v.i.p. mentality

Bad traffic. Check! Long lines. Check! Celebrities. Check! Velvet ropes, guest lists, champagne, hotties, and mo' hotties. Check check check check check! Yes, all the familiar symptoms of being a host city for one of the premiere events of the year, Superbowl XL, were apparent this past weekend in Detroit. Hollyweird showed up, and brought that ugly fool I can't stand with it. The ever nagging, name dropping, V.I.P. mentality.

V.I.P. mentality is a concept Americans know far too well. It's rooted in a need to be exclusive, or shall I say, segregated. For years the gatekeepers in this country have felt a need to keep certain folk out. Over the short history of this country, those people who were kept out could all be categorized under one name. NIGGUZ! Black nigguz. Po nigguz. Mexican, Indian, Asian, Jewish nigguz. Hell, even po white trash nigguz. And those people doing the gate keeping have largely fell under a different category. RICH WHITE PEOPLE. But oh how times have changed. The gatekeepers are still rich white people, but they're also rich blacks, jews, asians, latinos, etc. Money rules everything around US. And so does fame. Before the gatekeepers were ONLY interested in keeping us out of their neighborhoods, schools, and corporate institutions. Now, get this, they'll actually let us in some of those places. At least a few of us. But the places they really keep us out are their events and parties. Rich people only want to be around other rich people. Famous people want to be around other famous people. And since the rich are often famous, and vice versa, the rich and famous hang exclusively. Meanwhile, the gatekeepers either charge an appalling amount of money for access, or they need credentials that let them instantly know you are somehow connected to somebody rich, somebody famous, or an organization that caters to those people.



Now, imagine Detroit. Poor, black, and working class. We are the very people V.I.P. mentality is designed to keep out. The same clubs we pay ten bucks to hang out at every weekend, charged us $50 to $500 just to get inside. Even more to get into the exclusive V.I.P. The same clubs that never have a V.I.P. area, suddenly had velvet ropes, guest lists, and secret rooms. And the same club owners we know by name, were suddenly big shots with bad vision. They didn't recognize our familiar faces. Only rich ones. Famous ones. While the rich and famous partied inside, I watched the locals pay $50 bucks to dance under cold damp tents outside the club, just so they could feel like they were CLOSE to the action. Luckily, I had access. Friday night, I attended a party hosted by Kanye and John Legend. Saturday night, it was T.O.'s private party. See, I'm used to having to go through this crazy routine in L.A. and New York. This is how they get down 24/7. And thanks to my job, I've become used to gaining entrance to exclusive places in those cities. But Detroit? This is not Detroit's texture. Detroit is realer than this. Better than this. Downer than this. So far removed... from this. Or so I thought.

I guess I learned a valuable lesson this weekend. V.I.P. mentality is not exclusive to certain places. It goes where rich and famous people go. I also learned that although rich and famous people are many different shades and colors now, they still make it their business to keep the nigguz out. I also learned that what they call nigguz, aren't nigguz at all, just people without a lot of money or fame. The sad part is, rather than remembering how bad it feels to be one of the nigguz, some poor kid who didn't get into the party this weekend, will one day be rich. And when he's rich, rather than open the flood gates and let everybody in, he's gonna relish his chance, to throw a big party, invite all his rich and famous friends, and hire security, to keep all the nigguz, out. Damn!