Yes, I know it’s shocking. Yes, it’s even a little embarrassing. Please don’t look at me with that look of disdain. I wish it wasn’t this way. Maybe I could’ve been more careful. Maybe I should have been more selective with my partners. But maybe my story will help somebody else…avoid catching crabs.
Does it seem like every time you’re about to rise to a better position or climb out of a dead end job, something seems to grab you by the leg and pull you back down? You, my friend, may have crabs. Let us examine one of the greatest pandemics spreading through the African Diasporas worldwide.
They say fishing for crabs is a simple sport and is quite rewarding. Through I’m sure what has been a series of trials and errors, crab fishermen have discovered that there is no need to bother putting a lid on the bucket you are using to catch crabs. If there were one crab in the bucket it would surely crawl out very quickly. However, once you’ve tossed in a few crabs, they simply police themselves. Any ambitious crab that decides to make a run for freedom will find it all but impossible to scale the wall of the bucket and scramble over the top. It’s not that the bucket is too deep or slippery. It’s the seemingly odd behavior of the other crabs. As soon as one starts making a move to scramble over the others and out, its fellow crabs will reach out those long, sharp pincers and pull the errant crab back into the fray so that it will share the same fate as the rest of them. They don’t boost each other up or assist each other in their frantic quest to escape and regain their freedom. They do just the opposite! It appears that nobody escapes the crab bucket. That’s because no crab will allow another crab to move up and out…even if they have once entertained the same notion themselves.
No crab, it would seem, can stand to see another crab excel, so they thus keep each other trapped in the wide-open bucket, and they all wind up getting cooked. For them, pulling down or stepping on others is a fact of their existence. It is natural for them in the quest for success or when confronting failure. Any one of you reading this that has actually stepped out on faith, attempted to live out your dreams, desired more for yourself and/or your family has unconsciously encountered those whom you believe were hired to simply rain on your parade and give you countless facts on why it won’t work. It’s something that occurs regardless of your class, religion, sex or occupation. Crabs don’t discriminate! We have a notoriety of being a community that self hates. Just watch our television shows or listen to our music.
Unfortunately, people who aren’t supportive of our goals, and may make negative comments or even create obstacles to our success often surround us. Switching to medical terminology, by definition, crabs are small parasites that feed on human blood. In other words, they can only exist by being attached to someone else.
But let’s think about this from an outside-looking-in perspective. What if I were to introduce the notion that there is someone outside of the crab bucket, selecting certain crabs to take out. Thus creating a false mentality amongst the other crabs still left at the bottom that there is yet hope for them. They then have become a buffer between those fed up with their current circumstances and those of power and influence that have us looking at those “selected” as though they somehow betrayed us. When in actuality it was the “powers that be” that simply used the few to be a shield from the aggression and anger of those still at the bottom. If I lost some of you, think of it as the master using a “selected” slave to whip the others that got out of line. They no longer become mad at the master, they’re now angry with the one he used. Surely the one selected could’ve mastered a way of escape for everyone else, but in doing so they themselves would be in danger of losing their level of comfortability and risk being put back in with the rest.
Carter G. Woodson attempted to explain what was happening when he wrote in The Miseducation of the Negro, “If you can make a man believe that he is inferior, you don’t have to compel him to seek an inferior status, he will do so without being told and if you can make a man believe that he is justly an outcast, you don’t have to order him to the back door, he will go to the back door on his own and if there is no back door, the very nature of the man will demand that you build one.”
I come from a city that is infamous for having an “every man for themselves” mentality. It’s not the gangs that are fighting for territory; it’s the churches, the businesses and the people. Unless you have been co-signed, chances are you are destined to struggle in the bottom of the pan until it’s time for you to be cooked. Unfortunately, my city is like many of your own. What would happen if we decided to think differently and work together for the common cause of universal success? Yes Dr. King had a dream of racial harmony, but mine is one of racial congruency. Where we escape the crab mentality placed upon us, to finally walk into possession of the lives we were ordained to have. When I preach, it’s not just for the few that have made it beyond the veil of the secret society, it’s for everyone to grab hold of and use for their benefit.
In the event that you contract crabs, have had them in the past or simply want to avoid catching them, the CDC (Center For Disease Control), along with Pastor Mike, gives a few ways to prevent them:
Partners – Avoid contact with infested people. Negative influences, if not careful, will likely cause you to get tangled in the bottom of the bucket, and lose your drive to rise to the top. The fewer people that you allow close to you (in your inner circle), the lower the risk of contracting crabs. Whodini said it best, “FRIENDS! How many of us have them?”
Protection – Be careful of what you listen to and watch. What goes into you eventually has to come out of you.
Sharing – Not everything was meant to share…particularly your dreams. The God-given dreams and desires that reside in you, not everyone else can handle, particularly those that don’t dream at all.
GET FREE OR DIE TRYING!