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Black is 'back'...so now what?
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Chuck D.
That’s my man. I remember the first time my ears were exposed to the sounds of Public Enemy. It was fall, 1987…Mo’Kelly was a freshman at Georgetown University and hanging out with Ralph Lamb (now Saladin Ambar, professor of American race relations and political science at Rutgers University). We sat in his dorm room and listened to Public Enemy, BDP, X-Clan and argued over the best leather design for a “fresh” Africa medallion. If that weren’t enough, we even practiced mixing on the turntables with Saladin’s roommate Tracy Grant (now an author in his own right).
“Follow for now, power of the people, say,
Make a miracle, D., pump the lyrical
Black is back, all in, we’re gonna win.
Check it out…here we go again.”
- Chuck D. (Bring the Noise)
Yes, 1987.
Rev. Jesse Jackson was preparing once again to shock the world with a second and even more successful presidential run. Director Spike Lee had just opened the door to an ensuing slew of African-American directors, thanks to his groundbreaking film She’s Gotta Have It the preceding year. From politics to film to music, there was a crescendo of consciousness in the African-American community; heretofore not seen in my generation. Mo’Kelly would hardly characterize this time as the second-coming of the Harlem Renaissance, but there are some parallels to be drawn.
“Black is back, all in we’re gonna win.”
That lyric has since always stuck with Mo’Kelly. I remember thinking and wondering at what time prior to 1987 Black was “in”…in a general or pop culture sense. So the phrase “Black is back” always struck Mo’Kelly as odd in the context of 1987.
Back? From where…from when…“win” what?
More than 20 years later, people still end phone conversations with “peace” a staple of the era, (although I have no idea where my many leather Africa medallions are these days). And more than 20 years later, that particular lyric traipsing from the lips of Chuck D. still rings in my memory.
In 2009 it would seem that one could more honestly argue, “Black is back.” Here’s what I mean…
The top TWO books on the New York Times Hardcover Advice bestseller list this week are by African-Americans, authored by Steve Harvey and Tony Dungy respectively.
Not fiction, but the Advice section. No disrespect to Eric Jerome Dickey intended.
Twenty-two years ago there never had been an African-American author atop any of the NY Times bestseller lists. The #1 movie in America, Madea Goes to Jail grossed 41 million in this its first weekend, with 1000 fewer screens than any other #1 of any week of any year. Tyler Perry’s material is about, for and by African-Americans. That’s not even counting the other NY Times #1 bestseller successes of both Tavis Smiley, The Covenant with Black America and Tyler Perry’s Don’t Make A Black Woman Take Off Her Earrings: Madea’s Uninhibited Commentaries on Love and Life in recent years.
“Black is back.”
It’s very easy to trace a direct path between 1987 Spike Lee to 2009 Tyler Perry. It’s very easy to connect the dots between 1987 Jesse Jackson and 2009 Barack Obama.
Access…then change…then progress.
Twenty-two years ago there had never been an African-American country artist to DEBUT at the top of the country charts. With little effort someone could make the connection between Charley Pride and Darius Rucker or Dona Mason and rising starlet Rissi Palmer.
Access…then change…then progress.
But back to Chuck D.’s lyric…
“Black is back, all in, we’re gonna win.”
Granted, maybe Mo’Kelly is over-analyzing a simple lyric. Maybe. Then again, maybe not.
We all know the civil rights phrase “keeping our eyes on the prize” but often times the definition of “the prize,” becomes cloudy. When we talk about “winning” in Chuck D.’s terms…what does that mean?
I would submit that winning the White House does not equal winning this race. There is a Black man in the White house and a Black city (New Orleans) still looking like an outhouse. NY Times bestsellers do not equate to winning this race. Black Supreme Court justice appointees surely don’t equate to crossing the finish line in first place. For enslaved peoples in the 19th century, the “prize” of emancipation only led to the evils of segregation. For those imprisoned by Jim Crow, the prize of ending “separate but equal” led to “together and unequal.”
You get the point, but back to 2009. “Black is back.”
It’s indisputable; for better or for worse, for reasons substantive or superficial, Black is the “in” thang these days.
Well, except for TV shows on CBS.
Other than that, Black is “in.” It will never be “in” within the Viacom family, let Mo’Kelly be clear on this fact. Viacom is the home of CBS, where no Black people live…and BET, where no self-respecting Black people live. The fact that they’re relatives in the same family should surprise absolutely no one. But in terms of the rest of the world, the appreciation of African-Americans and our contributions is at an all-time high.
The question remains as to how should “we” spend such social capital? It also begs the other question that if “Black is back” then surely it will go the way of all fads and temporal trends until its next “retro incarnation” in say…2029.
Was “the prize” getting a singular Black man in the White House or getting an aggregate Black people on equal footing in America? They are two separate and distinct goals and one doesn’t necessarily impact the other.
As we are set to exit African-American history month I’m encouraged by certain successes and equally disheartened by some failures. If we as African-Americans have achieved anything in the past 20 or so years it is access. Access is always the first step before change and change always precedes progress, if there is progress to be had. Remember change is inevitable but progress is optional.
Black may be “back” in 2009, African-American Oscar nominees are commonplace and Black congress people, ordinary occurrences.
But what is winning…what is now the prize? And shout out to Saladin, Public Enemy is still my favorite, and you’re still a Rebel without a Pause.
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