As a student of Africana, I will not lie and say that the Black community can do no wrong, but context is extremely important! If the ghetto griots and arguably one of the greatest contributors to the birth of Hip-Hop, The Last Poets, would be banned from performing “Niggers Are Scared of Revolution”, we are truly subscribing to intellectual and artistic fascism! In my opinion, the primary issue is institutional. Anyone with their minds clear and their heart on the pavement can see that Hip-Hop has been co-opted and transformed into a minstrel show before our eyes. All of the hypersexualized, superthug, bulletproof, pop, lock, and drop it jive is minstrelsy. And everyone who performs it is a minstrel knowingly or unknowingly. Therefore, considering the images that are continuously perpetuated and rotated by and WITHIN the community to the masses, the NAACP should be more concerned with making sure black people don’t get treated like “niggers” than being worried about being called “niggers”.

To be completely fair, my perspective has less to do with the NAACP as an organization, and more to do with the dichotomy of Black people in the United States. I am absolutely annoyed with the self-appointed leaders within the ranks of the black bourgeoisie. I am amazed at how out of touch many of them are from the people they claim to represent. For those of you who may have been fortunately unaware, there has been a recent hellstorm regarding Hip-Hop and its effects within and outside of the Black and Latino community. The NAACP has spearheaded a “STOP!” campaign in regard to the use of the “N-word” and the overall degradation of Black people and their ancestors via music, television, film, and internet.

Hip-Hop as a genre of music, lifestyle, and generation is being used as a scapegoat. The NAACP website reads as follows: “Those that are given access to the public through mainstream media must be put on notice that they have everything to lose by spewing racist ideas and rants. In addition, we equally recognize the need for balance within the African American community in regards to what music, film, and media we deem acceptable in our community.” There is nothing wrong yet. Let’s read some more. They go on to discuss the incidents regarding racially themed blackface parties and then like a crash of thunder, they say, “There is no better time than today for us to call for a STOP in our community:” What?! Don’t White people own the airwaves and control the checks of artists? For many then, if they do not act like “niggas”, they do not eat. The first black female Oscar winner, Hattie McDaniels once said "I'd rather make $700 a week playing a maid than earn $7 a day being a maid" Those artists who are strong enough to portray black people positively, scarcely do as well financially. It is not difficult to imagine why.

If my memory serves me correctly, BET, now owned by Viacom since a sale by Bob Johnson, was the company that banned Little Brother’s video “Lovin It” because it was “too intelligent for the BET audience.” The album Little Brother was debuting at the time was titled “The Minstrel Show”. I couldn’t make this up if I tried. According to SOHH, this incident is not the first of its kind. BET also reportedly told Hip-Hop legends, De La Soul that they “weren’t relevant to the BET audience”. At the end of the day , they are the gatekeepers on what forms of Blackness are available and acceptable for sale and mass consumption. White kids and black kids alike are putting chewing gum foil on their teeth. The only difference is that for the black child, he emulates what he thinks he is supposed to become. Therefore, the issue at hand is more than being called “niggers”. It is us believing that we are. The NAACP argument is a “don’t embarrass us in front of the good white folks” one. It does not target the more painful sources of this issue. We do not know who we are and we are willing to sell our very souls in exchange for the American Dream. What we fail to recognize is that a dream requires you to be asleep. Crack open any Black Enterprise magazine and you will see more cars and expensive demonstrations of materialism than in Vibe or the Source. A few “niggers” make it off the slave ship and onto the cruise ship and apparently we’ve made it. I’m here to tell you what is in my heart even if it hurts your feelings. It is not a whisper nor a shout.

I am clearly and firmly stating, for those of you who previously preferred to remain in the Matrix, that going from the auction block to the cell block is not progress.

Why is it that it took, Imus’s “nappy headed hoes” comment and the obnoxious tirades of Michael Richards for the NAACP to address the poisons within the Black community? Problems exist even if white people aren’t privy to the ones that are specific to Black America. Hip-Hop is not the cancer of America. The rap that degrades women is only an emulation of American behavior. How is it any different than what the hair bands were doing in the 80s? How is it any different than the movies that are coming out?

Hip-Hop is not some lecherous old man molesting the ears of preteen boys and girls. It is a way of life. It is a vehicle for expression. It can be the bass heavy sounds you move your hips to in the club, or it can be the jazz infused Digable Planets cut you rock your head to when you just want to stare into space. Hip-hop is that medley of your favorite artists, complete with solos by sopranos, basses, tenors, and baritones – everyone gets their chance to shine. Is there garbage out there? Sure. Life is balanced with good and bad, but Hip-Hop didn’t stop me from respecting my mother, sister and other women. It did not stop me from heeding the wise advice of my father. It didn’t stop me from graduating high school. Listening to the gritty realities of NWA didn’t make me a gang member in a neighborhood envoloped in Crip territory. Biggie made me want to go to school so I didn’t have to live that life. If you don’t like what Ice Cube is saying, change the environment so that it is not his reality. You don’t like when Tupac rhymes about Brenda throwing her baby in the garbage? Fine. Make it so that Brenda has parents that can afford to spend adequate time raising her.

We have a multitude of problems that we should undoubtedly seek to solve, but they must be put in context and perspective. If an artform is responsible for raising one’s children and becoming the boundaries of acceptability and morality in the community then we have much bigger things to worry about than the “n-word”. This issue is not one that can be solved by pulling up our bootstraps. We can’t pull ourselves up by bootstraps when we don’t have boots. To ignore or minimilize the impact that institutions have on black life is criminal. It is time to hold them accountable. If not, lace up those tap shoes, apply the cork and lipstick, and get ready to be on stage.