The Barrel Is the Problem, Not the Crabs

I recently had a conversation with my friend Abraham. As our conversations usually find themselves, we began talking about the conditions that negatively impact the communities in which we, and those that we service and represent, come from. At this point, Abraham began an analysis that ultimately lead us to talk about the “exceptions” to the term “crabs in a barrel,” referring to the metaphor that we have all heard at least once in our life. The analogy refers to a way of thinking where all in the barrel have the ideology, “if I can’t have it, neither can you.” Many people, when hearing this analogy, think about the negative mentality of the “crabs” in the barrel, however, the reality is that we should all be focusing on the barrel itself. That is to say that the barrel is a premeditated-environment intentionally designed by systems to enclose the crabs, in turn propagating and perpetuating this false ideology of selfishness and negativity. Once the focus of attention is shifted to the pre-constructed environment then the real question for all of us is, “how do we overcome this structure?” However, the first step to solving a problem is to understand that there is a problem. Many people, even some reading this now, still may not see that we have, throughout history and certainly now, been told a lie to believe that we are each other’s enemy. Dating back to the Willie Lynch methodology of sowing dissension amongst slaves, thus, causing disunity, we have been fooled to see our differences first, before we see our commonalities. A clear example of this happens in our neighborhoods. Many of us grow up in the same neighborhood, maybe even the same block, maybe even the same building, yet we will say, “s/he’s from the south side of the block/building,” thus making it impossible to ever form unity because we cannot see first and foremost that we are neighbors/community members that are all negatively impacted by the same conditions. To provide context, let us look at what history has proven to us regarding what our capabilities are if we unite around our similarities and commonalities. The civil rights and black power movements were both examples of unity based on commonalities, rather than differences. Regardless of what your perception is of the success of these movements, it cannot be denied that a shared goal lead to unity and progress, to the point that those who created the systems being fought against became fearful of the possibilities that unity could bring. Looking back further, dissension amongst people was used to enrich control over them in Nazi Germany, Communist Russia, Era of Colonization, Middle Ages and even Ancient Egypt. The reality is that the crab in the barrel mentality is a false Trojan-horse that was given to all of us, white, black, blue, green, with the intended goal of sowing dissension. The real problem is not people in the environment; it is the environment itself and the conditions that stem from the environment. How can we logically conclude that the people who are economically stifled, products of inadequate schooling systems, insufficient housing, over-policing and criminalization are the problem? No, I say that the fact that those conditions exist, the fact the barrel exists, is the problem. The exceptions to the rule are people like Oprah, Jay-Z, Russell Simmons, Eminem, and the likes. While it is great to see that they have been able to transcend past the disadvantages that they faced, they should also be more critical of the fact that the conditions they worked hard to come out of are still present. If not done in a clear and consistent manner then we will continue to be misled to believe that a “crab-mentality” is the problem, innately implying that a person has to have their own self-interest before any and all others. Now, I am not saying that people should completely and totally put aside self-interest in efforts and actions, but what I am saying is that the next time someone makes mention of this mentality, take time to ask them, What about the barrel? Is that not the precursor to the mentality?