Welcome back to the Barbershop.


Where everything from Little Caesars to 'what's hot on the streets' is up for debate. First off, we'd just want to thank everyone that has made a contribution to this thread and it's predecessors, the ever expanding community, or across the internet in one of the many race-related threads/topics in the past or plans to do so in the future. Its not easy and I know it gets old, but its appreciated and necessary. As always, this isn't a "Blacks Only" spot by any means. Any and all are free to hop in. Consider it open mic. All are welcome to keep it real (keep it too real and you better get kufi insurance).

In the past, we've always tried to make sure that discussion here was free and open - the goal being to encourage that questions get asked and that there are more than enough answers in return. As always, props to dope posts follow. (links where applicable)

Everyone wants to be black. There's nothing more punk rock on Earth than being black. We stroll in, all muscle and sinew and cocoa, fucking the game up like dirty edge connectors. We laugh loud and speak bold and emit "I-just-don't-give-a-fuck" with every movement. We have been scrutinized and analyzed in every conceivable way, and still we are mysterious and exotic right down to the kink of our hair to those - surprising, still numerous - people who haven't been in contact with us before. We've created the rhythm and the blues, the rock and the roll, the hip and the hop. We brought in the noise and the funk. We put the soul in food, and pretty much everything else too. We built your pyramids, and we leap over them with our seemingly impossible collective athleticism, borne of mountains, jungles and plains that many of us still live in all across the world. Everyone wants to be black.

No one wants to be black. There's nothing more terrifying than the knowledge that we exist in every way but individually to everyone - even other black people. We can never be judged by our own merits; we carry the weight of the race's progression with every step into the future like Atlas, and even he shrugged…but we can't, because it's considered weak and selling out if we do. Every bit of slang, every bit of clothing that sits the wrong way, every head nod and hand gesture can and will be taken in the wrong way, a universal "there-goes-the-neighborhood" by everyone that can do so, which basically consists of everyone that doesn't want the social association with black people. That group, naturally, consists of everyone that is able to pass as "non-black". We live in a world where we were kings until we were cattle, and then we were weapons, and then we were like aphids, sprouting up where we weren't wanted, corrupting non-black youth, and the reason for everything from crime to lowered test scores or property value. Nobody wants to be black.

My blackness offends infinitely.
I want to be black.


Also, I'm just not going to address the topic. I'm just going to sit back and watch. I wouldn't say we are universally reviled; it just seems that way sometimes.

Natural's Law - It states: "As an online discussion grows longer, the probability of a comparison involving black people approaches 1. In other words, Natural put forth the hyperbolic observation that, given enough time, in any online discussion regarding any form of conflict someone inevitably criticizes some point made in the discussion by comparing it to discrimination faced by blacks.

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And let's not forget those who came before us. Before Don Lemon, we had Rob Parker. A trail blazer who gave us The Rob Parker Scale of Blackness.

Through trials and tribulations, this has been and will continue to be a place where many can come to discuss heritage, habits, perspectives, and generally share knowledge and experiences among others who understand that this road walked is indeed different. From East Coast to West Coast, from Syria to England, and from Africa to the Caribbean, this place of discussion has turned into something pretty great.

Out of tradition, the old sign-in sheet from 2010 still exists and has more than done its job as an icebreaker for hundreds of people who've come and gone after leaving their mark in the Black Culture Threads of the past.

- Where you're from
- Where you live
- Your cultural heritage, lineage and genealogy
- Do you know your roots?
- Your Age
- Favorite musical genre
- Your profession/major/career interest
- Your religious affiliation
- Hobbies

Continuous efforts over the years has made the community what it is and keeping it going... well, it only makes sense. Contributions will always be welcome and supported. This site was created largely with that, and you, in mind. More in the pipeline.

Also

A powerful shout out to our good folks at So Well Spoken


Headed by our own Moris, the So Well Spoken podcast has brought together various personalities from across the country to provide a well-informed, diverse, and most of all entertaining podcast for the past two years. Check it out during your next traffic jam, flight, or jog around the neighborhood. Be on the lookout for streams in the near future.

And as always, please keep those dehumanizing stares in check...

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