BAD BOARD GAME? The retail chain Urban Outfitters is selling "Ghettopoly,"
which some black leaders say should be banned. MARK STEHLE/AP
Posted on 10/27/2003 1:26:32 AM PST by Cincinatus' Wife
If all goes as planned, gangsta rapper Nelly's new energy drink will be on store shelves by next month. The brand name: Pimp Juice.
The Loaded Weapon sneaker is among the latest shoes to hit the Converse conveyor belt. And the new game Ghettopoly, a take on the classic board game Monopoly, features "playas" who vie for stolen property and crack.
All three speak to a growing fascination with hip-hop and its portrayal of urban black America. The products have also ignited protests and boycotts nationwide, highlighting a division in the African-American community over what's an appropriate representation of the black experience.
It is part of a larger cultural war among blacks, fought largely along class and generational lines.
"The traditional civil rights model included a kind of politics of respectability, putting the best face of the African-American community forward," says Imani Perry, a law professor at Rutgers University. "There is an absolute refusal in the hip-hop community to adhere to those ideals of respectability, in terms of what the public face of black people should be."
That tension may only heighten as hip-hop goes global and the appetite for edgy products grows. Nelly announced the release of Pimp Juice, named after his hit single, at the MTV music video awards late this summer. Days later, the Rev. Paul Scott, founder of the Messianic Afrikan Nation, launched a local campaign to keep it off shelves in Durham, N.C. He calls the word "pimp" derogatory and demeaning.
"We don't want our young people walking around with Pimp Juice in their lunchboxes, thinking that it's cool," says Mr. Scott, who has joined forces with black leaders nationwide to petition for Nelly to change the name. "Four hundred years ago, black women were being sold into slavery ... and now someone wants to come out with a drink selling women."
Nelly has maintained that Pimp Juice is a healthy beverage for athletes. Critics say he is fueling an industry that exploits black stereotypes to reap a hip-hop dollar, raising deeper questions about the portrayal of African-Americans and their identity. "We have begun to promote our misery and misfortune in this whole hip-hop genre of keeping it real - celebrating public housing, drug use, black-on-black homicide," says Dr. Leonard Moore, head of African-American studies at Louisiana State University. "When it's a fad to celebrate black misery and poverty, something is wrong."
Supporters say that hip-hop is misunderstood, perceived solely as gangsta rap. In fact, it encompasses the written word and visual arts as well. They also say it does not just glorify violence or misogyny, but can be a socially conscious artform that has given black youth a voice, entrepreneurial opportunities, and pride. Some note that similar criticisms were leveled against jazz when it first surfaced. "When you see the African-American experience and culture being taken all over the world, that's 'dope,' " says Heru Ptah, a hip-hop artist who wrote the new book, "The Hip-Hop Story. "That's really beautiful."
BAD BOARD GAME? The retail chain Urban Outfitters is selling "Ghettopoly,"
which some black leaders say should be banned. MARK STEHLE/AP
Black leaders protested outside Urban Outfitters' stores earlier this month when Ghettopoly arrived on shelves. The president of the NAACP, Kweisi Mfume, fired off a letter to game creator David Chang: "It is disturbing that you would choose to promote and capitalize off such negative aspects of society that cause great harm to individuals and to the African- American community at large."
Ghettopoly has received more attention than Pimp Juice or other products. That may be in part because Mr. Chang is not black, but a Taiwanese-American who apparently got his idea from watching years of rap videos on MTV.
"Whether or not it is a good kind of power, [Pimp Juice] implies power and prestige on the part of the drinker," says Ms. Perry. Ghettopoly, on the other hand, is more mocking of poor people, she says.
The divide in black America is getting "wider by the day," concurs Todd Boyd, a professor of critical studies at the University of Southern California in Los Angeles. "Hip-hop polarizes people because there is a group that wants to control our African-American image." He says that ideal is inherently flawed, though: "You cannot create one universal sense of blackness. That would be boring, and ultimately stereotyping."
SO far, the petition against Pimp Juice has garnered about 400 signatures nationwide. "We are going to take a stand against these rappers and entertainers, who always want to portray us in a negative fashion for the whole world," says Najee Ali, director of Project Islamic Hope, a group that launched a national campaign with the Messianic Afrikan Nation.
Others note that hip-hop itself isn't the problem. It is only a mirror of urban life. "Hip-hop may glorify the ghetto, but it didn't create it," says Tyran Seward, a Louisiana-based cultural critic. "People hate hip-hop because it airs our dirty laundry. It's progressive and profane. It is beautiful and it's ugly."
Yet because it is a reflection of black life, some say the genre is missing a chance to convey lessons. "What might have Ghettopoly told us about the ghetto?" asks Murray Forman, a communications professor at Northeastern University. "It could have been an opportunity to discuss a guy selling crack on the street corner, just trying to put diapers on his kid's bottom..."
One of my former students wrote the other day expressing concern for her son, a graduating senior at Dillard High School in Fort Lauderdale. Muscular, big and a fast runner, the young man has a college football scholarship.
The problem is that he carries a secret that, if exposed, will subject him to almost-certain ridicule: He loves and reads the poetry of Gwendolyn Brooks, he writes excellent verse and he wants to study English and become a poet of the non-hip-hop kind. I was told of his plight because mine was similar when I was his age, which I had shared with his mother and her classmates.***
The blacker-than-thou paradox divides***I remember those days well, a heady time when African-Americans took education for granted as the sure route to self-improvement and the subsequent uplifting of the whole race.
On my tiny Texas campus of fewer than 1,000 students, only fools refused to read and study diligently. Only fools destroyed their brains with drugs. Only fools physically hurt their brethren. In fact, "being smart" was in. We called it being "heavy." We even expected jocks to be heavy. All musicians, especially the jazz types, were heavy.
Black power meant just that: being black and powerful, being armed with education and the drive to improve our lot in a hostile environment where the very concept of racial egalitarianism was still alien to most white Americans. Black power meant sharing the good and eliminating the bad.
In time, the concept of black power changed. Instead of being a sentiment that united us, it became a source of deep division. Those who followed Martin Luther King and his nonviolent movement, for example, were not as black as those who followed, say, Malcolm X's philosophy or that of the fearless Black Panthers.
No longer bringing us together, black power had become a negative litmus test for one's degree of "blackness." We had entered the "Blacker than Thou" era. On campuses nationwide, black students separated themselves into enclaves.***
Liberal black leaders need new targets for their outrage*** The incident occurred at 10:30 on a Sunday night, meaning that, if effective parenting were going on at all, the 10-, 11-, 13- and 14-year-olds would have and should have been in their homes, preparing for school Monday. But you can't say that in America these days. That's "blaming the victim." Or, using Belafonte's bizarre analogy, it's blaming the field slaves still suffering oppression on the plantation. It's much easier to criticize movie producers, directors, writers and actors. It's much better, psychologically speaking, to bash Bush and Powell. It's just no fun suggesting that the black parents of those hoodlums act like parents. Residents of that Milwaukee neighborhood spoke out in several news stories. One man said the same gang of thugs attacked him and some white friends two years ago. Another said the parents of those boys let them run in the streets at all hours of the night.
It might occur to astute observers that Powell is not the daddy of any of those boys in that Milwaukee mob. Nor is Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas, or any other black conservative who arouses the dudgeon of Afro-America's depressingly liberal leadership. If every black conservative in America disappeared tomorrow, absolutely nothing would change for the better in communities like that one in Milwaukee. That's why blacks on the liberal/left side of the political spectrum need to find new targets for their ire. They can start by unzipping their lips and going to Milwaukee to confront the parents of the accused, to ask them just what kind of parents they are and to demand where they were the night of Sept. 29. Then they can head here to Baltimore, hit those drug corners and finish the job Angela and Carnell Dawson so courageously started.***
Poverty in the nation*** Is poverty pre-ordained? I think not. A married couple, both working full time at a minimum-wage job that pays $5.15 per hour, would earn an annual income of $20,600. Keep in mind that few adults earn wages as low as the minimum wage and those who do earn a higher wage after a few months on the job. If a married couple both working at the minimum wage had no children, they would not be poor; if they had two children, they wouldn't be living in the lap of luxury, but neither would they be below the poverty threshold.
Let's look at poverty in female-headed households. Divorce and death of the father might explain a small part of why there are so many female-headed households. But the bulk of it is explained by people having children and not getting married in the first place.
Having children is not an act of God. It's not like you're walking down the street and pregnancy strikes you; children are a result of a conscious decision. For the most part, female-headed households are the result of shortsighted, self-destructive behavior of one or two people. They might have bought into the nonsense of "experts" like John Hopkins University sociologist Professor Andrew Cherlin, who said, "It has yet to be shown that the absence of a father was directly responsible for any of the supposed deficiencies of broken homes." The real issue, according to Mr. Cherlin, "is not the lack of male presence but the lack of male income." That's a call for fathers to be replaced by a government welfare check.
According to a NPR/Kaiser/Kennedy School Poll, the leading cause of poverty identified by both the poor (75 percent) and non-poor (65 percent) was drug abuse. Again, it's not like you're walking down the street and you're struck with drug addiction; to use drugs is a conscious decision. Drug-users tend not to be very productive. They drop out of school, abandon their families, have scrapes with the law and don't hold down jobs. Would anybody be surprised that poverty is one result of drug usage?
Most middle-class Americans, including black Americans, are no more than one, two or three generations out of poverty. How did they manage this feat; what's the secret for avoiding poverty?
I think it's a no-brainer. Finish high school and take a job, any kind of a job. Today, but not when I graduated in 1954, if a person graduates from high school, with even a C average, there is a college or some kind of skills training program somewhere for him, and often financial assistance to boot. So if a person doesn't take advantage of today's available opportunities, particularly those during the boom of the 1990s, and engages in self-destructive behavior, whose fault is it?***
Educator says blacks underachieve - "Do you think so low of yourself….?" *** ''I don't like you segregating us like this,'' one student told White during a question-and-answer session. ''You know what I mean, calling us bad or whatever. I think you should have something like this after school.''
White was unswayed: ''You're in school. I run this school, and I meet with you when I want to.'' Parents in the back clapped and nodded. ''That's right!'' said a few, calling out as if they were in church. White said he knew that some students in the crowd were making straight A's, but he wanted them to help boost the performance of the others.
One student asked the superintendent if any other Indiana school districts were hosting similar convocations. White is one of only three black superintendents in Indiana's 293 school districts. White superintendents tell him they would be accused of prejudice or profiling if they targeted black boys to improve their academic performance. ''To me, it's the truth,'' White said. ''The truth will set you free.''***
Our kids are failing; where's the shame? *** I've tried to be impervious to "group think." But I've recalibrated my thinking regarding collective guilt and shame. Why? Because I'm ashamed of the low achievement today of most black kids in school systems nationwide. Black people collectively should join me in my shame. The point being not to wallow in it, but move to do something about it.
…………….. What happened? The Edwardses, and other black Cy-Fair parents, asked the district to challenge their children, to raise, not lower, the bar. Most importantly, they took responsibility for preparing their kids to compete. They partnered with area churches to enlist parents in their effort. They disseminated information about tutoring, enrichment opportunities, how to get into college and shared common stories and strategies. They also give large credit to Superintendent Rick Berry, who then was new to the district, for accepting the challenge. Now, the district has "recognized" status due largely to black students now passing the TAAS test in the 90 percentile.
Progress was not easy. District officials were initially skeptical and parents were disinterested and "lazy," DeBra Edwards said. "I can't blame this (failure) on the white folks any more because it's really not their fault," she said. "It's our fault. In so many cases our parents don't want this responsibility. It is easier for them to allow their children to become a part of the sports programs." And that is shameful.***
That's the worst new flavor since chocolate mashed potatoes.
"Which is a greater threat to the perception of the black community?"
The choices:
1. Black artists' marketing of urban stereotypes.
2. Racially insensitive comments by prominent media figures.
3. Both pose a comparable threat.
___________________________________________________
They should have listed LIBERALS.
Oooooh, I would have had a lot of FUN responding to this letter.
Well, I say he's one of the LIBERALS causing the problem. The board game got his attention. Why? As the article states, "Ghettopoly has received more attention than Pimp Juice or other products. That may be in part because Mr. Chang is not black, but a Taiwanese-American who apparently got his idea from watching years of rap videos on MTV. "
Mfume, predictably, pulls the race card.
Shirley and other Harlemites are right to encourage their children to love learning for its own sake. This new generation will reject the self-destructive mantra that being smart is acting white.
For good reason, Asian children have been labeled the "model minority." If this label is a stereotype, Shirley says she wishes it on all black children. For black children to become another model minority, black parents must change their views on learning and formal education.
"You can't be selfish," Shirley said. "Blacks have got to start sacrificing for the children. I'm not a saint or anything, but I put my babies first. I don't make much money. Their dad helps out some, about $150 a month. I spend every penny I can on the boys' classes. I don't even think about it."
While in Shirley's two-bedroom apartment on St. Nicholas Avenue, I noticed the boys' many awards for excellence in math, writing and science. Books are everywhere. The boys share a tiny bedroom, and each has a laptop that Shirley bought through a discount program her church sponsored.
"A lot of people, even some of our kinfolks, told me I was pushing my kids too hard," she said. "I told them to get lost. When people don't understand what you're doing, you have to shut them out and do what you know is right. My kids don't complain. They love making good grades. They really want to study hard." ***
So, it would be less offensive if it was invented by a black person...
That's part of the prescription for ending educational mediocrity discussed in Abigail and Stephen Thernstrom's new book, "No Excuses: Closing the Racial Gap in Learning" (Simon & Schuster, 2003).
It's no secret that, as the Thernstroms point out, the education achieved by white students is nothing to write home about. In civics, math, reading, writing and geography, nearly a quarter of all students leave high school with academic skills that are "Below Basic." In science, 47 percent leave high school with skills Below Basic, and in American history it's 57 percent. Below Basic is the category the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) uses for students unable to display even partial mastery of knowledge and skills fundamental for proficient work at their grade level.
As dismal as these figures are, for black students it is magnitudes worse. According to NAEP findings, only in writing are less than 40 percent of black high school students Below Basic. In math, it's 70 percent, and science 75 percent. Blacks completing high school perform a little worse than white eighth-graders in both reading and U.S. history, and a lot worse in math and geography.
The Thernstroms report, "In math and geography, indeed, they know no more than whites in the seventh grade." From these facts, the Thernstroms conclude, "The employer hiring the typical black high school graduate (or the college that admits the average black student) is, in effect choosing a youngster who has made it only through the eighth grade."***
Aggressive marketing targets children and parents need to refuse to go along with this. Also, kids today have so much more spending money and free time than kids used to have. Idle hands are the devil's workshop.
Condemnation from black leaders needs to be loud and clear and consistent.
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