Breaking Chains

By: Derek Farrow

Waupun Correctional Institution, Wisconsin

It was a Sunday—a day dedicated to sports on TV. My cellmate asked if I was going to watch the basketball games. I replied, “No. I’m gonna watch NASCAR.” For some reason, this seemed to offend his sensibilities as a black man.

“What?! Nigga, that shit’s for white mutha fuckas. Who taught you how to be black?” He proceeded to mock the fact that not only did I not watch basketball, but I also didn’t play it. The revelation that I read book series about vampires instead of hood novels, and hadn’t seen some so-called hood classic movies that everyone in the neighborhood has apparently watched, left him baffled.

“Nigga, are you from the hood?” he asked me.

Born and raised, but I don’t feel that growing up in an impoverished ghetto is something to brag about. 

Here’s the thing: this isn’t the first time a black man has questioned my blackness because I dared to step outside of what is stereotypically accepted as the behavior of black men from the hood. 

Over my thirty-six years of living as a black male, I’ve noticed a set of unwritten rules or guidelines that dictate how a brother from the hood must behave to be accepted as a whole black man. 

You are expected to be a hardened, heartless thug who glorifies violence and substance abuse. Womanizing is praised. You must belong to some hood or organization. Rap music becomes your bible because, like Christians who ask WWJD (What Would Jesus Do?), as a black male from the hood, you are expected to think about what your favorite rapper would do, think, say, and wear.

Being cutthroat is somehow considered a good quality, while valuing life is seen as a weakness. The list goes on. Step outside these boundaries, and your blackness is somehow stained. 

This mindset is a chain that binds, but breaking free from it is what truly defines a man. It’s time to challenge these stereotypes and redefine what it means to be black in today’s world…

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