Where are they now?

No I am not talking about VH1's show on has been musicians and 80s celebs. What I am talking about is black people.

After a very motivating trip to Washington, D.C. this weekend, I came to realize that there is so much about black history and culture that we do not know. I had the opportunity to visit the Museum of American History which held an exhibit of photos taken by a prominent African-American photographer, Addison Scurlock. Well, if you ever heard that name, I sure as hell am missing out on something.

Mr. Scurlock's photographs unlocked a door to what was the Golden Age for African-Americans....I saw businessmen, managers, doctors, lawyers, you name it. I hate to say it, but ninjas had their shit together back then. Everyone dressed to the nines and tens no matter how much money they had. Hair done nicely, top hats tighter than FDR's.

Today, what do we have? Mofos sporting pants that don't even sit on their waists and white t's that have yellowed from too much wear and little washing. How I would love to go back to those days of booming black business and a true sense of self-respect.

Sorry to get intellectual on you, but this is really where we need to evaluate what good integration ever really did for black people (this is not a racist rant cuz I love my white friends). This might go back to the Booker T. vs. W.E.B. matter. W.E.B. was all about the education, which is definitely important. On the other hand, Booker T. was all about making that paper by learning a trade. Personally, W.E.B.'s model could only succeed to a certain degree because only so many black people could and can go to school (y'all forgot about those quotas for a minute). Booker T. didn't mean for us to be ignorant. He just wanted us to learn something that would sustain us.

Think about it...Of course everybody is equal and should learn to live together, but when you have black communities with black run post offices, schools, delis, supermarkets, radio shacks, isn't life just a tad bit better? No rolling your eyes every day at work behind your boss' back when you know that promotion ain't coming for another 10 years.

So decades after the Addison Scurlocks, Martin Luther King, Jr.'s, and Thurgood Marshalls, where are they now?

Some African-Americans have been able to continue the tradition of the talented tenth. We still have our doctors, lawyers, and businessmen. The problem is that the tenth is just that - a tenth. W.E.B. had hoped for that fraction to increase, but it really hasn't.

I love my Weezys and Jay-zs, but I don't see a Roc-A-Fella Bank and I sure as hell don't see a Cash Money Car Wash. Oh yeah Bob Johnson is doing his thang, but don't forget that he did sell out on that BET tip.

My look into the past shows me that soooooooooooooo much work needs to be done in order for there to be a brighter, more positive future for America's black.

I hate to be rude, but haven't you ever wondered what it would be like to see a sign that said "Black Only"?

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*Photo 1: taken from Addison Scurlock collection at the Smithsonian

*Photo 2: taken from Addison Scurlock collection at the Smithsonian

*Photo 3: taken from Addison Scurlock collection at the Smithsonian