Current Affairs: Who Actually Gets to Create Black Pop Culture?

[get these nets]

The author isn't concerned about Black poor people.

I've read pieces like this before. There is real life poverty, and then there's the poverty discussed by talking heads/writing heads on white platforms. This article seems to be his audition to become another "Black expert" for white people. Poverty is just the smokescreen and the author's personal gimmick to separate him from the other talking/ blogging heads.

He casually dismisses real life conditions and responsibilites of people living in poverty to make several misguided points.

Because poverty is real, many of those from that segment pursue training/higher education as a way to gain economic footing and stability. Pursue degrees and cert.s in stable professions or businesses. Even those with talent/interest in the arts often sacrifice those dreams. They have school loans to consider, and how their role in the extended family changes once they gain employment. They become the one with the resources that help family members.

Children from families with more resources will not have to consider many of those things when/if they decide to pursue a career in the arts. They have access to family resources that can subsidize their education, and their living expenses as they try to get established.

A third group exists. People who tested into a performing arts public high school started their careers or pursued additional training. And those who received no traditional arts training at all, but who pursued the arts career because their passion was so strong.

This is all basic info. Everybody knows of people from each category. The last group listed includes the earlier mentioned August Wilson, and the mogul/studio owner Tyler Perry. Neither man asked a white person's permission to be "allowed to create Black pop culture". Past 20 years has seen many people emerge from this segment. Self taught self published. The entire urban -lit, street lit genre is made up of people who didn't ask for permission to create Black pop culture. Author makes no mention of the thousands who bypass the traditional gatekeepers and entry barriers..

From the group of children of parents with money and resources who pursued the arts are the beautiful multi talented sisters, Debbie Allen and Phylicia Rashard. Author's attempt to "other" accomplished AAs, as not authentically Black is disgusting. Straight circus clown behavior. He'd have to "other" many of the artists from the Harlem Renaissance, The Blacks Arts Movements of NY and Chicago also. Those who respect and genuinely applaud Black achievement would see this as a red flag. Those who feel contempt or resentment for Blacks who have succeeded would have no problem with the author listing the educational/professional achievements of these people like he's outing them for crimes.

The Black artists who do exist in mainstream spaces have worked at their crafts for decades of their lives. They can write about universal themes and stories which they have direct personal connection to and those they don't. Who could survive in mainstream entertainment industry if they could only write or create from the perspective of their upbringing?

Consultants are employed to flesh out and make stories more specific to the characters and setting, but great writing is universal.

*Debbie Allen (Howard U. alumna)got her break doing A Different World. Check her resume to see the dozens of projects she's done since then...

Debbie Allen - IMDb

I think many of us know people who showed early talent in the arts, but perhaps didn't see it as a feasible career. Because poverty is real, they had more pressing responsibilities.

Author is a hack. Trying to get some white platform to chose him as a Black expert, so he can cash out by talking about poverty to whites for the next 30 years.

People actually from the struggle are using their energy and resources to help lift others out of poverty, and to advocate for legislation that promotes that. We can see right through this.

 

[mastermind]

…

This is a top five terrible take, but considering what you’ve said before about people from those educational background, this is par for the course.

 

[Meta Reign]

Good article, I had a conversation with my former roommate/ law school classmate about how in our class that had 15 Black students, only 3 of us had ever grown up in poverty or anywhere near it. Plus only my roommate was ADOS. The rest of the Black students were working-class or upper-middle class. And although it is way too common to lump in blue-collar working-class Black folks and poor Black folks together there are still significant differences when it comes to access to institutions and resources.

Even if one counters with the common response that the Black working class/upper-middle class cannot be analyzed in the same way as their white counterparts because of systemic racism, there are still class-based disadvantages that help lead to disparate outcomes presented in the article.

It seems for a while now that the Black poor have gotten the short end of the stick not only in terms of policy but also in regards to Black narratives cultivated and spread within our community. The disdain and contempt many working-class and upper-middle-class Black folks have for poor Black people hasn't really been analyzed to the same degree as gender dynamics, as intersectionality overall is severely lacking when it comes to the discussion of internal class dynamics. Compared to the way class dynamics is discussed in-depth within the UK.

Article is OK. It doesn't get to the root of the issue though. Most times it is unnecessary to even make race a factor in some arguments. So I will do it for everyone.

This country and it's Pop culture is responsible for major Poverty Shaming. This goes beyond all race and class specifications. This one issue, if addressed honestly by the masses and the media would have profound effects in our society.

People will admit they WERE poor, but will never admit they ARE poor. Infact, poverty Shaming and talking about poverty is so taboo in our culture that some poor people don't even KNOW they are poor because the cultural infrastructure to identify it don't even exist in some cases.

There are basically no television shows that show poverty on a day to day. I get it, who would want to watch that shyt? Lol. Escapism serves as mass sedation for the stresses of poverty. Poverty is so stressful that said sedation is basically acceptable and understood on an unsaid level.

I grew up poor (to 2 West Indian parents btw), and honestly if I were STILL poor I would likely have a hard time talking about it, even on this forum due to shame. . . And that is sad. Before we make it necessary to contexualize poverty across the racial strata, let's first admit that poverty Shaming is both subtle and universal regardless of who you are.

 

[ogc163]

This is a top five terrible take, but considering what you’ve said before about those educational background, this is par for the course.

Lol the take is so emotionally charged and filled with so many jumps to conclusions, coupled with way too much absolute language.

 

[get these nets]

Bertrand Cooper
@BL4CK_TR4SH
Black, white, and trash on both sides. I remember poverty, so I write about it

===============

Get hustled HL-brehs.

 

[ogc163]

I find it interesting that over the last couple of years there have been several books on the white working class and their interaction with both the professional class and the overall American Dream, but meanwhile in that same time period there hasn't been the same increase in interest among Black public intellectuals. That leads me to think that Black public intellectuals don't want to discuss or write about the issue at great length--leading me to recall Ta-Nehisi Coates taking a cheap shot at E. Franklin Frazier's "The Black Bourgiouse" on Twitter when he was still on there--.

For example, JD Vance's Hilbilly Elegy, Joan C. Williams The White Working Class, and Strangers in Their Own Land by Arlie Russell Hochschild all entered the elite zeitgeist in an attempt to explain the divide between the white working class and their professional class counterparts. But, in regards to the Black community, Tracy McMillan's Thick might come closest to dealing with intraclass dynamics and enter the popular zeitgeist, and even then, her book only minimally focuses on class. James Forman's Locking up Our Own focuses more on Black class dynamics and its role in the War on Drugs, but his book didn't gain anywhere near as much attention as Michelle Alexander's book.

The foundation to discuss the issue is present, as I think Frazier's framework still has utility, and Barbara Einreich's creation of the "Professional Managerial Class" framework can be incorporated to analyze the way the Black poor have been ignored and used as pawns in the realm of Black political discourse.

 

[ogc163]

Article is OK. It doesn't get to the root of the issue though. Most times it is unnecessary to even make race a factor in some arguments. So I will do it for everyone.

This country and it's Pop culture is responsible for major Poverty Shaming. This goes beyond all race and class specifications. This one issue, if addressed honestly by the masses and the media would have profound effects in our society.

People will admit they WERE poor, but will never admit they ARE poor. Infact, poverty Shaming and talking about poverty is so taboo in our culture that some poor people don't even KNOW they are poor because the cultural infrastructure to identify it don't even exist in some cases.

There are basically no television shows that show poverty on a day to day. I get it, who would want to watch that shyt? Lol. Escapism serves as mass sedation for the stresses of poverty. Poverty is so stressful that said sedation is basically acceptable and understood on an unsaid level.

I grew up poor (to 2 West Indian parents btw), and honestly if I were STILL poor I would likely have a hard time talking about it, even on this forum due to shame. . . And that is sad. Before we make it necessary to contexualize poverty across the racial strata, let's first admit that poverty Shaming is both subtle and universal regardless of who you are.

A major issue I have with poverty shaming, especially when it comes from the Black working class is that they are often a hop and a skip away from ending up back into poverty, plus like their white working-class counterparts they too often take on the grandstanding traditionalist professional class rhetoric even though they don't have the resources and social capital to consistently follow through on that rhetoric as the PMC does.

You see this often in TLR threads when issues of Black poverty are discussed, way too much grandstanding devoid of acknowledging valid constraints or creating scalable strategies to overcome those constraints. Cat's have a hard-on for getting on their soapbox and moral grandstanding.

 

[Meta Reign]

A major issue I have with poverty shaming, especially when it comes from the Black working class is that they are often a hop and a skip away from ending up back into poverty, plus like their white working-class counterparts they too often take on the grandstanding traditionalist professional class rhetoric even though they don't have the resources and social capital to consistently follow through on that rhetoric as the PMC does.

You see this often in TLR threads when issues of Black poverty are discussed, way too much grandstanding devoid of acknowledging valid constraints or creating scalable strategies to overcome those constraints. Cat's have a hard-on for getting on their soapbox and moral grandstanding.

Completely agree.

 

[mastermind]

 

[☑︎#VoteDemocrat]

why.

are.

IDW.

and.

Conservatives.

Amping.

This.

Dude.

UP????




















@wire28 @Th3G3ntleman @ezrathegreat @Jello Biafra @humble forever @Dameon Farrow @Piff Perkins @Pressure @johnedwarduado @Armchair Militant @panopticon @Tres Leches @ADevilYouKhow @dtownreppin214 @DrDealgood @Red Shield

 

[mastermind]

Interview: Bertrand Cooper

 

[☑︎#VoteDemocrat]

Yall got bamboozled by one of these anti-SJW type contrarian clowns. Hilarious.

@Get These Nets @wire28 @Th3G3ntleman @ezrathegreat @Jello Biafra @humble forever @Dameon Farrow @Piff Perkins @Pressure @johnedwarduado @Armchair Militant @panopticon @Tres Leches @ADevilYouKhow @dtownreppin214 @DrDealgood @Red Shield

 

[get these nets]

@NAP
You don't have to tag me. I sized up the writer and saw through him right away. His intentions will become clear to others soon enough.

 

[☑︎#VoteDemocrat]

@NAP
You don't have to tag me. I sized up the writer and saw through him right away. His intentions will become clear to others soon enough.

this dude is palling around with all these libertarian conservatives

 

[get these nets]

Article is OK. It doesn't get to the root of the issue though. Most times it is unnecessary to even make race a factor in some arguments. So I will do it for everyone.

This country and it's Pop culture is responsible for major Poverty Shaming. This goes beyond all race and class specifications. This one issue, if addressed honestly by the masses and the media would have profound effects in our society.

People will admit they WERE poor, but will never admit they ARE poor. Infact, poverty Shaming and talking about poverty is so taboo in our culture that some poor people don't even KNOW they are poor because the cultural infrastructure to identify it don't even exist in some cases.

There are basically no television shows that show poverty on a day to day. I get it, who would want to watch that shyt? Lol. Escapism serves as mass sedation for the stresses of poverty. Poverty is so stressful that said sedation is basically acceptable and understood on an unsaid level.

I grew up poor (to 2 West Indian parents btw), and honestly if I were STILL poor I would likely have a hard time talking about it, even on this forum due to shame. . . And that is sad. Before we make it necessary to contexualize poverty across the racial strata, let's first admit that poverty Shaming is both subtle and universal regardless of who you are.

Author didn't get to the root because that wasn't his intent. He's exploiting the issue of poverty to brand himself. His social media handle is " BlackTrash, Black, White and TRASH on both sides". I don't see how what he's doing could be any more transparent.

What is your take about "Success Shaming"? Did you pick up on any of that in the article?


That's a theme that runs through it, as I see it.
Despite the history of this country and the legal and social restrictions placed on Black people, that Black people who have broken through those barriers to attain formal education, professional licences, and property should apologize for doing so.
Or that their voices aren't authentically Black ones. He mentioned the credentials of the families of Black artists as though he was outing them for crimes.