Niggas Aint Shit

By: Niya McCray-Brown

If shawty bout any of this,

natural, and my pubic hair is longer

she aint neckin me.. I rubbed

than the hair on her head, as well

my eyes at this tweet, half in

as If I need the flashlight app to

disbelief and half because it was

see her while were having sex all

8am. Every morning, as I tried to

of which degraded some facet of

stifle my resentment for waking up,

African American woman as

I would scroll through my social

unworthy of fellatio with him. Its

media repertoire, still half asleep,

probably important to note here

in an attempt to bribe my eyes

that these tweets came from an

from closing again. Now, I had seen

acne scarred 18 year old, around

some pretty ratchet things on my

54, with a grill, and a bucket hat.

morning escapades through twitter

In response to this crime of

before, but for some reason this

personal expression a young lady

one was outlandish enough to

replied with a less offense, yet

leave its mark.

equally aggressive meme that

As my bonnet sat sideways

stated Boys expect women to be

on my head from a night of restless

the perfect size and shade, long

sleep, I continued to scroll while

natural hair, and can cook and

the villain proceeded to list a series

clean.but what are you bringing

of physical features. These were

to the table Oh, a bucket hat?.

including , but not limited to If she

Great. Parades of Yaassss and

clapping emojis followed

Its not just a racial issue, its

statements from both parties. But

a generational one. Sure, our

is this display deserving of

parents and grandparents had

celebration? Or a vow to celibacy?

preferences concerning whether

This riveting dialogue

light skin was back in style, but I

illustrates an ongoing attack of

have to admit that we millennials

African American men and women

have taken it to a different level.

on each other. As if the world does

Niggas aint shit and These hoes

not oppress us enough, in recent

aint loyal are daily mantras for

years we have taken the liberty to

most. Im not sure when and where

assault each other through social

we decided as a people that this

media and more importantly in our

was ok, but I guess I wasnt at that

everyday encounters. No other

meeting. So, I offer one piece of

race of people makes light of

insight to my peers. These are

assassinating the character of their

counterparts like black people have

not just mantras, they are

mentalities. The

in recent years. The 45% of Black

women who arent married have

resentment that bleeds

valid reason for apprehension. I

from these phrases has

cannot count how many times I

seeped out of our tongues

have seen ignorant posts such as

and dripped down into our

these flooding my timeline.

souls. The wounds left behind by

the toxic waste that we have

allowed into our subconscious will

you reel in that somebody with

not be fixed over night, but if we

insecurities and distrust (because

ever plan on having healthy

you will), rather than blasting

relationships, this has to end.

them on twitter every time you get

I do not have the answers,

mainly because Im not exactly
sure where all of this hostility came
from, but I do have some advice for
those of us who still believe in love.
I mean real love, not IG love. For
starters, I need for us to
acknowledge how unrealistic it is to
look for things (physical or internal)
in other people that we do not have
ourselves. Recently, a professor of
mine put it this way Since yall
claim to be the bait now, accept
that youre only gonna reel in the
type of fish that wants what youre
made of. If youre made of
insecurities and distrust, do not
expect to reel in someone with
ambition and loyalty. AND, when

into an argument, look at yourself

and discover what things you need
to change that attracted you to
that person in the first place.
Secondly, do not look for
your validation in someone who is
completely un-invested in you. The
rebuttal back and forth would not
be happening if no one really cared
about the radicals that choose to
air their ignorance on social media.
If people stopped receiving the
responses that they get from these
posts they would not have a reason
to post them anymore. Treat them
like the temper-tantrum toddlers
that they are, and ignore them.
Instead of looking to some
randoms opinion of who and what

you should be like in a relationship,

you are and what you are looking

define your own standards of who

for.

And lastly, a good old

fashioned, whats said in the
house stays in the house would do

image, just say no to social media

blasting.
My proposition is simple, take

everyone some good. Media

the energy that we are using to

portrayals of Back love are already

combat each other and redirect it

pretty negative, so in an effort to

into combatting the mainstream

save ourselves from a dismal

society that takes every effort to

future, our individual

limit our progress. The immense

representations need to be as

power and beauty of black men

positive as possible to combat

and women promises for a dream

them. Im sure that at times people

team victory against our current

of every gender, race, age, and

position at the bottom of the

background have had the same

societal ladder. But a team

feelings. However, somehow, we

approach is the only answer, and

are the only ones who seem

as long as were stuck in the cycle

unashamed about how we portray

attacking each other, like a dog

each other publicly. To keep your

chasing its tail, we will never be

temporary feelings from making a

able to bite back at our oppressors.

permanent imprint on our societal