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…Several ad agencies under scrutiny for their lackluster diversity-hiring practices have pledged to ramp up their minority recruiting, signing agreements designed to forestall potentially embarrassing public hearings planned for later this month…
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… Salzman fancies herself a futurist who’s plugged into cutting-edge culture, and her Website claims she “identified such trends as wiggers.” … It’s always interesting when Madison Avenue lifers boast having street cred.
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… It is in such stark contrast to another poem, also about Chinese adoption, which I wish I could read to every single adoptive parent. So here they are; the good, the bad and the ugly of Chinese adoption poetry…
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…Today’s Moment comes from a Washington Post article on the recent (if by recent we mean, “five years or so”) trend of Asian women lusting after Korean men. The story has already been covered by a number of publications, which leaves the Post with the c
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…When I say I am proud to be a nigga I’m saying in the strongest possible language that I am rejecting Kennedy’s and Rock’s invitation to play a politics of distinction by regarding brothers and sisters locked down in cells and prison yards as so much t
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…Russell Simmons, Jeff Johnson get behind the Maryland Senate candidate…The Republican Party might have been the party of Abraham Lincoln, but you’d never know it watching how the average African-American voter reacts to the thought of going against
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…Unlike the Civil Rights Movement, the typical non-Black Hip-Hop fan (or the Black fan for that matter) doesn’t concern themselves with the politics of race like their 60’s counterparts. They have finally achieved equality, in that the word nigga is
Merq wrote:
Gotta love the reader comment that supposedly inspired the AllHipHop article. It’s pedestrian and done-to-death, but I still marvel at the use of “I’m a white guy with a bunch of black friends” as some kind of cure-all.
Nah, dude. I don’t think your huge black social network would let you refer to them as “coloreds,” so why don’t we come up with a new lie together.
Posted 08 Sep 2006 at 7:48 am ¶
gatamala wrote:
That guy has kneegrow acquaintances, not black friends.
“The way you feel in the confines of Hip-Hop, is how minorities feel under the yoke of America. The difference is you can leave Hip-Hop at will, but we can’t (or refuse to) leave the house. ”
Frankly, I’m not enthused by all of this sudden interest in hiphop. Mass consumption coupled with utter disregard for it socioeconomic underpinnings AND the people is simply cultural appropriation — as usual.
the author states his contempt for “the Black people that only support the degenerative parts of Hip-Hop…most disheartening is that these Black people are unresponsive to the preservation of the music”
I have a theory about why so many of us support drek like fiddy. In the first half of the 20th century our music was appropriated and watered down to be palatable for a mainstream (white) audience. Those artists did a version of our music that was very lucrative. Meanwhile, our artists made peanuts through shitty/predatory deals, lack of promotion, lack of venues (that would allow blacks) etc and received little or no publicity. Nowadays, our music is popular throughout the world. The change in legal status and social status has enabled many of us to make $$$$$$$ from music and to be popular. In a culture that holds celebrity, consumerism and wealth in high regard, a rap star, who ostensibly came from humble beginnings, is seen by many as the American Dream. I suppose those whose opportunities are few would gravitate and venerate such a person. Whereas someone who has something new and substantive to say will not get that level of corporate support (for many, many reasons), not be wealthy or popular, and thus not be worthy of attention or respect.
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re Comforted Women. I remember Winter Sonata/Song when I visited Japan. Tour groups actually take trips to the forest in Korea where they shoot. There is a bronze statue of the lead actor Bae Yong Jun (Yon-sama to the Japanese) kissing is girlfriend. Japanese men actually wear their scarves pressed and tied the way he does!! Some have adopted his feathered highlights and glasses in addition to his scarf. He stars in a remake of Dangerous Liasons (one of my favorites) that is damn good & he looks hot!!!!
I am concerned about this: “niche bars with names such as Seoul Man have sprouted like sprigs of ginseng in a Pusan autumn.” I mean really….
Posted 08 Sep 2006 at 3:54 pm ¶
gatamala wrote:
Read this before reading the poetry at Harlow’s Monkey.
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/09/05/us/05aupair.html?_r=1&oref=slogin
The children aren’t adopted, but there seems to be a theme here….hmmmm.
Posted 08 Sep 2006 at 4:03 pm ¶
dcase wrote:
In West Coast Nigga thinking pt.2, Prof. Armour rejects the “politics of distinction” promoted such notable blacks as Randall Kennedy and Chris Rock. This is a noble gesture that on its face seems to be fostering solidarity but the distinguished professor seems to forget that she is largely insulated from the run-of-the mill stuff that “niggas” have to face. A significant proportion of the vast majority of black folk who are good citizens do not have the luxury that the high salaries, high status car, nice home in expensive neighborhood, and cultured circle of friends that comes with an ivy-league education and law school professorship. Indeed, the professor can choose when to claim “nigga” status and when to reject it. However, most blacks walking around cannot make this choice. It is often made for them by the larger society who generakk makes no distinction. Given the pervasive sterotypes and level of discrimination that still exists against blacks- especially in an environment where criminal acts by blacks are publicized to the nth degree - it makes sense for blacks to want to make a distinction between “black folks” and “niggas.” This does not mean to reject them but rather pointing out problems that exist among a minority in the community and hopefully fixing them rather than embracing these faults.
Posted 09 Sep 2006 at 10:33 am ¶
CW wrote:
As I’ve shared before on this forum, I’m an adoptive mom of a child from Asia. I appreciate the ideas that “Harlow’s Monkey” was sharing regarding the two poems she analyzes, but I object to the statement, “….which I wish I could read to every single adoptive parent.” It presumes that all adoptive parents think and act the same way.
Posted 09 Sep 2006 at 11:53 pm ¶