Stop Doing It "For The Culture" It Isn't For Us

In my younger days , we didn’t use the phrase “for the culture”, we just did things because it was a part of our social contract as African Americans. 

SN: a social contract is an implicit agreement among the members of a society to cooperate for social benefits. Basically, what’s understood about what you’re expected to do as a black person, doesn’t need to be explained because of the “greater good” it brings to the community, hence “for the culture”. 

What does it mean to “do it for the culture” though? According to urbandictionary.com, for the culture means “essentially just something someone does to follow the trend and not necessarily something they would do if it wasn't popular.” When you think of the African American culture, think about what comes to mind. Trap music (music that degrades our women), selling and using drugs, gold teeth, casual hookups (unprotected sex is heavily encouraged), driving the boat, designer clothes (designed by white men), fancy cars, big butts (Dr. Miami is well known in our community), long nails, twerking, long weaves....all trends that most of us wouldn’t do if it wasn’t popular, am I right?

However, if we can’t afford to do some of these things that are for the culture, then we become self conscious, and start thinking of alternative ways to to get it. 

For example, here are some methods that people do “for the culture” because it’s the cool thing to do, but can’t afford it:

Wear designer clothes-women are often encouraged to be with a man so he can buy her a designer bag, or we just buy fake designer clothes. We all know a black person that sells fake designer clothes, and if we can’t afford the real designer, we contact that person. My aunt loves this place here in Atlanta that is a little marketplace that sells fake designer, all the way from Gucci, Chanel, YSL, Balenciaga, Tom Ford, Fendi, Uggs (which I did buy a pair for $40 lol) and all of their merchants and consumers are African American. The brands that these people are selling are all designed by white men and we walk around promoting their brands, whether we can afford it or not because it’s a part of our culture. 

SN: I have never seen a white person selling fake designer. I’m sure they are selling it, I just haven’t seen them. It’s usually a black person in an urban neighborhood. You wouldn’t see them in any upper class neighborhoods because they can afford the real things. 

Big butts-when women don’t have large butts, they get injections. It’s a trend and women are celebrated to possess large buttocks, rather than little or no butt at all. Women always look at other women’s butt to see if it’s bigger than theirs which can affect their self-esteem. Unfortunately, procedures from certain doctors may be fatal if not done right, and I hate reading those type of articles when women go to the cheap doctors. But once again, if we can’t afford the real thing, we get the cheaper version, instead of sticking with what we already have and staying in our lane.

Fancy cars, gold teeth, etc. this one is very important because of course, not everyone can afford these things, so you know what some do? They either rob others, or get involved in trafficking, either drugs or humans. Selling drugs is illegal, but it’s part the culture and it is considered to have a social benefit, however, human trafficking is another way that black men are making money. 

According to Grant Makers For Girls of Color, “statistics show that African-American men are overwhelmingly the individuals that kidnap and traffic the majority of America’s sex trafficking victims. However, these traffickers are marketing and selling the services of their victims to a largely white, affluent base.” I don’t know about you but to me this sounds like modern day slavery, and we are still being sold to the rich white men.

They sell our sisters so they can make about $5,000-$38,0000 weekly so they can have disposable income and buy the things they want that are part of the culture. This is why so many young black men get caught up in the business of illegal selling to help them become rappers. It’s a lucrative business! When you have money, you can buy all the things you want that are part of the culture, but it’s how you make the money is what can destroy the community. 

We often see advertisements for video girl castings and what do they usually use for aesthetics? Images of women in lingerie or a bathing suit in front of fancy cars! It glorifies being sexy and linking it to having money, which cultivates sex trafficking. But what if the very same girls in the images are women who are being used for sex trafficking? We don’t think abut that because it’s normal to be sexy-I mean it’s “for the culture”. 

There’s other things I could mention, which I will at a later time but I believe that in order for us to shift toward greatness and prosperity in our lives and our community, we need to shift away from the culture. Stop trying to fit into the trends and do what’s best for you, as well as what’s best for others. 

“Let Jesus flow through you, not the culture!”

When we clash the culture with our religion, then we commit sin. We have enough demons in the world deriving from the culture. Let’s start putting out positivity and encouragement for legal and safe behaviors to save our youth as well as our future. 

I leave you with this quote from Tupac:

“We gotta make a change. It's time for us as a people to start makin' some changes. Let's change the way we eat, let's change the way we live, and let's change the way we treat each other. You see the old way wasn't working so it's on us to do what we gotta do, to survive.”