Brute

“It comes down to this: black people were stripped of our identities when we were brought here, and it's been a quest since then to define who we are.” –Spike Lee




I went for a run in the park with a friend before church. When we were done she shared something that is quite horrific.

Friend: My cousin and her friend were robbed at gun point last night.

Me: WHHAATTT??!!! WHERE!

Friend: Up in the Bronx. Two dudes were trying to holler and her and her friend. They went inside the corner store to get some snacks. Dude was like “If you aint gonna get at me… then you need to give me something!” She’s a Bronx chick, so she got to talking loud in the store…

Me: She reserves that right! Although these days you have to be careful.

Friend: Exactly! Dude was like “I’m gonna get something from you!” He pulled out a gun and made her give up her phone.

Me: Please tell me she dropped the phone….

Friend: She did. Meanwhile the other dude was in the next isle doing the same thing to the friend. They got away. The police came and as the girls were talking… 5-0 came to the conclusion the thugs matched the description of an incident that took place a few blocks up with some other females.

Me: Damn. I’m so sorry that happened! She okay? How old are the girls?

Friend: 16. I guess so. Let’s just say she’s shook, happy to be alive, and can’t wait to get to church today…

Me: I know that’s right!

Rewind to the 3am this morning. Shots were fired on 144th and Lenox (my hood) leaving one dead and six wounded. The fight was over a woman. (Click link to full article) http://www.ny1.com/content/top_stories/123410/one-killed--six-injured-in-harlem-shooting .

around 10pm last night I was walking out the door of my complex when I stopped to talk to the girl who lives in the apartment above me.

Neighbor: You always look so cute, why you out here dressed like a lesbian?

I had on what I refer to as “ex boyfriend gear” (the stuff you never gave back). Oversized basketball shorts, Air Jordan Tall T-shirt, flip flops with tube socks, and a fitted hat which my head scarf hung from underneath.

Me: (laughing) I do look like I’m bout to go hoop…. with my girlfriend!

Neighbor: Where are you going?

Me: The grocery store. Truth is… I always dress like this after dark. I just don’t want to deal with the drama.

Neighbor: Drama?

Me: This isn’t me trying to sound self-centered or anything… but I purposely dress like crap. I don’t like the big groups of dudes trying to get at me, commenting on my body, or grabbing me. No one wants to hear “Aye, yo ma… can I talk to you?” “Can I walk with you?” “Daammnn you got an ass… let me holla at you!” And they always stare…….. licking their lips like lions… and I’m the last antelope left in the world!

Neighbor (Cracking up): Yo! I thought I was the only chick that gets extra baggy when I’m in chill mode cause I don’t want to hear it!

Me: Unfortunately, you’re not!

Neighbor: I feel you! It’s like DAMN! I’m just trying to get some milk! LEAVE ME ALONE!

Me: Foreal. Conversation always plays out like this:

Dude: Aye yo ma, I’m trying to get to know you
Me: Why is that?
Dude: I just want to holla (looking at you all nasty)
Me: No Thanks.
Dude: You got a man?
Me: Yes
Dude: Well… can’t you have friends?
Me: Nah, I’m good on friends.
Dude: That’s a lucky dude that’s hittin that. You got a phone?

Is he serious?

Neighbor (shaking her head): Always the same. And you have to say something back. If you just ignore them… they get loud and want to yell at you like “BITCH! YOU THINK YOU TOO GOOD TO TALK TO ME?”

Me: It’s really sad. And in large groups it comes off as a threat! Do I look like the type of woman who would respond to that nonsense from bunch of dudes in white t- shirts all unproductive and unruly on the corner?

Neighbor: Actually, dressed like that you blend right in with them.

Me: FORGET YOU SON! I’m going to the store!

It bothers me. From men I call “brotha” I fear. I have to walk out my way to avoid street dudes, mask my body… but even worse engage you in a conversation so that you can feel respected… when you stand there on the corner with the intent to disrespect me. Who is to blame for this?

Absentee fathers?

The low self-esteem brod who responded to this foolishness?

The Media?

“The Man” for keeping you down thus forcing you to hang on the corner cause you can’t get a job? So now acting a fool is your way to “take back power”.

Hip-Hop?

With the gentrification of my neighborhood it sickens me that many non-black females are being subjected to this harassment. Black woman know and understand not all men in our community act like this. But for many White and Asian girls on my block… their first encounter with a person of color is now one of uneasiness. One that degraded them. One that now gives them a reason to say “I’m scared of ALL black men.”

The stereotype that has plagued society since the beginning of time continues to live among a nation that ironically is lead by a phenomenal black male.

The black brute. It’s time to take control of how others define us.
When is enough….. enough?


Transcript pulled from Jim Crow Museum:

The brute caricature portrays Black men as innately savage, animalistic, destructive, and criminal -- deserving punishment, maybe death. This brute is a fiend, a sociopath, an anti-social menace. Black brutes are depicted as hideous, terrifying predators who target helpless victims, especially White women. Charles H. Smith, a writer at the end of the 1890s, claimed, "A bad negro is the most horrible creature upon the earth, the most brutal and merciless."1 Clifton R. Breckinridge, a contemporary of Smith's, said of the Black race, "when it produces a brute, he is the worst and most insatiate brute that exists in human form."2 George T. Winston, another "Negrophobic" writer, claimed:When a knock is heard at the door shudders with nameless horror. The black brute is lurking in the dark, a monstrous beast, crazed with lust. His ferocity is almost demoniacal. A mad bull or tiger could scarcely be more brutal. A whole community is frenzied with horror, with the blind and furious rage for vengeance.3--snip--The "terrible crime" most often mentioned in connection with the Black brute was rape, more specifically, the rape of a White woman. At the beginning of the twentieth century, much of the virulent, anti-Black propaganda that found its way into scientific journals, local newspapers, and best-selling novels focused on the stereotype of the Black rapist. The claim that Black brutes were, in epidemic numbers, raping White women became the public rationalization for the lynching of Blacks.