By: Amanda Anderson-Niles
The internet nearly broke down once it was confirmed that Baton Rouge rapper Lil Boosie was finally freed from prison after there were so many conflicting reports regarding his release date.
Boosie’s fans were so excited to welcome the rapper back that he was pretty much a trending topic on Twitter for over 24 hours.
But “ATL” actor Jason Weaver was not one of those rejoicing in Lil Boosie’s freedom. In fact, he took to his Instagram account to call out black people for celebrating Boosie’s prison release. He posted the following photo and writes in the caption:
Ok so…. I see a lot ppl on IG posting stuff about Lil Boosie gettin out of prison, talmbout “Welcome Home” “Boosie Back” and all kinds of other c**n sh*t. Listen man, no disrespect to Boosie or anyone else for that matter who has ever been incarcerated, but the problem I have with the IG posts regarding him gettin out is it’s being displayed like it’s some kind of thing to celebrate. I’m sorry man, but why can’t we celebrate young black men who have stayed OUT of prison? I’m not judging Boosie or any other individual who may have faced similar circumstances. It would sure be cool though if we posted more pics of our young brothas receiving high school diplomas, college degrees, and cool sh*t like that instead of a playa gettin out of prison mane. I’m about celebrating milestones in young black men’s lives that we can REALLY be proud of! Like for real… C’mon son!! Sorry for the rant, but I just had to say it.#KanyeShrug
The actor’s Instagram post caused quite the stir, but he took to his Facebook page to let folks know he’s not retracting anything. He writes:
Well looks like the kid kicked up a lil bit of dust up yesterday with a post that I placed on Instagram yesterday. First and foremost, let me say this..I will NOT retract my statement from the earlier post, nor will I apologize for saying what I said. I only spoke THE TRUTH whether it offended some people or not.
Weaver also says he was not personally attacking Lil Boosie, but he wanted to express his disappointment with some individuals for making such a big deal out of his prison release.
Not that serious. His fans were happy for him because they didn’t feel like he deserved to be in jail in the first place. And who’s to say that those same people don’t celebrate black men doing well too? I’m so tired of closed minded, judgmental black people making generalizations about their own people.
Child whatever. He’s entitled to his opinion but I just wonder why he wasn’t so self righteous when he took the role he played in ATL.
But there’s a lot of us who do celebrate black men doing positive things. What is he doing, hiding under a rock?
He’s right.
I really wish we would stop putting down our race in such a public way. It’s really sad. I don’t see any other race of people doing this but us.
Sigh…I can’t take people like this seriously. They worry so much about what white folks think about us. Why? They don’t think about us. At all. Live your life and let others live theirs. Damn.
And how is people being happy about Boosie being out affecting HIS life?
Yet he played a c–n in ATL. Have a stadium of seats sir.
He has a right to his opinion, just like people had a right to celebrate Boosie being home. #shrugs
Some black people will never be happy. Damn I have a college degree, a great career, and I’m a Boosie fan. But because I was happy to hear he was home, that makes me a “c–n”? Really? Wow.
Bye Felicia.
I get what he’s saying but he has to be careful because there are a lot of people celebrating black men doing good things like going to college and starting businesses. And what did he think the Barack Obama fascination was about? New stats even claim black men are enrolling in college more so than any other race of men. So obviously we are taking education more seriously than he realizes.
I’m sure there are way more things he could be outraged about.
Yeah, I don’t think this required him getting on a soapbox.
If Jason hasn’t seen any black people prasing black men for doing positive things like going to school, then he’s obviously hanging around the wrong people. And that speaks more about him than the people he’s trying to call out because I see black men being praised for positive reasons all the time. I went to a HBCU and I was constantly surrounded by positive black men. But it’s nothing wrong with him wanting us to do better as a race. I have no beef with that at all.
I’m waiting for the day black people start realizing we’re not a monolithic race. Please let that day come soon.
He makes good points but I also feel like we have to stop trying so hard to please white folks.
People are way too judgmental. That is why black people will never progress as a race, we’re too busy looking down on other blacks who don’t think/speak like we do. It’s stupid. At the end of the day, whether we’re educated or not, we’re still nothing but N words to the white race. They will keep shooting us down and killing us like we’re animals, and there will be more Trayvon Martins and Jordan Davises. We’re our own worst enemy. If we don’t get past classism (educated blacks looking down on uneducated blacks), we will continue to suffer as a race. MLK and Malcolm X would be so disappointed in how we treat each other.
Well some of us are just happy a father is back at home with his kids. I could look down on Boosie to uplift myself (like Jason and others are doing), but I don’t really have to. I’m out.
I didn’t know who Lil Boosie was until he got out and it was everywhere. But I agree with everything he said.
“It would sure be cool though if we posted more pics of our young brothas receiving high school diplomas, college degrees, and cool sh*t like that instead of a playa gettin out of prison mane.”
Queen brought up a good point. If Jason isn’t seeing enough black people praising black men for positive things, then he’s hanging around the wrong individuals. Jason can go to any HBCU graduation and find a stadium full of blacks praising our black brothers as they walk across the stage to accept their COLLEGE DEGREES.
And does he not remember that it was also people in the hood who celebrated Obama becoming the first black president? Many of the same people he’s putting down live in the projects but went out in droves to vote for the first time for a black man! It’s amazing that we forget these things when we want to make ourselves look “deep” on social media.
Another thing, like The Truth said, black men and black women are currently enrolling in college in larger numbers than any other race, including whites! We are making some progress, but all of that doesn’t get talked about because too many in our communities rather focus on the negative stigmas instead, as Jason is doing here right now. He’s a hypocrite because instead of bashing black people, he could have made a post on IG that celebrates our progress. He’s no better than the people he’s calling out here.
Also, I agree that classism is a huge issue that we need to overcome. If you’re black, you’re still nothing but a n-gger to racists. They don’t care about your college degree, or how well you speak! We need to stop looking down on people from the projects and people who go to jail! We are all in the same boat and we can’t achieve more as a race until we remember that!
This is why our generation won’t have another MLK or Malcolm X. We’re turning in to too much of a “ME” race and we’re not willing to look out for the next person anymore. We’re forgetting what our former black leaders stood for.
He spoke nothing but the truth!!!! High Five to Jason Weaver
First of all, Jason’s whole argument went down the drain when he used the term “c–n” to refer to behavior of his own people. If he’s so concerned with the black race, he should be well versed in the history of that term. Bottom line, it’s not a word any person who claims to be so concerned about the black race would use. For that reason alone, it’s clear to me he’s not really saying this to encourage blacks do to better, he’s saying this to down blacks and elevate himself. These “better than thou” blacks are more poisonous than racist whites.
And this is coming from a man who took a damn dump in public and got arrested for it! It’s always the black folks who like to look down on the race who have the most issues!
I see a majority of yall on here feelin sum kinda way since yall were the one’s screamin “Boosie home!” “Welcome home boosie!” LOL I cant
I’m pretty sure I can dig into your past and find something that’s “c–nish” about you too. Just like it didn’t take long for people to dig up Jason Weaver’s “c–nish” past as well. Don’t try to use Lil Boosie to make you feel better about yourself. You better than thou black folks are so annoying and hypocritical. Y’all find any and everything you can to uplift yourselves as if you’re not a n-gga like the rest of us when a white person pulls a gun out on you for playing your music too loud or walking down the street at night in your father’s neighborhood. You’re not better than anyone else. I sure did celebrate a black man getting out of prison to be with his kids. And I’ll do it again too. I can’t stand you self hating black people. Then when something bad happens, you want to unite and pretend to be pro black. Man GTFOH!
Nah, we’re just real. Not everyone likes to get on here and front like you. Some of us like his music and we are happy he’s back home with his kids and back to making music. And we’re not going to change our views because of what someone says on IG. I’ve never been one to put down black people to make myself look good, but you and Jason can go right ahead. And yes, I will twerk again and say welcome home Boosie while I work my great job that I got with my college degree because I was raised well by my two black college educated parents. But keep judging people though. #shrugs
The ironic thing is Lil Boosie has done more for the hood than Jason Weaver has. He’s given back to the less fortunate on numerous occasions, and I can’t seem to find anything that can confirm that Jason Weaver has given back to the black community or those in the hood. But he wants to get on Instagram and slam people for being happy about Boosie’s release. What has Jason done for black people? I’ll wait. Jason is just like all of the other black people that look down on the hood but have never lifted a finger to give back. Jason has an arrest record too, but now he’s somehow better than Boosie? Crabs in the barrel I tell you. Some of y’all love to talk about us from the hood to make your fake a-ses seem like you’re better off.