What is "black culture"? (Pulaski: neighborhood, university, quality of life)

[Huckleberry3911948]

some irish people will try to tell you being irish is getting drunk and fighting.
not so. and so it is with AA, i know plenty dont gangsta dont rap dont hiphop.

[aries4118]

Originally Posted by BillyJacc

I Like YOU...

She is pretty cool, ain't she?

[BillyJacc]

Originally Posted by Jimmeh

Hah this is so true. It's really just a word for "your skin is darker then white and it's not spanish so you must be African American". It's funny when an "African American" mistakes hispanic people for "African American's" just because they are "black". I see it quite often. And they simply get corrected with a "no I'm puerto rican" or "I'm hispanic". This is why I'm careful when I call someone by race. I hate how the U.S. is. Other countries don't identify you by skin color. Your become identified by the country you live. You are proud to be a part of that country and not because of what color skin you were born with.

I'm not proud to be white and if I was black I wouldn't have black pride either. I'm proud to be American.

Being proud of your skin color is racist. White pride is bad, but black pride isn't?

I DISAGREE..... It's not about skin color as it is HERITAGE. I hear this knd of thing all the time in some form or fashion. All over the states & especially here in LA we have places in town called &( NAMED with the Seal Of The City & State upon entering the areas) "Little Armenia, Little Tokoyo, Korea Town, China Town, Little Ethiopia, Thai Town, etc;.
There's a HUGE mall in Korea Town that sell only Korean made products, foods, etc; there are Korean banks, realtors, medical centers, dentist, indoor golf facilities, night clubs, resturants, & so on. It's the same with Japanese Communities in Gardena, The Russian Community in Burbank, the Armenian Community in North Hollywood, (Over there most of the businesses on Sherman Way have their names & goods written in their native languages) and no one says a thing....

There are tv stations here in the states (not just broadcast feeds from over seas) like Telemundo, Galavision, Azteca America, Univision, etc;

Theses things are in place by people of various races who've embraced their culture, & the heritage of their ethnicity. They've assimilated into american life while still holding on to their traditions and therefore setting up various businesses that facilitate their lifestyles here in the states (i.e. finances, cusine, media,etc while at the same time keeping them prosperous & productive as american citizens.

I say all that to say, why is it always frowned upon when African/Afro/Negro/Black American(LOL) people in the US mention anything Black Owned ? (Banks, Media, Institutions Of Higher Learning etc

I believe that if we embraced those things in all of major cities & suburbs it would change things greatly... It's been done in the past so it's nothing new.
It wouldn't be the total answer but it would help us a lot when our youth, both male & female see prosperity amongst their neighbors and not just Magic, Diddy, Oprah, etc; but the couple that owns the grocery store, computer sales & repair shops, film & video supply companies, art galleries, etc; Not just barber shops, hair salons, and soul food resturants.

Also I grew up in a section of Philly once called LITTLE ITALY...
We NEVER Complained or said that these people need to assilmiate into american culture, take off the Italian & just call themselves americans.
We ate (& LOVED) their food & still do, we participated in the yearly grease pole Sunday events at the Our Mother Of Sorrows catholic school.

(When we started winning events on the pole & sack races.. we ran into resistance LOL!!)

So please give me an intelligent response on WHY we should change our status in these great United States, and just call ourselves and just be good ol' Americans.

[Pappy&Me]

Originally Posted by waltlantz

If you wanna just look at music, then there is much more beyond rap you know. Jazz, Funk, Soul hell a few would count Afropunk.

Cuisine is important too, don't discount the importance of soul food.

Not to mention our shared identity as created by our history in the country.

Scince the 60s, afrocentrism as defined by identifying Africa as the "motherland" of black people has been influential (although this has no play in my family)

Now this is an anomaly for me, despite being black, I identify more plainly as an American (for various reasons)

And to be frank, even with the prominence of Afrocentrism (in varying degrees) scince the 60s, Blacks just don't have the same unified lineage and cultural uniqueness that say certain Mexicans, Puerto Ricans or Chinese or Vietnamese do.

In that sense, I think we are the most "american" of minorites (according to the whole melting pot theory), because of the intermingling of not only various African people's but others as well over generations.

Then again there are many scholars and others who are authories on this issue, of which I am not.

Very good points . I think like whites blacks are just Americans . if the ' motherland ' were so great most would live there, but fact is the ones there want to come to America .

[Pappy&Me]

Originally Posted by BobKovacs

Based on the results you've seen on every other thread here that's even remotely related to race, do you really expect to get a quality response? I give it 24 hours (probably less) before someone says something stupid to get the thread closed.....

LOL, although I'm 'from'Atlanta it is still my hometown ,I just don't want to live there .

[Pappy&Me]

Originally Posted by YBF

LMAO I know right...everytime I tell some ppl I hate collard green and watermelon I get ppl asking what type of black person am I. And I reply the kind that doesnt like collard greens and watermelon.

I am white as soda crackers and I love collard greens and cornbread . Watermellon is my favorite fruit . Soul food is not a black thing it is a southern thing . I also love grits ! But i'll pass on the pigsfeet and ears . No chitlings either.

[Britishintown]

Grits? Where's that puke smilie?

[Pappy&Me]

Originally Posted by AcidSnake

I'll have to check with the African American culture Gods but you seem to be authentic in my book!

My motivation for asking this question about what passes for African American culture was based off the the real-life events like the murder of Dolla, the election of Barack Obama, black male/black female relations and other things that are too numerous to name. I just wondered what exactly it is that binds us black folks together and why those bindings don't seem to be holding a lot of us together as of late, at least not to my satisfaction.

But nevertheless, I am grateful for the responses I have gotten so far, and if my response is the last one, so be it. I just hope that there are others like myself who are just as concern about where our culture seems to be taking us.

this new age crap is not our culture black or white . I rememeber when most blacks were just Americans in dress, music and religian . I also remember when they couldn't walk into the front doors of most places . That all changed for the better, but the majority of blacks sadly didn't change for the better . We will all lose this coutry the same way we created it, TOGETHER'

[Britishintown]

Originally Posted by Pappy&Me

this new age crap is not our culture black or white . I rememeber when most blacks were just Americans in dress, music and religian . I also remember when they couldn't walk into the front doors of most places . That all changed for the better, but the majority of blacks sadly didn't change for the better . We will all lose this coutry the same way we created it, TOGETHER'

The problem you have is that American culture in general is still in its infancy, it is still trying to find its feet, by historical standards it is a very new country and a massive melting pot of diverse cultures. Trying to identify demi cultures within is primarily a pointless exercise except when they were forced to be separate like during segregation, it certainly makes sense for all people to strive towards the greatness of the country first before trying to invent personal cultural identities.

[Pappy&Me]

Originally Posted by BillyJacc

I DISAGREE..... It's not about skin color as it is HERITAGE. I hear this knd of thing all the time in some form or fashion. All over the states & especially here in LA we have places in town called &( NAMED with the Seal Of The City & State upon entering the areas) "Little Armenia, Little Tokoyo, Korea Town, China Town, Little Ethiopia, Thai Town, etc;.
There's a HUGE mall in Korea Town that sell only Korean made products, foods, etc; there are Korean banks, realtors, medical centers, dentist, indoor golf facilities, night clubs, resturants, & so on. It's the same with Japanese Communities in Gardena, The Russian Community in Burbank, the Armenian Community in North Hollywood, (Over there most of the businesses on Sherman Way have their names & goods written in their native languages) and no one says a thing....

There are tv stations here in the states (not just broadcast feeds from over seas) like Telemundo, Galavision, Azteca America, Univision, etc;

Theses things are in place by people of various races who've embraced their culture, & the heritage of their ethnicity. They've assimilated into american life while still holding on to their traditions and therefore setting up various businesses that facilitate their lifestyles here in the states (i.e. finances, cusine, media,etc while at the same time keeping them prosperous & productive as american citizens.

I say all that to say, why is it always frowned upon when African/Afro/Negro/Black American(LOL) people in the US mention anything Black Owned ? (Banks, Media, Institutions Of Higher Learning etc

I believe that if we embraced those things in all of major cities & suburbs it would change things greatly... It's been done in the past so it's nothing new.
It wouldn't be the total answer but it would help us a lot when our youth, both male & female see prosperity amongst their neighbors and not just Magic, Diddy, Oprah, etc; but the couple that owns the grocery store, computer sales & repair shops, film & video supply companies, art galleries, etc; Not just barber shops, hair salons, and soul food resturants.

Also I grew up in a section of Philly once called LITTLE ITALY...
We NEVER Complained or said that these people need to assilmiate into american culture, take off the Italian & just call themselves americans.
We ate (& LOVED) their food & still do, we participated in the yearly grease pole Sunday events at the Our Mother Of Sorrows catholic school.

(When we started winning events on the pole & sack races.. we ran into resistance LOL!!)

So please give me an intelligent response on WHY we should change our status in these great United States, and just call ourselves and just be good ol' Americans.

Maybe because alot of these groups mentioned are now forming lobbys and making demands that are not Aamerican and some even militant . Anti-American is not assimilation .

Also I notice you didn't mention and Anglo-Americans because that would be 'racist' .