Sucka-Free Democracy

from Post-No Ills Magazine: A New American Review of...Reviews

Sucka-Free Democracy:
Hip-Hop's Potential Response to An Obama Presidency
(A Post No Ills E-Roundtable)

ROUNDTABLE PARTICIPANTS:

Adam Bradley
R. Scott Heath
Natalie Hopkinson
Natalie Y. Moore
Mark Anthony Neal

With the first presidential debate of the 2008 election three days away, a night many predict will dictate the outcome of this historic election, Senator Barack Obama’s campaign, whether or not it will publically admit to it, banks on getting strong support from generations of Americans who either initiated, were influenced by, or were forged within hip-hop culture. Obama’s campaign wades through America’s past towards a possibility that many of the Civil Rights era thought they would never see, to the delight and chagrin of members of that generation. But an increasingly pressing question is what will the “hip-hop generation(s)”—a lyrically, visually, and aesthetically rebellious group—potentially have to say to a head of state their support, not antagonism, helped elect? We posed the following question to our panel of writers, scholars, and cultural critics:

Barack Obama’s rise in politics to become a legitimate candidate for the presidency of the United States could be considered part of a trend that has been playing out on municipal and state levels for some time now—that is, African Americans, increasingly of the post-Civil Rights generation, leading offices and institutions that many African Americans may view as historically disinterested in or opposed to their prosperity.

___Hip-hop music artists haven’t pulled many punches when it comes to criticizing, arguably without much nuance, and opposing the American political system and U.S. government—from Chuck D (“Neither party is mine / not the jackass or the elephant”), to Nas (“George Bush killer ‘till George Bush kills me”), to André 3000 (“Y’all telling me that I need to get out and vote / Why? Ain’t nobody black, nothing but crackers / So, why I got to register?”), to Dead Prez’s Stickman (“I’m down for running up on them crackers in they city hall”).
___What do you think hip-hop music and its generations of listeners’ relationship to the presidency and government will look like if Barack Obama is elected president? How will hip-hop employ its candor with a leader who is not “the man” but rather “a brother,” and do you see its critiques being forced to grow due to this potential change in dynamic?

Below you will find links of to each of panelists’ opening responses to the above question, and follow-up responses to each other’s statements. The sincerity and fervor of their exchange speaks to the importance of the work that needs to be done in order to process what political maturation in hip-hop culture means to hip-hop heads from age seventeen to fifty. And as you read, please add your own thoughts, via comment posts on this page, to the discussion so that this small roundtable can become a nation-wide cipher.

Read the Full E-Roundtable Here @

Whither the Black Middle Class?

from NewsOne.com

LEFT OF BLACK:
Global Financial Crisis Threatens Black Middle Class
by Mark Anthony Neal

The current crisis in U.S. financial institutions, along with record-breaking home foreclosures, higher unemployment rates, and skyrocketing gas prices, has given many Americans reason to pause, if not panic. Though the federal government has stepped in to help calm the public fear by bailing out certain institutions, as the old saying goes “when White America catches a cold, Black America catches the flu.”

And it is no different in this case. There’s little question that working-class and poor Americans are catching the brunt of what some pundits have called a recession. In this election season however, the working class and so-called working poor are often recalled only in relation to branding one presidential candidate an elitist and the other as out-of-touch with the economic mainstream.

Yet clearly the presidential candidates have been directing their economic rhetoric at the middle-class. Perhaps rightfully so, given widespread perceptions that the middle class sees its own financial stability as tied to the housing market and investment banking, particularly for those who hold 401K plans and various other IRA and pension plans.

But what exactly do we mean by the “middle class?” FactCheck.org at the University of Pennsylvania’s Annenberg School of Communication notes that there’s no standard definition to “middle class,” observing that the vast majority of Americans view themselves as middle-class. Even the presidential candidates seem unable to agree, as Senator McCain recently suggested (admittedly, in jest) that 5 million per year is the dividing line between being middle-class and rich.

In the absence of clear definitions that also account for social factors like geography, education and social class standing (a college professor making 40,000 a year has more social standing than an electrician that makes three times as much), most pundits use median income as a marker of middle-class status. According to 2005 census data, the median income for American families was a little more than 56,000. But when that data is adjusted for race, the median income for blacks is nearly 20,000 less than it is for whites.

When one looks at the comparisons between black and white incomes between 35,000 and 75,000, there is noticeable parity. However, for all of the egalitarian talk that those numbers might suggest, the reality is that middle-class blacks and whites who might live in the same neighborhoods, send their kids to the same private schools, and earn the same annual incomes are not equal.

Read the Full Essay @

Obama-Biden for Women?

special to NewBlackMan

The Chisholm candidacy didn't forge a solid coalition of those people working for social change; that will take a long time. But it began one.

-Gloria Steinem

“Real Fe Fes Speak: Obama–Biden for Women
by Stephane Dunn

Perhaps that long time from then is now. In 1973, Ms. Magazine captured the historic significance of Shirley Chisholm’s run for president. She didn’t win, of course, but she disturbed the notion of the run for presidency as a white male domain. Last week the Feminist Majority and NOW (National Organization of Women) along with several other women’s organization announced their strong support of the Obama-Biden ticket. Feminist Majority Political Action Chair Ellie Smeal declared that “women simply cannot afford a President McCain.” While gender has been in the swirl of public debate and media attention since Hilary Clinton entered the race for the Democratic nomination, the entrance of Sarah Palin into the high voltage political spotlight dramatizes the ways that the nation still fumbles at gender based dialogue.

The sexist overtones in the media attention on Palin’s appearance, gender and family, and the very significant visibility of the two major female candidates of the year-Clinton and Palin as well as the manipulation of them by supporters have encouraged women to confuse real feminist representation and potential radical change with the visibility of a woman. The recently declared support of the Obama-Biden ticket by the Feminist Majority and NOW should be all over the news given the charges of sexism against Obama and the fact that “gender” like “race” is the hot word of this election year.

Finally, McCain’s and the Republicans’ weak pro-woman’s political empowerment front might finally be addressed as the group voices who have long labored for true radical social change and progress for women have a chance to be more visible in the media’s spotlight. This has been one of the key problems with the talk about Palin, Clinton, women voters, and gender in general-much of it has taken place without seriously engaging the publications and the host of major organized women’s groups who do the work of unraveling gender in between election years and whether the candidates are male or female.

It might be too completely radical for some folk-women and men-to think that the ticket without an actual female on it might be the most progressive best choice for more women and men just as it might be too much for some to believe that the ticket with the black guy might indeed be the most rationale choice that America can make right now. When Chisholm ran, she knew that the stakes were higher than the actual win because one brave step has to be made for other steps to finally lead from a long time to a now.

***

Stephane Dunn, Ph.D, MFA, is currently an Assistant Professor in the English Department at Morehouse College. She has also taught at Ohio State University. A scholarly and creative writer, she specializes in film, popular culture, literature and African American studies. She is the author of articles and commentaries and the book, Baad Bitches & Sassy Supermamas: Black Power Action Films (University of Illinois Press 2008).

To the Chocolate Granola Gurl

“…in the sun, she dances to silent music/songs that are spun of gold somewhere in her own little head/One day all too soon, she’ll grow up and she’ll leave her dolls and her prince and her silly old bear/when she goes they will cry as they whisper goodbye/they will miss her I fear, but then so will I”

—“Waltz for Debby” as performed by Johnny Hartman
(music by Bill Evans; lyrics by Gene Lees)

To the Chocolate Granola Gurl

I can’t believe it’s been a decade since we first brought you home. I don’t think your mother and I have ever told you how much of a surprise you were; we simply didn’t see you coming. We had wished and prayed for a long time for a baby—and suddenly there was that phone call a decade ago that made you a possibility. There was little time for preparation.

You spent the first weeks of your life with a foster family in upstate New York; good folk, perhaps, who home-schooled their children and attended church daily—you in fact spent the evening of your third day on this earth at a church service. They seemed quite amazed about what a pretty little brown girl you were. We visited you in your second week, and I stand by my recollection that you pulled my eyeglasses off of my face. Even then there was just something about your eyes—you were asking questions with your eyes well before there were words to match your curiosity. It’s like what the Old Man said to Hawk, curiosity surrounds you like a landscape. I am reminded of our recent bike outing on the American Tobacco Trail (I’m still recovering, BTW) and when I suggested we bring our Ipods along the next time, you said, “but then I couldn’t talk to you.” It seems it was like that even from the beginning.

The night before we were to become a family, your mother and I traveled back to New York City. We had so little time (or money for that matter) to prepare for your arrival, but your Aunt Sonja and Uncle Frank opened up their hearts and gave us many of the things that nurtured your god-sister Imani in her first year. I still remember listening to the Met game on the radio driving back to Guilderland that night.

The next day we headed to Cortland, NY. I can’t even explain the sense of terror I felt, putting you in the car seat that first time and the sudden realization that all of our lives would never be the same. Your mother remembers you awakening from a quick nap on the car ride home and simply letting out a small exhale when you saw us. Perhaps you already understood that we were a family. We named you after the first initials of our first names. In Hebrew your name means, “one who was taken from the water” and how fitting it was. (and yes, I just got the text you sent me).

***

I can’t believe that it’s been ten years. You should know that I think about you and your sister often. I have playlist on my Ipod called Whurl-A-Gurls that I listen to when I start to miss the two of you and it’s not just those times that I’m traveling, but some days I start to miss the two of you just five minutes after I’ve dropped you off to school. It’s a reminder that every day the time we get to spend with each other is one day less; a reminder that each moment the two of you will need your mother and I even less. Right now I’m listening Chrisette Michele’s “Your Joy” and about to cry. That happens often enough, like when we watched the video for “Yes We Can” together for the first time and you only commented, that it would be nice to have a woman president. And I’m again reminded of the songs you asked me to put on your Ipod, like Alicia Keys’s “Superwomen” and again reminded that I promised to finally work on your blog—Chocolate Granola Gurl.

I imagine that there are a long list of promises that I’ve made to you these past years that you simply pack away close to your heart, knowing my intent, even when I don’t deliver. It’s one of the traps of modern parenting—my dad knew better than to promise anything other than a roof over my head, food in my belly and an example of how to be a man—a black man—and he kept his promise until the day he went home. I was so proud of you the morning of his going home service, reading scripture and comforting your own dad; I simply couldn’t believe how grown you had become on that snowy morning last February.

I really just wanted to let you know that I’m thinking about you. Hopefully we’ll spend some time tomorrow celebrating our annual family day—in commemoration of our decade as a family—over ice cream or maybe even Locopops. Daddy may not always show it, but he loves you, and he’s had to take some time to really understand how difficult this really difficult year has been for a 10-year-old brown girl, who just wants to know that her daddy will always be there to talk to.

Love,

Daddy

Post-Race Nostalgia?

from Vibe.com


CRITICAL NOIR:
Love that (White) Girl: Post-Race Nostalgia in the Age of Obama and Palin
by Mark Anthony Neal

Raphael Saadiq has been managing the archive for much of his career, beginning more than 20-years with his work with Tony, Toni, Tone, songwriting collaborations with D'Angelo (of which "Untitled" is the clear standout, his stellar production on tracks like Mary J. Blige's "I Found My Everything" and the Earth, Wind & Fire comeback recording Illumination, as well as his own shade-short-of-brilliant-though-obscure solo recording career.

Saadiq is in fine company with the likes of Jimmy Scott, the late Ronnie Dyson and Rahsaan Patterson--men who share Saadiq's proclivity to finesse vocals in registers well beyond the privilege masculinity affords. Quite frankly, upon hearing "Love that Girl" the lead single from Saadiq latest album The Way I See It for the first time, I thought I was listening to woman. Yet it was a woman--some Joss Stone look-alike lovely--that arrested my attention as I gazed on the video treatment for "I Love That Girl."

Retro-fitted with a sound heisted from the Brunswick label's rhythm section--and imaging packaged with a giddy 1960s innocence reminiscent of The Wonder Years, "Love that Girl" is perfectly pitched for the so-called post-Race moment. The video for Raphael Saadiq's "Love That Girl" succeeds, in part, because it trafficks in the very anxieties of this moment, by inverting the cynicism that that informs much of the political discourse emanating from media pundits.

Read Full Essay @

Daphne Brooks on Amy Whinehouse

from The Nation

Tainted Love: Amy Winehouse and the (Black) Art of Appropriation by Daphne A. Brooks

London's Victoria and Albert Museum is currently paying tribute to the Supremes, the queen mother of all "girl groups," in a colorful exhibit that celebrates the more-than-passing connections between the Motown trio's rise to pop prominence and the 1960s struggle for civil rights. Featuring a luminous array of vintage glitter gowns and go-go petal dresses donated by original Supreme Mary Wilson, "The Story of the Supremes" highlights the link between the groundbreaking group's consistent execution of refined elegance and what you might call the civil right to black glamour that was dominant for much of twentieth-century black music history.

English pop phenom and London native Amy Winehouse is a singer who owes as much to the sound and look of the Supremes, the Ronettes and other pioneering girl groups as she does to the vocal stylings of bygone jazz and R&B greats like Dinah Washington, Sarah Vaughan and Afro-Scottish pop legend Dame Shirley Bassey. On second thought, "owing" is putting it nicely. Winehouse's Tower of Pisa beehive, satin gowns and little black gloves invoke the styles of everyone from Lena Horne to the Shirelles, and her frothy brew of Motown girl-group melodies crossed with Etta James-era rock and blues riffs and silky-smooth 1970s soul arrangements are textbook BET lifetime achievement material. Just about the only thing Winehouse hasn't repackaged from the black music archives is the one thing she could use: a lesson from Motown's legendary etiquette coach Maxine Powell, who taught her charges to exude grace and a classic Hollywood glow. The mannered, elegant look that Winehouse pairs with a shot glass was, for Diana Ross, Mary Wilson and Florence Ballard, about more than Cleopatra eyeliner. It was about affirming black dignity and humanity amid the battle to end American apartheid.

Read the Full Essay @

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Daphne A. Brooks, an associate professor of English and African-American studies at Princeton University, is the author of Bodies in Dissent: Spectacular Performances of Race and Freedom, 1850-1910 (Duke) and Jeff Buckley's Grace (Continuum)

Who You Callin' a Sexist?

from NewsOne.com

LEFT OF BLACK:
Memo To John McCain: A Male Chauvinist Pig is Still a Pig
by Mark Anthony Neal

So, Senator John McCain’s campaign has accused Senator Barack Obama of sexism in relation to the latter’s use of the phrase, “if you put lipstick on a pig, it’s still a pig.” That the mainstream press has spent so much time and energy on this non-issue, speaks volumes about the extent to which real examples of sexism and misogyny remain beyond their full interpretive grasp.

As recently as a month ago, NBC commentator and former NFL player Tiki Barber referred to his on-air colleague Jenna Wolfe as a “full medal cunt,” during NBC’s Olympic broadcasts. The comment generated little, if any, press scrutiny. Now, the same press wants us to believe that Obama’s use of an odd colloquialism is somehow tantamount to issues like domestic violence, inequitable wages, the rape and murder of female military personnel by their male peers and the media’s own questionable coverage of Senator Hillary Clinton and Governor Sarah Palin.

Of course, that it was John McCain who felt compelled to raise the issue of sexism in the Obama campaign is absurd in and of itself. My guess is that Senator McCain has likely never heard of the Ms. Foundation or the Feminist Majority Leadership Alliance, let alone the hundreds of less prominent, though no less effective, organizations and activists that combat sexism, misogyny and violence against women and girls on-the-ground, everyday.

This is the same John McCain who uttered nary a mumbling word when a supporter rhetorically asked, in reference to Senator Hillary Clinton, “How do we beat the bitch”? Now we are to accept that issues of gender are high on his list of domestic concerns? In this particular instance, McCain is in company with many other men: he refuses to challenge other men on legitimate examples of sexism and misogyny.

In the process, he, like they, becomes complicit in the very sexism and misogyny that they claim to be concerned about.

Read Full Essay @