In the future...

I hope we're not concerned with who has the flyest Gas Mask. Designer Diddo Velema produced some high fashion gas masks. It's almost laughable, kinda like when I saw designer SARS masks in China, bafoonery I say...I'm gon' get me a designer water tank in the last days...One day you might walk into the hospital and see the nurses walking around in Prada scrubs with Karl Lagerfield goggles and Jimmy Choo croc's. Perhaps i'm taking it a bit far but I never thought i'd see the day when I saw a car with a Gucci logo'd interior, one with a Louis Vuitton logo on the door and all this crazy stuff that people do to help themselves look like idiots. What did Kweli say? "...Like slaves on a ship talkin' bout' who got the flyest chains". On my way to work I stumbled across the Russ Parr show and they were talking about African Americans, and the question of the day was "Are you afraid to look poor?" The went on to read the statistics on consumer spending of African Americans and it says that we spend far more on Cars, Clothes, Electronics and Jewelry than education, investments, books, and savings. It's sad but true. I hate to make this a black issue, but I have to pull from my only point of reference. People were on air denying it, while others chose to keep it real, but most people I know buy Coach purses even if it's fake, the same with sunglasses, if it says D&G people will buy it because it's all about perception. we want to look like we have something. I work in a welfare office where the recipients often look better than me. And Even though I think it's sad, I can admit that I have a spending problem, last year I pulled off the lot in a new SUV, but can barely afford to keep it on half a tank, I mean the thing only gets 17 MPG and it takes close to $100 to fill it up with the most recent spike in gas prices. I say all this to say, we've got to do better.