Image is Everything?

In wake of many YouTube personalities-- specifically the black sector-- weighing in on the issue with rapper Slim Thug's comments towards NFL quarterback Russell Wilson and his wife rapper/singer Ciara, the topic of image reared into the forefront. There is an image consultant who speaks adamantly about (especially) "black" men's reputation being shit and needing a change, and to a large extent I agree with him.

As another YouTuber would put it, black people, the men particularly, have become the laughing stock of civilization, and in a lot of instances, they don't help their case any with some of the retarded shit they do and say, which pains me to say that it's sad, but for the most part (unfortunately) true. All it takes is for one black man to do something stupid, it's a black eye on all of us. Is it unfair? Definitely. In other races, there can be a person or two who project themselves as an outright asshole, do and say some of the dumbest shit (i.e. the President), but his goofy shit and rhetoric won't be a reflection on his race as a whole in the public eye, unlike us. Bullshit, I know, but that's the way it is.

Going back to the image consultant, I was listening to a Google Hangout interview he did Friday, where he talked extensively about the black man's marred image in society, and to his credit, offered some suggestions on how to curtail it. He mentioned that image is everything, and he went through a few traits that he said didn't matter, character being one of them, and that's the one I vehemently disagree with.

Character is just as, if not, more important than image. Look, I get that we need to be more conscious of our appearance, and we should care about how we look and conduct ourselves. It's difficult to respect a man in his late 30s and up still dressing like a 17-year-old. My thing is: one, any changes we make inside, out, top to bottom, we should do it because we take pride in ourselves and how we carry ourselves. In other words, we make changes for us, because we respect ourselves, not to please whites or any other race, so that they don't view us as "thugs," "criminals," etc. To hell with that! Once people have you labeled and pegged a certain way, that's how they're going to perceive you, even if you make a 180 degree turnaround. Be true to yourself.

Not that there's anything wrong with suits, but that's not going to change the perception other races have of us, going back to my above paragraph, do it because you respect yourself, not to impress others or get them to change their perception of you. Fuck that shit! There have been black men who weren't wearing street clothes, who have still been harassed, brutalized, and killed by these animals. For example, the young man who took his sister to the prom before being brutalized by that chicken shit police officer was not wearing a jersey, sagging pants, and Jordans, he was wearing a long-sleeved dress shirt, with slacks. So, wearing their suits doesn't mean shit to them, you're just a nigger in a suit.

Two, the key word here is "image." When making references to these celebrities, that's exactly what it is: an image, a facade, a put-on. They project a sparkling image for the public, but privately, they're freaking miserable, which is where character comes in. You can look good, sharp, pretty, and beautiful all you want-- again, there's nothing wrong with that per se-- but if the the inner man or woman lacks substance, it's going to manifest itself on the outside and distort that image. So yes, our image needs to reshaped, but to instill self-respect, not to lessen the world's view of us. It has importance, and it is a factor, but it's definitely not everything.