-->My Black people always inventing their own names like Lakeisha and Labria; why not just Keisha or Bria? As if these latter names sound better. It’s less “ignorant” some people say to have the name Mary or John. Is it ignorance or is it creativity that brought Blacks to want their own names? It’s a basic human quality that shouldn’t be suppressed or belittled. The "n-word" stands for ignorant person so it's a shame that the "i-word" has lingered in its description of Blacks along with that "n-word".
There’s this idea that listening to and living with the hip hop music as a way of life or a religion is somehow devil worship and that the only way to praise God or the wonders of the world is to praise Jesus through Christianity. Don’t believe it. This idea that dancing to the rhythm of the music is somehow evil or wrong is just giving into the old White Puritan beliefs.
Music is what connects us all especially all our Black people together. I remember once seeing a future Black doctor at Duke University cruising in his car with the speaker’s blaring. He was “straight up gangster” and it was something that you could commonly see among blacks in an urban neighborhood.
It’s not ignorance that makes us rap and rhyme with the music. It’s the brilliance of Black teenagers and the creativity of Black children that established rap as an art form. All the words that are put into the urban dictionary are not a sign of ignorance, but a symbol of brilliance. We have created an entire dictionary of new words that have become very influential in mainstream America.
It’s the sign of brilliance that has been suppressed by our society. Just because you cannot get an A in physics doesn’t mean you are dumb; it means you are a different kind of smart. We are not dumb people, it is not ignorant to be in harmony with what feels natural and music is what keeps us in harmony with ourselves, with the world, with God, if you believe, and with our ancestors who fought for out right to live freely.
