Planking Explored

If you haven't heard of it by now, Planking is this new game that people are playing all over the globe. To try to describe it in words, it's the act of lying flat on top of random objects with your arms directly by your side and your head up. It seems like an innocent form of fun, but what little fail to know, well until most recently, thanks to rapper turned actor, Xzibit (tweet below) and history books that no one took the time to read, Planking is not a fun game at all.

Planking unfortunately, is a modern-day demonstration of how slaves were forced to lie on the floor board of ships as they took that horrid journey from their free homeland to an enslaved destination. Planks are pieces of wood that were utilized to create the flooring of these massive slave transportation vessels. Each slave was forced to lie flat on the Planks of the ships with their head up. They were then chained together at the neck, arms and/or feet in this Planking position.

For some odd reason, I never gained an appreciation for this Planking game, even before I really knew of its origin. It just didn't seem funny, interesting or intelligent to me. The sad part about it, is that once celebrities started Planking, then of course all man-kind had to join in. I know games are made to be fun, but sometimes we have to be careful to make sure we aren't mocking people who labored and died so we can have these so-called freedoms. I am not tripping, because most people, even when given access to education, continue to stay ignorant. So, Plank away people, Plank away celebrities, Plank away Ninjas. Continue to make us all so proud---SMDH!

Xzibit's Tweet: "Planking is THE dumbest sh-t ever," Xzibit tweeted (via TMZ). "#Planking was a way to transport slaves on ships during the slave trade, its not funny. Educate." (sic)

"Don't get it twisted," he continued. "I care less where your dumb asses lay face down and take pictures of the shit, I'm just telling you where it came from." (sic)