No Homo...a deeper look

So this video has been circulating on the blogosphere and its overall message is very positive. Please take the time to watch the video before continuing to read the rest of this post.



I love most of this video..."No Homo" is an awful statement originating in a specific genre of music but that has spread way beyond the world of hip-hop. This post isn't at all trying to justify the use of this deplorable phrase.

That being said...go back to the beginning of the video and re-watch it. Notice anything peculiar? Why does he deem it appropriate to change his "style" of speech and dress? I posed this question to my coworkers, and they guessed it was to make a dig at hip-hop culture. Well I agree with them...but isn't the rest of the video a big enough dig? When he changes his language and dress, he is taking a MUCH deeper dig at the entire culture. Using "No Homo" is ridiculous...but he also used the same implications for the way people talk/dress who are apart of hip-hop culture.

It brings me to the point of language. How often do we hear jokes about "blackccents" or "white people talk," and having to change the way you speak based on the ethnicity of the people around you. We saw it in "Flavor of Love" with Buckwild...or in "Crash" where Tony Danza's character asks a black actor to stop "sounding white" because it would come off as "untrue" to his character. Using terms like "hommies" or wearing popped collars with baggie pants isn't ridiculous, it's part of a culture. "No Homo" is offensive across lines of diversity, and therefore shouldn't be apart of any culture. I can't make the same argument for "hommies." People who use slang and ebonics (side note ebony-phonics as in 'black' words) have been demoralized and written off as unintelligent. They are NOT unintelligent, they have just been raised in a community that uses this style of speech. We should be thinking of it as a dialect rather than as a measure of intelligence. One of my coworkers said "well words like hommies or beasting are ridiculous." Well, it's the way A LOT of people talk in this country.

This video really goes to show why there are so many divides in the LGBT community, all activists communities for that matter. He immediately defended the queer community by putting down a community composed of mostly people of color. Imagine the queer person of color who listens to hip-hop and uses slang and then watches that video. I always get really angry when LGBT people divide based on color...but I'm slowly starting to realize why they feel left out...

We still don't get it...uhhhhh