“there’s a war going on outside no man is safe from/it don’t matter if you’re three feet or eight one”

—camron, “welcome to new york city”

i remember being aware of it as early as 3rd grade, when rudy huxable doppleganger brandy anderson instantly went from “cute” to “african booty scratcher” because a few of our classmates saw a pack of food stamps fall out of her trapper keeper in music class.

i saw it again in college, when the “authentic” blacks from the hood would clown those whose subtle speech inflections, abercrombie, and mundane first names proved that they weren’t “black enough”. Continue reading →