So as I’m perusing my Twitter timeline, as per usual, I see an apparently heated exchange between comedian Marlon Wayans and rapper Lord Jamar of Brand Nubian fame. Lord Jamar has been calling out those men who have decided to wear what many are calling a skirt, such as Kanye West who wore a leather kilt. The rapper believes that this is contributing to a phenomenon known as the effeminization of the Black man. This idea stems around the assertion that the powers that be (read: The White man) want the Black man extinct, thus there is an over saturation of Black men being feminine and/or homosexual.
Here’s Lord Jamar speaking on homosexuality and hip hop recently:
I do NOT care for Lord Jamar or the above mentioned *false* phenomenon.
I have talked about the subject on social media, often getting lost in translation due to the limitation of 140 characters on Twitter, and Facebook just not being the best suited forum to express it; the subject being homosexuality and the ideas that some people have regarding it.
The example cited above is socially regressive for the following reasons:
- Hyper masculine values as equally propagated in media has been the underlying cause of much of the catastrophe of our current society. Last time I checked, as we kill each other off, most of the time it’s men and none of these men are wearing skirts orkilts. At this rate, perhaps maybe wearing a skirt is a sign of sanity?
- Men wearing kilts or skirt-like garments did not start with Scottish bagpipe players. It started in Ancient Egypt. Just Google Ancient Egypt and click on “Images”, those “skirts” will be the first thing you see. Yes, now go back to Kanye in his all leather kilt. At least he had on pants up under it.
- Homosexuality is not something that is determined by the clothes a person wears. Lord Jamar’s ideas regarding homosexuality have been based on this type of illogical reasoning. The world couldn’t possibly contain men who do something like put on women’s undergarments (for example) and actually not be “gay”. It’s like, there is a total disregard for the variety of issues that happen daily, in regards to gender identification, are nonexistent because you haven’t personally experienced it. There are parents who are facing this issue with their children everyday- that did NOT choose it- and because of people who have ideas like Lord Jamar- are being bullied and made to live a life where people just can’t leave well enough alone. The world is bigger than your limited view.
- Homosexuality does not define femininity or masculinity, or vice versa. Femininity and masculinity are defined by more than sexual organs and varies across different cultures, as does gender roles. My question is why is it taking the world so long to recognize this? Why is it taking the world so long to grasp the slippery slope fallacy they hold that if people are homosexual, humans will become extinct, all the while, checking the US Census, the only people beating Blacks at procreating are Asians? Why is it taking the world so long to grasp the fact that sex is only limited by those actually participating in the act and you have absolutely no right to have an opinion about the sexual activity of another unless you are indeed interested in having sex with that person?!
- Homosexuality is not something to agree with. You either participate in sex involving the same sex or you don’t. I’m not for or against homosexuality. I have never participated in homosexual sex, nor do I desire to. I have, however, considered doing so, it’s just not appealing to me, though.
- Lord Jamar is a 5-percenter, of which I’m very familiar with as I consider myself to be a 5-percenter as well. 5-percenters know AND teach the truth. If there is one thing I have learned from traveling with the 5% is critical thinking. Lord Jamar insists that homosexuality is against what the Five-Percent Nation teaches as the basic fundamentals of family ( i.e., man, woman and child). However, the problem with this logic is “man, woman, & child” only dictates procreation. Even a person who is homosexual who wants a child knows that in order to procreate it requires a man and a woman. They will either procreate naturally with the opposite sex, go to the sperm bank, hire a surrogate mother or adopt the children ironically who have been abandoned by heterosexual partners. Family is a dynamic structure and functions efficiently in different circumstances BEYOND “man, woman, and child.” An appeal to nature does not help the case because all nature teaches us is that there are a variety of ways to have a “family”. Why it’s taking the world so long to figure this out, I’d like to know as well.
- “Skirts have no place in hip hop”… Does critical thinking have a place in hip hop? “Homosexuality has no place in hip hop.” But rape culture does?
During the rant, Marlon stated that Lord Jamar was waiting on the return of positive message rap. Well, I’m waiting on that too. I just know WHO I’m not waiting on to create it. As long as we have these fallacious and selfish ideas about the complexities of humanity, I’m not sure there will be anything too positive to “rap” about.
Question: Is homosexuality destroying the Black community?
