Started as a Tweet...Evolved into a Movement

(This entry is based on actual tweets...)

I'm not sure if this is appropriate or not, but I just saw someone shout out AAliyah in a trending topic named for her.  My first thought was news flash...she can't hear you... But then I started to to wonder why Black people do strange things like "shout out" dead entertainers on Twitter or make obscure statements about dead entertainers with no explanation (someone on my timeline retweeted, "Aaliyah was to young girls what Tupac was to young men. RIP Aaliyah.") What was Tupac to young men? He was in his early 20s when he died; he was a young man himself, so all he could be to them was what Wayne is to them now (and I'm not sure what that is either). Tupac was just trying to find his way through. At times he was profound; at others, he was volitile. In other words, he was human, so let's not canonize him (The Book of ThugLife).

I've got a point here, and it isn't to mock the questionable words of people on social networking sites (although that's fun too). I guess I just wish if we were going to "shout out the dead," we would shout out the dead who really weren't even "shouted out" (I don't think it's "shout outted") when they were alive.

Here's my installment:

Shout out to MLK for all the marching! I appreciate it man! I'm a dreamer too!

And while I'm at it...shout out to James Baldwin for contributing to the academia of American culture that all the "Wayne-iacs" ignore.

Can't forget my girl, Zora. When Janie watched God, so did I.

And Ralph E. - You're still invisible to the masses, but no one could ever mass produce you. Can't say that for a lot of "novelists" these days.

Sojourner - you really are the truth.

L. Hughey - I'm what happens to a dream deferred. Thanks for the motivation.

Oh, and I can't forget Mark Twain - the Eminem of the game. I heard what you were saying to us, even if you used their words and rules to say it.

That's all for now GOOD PEOPLE. BE EASY...