Music Choice Reflecting Cultural Pride: Black Heavy Metal Fan Criticized

On NPR today there was an interview with Laina Dawes in which she talked about the experiences behind her book What are You Doing Here about being a black heavy metal fan.

She talked of the fallacy behind the fact, ”There’s still a lot of resistance in terms of who should be listening to what genre of music based on their gender and their ethnicity,”

Then she goes on to comment:

“In black communities, music is so integral in terms of a storytelling mechanism. Back in the blues era, African-American women were actually able to talk about their hardships and sorrows through music, and be very personal. [The same is true of] hip-hop because it’s also obviously a black-centric music form. When I was in my 20s and hip-hop was coming out, a lot of black people felt that if you listened to hip-hop, that means that you’re really black, that you’re proud of yourself, that you know who you are. So when black people listen to ‘white-centric’ music — which is rock ‘n’ roll, country, heavy metal, punk, hardcore — it’s seen that they are somehow not proud of who they are.”

What strikes me as a white person is that I do not have this problematic expectation.  I am not expected to listen to music rooted in white culture and then told that I lack pride in my white culture if I listen to music from other traditions.  My listening to the blues does not lead people to say I lack authentic whiteness.  My interest in world music aligns me with a certain group of hip NPR listening aficionados, rather than labeling me a traitor to my roots.

Were I a white person who had a clear connection to the European countries of my heritage,  I might be expected to appreciate the music of that country’s past.  However, if I listened to other music, I do not think I would be thought of lacking pride in that heritage.

A side note, what would the music of white culture be?  Country? Classical? Gregorian chants?

 

Twelve Tribes of Hattie–Excellent Look at Despair

I just finished reading Ayana Mathis’s first novel The Twelve Tribes of Hattie.  It has received a lot of attention, especially as it was selected for Oprah’s Book Club.  While I had my doubts given the Oprah selection and feared encountering too much matrilinial melodrama  I found the novel very powerful and well crafted looking at dichotomies in the black experience from many angles.  Mathis’s ability to evoke powerful emotions from a single image, like a broken music box on the floor, impressed me.  The complicated interwoven style of the storytelling works as a reflection of the complicated lives of blacks in urban America after the great migration, but it did leave me wanting more about two of the characters who were fully described early on but then only seen later in fleeting glimpses.  The novel reminded me a bit of Toni Morrison but more so of James Baldwin in its consideration of religion and urban life and of Ann Petry’s The Street in its bleak portrayal of a mother’s struggle.  The last scene of the novel twists what could be a cliched scene into an ambiguous, thought provoking ending.

Excellent Holiday Reading: Half Blood Blues by Esi Edugyan

Esi Edugyan’s second novel Half Blood Blues is outstanding.  I got a copy as a gift and just finished reading it.  After reading about the book after it won an Anisfield-Wolf award, I was looking forward to curling up with it, and I was not disappointed.  It presents a haunting tale of a racially diverse group of musicians in Europe, particularly Berlin and Paris, as World War II begins.  The flawed, thoughtful main character is nuanced and conflicted in a way that propels the novel forward and backward through time.  The jazz references and presentation of race relations in Europe and America also added to the complexity.  I strongly suggest going out and reading this book.  Unfortunately, as with much modern fiction there is material here that make it a book I cannot teach to high school students although it would be a great way for them to look at literary art as well as the transatlantic currents of history.

(A side note, I had not read about the black Germans who were the result of relationships between French colonial soldiers occupying the Rhineland and German women, and now I feel inspired to look into that facet of history.)

 

The Rooney Rule: White Privilege Means Not Being a Token Interview

With the firing of many NFL coaches and general managers on Monday, there are many openings to be filled.   All the articles I have read about these openings have mentioned the Rooney Rule, the NFL policy that requires that at least one candidate of color be interviewed for an opening.  These mentions are usually near the end of articles after the article reviews all of the candidates, most if not all of whom are white.  In particular, the Cleveland Browns my beloved, bedraggled hometown team has a clear list of coaches in whom they are interested.  There pictures were plastered all over the front of the sports section.  None of these fine football minds happen to be people of color, so the Browns at some point will have to bring in a candidate of color to fulfill the Rooney Rule.  As I have noted before, the rule is positive in that it forces those in positions of power to broaden their pool and reach beyond the so called old boys network.  However, I do wonder how it works for the actual candidates who are brought in to fulfill the Rooney Rule.

I am reminded of conversations with educators of color who are mid level administrators and find themselves often called by search consultants to be candidates for division head or headmaster positions.  They have to suss out whether they are being called to make the pool diverse or if they are being called because they have a legitimate shot at the job.  I heard many talk of disappointment when they realized they were not a serious candidate, but had thought they were and had invested time and emotional energy in the search process.

That is one part of white privilege I and the white potential hires in the NFL benefit from.  We know that if we are invited to interview for a job, we are not being invited just because a person of our race is needed to diversify the pool.

Chip Kelly, supposedly the top candidate to coach the Browns (from U. Oregon website)

Residential Segregation and City Council Representation

The ongoing  impact of past residential segregation came to my mind recently.  I was reading an article about the redrawing of Cleveland City Council districts needed due to the loss of population and the subsequent mandated reduction of seats.  Even though the majority of the population loss was on the historically black East Side, only one seat was to be lost in that region while another seat was to be taken elsewhere.  This balance was necessary because the city, while 37.3%  white according to the 2010 census, has a majority white council and the loss of two traditionally black seats would exacerbate the fact that the council does not look like the population it represents.

The article made me think about the recent work my students did in reading about the role of race in Cleveland history. They looked into the way the densely populated East Side was the only area open to black migrants coming to Cleveland as part of the Great Migration, while the West Side (a larger area geographically) was reserved for whites.  This split was affirmed through education policy that engaged in various strategies to continue to provide a mostly separate educational facilities.

The legal (and illegal) underpinnings of this split are gone.  However, when I look at today’s news and the current make up of City Council, I can not help but note how history continues to influence politics and representation today.  If there had been no past restrictions as to where migrants of different races could live, what would the City Council look like today?  It actually might look the same depending on the voters and the candidates, but there would certainly be different electoral dynamics.

 

Happy Family Doll Sets (Caucasian, Asian, African-American)

Looking through the Play Matters catalog I came across a dollhouse and the families one can buy to play with in the doll house.

We have “Happy Family Caucasian”

We have “Happy Family African American”

 

and we have “Happy Family Asian”

 

I have many questions about these ways of representing race in America.

1. Why is the only man wearing a tie in the Asian family?

2. Why is there an extra baby in the African American family?

3. How did these facial features get identified with the different races?

4. Can I special order a multiracial family or do I have to get two sets and mix them myself?

5. Are we to assume that the couples are heterosexual based on the even numbers, or could some of the families include same sex couples?

Then compare those families to these family play sets I found at S&S.

Caucasian Family Play Set

 

Hispanic Family Play Set

 

Asian Family Play Set

 

African American Family Play Set

 

I find this latter range of four sets more appealing (if racially segregated toys can be appealing).  Odd discrepancies do not jump out here except for the number of books shown in each family.  Is it intentional that more members of the Asian family are holding books and the one daughter is the only figure holding two books? Why is she the only figure wearing a skirt?

I think I will hand these images to some students to analyze as artifacts and draw conclusions.

 

Beyond Canonical Langston Hughes

The students I teach are preparing to recite poetry as an end of semester project.  One poet whose work they can recite is Langston Hughes.  Some students are doing poetry I know well like “Po’ Boy Blues” or “I Too Sing America,” but others have made choices from deeper in The Collected Works of Langston Hughes.  

As a result I was happy to rediscover works like “Negro” with its historical resonances. The fact we just looked at imperialism in the Congo makes the 5th stanza quite apropos.

I am a Negro:
Black as the night is black,
Black like the depths of my Africa.

I’ve been a slave:
Caesar told me to keep his door-steps clean.
I brushed the boots of Washington.

I’ve been a worker:
Under my hand the pyramids arose.
I made mortar for the Woolworth Building.

I’ve been a singer:
All the way from Africa to Georgia
I carried my sorrow songs.
I made ragtime.

I’ve been a victim:
The Belgians cut off my hands in the Congo.
They lynch me still in Mississippi.

I am a Negro:
Black as the night is black,
Black like the depths of my Africa.

On the other hand I am not sure how the recitation of the poem “Klu Klux” will go.  I will be checking with the student before the recitation to see about that last stanza and to see how much their research has led to an understanding of the text.

They took me out
To some lonesome place.
They said, “Do you believe
In the great white race?”I said, “Mister,
To tell you the truth,
I’d believe in anything
If you’d just turn me loose.”

The white man said, “Boy,
Can it be
You’re a-standin’ there
A-sassin’ me?”

They hit me in the head
And knocked me down.
And then they kicked me
On the ground.

A klansman said, “Nigger,
Look me in the face —
And tell me you believe in
The great white race.”

 

Jump Start’s Take on Being Mixed

I think this comic presents a great, humorous take on multiracial identity.

 

Annoying Nationalism in NCAA Cross Country Coverage

Here is an excerpts from  the blurb from the site Letsrun.com (one of the most popular running news sites) on the NCAA men’s championships today:

 OSU was led by Girma Mecheso who was the top American in fifth … The top American born runner was Wisco’s Maverick Darling in 11th – some 59+ seconds behind the winner.

 

It annoys me no end to see that Letsrun distinguishes between American and American born in writing this blurb.  In some ways it implies that Ethiopian born American Mecheso is less of an American.  It also implies that darn it the American running community is falling down on the job in terms of developing talent and is just relying on imports.  What is wrong with many of the top American runners (Bernard Lagat, Meb Kiflezghi, etc.)  being born in Africa?  I hope that this focus is not tied into some misguided belief that for distance running to become a bigger deal on the American sports scene we need to find a “great American born hope” a goal that is perilously close to finding a “great white hope.”

Girma Mecheso running for Oklahoma State University

 

Appeals Court Overturns Michigan Affirmative Action Ban

A federal appeals court struck down Michigan’s ban on considering race in college admissions.  The reasoning was based on the equal protection clause particularly the fact that those who wanted special consideration for race now had a much harder time advocating for their cause (pushing for a state constitutional amendment) than those who wanted special consideration for their status as offspring of alumni.

To quote the decision:

“A student seeking to have her family’s alumni connections considered in her application to one of Michigan’s esteemed public universities could do one of four things to have the school adopt a legacy-conscious admissions policy: she could lobby the admissions committee, she could petition the leadership of the university, she could seek to influence the school’s governing board, or, as a measure of last resort, she could initiate a statewide campaign to alter the state’s constitution. The same cannot be said for a black student seeking the adoption of a constitutionally permissible race-conscious admissions policy. That student could do only one thing to effect change: she could attempt to amend the Michigan Constitution—a lengthy, expensive, and arduous process—to repeal the consequences of Proposal 2. The existence of such a comparative structural burden undermines the Equal Protection Clause’s guarantee that all citizens ought to have equal access to the tools of political change.”

I am not sure what this ruling means as the Supreme Court will have  the last word anyway.  However, I am interested in the reductionist summary of the argument I saw in the Detroit Free Press and other sources.  This summary assumes the person pursuing legacy benefit is white.  However, that insertion inaccurately makes this issue one of black vs. white. In fact a black student advocating for special treatment due to legacy status has the same advantage over a black student arguing for special treatment due to race as a white student arguing for legacy status.

“The appeals court said the state ban on affirmative action violated the equal protection clause of the U.S. Constitution by making it more difficult for a minority student to get a university to adopt a race-conscious admissions policy than for a white student to get a university to adopt an admissions policy that considers family alumni connections” (from the Detroit Free Press emphasis added).