SA Gangstaz

DemonSpawn

Date:
21/05/2007

It took a lot of teeth-gritting to write that last word in the title. Mainly because as a literate and educated South African, I abhor Americanisms. I mean, let's face it- those yanks are really only one step away from spelling 'telephone' with an 'f'.

America's primary export to South Africa is currently the ghetto gangster culture, transmitted through music. Well, what passes for music these days. And although black Americans are portrayed pretty much the way the Afrikaaner National Party wanted people to view blacks in South Africa (uncivilised, illiterate, violent and barbaric), these icons - and I use the term loosely - are being idolised by an entire generation of South African teenagers.

I'm not a very close friend of Nelson Mandela. In fact, I really have never met the dude. But I've got this hunch - please, correct me if I'm wrong - that he didn't spend 27 years in prison praying to his dear and fluffy lord for the next generation of young black kids to end up becoming just exactly the kind of people that deserved to end up in prison for 27 years or longer.

The saddest thing? Black kids with the whole "ghetto complex" are generally urban, protected, and way too young to have been affected by the Apartheid era, and yet they still blame the past for any failings they might have, (like for example, school grades). This forces those in power to make things easier for them, and also leaves those very same kids vulnerable to the kind of political bullshit that parties like the Youth League spout.

Our society, although moving into a more progressive, democratic and liberal era, is also spoiling our kids, allowing them to be misled and de-educated into a state of vegetative acceptance of whatever load of vomit is poured down their throats by those in power. And by that, I mean not only the current dispensation, but also the American media, who have our childrens' hearts and minds and ears.

The only question we should consider now is how long it will take for this generation to free itself of its self-imposed black homeboy, hard-done-by, ass-capping stereotype. And who will they end up becoming if they succeed in doing so? A wiser, more virtuous generation of education-oriented parents, or just a more violent, self-absorbed, self-pitying version of our current, corrupt government leaders?
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