Respect Ain’t Virtue OR: A people is defined by their warriors By Bud Johnson The "Old African Warrior"

Woebeit I seldom react to other’s opinion of me, but I had to talk myself out of visiting Ralph Cooper’s bookstore to give him a mini-etymology lesson, after he insinuated, “And some people wonder why nobody respects them,” after I had used the proper generic term for a female dog. I actually was attempting to demonstrate how compulsive reactions, oftentimes evokes repulsive actions. It wasn’t so much that I have a problem with people who find it difficult to use the appellation respect in the same sentence with an old African warrior, because warriors ain’t nothing nice.

And nice is the operative word here. Especially the kind of respect that well raised, good guys like “Super Cooper” are talking about when they use the term as if it’s a virtue. Nevertheless, for the most part, the word respect has been grossly misused, insofar as it ideally means that a respectable person is held in high esteem by society at large, because he or she fits neatly into the little box designed for “role models” for law abiding, God fearing citizens. Solid citizens who always strive to do and say what society considers respectful. On the other hand, respect takes on an entirely different connotation in the ‘hood. In fact, a lack of respect can easily get you killed in the crime and drug infested, violent urban jungles of 2003 America.

Thus, if anybody has the slightest inclination to believe that it bothers me because I don’t get no respect from nice folks who frown on crude and rude behavior, you’re greatly disrespecting me. What I’m saying is, I made it perfectly clear, long ago, that I would consider it a blatant insult if I was afforded the same respect by the mainstream media, or political correct organizations that anoint one with those “Outstanding Citizen Awards,” at dog & pony shows. Hey, can you imagine the National Association of Black Journalist (NABJ) naming one of their awards after a person who has sacrificed a life time of fame and fortune (to empower Black newspapers), when their prime mission is to train our best and brightest young journalist to abscond to the mainstream media?

As far as I’m concerned, that’s tantamount to Nazi’s giving outstanding citizens awards to Jews who unwittingly walked into those gas chambers. Hey, I think those cooperative Jews were very nice to participate in their own genocide, but I find it kinda hard to respect them for being so law abiding. Okay, I heard the Twilight Zone theme too, so let’s cut to the chase before I take you too far into the Outer Limits of reason. The point I’m trying to make here, is that I was outraged the other day when I heard that some pedifreak was riding around on a bike, raping young brothers. I was even more outraged after an off duty cop shot a 15-year-old boy to death. It got worse when a lovely young lady was killed because some fool shot into a crowd after a football game.

If that isn’t enough, I have many more tragedies to include in an ongoing litany of violent events that validates my long held theory that the main reason our women and children don’t respect us, today, is because we’re just too damn nice. Naturally I vented as much on Person-to-Person (KCOH’s radio’s call-in talk show), and even recalled some of my more epic close encounters of the arresting kind with our local constabulary. I got so carried away until I admitted to being armed and dangerous, although, with my 40 plus arrest record, I couldn’t get a permit to pack legally, even if I was dating Connie Rice and/or helping her watch our president’s back. As expected some silly, dilly caller dissed me forthwith.
He scoffed at me for warning young brothers to watch cop’s eyes when they are harassing them and be ready to shoot first and ask questions later. Hey, I’m teaching survival here, but the brother warned the general public to do exactly like those colored boys did back in the days when the KKK was knotting a noose and looking for a strong tree limb. He essential said there isn’t anything you can do when a crazed centurion decides to abuse and misuse you, so you might as well take the position of Rodney King and pray that we can all get along. That’s understandable, insofar as we have been educated to believe that it’s nice to be nice, i.e., “Trouble is easy to get into, but hard to get out of.”
I’m saying all of this, to say that we will never get any respect until made in America Africans starts protecting their women and children (e.g., the good, the bad and the ugly), by any means necessary. Not a single brother, that lives in the area where those little boys are being raped, should’ve gotten a single night’s sleep until the perp is ferreted out and dealt with. Very harshly. It’s long past time that Black males, in spite of all of our well-chronicled faults and transgressions, stand up and declare that our neighborhoods are off limits to people who prey on our women and children. It’s time we post signs in our crime-infested neighbors that warn, “Beware of bad men. Enter at your own risk.” Yeah, I’m talking fighting violence with violence if necessary.

Hey nice guys aside, if we Black men are really going to reclaim our neighbors, we’re going to have to stop trying to avoid trouble. We must become trouble for anybody fool enough to come off into the ‘hood and mess with our women and children. So what if you smoke a little dope, or is considered crazy, or even violent. You can still be man enough to cut for our women and children, even if you don’t get no respect. I ain’t about to let you dog your own woman, or child around me. It’s disrespectable, even to a 70-year-old warrior, to abuse his folks in his presence. For sure, the worth of a people is defined by how well their warriors protect them. I wonder if anybody knows where I’m coming from?