Regarding your behavior

Shantara Propst

University Student

African American Studies- Major

1234 5^th Ave SW Washington, DC 20012

Phone: (123)-456-7890

 

November 29, 2009

 

Kanye West

Hip Hop Artist and Producer

2345 6^th St NW Chicago, IL 26789

Phone: (098)-765-4321

 

Dear Mr. West:

Let me first start by saying that I am a fan of yours. I own all of your albums and mixtapes to date. I am writing this letter in respects to your recent outburst during the VH1 music awards. The incident has created tons of noticeable publicity for you but it has also brought up many questions regarding your career, who you are as a person, and the image you are showing the world of Black men who have acquired power.

 

My question to you on your behavior in this incident and the outburst before Mr. West is Why? Why did you feel it necessary to interrupt Taylor Swift’s thank-you speech? Why did you feel the need to tell the world the President Bush does not care about Black people? The later of the two was necessary and your intentions seemed genuine because the world could see the terror in your eyes as you spoke those words, but the Taylor Swift incident was not called for. You could have waited until an interview later to state your opinion; that was not the time, nor the place to say what you said. Even if it needed to be said you should have waited.

 

In my opinion this was merely a publicity stunt. One that succeeded past your expectations, because after the award show no one was talking about Janet Jackson’s performance, everyone was talking about you. In your chase for the spotlight you stole it from people who truly deserved it. Janet Jackson, Taylor Swift and even yourself. You fought someone else’s battle and lost your own. You lost your awards and you feel as if you may have disappointed your mother. Mr. West I think next time you should think long and hard before you act on a situation just for publicity.

 

One last thing I would like you to consider is the image you are sending the world of Black men in America. You are setting the tone for a new description of Black Men whom acquire power. An arrogant, cocky rude fool is the image that you are portraying. It is hard enough for Black men to succeed as is but, you are slowly but surely contributing to making this even harder for these brothers. THINK ABOUT YOUR ACTIONS MR. WEST! They affect more than just you.

 

Sincerely,

            Shantara Propst

Black Men and Public Space

Black Men and Public Space is an essay by Brent Staples about him realizing and understanding his own ability to alter public space in "ugly ways." The stereotypes of black men give many people, black and white, the impression that black men are dangerous. The act of a white woman clenching her purse while in the presence of a black man is not new. This action happens a countless amount of times a day, but why? I don't understand why black men are the only men that are stereotyped as bad or dangerous? There are plenty of white men that commit the same crimes that black men are stereotyped as commiting.

THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE IS MY ENEMY

In Ossie Davis' The English Language is My Enemy, Davis explores the definition of BLACKNESS, by comparing its synonyms to the the synonyms of WHITENESS. He explains that the thesaurus of his choice has 134 synonyms for WHITENESS and the majority of those were favorable terms. BLACKNESS on the other hand had 120 synonyms, none of which were positive, 60 which were distinctly unfavorable and 20 that were directly related to race. Davis goes on to say that " When you consider the fact that thinking itself is sub-vocal speech-- you will appreciate the enormous heritage of racial prejudgment that lies in wait for any child born into the English Language. Any teacher good or bad, white or black, Jew or Gentile, who uses the English Language as a medium of communication is forced, willy-nilly, to teach the Negro child 60 ways to despise himself, and the white child 60 ways to aid and abet him in the crime." Davis opened my eyes to the fact that blacks are subconsciously debased by the language that we speak. When one thinks of black, the first thing in their mind might be one of the synonyms Davis found :" evil, wicked, blot, blotch, threatening, malignant, unclean, deadly." So it makes a black person like myself wonder, when a white person sees me is this what they are thinking? Is this definition engraved in their mind so well as to think that this is what it means to be black? I hope not, because even though the dictionaries define black in a negative light, I know that black is beautiful. And maybe if they looked past the dictionaries and what they were taught in school for the definition of black-- they could see this too.

Revelations: an anthology of expository essays by and about blacks. Pg 163-164

image: http://media.photobucket.com/myblackisbeautiful