"And the house Negro always looked out for his master. When the field Negroes got too much out of line, he held them back in check. He put 'em back on the plantation. The house Negro could afford to do that because he lived better than the field Negro. He ate better, he dressed better, and he lived in a better house. He lived right up next to his master" - Malcolm X
The first step to solving any problem is admitting that one exists. The best method in which to propel an issue is to pretend it is not there, a House Negro engages in the latter and does so at the expense of his fellow Negroes.
Lil Wayne is a House Negro.
Lil Wayne lives in the house of White Supremacy: The American Dream. He is so blinded by his monetary success and his white fanbase that the idea that racism and the denigration of black men, women, and children killed by police isn't a real threat, at least not anymore.
Lil Wayne is a House Negro.
With enough money a slave could buy their freedom, Lil Wayne's net worth is 150 million. Lil Wayne is a free man but chooses to operate within the house. He isn't a stranger to philanthropy so don't think I'm selling him short, but out of the good he has done the most dangerous thing he can do in a time where black people are trying to progress in a space that was designed against our collective success, is claim that the problem isn't there because he, as an individual is doing well.
Lil Wayne is a House Negro.
Only a House Negro would operate with the reasoning that because they live well, there simply isn't a problem, even though the other Negroes are telling him there is. When this happens whether the House Negro says the following or not doesn't matter but they imply that there isn't something wrong with the system that governs the Negro but there is something wrong with the Negro himself. Is that something you would say to a slave in 1856? Is that something you would say to a Black Panther in 1966? Is this something you would say to a black child today, with evidence of social and systemic racial inequality all around us? I would hope not but that is what people imply when they engage in willful ignorance regarding the system of racism in the country.
We overestimate how far we've come in the United States and underestimate the persistence of history in our country. We'd like to make leader like Martin Luther King and Barack Obama seem like messiahs who have ushered in the fresh air of a post-racial society, that they inherently made things better. But the reality is that despite the number of rich black celebrities, the American Dream was not something designed with the Negro in mind, as we like to believe that law enforcement was made to protect the Negro the way it guards the those who are white, the House Negro believes he is the exception and that being in the house as sanctified him as the house sanctifies the white men in it.
Lil Wayne is not a sanctified Negro.
Lil Wayne is not an exceptional Negro.
Lil Wayne is just a House Negro.
And in interactions with the police, his life matters just as much as the Field Negro.
