Being Smart, Being Cool: Rise Of The Afro-Nerd

Nadra Enzi, a black libertarian, writes: "Images of ultra-brilliant but socially retarded youth such as archetypal Afro-nerd Steve Urkel of 'Family Matters' are amusing but chilling examples of the contempt that a serious life of the mind receives from a number of our people. The implied message is: 'Yeah man, go ahead and be smart; you’ll cripple the manly part of yourself, and end up being a joke in the ‘hood.' That does more to send legions of our men-in-the-making into the cotton fields beside the information highway than anything we could ever accuse conservatives of plotting. Being considered a nerd is a weight that many of us, of all ages, will do nearly anything to avoid bearing. Its implication of inescapable unworthiness is a secret terror that rivals anything the plantation offered. This is black-on-black violence taken to its most effective extreme."

Mr. Enzi continues his commentary: "To see images of unintelligent-acting African-Americans, one need not rent a copy of the infamous 1915 movie 'Birth of a Nation.' Now, heaven help us, turning to a TV channel showing music videos can suffice. Is this what the ancestors fought so long and fell so hard for? So that we could become admirers of pimps, players, hustlers and odious others on the street? Have we, at some level, bought into the argument that we are truly a less able populace? Frankly, I think the non-black face affixed to learning-related behavior in this society prompts many of us to mistakenly deem such behavior as 'selling out' or 'acting white.' As such, we reject intellectual orientation and cling to a desperately limited identity that loudly declares rap music, fashion, hairstyles, slang, indiscreet sexuality and dances as the zenith of our human performance. Pridefully announcing how 'white men can’t jump' or how Caucasians have no rhythm, while bopping merrily back to red-lined areas of town with Third World infant mortality rates and war-zone environments, really is saying nothing at all. This fear of being labeled a nerd is going to be the one foe that promises to make black excellence an increasingly empty phrase. Steve Urkel, a fictional African-American who seems to use every brain cell and bit of mind/soul power bestowed to him, is closer to who we really should be - minus the high-water pants and annoying goofiness, of course - than many would admit."