happen to just plain old crazy? We gotta put a label on every damn thing. So much so I even tried to find out a name of a condition as to why I went to bed in the early hours of the morning and not like 10pm like most normal people. There is nothing wrong with my black ass. I just like going to bed when I feel like it. I got suckered into finding a condition for my own sleep pattern. Which was just that, a sleep pattern.
You know why I get so tired, so pissed off when my own black people want to start going off on the damn police all the time for GUILTY brothas being incarcerated? They are missing the damn point, that is why?
What is your black ass doing committing crimes to the point where you're gonna get caught, then stand there and talk about the police being racist? In 2009 are you that simple? And on top of that, people on the sidelines what are you getting so angry for at someone breaking the law and getting caught. That's supposed to happen, black, white, Latino or Asian. You do something illegal. There is a penalty for it. I'm not going to start sticking up for dumb folks because we share African lineage. *Shakes head* sorry, no.
Black folks here's a warning for those still on the basic levels of pure common sense. If you know the police are racist and always on a brothas ass, then don't do some dumb shit to give them reason to put you away. Even smoking weed in public. They will tear you up before the white boy in your crew. So don't get vex about it!
The 'I wish you would' syndrome. We black folks have it. I surely do. Remember Cedric The Entertainer talking about it in The Original Kings of Comedy?
- Oh I wish you'd say something to make me go off on your ass.
- Oh I wish someone would be in my damn seat so I could go off on your ass.
- Oh I wish you'd just look at me in that way again so I could go off on your ass.
- Say something, just SO I CAN GO OFF ON YOUR ASS!
Of course I think it's wrong for the typical pulling a brotha over because he's driving a nice ride earned with legit money. Or throwing him in a cell because 'he fits the description' and we all know they think we all look alike. Well guess what, to me white folks look alike too [especially blond white women]. So do Chinese, Koreans, Japanese and Indian folks. I don't know the bloody difference half the time. I can pretty much tell it with my people. I'm not saying I agree with it [the police], but I can understand [to a degree] with them looking the same to me also. And yes even some of my friends say a lot of white people look alike to them too, so it's not just me. And if we think it then other races think it too. So let's stop with the rubbish and feeling insulted by THEM thinking that WE all look the same, when we do it to each other.
I'm not backing the police 100% but I'm not hating them 100% either, because when you are in need your gonna be looking to dial 911 or 999 with a quickness, so I'm not quick to disparage that public service when I personally haven't been hard done by them....yet in 29 years. Some cops are straight FOUL, some are OK. That's the way I see it personally.
Anyway this isn't 100% blog about the police. It's about our actions as a people and why we do it.
There is a psychological explanation for every damn thing, isn't there? **Yawn**
Whatever happened to just plain old BAD MIND! [Jamaican term for simply put, bad on purpose].
Black folks are a minority IN CERTAIN COUNTRIES [white people make up 16% of the GLOBAL population. THINK ABOUT THAT WHEN YOU CALL US A MINORITY], but in the US [12-13% population] and UK [2% population] there is a high concentration of black males in the prison system.
Why?
Oh yeah, I forgot *smacks forehead* Police corruption. A majority [98%] are innocent. It's the man's plan to lock us all up. Tyrone and Dae Dae grew up without a father. The school system failed them. No one was around to show you how to 'ack' right. Mama had to work 12 jobs and you had to cook dinner for your little brothers after school when you were 7 years old.
*SCREAMS*
What happened to just being bad mind?
- They wanted to steal. Rob.
- Kill the man because of the 'I
wish you would' type syndrome. - Rape the girl because she turned him down how many times before and would teach her a lesson.
- Steal the kids ipod because he wanted fast money for some new trainers so would sell it for cash.
- Sell drugs right next to me at the KFC bus stop because he wants fast money and school, exams and work 'ARE A LONG TING!'
- Acts BAD MIND because no one will fuck with him and being who he is and what he does will command respect and have people fear him.
- And just fight, because well....he wants to fight.
Please, like all kids/men act the way they do because daddy wasn't present. What about the criminals that have both parents present and are just as bad in their criminal activities? What's the excuse there because there is none, especially when folks want to get all psychological with their reasons for being a criminal in the first place. I know of someone both parents, no childhood trauma, did a 5 year stretch for armed robbery. I know of another fast and bad mind for money one in the midst of a drug deal that went bad and landed them inside. [I know of these people. They are not in my circle].
What about the TONS of girls who grew up without their fathers? I mean I get so angry [again] at this because they act like black males are the only ones abandoned at birth and are affected the greatest. I know too many black women [myself included] that have never laid eyes on their biological father, or were abandoned at some stage in their lives by him. Funny how a lot of these women still went on to date/marry black men considering their first experience with one was abandonment, yet 50% of UK brothas [yes 50%] date/marry, white/non-black and WERE RAISED, not abandoned, by black women. They [women] just got on with life period even through the absent father, child sex abuse, teen rape, boyfriends who beat them and miscarriages and made something of themselves.
I mean that dating/abandonment statistic/comparison shows a prime example of our past having nothing to do with what we do in the future and having little to no effect on our actions in later life. If it were logical then why aren't there 50% or more of black women dating white/non-black seeing as they were abandoned by a black man at birth, and about 95% of brothas dating/marrying black women as they were raised and influenced by one. Makes no sense because people do what they want to do. Some are attracted to certain people, others by certain lifestyles for no other reason than that and that alone. It's not always about 'textbook' cases.
I'm not even saying this to side with women [just because I am one] but I know more TRAGIC stories about little black girls to women than I do about the brothas and their childhoods. I look at these women and think "Wow, looking at you, you'd never know you've been through all of that and then some, and still made something of yourself." [side note: has every black woman been abused by a family member or something cause this seems to be the bloody norm in our community...that's a whole other blog right there]. I remember reading a thread on the forum I frequent at and the Off Topic discussion was about who had been a member of sexual abuse/rape? My heart bled and wept at the same time. There were a ton of them., it was like a Dr Phil online episode. And no these women didn't go on to be strippers or hookers either as a result. People you have NO IDEA sometimes what women have been through before they are even women and still go on to get those good grades, and strive for a great career.
I know black women are incarcerated too, but let's be real here, the stats have always been and shown it's an issue amongst the men in our community. Why are they using or blaming their upbringing as reason for incarceration where the women I know who have had it worse have made something of themselves. Black men [and this is one of my biggest pet peeves with you all] You do bloody yap on a lot about
"it being so hard for the black man."
Is this is a global mantra? A unified chant amongst the brothas? It's actually very annoying and any man I hear harp on along those lines I distance myself from pretty quickly. I don't need or want to be around people who see or use their race as a reason for not being ahead or where they want to be in life. We can no longer do this in 2009. And yes Obama is a reason. White House occupied by black folks. Black man with a wife who's 'ethnic make-up we didn't have to guess' and two beautiful black children he got the top job with by his side. He wasn't an educated corporate yuppie that when he got successful lost his mind and felt to get accepted needed to marry white, which happens a lot. So top job, with a Nubian family union and still made it. Folks saw the blackness the word over and were NOT intimidated, what's your excuse?
"They don't hire black people?" **blinks 1,000 times a minute** " 'scuse me? Oh I guess it's the 50% white side of Obama that got into office then."
STOP.IT.WITH.YOUR.RUBBISH. And in the words of Dizzie Rascal "Fix up. Look Sharp."
What about the brothas failed by their fathers, families and the school system. The brothas who have been pulled over umpteen times by the police and tired of the racial inequality and discrimination. Even the brothas victims of abuse themselves or witnessed their own mother being beaten. Why have these brothas made something of themselves, and continue to do so?
Kudos to everyone [not just black men] making something out of themselves, continuing to strive and just doing things the HONEST way.
There is no man sitting in a room, drumming up ideas in how to 'bring us down' SO BLACK PEOPLE STOP THE MADNESS and get over yourselves if you really buy into this BS. White people don't care about us enough to sit there scheming about bringing us down in the millions when we know making money is their #1 priority. We are not that important to them. And if the Crack Cocaine Conspiracy were true [it either was or it wasn't] who the hell told us to jump and go sell it or smoke it? If it wasn't crack, those that were screwed up enough to either sell it or smoke it would have found another A List substance to go sell, smoke or inject into the community WITHOUT the CIA's help. Aren't we still selling drugs to our own and smoking it too? Is the CIA STILL to blame? I thought we were a stronger people than that. Funny how we want a scapegoat for our problems but when we are striving black folks did it by themselves.
If you buy into it [the man wanting to bring us down], well TRUST, you deserve to be brought down by the man. You have time to even care. DO YOU! Get a grip and look around there are mainstream media successes as well as behind the scenes, activists, leaders, doctors, lawyers, teachers, ministers, professors, parents. HOLDING DOWN WHO? I've never felt I was plotted against or being held down. Never! And even if I was they didn't lock the shackles tight enough around these wrists and ankles. I do however believe there are those [non-blacks] that don't understand/get us and don't necessarily believe in our great capabilities, and I think at times that is what we are getting misconstrued. Oh I've had a white woman in an investment bank working environment read something to me following her finger along the words like I'm reading Billy Blue Hat in school aged 4. Seriously people there are some non-black folks out there surprised we can read and write to a 10 year old standard. These are the folks that bring out the 'I wish you would' in me.
Seriously NOT every brotha in the system is there because of some deep rooted psychological problem or social issue.
What ever happened to some of them being simply bad mind?
None of these three were born with silver spoons in their mouths. They did work hard enough to go buy a few at Tiffany's though. Oprah's childhood was awful. What is her excuse for being so bloody successful and rich? When I look at hard grafters who never had it good nor easy it makes me less sympathetic to those that use their past as an excuse for their pathetic future.
What about the TONS of girls who grew up without their fathers? I mean I get so angry [again] at this because they act like black males are the only ones abandoned at birth and are affected the greatest. I know too many black women [myself included] that have never laid eyes on their biological father, or were abandoned at some stage in their lives by him. Funny how a lot of these women still went on to date/marry black men considering their first experience with one was abandonment, yet 50% of UK brothas [yes 50%] date/marry, white/non-black and WERE RAISED, not abandoned, by black women. They [women] just got on with life period even through the absent father, child sex abuse, teen rape, boyfriends who beat them and miscarriages and made something of themselves.
I mean that dating/abandonment statistic/comparison shows a prime example of our past having nothing to do with what we do in the future and having little to no effect on our actions in later life. If it were logical then why aren't there 50% or more of black women dating white/non-black seeing as they were abandoned by a black man at birth, and about 95% of brothas dating/marrying black women as they were raised and influenced by one. Makes no sense because people do what they want to do. Some are attracted to certain people, others by certain lifestyles for no other reason than that and that alone. It's not always about 'textbook' cases.
I'm not even saying this to side with women [just because I am one] but I know more TRAGIC stories about little black girls to women than I do about the brothas and their childhoods. I look at these women and think "Wow, looking at you, you'd never know you've been through all of that and then some, and still made something of yourself." [side note: has every black woman been abused by a family member or something cause this seems to be the bloody norm in our community...that's a whole other blog right there]. I remember reading a thread on the forum I frequent at and the Off Topic discussion was about who had been a member of sexual abuse/rape? My heart bled and wept at the same time. There were a ton of them., it was like a Dr Phil online episode. And no these women didn't go on to be strippers or hookers either as a result. People you have NO IDEA sometimes what women have been through before they are even women and still go on to get those good grades, and strive for a great career.
I know black women are incarcerated too, but let's be real here, the stats have always been and shown it's an issue amongst the men in our community. Why are they using or blaming their upbringing as reason for incarceration where the women I know who have had it worse have made something of themselves. Black men [and this is one of my biggest pet peeves with you all] You do bloody yap on a lot about"it being so hard for the black man."
Is this is a global mantra? A unified chant amongst the brothas? It's actually very annoying and any man I hear harp on along those lines I distance myself from pretty quickly. I don't need or want to be around people who see or use their race as a reason for not being ahead or where they want to be in life. We can no longer do this in 2009. And yes Obama is a reason. White House occupied by black folks. Black man with a wife who's 'ethnic make-up we didn't have to guess' and two beautiful black children he got the top job with by his side. He wasn't an educated corporate yuppie that when he got successful lost his mind and felt to get accepted needed to marry white, which happens a lot. So top job, with a Nubian family union and still made it. Folks saw the blackness the word over and were NOT intimidated, what's your excuse?
"They don't hire black people?" **blinks 1,000 times a minute** " 'scuse me? Oh I guess it's the 50% white side of Obama that got into office then."
STOP.IT.WITH.YOUR.RUBBISH. And in the words of Dizzie Rascal "Fix up. Look Sharp."
What about the brothas failed by their fathers, families and the school system. The brothas who have been pulled over umpteen times by the police and tired of the racial inequality and discrimination. Even the brothas victims of abuse themselves or witnessed their own mother being beaten. Why have these brothas made something of themselves, and continue to do so?
Kudos to everyone [not just black men] making something out of themselves, continuing to strive and just doing things the HONEST way.
There is no man sitting in a room, drumming up ideas in how to 'bring us down' SO BLACK PEOPLE STOP THE MADNESS and get over yourselves if you really buy into this BS. White people don't care about us enough to sit there scheming about bringing us down in the millions when we know making money is their #1 priority. We are not that important to them. And if the Crack Cocaine Conspiracy were true [it either was or it wasn't] who the hell told us to jump and go sell it or smoke it? If it wasn't crack, those that were screwed up enough to either sell it or smoke it would have found another A List substance to go sell, smoke or inject into the community WITHOUT the CIA's help. Aren't we still selling drugs to our own and smoking it too? Is the CIA STILL to blame? I thought we were a stronger people than that. Funny how we want a scapegoat for our problems but when we are striving black folks did it by themselves.
If you buy into it [the man wanting to bring us down], well TRUST, you deserve to be brought down by the man. You have time to even care. DO YOU! Get a grip and look around there are mainstream media successes as well as behind the scenes, activists, leaders, doctors, lawyers, teachers, ministers, professors, parents. HOLDING DOWN WHO? I've never felt I was plotted against or being held down. Never! And even if I was they didn't lock the shackles tight enough around these wrists and ankles. I do however believe there are those [non-blacks] that don't understand/get us and don't necessarily believe in our great capabilities, and I think at times that is what we are getting misconstrued. Oh I've had a white woman in an investment bank working environment read something to me following her finger along the words like I'm reading Billy Blue Hat in school aged 4. Seriously people there are some non-black folks out there surprised we can read and write to a 10 year old standard. These are the folks that bring out the 'I wish you would' in me.
Seriously NOT every brotha in the system is there because of some deep rooted psychological problem or social issue.
What ever happened to some of them being simply bad mind?
None of these three were born with silver spoons in their mouths. They did work hard enough to go buy a few at Tiffany's though. Oprah's childhood was awful. What is her excuse for being so bloody successful and rich? When I look at hard grafters who never had it good nor easy it makes me less sympathetic to those that use their past as an excuse for their pathetic future.
Now LDN Diva you know I love your realness and I think you appreciate realness fed back to you. On that note, I don't agree with you a 100% on this blog but certainly do see your point 100%. This is mainly because I studied law/criminology, then worked in the legal field and have seen/worked with people with these stories. There are SOME not all whose backgrounds just messed them up. Closed chapter, no other way to go than the criminal route. I don't excuse them but it makes my perspective different.
ReplyDeleteThen I see that there are some people who are just plain criminals. Doesn't matter whether their father left them or what. Plain criminals. But its because these are people who I say are weak in the spirit and let their situations define them and drown them. They chose to become criminals. People who I would classify weak in spirit? Every damn rapper/star from a poor background who manages to get arrested or involved in illegal stuff when they have pushed themselves out of a bad situation. People like Chris Brown, T.I,Plaxico Burres, Ja Rule, Snoop because at the end of the day those people have a few things Deshawn down the block doesn't have...means to break the cycle and access to help. Now Deshawn's ass is not off the hook either the number of times I have read about guys of his ilk participating in a criminal lifestyle from a young age and continuing well up into and over their 40's still doing the same criminal stuff simply bcoz daddy left them let their situations overwhelm them. Thats why I initially got into the legal field (I have now left it though because I got tired...your efforts in the cycle of crime is like putting your hand in a bucket of water. When you take your hand out, it ripples for a bit and then goes back to normal like your hand was never there)
So I don't think its plain crazy, its plain weakness in spirit, allowing a person or situation to overwhelm you. Like I say its harder to fight to survive than give in and live. People don't take the hard route, its easy to say its because I'm black and not do jack. I grew up in Australia in the early 80's...do that for tough. Chased from school every day, stereotypes about black people, racism every where I turned. Damn 6yrs old and I said stuff that can't speak the damn language I will read it and overtake these cocky white fools. To this day I read and write like life depends on it. Then when I hear some ignorant black person walking around speaking and acting like the stereotype....oooh girl hold me the FCUK back. How are you going to come as a refugee, act gangster, receive benefits and laugh at people going to school...then claim racism? Some people don't have what I think you have which is a ton of the strength in you that tells you stuff it, I'm fighting to survive. That's what I love about Barack's success, he had all stats against him. Father abandoned him, mother remarries, travels everywhere, half black/half white...he's a brother with so many issues but he said stuff that I'm fighting to survive not giving in to just live.
Dang sorry for the long ass comment!
ReplyDeleteOMG LOL iLOve Chris Rock too lol he is too damn funny and iLove opinionated people so yes iLove your blog lol
ReplyDeletehow do i follow this blog on my blog cuz i dont want to add it to my google homepage pls??
ReplyDelete@K, do not worry about the long comment. I appreciate ALL feedback whether you agree with me or not, or 1 line compared to a thesis. It's all good! *smile*
ReplyDeleteJust finished watching that true life story Cass, and before the credits rolled was thinking about my response to your comment, and the last scene of the movie portrayed my point below about choices. Man had shot Cass 3 times, he survived, and since then has been threatening to end his life. Cass and his boys turn up at a pub, put gun to the man's forehead who has been threatening to end his life. His mates egg him on to do it. He gives the gun to his friend and walks out the pub back to his wife and kids. Of course most people would have pulled the trigger. Easy outcome. You don't have to watch your back any longer and can live in some kind of peace. Or difficult outcome. Walk away, never knowing if when you least expect it, that man will take him out at any given moment, and living the rest of your days looking over your shoulder waiting for it to happen.
I personally believe that there is never just one path in EVERY situation. There are two or maybe even more, but there are at least two. You either do or you don't. Irrespective of the situation or your circumstances. You always have a choice in which path you take in life and every dilema and circumstance. So to me a ciminal who had it so tough and so hard, crime was not the only way he HAD to go in order to make his situation better. I may be going off tangent here, but work with me. I've said it time and time again. If things got THAT BAD I'd never be a prostitue and sell my body. I say "as long as there is dirt in the world I will be a cleaner before I become a hooker." We have choices, no one has to prostitue themselves [not the ones with a serious drug habit anyway who couldn't earn money cleaning as they are so strung out and pretty much unemplyable] or writhe around a pole. We make choices for particular reasons and these days it stems down to doing wrong for the love of it and fast money/wealth. If that be true [about only having one option in their lives], then what about the same young teen who had the same upbringing, felt the same way about his situation and decided to take the other path and become someone and a success. It happens. And as long as it does I cannot 100% hand on heart believe that they only had one option at that point in their lives to go that route. And yes I do understand about circumstances like gangs and being killed if they leave etc. It's hard in a LOT of situations, not impossible.
I don't do the sympathy thing very well [if you haven't noticed already] *smile* It's very easy as a society to instantly do that sympathetic head tilt and go awww poor them. Me? **shakes head** I like to think about certain situations in depth before I hand out the sympathy card.
Granted, sayng that I do understand the reasons why backgrounds have shaped an individuals path in life and some have fallen victim to it and other choose to be survivors and not let it stop them. People are shapped differently and have different spirits, like you said. My main purpose of the blog was about me getting so sick and tired especially with pretty much all black men in the prison system that there is a reason/name/condition as to why they are there [mainly absent fathers or the police on a mission to lock up every black man **yawn**] and from what I've seen and experienced a lot of them are just simply bad mind and we need to stop always coming up with a quote from Dr so and so to excuse Tyrone's behaviour.
@Lipstick Jungle. Thanks for the blog love.
ReplyDeletecopy my blog address http://londondiva.blogspot.com/
Go to your dashboard, and in the bottom left go to add and paste it in the URL. Click next and choose to follow publicly or anonymously.
I love your blog by the way. Saw the Nike's and Louboutins and knew I was in trouble.
Ok, maybe its coz of where m from, how I was raised that I really don't sympathise or empathise by those who say 'the system' failed them or their mama held down 4 jobs or their daddy wasn't around or they have ADD or whateva else disease there is...I was in boarding school from the age of 8 so really mama n papa werent around where they??? I found it really cool to be in boarding school BTW, loved it, and it taught me independence..the option of saying 'I don't want to go school anymore' never crossed my mind, and heck it was an unwritten/unsaid rule in my home that you'd go to school, finish school, (pass both GCEs and A levels) and go to uni...unwritten and followed!
ReplyDeleteAnd back home, its unwritten in most homes, there's no excuse for laziness, but somehow i feel the Western World has a disease for everything and excuses for murderers or rapist...
I was watching the Holloway prison programme the other day n I thought to myself 'Why wouldn't they always come back to prison if its such bliss!'...coz tht's no prison its like a cheap retreat or somthing!!Folks get pampered, talking about 'She's just angry inside, she just needs to be understood'...say what?and she nearly burns the prison because she needs to be flipping UNDERSTOOD wtflack....
And as for black folks who say the system...it angers me, I just don't get it..
Girl, I don't know if m making any sense @ all...
I wish you would... Inspired.
ReplyDelete@Shona you made sense. I got what you were saying.
ReplyDelete