By Odeisel

Perception becomes the accepted reality if enough people perceive the same thing. This is particularly true when there is no alternated view to counter the one you’ve been presented. America is the rarest of countries with multiple terrain, expansive mountain ranges, temperate zones, swamps, forests and concrete jungles. Along with natural regional boundaries there is separation of states along with statutory boundaries of municipality and locality.

People move along with those boundaries and migration follows suit. Dense population centers stand in stark contrast to desert towns and small woodland areas.  The most common thing aside from religion that we commonly consume across regional boundaries is television, cinema, and to a lesser extent, radio.  As such, the images and words that populate them carry enormous weight in the absence of our common dealings with other.  Simply put, when people don’t have experience with each other they use what is available to them to form their opinions.

For Black people in this country, this condition is of extreme importance because very rarely are we in control of the images that represent us. From Mammy to Sambo to video miscreants, the way that others think of us has been at the mercy of our very worst images.  As long as we don’t control them or take the initiative to fund and produce our own images we will always be at the mercy of another’s camera.

With this in mind, how are we perceived?  How much of these images are results of things that we actually consume?  Where do we draw the line concerning whether these images are solely for Black consumption and which ones are fit for the community at large? Many questions, I’m sure but at the heart of prejudice is misinformation and ignorance. If we don’t interact, then others are left with the images they see in media, which are certainly not flattering.

For every complaint we levy against those images, and for every time we castigate those who promote them, we never seem to understand that character cannot be assassinated unless we provide the ammo. We sign off on the co-opting of our image, we write the songs, we shoot the videos, and we hucklebuck to the toe tapping sound of chi ching…and then bitch about the entire episode. We are a better people than that. It’s time we took back our faces from the hands of those who would mar them.

Not remove them, because again that isolation is the source of most of our race/class issues in America to begin.  The current economic climate has shown that when under fiscal pressure, rich people are susceptible to folding and criminal activity.  Reality television has shown that under the bright lights of the camera, race is immaterial when it comes to moronic foolishness. Simply put, no matter what color we are, when exposed to similar conditions, we’re generally the same.  Until such time as we come to that collective lightbulb/eureka moment, we as Black people must take a long look at how we are perceived and what affect that has on our dealings.

The internet has multiplied this quandary exponentially.  With everyone rapidly in search of their 15 minutes of fame we’ve been Youtube’d into complicity.  Young morons flashing guns IN FRONT OF A CAMERA, people committing serious crimes IN FRONT OF A CAMERA, underaged minors having sex IN FRONT OF A CAMERA, and countless other instances have been enabled by the portability of camera phones and the miniaturization of technology. The cameras are everywhere.

Now our image resides in our hands. Our actual images, and not something that can be blamed on character acting or poor scripts, or the mythical “they” that resides in Hollywood. Now there is nothing to hide behind.  Beauty shop beat downs with grown women behaving like savages, fighting with babies in their belly, and C-level rapper jaw tappings over nothing paint a far more horrifying picture of our people than any movie could.  And while we digest it and laugh at it, with an intimacy and understanding of “n***a s**t,” far many more without that understanding are watching and shaking their heads.

Pride often dictates we shouldn’t be ashamed, because we tell ourselves “it’s not me.” We create a mental distance from the antics of the video savage and tell ourselves it’s all good. But understand that the way you laugh and shake your head at them is the way that a much larger group considers there to be no difference between you and those you laugh at. And the way you feel about them as nothing more than entertainment is the way that you aren’t being taken seriously as human beings.

Do yourselves and your children a favor before you wild out on camera. Think. Think about your child graduating with honors and someone seeing an ethnic name on a resume and thinking of Flavor Flav. Not fair by any means but a harsh reality of life on Earth. Understand the power of projection and how the way people perceive what you COULD be colors their view of who you are. We focus on what’s “real” many times but be aware that on a very real level, your reality is personally manageable. You get your 15 minutes, but someone else whether it’s Youtube or another video site on the web will profit from your image and all you will get is notoriety and hood fame.

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