The New Fight
By: LUMALUMA
There is an interesting complexity about race. We are defined by it every day of our lives and yet we are expected not to see, hear, or speak of the evils of injustice brought about due to the degree of melanin in our skin in order to maintain “peace” and prevent an unwanted racial divide. The number of deaths of blacks individuals at the hands of white police officers, followed by the dismissal of the court to indict these officers throughout the year of 2014 has erupted a racial movement to force feed the racism that many have blindly believed has died since the days of public lynching, segregation, and the election of Obama. The world has evolved and so has the degree and system of oppression. Society isn’t as easily defined as a baseball game that blacks aren’t allowed to join in on, or blacks given the freedom to play but separately from whites with the humble game of street ball. The game is now free for all to play and yet still a great mass of blacks are stagnated from an opportunity to leave the game of stick ball to join the big leagues. Throughout the past year, all of the anger and protest of the Black Lives Matter movement has allowed for many flowing rivers of discussion of racial oppression stemming from the same deep dark waters that has consumed our lungs and sunken us in the past .
The discussion of the value of black lives has recently made its way to black culture and cultural appropriation, further showcasing the degree of lack of respect of all things relating to black skin. Case in point, the representation of Hip Hop, where in the last recent years the genre have been diluted from its rich culture to reach commercial appeal, as well as been mocked and imitated by white artist who appears to only attempt to engage in the culture for capital gain on a popular trend.
Created in Bronx, New York, as Hip Hop veteran Q-Tip has stated on twitter, “Hip Hop is a creative artistic and socio-political movement/culture that sprang (sprung) from the disparate ghettos of NY in the early 1970’s.” This new sound grew from the poverty of black communities and often reflected the tales of the harsh reality of living in such an environment and at its start was initially not highly accepting of white hip hop artist. The thought of whites playing imposer to the unfortunate circumstances of that struggle and participating without that understanding was thought to be insulting and invasive. The rebel sound of hip hop progressively expanded outside those familiar black neighborhoods to the ears of white America. Whites then became a large demographic of supporters of the genre, as well as contributors to the music’s growth, through the music and media industry. It appeared that the racial rift between blacks and whites was steady closing with Hip Hop speaking the language that the older generation could not comprehend, and thus could set a toll for a new world where we wouldn’t be haunted by America’s racist past. As hip hop became more global, it began to lose its core of culture to the reign of capitalism. Record companies keep an observing eye on what sold and began scooping out urban communities looking for the next big thing. A shift had then occurred, accomplishing the goal of reaching the top 40 hit list began being heavily pressured on hip hop artist, and so the essence of raw poetry began to whittle away. Hip Hop then began to become a token in the marketing world, used to appeal to the young white middle class demographic, who are the staple of the American buyers. From there on the influence of pop in hip hop have been heavily induced, even offsetting the balance of the original sound and feel that became synonymous to Hip Hop. A rhyme and rhythm that was once used to tell the story of an individual and the place that they’ve hailed from has since been drowned out by catchy tunes and senseless lyrics. The culture of Hip Hop itself has appeared to have sold out to capitalize and appeal to the white audience.
In a viral and infamous interview with Hot 97, Harlem rapper, Azealia Banks has opened a debate on as she refers to it, the “racial smudging” of blacks within our very own culture we’ve created. As white artist such as Iggy Azalea, Macklemore and Eminem are proven privileged artists of Hip Hop by receiving financial backing from labels, awards from acclaimed music foundations and endorsement deals mainly on the large degree of their selling quality, their white skin, rather than on their talents.
“When they give these Grammys out, all it says to white kids is, oh yeah, you’re great, you’re amazing, you can do whatever you put your mind to; and it says to black kids, you don’t have shit, you don’t own shit, not even the shit you’ve created for yourself.” – Azealia Banks
In retaliation to Azealia Banks cries of the frustration, Iggy Azalea blatantly showcased her privilege by dismissing the point of the racial conflict within the music industry, which in turn reflects the reality of the world, with a number of tweets suggesting Azealia Banks is just an angry bully and that is the reason for her lack of likability and success. In such cases when a white artist adapts black culture without acknowledging their privilege and the history of the ostracizing of black talents by the predominantly white industry, there is an understanding why there was such a reluctant to broaden the sphere of Hip Hop to other races. “Ya’ll niggas are fucking everywhere, like. I don’t want to share this with ya’ll. I’m sorry.” a tearful Azealia Banks said when referring to the whitewashing of black music and culture. That feeling of wanting to hold on tight to preserve the “blackness” is a reflection of what’s been done numerous times in history where whites have stolen our sound and culture and claimed it as their own, all the while shunning us out. Although the racism is not as heavily imposed as it were back then, it still exists. That feeling of being overlooked and ostracized is also why “selling out” is such a sensitive topic to the black community.
Just as hard effecting and insulting cultural appropriation is, black artist neglecting their roots and culture to appeal to a white audience has hurt the souls of blacks as well. Selling out reflects an ideology that in order to reach success, one has to deplete their blackness to appeal to white buyers. This makes blacks upset obviously because it says to us that being our complete selves isn’t enough to be of any worth or reach success. That feeling of abandonment is in our day to day reality in black communities. We’ve been left by the round side time and time before, abandoned by our government, abandoned by our parents, who has let the stress of trying to stay afloat harden their souls thus leaving us wandering for love and validation, abandoned by one of our own who have found their way out and left us behind to continue to struggle. As individuals overcame the circumstances of their lower income high crime neighborhood to land themselves in an economic and social hierarchy, it appears as those individuals has no longer identified with the people of the neighborhoods they once was a part of; beginning to look down at them for not bettering themselves and losing the reality of the circumstances that also plays a part in their situation. It’s a reality of believing we’re not good enough to attempt to prosper within our own communities, that the only light at the end of the tunnel is the brightness of white skin that is to co-sign and give approval.
An article posted on The Wall Street Journal of a upper middle class black attorney realizing that his efforts in raising his children to a higher elite standard, and disassociating them from black “thug” stereotypes has failed to protect them from racism and discrimination went viral and caused up a steer last November for the clear form of “selling out” and nose in the air lifestyle he created for himself and his family. Even after enforcing ridiculous rules to avoid discrimination such as, (cleanly pressed, non-baggy clothing, no hoodies, no t-shirts unless it is embroiled with a respected and recognizable school, no running around police officers or pleasure walks around residential neighborhoods), his son still had been called a “nigger” while on the grounds of his New England boarding school. This man himself experienced in his childhood and adult life discrimination and prejudice but rather than acknowledge and teach his children the reality of racism, he feed into the generalization of blacks by perpetuating the idea that “thug attire,” lower economic and social class excuses the injustice of racial profiling and abuse against blacks and that elite lifestyle would assure staying in the good gracious of whites.
These seemingly unnoticed issues of race that is sold to society as a step forward in crossing culture and the level of economic growth of blacks is the new battle of our generation. Our fight isn’t so much on the utter cruelty of black lives that’s been seen in the past but on the white privileged, white validation, white washing that is continuing its reign and allows for the misconception, often overlooked and still prevalent racial injustice happening today. Throughout the Black Lives Matter movement has been speculators who continuously referenced the degree of self-worth of black people and how the lack there of is the cause and even the justification for the mistreatment of black lives. We have to play by their rules, seek their approval, and accept their under minding because it is still their world that we’re living in, and the walking on egg shells we’re expected to do by biting our tongues on the clear continued abuse and oppression of black people is the problem. We’ve been given every explanation for the killings of black lives to divert from the true reasoning of it being simply racism. We have to educate each other and potential white allies on what is needed to change in our society because the deaths of blacks at the hands of white officers is only one aspect of the fight of racial oppression, we have to keep watch on the other subtle oppression that’s been undergoing virtually unseen as well.