West Coast Coon'n & All the other Regions Too!

A popular West Coast music artist recently faced well-deserved public scrutiny for his anti-black and misogynistic sentiments, and rightfully so. Much of the feedback expressed against the atrocious behavior resonates with me, and I am coming to a point where I feel myself backing completely away from a certain demographic in my music highlights because they always seem to be the culprits in expressing sentiments of colorism, anti-blackness, and misogynoir. "Like damn, I really hope this muthaf#63r isn't (insert ism)" as I draft my next post. I do not care how long ago the anti-black, colorists, misogynoir sentiments are expressed; if you said them, then you will be held accountable. I do not know how we have come to a point in society where hate speech can be treated as a phase that people can mature out of. Please show me where this exists on Erikson's stages of psychosocial development chart. This conversation led to a broader discussion of Black Californians, more specifically Black people in Los Angeles and the surrounding cities, being labeled coons and anti-black also.

I'll be the first to acknowledge that many of us in the Black community in Los Angeles could use a hard reset and a Sankofa to the south. I am not pleased with the anti-blackness I have witnessed firsthand in our communities. I have seen us being harsh to each other while pedalstalizing other groups, gatekeepers of our art and culture selling out, and inviting others for an opportunity that would not be granted in the reverse. It's bad, and I loathed it as a LA native deeply connected to my southern roots with high racial self-esteem; it sickens me. But let's be clear, the behavior is not marginalized to one region, as many attempted to project during the discussion. Every region's hands are dirty.

While much of the backlash was valid, the West Coast has maintained some artistic integrity and loyalty to the culture. We do not have, nor do we collectively proliferate, non-blacks in hip-hop and R&B, as our West Coast greats. But you know who does, the South, the East, and the Midwest. The East literally has white Latinos/Hispanics cosplaying in our genres by shaving their head and picking out their hair into afros and being elevated as legends in the game and voices of authority while expressing antiblack and misogynoir sentiments. The hypocrisy is utterly laughable. The Midwest swears that candy is the greatest thing to happen to hip-hop. The South allowed a DJ to run all through (LA, GA, FL), creating generational wealth off a genre created and built by Black Americans with no tangible reciprocity to the community—honorable mention for the pass given to Mr. Iced-out grillz. Also, keep in mind that all regions allow non-blacks to say n!99@ without consequence. The way I see it, everyone's hands are dirty, but I rarely, if ever, see the same energy given to the other regions, which appear to look the other way.

The selective outrage seems to be directed at Black natives of LA and is coming off a bit haterish. The backlash of an LA artist quickly catapulted into a dogpile on Black LA natives, lumping us all into one big anti-black cesspool. Let's be clear, without our presence, the majority of y'all wouldn't feel comfortable coming here. Everyone wants a taste of the Golden Coast and Calafia's island —the 4th-largest economy in the world and the political trendsetters. Please keep that in mind the next time you rush to announce your arrival to the timeline.