Do you guys remember those crack babies of the 1980s we heard so much about back then. You know, that new subhuman species of black folks born into addiction to cocaine, and destined to be the scourge and destruction of society as we know it? Yep, remember them now?

They even became a running joke!

Have you ever wonder what happened to them? Surely you have because obviously everything wrong in society or the black community can be attributed to their existence, right? As destructive as crack was to the black community in the 1980s, one can only imagine just how they’re all grown and running wild, right?

Now consider this for a second: Nobody ever talks about crack as a “problem” anymore. Yep, Nino Brown is dead, and I’m pretty sure the infamous “Carter Houses” now exist in a high-rent district as a result of urban gentrification. But today the scourge of the day is meth, but yet we never hear about “meth babies”, do we?

In a New York Times piece titled “The Epidemic That Wasn’t,” it was revealed by researchers who followed prenatal exposure to cocaine that, “the long-term effects of such exposure on children’s brain development and behavior appear relatively small” and are “less severe than those of alcohol and are comparable to those of tobacco.”

So how did this narrative exist as reality? Well, for starters, we now know through research that the “crack baby” meme of the 1980s. was nothing more than a media driven myth. Yes, crack was a “black thing”; and obviously since white America fixates on anything negative about the black community, it’s easy to see how the media stepped up to further polarize the country by creating the hype of the crack baby, while pursuing a nefarious and egregious war on drugs.

No such thing is being said about children born to meth addicts. I mean why would they when the addiction to meth isn’t associated with poor black folks in urban communities. Never mind that meth is more addictive than crack cocaine. The fact that it’s not one of those “black folks problem,” made the babies off limits. And who owns and operates these media outlets? Well it damn sure isn’t Halle Berry’s son “Isaiah” raised by white folks.

You see, we as minorities have long existed in a precarious position. That would be, we have never been in positions where we were able to control the media driven narratives of ourselves while we struggle with how we are perceived by the dominant culture. Which I guess is as evident by the disgust expressed by most black bloggers in relation to CNN’s recent Black In America III offering. But yet and still, many of us buy into those media narratives hook, line, and sinker. Yep, internalized oppression is a bitch, folks.

So here we are today where an Illinois  Republican Tea Party candidate, Al Reynolds, actually believes that the black men in his community at least, prefer dealing or doing drugs and having babies out of wedlock as opposed to pursuing a higher education. And why would anyone not agree with him given another media driven myth that says more black men are in prison than in college.

As black folks (and minorities in general) we must be careful of the narratives we buy into. We must be cognizant that many of them are promulgated by the right-wing conservative mindset that exists in American dominant culture. A mindset by folks who refuse to buy into the harsh realities of institutionalized racism, capitalism, and the ongoing class warfare of which people who look like me are continuously on the losing end of the battle.

When someone who looks like us starts a campaign that degrades single black women, and black men in general, in an attempt to bring awareness to the “problem” that is fatherless children being raised in the black community who offers marriage as a solution. An organization that promotes marriage as the savior of the black community without acknowledging or addressing the blatant economic inequalities suffered as a result of economic segregation. We as a people should be willing to challenge and refuse to accept the bullshit.

Much like the crack baby myth, we’re conditioned to think like Al Reynolds does about black men, and the black experience. And even more troubling, we buy into these narratives (mostly out of embarrassment) that comes from people who do not live within our communities.

Like, the onetime single black mother who had a child out of wedlock by a man who refused to marry her (for whatever the reason), who is now married to a non-minority with whom she has other children, who suddenly sees marriage as the answer, or “savior” of the black community when research shows otherwise.

An ex-single black mother who even though admitting that her daughter has a great relationship with her father, promotes the idea that black men don’t give a damn about their kids A woman with whom I’ve had several conversations via phone and otherwise, who has a hard time explaining to me just how kids “suffer” by growing up in homes raised by single women; but yet, I’m supposed to accept this as fact.

Thank God there’s research that shows otherwise; evidence that shows that even in poor communities, black men see their children more than commonly believed; but somehow, black men are only involved in the lives of their children if they marry the mother of their children; and then and only then, do black kids succeed in life.

I’m sorry, but that claim or narrative is as idiotic as what Al Reynolds says below. The idea that marriage is the predicating factor of successful child rearing and not socio-economic forces that negatively impact people of color, is enough to piss me off.  But it comes as no surprise, when this is coming from social conservatives.
“I’ve been in the city and the dichotomy of the women and the men in the minorities, there is a difference in the fact that most minority women, either the single parent or coming from a poor neighborhood, are motivated more so than the minority men,” Reynolds said, when asked what he would do to increase diversity at state colleges. “And it’s a pretty good reason. Most of the women who are single parents have to find work to support their family. The minority men find it more lucrative to be able to do drugs or other avenues rather than do education. It’s easier.” (source)Yes, Al Reynolds would be a great spokesperson for “No Wedding, No Womb!” Maybe then and only then with someone like him more effectively pushing the message that “black men ain’t shit,” the black community can and will improve as black women would make the conscious decision to marry white men the father(s) of their children instead of choosing to live a life destined to be an epic parenting failure.

But hey, don’t tell anybody, research shows that biological fathers are not necessarily the best, or that a two parent home isn’t necessarily a predictor of successful parenting. Instead, have them believe that black men are genetically predisposed to drug dealing and all sorts of “ill shit” as opposed to pursuing a higher education, or being fathers to their children even if not sharing the same roof with the mothers of their children.

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Oh well, so much for that “King Kong ain’t got shit on me,” line of thinking:

Obviously this is one time that the “Stop Snitching” movement didn’t interfere with getting someone off the streets. And a police officer at that? How exactly do you do your job while having to get on your knees and loook for rocks in the carpet of your squad car? Obviously this is a small town and crime isn’t exactly high with only 20 people making up the police department. But damn, you can’t tell me that nobody noticed that this woman had a problem? This isn’t exactly funny, but after watching it for the first time, all I heard was the voice of Morgan Freeman as “Joe Clark” in Lean On Me doing the interrogation:

“You smoke crack, don’t you, boy? Don’t you smoke crack? Yeah, I thought so. And you know what that does to you? You don’t? It kills your brain cells, son. It kills your brain cells! Now when you’re destroying your brain cells, you’re doing the same thing as killing yourself. You’re just doing it slower! Now, I say if your wanna kill yourself, don’t fuck around with it, do it expeditiously!”

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Can any of you clue me in on that one?

I mean I really would like to know because I’d hate to continue believing that they’ve all been employed by BET (Blaxploitation Everyday Television). Speaking of which, checkout a now famous ex-crackhead who happens to be employed by a certain network at a recent red carpet affair hosted by said network:
Now look, the last thing I’d like to do is make fun of the personal triumph of an individual unless his name is R. Kelly. And yes, R&B sensation Keyshia Cole’s mother Frankie is an ex-crackhead who makes it hard to believe that she actually is a recovering addict. But I have to wonder how in the hell was she able to wear platinum gold fronts in her mouth when she doesn’t have any teeth? No seriously, when did they start making platinum dentures? This is disturbing folks, and I hope it doesn’t become a trend. Lord forbid if someone at Viacom gets the bright idea to give Frankie and Flava Flav a new reality show… together.

Don’t get me wrong, I’m glad that she’s able to bounce back as many recovering addicts have; and I see her emotional meltdown on the red carpet as evidence of just how much she is aware of her blessings. Yes, it’s very unlikely for a recovering addict to walk out of prison to become a mainstream star on television with her own show. But am I wrong to see her as being the victim of exploitation by the corporate executives at BET similar to the drug dealers with whom she had dealings?

Surely there is a symbiotic relationship…

But is it right?

You tell me…

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Look it, from here on out, I’m gonna do something different. Instead of pointing out certain behaviors within the Black community and attributing it to the pathology associated with post traumatic slave syndrome, I’m gonna blame it all on crack. I mean lets face it, nobody, Black or White wants to accept the fact that still today much of what we see is a result of gov’t sanctioned practices over 400yrs ago. Yea, fuck that slavery shit son! Uh huh, you niggas need to get over that shit; at least that’s what I’m often told.

So yeah, instead, I’m gonna shift gears. Everything fucked up in the Black community is all a result of the crack cocaine epidemic of the 1980’s. Is that closer to our current time period than slavery for y’all? Good, because everything that’s happening now is a result of crack. Yup, and Black people brought that shit from Africa on the slave ships so it’s all our fault.

Yup, all these bad ass kids running around fuckin up in school? Crack! All these single mothers raising kids in fatherless homes? Crack! Black people losing their homes via foreclosures due to predatory lending? Crack! All those dysfunctional muthafuckas on Maury everyday because they can’t remember the name of the guy they fucked and got pregnant? Crack! Damn right, the condom didn’t break, it’s all about crack dammit. Plain and simple: crack fucked us up really bad.

Yes, everything is all because of crack. Uh huh, crack fucked us up. Instead of wasting your money and time going to freecreditreport.com to figure out why your life sucks, just realize that it’s the way it is because of crack. Now watch the following video, and before you comment as to how trifflin this individual is, remember, it’s not the individuals fault. That’s right, blame it on crack. I mean think about it, crack babies are all grown now, right? Yup, and they are responsible for producing the spawn of their crack filled lives otherwise known as kids, right?

Seewhumsayinandshit?!! Don’t blame BET, Hip Hop lyrics, the internet or none of that shit. Come on, keep it real. Before all of that, there was crack. I say it’s time you people join me in the fight against crack babies; you know the ones who took the money from the sale of their 40acres and a mule and decided to grow poppy fields in the backyard? Yeah, those crack babies. It’s time we told the truth about this mess. It’s imperative that we do this because it’s about our future generations; that’s right, the kids.

What we are seeing in effect is the backlash of the crack epidemic. Damn straight, fuck the empire, Luke Skywalker and all that, the crack babies are striking back and we all gotta do something about it. Yes we do because I’m tired of seeing this. That plus my daughters have to go to school with these fucked up kids and now I gotta tell them about Pookie and Nino Brown.

Roll clip: Now what do you think is gonna happen to or how that kid is gonna act when he/she grows up? Yeah, this kid may very well turn out to be fucked up. Hopefully he/she doesn’t. But if the kid does, it will be said its the parents fault, right? Well, now you know that this is not true. Yup, no more of that personal responsibility stuff either. From here on out, who do we blame? I mean like my man Grand Puba says in the song Slow Down by Brand Nubian in the video above, “what makes a bitch wanna act in this fashion?” Come on say it with me really loud…CRACK!!!!Slow down sisters.
[Hat-tip to Siditty]

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