An Art of Blackness site is long overdue.

An Art of Blackness site is long overdue. As much as I love this site and always return to it from time to time to get some great pointers or just to buck myself up a bit, it’s seems like a wasted effort at times when I see what the other race is doing. It’s hard to put my best appearance forward when my black classmates look like they came to class in the clothes they slept in, which they probably did.

But it goes further than that. Blacks need to well…black-up. So many young blacks are stuck in this permanent state of being sixteen. Here are a few qualities I propose to young blacks if they hope to have bestowed upon them the respect of the best WASPs around:

1. Get a freaking personalty! When I ask you “what is your passion,” you should not struggle for an answer. Read some books, watch some offbeat movies, listen to an artist that none of your other friends do. Show me you’re independent and I’ll give you all the independence your civil rights activist forebears told you that you deserve. If your passion comes in a bottle or your interests are broadcast to you via MTV, you’re going to get the exact same kind of friends you see on that channel: douchebags. Also, cheer up. Smile. Have a sense of humor and the ability to laugh at yourself but never put yourself down (i.e., don't use the n-word! If I can't, why can you???).

2. Drinking: I have to stress this because I browse the facebook profile photos of potential black friends enough to know it’s a problem, THERE IS NOTHING COOL ABOUT GETTING DRUNK. When I see a black in person or in an online picture, and he’s holding a half-empty bottle of Jaeger and his skin looks like it’s been greased down with Crisco (that sheen everyone gets when they’re thoroughly tanked), it says something to me.

3. What is going on with your tastes in music and movies these days? If you share the same taste in culture with your 10 year-old nephew, something is wrong. Anything MTV promotes is definitely not music. Shut that crap off and listen to a man with brains. .

4. Put…the…phone…down. And shut…it…off. Now. It’s a neon sign that says “SELF-OBSESSED” when you are texting enough to look like you’re writing War and Peace. It’s says that you’re too lazy or think too little of the people in question when you don’t have the decency to actually talk to them. Unplug, dude. It’s ok to face reality once in a while. (My personal policy is that I leave my cellphone in the car when I hang out with any of my black friends. If I see a new black friend look at his phone AT ALL during our time together, that’s the last time we hang out. I am willing to give him my full undivided attention because I believe he’s worth it, I would only expect the same.)

Source: Wrathbone's comment (#127) at What can manly men expect of women?