Comments by "upabittoolate" (@upabittoolate) on "Kanye West Apologizes To George Bush After Racism Charge" video.

@youngdrodeau I guess what I'm trying to say is that it's cool to distinguish one's self so I understand the motivation. But naming your kid Deovamonte isn't doing him any favors. Wanna help your boy become distinguished? Name Jason (healer) & hand him a biology book. THEN tell him that basketball isn't important. THEN make him turn off the "urban" stations. Make him listen to NPR & John Coltrane. Deovamonte will be washing Jason's car... if Deovamonte ain't locked up.
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@youngdrodeau No you're making up strawmen. You can't ask me a question, answer it yourself then criticize your own answer. That's a STRAWMAN. If you don't know what it means, look it up. We're on the internet after all. I'm not throwing out things that aren't true. 70% of babies born to Black moms are out of wedlock. 55% of our kids don't graduate. Our names; how we're presented to the rest of the world is a big part of our image. You wanna be ghetto? Fine. Your son will wash my son's car.
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@youngdrodeau I'm plenty calm. I just get impatient with people who'd rather be obtuse than examine a differing viewpoint. No disrespect but your 2nd sentence wasn't even a sentence. Literacy much? But I'd've expected that from a ghetto apologist. Again, I'm not talking about names being qualitatively good/bad. I'm talking about a people that are severe need of a tradition transfusion. I didn't say anything about intelligence either quit strawmanning me.
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@youngdrodeau I'm not sure why you're assuming that I'd venerate Oprah, Condoleeza (both of those broads are agents) or Denzel (he's a fine actor but he's still just an entertainer. He's not a heavyweight). You better believe there's a correlation. There's more young Black kids at the Y tryna make to the league than there are Black kids tryna make it to the university. Not to say that the university is a panacea but it's a point of departure in a climate where we (Blacks) have virtually none.
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@youngdrodeau If you want to bet about who was raised more affluent, you're on. But I'll tell you ahead of time that there's 6 college degrees between M&P. 2 of my sisters have advanced degrees. I went to Northwestern. So did my sister & mom. My other sisters... well they just went to Stanford. My eldest sis has a PhD from Stanford. What'd I win?
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@youngdrodeau While you're absolutely correct, I gotta tell you, many of these "Black" names are simply an attempt to sound exotic or interesting but are rooted in absolutely nothing. Times were, we used African names. Keshia USED to mean something: it means favorite. But La'keshianna don't mean a goddamned thing. But people in ghetto have a deficit of information and refinement so we end up bullshit like La'keshianna instead of Keshia.
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@youngdrodeau BTW, "Kobe" is NOT a madeup, ghetto ass name. It actually existed. De'Angelique is a name some illiterate woman created in an attempt to sound "special". Too bad De'Angelique's mother didn't insist her daughter hit the books. Too bad Drakkar's mom would rather root for her son at a football game than a science fair or prose recital. But I know Jason's mom can't wait to see her son walk across that stage & scoop the sheepskin he earned with sheer will.
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@youngdrodeau Who said anything about White names? Stop arguing strawmen. Nevertheless, what I'm saying about modern "Black" names is that they aren't rooted in anything. Someone just makes up shit to sound unique but it ends up all sounding elementally the same. Your remark about Leonard illustrates my point very well as "Leonard" is a derivative of something else. If you gonna sit there & tell me that a welfare mom actually did the knowledge & came up with "Deovamonte", I'll call you a liar.
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@youngdrodeau It has everything to do with everything else. Your name is an integral part of how you identify. Sundiata Keita was a fierce, humane lion of a man. Damned if that's not how I identify. Shonda may have never learned about Africa. They damned sure don't tell the truth in textbooks. So I'm supposed to let her get by me without sharing something meaningful about who & what she is? You're an affluent idiot.
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@youngdrodeau But don't forget that Kobe is a place. I've met women named Bethany (house; also a place). These are names that actually meant something other than "my parents were retarded". C'mon Bruh, wtf does "Savonne" mean? Sean is Gaelic for John. Rashaunae is a poor kid whose parents didn't care enough to give her a shot at life. Don't act like you don't know what I'm saying.
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@youngdrodeau And sure I'm an intellectual. The very last thing you could ever call me is a "White supremacist". Thanks for that. You made me smile. Anyway, you're qualifying ghetto names with the very vague, very vacuous defense that "someone had to create it at some point". That's not an acceptable argument because what we know about names & language is that their modern forms are a function of gradual evolution. Nobody just pulls stuff out their asses.
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@youngdrodeau So you go ahead & be "affluent" and e-tough. I'll stay smart, educated & dedicated to my people. At times it feels like I'm fighting uphill because people with your mentality. I can't love my people if I critique fundamental flaws in the culture? What part of the game is that? Then again, why am I asking you. You're affluent. You're more of a supremacist than I'll ever be because you accept & condone the bullshit.
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@youngdrodeau "...no rational logical reasoning..." That was redundant as hell. Perhaps your lack of literacy is the problem. It seems like you don't understand logic. But I'll say I'll say it again. I'll even type slow for you: "Black" names aren't rooted in anything. As an intellectual who cares, that's a problem. They're not informed by cultural awareness. They're hackneyed &meaningless. If it's okay, to you, to be meaningless then we cain't talk no mo'. Simple enough for you?
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@youngdrodeau "Chimu" has cultural basis. "Weusi" has cultural basis. "Khadijah" has cultural basis. "Dayvonne" is an attempt to sound French form a mom that probably didn't even take French in high school. And it's not a fact that everything was made up. The fact is that names derive & evolve. If you're missing that premise, then you'll never see my point. What's the difference? My name is James. I was named for my ancestors with the same name. Tradition.
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@IsaacGates Hmm. Kanye said something on a PSA. W stole 2 elections, negligently killed 1800K in Louisiana, ignored intel & allowed 3000 people to be killed on 9/11, flat-out lied about WMDs to get the US into a war that's killed 1M Iraquis & 50K American soldiers (that number rises daily). Yeah, Kanye is a MUCH bigger jackass. Lay off the fluoride water & processed sugars. They're rotting your brain.
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@youngdrodeau But go ahead. Congratulate these irresponsible parents. In fact, tell the kids that it's all good because they don't exist in a larger context; someone just pulled them out her ass. Right? I had an 7yo kid who got herself into trouble. Her teacher brought her to me because she (the teacher) thought I'd give some arithmetic-'til-you-drop as punishment. Instead, I made the child read Greenfield's "Africa Dream". Prior to that the poor child didn't know what Africa was.(cont'd)
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@youngdrodeau "...the African bullshit..." Truly backward indeed. Oh well, somebody's gotta wash my pickup truck. It might as well be you. Hotep.
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@youngdrodeau Prestigious? Hmm. LeBron is a fantastic ballplayer. Nobody can argue that. But in truth, that cat didn't want to distinguish himself by wining his own jewelry. That's why he ran to Miami. But in a broader context, basketball isn't meaningful. In fact, it's an unfulfilled pipe dream that so many kids in the ghetto chase when that energy could've been better used on a book & pen. Unlike Bush, I DO care about Black people. Is the ghetto somehow, OK to you?
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@youngdrodeau Buy my old man has probably called me "James" 5 times in our 35yrs of knowing each other. He also named me "Sundiata" after the great king of Mali. Again, we're talking actual origin not just some bullshit that someone pulled out of their ass. "A people losing sight of their origins are dead, a people deaf to purposes are lost. Under fertile rain, in scorching sunshine there is no difference: their bodies are mere corpses, awaiting final burial." ~ 2000 Seasons by Ayi Kwei Armah
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@youngdrodeau It sounds nice to say, "I'm very smart" but you can barely construct a sentence. Smart people don't have to declare it; it's observed. Game recognize game. Right? Right. And you better believe the ability to articulate & transmit your ideas is a metric of intellect. How else do I know if a kid understands math unless he gives me examples of mathematical expressions? Imbecile.
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@youngdrodeau And yes, "Deovamonte" IS ghetot as hell. It's uneducated. It's uniformed. It's not rooted in anything. It graduates high school less than 55% of the time. College? I won't waste my time with that discussion. 70% of the Deovamontes out there were born out of wedlock. You think that's okay simply because every other tradition was "ghetto" at some point? Nigga pleez.
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@youngdrodeau Dude. you wouldn't say it to my face. It's not intuitive for people to pick fights. And if I think our kids need to be educated so they can compete then I'll be whatever you like. If I think health issues must be addressed then I'll be whatever you want to call me. It looks like you've ignored all the context & cherrypicked to "prove a point". All you've really done is show me me how backward you are. Time for work. I'm doing a presentation about Black War Heroes tonight.
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@youngdrodeau No. I won't shut up. It's time someone said something. I didn't say Jason is better than Dontonio. Your stupid ass just can't understand that nuance. What I said is that chances are, Jason's parents have a better education so he'll have a better education. I'm not jumping anywhere. I'm still talking about the practice, among all functional cultures, of tradition informing generational progress. But this ghetto shit is NOT progressing.
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@youngdrodeau At best, I tell my kids the facts are about who we are & what our true origin is. Yes. I was born on the West Side of Chicago & raised in South Shore. That's as ghetto a pedigree as any Black kid can have written for him. But M&P had drive & insisted that I have access to something more. They also insisted that I have knowledge of self. A boy who'd be a man. A son of Africa not the 'hood. And that's a hard enough lesson to teach kids despite their parents own lack of education.
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@youngdrodeau(cont'd) Out of respect for & in protection of the child, I won't use her real name. I'll use Shonda. So here we have a little girl who's parent gave her a name that's rooted in nothing. Is it a leap of intelligence that she's probably didn't know where her people came from? The answer to that question is, "it's absolutely not a leap." I told you Shonda's story because THAT'S the norm nowadays. THAT'S our future. We're unprepared. Let parents off the hook all you please? I won't.
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@youngdrodeau Stop making strawmen. Stop asking questions of me then rendering your own answer. That's a weak way to argue a point. I said I don't venerate Codoleeza & Oprah because they're a prime example of exploiters. Either way Bruh, Oprah didn't even graduate. Kobe's parents didn't name him that because it sounded exotic. Beef kobe IS exotic. Nevertheless, they liked the name because it means "raw". Kobe is raw as hell.
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@youngdrodeau But maybe I am a little pompous. Then again, maybe you just feel belittled because you were small already. I don't know. You gotta soul-search for that answer. But you can't tell me about the quality of your education when your verbs are modified with adjectives. Learn some grammar my dude. Anyway, I suggest you read up on negritude & Sankofa philosophy. Read some Ayi Armah or Chinua Achebe. Hell, read some Addison Gayle if you want to understand the Black Aesthetic.
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@youngdrodeau All that shit sounds good Bee but at the end of the day, you're saying that shit because you want to disagree. A "White supremacist" doesn't teach math in the ghetto on a tiny Americorps stipend. a "White supremacist" doesn't do free medication management workshops for the Colorado Association for AFRICAN AMERICAN HEALTH. A "White supremacist" couldn't tell you to read Armah, Achebe & Gayle. A "White supremacist" doesn't know what Ma'at & Sankofa mean. You're a fucking moron.
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@emceeDeeJ We're not blaming Bush for the hurricane. That'd be silly. But we can blame our "elected" leader for not acting in the best interests of his own citizens. Yes, there were warnings given. Some people didn't help themselves. I don't disagree with that. But W didn't lift a finger until he got shown up by the Red Cross.
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@youngdrodeau Supremacists do what? I feel the need to do what? That's an interesting (& a dumb) rationale. Maybe I do these things because I see the need. Maybe, just maybe, the works Cruse, Bell, Karenga, Armah, King, Woodson, Baldwin, Gayle, Achebe & others INFORMED ME. Maybe being Black & poor is something to which I've an attachment because I can identify so I can't leave my people behind & still claim to have a conscience. Maybe you're too busy with affluence to peep that possibility.
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@Manofaction0 I'm not trying to change anyone's mind. I'm trying to help this dude understand something. In any case, I hope it doesn't bug you that much. Like you said, it's only youtube.
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@youngdrodeau Nah. You feel belittled. That's funny because you're supposed to be all affluent & such. Worst than the Klan? Why? Because I'd rather see talented kids be engineers than ballplayers who blow out their knees then go begging for a job at the Post Office? Fuck that. At the end of the day, I'm the 1 giving the a shot. You're mollycoddling them. Do you think this a kind world? Do you think Black kids are prepared to operate in global economies? Hell naw. They're too busy dougieing.
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@youngdrodeau No. It wasn't rare at all. It gradually developed in much the same way all terms, idioms, words did. I'm smarter than Dontonio because my parents cared enough to present me to the world as a boy who came from somewhere; they gave me some definition. They said, "our son is going to prosper. What he won't do is be mired down as an active player in some banal narrative about the ghetto. James ain't nobody's victim". Yes. That's why I'll be James & let Dontonio pick up my trash.
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@youngdrodeau Yes. James is rooted in something. James exists in the continuum of other men in much the same way that I exist in the continuum of other men. I(James) understand the principles of Ma'at & Sankofa. Dontonio does not. And your postulate that James was rare at some point is ridiculous. It's almost non-sequitir. LeBron DOESN'T MEAN ANYTHING. Why don't you get that? And my point is that you can't define self if your own premise, your name, doesn't mean anything.
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@youngdrodeau Yes. You absolutely feel belittled. If you didn't you wouldn't have mentioned it. Defend ghetto names all you want. The people with those names aren't going to be prepared for the world. C'mon dude, Lemonjello, Orangella & Kooladia aren't graduating college. You know it. I know it. Keep it 100.
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