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bioemerl  ·  3301 days ago  ·  link  ·    ·  parent  ·  post: What Kendrick Lamar, Drake, and Kanye West Say About the Black Experience in America

    I wondered, and eventually asked, where she, as a person who would never experience blackness, found the ground to even question his and claim ownership over any part of him. She wasn’t the only one but what exactly was she (and all the others) pointing out besides the fact that he wasn’t “bad” enough to be a real (read: thug ass) black man?

First off, saying "this person is a fraud, never lived a hard life, and is faking it as to be popular" is not claiming ownership over somebody in any form or way. Secondly, it seems from the phrasing that this person never mentioned the rapper's "blackness".

This seems to point to there being two different view of what it means to be "black", and that both people are looking at the situation from different points of view.

The first being poverty, thug lyfe, chainz, rap, and so on. Big tough person who lived a hard life and went to prison. The stereotype you see pretty universally across media.

The second being a person who is black and has experienced the reactions people have to you on a subconscious level through society.

The first is something it is possible not to be "black". The second, however, is not. Perhaps the author would have considered it if the person hadn't jumped to "you aren't black, so you can't say anything about black people" mentality.

    People point to where he grew up and create stories of a middle class upbringing despite him repeatedly speaking on supporting his single, chronically ill mother as a teen and borrowing his aunt and uncle’s car to fake stunt.

Another good response to the person talking about how the one guy is a fraud. Man, so many good things can happen when you don't jump to using race to hurt others arguments.

    It’s a lot to constantly deal with as a black man, but isn’t that the story of our very existence as people of color? Constantly having to prove we are human and also black, all at once.

No. We are not living in the sixties. Nobody, outside the small enclaves of KKK members who are shunned by society, considers black people as inhuman. Society does not treat black people as animals, as less than human, or any of such things.

There are a thousand words that would work very well here, "human" is not one of them. Exaggerating a point to the nth degree to make things sound oh so horrible isn't cool. It's even worse when you don't need to exaggerate to make similar points.

    You don’t have to be called a “nigger” at a fashion party, you can simply be called “uncouth”—both achieve the same STFU.

The person nails the subject much better later, although still not too well, when talking about one of the other rappers being considered "uncouth" by rich people. It's that stereotype, that "blackness" as the author calls it, that needs to go away. Not an impression that black people are less than human.

Fight that impression, and you will find that there is no progress to be made, because everyone already agrees with you.

    His wild example of being protected by his doormen and driver is not just mindless rich people talk, it is his very reality. He acknowledges their existence in a way the white people he's interacting with never would!

    I don't need to tell you that rich white people do not think of their servants with such regard.

This should speak for its self.