With the release and subsequent award nominations for the movie 'Hustle and Flow' renewed attention has focused on the anti-hero personage of the Black pimp. The movie, which was written and directed by Craig Brewer (a White man) has the protagonist and pimp character, played by talented actor Terrance Howard, attempting to ply slick verbalism into a successful career as a rap artist.

The activity and symbolism of pimps and pimping, especially as it is played out in the Black ghetto streets of urban America, has attained a kind of perverse status. Yet, as has been the case for many decades, the Black pimp character and those associated with this lifestyle are also parodied and caricatured for the purpose of humor and amusement.

For with all the ghetto lore and glorification of the urban pimp, he is often perceived by many as a clownish figure living life on the fringes and being reduced (because of White society's emasculation of him) to surviving on the fickle allegiance and whims of the urban street prostitute.

There are extremely destructive social and psychological dynamics and nuances that are at the core of the Black pimp mystique, and which have their genesis on the slave farms and plantations of early America.

Throughout the duration of chattel slavery, Black men who were traditionally the protectors and sustainers of Black women were regulated to the status of a non-person. They had no authority or power to fulfill their roles as providers and maintainers of their women. Any sacred and meaningful relationship with which they were involved, whether the ties of siblings, friendship, the repose between father and children, or the inviolable sanctity of marriage, were obliterated and the Black man was reduced to a empty shell of himself.

The offspring produced from his loins were no longer his; they belonged to his White enslaver and oppressor. The Black woman (for all intents and purposes) was also no longer his; for she too was under the complete subjugation of the White enslaver and exploiter's whim and the crushing force of his authority.

Under these conditions, he had essentially three choices. He could attack his oppressor and be resigned to almost certain death. He could live his life miserably aware and constantly on edge with the searing realization that he could not (under penalty of the most fiendish reprisals) live according to the universal principles that are ascribed to all men, (i.e. protector, maintainer, and provider to his women and children. Or he could (for the sake of his sanity) succumb to a kind of re-orientation of perception and reality, whereby, in order to buffer himself form his pain and avoid the deadly consequences of rebelliousness, he depersonalized the Black woman and began to view her, not as his companion and ally in suffering and in struggle, but as an un-person.

She was so irretrievably stripped from him and so much at the beck and call of another man, that he refused to acknowledge her as his wife, or his sister or his daughter because to do so would be so overwhelmingly painful and would be a constant, undeniable reminder of his debasement and of his cowardly failure to act against their tormenter.

It was this mind-set and this tragic inversion of reality that enabled some Black men to become "studs" for the benefit of producing more "slave stock" for their enslavers. The role of the stud, was to impregnate enslaved Black women and thus increase the wealth and capital of the White "master" with the birth of new slaves. Studding was a valuable tool for the slave master especially with the legal ban on the importation of African slaves by the mid 1800's.

Reportedly, many of these so-called Black studs attached a perverse status to their roles and they were usually rewarded with better food, clothes and living quarters if they were good procreators.

This activity (and assaulted, twisted frame of reference) played out on the plantation farms and in the hovels and huts of the slave quarters, was the precursor of the barnyard-type Black pimp mentality; for the Black pimp (minus the emphasis of producing children for the coffer of the slave master) finds status, self-importance, and validation in his ability to gain material amenities based upon his ability to penetrate the minds and bodies and to manipulate Black women. And the more women he is able to dominate in this way (along with the accumulation of gaudy trinkets and baubles along the way) the more important and successful he perceives himself to be.

In short, unlike other men, he does not base his manhood on how well he is able to develop sublime spiritual qualities or on how adapt he is in influencing business, politics, education etc. He childishly bases his worth on how well he can manipulate and exploit his woman.

It is really his White master who is his teacher and who's dogma and way of life he seeks to adopt and to emulate; for it is his White mentor who is the original pimp, as well as the most brutal, successful and enduring one. And the Black pimp, unable or unwilling (because of ignorance and/or cowardice) to redefine himself according to his own reality, he apes the value system of his White oppressor and because a pathetic caricature of his exploiter and idol-the White man.

Ironically, it is often times the sexual act itself that boosts the Black mans ego. For having so little resources in White society with which to validate himself and as hemmed in, dis-empowered and circumvented as he is because of a society were most of the vital resources are owned and controlled by Whites; just the act of physical consummation of the sexual act (traditionally with the man on top and thus assuming the dominate role during the act) elevates and invigorates his ego and empowers him if only for a fleeting span of time.

It is interesting that there was a resurgence of Black pimps immediately after the decade of the 1960's. A decade particularly violent with the backlash of White political, police, and military reaction against a wide and intensive Black struggle for autonomy and liberation. Could it be that just as some had done during slavery to garner status, that these so-called Black pimps were avoiding the deadly consequences of confronting their White oppressors and cowardly opting to find validation through exploiting a much more vulnerable and far less risky target? Adissa Banjoka explains in his article "Myth of the Great Black Pimp."

"How does one become a pimp? Being a pimp relies on mastering the minds of women. I'm not talking about strong willed women with a firm spiritual base. I'm talking about scared, confused, vulnerable, financially unstable women with low concepts of self. How much talent does it take to manipulate a woman with those characteristics? It boggles me how mastering the mind of a weak woman so impressive to other men.

They cannot deal with strong men. So, they prey on weak women. What admirable talent is there in that? If you called yourself a hunter, but you could only catch wounded birds, who would look up to you? These men hunt spiritually, mentally and physically abused women. Therefore a pimps "mastery" over his women means nothing. Imagine if these brothers used their gifts of speech and their understanding of human nature for a higher purpose in the hood?

Many of today's newest generation of pimps were born just about the time Malcolm X died. It is no coincidence that with the fear the savage murders of Malcolm X and Martin Luther King Jr put in the minds and hearts of Black America, pimp culture reached its highest heights. It was shortly after the civil rights movement fell apart that brothers started pimping harder than ever."[1]

It is true that sometimes the Black pimp acquires White prostitute and add her to his stable, yet even this is an act of negation of the validity of the Black woman and a blatant testament to his own sense of insecurity and inferiority. For these White hookers are almost always of the lowest type: They are usually physically unattractive, ignorant and unrefined; yet the Black pimp showcases them as something special and desirable and he displays them as though (simply because they possess White skin) they are symbolic of his heightened status and a feather in his cap.

He therefore attaches exaggerated importance to tearing off this wounded, tarnished and tainted White "snow bunny" as his prize, and he points to her for validation of his personhood and his manhood. (Many Black pimps are known to straighten their hair in a shameless attempt to more closely resemble their White ideological mentors).

He values her White skin because the White man has placed value on it. No matter that the only White women that he is able to conquer are those so degraded and so damaged that they are considered outcasts by most White men. And uniformly looked upon either with bemused apathy or frowned upon with utter disgust.

Acutely aware of this chink in the armor of the Black man's mind; Whites have unleashed a renewed psychological assault to exploit it and to ensure the further erosion of the principles of Black vitality and liberation.

It is not enough, these days, for the Black pimp mentality to be confined to the corners and fringes of Black urban existence. It must be spread out of the doldrums and made acceptable to a wider spectrum of Black life so that it can take root and flourish across the entire horizon of the Black mental landscape regardless of economic, educational or social distinctions.

Only then can it truly act as a cancer and a poison against the development and the pursuit of a national plan and a national pursuit of Black liberation. Thus media glorification and financial support is lavished on a Black hip hop culture pregnant with symbolism, imagery and terminology identical and consistent with the pimp/whore mentality.

And more and more of our young Black men and women are enticed and encouraged in music videos, movies, and magazines to take on the mannerisms, dress, attitudes and behavior of what has been traditionally associated with the urban street pimp and street hooker.

If this is adopted it will effectively place a wedge between establishing meaningful and successful relationships between the Black men, Black women and Black children, and will hamper our efforts to bridge the void produced by over three centuries oppression and exploitation.

Steven Malik Shelton is a journalist and human rights advocate. He can be reached at smalikshelton1@aol.com

Reference: [1] "Myth of the Great Black Pimp," Adissa Banjoka, accessible online at: http://www.daveyd.com/greatblackpimp.html

© March 2006 By Afromerica

Brother Steven Malik Shelton will be keeping the Black community updated on the most current Black experiences effecting our lives. Visit regularly for new information that could help you overcome and make the best of your everyday experiences.

To subscribe to Malik's column join the Afromerica email list to receive new information as it is updated. Or E-mail Shelton at: stevmalikshelton@comcast.net

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