we are not going out like this

English translation: We are not going to leave this as our legacy

08:38 Jul 23, 2019

English language (monolingual) [PRO]
Government / Politics

English term or phrase: we are not going out like this

Hello everyone,

From the book Thank You for Being Late by Thomas Friedman.

“I grew up in New Jersey and became totally consumed with racial justice in my late teens,” Samuels told me over coffee one morning in downtown Minneapolis. “My father and mother came from the Jim Crow South and were the descendants of slaves and sharecroppers, and they came north for the same reason immigrants come to America—to find a better life and opportunity that the South could not provide.” Her father joined the longshoreman’s union and went from low income to middle class and then later moved the family from the equivalent of North Minneapolis to St. Louis Park, or from Newark to Scotch Plains, thanks to fair housing legislation passed in 1968. When she would give vent to her passion to struggle against racial injustice growing up, Samuels recalled, “my father used to say to me, ‘Sandy, when you find that country that’s better than this one, you tell me and we’ll go live there together . . .’ I always got stumped by that.”

Speaking of Minneapolis, she said: “We have some great disparities in this community—‘Minnesota nice’ tried to cover up a lot of racism.” But, “while I can tell you a story of real disparities and how there was structural racism in Minneapolis—historical and present-day—that has gotten us to where we are, I can also tell you that today we have a business community like no other business community.” Today, “people are stepping up and saying, ‘This cannot happen on our watch . . .’ It is game on.” Working with Itasca members and other business leaders, said Samuels, “we are trying to be there for each other. That is what we lost in our country or never really had. We all share a vision that ***we are not going out like this*** and we are not going to let our kids go out like this.”

While Samuels is buoyed by the financial support and the partner-ships with groups such as Itasca, she knows that the Northside of Minneapolis cannot be transformed without attention to systemic racism that still needs fixing. She also knows that that fixing will not be transformative unless the area’s largely African American families take their future into their own hands as well.

What does "we are not going out like this" mean inthis particular context?

I asked this question on (https://forum.wordreference.com/threads/we-are-not-going-out... another forum, but the only person who answered so far wasn't very sure because of lack of context (you canonly quote 4 sentences when asking questions on Wordreference).

Thank you.

Mikhail Korolev KudoZ activity Questions: 2412 (2 open) (10 closed without grading) Answers: 130
Local time: 04:53

Selected answer:We are not going to leave this as our legacy

Explanation:
Another suggestion.

Selected response from:

Mark Nathan
France
Local time: 03:53

Grading comment

Many thanks to everyone.
Thank you, Mark.
4 KudoZ points were awarded for this answer

SUMMARY OF ALL EXPLANATIONS PROVIDED

ideas

Yvonne Gallagher

3 +1

We are not going to leave this as our legacy

Mark Nathan

we will take a stand / we will stand up for ourselves (before we're done)

D. I. Verrelli

4 -1

Continue life

Ali Sharifi

Discussion entries: 13

D. I. Verrelli

Australia

Pop culture

01:47 Aug 16, 2019

I agree with Björn Vrooman and others that it's a pop-culture reference.

Mikhail Korolev

ASKER

10:08 Jul 23, 2019

Thank you, Charles and Björn.

Björn Vrooman

Hello Mark

10:03 Jul 23, 2019

Basically, yes. It's cease to exist. Though it's important not to take it too literally half the time. Here, go out is used to mean retire:
https://arizonasports.com/story/1013051/larry-fitzgerald-i-j...

And:
"When the news of Jemele Hill’s suspension broke, fans took to Twitter to voice their support of Hill. And guess what- Twitter, especially Black Twitter, wasn’t letting her go out like that."
https://theshadowleague.com/twitter-rose-up-and-wasn-t-letti...

This means they weren't going to just let it be. I grew up listening to Hip Hop and am familiar with AAVE. Sometimes, it's just hard to put it into words.

Best

PS
Thanks, Charles. And, yes, the same is true for NWA--Straight Outta Compton was all about that group.

I once read that Eve was the first or one of the first attracting a white middle-class audience.

I can also confirm what you just said. I got this book at home, BTW:
https://www.amazon.de/Hip-Hop-America-Molding-Generation/dp/...

Best

Charles Davis

Spain

10:01 Jul 23, 2019

I mean political in the sense of rapping about the social and political position of black youth, often explicitly in the Black Power tradition, with many references to Malcolm X (Chuck D in Public Enemy was the most influential voice there: "Fight the Power" and "By the Time I Get to Arizona") but also trying to get young black people to stop destroying themselves with drink, drugs and violence. "I'm not going out like that" meant both "I'm not going to let them destroy me" and "I'm not going to destroy myself".

Charles Davis

Spain

Run DMC

09:52 Jul 23, 2019

Björn has pointed us in the right direction. In 1988, nearly 20 years before Cypress Hill's "I Ain't Going Out Like That" (2006), Run D.M.C., who were among the real pioneers of hip-hop, had released "I'm Not Going Out Like That":
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rIkrCJa4dFg

In case you don't catch it all, here are the lyrics:
http://www.metrolyrics.com/im-not-going-out-like-that-lyrics...

Back in those days rap was more political. Cypress Hill were in that tradition too.

Mark Robertson

going out / taking out

09:40 Jul 23, 2019

The contrast in the song seems to be between going out and taking out. To take someone out is to kill/assassinate them. Does it follow therefore that to go out means to be killed/assassinated?

Mikhail Korolev

ASKER

09:30 Jul 23, 2019

B D Finch, Björn, thank you.

Björn Vrooman

@B D Finch and Mark

09:25 Jul 23, 2019

Starts at around 1:30:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TgRth3LdEdw

The book was published in 2016; this is from 2012. Another piece of the puzzle:
"But we showed you how a black female can to her thing
But still you continue to keep us oppressed,
But now we ain't going out like that, uh no, no.
All these lies and all this propaganda you want us to take,
We're gonna take out"
https://songmeanings.com/songs/view/3530822107858927199/

In the sense of not going down without a fight, not be remembered like this; going out in the meaning of extinguished (like a light).

You can mute the music (it's Cypress Hill and I don't think you're going to like it), but the lyrics can be found below the video. The hook is "I ain't goin' out like that," and the verses should explain what this is about:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N9l23a3setM

Best

Mikhail Korolev

ASKER

The link

09:20 Jul 23, 2019

https://forum.wordreference.com/threads/we-are-not-going-out...

This one should work.

B D Finch

France

@Asker

09:15 Jul 23, 2019

The Word Reference link doesn't work and it looks like your question might have been deleted.

B D Finch

France

@Mark - Agree

09:13 Jul 23, 2019

Yes, I understand it to mean that, when their generation comes to the end of their time in control, things must be different. On the other hand, the following clause: "and we are not going to let our kids go out like this,” is rather odd because, if the parents' generation changes things, then their children should come in to the improved situation.

Mikhail Korolev

ASKER

09:08 Jul 23, 2019

Thank you, MARK.

Mark Robertson

08:54 Jul 23, 2019

A strange idiom. Given the context, I suspect it means "This is not how we are going to end up.".

Answers

45 mins confidence:

ideas

Explanation:
I haven't seen the expression used in this way before but from the context I take it to mean that

we are not going to act in this way, being racist AND trying to cover up racism and disparities

Because the community is getting together and saying we have to act together to stop this: “people are stepping up and saying, ‘This cannot happen on our watch . . .’ It is game on.” It's also stated that this sense of community did not exist before "That is what we lost in our country or never really had."

At first I thought it was stepping out, going out on the field as a team but that doesn't fit the negative.

So, this is how I see it now...

--------------------------------------------------
Note added at 47 mins (2019-07-23 09:25:29 GMT)
--------------------------------------------------

And no, I don't believe it's anything to do with dying.

--------------------------------------------------
Note added at 50 mins (2019-07-23 09:28:16 GMT)
--------------------------------------------------

Another reason I interpret it this way is that Samuels has already said that she was "totally consumed with racial justice in her/my late teens,”

Yvonne Gallagher
Ireland
Local time: 02:53
Works in field
Native speaker of:

English
PRO pts in category: 56

Notes to answerer

Asker: Thank you, Yvonne.

1 hr confidence:

peer agreement (net): -1

Continue life

Explanation:
The context and the song lyrics imply continuing life the way it is.

Ali Sharifi
United States
Local time: 21:53
Specializes in field
Native speaker of:

Persian (Farsi)

Notes to answerer

Asker: Thank you, Ali.

1 hr confidence:

peer agreement (net): +1

We are not going to leave this as our legacy

Explanation:
Another suggestion.

Mark Nathan
France
Local time: 03:53
Native speaker of:

English
PRO pts in category: 8

Grading comment

Many thanks to everyone.
Thank you, Mark.

Notes to answerer

Asker: Thank you, Mark.

23 days confidence:

we will take a stand / we will stand up for ourselves (before we're done)

Explanation:
"But I'll be damned if I don't take a stand
We ain't goin' out like that"
https://www.lyricsmode.com/lyrics/c/cypress_hill/i_aint_goin...

Out like that: not going. In like men: we're growing.
http://www.metrolyrics.com/im-not-going-out-like-that-lyrics...

For this type of phrase I'd normally expect numerous entries at Urban Dictionary, but not in this case.

"A well formed response to almost any question that involves potentially being/looking like a chump to someone else."
https://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=I ain't goin...

"to make the point that one would never do a certain action"
https://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=aint goin ou...

D. I. Verrelli
Australia
Local time: 11:53
Native speaker of:

English
PRO pts in category: 4

Notes to answerer

Asker: Thank you, David.

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