Bout to get rowdy, pregame begins at Ravari Room in 30mins.....GO!
The Pluto Gang
Friday, October 30, 2009
Joy Division
Finally got some new music off the Brodester the other day and now I have this band back in my life. I was hipped to Joy Division by the AKE kids about a year ago and have dug since, fucks wit em.
Black and White
Watched this flick at my dads house last night, this is a real good movie with a lot cameos, check it out if u have never seen it.
Thursday, October 29, 2009
Booooooom.Com
Unknown Artist^
Anthony Lister^ 
Gerald Edwards III^
James Turnley^
Hiro Kurata^
Eleanna Anagnos^
Bas Princen^
Bas Princen^ These are a few stolen flicks of work off my favorite site at the moment boooooooom.com, last time I posted some work from this site I included links to the artist web pages. This time I am too lazy so check the site and research them on your own if you dig.
Lil Wayne - No Ceilings
Need I say more, Wayne back on his mixtape grizzy minus the rockstar edge...kinda. Haven't heard all of it yet but click the pic and be ya own judge...Young Jeezy - Trapstar
I had to bring back that real southern trap ish after the post below, jus ask about me....
Waka Flocka Flames- Lebron Flocka James
I know im goin far with my Trap Rap ish, but this cover and the mixtape is hilarious, its worth a listen...click picture for link.
Sunday, October 25, 2009
MAZA BLASKA w/ DJ SELF HELP, NETHERFRIENDS, & JORDAN O'JORDAN
This isnt till tomorrow night at Skullys but its gonna be a funtime. DJ Self Help a.k.a Danny J is the homie and threw it the fuck down at Dance or Die last night. Our friends from Maza Blaska are always dope and are great people. The other bands will be good as well, plus its a monday night and you aint got shit else to do, so come!
Roy Ayers - Everybody Loves The Sunshine
This has been my cut since the end of the summer, its sunday and im in that type of mood.
Vaughan Mason & Crew - Bounce, Rock, Skate, Roll
This was my anthem for last night, its a true banger.
Saturday, October 24, 2009
Dance or Die Tonight
This is by far my favorite event that has hit Columbus recently. Self Help and Barticus are the homies, the music is always on point, Oldfields on High has grown on me thanks to DoD and it has done well for the team all around. Be there tonight and I will buy you shots cause im in that type of mood!
Female Appreciation
Gabriela Barros....reminds of that time Jay said "I think I might wife here" or better yet when Andre 3000 said "behold...a lady"....
Sidenote: Gabriela Barros > Kim Kardashian
The Clipse - Popular Demand (Popeye's) Feat. Cam'Ron
Anything Clipse/Neptunes/Cam'ron related I will be posting...
Friday, October 23, 2009
Monster House Birthday Bash/Sweatin' at Circus
Tonight is gonna be well over rowdy. Its our friends the twins from Delay and Monster House' birthday and they are throwing a show/birthday bash at where else the monster house. Then Sweatin' will be goin on at Circus later on. Pregame begins at Ravari Room in 30mins...GO!Notorious B.I.G- Party and Bullshit
My anthem for the night.....nah for the weekend and prob next weekend shits bout to get belignorant ya heard....
Thursday, October 22, 2009
15th House/Skylab Tonight
Thursday night rage/punk/noise/karaoke night is just what I needed after a bullshit week in corporate america. Not to familiar with what is goin on down at Skylab but I heard Aaron Hibbs is starting up his hula hoop marathon again, and im assuming some noise bands will be in the house and that sounds dope. But I know Rag Rage will be playing at the 15th House where there will also be karaoke. Come see Rag Rage cause they are my favorite local female punk band and plus they are dope girls in general, also if you like karaoke then come. Then go to Skylab for funtime.
Nipsey Hussle- Bullets Aint Got No Names Vol. 3 Tracks
I officially fucks with Nipsey Hussle...Downloaded Bullets Aint Got No Names Vol. 3 and it has been in the cd player for the past few weeks. Listed above are just a few bangers I have been repeating, dont sleep fuck with the kid!
Ridle DROIDS
Ill fucking concept here, RIDLE is prob. one of my favorite up north writers, this piece alone doesnt speak for how creative dude is but cat comes correct and original.
This is the police! Come out with your breast shaking!
Al Shabaab Muslim extremist(not police...I just thought it would be a funny title) in Somalia have been ordered to have woman shake their breast at gunpoint to determine if the bra they are wearing is "un-islamic". People who have been found wearing Victoria's Secret, or even Wal-mart bras, have been publicly whipped because these undergarments are considered a violation of islam for being deceptive. Al Shabaab has stated that "Womens breast should be firm naturally or just flat".
Raekwon-Only Built 4 Cuban Linx pt.2 (2009)
Ok this review is comming very late, seeing as how it was released in September, But fuck it I'ma do it anyway.
Right away pt.2 also starring Ghostface, grabs you by the cover. The pose by Raekwon and Ghost is from the pt.1 offering, and this cover lets you know that just like the first time arround the Chef and Tony cooked up some marvelous joints. The opening "House of Flying Daggers" is a beautiful return to all that is Wu-Tang and setting the bar of the album very high. The following cuts while not as strong as "House..." all stand on their own as great crack rap evidenced especially by the third cut "Sonny's Missin". The production of the album is damn near flawless with Dr. Dre, Mathmatics, and Pete Rock, and the beat from Dilla on the very strong tribute to O.D.B."Ason Jones" will have have all rap heads pumpin a fist for the lost ones.
All in all this album is the best thing Raekwon has done since his first solo project, and at 22 Songs, you feel like there shouold be 10 more....Maybe pt.3 is just arround the corner.
Sunday, October 18, 2009
Saturday, October 17, 2009
Tonight At The Legion Of Doom
I really need to get up off my ass so I can make it too see this show. My dudes from Kurt Russell are apart of the band Godeater so this should be fun, also a swedish hardcore band I can fuck with. There is also a really good show goin on at Monster House and some noise bands down at Skylab, looks like im raging tonight....
My "White Nigga" Too....
Our lil buddy Charles Robles a.k.a Carles Robles a.k.a Mr. KKK a.k.a My Future lawyer was pranked by some random nigga and posted it on youtube and its kinda funny check it out.
Friday, October 16, 2009
Tonight At Club Icon
Gonna try to make it out to this tonight. But with work in the morning, not getting a fresh cut tonight, and a shit ton of running around to do still we will see....
Sunday, October 11, 2009
Art of Noise - Moments In Love
Found the track I was looking for...this is a true old school banger. I dont know much about Art of Noise but im gonna look into them. I remember being a middle schooler and waiting for this song to come on the radio so I could record it on tape and play it to my girlfriend during make out sessions....but yea its a dope track.
Juicy J feat Gucci Mane and Project Pat- 30 Inches
Heard this on a couple Gucci mixtapes and heard again on that new Gangsta Grizillls Play Me Some Pimpin from Project Pat and Juicy J. Plus this video is kinda funny. Click the link above and download the mixtape cuz its dooope.
Trina- That Fire feat. Paul Wall
Also fucks wit dis track, its sunday and im just in that type of mood.
Sidenote: Paul Wall > Mike Jones
Jagged Edge - Tip of my Tongue (featuring Trina & Gucci Mane)
Heard this on a new Gucci/Oj Da Jueman mixtape I just coppeded. Im tryna find the original track I believe its by Art of Noise but I digs, and Trina is one of the few female rappers I fucks wit.
Saturday, October 10, 2009
Pita Hut
This has been a spot that I have visited atleast once a month for the past few years. I usually don't eat middle eastern food, but once I discovered this place I was hooked. Granted Brody, Swayne and the PolishOner introduced me to this spot during my marijuana pot smoking days, I still fucks with it. Over time they "ingredients" have evolved, my first visit here they didn't offer lettuce but now they do. The combination of shwarma (I believe lamb and some other meat)pickles and jalapenas really make these things bomb and I usually don't care for hot or spicy food. I have introduced many a people myself to this spot and if you haven't been check it out, its located a little south of Graceland shopping center right off High St.
Barrel 44 Whiskey Bar
Went here for the first time with my lady friend Monica, had to google map it to remember the name. I usually don't go to many bars in the short north, I still haven't made it to Bodega...at least not sober and/or for happy hour. But I dug the place, it didn't feel like a pretentious bar as most people describe bars in the area. Not that it would matter to me in the first place, but it had a nice relaxed setting and I think I even heard an Isley Brothers track. Didn't spend much money either, I drank a Wild Turkey and Sprite for the first time and damn was it strong, and finished that off with a Budweiser. My tab came out at $8.25ish, I guess kinda of pricey for a mixed drink and one beer but it wasn't bad. I will Mos def. will be going back to this place w/friends and yall should check it out for yoselfs.
Tai's Asian Bistro
Most of you Tenacious Procrastinated Goons know that I am not a fan of Asian food. Besides a few spots on Morse Rd. and I guess XueNiggas spot at Graceland. But the PolskaOner and I went here yesterday for some pre-booze dinner and I dug. I tried lo mein for the first time and the orange crush soda ended up being my mixer for the Svedka I pregamed with. Check it out if you have never been and like the china food.
Friday, October 9, 2009
The Message
THE MESSAGE:
A child is born with no state of mind!
The Argument: These cults were caused by the history of political, social and economic disenfranchisement typified by social problems such as Jim Crow Laws, the continued observance is due to different social position, not self-sabotage appearing phenomena in black culture.
John McWhorter helps us develop a greater cognizance of the Black American condition with his book Losing the Race: Self Sabotage in Black America. He attributes this “self sabotage” to three cults within black culture: the cult of victimology, cult of separatism, and the cult of anti-intellectualism. Although the cults he describes are real phenomena, I disagree with his argument for two reasons. First, his title, his seven articles of faith and the names of all the cults imply that the continued separate identity of black culture in regards to dominant culture is due to black cultural identity choosing to be separate. Secondly, any theory is subject to falsification methods of analysis; a theory can not be false in even one instance or else it is wrong. McWhorter's findings have a few flaws and are not all encompassing. McWhorter acknowledges that post reconstruction political, social and economic disenfranchisement has contributed to the Black American condition, but he is spurious in labeling this phenomena as self-sabotage. These cults were caused by the history of political, social and economic disenfranchisement typified by social problems such as Jim Crow Laws, the continued observance is due to different social position, not self-sabotage appearing phenomena in black culture.
In regards to how McWhorter frames the black condition, we must first deconstruct the idea of individual agency and rather look at the black condition through a deterministic perspective. By using the terms self sabotage, McWhorter implies individual agency. Famous hip hop artist, Grandmaster Flash diagnoses the quintessential mechanism of the contemporary black condition in this quote,
“A child is born, with no state of mind, Blind to the ways of mankind, God is smiling on you but hes frowning too, Cause only God knows what you go through, You grow in the ghetto, living second rate, And your eyes will sing a song of deep hate, The places you play and where you stay, Looks like one great big alley way, Youll admire all the number book takers, Thugs, pimps, pushers and the big money makers, Driving big cars, spending twenties and tens, And you wanna grow up to be just like them, Smugglers, scrambles, burglars, gamblers, Pickpockets, peddlers and even pan-handlers, You say Im cool, Im no fool, But then you wind up dropping out of high school, Now youre unemployed, all null n void, Walking around like youre pretty boy floyd, Turned stickup kid, look what you done did, Got send up for a eight year bid, Now your man is took and youre a may tag, Spend the next two years as an undercover fagBeing used and abused, and served like hell, Till one day you was find hung dead in a cell, It was plain to see that your life was lost, You was cold and your body swung back and forth, But now your eyes sing the sad sad song, Of how you lived so fast and died so young.”
(Grandmaster Flash)
This quote provides the essential roadmap of my paper. The first part of this quote stresses that the young child is a “tabula rasa,’ or blank slate; one is a product of one’s environment. The next part of the quote mentions how the young individual will be pressured to admire the social deviants that excel in the poor subculture of our inner-cities by using alternative means of achievement for monetary success. Flash does not mention any positive influences in this child’s life. Lastly this verse ends with the boy being sent to prison; and that’s the point of this paper, white culture denies black culture the necessary social and economic means to enter the dominant culture. Dominant culture actively permits the continued existence of an environment that perpetuates three trends of cultural separatism. Clearly the environment in which the individual in this song grew up in aided his deviance. Grandmaster Flash’s quote also describes elements of McWhorter’s three cults; “God is smiling on you but hes frowning too,” Cause only God knows what you go through,” describes the cult of victimology; “You grow in the ghetto, living second rate, And your eyes will sing a song of deep hate,” illustrates the cult of separatism, and “You say Im cool, Im no fool, But then you wind up dropping out of high school, Now youre unemployed,” helps give an example of the cult of anti-intellectualism. The important idea of Grandmaster Flash’s poetry is that because a child is a blank slate, their future is determined by their environment. By labeling the black condition as self-sabotage, McWhorter’s argument is unsound. Are their significant differences between black culture and the dominant one?
According to Baker, Jones and Tate book, black Americans have a lower SES than their white counterparts, even though things have improved (McClerking, 2008). Directly important to this is Barrington Moore's social organization of democracy, in which he concludes "No bourgeois, no democracy" (Yildirim, 2008). Direct links between social capital and economic equality and social capital and civic equality show that the two variables have a high positive correlation (Putnam 360-361). Since on the whole blacks have a lower SES than whites, they potentially have less social capital and community organizing time. How can this affect an individual? The sociological effects of lower SES can limit life chances, the ability to effectively parent and the ability to maintain familial stability in a crisis; while the effects of lower social capital can be even more detrimental especially for mechanisms like the Black Utility Heurisitic, which relies on the dissemination and acceptance of linked fate amongst black Americans.
What did Putnam conclude specifically about race? Racial tolerance and social capital have a high positive correlation (Putnam, 356). Putnam states on page 298,
"A states racial composition and rate of single-parent families also affect child well-being, though far less consistently or strongly than do poverty and low social capital. In general, the education level of the adult population does not have a significant independent influence on child outcomes, after poverty, social capital and demographics are taken into account. A state's social capital is far more important than anyone would have predicted in ensuring the healthy development of youth."
Putnam also found that,
"In Chicago young black men who live in neighborhoods with lots of white-collar professionals are more than three times as likely to graduate from high school than are comparable young men who live in neighborhoods with less educated residents….. The urban ethnographer Elijah Anderson also has documented a steady erosion in the moral cohesion in low income neighborhoods….the departure of middle class blacks… 'Has diminished an extremely important source of moral and social leadership within the black community.'"
(Putnam, 312-313).
Social capital within a neighborhood (simply having more educated people around) lifts up high school graduation rates, and the exodus of the black middle class has created a brain drain in low income black neighborhoods. When it comes to social capital, it does take a village to raise a child. Thus the different environment for black children such as lower social capital and SES do significantly affect the life chances and educational chances of an individual.
What is so important in Putnam's work is that he stresses the importance of community organizations in helping to lift people out of poverty. Has the black community been systematically denied the organizational leadership of great people? Has our government committed assassinations on powerful black leaders like MLK jr. and Malcomb X? McWhorter would say this is ridiculous because his argument is that the government is meant to help people not hurt them. I will now refute this assertion. Indeed the government’s function is to help people, but the past history of the cold war illustrates the systematic instances in which the government functions to help centralized groups of power. In the past the government has acted amorally at home and especially abroad because of rationalizations of capitalist ideology and group think. What are the examples? In high school, a teacher named Mr. Molnar told my Political Radicalism class that in the 1960's a department in the FBI called COINTEL PRO infiltrated a group of Yippees in Columbus. The FBI agent repeatedly sold the Yippees drugs, and tried to sell them weapons. After a few years, the agent disappeared from the organization after marrying and impregnating a female leader and robbing the group (Molnar). The FBI for some reason also has a history of intelligence gathering on people like MLK jr. and Malcolm X, who were peaceful organizers in the black community. John Perkins claims in his book Confessions of an Economic Hitman that the CIA assassinated democratic leaders of foreign countries like James Roldós of Ecuador (Confessions of an Economic Hitman). During the Iran-Contra affair the CIA broke US laws and helped traffic drugs. These examples also demonstrate the amoral functioning of the federal government. Clearly our government can ignore our laws when it is under the leadership of certain people. Other notable amoral historical instances include the fomenting of a coup by US and British governments to remove Mohammed Mossadeq the democratic socialist leader of Iran in 1953, because he would most likely work with the USSR (Yilidririm), and the refusal by Eisenhower to allow democratic elections in 1954 to unite North and South Vietnam. Because the ideology of capitalism has trumped democracy in foreign policy why would our government not do so here at home? Is it logical to assume it would not? McWhorter would say yes, but he is naive to believe the government never does anything bad. In the social sciences this concept is known as the “irrationality of rationality,” because the government bureaucracy is fragmented into many powerful factions, sometimes different groups of the government act in ways that are to the advantage of that faction but to the detriment of the entire government as a whole.
MLK jr., Malcolm X, John Lennon, JFK, RFK, Tupac Shakur, Biggie Smalls, and Benazir Bhutto all have something in common. They were well liked by diverse groups of people and their celebrity personas were highly critical of aspects of certain centralized power. If we view all people in the world as rational actors, why would someone kill a peaceable artist or politician, for fame? It is logical in many cases for certain factions of centralized power to covertly assassinate someone. The sentiment of most Americans is that some people are crazy and become detached from society so they kill a famous person for their own misguided legacy. To an extent this is true in all the aforementioned assassinations, but I contend in a few of these cases a conspiracy is not illogical. Perhaps all the aforementioned assassinations were performed by single psychopaths, not a centralized undemocratic group of power who organized their assassinations--the point is that the system has not changed to ensure that celebrity persona are safe from the apparently insane members of society. This lack of publicly noted policy change in society to safeguard democratic leaders illustrates an acceptance among elites of the status quo. This acceptance of the assassination of political leaders is technically and logically termed a conspiracy. Is it possible to prevent all assassinations? A Social control perspective of society is that society can control all people and to an extent, it actively does so by tools like public education, police and general social structure that ties the individual to society. (Social Control) If we can integrate people into a more equitable and secure system then these assassinations would not continue to occur. The Harris alternative model attributes the black condition to three things: basic structure of America's economy, capitalist ideology conditioned by white supremacy and his understanding that structures, laws and racist ideology all help determine the changes in the black condition (McClerking, 2008). Clearly the societal functioning in the Harris Alternative model shows that centralized groups actively work to control blacks, and the killing of Civil Rights leaders and the acceptance thereof show major flaws within our society and in McWhorter’s assumptions of a benevolent government.
Everything so far mentioned is relevant to the black condition including McWhorter's phenomenal cults and myths; which have not achieved the universality of good objective theory. Thus we must reject McWhorter's theory because there are too many discrepancies in his theory. All the discrepancies are illuminated by the theories of social construction and interactionalism theories. Some social scientists feel that all social reality is constructed by history, and that this construction of reality although skewed by perspective, is made real in its actors consequences by their interpretation of reality. (Cote 2002:37) I feel that McWhorter reifies (makes into) the black identity into something it is not. It is not real in and of itself but is simply a social construction. It is not an all encompassing identity for all dark skinned individuals; it is up to the individual whether or not to assume the label as black.
One of the best examples of the social construction of race comes from the sociologist Dalton Conley, and his anecdotes of growing up in a largely black populated neighborhood as a Jewish boy of artistic middle class parents. He illustrates the social construction of race to the reader with three anecdotes. The first anecdote is when he was a young man and waiting for his pregnant mother to have his sister. He was told that he would soon have a baby sister, but he did not understand how babies came about so he thought that he could choose one. He ended up kidnapping a black neighbors' toddler in a stroller. He sums up the event, "In retrospect, my baby-seizing mistake was understandable. The idea that a brown-skinned baby couldn't come from two ashen parents wouldn't have entered the mind of a two-and-a-half-year-old" (Conley, 8). His second anecdote comes from around Christmas time, at a Head Start program. His sister Alexandra was given a white Barbie doll, while the other children received their respective colored doll. The other children attempted to take the doll away, and in the end broke it in half. None of the kids cared about the color of the doll; they all wanted a "real Barbie" (Conley, 39). During his middle school years, the best example of the social construction of race is illustrated. The assistant principle was polling an entire school assembly about what kind of music to play at a school dance. The auditorium was highly divided by race, but Dalton was in the black section. The predominately white section of children yelled rock, while the predominately black section of children yelled disco. After the vote the assistant principle stated that rock won, and the following interaction ensued:
"The white kids erupted back into their chant: Disco sucks, disco sucks, disco sucks! Then someone from our side of the aisle…….cranked [on a boom box] Queen's 'Another One Bites the Dust'…….In the meantime a blond kid from the rock side yelled over, 'Hey, Queen is white anyway, and they're rock and roll!' [someone else responded] 'Queen ain't white!' 'Yeah they are, someone else chimed in. They're even gay.' [Someone else responded] 'Queen ain't no faggots!'
(Conley, 146)
Clearly this is a quintessential example of the social construction of racial identity. To some of the young boys just because Queen had some funky music, they had to be black, and heterosexual.
Other discrepancies in McWhorter's arguments can be seen by his assertion that blacks statistically commit more crimes. His theory is impossible to break down unless one alters the definition of crime. In this country, at least two major groups are of relevance, arguing that the criminal justice system is biased to incarcerating certain people. The two are the Black Male Initiative and Law Enforcement Against Prohibition. Leaders of BMI of the University of Maryland stress the significance of the Prison Industrial Complex, a system in which police have a vested interest in a high level of incarceration. ACLU president Anthony Romero mentions this problem,
"the government's 'war on drugs' and move toward mandatory minimum sentences in the 1980's and 1990's helped to boost the OPP (Orleans Prison Parish) bottom line….[warden] Foti was known for encouraging his police to make more arrests when prison beds were empty….. Clearly, rehabilitation was not the job of those that ran OPP."
(Romero, 32-33)
Matthew Fogg, a member of LEAP discussed how drug prohibition is disproportionately structured to incarcerate minorities. Another important group leader was Ron Hampton, a former police officer in DC. He is executive director of the National Black Police Association. Fogg and Hampton worked with other groups including the ACLU of the National Capital Area and ACORN, to prevent the Safe Homes Initiative, a pet project of DC police chief Cathy Lanier to search local residents homes for guns. The conglomerate of community activists felt the program did not offer informed consent to people solicited to allow police in their homes to search for firearms. Many people helping to prevent the program felt that the program illustrated institutionalized racism. Using the falsification method many parts of McWhorter’s argument such as the government having the best interest of every individual at heart, the reification of racial identity and the contemporary examples of institutionalized racism shoot holes in his argument. Thus we can reject his theory, and accept his observations of phenomena.
In conclusion, although McWhorter's ideas are important and do help describe certain trends in black culture, his argument is founded on a concept of racial identity that is impossible to completely prove-- except in regards to a marginalized group that is kept down by the dominant one. At this point his argument breaks down because the environment is determined; there is no self sabotage as McWhorter asserts. I do agree with McWhorter when he blames the black condition on disenfranchisement and Jim Crowe laws, but even to this day there are examples of continued institutional racism. When McWhorter describes the black condition as self sabotage, he is simply trying to sell a book, a book that is too full of anecdotes and not fully substantiated assertions that are somewhat less academic than could be.
Bibliography
"Confessions of an Economic Hit Man." Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. 23 Nov
2008, 11:22 UTC. 24 Nov 2008.
Conley, Dalton. Honky. New York: Vintage Books: A Division of Random House. 2000.
Cote, James E.; Charles Levin (200). Identity Formation, Agency, and Culture. New
Jersey: Lawrence Erlbaum Associate, 22,24.
Grandmaster Flash. “The Message.” Single: The Message. Sugar Hill Records, May,
1982.
McClerking, Harwood. "Harris Alternative Model." Political Science 504: Black Politics
Lecture. Townsend Hall, Rm 247, Ohio State University, Columbus, Oh. October, 6th 2008.
Molnar, Tom. “Political Radicalism Class Lecture.” Political Radicalism. Thomas
Worthington High School. Worthington, Oh. 2005.
Putnam, Robert D. Bowling Alone.New York: Simon and Schuster. 2000.
Romero, Anthony D. In Defense of Our America: the Fight for Civil Liberties in the Age
of Terror. New York: Harper Collins. 2007.
"Social Control." Dictionary.com Unabridged (v 1.1). Random House, Inc. 25 Nov. 2008.http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/social control>.
Yildirim, Abdulkadir. "Muslim Democracy." Political Science 546. Politics of the Middle
East. Mendenhall Labs, Rm 191, Ohio State University, Columbus, Oh. July, 9th 2008."
A child is born with no state of mind!
The Argument: These cults were caused by the history of political, social and economic disenfranchisement typified by social problems such as Jim Crow Laws, the continued observance is due to different social position, not self-sabotage appearing phenomena in black culture.
John McWhorter helps us develop a greater cognizance of the Black American condition with his book Losing the Race: Self Sabotage in Black America. He attributes this “self sabotage” to three cults within black culture: the cult of victimology, cult of separatism, and the cult of anti-intellectualism. Although the cults he describes are real phenomena, I disagree with his argument for two reasons. First, his title, his seven articles of faith and the names of all the cults imply that the continued separate identity of black culture in regards to dominant culture is due to black cultural identity choosing to be separate. Secondly, any theory is subject to falsification methods of analysis; a theory can not be false in even one instance or else it is wrong. McWhorter's findings have a few flaws and are not all encompassing. McWhorter acknowledges that post reconstruction political, social and economic disenfranchisement has contributed to the Black American condition, but he is spurious in labeling this phenomena as self-sabotage. These cults were caused by the history of political, social and economic disenfranchisement typified by social problems such as Jim Crow Laws, the continued observance is due to different social position, not self-sabotage appearing phenomena in black culture.
In regards to how McWhorter frames the black condition, we must first deconstruct the idea of individual agency and rather look at the black condition through a deterministic perspective. By using the terms self sabotage, McWhorter implies individual agency. Famous hip hop artist, Grandmaster Flash diagnoses the quintessential mechanism of the contemporary black condition in this quote,
“A child is born, with no state of mind, Blind to the ways of mankind, God is smiling on you but hes frowning too, Cause only God knows what you go through, You grow in the ghetto, living second rate, And your eyes will sing a song of deep hate, The places you play and where you stay, Looks like one great big alley way, Youll admire all the number book takers, Thugs, pimps, pushers and the big money makers, Driving big cars, spending twenties and tens, And you wanna grow up to be just like them, Smugglers, scrambles, burglars, gamblers, Pickpockets, peddlers and even pan-handlers, You say Im cool, Im no fool, But then you wind up dropping out of high school, Now youre unemployed, all null n void, Walking around like youre pretty boy floyd, Turned stickup kid, look what you done did, Got send up for a eight year bid, Now your man is took and youre a may tag, Spend the next two years as an undercover fagBeing used and abused, and served like hell, Till one day you was find hung dead in a cell, It was plain to see that your life was lost, You was cold and your body swung back and forth, But now your eyes sing the sad sad song, Of how you lived so fast and died so young.”
(Grandmaster Flash)
This quote provides the essential roadmap of my paper. The first part of this quote stresses that the young child is a “tabula rasa,’ or blank slate; one is a product of one’s environment. The next part of the quote mentions how the young individual will be pressured to admire the social deviants that excel in the poor subculture of our inner-cities by using alternative means of achievement for monetary success. Flash does not mention any positive influences in this child’s life. Lastly this verse ends with the boy being sent to prison; and that’s the point of this paper, white culture denies black culture the necessary social and economic means to enter the dominant culture. Dominant culture actively permits the continued existence of an environment that perpetuates three trends of cultural separatism. Clearly the environment in which the individual in this song grew up in aided his deviance. Grandmaster Flash’s quote also describes elements of McWhorter’s three cults; “God is smiling on you but hes frowning too,” Cause only God knows what you go through,” describes the cult of victimology; “You grow in the ghetto, living second rate, And your eyes will sing a song of deep hate,” illustrates the cult of separatism, and “You say Im cool, Im no fool, But then you wind up dropping out of high school, Now youre unemployed,” helps give an example of the cult of anti-intellectualism. The important idea of Grandmaster Flash’s poetry is that because a child is a blank slate, their future is determined by their environment. By labeling the black condition as self-sabotage, McWhorter’s argument is unsound. Are their significant differences between black culture and the dominant one?
According to Baker, Jones and Tate book, black Americans have a lower SES than their white counterparts, even though things have improved (McClerking, 2008). Directly important to this is Barrington Moore's social organization of democracy, in which he concludes "No bourgeois, no democracy" (Yildirim, 2008). Direct links between social capital and economic equality and social capital and civic equality show that the two variables have a high positive correlation (Putnam 360-361). Since on the whole blacks have a lower SES than whites, they potentially have less social capital and community organizing time. How can this affect an individual? The sociological effects of lower SES can limit life chances, the ability to effectively parent and the ability to maintain familial stability in a crisis; while the effects of lower social capital can be even more detrimental especially for mechanisms like the Black Utility Heurisitic, which relies on the dissemination and acceptance of linked fate amongst black Americans.
What did Putnam conclude specifically about race? Racial tolerance and social capital have a high positive correlation (Putnam, 356). Putnam states on page 298,
"A states racial composition and rate of single-parent families also affect child well-being, though far less consistently or strongly than do poverty and low social capital. In general, the education level of the adult population does not have a significant independent influence on child outcomes, after poverty, social capital and demographics are taken into account. A state's social capital is far more important than anyone would have predicted in ensuring the healthy development of youth."
Putnam also found that,
"In Chicago young black men who live in neighborhoods with lots of white-collar professionals are more than three times as likely to graduate from high school than are comparable young men who live in neighborhoods with less educated residents….. The urban ethnographer Elijah Anderson also has documented a steady erosion in the moral cohesion in low income neighborhoods….the departure of middle class blacks… 'Has diminished an extremely important source of moral and social leadership within the black community.'"
(Putnam, 312-313).
Social capital within a neighborhood (simply having more educated people around) lifts up high school graduation rates, and the exodus of the black middle class has created a brain drain in low income black neighborhoods. When it comes to social capital, it does take a village to raise a child. Thus the different environment for black children such as lower social capital and SES do significantly affect the life chances and educational chances of an individual.
What is so important in Putnam's work is that he stresses the importance of community organizations in helping to lift people out of poverty. Has the black community been systematically denied the organizational leadership of great people? Has our government committed assassinations on powerful black leaders like MLK jr. and Malcomb X? McWhorter would say this is ridiculous because his argument is that the government is meant to help people not hurt them. I will now refute this assertion. Indeed the government’s function is to help people, but the past history of the cold war illustrates the systematic instances in which the government functions to help centralized groups of power. In the past the government has acted amorally at home and especially abroad because of rationalizations of capitalist ideology and group think. What are the examples? In high school, a teacher named Mr. Molnar told my Political Radicalism class that in the 1960's a department in the FBI called COINTEL PRO infiltrated a group of Yippees in Columbus. The FBI agent repeatedly sold the Yippees drugs, and tried to sell them weapons. After a few years, the agent disappeared from the organization after marrying and impregnating a female leader and robbing the group (Molnar). The FBI for some reason also has a history of intelligence gathering on people like MLK jr. and Malcolm X, who were peaceful organizers in the black community. John Perkins claims in his book Confessions of an Economic Hitman that the CIA assassinated democratic leaders of foreign countries like James Roldós of Ecuador (Confessions of an Economic Hitman). During the Iran-Contra affair the CIA broke US laws and helped traffic drugs. These examples also demonstrate the amoral functioning of the federal government. Clearly our government can ignore our laws when it is under the leadership of certain people. Other notable amoral historical instances include the fomenting of a coup by US and British governments to remove Mohammed Mossadeq the democratic socialist leader of Iran in 1953, because he would most likely work with the USSR (Yilidririm), and the refusal by Eisenhower to allow democratic elections in 1954 to unite North and South Vietnam. Because the ideology of capitalism has trumped democracy in foreign policy why would our government not do so here at home? Is it logical to assume it would not? McWhorter would say yes, but he is naive to believe the government never does anything bad. In the social sciences this concept is known as the “irrationality of rationality,” because the government bureaucracy is fragmented into many powerful factions, sometimes different groups of the government act in ways that are to the advantage of that faction but to the detriment of the entire government as a whole.
MLK jr., Malcolm X, John Lennon, JFK, RFK, Tupac Shakur, Biggie Smalls, and Benazir Bhutto all have something in common. They were well liked by diverse groups of people and their celebrity personas were highly critical of aspects of certain centralized power. If we view all people in the world as rational actors, why would someone kill a peaceable artist or politician, for fame? It is logical in many cases for certain factions of centralized power to covertly assassinate someone. The sentiment of most Americans is that some people are crazy and become detached from society so they kill a famous person for their own misguided legacy. To an extent this is true in all the aforementioned assassinations, but I contend in a few of these cases a conspiracy is not illogical. Perhaps all the aforementioned assassinations were performed by single psychopaths, not a centralized undemocratic group of power who organized their assassinations--the point is that the system has not changed to ensure that celebrity persona are safe from the apparently insane members of society. This lack of publicly noted policy change in society to safeguard democratic leaders illustrates an acceptance among elites of the status quo. This acceptance of the assassination of political leaders is technically and logically termed a conspiracy. Is it possible to prevent all assassinations? A Social control perspective of society is that society can control all people and to an extent, it actively does so by tools like public education, police and general social structure that ties the individual to society. (Social Control) If we can integrate people into a more equitable and secure system then these assassinations would not continue to occur. The Harris alternative model attributes the black condition to three things: basic structure of America's economy, capitalist ideology conditioned by white supremacy and his understanding that structures, laws and racist ideology all help determine the changes in the black condition (McClerking, 2008). Clearly the societal functioning in the Harris Alternative model shows that centralized groups actively work to control blacks, and the killing of Civil Rights leaders and the acceptance thereof show major flaws within our society and in McWhorter’s assumptions of a benevolent government.
Everything so far mentioned is relevant to the black condition including McWhorter's phenomenal cults and myths; which have not achieved the universality of good objective theory. Thus we must reject McWhorter's theory because there are too many discrepancies in his theory. All the discrepancies are illuminated by the theories of social construction and interactionalism theories. Some social scientists feel that all social reality is constructed by history, and that this construction of reality although skewed by perspective, is made real in its actors consequences by their interpretation of reality. (Cote 2002:37) I feel that McWhorter reifies (makes into) the black identity into something it is not. It is not real in and of itself but is simply a social construction. It is not an all encompassing identity for all dark skinned individuals; it is up to the individual whether or not to assume the label as black.
One of the best examples of the social construction of race comes from the sociologist Dalton Conley, and his anecdotes of growing up in a largely black populated neighborhood as a Jewish boy of artistic middle class parents. He illustrates the social construction of race to the reader with three anecdotes. The first anecdote is when he was a young man and waiting for his pregnant mother to have his sister. He was told that he would soon have a baby sister, but he did not understand how babies came about so he thought that he could choose one. He ended up kidnapping a black neighbors' toddler in a stroller. He sums up the event, "In retrospect, my baby-seizing mistake was understandable. The idea that a brown-skinned baby couldn't come from two ashen parents wouldn't have entered the mind of a two-and-a-half-year-old" (Conley, 8). His second anecdote comes from around Christmas time, at a Head Start program. His sister Alexandra was given a white Barbie doll, while the other children received their respective colored doll. The other children attempted to take the doll away, and in the end broke it in half. None of the kids cared about the color of the doll; they all wanted a "real Barbie" (Conley, 39). During his middle school years, the best example of the social construction of race is illustrated. The assistant principle was polling an entire school assembly about what kind of music to play at a school dance. The auditorium was highly divided by race, but Dalton was in the black section. The predominately white section of children yelled rock, while the predominately black section of children yelled disco. After the vote the assistant principle stated that rock won, and the following interaction ensued:
"The white kids erupted back into their chant: Disco sucks, disco sucks, disco sucks! Then someone from our side of the aisle…….cranked [on a boom box] Queen's 'Another One Bites the Dust'…….In the meantime a blond kid from the rock side yelled over, 'Hey, Queen is white anyway, and they're rock and roll!' [someone else responded] 'Queen ain't white!' 'Yeah they are, someone else chimed in. They're even gay.' [Someone else responded] 'Queen ain't no faggots!'
(Conley, 146)
Clearly this is a quintessential example of the social construction of racial identity. To some of the young boys just because Queen had some funky music, they had to be black, and heterosexual.
Other discrepancies in McWhorter's arguments can be seen by his assertion that blacks statistically commit more crimes. His theory is impossible to break down unless one alters the definition of crime. In this country, at least two major groups are of relevance, arguing that the criminal justice system is biased to incarcerating certain people. The two are the Black Male Initiative and Law Enforcement Against Prohibition. Leaders of BMI of the University of Maryland stress the significance of the Prison Industrial Complex, a system in which police have a vested interest in a high level of incarceration. ACLU president Anthony Romero mentions this problem,
"the government's 'war on drugs' and move toward mandatory minimum sentences in the 1980's and 1990's helped to boost the OPP (Orleans Prison Parish) bottom line….[warden] Foti was known for encouraging his police to make more arrests when prison beds were empty….. Clearly, rehabilitation was not the job of those that ran OPP."
(Romero, 32-33)
Matthew Fogg, a member of LEAP discussed how drug prohibition is disproportionately structured to incarcerate minorities. Another important group leader was Ron Hampton, a former police officer in DC. He is executive director of the National Black Police Association. Fogg and Hampton worked with other groups including the ACLU of the National Capital Area and ACORN, to prevent the Safe Homes Initiative, a pet project of DC police chief Cathy Lanier to search local residents homes for guns. The conglomerate of community activists felt the program did not offer informed consent to people solicited to allow police in their homes to search for firearms. Many people helping to prevent the program felt that the program illustrated institutionalized racism. Using the falsification method many parts of McWhorter’s argument such as the government having the best interest of every individual at heart, the reification of racial identity and the contemporary examples of institutionalized racism shoot holes in his argument. Thus we can reject his theory, and accept his observations of phenomena.
In conclusion, although McWhorter's ideas are important and do help describe certain trends in black culture, his argument is founded on a concept of racial identity that is impossible to completely prove-- except in regards to a marginalized group that is kept down by the dominant one. At this point his argument breaks down because the environment is determined; there is no self sabotage as McWhorter asserts. I do agree with McWhorter when he blames the black condition on disenfranchisement and Jim Crowe laws, but even to this day there are examples of continued institutional racism. When McWhorter describes the black condition as self sabotage, he is simply trying to sell a book, a book that is too full of anecdotes and not fully substantiated assertions that are somewhat less academic than could be.
Bibliography
"Confessions of an Economic Hit Man." Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. 23 Nov
2008, 11:22 UTC. 24 Nov 2008
Conley, Dalton. Honky. New York: Vintage Books: A Division of Random House. 2000.
Cote, James E.; Charles Levin (200). Identity Formation, Agency, and Culture. New
Jersey: Lawrence Erlbaum Associate, 22,24.
Grandmaster Flash. “The Message.” Single: The Message. Sugar Hill Records, May,
1982.
McClerking, Harwood. "Harris Alternative Model." Political Science 504: Black Politics
Lecture. Townsend Hall, Rm 247, Ohio State University, Columbus, Oh. October, 6th 2008.
Molnar, Tom. “Political Radicalism Class Lecture.” Political Radicalism. Thomas
Worthington High School. Worthington, Oh. 2005.
Putnam, Robert D. Bowling Alone.New York: Simon and Schuster. 2000.
Romero, Anthony D. In Defense of Our America: the Fight for Civil Liberties in the Age
of Terror. New York: Harper Collins. 2007.
"Social Control." Dictionary.com Unabridged (v 1.1). Random House, Inc. 25 Nov. 2008.
Yildirim, Abdulkadir. "Muslim Democracy." Political Science 546. Politics of the Middle
East. Mendenhall Labs, Rm 191, Ohio State University, Columbus, Oh. July, 9th 2008."
Maza Blaska Tonight at Carabar
Our friends from Maza Blaska will be playing at Carabar tonight at 10pm so come check it out. If you have never heard them before or been to Carabar I suggest going to this. Check out they video I found above. Also on the bill I believe are The Blobs and Motovirus, then check out Skylab later for a benefit dance party.
Gucci Mane - Overboard (feat. OJ Da Juiceman, Rock City & LA The Darkman)
My Anthem For The Night....Maybe The Weekend!
DJ Drama, Juicy J & Project Pat - Play Me Some Pimpin Mane Pt. 2
Found this while looking for the Nipsey link, am downloading as we speak click the link for download and fucks wit it!
Kurupt- We Can Freak It
After posting the Nipsey post below I had to reresearch Kurupt and stumbled upon this track, banger I completely forgot about!
Nipsey Hussle- Bullets Aint Got No Names Vol. 3
Downloaded this a week ago but didnt listen to it until the other night bombin some spots with TPG's newest members Skum and Hauk(med). But this cat is dope, I heard/read the buzz on nah right and 2 dope boyz. They compared him to Snoop, which I understand, but dood has his own style and sound which caught me off guard. I was expecting straight hardcore west coast ish but his sound is more like Kurupt. I was mos def. satisfied so click the picture for the download and be ya own judge.
Monday, October 5, 2009
Jay Z - 99 Problems
This song been my anthem in the streets recently. I didnt care much for the track when it came out bout now I can relate and Jay couldnt have put it better.
Digable Planets-Rebirth of Slick (COOL LIKE DAT)
Been a fan of this group since I was a child, and even more so when I went thru my Tribe Called Quest fanatic stage. This track was just used for a tide ad and its been stuck in my head but its still dope.
I Miss The Summer and Summer In The 1990's
A little late, these are some July Bangers poolside status right hurr.
Mase - Lookin At Me
Throwback right here, this was me in the niggas C.Normals cut back in the elementary days.
Saturday, October 3, 2009
HOUSE PARTY?
Word on the streets is that we are having a party at my house. I just found out but sounds good to me...hit me up if you needs them directions!
Gucci Mane The Movie Part 2
To lazy to do anything but post up Gucci Mane tracks. All these are off the The Movie Part 2 and these are just a few bangers I dug. First track is the anthem for the night!
Friday, October 2, 2009
Tonight At The Legion Of Doom
We will be raging for sure, this is a must go show if youve never been to the Legion Of Doom. One of the original DIY houses in our city. I have heard Vile Gash and they are dope, plus the band from New York who are also their label mates seem like they are headbang worthy. If your not at Get Right come to this or if you just wanna rage then come to this. Also its the dood Yoni of Maza Blaskas birthday so check them out on they myspace page and wish the man a Happy Birthday!
GET RIGHT TONIGHT!
Tonight at Club Cove, I am disappointed to say I wont make it out to this due to work in the morning, but if you aint got responsibilities do it cause its a funtime.
Nas - The World Is Yours
Another banger by Nasir Jones, prob one of my favorite hip hop tracks of all time, nuff said!
Nas - 2nd Childhood
This been my cut for a min, I felt like this back on 4th Street. Almost let myself fall back on that shit with my new spot but thats about to change, dig it.
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