Holler If You Hear Me

Tupac Shakur is one of most controversial figures of contemporary America. Shakur stands the test of time since he has been largely misunderstood as a figure that embodies all that was wrong with America. He is an iconic representation for the plagues of poverty and racial disparity. Holler If You Hear Me, by Michael Dyson is one of the sources I am using to help me establish Tupac Shakur in the context of his history and knowledge of the Black Panther Party; A history by which he continues through into his artistry to fit contemporary Black America. This source traces some of mother's history and some of the history in Oakland that shape Tupac's philosophy as an artist. This source is in conversation with the concept of the new negro because it shows how Tupac is a modern day New Negro, an artist that absorbed his community and used it as fuel for artistic development and expression.

The argument for my thesis actually begins with a brief understanding of the Harlem Renaissance of the 1920’s in order to establish a scholarly approach for understanding the historical developments that parallel the history and development of Tupac Shakur in Oakland, California. The tradition that Tupac Shakur continues begins with the Southern migration to Oakland, California at the start of WWII. The social injustice and disparities between Blacks and whites in Oakland set the scene for the rise of the Black Panther Party, an organization that Afeni Shakur, Tupac’s mother, belonged to for a great part of her life. The struggles and consequences of Afeni’s life choices as a Panther member play the leading role in Tupac’s social consciousness. As he won fame and freedom, he brooked no ideological limits on what he could say and how he could live. But even as he exchanged revolutionary self-seriousness for the thug life, he never embraced the notion that the panthers were emblematic of political self-destruction. To be sure, Tupac saw thug life extending Panther beliefs in self-defense and class rebellion. But he never balked at Panther ideals.[i]

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[i] Dyson Micheal, “Holler if You Hear Me,” (New York: Basic Civitas Books, 2001), 48.

POST 3

Alain Locke proposes that the artist of the 1920s became more aware of the Black culture that was available for inspiration and from this community the artist was ignited to pursue and create the New Negro identity.  With this he proclaims that the artist was able to fuse social consciousness with art that was in a sense for the people about the people. This is because it created images of dignity and they were respectable depictions of black people, something that had never been done before. Prior to this Alain notes that there was no image of the black folk that was not demeaning or in caricature form. To a certain degree Alain is arguing that the Black art generated during the renaissance was healing to the mind and soul because it gave blacks human value and acknowledged an equal and worthy culture that could just as easily generate inspiration and motivation for art.

Baldwin on the other hand makes the reverse argument, stating that the New Negro identity stems from the bottom up and that the art was a reflection of this new mood that was already prevalent amoung the masses. He argues that this identity was shaped by consumerism naming Jack Johnson as a prime example of this influence. He argues that Johnson served as an Icon of the sorts he carried the race through his own actions. The public’s reaction to this, both black and white was astronomical and the ramifications and implications of his skill as a champion created and drew from the community a form of awareness as it acted and reacted to one another’s racial tension. He argues that that the boldness and willingness to take action represented a group awakening of sorts that consolidated the New Negro identity.

Overall the New Negro that is of the artist and that which is of the entrepreneurial share very much. Both take action that has been considered a choice not available to the black community. In art for example artist who took the risks of deviating form “classical” art were at risk of being deemed inferior artist, nevertheless they stepped into new frontiers and in doing so gave value to themselves as artist. Similarly Entrepreneurs in the black community were venturing into frontiers uncharted. In doing so both display a willingness to take ownership of their worth as member of society with equal and valuable potential that can only be large appreciated once this self-recognition is made.

POST 2

Publish 2^nd Blogging Entry and Comment —a close reading of a poem or short story from The New Negro that illuminates something from one of the stories in The Warmth of Other Suns

The Things They Left Behind, on page 239 reminded me of the poem by Claude McKay The Tropics in New York.
I thought it was interesting that southern people made clubs of the state or city that they left behind because it was more a regional association rather than just a general area. I think however that this is rings true for all immigrants that come form another country that can often times be overlooked by others. 
Along comparison lines though I found allot of similarities between this story that highlighted how a longing for home is often triggered by the slightest thing, like a flower or smell. Similarly the poem by McKay evokes a longing and memory that is triggered by fruit in a store window. In both cases the person seems to pause their daily routine and returns to a blissful aspect of their past life that causes them to savor the part of them that they cannot recreate in their new location and new life in the North. 
I also found it interesting that in longing to live where they lived before or to be "home" they readily imply or explicitly state that they would not be in the North if they had half the better treatment in the South that they did in the North. There seems to be this eternal loyalty to a place regardless of the ugliness that it may have inflicted on their life. I found it so interesting that the longing for a lifestyle was so strong that one rather give up half the humane civility with which they are treated with in the North.
As a 1st generation Mexican-American I used to wonder what about Mexico would anyone miss, much like the people in the north must have wondered about southerners. What draws these immigrants to long for a lifestyle that seems so remote and slow. However now that I am older I cannot help but empathize with my elders and wonder how they can have lived so long without returning to their motherland, to their hometown. I wonder how they could stand those strong yearnings and tiniest reminders of what they hold so dear. I cannot help but think that Claude Mckay's words ring true for anyone who has ever left their motherland only by will to survive and nothing more, "And, hungry for the old familiar ways, I turned aside and bowed my head and wept"

POST 1

What Black Studies courses have you taken and how has your perspective evolved until now?

I attended Santa Barbara High School, so I was very fortunate to benefit from the dual enrollment program that Santa Barbara City College had with the local high schools. I took Racism in America which covered racism in America from 1865-1960's. I think to some degree I have always had a great interest in Black studies because of my interest in the political. Naturally the history of slavery has always offered a contradictory or irrational counterpart to everything American politics 'represents', and thus my curiosity for a real dialogue on this political and social dilemma has been a part of my perspective for a while. When I encounter conceptual or theoretical material relating to the political I cannot help but value the material based on how well it accounts or does not account for the evolution and co-existence of Racism.

When I came into college I had already experienced few events in my life that led me to believe that Political Science would satiate my curiosity and questions about the injustices in the world, after all if the problem is rooted in the political should not the solution be found there as well. WELLL...no.

My first quarter I took two pre-req's for my major, political science and Black Studies 1 with Lipsitz. The most amazing course, though given my status as a freshman and my greater interest in my social life...I did not pay much attention to my greater passion and interest in Black Studies as a major.

After I completed my major in Political Science I was not satisfied with my understanding of the role that the political has in social injustice. I mean you know like anyone that already has an interest in matters of social injustice, I knew the basics, racism is a product of or related to capitalism, maybe personal prejudice combined with power, this nation was founded in an unjust manner, people of color got screwed and so on, and all things related. BUT, I had no conceptual or theoretical knowledge that could help me view one situation and compare it to another. These are the tools I knew I lacked and did not acquire in Political Science, and as much as I respect the field veryyyyy few professors are willing to explore or integrate conversation on how racism seems to throw off allot of well regarded concepts and political "philosophers". I remember in one of the last courses I took I ended up in an argument with a professor in lecture because he refused to acknowledge that the "development" of one nation was dependent on the subjugation of another nation, thus making it a relationship that could not be disregarded when when considering the value of liberalism being fit for only some nations over others. Anyways the best he could offer was that we overlook that for now and consider the "time period" and context...well I've never known a time when people did not know that starving a nation of its own resources and exploiting a people would not lead to one inferior nation and one superior nation, or empire or whatever political body is being considered.

After my completion in Political Science I came to the conclusion that the only major that could really answer the question I had was Black Studies. I consider Black Studies to be the hidden and overlooked Part of American politics and history that is necessary for anyone interested in the political and social justice. My perspective upon my culmination in political science courses and my new endeavour  in Black Studies led me to understand that the political is not in government, nor is it in theory or concepts rather it is in the community the people, and that social justice is one's ability to be aware of their role and duty to the community.