Thug Lyfe

Yesterday, for a debut anyway, I felt like I got a little heavy. “Hey check out my blog…I bet you would love a little American History coupled with some riots!” The thing about the situation is that the topics and points of view that I am sharing appear to be right in front of us all if we would just notice them once in a while. Let’s take a different route today and see if we can come up with something different.

From two different public officials (Mayor of Baltimore, Stephanie Rawlings-Blake and the President), the word “thug” was used to describe the rioters. Specifically, the President referred to them as thugs, as well as criminals. Let’s take a couple of things into consideration real fast. Firstly, both the Mayor of Baltimore and the President are African-American. Secondly, Freddie Gray, the victim of the police brutality, was also African-American. Finally, a very large majority of the rioters are African-American.

Now, stay with me here. I am actually going to get to a point soon.

Baltimore City Councilman Carl Stokes was recently interviewed on CNN about the situation, and was praising the efforts of citizens who were rising up against the random violence that has been occurring. Using powerful phrases like, “…this is Baltimore. This is our Baltimore. And they’re showing just who we are and why we’re standing up for justice, not only for Freddie Gray, but for all of the Freddie Grays that have been killed or brutalized in Baltimore.”

Pretty powerful stuff!

He was then asked to give his thoughts on the usage of the word ‘thug’ to describe the rioters. It should be noted, that the Councilman is African-American, as well. He spoke vehemently against the term, even going so far as comparing the word to the ‘n-word.’ He said on camera, “calling them thugs — just call them n*****s. Just call them n*****s. No, we don’t have to call them by names such as that. We don’t have to do that. That is exactly what we have set them to. Now, when you say ‘come on,’ come on what? You wouldn’t call your child a thug if they should do something that would not be what you would expect them to do.”

A couple of years ago, Seattle Seahawks cornerback Richard Sherman also made comments like that when he was described as a thug for his post-game interview after the NFC Championship game. In response to the criticism he said, “It seems like [thug] is the accepted way of calling somebody the N word nowadays.”

So how about it loyal readers?

Unfortunately, most of these incidents concerning police violence are against people of color. I am not going to get into the issues of “unarmed, known criminal with priors, or completely innocent.” I am speaking specifically of the race relations. Either the news is merely just focusing on them to get ratings, or it is becoming a relevant issue to talk about.

Referring to angry youth, who happen to be African-American, as ‘thugs’ is being viewed as a substitution word.

It’s hard to say really. Throughout American history, the word thug has always be synonymous with criminal. Even more specifically, petty or common criminal. This being said, the word Thug has also been appropriated by hip-hop culture. This includes songs, groups, artists, albums, and even a lifestyle legitimized by Tupac Shakur.

2Pac had the words “Thug Life” tattooed across his stomach, and he used these words to say about it at the 1993 Indiana Black Expo:

When I say ‘Thug Life,’ I mean that s**t

Cause these white folks see us as thugs

I don’t care what y’all think

I don’t care if you think you a lawyer, if you a man, if you an ‘African-American’

If you whatever the f**k you think you are

We thugs and n****s to these m****f***rs…

And until we own some s**t, I’m gonna call it like it is

How are we going to be men if we’re starving?

If we walk by five different house, and be a man in any of those m****f***rs

How we gonna be a man?

How we gonna be African-Americans?

We black! We thugs! And We n*****s until we set this s**t right!

Trust me when I tell you that s**t!

Councilman Stokes and Richard Sherman seem to echo that sentiment. Using thug and the other word are almost interchangeable. Tupac almost seemed to embrace the idea until something would change in our culture/society. That was 1993. Look at 2015!

Progress.

Let me hear your comments.