Wednesday, October 22, 2008
White Racism's "Upside"...
I think Ta-Neheisi Coates is joking in this post.
But, I'm not sure.
I laughed out loud -- but then realized there was something to it.
Decide for yourself.
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But, I'm not sure.
I laughed out loud -- but then realized there was something to it.
Decide for yourself.
Labels: black culture, politics, race
Wednesday, April 25, 2007
"No Snitchin'" Is Worse Than "Bitchin'"
Russell Simmons and Ben Chavis' declaration of their intent to clean up rap is fine as far as it goes in the post-Imus world:
And so, crimes remain unsolved and killers get to go on and kill again. All the banning in the world isn't going to address this sort of metastasizing nihilism. If this attitude is adopted by the heroes of hip-hop, what's the effect as it sinks down to the young people in the 'hood?
Your move, Mr. Simmons.
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"We recommend that the recording and broadcast industries voluntarilyThis may be something of a start, but the cultural corruption sparked by hip-hop has spread far beyond uses of the B-, H- and N-words. That was clear from the truly eye-opening segment on 60 Minutes last week, on the breakdown of basic social norms such as helping police solve crimes "Stop Snitchin'"):
remove/bleep/delete the misogynistic words 'bitch' and 'ho' and the racially
offensive word 'nigger,' " Simmons and Benjamin Chavis, co-chairmen of the
advocacy group Hip-Hop Summit Action Network, said in a statement.
"These three words should be considered with the same objections to obscenity as
'extreme curse words,' " it said.
The truth is, people having been walking away for years. In 1996, rapper Tupac Shakur was gunned down in Las Vegas; the crime remains unsolved. So does the 1997 shooting of the rapper Notorious B.I.G.The segment also touches upon how Busta Rhymes has adopted the same credo by refusing to help the cops track down the murderer of his own bodyguard.
Rap star Cameron Giles, known as Cam'ron or "Killa Cam," got shot in both arms in 2005. The shooting occurred in front of members of Cam'ron's entourage, but to this day, neither they, nor he, have cooperated with police.
Asked why, Cam'ron tells Cooper, "Because with the type of business I'm in, it would definitely hurt my business. And the way that I was raised, I just don't do that. I was raised differently, not to tell."
"If I was shot, I would want to know who did it. I would want the guy to get caught," Cooper remarks.
"But then again, you're not going to be on the stage tonight in the middle of, let's say, Raleigh-Durham, North Carolina, with people with gold and platinum teeth and dreadlocks jumping up and down singing your songs either," Cam'ron says. "You know what I'm saying? We're in two different lines of business."
"So for you it's really about business?" Cooper asks.
"It's about business but it's still also a code of ethics," Cam'ron replies.
Asked if he thinks there is any situation when it's okay to talk to the police, Cam'ron tells Cooper, "Yeah, definitely. Say 'Hello, how you feel, everything alright?' Period."
"That's it?" Cooper asks.
"There's nothing really to talk about with the police, I mean, for what?" Cam'ron says.
"If there's a serial killer living next door to you, though, and you know that person is, you know, killing people, would you be a snitch if you called police and told them?" Cooper asks Cam'ron.
"If I knew the serial killer was living next door to me?" Cam'ron asks. "No, I wouldn't call and tell anybody on him. But I'd probably move… But I'm not gonna call and be like, you know, 'The serial killer's in 4E.'"
And so, crimes remain unsolved and killers get to go on and kill again. All the banning in the world isn't going to address this sort of metastasizing nihilism. If this attitude is adopted by the heroes of hip-hop, what's the effect as it sinks down to the young people in the 'hood?
Your move, Mr. Simmons.
Labels: black culture, Don Imus, hip-hop, rap
Tuesday, April 10, 2007
That's What Friends Are For
John Cole has some common-sense observations about why the opinion media big boys stick by Imus, despite his history:
But, like Cole, I suddenly stopped listening regularly last year, preferring my morning regimen to go from the local all-news cable station to the "Mike and Mike" simulcast on ESPN2 to CNN. Imus has slipped from the rotation.
An earlier Imus drive-by victim, Gwen Ifill, weighed in this morning in the Times. She focused less on Imus than on his target -- the Rutgers U. basketketball players. I think they are the reason why this has had a stronger resonance than previous Imus outbursts. They are not "public" figures in the conventional sense. They were just playing in a tournament and suddenly bece the source of obnoxious "humor." As we noted previously, that makes Imus worse than a racist -- it makes him look like a bully.
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As the TNR notes (via Sully), it will be interesting to see how MoDo and Frank Rich react. Another one that will be interesting to watch is Mike Barnicle, who was, for the most part, thrown out of the “clique” for plagiarism a few years back and was wholly rehabilitated by Imus. He made Barnicle less nuclear. People remember that. People understand loyalty.It's interesting. I've also been a long-time Imus listener -- back when he was "Howard Stern" before Howard Stern became "Howard Stern." He was the original loud-mouth, near-foul, shock-jock. Years later, when he became the drop-by guy for various media and political heavyweights -- and was nationally syndicated -- I started listening to him again in Washington, D.C.
But I really do think it boils down to friendships and relationships as much or more than it does to Digby’s hypothesis about book sales. I listened to the show quite frequently (every morning, actually, up until about a year ago when I just stopped watching, for whatever reason). The guests and Imus generally liked each other- you could tell that they were friends, and yes, they were clubby.
I guess my whole point is that it is, I think, unfair to attack Oliphant, or David Gregory, or Tim Russert, or whoever, because they will defend a friend. I worked in probation for a while, and at every sentencing, people got up and said good things about the convicted. That doesn’t mean that the convicted is any less guilty, and it surely does not mean that those testifying on behalf of the convicted are awful sell-outs. It is just human nature to try to stand up for your friends.
But, like Cole, I suddenly stopped listening regularly last year, preferring my morning regimen to go from the local all-news cable station to the "Mike and Mike" simulcast on ESPN2 to CNN. Imus has slipped from the rotation.
An earlier Imus drive-by victim, Gwen Ifill, weighed in this morning in the Times. She focused less on Imus than on his target -- the Rutgers U. basketketball players. I think they are the reason why this has had a stronger resonance than previous Imus outbursts. They are not "public" figures in the conventional sense. They were just playing in a tournament and suddenly bece the source of obnoxious "humor." As we noted previously, that makes Imus worse than a racist -- it makes him look like a bully.
Labels: black culture, Don Imus, political correctness
Tuesday, March 20, 2007
Ghetto Not-So-Fab
Stanley Crouch's Monday column discusses how "ghetto" culture has been mainstreamed and universalized:
Take the situation of Aleta Payne, an African American mother in North Carolina. She shares her frustrations over her son's white friends teasing him because he doesn't "act black":
The white American love affair with black culture goes back generations. Indeed rock 'n' roll is was built upon it. Hip-hop has now taken its place. However, unlike with what happened with R&B -- appropriated and transformed into rock, whites have just adopted hip-hop culture and absorbed its tropes. Thus, the N-word is something whites feel they can casually call their black friends -- and each other. But, more importantly, it's not just the language: It's clothing, style, culture, etc. And it is pervasive: Most urban-oriented popular culture -- music, movies, sports -- gives one basic archetype of how black is supposed to look and act.
To be "hip-hop", "black" and "ghetto" is to be hard, scowl and have a fierce "edge." To be athletic, one has to be a "baller." Otherwise, you're not "really" black.
And, so what does one say to a black young man who seems to prefer being the next Arthur Ashe, rather than the next 50 cent? How do we tell him that he has become victimized by a self-generated black stereotype?
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Rather brilliantly, what [author Cora Daniels] describes as "ghetto" behavior and thought is not color-coded. To Daniels, Britney Spears, Paris Hilton and Gwyneth Paltrow are, through their various ways and personal decisions, as "ghetto" as the stereotypical project tackhead with five children by five different men, not one of whom she married.Is Crouch right that the "ghetto" image is truly "universal" and not solely the provence of one "color" or community? I'm not so convinced.
So when Daniels uses "ghetto" to describe something, she does not exclusively mean lower class or black. Nor does she only mean the super tacky bling of wealthy, upper-class black knuckleheads who couldn't recognize refined style if it slapped the taste out of their mouths.
No, her observations are mercilessly inclusive. They criticize and pull the covers off of a much larger problem that may rise most brutally out of projects across the nation, but have
not stayed there. These troubles are common to all colors and all classes. Every person in this nation is threatened by an especially obnoxious kind of narcissism that justifies all actions or ignores everyone else - including one's own children! - in the name of personal pleasure or profit or individual comfort.
Take the situation of Aleta Payne, an African American mother in North Carolina. She shares her frustrations over her son's white friends teasing him because he doesn't "act black":
Poised to start high school, Sam is at the age where he wants nothing more thanThis is the flip-side of the oft-repeated tale of the studious black student teased by other blacks because he is perceived as "acting white." Where else, but from the popular culture would white middle-class kids get the idea that one of their black peers isn't "black enough" because he doesn't want go the "thug" route?
the acceptance of his peers. So this question staggered him. And while we
learned the basics of the story then, the details have emerged -- syllable by
reluctant syllable -- in the months since. That it had not happened that one
time but had built over months. That it was always the same small group of boys
who generally treated him as one of their buds. That he'd stopped being able to
laugh it off as the question wore at him.
"People think I should be able to rap or something," he said. "Like they see in movies and crap." Strong words from our almost silent son. "They want me to act like something I'm not."
Sam is studious and quiet, much as his father and I were at his age. He
inherited my light complexion and poor eyesight, his father's analytical mind
and love of tennis. Apparently his wire-rimmed glasses and athletic leanings
undermined any "street cred."
The white American love affair with black culture goes back generations. Indeed rock 'n' roll is was built upon it. Hip-hop has now taken its place. However, unlike with what happened with R&B -- appropriated and transformed into rock, whites have just adopted hip-hop culture and absorbed its tropes. Thus, the N-word is something whites feel they can casually call their black friends -- and each other. But, more importantly, it's not just the language: It's clothing, style, culture, etc. And it is pervasive: Most urban-oriented popular culture -- music, movies, sports -- gives one basic archetype of how black is supposed to look and act.
To be "hip-hop", "black" and "ghetto" is to be hard, scowl and have a fierce "edge." To be athletic, one has to be a "baller." Otherwise, you're not "really" black.
And, so what does one say to a black young man who seems to prefer being the next Arthur Ashe, rather than the next 50 cent? How do we tell him that he has become victimized by a self-generated black stereotype?
Labels: black culture, ghetto, hip-hop
