McWhorter: What Should African-American Studies Students Learn?
Urban history? Blacks were penned into segregated districts and then factory jobs available to modestly educated men were moved to China. Politics? Radicalism has been most interesting, whether or not it was the source of most black success. Performance? Most resonant in how it Spoke Truth to Power.
Is that all we are? Is that all we have been? Is it irrelevant to cover how black people have triumphed against the obstacles? Especially since so many have trumphed that today there are more middle class black people than poor ones? Is the main relevance of the fact that we have a black President--ahem!!!!--that his election didn’t mean, as if anyone thought it did, that there did not remain some racist idiots here and there?
It’s time that African-American Studies departments let go of the sixties imperative to defend blacks as eternal victims of racism. Black people can do their best even under imperfect conditions--and if that reality is irrelevant to an African-American Studies curriculum, then we must question the value of said curricula to those whom they purport to speak up for: real people in this real world. This real world which will never be perfect--even for descendants of African slaves.
In 2009, the study of blackness must be the study of a race most of whose members are now victors, not victims. Certainly the victims must be studied--but only within a genuine commitment to saving them, not chronicling them as helpless until America turns upside down in a fashion no one could seriously imagine will ever happen.
Read it all here. (H/T: AtillaTheHoney)
First!
ReplyDeleteI'm in the music business, in a genre that is dominated by African-Americans. I have known and cared deeply about a lot of black people in my life. For the record: I am really an anti-bigot, honestly (I KNOW Bare will vouch for me in this regard).
ReplyDeleteI remember hearing a talk radio show host say one of the most obvious yet brilliant things about race in America. It was one of those moments - I actually remember where I was and what I was doing when I heard it (it was many years ago, sitting in my car in a parking lot...I actually remember which stall I was parked in). I thought it was so good.
He said that we need to stop telling black children they can't make it. We need to start telling them they can. We need to tell them the American Dream is for THEM, as much as for anyone else. If their parents, friends, relatives, and others would just encourage rather than discourage them, they would begin to believe in themselves and their future.
And guess who that talk show host was.
Rush Limbaugh.
And with that, I've got to go get a quick shower. (Hi there, Callahan. : )
ReplyDeleteCC
ReplyDeleteWow, I guess no one good be bothered to look up a real quote recently.
Odd, huh TOFU? Almost like they don't want to know the truth.
ReplyDeleteA guy with close African-American friends - like Hutch and James Golden - who thinks like that - they paint him as a racist and it sticks with some people.
Truly sad.
NOW I'm going to go get that shower!
ReplyDeleteI will most definately vouch for CC in that regard.
ReplyDeleteI am sick of all the race talk. I could care less what color Oblahblah is. He is rapidly destroying the country I love.
ReplyDeleteBeer summit!
ReplyDeleteAlso on the subject.
ReplyDeleteThe Ten Things You Can't Say In America, Revised Edition Larry Elder.
JCM
ReplyDeleteHave you read it? It looks interesting.
UFO TOFU said...
ReplyDeleteJCM
Have you read it? It looks interesting.
Larry takes the things you "can't" say about the black community and PC head on.
It's a good read. I miss his radio show.
Have an excellent weekend. And with ,this, I'm outta here.
ReplyDeleteCorre∫pondence Committee said...
ReplyDeleteNOW I'm going to go get that shower!
OCTOBER 23, 2009 3:54 PM
Running Bare said...
I will most definately vouch for CC in that regard.
OCTOBER 23, 2009 3:55 PM
Maybe I'm reading these two messages wrong, but it sounds like...
African Americans have a natural and gifted leader. His name is Bill Cosby.
ReplyDeleteI have a lot of experience in this area, and having little good to add to the conversation... All I have is, if you like Kwanzaa, then you are going to love the rest of the programs.
ReplyDeleteSlowest. Thread. Evah. LOL
ReplyDeleteIs it drive time, or what?
Oh, and here's a belated SWAT!!!! for Bare. : )
Do ethnic groups really need ethnic group leaders?
ReplyDeleteI think that when we allow ourselves to be divided by something so insubstantial as is race, we are all made poorer.
Over at SF State they have some instructors that would make for interesting conversation, starting with the premise that we are all racists, we just don't know that we are racists. That Jazz should be the exclusive province of Blacks, that Islam is where Jazz started, etc.
ReplyDeleteThat Jazz should be the exclusive province of Blacks, that Islam is where Jazz started, etc.
ReplyDeleteWow. I know someone with a doctorate in jazz studies who is going to find that very interesting.
I think that when we allow ourselves to be divided by something so insubstantial as is race, we are all made poorer.
ReplyDeleteI was just thinking the other day how I don't categorize my friends by ethnicity. I'm aware of their ethnicity (and they're aware of mine, of course), but it's buried so far back in my thinking that it's just not on my radar unless there's some reason for it to be.
It always surprises me when I meet someone who doesn't function that way.
Bare is American Indian, and it's not something I even think about unless it comes up in our conversations - but I've seen him actually get singled out for some weird treatment I couldn't explain, by people I would have thought were above that. It's always a surprise.
To quote my sister: We're all just people, you know?
(On second thought, it's not a doctorate in jazz studies - it's in performance, but with a jazz focus.)
ReplyDeleteFour minutes to Pub. Either that's what everyone is waiting for, or everyone is asleep, driving, or both. : )
ReplyDeleteWaiting :-D
ReplyDeleteI KNEW it. LOL See you there, Callahan. : )
ReplyDeleteI was just thinking the other day how I don't categorize my friends by ethnicity. I'm aware of their ethnicity (and they're aware of mine, of course), but it's buried so far back in my thinking that it's just not on my radar unless there's some reason for it to be.
ReplyDeleteI was in Berkeley for a conference the day of the Rodney King riots, which where mostly punks running around trashing stuff. My buddy and I were going to walk the 4 blocks to our hotel. We were strongly advised not to... we said but nothing happening around here. Our hosts said they might not understand. Understand what said the two of us.
One of you is white one black, they might not understand the two of you of together.
My buddy and I looked at each other and cracked up, that had never occurred to us. Skin color was / is so far from our thinking.
Corre∫pondence Committee said...
ReplyDeleteI KNEW it. LOL See you there, Callahan. : )
---
I am just being honest. ;-)
Upstairs then --->
Corre∫pondence Committee said...
ReplyDeleteTo quote my sister: We're all just people, you know?
"Vell, Zaphod's just zis guy , you know?"
-Gag Halfrunt, brain-care specialist
If you want more rich racial fodder as regards Jazz, Wynton Marsalis (whose abilities I deeply respect) is on record with some real doozies. Check the Ken Burns series.
ReplyDeleteAnother good analysis of race and jazz
ReplyDelete"Come in and Hear the Truth" by Patrick Burke
If you want more rich racial fodder as regards Jazz, Wynton Marsalis (whose abilities I deeply respect) is on record with some real doozies. Check the Ken Burns series.
ReplyDeleteI've seen the whole thing (though when it originally came out - so I have little memory of specific quotes); yeah, Wynton has issues. So did Miles, I hear.