Three Fifths

Do you know what the title of this post represents? Do you know what it means, where it came from, who created it, and why? If you don't then you need to bone up on your history dudes and dudettes, for real. For it is inexcusable to not know about 3/5's and what that encompasses. See, to me "three fifths" is almost as evil and vile as the N word. Scratch that, it IS as evil and vile as the N word, those two terms aren't cousins, they're brothers. The only difference is the N word is the popular brother whereas "three fifths" walks in it's shadow.

Ask someone if they think the N word is funny or offensive to them and you'll get a myriad of answers from, "Hell yeah, that word is hellafunny", to "I don't find it funny, but it doesn't bother me", to "I find it offensive and if you say it again I'll break your nose". Ask someone if they know what "three fifths" means and if it's funny, more than likely depending on the person asked you'll get looked at like you've just grown another head. Ask someone of my grandfathers generation though and they will break it down for you and then let you know that no, it is not fucking funny.

3/5's was the distinction given to slaves letting them know they were "three fifths" a man, for counting purposes. This was taken from the African American Registry website...

"The issue of how to count slaves split the delegates into two groups. The northerners regarded slaves as property who should receive no representation. Southerners demanded that Blacks be counted with whites. The compromise clearly reflected the strength of the pro-slavery forces at the convention. The “Three-fifths Compromise” allowed a state to count three fifths of each Black person in determining political representation in the House. Rather than halting or slowing the importation of slaves in the south, slavery had been given a new life — a political life. Even when the law stopped the importing of new slaves in 1808, the south continued to increase its overall political status and electoral votes by adding and breeding slaves illegally. The Three-fifths Compromise would not be challenged again until the Dred Scott case in 1856."

So basically slaves were counted as three fifths a man, not a whole man. In order to get a whole man you would have to count a few slaves. So when I hear that some white boys thought that calling their African American roommate 3/5's and it's brother the N word would be funny or that it was just jokes it makes me want to first rip their heads off. Then I cool down and begin to wonder what these white kids parents are like and what kind of house these little wet behind the ears, don't know a thing racists grew up in. If you don't know what I'm talking about, take a look...

For shits and giggles...in cuffs

Maybe this will be a teachable moment for these white boys. Maybe they will learn their lessons and realize crap like this isn't funny, that it never has been, and it never will be. Maybe they will emerge on the other side of this as better men. Who the hell am I kidding, those fucktards won't learn a damn thing for this is America, still the land of the white and the home of the slave.