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”I dumb down for my audience/ double my dollars…” – “Moment of Clarity”, Jay-Z
Recently, students at Garvey University sponsored a debate between
noted historian Dr. T. Asante Shakur and Professor Darwin J. Watson,
author of the best selling book, Blacks Are Dumb…Get Over It!
While Dr. Shakur feverishly went through an hour long, high powered
PowerPoint presentation, highlighting indisputable evidence of Black
contributions to civilization over the last 5,000 years, Watson just
listened quietly with a confident grin on his face. When it was his
turn to speak, he just walked over to the podium, told the sound man to
pump up the local Hip-Hop station, and yelled “Booyah!!!” before
leaving the stage, confident that he had proven his point…
Since this country was founded, the myth of Black intellectual
inferiority has been a controversial topic. However, in 2012, it is
imperative that we ask the question, “does the commercial Hip-Hop that
is constantly pumped on the radio refute the myth or help to perpetuate
it?”
According to John S. Haller, in his book, Outcasts from Evolution,
the “scientific” basis for the Black intellectual inferiority myth was
started around 1735 by Carl Von Linnaeus, who used skin color to
describe , “racial character, personality traits, behavior,
intelligence” etc. Linnaeus’s work set the stage for the theories of
scientists such as Charles Darwin, William Shockley, Nobel Prize winner
James Watson, and many others.
What is most disturbing about the myth is that it does not match up with historical facts.
As an example, George GM James wrote in his classic book, Stolen Legacy,
that “the true authors of Greek philosophy were not the Greeks but the
people of North Africa, commonly known as the Egyptians.” Also,
although many people are familiar with Dr. WEB Du Bois’s book, Souls of Black Folk,
relatively few are hip to his essay “Souls of White Folk,” where he
wrote “Europe has never produced and never will in our day, bring forth
a single human soul who cannot be matched and over matched in every
human endeavor by Asia and Africa.”
Unfortunately, these facts have been rarely taught in history
classes. Historically, the American educational system (as well as
religious and political institutions) has been used to advance the idea
that African Americans are less intelligent than Whites. Hip-Hop is not
exempt.
Back in the day, groups like Poor Righteous Teachers and Boogie Down
Productions used “edutainment” to inspire a whole generation to read
books like The Autobiography of Malcolm X by Alex Haley and They Came Before Columbus
by Dr. Ivan Van Sertima.” However, this was skillfully replaced by the
mythological “street knowledge” popularized by NWA on their song
“Straight Outta Compton” in 1988.
In his essay, “The Black Child,” Dr. Bobby Wright defined the
“street mentality” as the myth that “Whites do not control the streets
in the Black community nor the behavior of Blacks on those streets.” He
argued that “Whites have more control, or at least as much control over
brothers and sisters in the streets than over those in universities.”
Gradually, dumb became the new smart and reading became something for suckers.
Also, during this period Hollywood became “Holly’hood,” as the
intellectual Spike Lee movies were replaced by gangsta flicks. Perhaps
the biggest turning point is a result of what Enisoto Adika Ekunsirinde
coined the “O Dog Theory.” He argues that before the 1993 ‘hood
classic, Menace II Society, the audience would identify with
the “positive brother” in a movie, but after “Menace” they began to
celebrate the thugged-out, “O Dog” characters rather than the “smart
brothers” like “Sharif.”
Things have not changed much in almost 20 years.
Unfortunately, there are still Black men trying to live up to the
stereotype of being “real n*ggas” by perpetuating ignorance through
Hip-Hop. No matter how you feel about the use of the N-word, it’s
origin is rooted in racial inferiority. Strangely, the concept of
taking “ownership of the word” and changing the perception did not
originate in Hip-Hop. According to Dr. Randall Kennedy in his book, nigger: The Strange Career of a Troublesome Word,
it was a White comedian, Lenny Bruce, who in 1963, popularized the
erroneous concept that overusing the word would take the sting out of
it.
As we get ready for another Black History Month, I suggest that
instead of discussing the “plantation work songs” and “Negro
spirituals” like we usually do, we focus on an issue that this
generation is facing today.
How do we take our music and our minds back?
While it may be true that the proverbial “they” control the air
waves, that doesn’t mean that “they” should control our brain waves. So
much so that we don’t even question the “menticide” that is being waged
against the youth. When the radio DJ says that he is just “playing what
the people want to hear,” we just accept it as fact and keep it movin’.
We have bought into the stereotype that the only music we want to hear
is about Maybachs, murder and misogyny.
Where is it written in the Hip-Hop rule book that we can’t hear a
classic Rakim or Intelligent Hoodlum joint on the radio? Not to mention
the work of underground artists in ‘hoods across the country who are
hungry to speak Truth to power.
We need a Black History Month Radio Rebellion to demand change, and
there is no better time than right now! We need to use our cells,
Twitter, e-mail, etc. to tell radio station programmers that we want to
hear something other than what they are currently force feeding us.
Sadly, like the Jim Brown character told Ving Rhames in the underground movie, Animal,
“being stupid is a choice, too.” Some people actually like sitting in
the back of the short school bus and will entirely miss the point.
But as A Tribe Called Quest said on “Jazz:”
“I don’t really mind if it’s over your head/ ‘Cuz the job of resurrectors is to wake up the dead.”
TRUTH Minista Paul Scott’s weekly column is “This Ain’t Hip Hop,” a column for intelligent Hip Hop headz. He can be reached at info@nowarningshotsfired.com, on his website at www.nowarningshotsfired.com, or on Twitter (@truthminista).Kwa hisani ya allhiphop.com
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