Do You: Some Thoughts on Lord Jamar and the LBGT Community

I’m probably months late on completely speaking on this whole thing, but I’d rather have some time to think through everything and create something thought-provoking over something just for views and shock value. That’s why I tend to post reviews of music a week-or-so after the release date; you can’t get everything you need to out of something when it’s fresh off the grill. I also want to apologize in advance if I offend someone with this.

Anyhow, over the past year-plus, Brand Nubian member and social revolutionary Lord Jamar has made comments about homosexuality, whites in hip-hop, Kanye West, Mimi Faust’s sex tape, and a slew of other topics. To avoid posting video after video, here’s his VladTV playlist from Youtube. Bare in mind that, if you’re reading at work, it gets NSFW pretty quickly:

Now, I’ll be the first to admit that some of the things he’s said, they made me raise an eyebrow and just shake my head. But, after thinking about a lot of his thoughts, it’s not coming from a place of ignorance or racism. Yes, some of the things he’ll talk on can be considered “out there,” but there’s a degree of truth to a lot of it–or at least a conversation-worthy opinion.

Some white artists have appropriated afro-centric music to their own liking. The Illuminati is a smoke-and-mirrors tactic used to instill fear, or some straight-up bull. Young men should act like men. As a man, there are certain things you need to do (provide for your family, have a decent spiritual center, don’t mess around and get caught up in foolishness, et cetera). But, because of how societal norms have shifted, men in general have gotten their priorities all twisted up. I will go on record here in saying that I do not care if a man is gay or straight, as long as he’s doing what he needs to do to ensure the survival of himself and his progenies (and never forgets his roots), he’s a great person.

That’s where I kind of get off the Jamar train, as I’m more of the camp of “if you’re gay, you’re gay. Do you.”

I don’t think that there is a real ‘gay agenda’ or whatever. That’s more some smoke-and-mirrors foolishness to distract us from unity. It’s similar (not completely, but there are parallels) to how blacks were/are treated for being black. It’s that fear of the other that’s conditioned into people to make them feel wary of something that isn’t deemed “normal.” That may be part of the reason why black men in women’s clothes is seen as emasculating and allows for non-black audiences to feel “at ease.” That’s another post for another time, though.

I feel that the LBGT community wants to be included and thought of as normal, because they are normal people. We all have our distinct tastes in people and sexuality. I have a thing for light-skinned women with curves and glasses (or apparently, women who do “sexy selfies,” according to the people that come to this page). Someone else may like skinny white women. Someone else may like dark-skinned men. It doesn’t make either of us wrong, it just means we’ve got different ideas of what’s appealing to us.

When we get past the differences, unity can truly take place. But, that’ll never happen as long as there is that aforementioned fear/disgust/disdain of an “other.” At the end of the day, people, we’re all just that: people. As long as you’re a good person (and yes, that is subjective; however, there are some general guidelines on how to be a “good” person), I don’t give a rat’s ass if you’re gay, trans, sex positive, straight, pansexual, androgynous, asexual or whatever. Do you.

Use these differences to guide you into learning more about people. I don’t have all the answers, and I probably never will. But, unity is what we should strive for–not separation or alienation.