I Call It Innovation

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Technology is crippling our youth. Not physically - although that's debatable, but mentally. They don't know how to think outside the box. If it ain't pre-packaged with instructions, they don't know what the hell to do with it!

Thinking outside the box is what disadvantaged people do - it's called innovation. That's not to say all innovators are disadvantaged, but those who ain't got, find a way. It's what black folks do, or at least, used to do. We have a strong tradition of making something out of nothing, and misapplying what's available to meet our immediate needs. Unfortunately, as our environment changes this is becoming more the exception than the rule. I see the current obsession with main stream designer high fashion as an indicator. It used to be that we found clothing we liked and put our own spin on it (i.e. backward or tilted baseball caps, oversized clothing, etc.). Fashion designers used to look to us for the next hot trend, then mass produce and mass market it to the world.

Home video games came around when I was in my early teens, if not slightly earlier. We loved them; I mean, who didn't have an ATARI 2600 or ColecoVision?!! But those games could never take the place of really going outside and playing football. Innovation: We needed goal lines, so we might call a street lamp one end zone and a parked car's bumper the other end zone, but sometimes we wanted yard lines and clearly marked goal lines. Ok, hop the neighbor's fence and snatch up one of those white rocks out their yard and use it for chalk to mark the street.

Everything about hip-hop comes out of this innovative mind-set. No money for classical art training, canvases and oil paints? Lift some cans of Krylon or Rustoleum from the store and use the handball court wall as a canvas. Samplers hadn't been invented yet, so cut the break of your favorite soul record to keep the beat going. This is the beauty of thinking outside the box! Rap gave a voice to a voiceless community and allowed that voice to not only be heard, but to be an inspiration to other voiceless peoples around the world! These are the fruits of innovative minds. Can we instill in this current generation the ability to think creatively, or will we continue to let technology, television and the educational system make obedient slaves who can't think for themselves out of these children? Chew on that...