Black Politics: Is There an Argument?
University of Kentucky
Black
Throughout America’s history there have been many struggles with equality amongst the many racial identities that live in this “melting pot.” Acceptance of the many races is a continuous goal in the war on racism in America. Once accepted, many racial identities go under huge scrutiny by the media, society, and their other racial counterparts, etc. Black Sexual Politics by Patricia Hill Collins is a critical analysis of blacks in America and blacks as a race. The book analyzes this race on various levels, and these levels include, but are not limited to the following: the concept of “new” racism, gender ideology within the race, and the potential for progression of
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The things that are being promoted by well-known black figures in the media are not the best things. Instead of spending the majority of their time promoting things such as HIV/AIDS awareness, their time is spent doing other less productive things. Many influential black people choose to flaunt things that seem to further prove the stereotypes that society has for blacks. Rapping about all the cars, money and “hoes” one has is not the best answer to this problem. According to Collins neither is boasting about the easy access that one has to such things including females. In addition, Collins focuses on the contradictions within the black community. She uses the example of black women always wanting to claim their independence and how sophisticated they are, but yet having lyrics about how “bootylicious” they are. It’s counterproductive. Omi and Winant note that racial etiquette is a set of interpretive codes and racial meanings which operate in the interactions of daily life. (Omi & Winant, 2011, pp. 23-24). The example also is a perfect example of what Omi and Winant refer to as “presentation of self,”which is determined by the rules shaped by our perception of race in a racial society. In other words, there is a contradictory presentation of self through the claims of “bootylicious”-ness and independence, and sophistication. Sex Symbols As earlier mentioned Collins argues that poverty, lacks of housing and healthcare have a lot to do
Uplifting the Race is a rather confusing yet stimulating study that goes over the rising idea and interests in the evolution of "racial uplift" ideology from the turn and through the twentieth century. In the first part of the book, Gaines analyzes the black elite obsession with racial uplift ideology and the tensions it produced among black intellectuals. Gaines argues for the most part that during the nineteenth-century racial uplift ideology was part of a "liberation theology" as stated by Gaines, which stressed a group struggle for freedom and social advancement.
In midst of the radicalizations that were apparent in those times, Ferguson brings in the account of the transgendered mulatta. (p. 40). One can imagine the thought that went into this mulatta, where people of all races, sexual orientations could convulge and commit any act of vice that they deemed fit. In this Chapter, one sees a common theme, the expansive arguments around the heterogeneously composed African American culture – something that is visible to this day in the stereotyping that occurs with relation to queer people of color. One can also see another common aspect, in the way in which these articles show the way American industrialization disrupted hegemonic gender/sexual ideals as well as the people mistaking this disruption as racial differences. With the passage of time, these differences became more apparent, but the concept of queer people of color is still something that remains widely shrouded in question in the minds of ordinary
Black Feminist Politics and theory grew out of many black women 's feelings of dissatisfaction following the civil rights era, and the white female feminist movement throughout the 1960-1970s. During the early conceptualization process of black feminist theory, the women of this new movement, specifically Kimberlé Crenshaw, came to name the term “intersectionality theory.” Black Feminist Politics and theory argues that sexism, racism, class oppression, and gender identity are intricately bound together. Complexly, they serve to maintain subjugation and suppression. In this essay, we will investigate the formulation and a brief history of Black Feminist
In “Hip Hop’s Betrayal of Black Women”, McLune addresses the influence of hip hop’s choice of words towards African American women and females. McLune’s article is written in response to Powell’s opinions in “Notes of a Hip Hop Head”, along with various other hip hop artists, that black females are the leading cause of poverty and racism why black men undertake racism and poverty, as if women do not face these struggles from day to day. McLune disagrees with this remark and states that this is just one of many excuses that men use. McLune addresses an audience that is well educated along with informed with the
The misogynistic treatment of women in commercialized rap has become a widespread phenomenon which as a result has become commonly accepted by majority of the individuals in society. Rappers, in general, nowadays use women in their videos in a way which is both derogatory and exploiting. Black men in today’s society, especially in the entertainment industry, do not see women as their equals; rather they objectify them as being nothing more than sex objects. People in the Hip Hop industry do not believe that sexism and misogyny is as big of a deal as racism, thus they push this issue to the side by simply ignoring it and learning to accept it. This misogynistic portrayal of women is ruining the image if Hip Hop as both an industry and a form of expressive art. However, instead of taking action against this atrocity, many women simply believe that the images of women and their portrayal in rap videos does not represent nor refer to them as an individual and the type of woman they truly are. By being silent these women are allowing themselves to be victimized by the men of not only the Hip Hop industry but also general society. By not having a say in this matter of the false classification and portrayal of women, they are voluntarily allowing men to do whatever they please to do so, in any given time and with any approach they feel is necessary. They do not
In the essay, “Hip-Hop’s Betrayal Of Black Women”(221), by Jennifer McLune, she vents her feelings regarding hip-hop songs that are rhythmically diminishing the value of black women. She provides example on how the lyrics are being voiced and how hip-hop artists do not seem to care. Kevin Powell in “Notes of a Hip Hop Head” writes, “Indeed, like rock and roll, hip-hop sometimes makes you think we men don’t like women much at all, except to objectify them as trophy pieces or, as contemporary vernacular mandates, as baby mommas, chicken heads, or bitches” (221). There have been apologizes for what the rappers have said but nothing to resolve the dehumanization of black women. McLune informs the readers that hip-hop singers belittle black women and make them invisible. Jay-Z, a popular hip-hop artist is brought to center stage by McLune. The essay shows the example of a part of Jay-Z song that says, “I pimp hard on a trick, look Fuck if your leg broke bitch hop on your good foot” (222). This lyric is a perfect example of how hip-hop artist have no remorse in the words they sing. The hurt feelings and loss of self-esteem black women suffer, is of no concern to the rappers. McLune expresses that those who are underground hip-hop artist follow the footsteps on being sexist and using crude words in their lyrics just because they yearn and dream of being in the spotlight. Upcoming rappers want to be loved like Jay-Z and other famous notorious rappers.
The region, structure and geological history of black women’s sexuality. Is there any other different from any other race White, Asian, or Hispanic etc... Patricia Hill Collins has written about the impact of issues of rap, AIDS, forced sterilization and homophobia on black women. Well we all can surely agree that black women are not the only race dealing with the topic at hand. No matter if it was in the 1700’s, 1800’s, 1900’s or now we are all the same with the same problems same discrimination or whatever that keeps women at the bottom of the social ladder. Signaling out one race just to justify or to keep other out of the spot light does not help other women who may have endured the same problems/issues. It’s not about race it is about
Patriarchy’s Scapegoat: Black womanhood and femininity – A critique of racism, gender inequality, anti-blackness, and historical exploitation of black women.
Although embracement or celebrations of this stereotypically black feature may empower these women who reverse or redirect the hegemonic gaze that had been centered on their backsides for so long, these Eurocentric derived presumptions and idealizations of female blackness, nevertheless, remain. However, attempts to redefine these social constructions, while accentuating this feature Beyoncé refers to as “bootylicious,” has transformed beauty industries and ideas of sexual desirability which “subverts social hierarchies and normalcy” (Hobson 88). These redefinitions of beauty, more specifically, black beauty, from the “grotesque, carnivalesque body,” (Hobson 88) seeks “a healthier body image than their white counterparts” who are exclusively depicted as slender and petite (Durham 36-37). Thus, black women begin to visualize their own bodies and other black women bodies in ways that lead to non-sexualized, non-deviant conclusions. Challenging these “controlling images,” as Patricia Hill Collins identifies in Hobson’s article, only “unmirrors” black femininity and its history, a term Hobson cited from black artist and theorist, Lorraine O’Grady, because in order to “name ourselves rather than be named we must first see ourselves” (89). She later adds
Similar to the author Kimberle Crenshaw, the author of “Demarginalizing the Intersection of Race and Sex: A Black Feminist Critique of Antidiscrimination Doctrine, Feminist Theory, and Antiracist Politics,” I would like to start my critical review essay by mentioning the Black feminist studies book entitled “All the Women Are White, All the Blacks Are Men, But Some of Us Are Brave.” Having this idea of problematic predisposition to treat race and gender as mutually exclusive entities in mind, I would like to review Angela Davis’s book entitled “Women, Race, and Class”, and compare my findings to Kimberle Crenshaw’s groundbreaking article that we have read in class, where she famously terms the idea of “intersectionality.” I will start with the examination of similarities between Davis’s and Crenshaw’s arguments regarding the erasure of the Black women’s experiences in social sciences and feminist writings, and will also point out the additional consideration of class that Davis brings to the idea of intersectionality of race and gender initially suggested by Crenshaw, and further discuss the triple discrimination that Black women face on the fronts of race, gender, and class. My main aim in the review of the two author’s texts is to reveal the prevalent problematic notion in Black societies of viewing race implicitly gendered as male, and recognizing gender mainly from the white women’s standpoint.
During the documentary a scene was shot at BET’s Spring Bling and a young male pointed out that women are determined to be b****** or women by the way they dress. Sexism is an issue that to society is not seen as important compared to the large number of black males incarcerated. The issue should be just as important if not more because one in four African American women is raped after the age eighteen. Most women who are called a b**** or another demeaning name think that it wasn’t referred to them, and either way is still unacceptable. Hip Hop is not being represented by men, which is why the decision of their lyrics is said the way that they
Black feminists have investigated how rape as a specific form of sexual violence is embedded in a system of interlocking race, gender, and class oppression (Davis 1978, 1981, 1989; Hall 1983). Reproductive rights issues such as access to information on sexuality and birth control, the struggles for abortion rights, and patterns of forced sterilization have also garnered attention
Music and society have always been closely related. For years now music has been apart of people’s everyday lives all around the world. Having so many different genres out there, it makes it easy to be appealing to so many different ethnic backgrounds. However, one type of genre in particular has seemed to grab the attention of a younger generation. Rap music has undoubtedly had its utmost impact on African American youth, since many of the performers themselves are African American. An overtly masculine culture dominates rap music and creates gender stereotypes that become abundantly popular to the youthful audience. Three constant themes that are found within the rap culture are encouragement of violence, the misogynistic representation of women, an extreme hatred of homophobia. Each theme plays a detrimental role in the process of defining black masculinity as well as shaping the values, morals, and beliefs that its younger audience adopts after tuning into this “gangster lifestyle”.
What is Misogynoir? Black queer feminist, Moya Bailey coined this term in 2010 to describe the racialized sexism that black women face; This is mostly shown in American pop culture and Media causing people of all races to internalize this. This paper will not only be explaining the term in depth but breaking down the root causes and action plans to be taken to educate both men and women on this term. For this paper, I ‘ve conducted many interviews with a number of black men and women, in these interviews I asked them questions about themselves, their families and about both their romantic and non-romantic relationships. I also asked questions about their journey in the world of blackness, because every black journey is different.
In 1967, the decision made by the Loving v. Virginia court case established that interracial relationships would be legal, and all laws against it would be invalidated (Loving v. Virginia). Afterwards, many biracial children were born, which created a new problem for those with different cultural backgrounds. People of different cultures face many troubling issues separate from the problems most White Americans have to face. The most offensive and abusive issue is racism. Racism is a major life-changing issue in society that hurts a majority of the ethnic cultures. A study reports, “Overall, 58% of Americans say racism is a “big problem in our society” (Neal). This shocking realization puts in the perspective the many issues that ethnic people endure. Although, biracial adolescents have to face racism in a different form. These adolescents aren’t accepted in society due to their