Pages 1-3
Neal highlights how, not only is there a crisis in black
masculinity for the often scapegoated hip-hop generation, but it exists also in
those black men who are well educated, heterosexual, and middle-class (Neal 3).
There is a crisis as these seemingly well adjusted and highly educated black
men continue to invest themselves in an American patriarchy that gives rise to
things like sexism and homophobia (Neal 3). With investing in such a system,
Neal sees this investment as being detrimental to “…black families,
communities, and relationships” (Neal 3).
Pages 4-6
Neal writes of a man (Nushawn Williams) who infected over
thirteen young women and girls in the city of Jamestown
in New York
with the HIV virus which he was a carrier (Neal 4). “At least half of the women
were infected by Williams after he was notified …by health officials…” (Neal
4). While Neal admits that the actions of Williams were inexcusable, he wanted
to focus on how the media covered the story, and how that coverage “…was
informed by and reproduced historical myths about black men, particularly black
male sexuality” (Neal 4). Neal points to examples in the media where the media
describe Williams as a relentless seducer of women, and containing menacing
glamour that appealed to a generation mesmerized by gangsta rap (Neal 5). Neal
also points to writers who pointed out the extent to which the media emphasized
race and stereotypes and how Williams may have been treated differently by the
media had been white (Neal 6).
Commenting on a story written Neal writes “Left unspoken in Goodman’s
analysis of course is the fact that William’s race made all the difference in
the world: it was the reason why everyone was fixated on capturing that one bad
man, that one bad nigger” (Neal 6).
Pages 7-9
With individuals like Williams and the acts they commit,
combined with a media that is ready to demonize black men as a whole, this
combination threaten even those middle class and educated blacks with the
prospect of being placed under the same umbrella as individuals like Williams
(Neal 7). Harvard Law student Bryonn Bain writes, “Wherever niggers are causing
trouble, arresting any nigger…is just as good as arresting the one actually
guilty…” (Neal 7). Defending there
(middle class blacks) position can cause them to be hostile toward the hip hop
thug image just as much as there white counterparts (Neal 8). Neal goes on to write
how some site the influence of a hip hop career being more influential on young
black men then the prospect of going to college is; draining an already
dwindling pool of young talented black men from the college ranks (Neal 8).
While Neal admits hip hop culture does have its influence on the lack of black
men in college he also says that it may include, “…some discomfort with the
lily whiteness of some campuses…” (Neal 9). Giving credit to W.E.B. Du Bois
term the talented tenth which signifies the small number of talented blacks charged
with the uplifting of the black race, Neal also writes of how Dr. M Rick Turner
ignores the fact that the talented tenth he describes is patriarchal and
excludes women (Neal 9).
Pages 10-12
Neal writes that the very same misogyny, sexism, and
homophobia prevalent within the hip hop community, are found within the
patriarchy form of the talented tenth (Neal 10). The patriarchy is also evident
within the black church as black women are sometimes preyed upon by the ministers
in some churches; ministers who have in the past demonized hip hop culture for
the same practices of patriarchy existing in there own churches (Neal 10). Neal
sites ordained minister Marcia L. Dyson as she explains that men, from there
pulpits do have power over the women in their congregation and how this can
translate into a sense of bravado and machismo that is seen in secular ranks of
men (Neal 12) “You know, all she needs is a good [fuck]’ echoes not just on the
streets…or army barracks-it’s heard even in the pastor’s study” (Neal 12). So,
any protest by church and other civic leaders against hip hop for their
misogyny doesn’t ring genuine when they fail to acknowledge the same practices
in their churches (Neal 12).
Pages 13-15
When the movie Babershop made negative comments against Dr.
martin Luther King, Reverend Jesse Jackson, and Rosa Parks, Jackson cam to the
defense of these individuals, but Neal points out that there are a number of
issues of much more pressing concern that Jackson could have addressed with
vigor according to Jelani Cobb: unchecked US military aggression, the White
Houses overt commitment to imperialism, a million incarcerated African
Americans, and a conscience bereft of moral consideration (Neal 13). However, Jackson instead was left to film criticism as a form of
protest (Neal 13) Neal begs the question if Jacksons defense of his black heroes was
really an attempt at protecting black patriarchal privilege (Neal 13).
No comments:
Post a Comment