It’s Memorial Day (Hip-Hop) Weekend in Miami. Most of the locals will stay away from South Beach. Way too much traffic, way too many pedestrians and way too many hoochies and thugs. Black folks riding scooters and bikes everywhere even black women on jet skis getting their hair wet!

Now don't get me wrong, I believe that everyone should have a good time, chill out and release some stress. But where do these poeple come from? Spending big dough on the Beach...hmmm...money we can spend on our own businesses but let me not go there. Well, may just a little.

Blacks contribute so much to the Miami Beach economy via Hip-Hop Weekend, BET Spring Bling, video shoots, meetings and the like with next to nothing to show as far as economic and political clout. Knowing the history of racial discrimination on Miami Beach and recent incidents of the same, I am always baffled by Blacks who patronize the area and never go across the bridge to the mainland to see how the real people live.

With the number of Black celebrities who frequent the area, and Blacks moving back to the south, Miami should be a political, economic, educational and cultural Mecca. Instead, the area is pimped everyday and negative images of Black folk prevail.

Here are some reasons why I don't do Hip-Weekend or Spring Bling...

© 2006 VANESSA BYERS, Vanessa: Unplugged