Landmark Moments In The Black Community – The B-Sides

Posted on by

We black, we know it. We dancing. It's our birthday. Booty butt cheeks. Booty butt cheeks.

This has been a good week for Black people. Really, it’s been a good week for those of common sense but I figured I’d just skip the niceties and go right to where I care the most, my kahmrunitee. Tyrese. Obama’s (military) accomplishment and ensuing speech will be remembered long time like a favor from an Asian chick who works at Happy Endings Got Me Working Day and Nite Spa. While it’s not nearly on the same plateau as Dr. King’s “I Have A Dream” speech, or the assassination of Malcolm X – and Martin for that matter – as landmark events in the Black community go, for current day ninjas, it’s our moment. They’re the kind of moments you will remember forever. Even if you weren’t even alive for them. They resonate.

You know, like the OJ Simpson verdict.

From Brown vs. Board of Ed to Alice Walker’s The Color Purple to Michael Jackson taking that final Moonwalk towards the sky, the Black community has a lot of moments that are and will be commemorated for eons to come. Little martian children will read about great accomplishments and beam…possibly up Scotty, but a beam is a beam.

But you know, there are also some events that are AS significant (okay not really) that don’t get nearly as much attention. You know how on old vinyl records, there was always a B-side record? It wasn’t as good as the hit on the A-side, but intended to get some attention and pull for the artist as well. We here in the Black community have a lot of B-side moments. Such as?

Glad you asked.

1) The death of Ricky

I don’t care how old you are, you know that Ricky’s dead. In fact, any time I see a Black man running, I’m compelled to yell out RIIIIIIIICKY!!!!! with the force of three titans and two foster children named Shane. Boyz N The Hood was our first real look at South Central from a place we could care about, unlike Colors. We cared and when Ricky got shot, we cried. I remember seeing it as 12 year old and begging my uncle to never take me to South Central. Why? I didn’t want to get shot like Ricky. ZIG ZAG RICKY!!!! DON’T RUN STRAIGHT!!!!

Speaking of deaths…not quite on par but close enough….

2) The death of Stringer Bell

I promise you that I heard screams in my apartment building when Stringer got shot. Despite him being the one character I was ROOTING for to get murked, something about Stringer resonated to all of us. Every woman wanted him and every man wanted to be him. Again, DESPITE the fact that he might have been the most shady, ruthless, f*cked up character on the show. And if that was a spoiler, then let me add this too…

2a) Bodie getting bodied on the corner

Probably didn’t hurt as much but dammit if it wasn’t hard to see the one dude you really liked just as a straight up soldier catch a bad one.

3) Nipplegate

It’s the point where we realized that it really was us against them. Justin sold out Janet and never looked back. Her career never really recovered and she was forced at gunpoint to do Tyler Perry movies. She participated in one of the most retarded scenes in cinematic history…oh and that scene would be the ENTIRE film Why Did I Get Married Too. Justin went about his business to make more millions and just be white. All over a nipple. Who hasn’t seen one of those. I’m looking at one right now. Damn shame.

4) Halle Berry bares her boobs in Swordfish

Just a personal landmark for me. Nothing more, nothing less. The guys I was with? We all stood up to clap. Nobody cared though, that movie sucked donkey nuts.

5) Tupac/Biggie/rapper deaths

I’ll bet more ninjas know the birth and death dates of Tupac and Biggie than King or Malcolm X. Young and old.

6) The Game Season 4 premiere

Apparently it was the most highly watched cable program after the summer solstice but before the winter solstice on a Tuesday in November both before and after 8pm while going up on the downstroke. Or something. Point is, more of you ninjas watched the Game season premiere than would show up to a rally on education inequality. That says something. What? I don’t know. I was watching it too.

7) Whitney Houston tells us that “crack is wack”

Just like everybody else, I watched that interview and saw Bobby sweating like he stole something. Then Whitney hits us with the quote that will live longer than she will, “crack is wack”. She also asked for a receipt for all the drugs she’d done which subsequently showed up online a few days later. Notably, nobody believed her.

8) Some guy gives Tyler Perry a check to put on a stage play

Somewhere in Atlanta, a homeless Tyler Perry finishes up a manuscript for a terribly predictable and horribly written stage play starring him as a woman. He added some gospel, some really long songs, and a cast of other ninjas nobody’s heard about, and convinced somebody to give him the money for that first show. The rest as they say, is showbiz history. Nobody can pinpoint the moment where it all went left, but it happened. Spike Lee’s guitar gently weeps. Or it would if he could figure out how to come up with a decent ending for a movie. Spike has worse endings than 15 year old virgins.

9) We find out the DC Snipers are Black

Sad, sad day for stereotypes everywhere. Except them ninjas got caught sleeping. Literally. Just like Black folks.

10) Kanye West says that Bush doesn’t care about Black people

As unpoignantly poignant as his statement was, it somehow fit exactly what the entire Black community felt. This is also the point where people started believing that Kanye read books and/or was somebody to talk politics with. Boy were those people wrong. Point is, Kanye did Kanye things, and we’ll never forget. Like the Alamo.

That’s ten. What else you got? What are some sort of glossed over landmark moments in the Black community?

Shake something.

-VSB P aka THE ARSONIST aka MR. LOOKING AT THEM GIRLS WITH THE DAISY DUKES ON aka GIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIRL HE A 3

918 thoughts on “Landmark Moments In The Black Community – The B-Sides”

  1. Seeing Omar tongue-kiss Brandon in Season 1 of the Wire was rough on me. Omar’s character took on three/ four/ five new dimensions after that one.

    Reply ↓

          • It sucks that I was in Basic Training when this happened, so I couldn’t even celebrate with y’all. *Sad Face*

            Reply ↓

            • No worries! I was sure to shout it out for all of us when they called my Platoon to attention at first formation!! ALL of my fellow squad leaders were ready to lynch me after I belted out GOOOOO OOOBBAAAMMMAAAAA!!!

              ***Then I looked at them with the (in my Pinky voice) “SAY ANOTHER WORD NI66A! OOOOOH SAY ANOTHER MOFO WORD NI66A!” face and went back to attention!!

              Reply ↓

          • You know how I could always tell an A side event from a B side? A Side events, another black person could look at you without saying anything and you knew you were thinking the same thing.

            When I was getting my popcorn to go in and see Swordfish, I saw another black dude. We didn’t say anything, just gave the “ninja nod” and it was understood: We’re about to go see Halle’s Berries

            When it was determined that the DC snipers were black, I looked at a black woman in the cafeteria, she sighed, looked at me and shook her head and I understood: We can’t hold this over white people heads no more. Now we’re crazy too.

            When I was standing in line for the election, I looked at an old lady, and she smiled and nodded her head, and I did the same, it was understood: we ’bout to run this.

            Reply ↓

        • i see you’re taking this non-mention of the election personal. a bit nitpicky aren’t we? would it make you feel better if i go back and edit the post and then place it in there? hmm? hmm?

          Reply ↓

  4. I gotta say the creation of the Boondocks tv show. First 2 seasons were epic. I remember fighting over the dvds with friends when they first came out.

    Reply ↓

  5. That picture caption had me laughing for about 4 minutes straight, and for that I thank you kind sir *curtsies*.

    Reply ↓

    • agreed. i feel like clapping my hands with them

      when we gettin’ a VSB sponsored dance party in this mug? yoles will bring the glitter.

      Reply ↓

      • *Lmao* @ you joining in on the festivities. They should have one this Friday so we can all hit the Obamie & Electric Slide into the weekend *lol*.

        Reply ↓

  6. Sidetracking a bit here, but even though he wasn’t as big of a character, Wallace’s death was worse than Stringer’s and Bodie’s.

    Reply ↓

    • Oh! So true, P.! So true!

      it hurt my heart.

      and then D’angelo: “Ay yo, String! Where’s Wallace???”

      it echoes.
      and he was so good with the lil anklebiters in the neighborhood! yeah i know he shoulda stayed in the boonies, but it still wasn’t easy to see him get murked, esp. cuz he wasn’t really a soldier.

      Reply ↓

      • Wallace was a potential VSB who got caught up. That one hurt my heart man. He pleaded with them dudes, brought up old memories and ish…

        Stringer’s you saw coming from the prior season. It was no way he was getting around that.

        And Bodie, I thought he might make it…

        …it’s all in the game.

        Reply ↓

    • I must disagree here. I totally saw Wallace’s death coming and he was stupid for coming back so he deserved it… Now I knew something was going to go down with Bodie, but I didn’t think they were going to kill him. Bodie still had a part to play. I hated that.

      Reply ↓

    • Wallace had to go. I understood it. He wasn’t made for the game and yet he couldn’t stay away. There were no other options. At some point, he woulda got killed or gotten somebody else killed. I mean, can you imagine Wallace tryna slug it out with Marlo and nem?

      Secondly, I shed a tear when Bodie died. That ish just wasnt right. That ninja Marlo aint got no code, he just be killin ninjas. Ruthless.

      Reply ↓

      • “That ninja Marlo aint got no code,”
        I think that added to the mystery of his character. I found his character to be somewhat intriguing.

        Reply ↓

        • I felt that Marlo had a code that was centered around his perception of self. Whereas, the other gangsters took an approach that allowed for other people to breathe around them. Marlo was basically a young Ghetto Godfather. One of my favorite characters.
          Wallace was me…I mean, I related to that character so hard, and knowing he was marching right back into his death effed me up. But I moved on. Then of course, like many others, I wanted Stringer to go down but I also wanted to see him somehow avoid Omar’s wrath…wasn’t happening.
          Broadie was the homie. He kept things simple and led his life by loyalty as best he could. I was just waiting for it to happen, because it was clear his time was up episodes before he finally got popped.
          But, I also got a bit messed up with Lil’ Mike aka my other namesake from VSB aka Big Paws on a Puppy(given to him by Marlo). Because dude was molested and turned out to be Omar jr ala stick up kid status.
          So many moments.

          Reply ↓

          • Dog, I could not get with Marlo. It was like, if you have harmony right, and then somebody unleashes a virus that just comes and offsets everything. Marlo was that virus. U had the East and the West. And everything was balanced, but this ninja Marlo was just icin cats for little stuff. To me that aint boss, that’s petty. Like Mike was asking, “Why Marlo worry about what people say if he know it aint true?” Why he killin cats for no reason, bringin bodies out, bringin the cops down when they could just sell and get away with it if aint nobody gettin murked.

            I felt bad for Dukie and Randy too. Season 4 was the best season to me.

            Season Five was wack to me. The whole homeless killer theme just didnt seem very “Wire-ish”. I know they cut the season short, but dag. I like when Slim Charles killed Cheese at the end tho.

            Matter fact, now that i think about it. Champ introduced me to the Wire through his old blog. D.theroyalyoungs. I came in on Season 4. The circle of life.

            Reply ↓

            • I was rooting for Slim for a while. He was kinda $exy with that deep voice and he talked slow. Anyway, I agree. Marlo represented the new school where the rules went out the window. He was the new Stringer, Mike was the new Omar, the other boy was the new Bubs; the cycle continued. I agree, the serial k!ller story was a bore. I wanted the last image of the show to be Bubs sitting down at the table, but it was just a flicker.

              Reply ↓

            • @Squeak, while you are right that Marlo was way to unstable of a character, he represents a wild Alpha male of some animal(idk, say lions or Gorillas) where ruthless and reactive is proactive(you may think I’m reaching but I’m not).
              That power corrupted him absolutely. There is a tiny megalomaniac inside of me that cheered @ every action Marlo took. We’ll call him the devil on my shoulder(DOMS) from here on out.

              Reply ↓

              • Nah I dont think you’re reaching. Ur exactly right. There was a scene in the Rim Shop where he was talkin to that old dude who gave him advice, and dude was telling him that everybody that wears the crown, ends up dead or in jail. Marlo’s response: “Yeah, but they wore it though.”

                He had no consideration of the consequences of his actions, as long as he got to wear the crown, no matter how little. Thing is, as i said downthread, Marlo would only be a pawn in the game. The real boss was The Greek. When you looked at how Deangelo talked about the chess game, marlo wouldn’t have been the most powerful piece.

                That’s why it didnt make sense for him to smash the Co-op, and cut everyone out. Stringer and Prop Joe had the right idea, let’s band together, and get this money. The only opposition would be the New York cats, other than that, it’s quiet and no need for any Special Crime Units.

                Marlo wanted to be the king, and he got it, for all of a year. Then Freamon and McNulty was hot on that trail. Had he calmed down, he coulda been gettin money as part of the co-op.

                Reply ↓

                • You right you right….Thats what I liked about him.
                  “Its better to have loved and lost than to not have loved at all”

                  I agree with you, if he had played his role instead of wiping the chess board, everybody could have got money but he was selfish.

                  I want to be like him, seeing as I get left out every other way…eff them all.

                  Reply ↓

  9. 3) Nipplegate

    It’s the point where we realized that it really was us against them. Justin sold out Janet and never looked back. Her career never really recovered and she was forced at gunpoint to do Tyler Perry movies. She participated in one of the most retarded scenes in cinematic history…oh and that scene would be the ENTIRE film Why Did I Get Married Too. Justin went about his business to make more millions and just be white. All over a nipple. Who hasn’t seen one of those. I’m looking at one right now. Damn shame.

    I still haven’t forgiven Justin for this and I never will.

    10) Kanye West says that Bush doesn’t care about Black people

    As unpoignantly poignant as his statement was, it somehow fit exactly what the entire Black community felt. This is also the point where people started believing that Kanye read books and/or was somebody to talk politics with. Boy were those people wrong. Point is, Kanye did Kanye things, and we’ll never forget. Like the Alamo.

    I was already a fan of Ye but THIS is when I officially became a stan.

    That’s ten. What else you got? What are some sort of glossed over landmark moments in the Black community?

    The Last Dragon. Nuff said. Sho.

    Reply ↓

  10. The creation of the show 16 and Pregnant. Between that and Britney Spears, poor Black folks are looking a little better every day. The world cannot deny that trailer trash is much scarier than poor ninjas.

    Reply ↓

    • Don’t forget Jersey Shore! Po’ white trash is winning like Charlie Sheen, which keeps Black folks winning like Obama’s approval rating.

      Reply ↓

      • Don’t forget Jersey Shore! Po’ white trash is winning like Charlie Sheen

        I love Jersey for just this reason.

        A (black) friend of mine was having a conversation with an Italian American guy who was upset about the show. “How would you feel if there was a show that only showed your community in a negative light?” He asked.

        My friend responded:
        “There already is. It’s called TV!”

        Reply ↓

    • The Wild & Wonderful Whites of West Virgina. If you haven’t seen it, see it. Believe me, you’ll never look at White folks the same way again.

      Reply ↓

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

You may use these HTML tags and attributes: <a href="" title=""> <abbr title=""> <acronym title=""> <b> <blockquote cite=""> <cite> <code> <del datetime=""> <em> <i> <q cite=""> <strike> <strong>