Da'Vinchi Says Americans Are "Incompetent" - But Baby, Were You Independent or Just Forced to Grow Up?

Chyyyy... Da'Vinchi sat down with Cam Newton and somehow a conversation about work ethic turned into Americans being called incompetent because everybody wasn't taking care of themselves at EIGHT years old. And baby... I got a few things to say.

BMF actor Da'Vinchi recently appeared on Cam Newton's Funky Friday, where the two discussed acting, work ethic, American efficiency, and whether convenience has made people less self-sufficient. During that conversation, Da'Vinchi said humans are becoming "more incompetent" and pointed to adults who can't do basic things for themselves. He then used his own childhood as an example, saying he could fully take care of himself at around eight years old before adding that, in America, people remain incompetent for a long time. Newton pushed back, arguing that what Da'Vinchi was describing could also be viewed as American efficiency.

And this is where Miss Da'Vinchi lost me a little bit.

Now, before anybody starts: Da'Vinchi is Haitian-American, was born and raised in Brooklyn, and has spoken publicly about being raised by Haitian parents and taking pride in his Haitian roots.

And as somebody from New York, I know this conversation VERY well.

New York is one of those places where Black Americans, Haitians, Jamaicans, Trinidadians, Guyanese, Dominicans, Puerto Ricans, Africans and damn near everybody else can grow up within blocks of one another. And yes, sometimes within those communities you hear people comparing cultures and acting like the way THEY were raised automatically makes them harder-working, more disciplined or more capable than everybody else.

And that's where I have a problem.

First of all, I don't understand coming into American culture - or in Da'Vinchi's case, being born and raised right here in Brooklyn - and then making sweeping statements about Americans as though we're one little group of people who were all raised the same way.

America is HUGE.

There is no singular American upbringing.

You're talking about more than 300 million people spread across different states, regions, races, ethnicities, religions, economic classes and diasporas. The Black American kid growing up in the Bronx may have absolutely nothing in common with the suburban kid growing up in Nebraska, and BOTH of them are American.

So taking the Americans you've personally encountered and using them to determine that Americans are incompetent is already way too broad for me.

And let's get to this eight-year-old thing.

Because baby...

Why are we acting like an eight-year-old having to completely take care of themselves is automatically evidence of superior parenting or work ethic?

There's a difference between teaching your child independence and having your child function like a miniature adult.

I understand latchkey kids because I WAS ONE.

I remember being around 11, 12, 13 years old, coming home, making food for my two cousins, doing laundry and handling things around the house.

So trust me, I'm not coming from some fantasy where children can't have responsibilities.

Children SHOULD learn how to clean.

Children SHOULD learn basic cooking.

Children SHOULD have chores.

Children SHOULD gradually learn how to take care of themselves.

But I would never look at somebody whose parents were able to be home, make their dinner, wash their clothes and give them a childhood and say:

"Well, you're incompetent because my ass had responsibilities."

No!

Maybe their parents simply had the ability to provide something ours couldn't.

And sometimes I think adults have a bad habit of taking the things we survived as children and turning them into evidence that every child should experience them.

Your struggle can absolutely make you resilient.

Your upbringing can absolutely contribute to your work ethic.

But that doesn't automatically mean somebody who didn't have to struggle like you did is incompetent.

And let's be careful with romanticizing this shit.

If your parents worked constantly, weren't around, or whatever circumstances existed that resulted in you having to become completely self-sufficient at eight years old, you may very well have developed incredible survival skills because of it.

But you were still eight.

Another eight-year-old having a parent making their food, doing their laundry, checking their homework and actually taking care of them doesn't make that child inferior to you.

That's literally what parents are supposed to fucking do.

And there's another layer to this conversation that bothers me.

We have GOT to stop turning conversations within the Black diaspora into some imaginary competition over who works harder, who suffered more, who has better parents, who's more disciplined or who's supposedly more successful.

Caribbean people aren't a monolith.

Black Americans aren't a monolith.

Africans aren't a monolith.

Immigrants aren't a monolith.

Americans aren't a monolith.

And none of us benefit from constantly trying to prove that one group is inherently more capable than another.

Da'Vinchi's childhood clearly helped shape Da'Vinchi. He's spoken elsewhere about growing up in poverty and how his New York upbringing and having immigrant parents fueled his ambition. That's HIS story, and there's nothing wrong with being proud of what you overcame.

Where I disagree is when your personal survival story becomes the measuring stick for everybody else's competence.

Because maybe somebody didn't know how to do laundry at eight.

They were fucking EIGHT.

Maybe they were playing with toys.

Maybe somebody made their dinner.

Maybe their mother folded their clothes.

Maybe their father drove them to school.

And guess what?

That doesn't mean they can't grow up and become a hardworking, self-sufficient adult.

Teaching children responsibility is important.

Teaching children independence is important.

Teaching children work ethic is important.

But allowing children to actually be children is important too.

So yes, Da'Vinchi, I'll give you your flowers for having a strong work ethic. If being independent that young helped create the man and career you have today, that's part of your story.

But I'm not calling everybody else incompetent because their mama didn't have them frying chicken, washing drawers and balancing the household budget before they lost their baby teeth.

Fuck outta here.