Linguist Karla Holloway Analysis

“I am a black feminist… I recognize that my power as well as my primary obsessions come as a result of my blackness as well as my womaness, and therefore my struggles on both of these fronts are inseparable” … As a woman of color, I find that some feminists don’t seem terribly concerned with the issues unique to women of color—the ongoing effects of racism and post-colonialism, the status of women in the Third World, working against the trenchant archetypes black women are forced into (angry black woman, mammy, hottentot, and the like). (Gay 173).

Does this suggest the medias representation of hip hop is still aimed at the black culture? I would hope times have changed since racism and cultural differences but for someone to feel less comfortable in a type of dance genre suggests we as a society haven’t moved on. In an article I found online, it was obvious people of different cultures aren’t supportive of each other when it comes to their music. ‘White people do seem a little too excited about discovering twerking and the Harlem Shake. But before we form a black-culture militia to defend hip-hop as the last bastion of race music, it might be worth remembering that anxiety over white appropriation of hip-hop has been around for more than three decades.’ (Travis L. Gosa, 2014) This could suggest the ignorance of people of different cultures is much more profound than we thought as in this article, this person of a black origin is seen to be ‘slating’ a white person’s choice of music. Through media types just like this article, I believe this idea of not supporting other cultures is an ongoing

Her rap is peppered with ain’t gots and don’t have nones and Ii done beens and she be’s and he be’s the way mine is when we are sweet color among coloreds and don't have to worry about being graded. I see no shame in this” (p 276-277). Smith says this to persuade us that the history in her mother’s voice should not have shame behind it. She uses the terms colored to show us what time frame her mother grew up in and is apart of her that she passes down to her, something respectable. Her mother wants, “ to wash history from her throat, to talk like a woman who got some sense and future, to talk English instead of talking wrong” (p 277). The views of how she sees her mother and how her mother views herself are different but comparable because of who it is coming from, mother and daughter. Only Patrica Smith knows her mother in the reading to form an accurate opinion and view for the readers to

Lauryn Hill is the queen of R&B. Michael Jordan is the king of basketball. It is widely known that throughout American history, African American talent has been extrusive. Would it be ‘narrow-minded’ to describe someone’s talent in these fields as ‘black?’ While it may seem these ascriptions are a simple compliment, they also serve as a developmental handicap. In William Raspberry’s essay, “The Handicap of Definition” he highlights the stereotype of what it actually means to be Black by definition. Raspberry uses multiple examples to help acknowledge the underlying fact that the definition of black is restrictive, and how much of a toll it takes on African-Americans.

With that being said, she is all for women’s political, economic, and social rights/equality. Readers who understand the definition of feminist may want to associate sexism and the degradation of women with feminism. Morgan intergrades her own personal views of hip hop along with her feminist and antisexism views to create a dramatic shift within the passage. One that draws in the readers in order to make them focus on one problem, she has with hip hop, then she interrupts that with the problem the hip hop industry as a whole as. Morgan goes on to say, “My decision to expose myself to the sexism of Dr. Dre, Ice Cube, Snoop Dogg, or the Notorious B.I.G is really my plea to my bothers to tell me who they are. I need to know why they are so angry at me”. (Morgan,456) The latter part of the quote truly stands out. Using ‘why are they so angry at me’ suggest degrading even one woman in not only lyrics but also music videos, is also degrading every single women and girl. Morgan looks beyond the artist by going to look beyond what the hip hop artist wants you to hear, see, or believe. Joan Morgan suggested the sexism in rap music is undoubtedly a complex mask African Americans wear to hide and express their pain, similar to what poets do within their works. Morgan is not as concerned with the name calling and degradation, her concern is mainly the failure to love women especially the black women. The author makes the

In the essay “A Language All Their Own,” Nathan Salha (2011) claimed that trademarks should be used “only to protect intellectual invention and the reputations of associated companies,” and Salha wrote that trademarked slogans only exist to regulate the usage of creative slogans among businesses and that they do not limit the freedom of speech (p. 476). Furthermore, Salha (2011) argued that trademarked slogans protect businesses and promote competition by allowing each business to customize its advertisements and distinguish its product from the products of its competitors with clever slogans (p. 477). Moreover, Salha (2011) asserted that trademarked slogans protect consumers by allowing consumers to distinguish high-quality products, which

Celebrated communist Claudia Jones responds to Du Bois reading “Marxism and the Negro Problem” who stated that the double burden of race and class made African Americans seek democratic justice. In her reading, Claudia Jones adds to Du Bois conclusion stating that black women are an essential link to the African American quest for justice in a democracy that would not only oversee the emancipation of women but of the whole class of the oppressed (Jones, 1949).

Mrs. Browne was primarily influenced by the older civil rights leaders like Martin Luther King Jr. and Roy Wilkins while Kiswana took the ideas of pride and self-dependence from activists like Stokely Carmichael (Spangler 69). Kiswana’s attitude about what it means to be fighting for equality is shown when she tells her mother “My place was in the streets with my people, fighting for equality and a better community” (Naylor 368). This differs a great deal from her mother’s opinion of the way she fights for her social progress is shown when she states, “you kids thought you were going to turn the world upside down, and it just wasn’t so… you found yourself with a fistful of new federal laws and a country still full of obstacles for black people to fight their way over—just because they’re black. There was no revolution, Melanie, and there will be no revolution” (368). Mrs. Browne feels that the equality of African Americans will not come as a revolution as Kiswana thinks, but slowly like the legal action the NAACP had been taking since the 1930’s to abolish the ‘separate but equal’ doctrine (Spangler 56). The divide between mother and daughter represents the passing between the civil rights movement’s goal of legal equality as represented by Mrs. Browne’s opinions

As a result, the black feminist movement developed, where black women were the sole leaders of the movement that liberated all people. Many black women believed that it was counterproductive for the Civil Rights Movement to neglect the needs of black woman because black men continued to use the same systemic oppression that white people used against them on black women. In “I Am a Revolutionary Black Woman,” Angela Davis writes that “black women constitute the most oppressed sector of society” (Davis 461). It is evident that black women have been super exploited by American society economically, sexually, and politically, making them the lowest on the social hierarchy. Because of black women’s low social standing, if the black woman is liberated, then everyone else will follow, which will ensure the liberation of all people. Thus, Davis argues that “women’s liberation is especially critical with respect to the effort to build an effective black liberation movement” (461). Unlike Hamer, Davis believes that black women should liberate themselves from the black man if they are too oppressive like the white man; black men should be held accountable for their chauvinistic efforts, and should embrace the fight for liberation of women just as black women supported the liberation of black men.

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

“I can remember a dinner where I talked about the book and one person, in a big booming voice choking with laughter exclaimed, ‘what is there to be said about black women!” I had written… the existence of black women was often forgotten, that we were often ignored or dismissed…” (Hooks).

To be a feminist is such a broad classification therefore it is divided into various subsections, in which Ruth Nicole associates herself with a group of feminism known as hip-hop feminism, in which I will thoroughly discuss within this essay. Ruth Nicole is a black woman that categorizes herself as a girl, by her definition a girl is far from independent. As well as a detailed discussion about the lived experiences of being and becoming in the body, which has been marked as youthful, Black, and female, along with the memories and representations of being female. As a result, Ruth Nicole wrote Black Girlhood Celebration in order to share her personal and political motivations of working with black girls within the community. A conversation

One of her well-known books about feminism is called “Women, Race and Class”. Davis published this work in 1981 before intersectionality had a name, however, because of her own experiences, she recognized that it was an issue. In this book, Davis focused on introducing how different aspects - race, class, and gender - work together to make up inequalities. She talks about the white feminist movement and, while it had its effectiveness, it failed to advocate for black women, and other women who are not upperclass and white. In her book Davis writes, “‘Woman’ was the test, but not every woman seemed to qualify. Black women, of course, were virtually invisible within the protracted campaign for woman suffrage,” (Women, Race, and Class). Here, she mentions the lack of awareness of intersectionality with the example of the fight for women’s suffrage. Suffrage was a main goal of the first wave of feminism and a lot of women at the time for protesting their lack of right. These women, however, were upper-class white women and therefore were only fighting for other upper-class white women. In her book, Davis exposed the problems with feminism at the time and how it didn’t take into account all women - ones of different race, class, and sexuality. Davis has been fighting for intersectionality before the term was even coined. This book is just one of the many works that Angela Davis has published as an

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

She serves as a contender of black women excellence for using her voice to speak out on the misogyny and dehumanization of black women in American society. In Words of Fire: An Anthology of African American Feminist Thought, Guy-Sheftall explains that there are five premises of black feminism, included is the number one point: “Black women experience a special kind of oppression and suffering in this country which is racist, sexist, and classist because of their dual racial and gender identity and their limited access to economic resources.” Voices like Clifton can uplift and inspire the black woman community to continue to fight for their dignity and humanity as the older generation of powerful black women