BPT: Black People Time

Because I am part black myself, I feel that there are certain things I can talk about that others might not feel comfortable talking about. Actually because I am so genetically or ethnically mixed, there are very few things I feel that can't actually talk freely about. Without feeling guilty or the fear of appearing racist as some individuals might who happen to be white or non black themselves. For today I wish to talk about B.P.T. or Black People Time as my Blogs topic of the moment. The phrase Black People Time was coined in relation to the somewhat stereotypical notion that black people as a whole operated in their own time, not necessarily in sync with the general world at large. Which to a certain degree I would have to agree with, though not personally in the sense that it applies to me or any of my family members for that matter. For aside from my older brother, all of us are quite punctual to say the least. I in fact, usually arrive at most places early in order to collect myself, gather my thoughts or to at least stop sweating ( I have a tendency to sweat profusely , especially if the weather is hot or balmy). But I have noticed throughout my entire young and adult life that there are many a black person who simply follow the beat of their own drummer, or in this case the tick-tock of of their own watch.


Case in point I remember riding the bus (or shame train if you will) home from school one evening awhile back and a black man who was sitting a few seats down from me pulled the cord to signal to the driver that he wanted to get off at the next stop. Normally once people pull the cord they prepare to exit the bus by gathering their belongings and in most cases moving to the exits or at least moving quickly towards the exit once the bus had stopped. In this instance I observed the bus came to a stop and only then did the man start to get up to move to the nearest exit, seemingly in no rush at all as he almost strutted to the exit door. The bus doors had opened and closed once the bus had stopped, and when no one exited the bus started up again and drove off. The man then called out that that was his stop and for the bus driver to stop the bus. The bus driver said he wasn't fast enough and that he wouldn't stop until the next stop. The bus driver and the not quick enough black man soon got into a verbal argument where they threatened each other with bodily harm, yadda, yadda yadda, and eventually the black man exited the bus at the next stop before an actual physical fight could ensue.


Now this is not the first time I have personally witnessed this, not the actual verbal confrontation part of it mind you, but the black person taking their sweet time to get up and exit the bus. As if everyone around them didn't have anything better to do than to wait on them taking their slow ass time. And it's not just while riding the bus, as I have seen the same behavior in the streets, at the mall and while shopping for groceries. Black people taking their time to cross the street, pay for their purchases or groceries and so on and so fourth. Which to me it's simply rude as hell but to some others they don't see anything wrong with such behavior or they might not even notice they are doing it to begin with. Either way it's partially why such a phrase was coined to begin with, and like I said to a certain degree I concede that there is some small truth to this this stereotype if you will.


But that is not to say that all black people are like this or that simply because they are black-they are like this, as that is just absurd! Being black or being white does not make you automatically act a certain way, behavioral traits for the most part have almost nothing to do with genetics. I mean sure you can have a genetic predisposition to anger, suspicion, lust, fear, and a myriad of other emotional conditions, but almost all behaviors or behavioral traits are learned. Which is to say the whole black people time thing is more likely a cultural issue than a racial issue. An example of this would be that if you took a bunch of white kids at a very young age and threw them into an area that was mainly or predominantly black, chances are their behavior would mimic what we believe today to be (stereo)typical black behavior. But like I pointed out this is just learned behavior, as no one on the black side of my family acts in such a manner. Though I have to admit I am somewhat puzzled as to why such a pattern of negative behavioral traits would be taught to begin with to anyone in any culture or any ethnicity. Punctuality is a necessity in life, and valued in all countries, especially in the world of business and commerce.