The Evil Of The “Acting White” Mentality
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More than a few people aren’t going to like this truth. Oh well, people need to hear it.
Sociologists have a term for this pathological facet of black life. It’s called "cool-pose culture." Whatever the nomenclature, "cool pose" or keeping it real or something else entirely, this peculiar aspect of the contemporary black experience — the inverted-pyramid hierarchy of values stemming from the glorification of lower-class reality in the hip-hop era — has quietly taken the place of white racism as the most formidable obstacle to success and equality in the black middle classes.
36 Responses to “The Evil Of The “Acting White” Mentality”
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Nice article. I will have to send it to a friend.
I completely agree with that assessment. I ALWAYS say that white racism isn’t as near as big a threat to us as our appalling and flabbergasting embrace of anti-intellectualism.
Any display of maturity, class and intellect is immediately frowned upon by “real niggas”. It’s especially discouraging to see women (of ALL races) craving the “street” brotha and rejecting any black man that lacks a certain anti-social, arrested devlopment template.
Something we can agree on. Even Starkey? Interesting.
“The cultural pressure for a middle-class Chinese American to walk, talk and act like a lower-class thug from Chinatown is nil. The same can be said of Jews, or of any other ethnic group.”
Oh yeah? Then explain redneck wannabe George Allen.
I ALWAYS say that white racism isn’t as near as big a threat to us as our appalling and flabbergasting embrace of anti-intellectualism.
I remember Obama’s speech during the Dem convention calling it a “slander” that a black child who studies “wants to be white”.
He hasn’t impressed me since, but he surely impressed me then.
Considering that it was once against the law to educate black Americans (slaves) I would think that achieving education would be the height of rebellion. Wanaa rub it in someones face? Quote Shakespeare to the cracker.
Okay, sorry that was probably over the top.
Oliver, I know you do not like to comment on racial issues but I, as a white American, would welcome your insights.
Why it is so difficult to instill a love of learning is very sad to me. I have known many people, including my wife, who have been involved in trying to improve inner-city education. There is a block which to me is inexplicable.
I thought the article sucked because of a few things: 1) the author conflates all hip-hop into a single cultural entity. I don’t know if this was intentional, but it’s too easy. 2) The author never discusses the contemporary black culture of achievement. Archaic references to Dubois don’t do much good, but they reveal a disconnect. 3) The author quotes Freyer even though the raw data from Freyer (re: white youth in elite schools) contradict his essential point about cool pose.
The “reality” is far the path down which this writer is traveling. He has quite a bit of work to do. There are fewer and fewer empirical supports for his essentialist argument. Whether you begin with the architects of the imagery in hip hop or you begin with the economic viability of cool pose (risk vs. reward Freakonomics), there is little to suggest that the problem is “cultural” let alone “racial.”
Why do you suppose there is not even the kernel of an idea of what to do about it?
I remember a time when blacks and whites were striving to get their own people to get along with the other race.
Separatism came into play in the 60′s. I think we are close to the day when the Civil Rights Act will be seen as a hastily drawn up “band aid for a belly wound” that did more harm than good.
I wrote a paper on homeless families (around 1993) that predicted that we were about to have a generation of near feral children, and now we do.
My only quibble with the piece linked to is that all this isn’t as new as the author seems to think. The derogatory use of “Oreo” has been around a long time.
I wrote a paper on homeless families (around 1993) that predicted that we were about to have a generation of near feral children, and now we do.
REALLY? Because I haven’t had a black person sniff my crotch, pee on my leg or maul me.
Seriously, what the hell? FERAL? Couldn’t you have used a less inflamatory & over exaggerated adjective, or was it your intention to come off as a racist douchebag?
Zython:I’m really tired of you and your B.S.
Did I mention any race?
Aha!
You see… Scratch a liberal and find a racist every time.
I told you to get a dictionary, didn’t I?
fe·ral (fîr’əl, fĕr’-) adj
2. Having returned to an untamed state from domestication
Nothing about race, eh, kid?
I used the right word for the right reason.
The paper referred to the gross lack of parenting skills instruction and supports for child rearing in homeless situations — not race.
And I used the term “near feral”, didn’t I?
“Something we can agree on. Even Starkey? Interesting.
Posted by: Marty | May 28, 2007 10:09:00 PM”
Why to you continue to intentionally misspell my name? This is something grammar-school kids do. Not supposed adults.
It’s like when the Republicans kept saying “the Democrat Party”. It’s so childish that it’s shocking when you see it.
Temple3, thank you for being the one commenter in this thread with a mature, responsible, rational, unemotional take on this subject.
Because it’s America, and becuase it concerns blacks, people tend not to see this phenomenom in the proper perspective. This is socioeconomic, and has happened (and is happening) in many countries and cultures, and at many times in history. But as I said, it’s America, and it’s black people, so a whole lot of emotion and anger gets attached to it, which is not helpful at all.
And I should say this too- black nerds like Oliver who were hazed by other black kids basically because they were nerds need to put their resentful memories aside and see this thing for what it really is.
Can we have just one thread that isn’t about Frank?
Temple3, you asked a lot of questions that seemed to cast doubt on the columnists’s thesis,but offered no counterargument. Your comment amounts to one big, “I disagree”.
Acanthus: This is socioeconomic, and has happened (and is happening) in many countries and cultures, and at many times in history.
Would you care to elaborate on that? I’d be especially interested in hearing about the “many times in history” this has occurred before.
I didn’t come here to get traffic, but if you’d like to read my perspective on this, you can go to my blog and search “hip-hop” or “acting white.”
The big “I disagree” requires a much more detailed and nuanced conversation. I’ve read Fryer’s work closely and disagree with this author’s premise and his conclusions. I also understand that hip-hop is not a single cultural product, but rather a dynamic combination of aesthetics, styles, modes and practices. Some of it is ugly, some of it is beautiful. In either case, it’s a multi-billion dollar BUSINESS that must be accorded a higher level of analysis than comes forth in this column.
Holla back if you like. Excuse me Oliver. No offense intended.
I didn’t come here to get traffic, but if you’d like to read my perspective on this, you can go to my blog and search “hip-hop” or “acting white.”
The big “I disagree” requires a much more detailed and nuanced conversation. I’ve read Fryer’s work closely and disagree with this author’s premise and his conclusions. I also understand that hip-hop is not a single cultural product, but rather a dynamic combination of aesthetics, styles, modes and practices. Some of it is ugly, some of it is beautiful. In either case, it’s a multi-billion dollar BUSINESS that must be accorded a higher level of analysis than comes forth in this column.
Holla back if you like. Excuse me Oliver. No offense intended.
There are lots of flaws with this argument, most of which Temple3 addresses. Another is that educational sociologists consistantly find that REGARDLESS of race, high achieving kids at working class schools (like those in South Central or rural Indiana) have less friends and are made fun of. The difference? The Hoosier is called a nerd, a geek, a poindexter, while the Cali kid is called a white-boy. While there is a serious issue with equating whiteness with intellectual achievement, the sad fact is that poor kids who do well in school are made fun of and ostricized. Hip Hop has little to do with this.
Can we have just one thread that isn’t about Frank?
Whenever you’re ready, twit.
One can not simply dismiss the influence the power of popular music in the adolescent. It has been a, if not the, voice of adolescents since the 50′s.
Interestingly, this coincides with a reaching across of hands from the young white community to the young black community.
Black and white bands performed together, integrated singing groups were formed, and white youngsters adopted black styles im addition to listening to, buying, and dancing to, black music.
What has changed recently is the model that some blacks, and some whites, are aspiring to.
John McWhorter’s review of Ethan Brown’s “Queens Reigns Supreme”, describes the connection between drug dealers and rap.
It is indeed a complicated thesis, Temple. My apologies.
Did I mention any race?
No? Then shame on you for threadjacking. Go back and read the original post and link and you’ll see that this thread is about race.
fd:
In all honesty, this doesn’t make hip-hop appreciably different from other forms of popular culture which were subjected to the intrusions of organized crime. Popular films, pornography, college basketball, and boxing were all, at one time or another, subjected to the predations of criminals.
The issue for today’s hip-hop – the ubiquitous commercial misogynistic, nihilistic stuff that is reviled by purists and haters alike – has more to do with the willingness of corporations to do business with thugs than it has to do with the willing ear of black youth to imbibe and mimic these behaviors.
Concurrent with the rise of South East Queens’ version of hip-hop was a Long Island brand of hip-hop led by many college educated rappers with SUPERIOR verbal skillz and better beatz and better studio production BUT inferior distribution and access to corporate support. The public decline of groups like DelaSoul and Public Enemy MUST be considered in any conversation about thugs and hip-hop and “Black culture.”
Neither Chatterton nor McWhorter are really ready to go there. This is beyond the scope of their lives or their work. They are outsiders to this music and this life. If the “thug” is hip-hop, so is the nationalist who wants to convert the thug into a lifelong brother and partner in a collective struggle. These critics want to have their cake and eat it too. They cannot.
Sorry Starky. Just a habit from when I called you “Starkley” (pun on how you tend to write- in very stark terms most of the time.) This time I actually intended to write it correctly, and mistakenly added the ‘e.’
Unintentional. Sorry to shock your feelings. I’m sure you’ll get through it.
Where did you publish your paper, fd?
The fact that most rap records are sold to Hip-hop kids seems to suggest that there are other factors that affect the outcome of a person’s life other than the music they listen to.
The fact that most rap records are sold to Hip-hop kids seems to suggest that there are other factors that affect the outcome of a person’s life other than the music they listen to.
My bad, I meant most rap records are sold to white kids.
My bad, I meant most rap records are sold to white kids.
The article doesn’t refer so much to hip hop music as it does the hip hop culture. While white kid whose father works on Park Avenue is sneaking DMX CD’s into his house, he’s not wrapping himself up in the culture, so sales of hip hop music is irrelevant, especially when it comes to issues like fatherhood.
The issue is more complex than just assigning the blame to the hip hop culture. The root of the issue as far as I am concerned is the lack of fathers in the household. This goes for whites as well as blacks but right now, is seen more in black communities.
Young men want a role model. Somebody they can look up to. Somebody they can emulate. Boys need a father. And yes, I know there are exceptions to the rule and that plenty of single mothers have raised their children and they have gone on to be great members of society. But they are in the minority and no matter how much wisdom a woman can impart, she will never be able to teach a boy how to be a man. Only another man can do that.
But the absence of the fathers or a strong male role model leaves them with little choice. The drug dealer or gang banger is the man they have in their lives more often than anybody else. Who else do they have to emulate?
Again, this is not limited to black boys and young men but all boys and young men. I believe that for too long, society in large part deemphasized the importance in the role of fathers raising their kids, especially their sons. I see that trend moving back, but there needs to be more of an emphasis on it.
I think the whole ‘acting white’ stigma is a by-product of that. The kid who has learned from his father that getting good grades, and working hard is good for him and won’t fall victim to such nonsense. It’s the kid who doesn’t have that strong role model who buys into the idiocy that getting good grades and being successful in school is selling out.
Zython:I’m really tired of you and your B.S.
Did I mention any race?
Aha!
You see… Scratch a liberal and find a racist every time.
I told you to get a dictionary, didn’t I?
fe·ral (fîr’əl, fĕr’-) adj
2. Having returned to an untamed state from domestication
Nothing about race, eh, kid?
I used the right word for the right reason.
The paper referred to the gross lack of parenting skills instruction and supports for child rearing in homeless situations — not race.
Uh…the post was about race, your comment was about race up until that last sentence. Were you just posting a non-sequiter in the hopes of calling someone racist?
“The kid who has learned from his father that getting good grades, and working hard is good for him and won’t fall victim to such nonsense”
And the kid who has learned from those things from his mother will fall victim to this nonsense?
“It’s especially discouraging to see women (of ALL races) craving the “street” brotha and rejecting any black man that lacks a certain anti-social, arrested devlopment template”
Ok, now you have another problem altogether.
“I remember a time when blacks and whites were striving to get their own people to get along with the other race”.
“Separatism came into play in the 60′s. I think we are close to the day when the Civil Rights Act will be seen as a hastily drawn up “band aid for a belly wound” that did more harm than good”.”
I’m not taking the bait:).
My point is this: this problem is much, much too serious to be used as a grinding stone for outsiders’ personal axes, fears,control issues, and jealousies. This blog is obviously the wrong kind of place to discuss this subject.
fix italics
Sorry ’bout that.
Zython: Even if I accepted the idea that your lack of understanding was my fault (and for another person, I might, but not you), that doesn’t explain why you called me a “racist douchebag”.
If your comment had been, “Are you saying black children are feral?”, this could have been avoided.
The reflex to pounce on “good ‘ol Frank” has created so many misunderstandings that I don’t mention about one – quarter to a third of them.
Acanthus: Your objections are yours — you are certainly entitled to them. But non – blacks are not “outsiders” in this issue. There are plenty of kids out there of all races, and socioeconomic groups, wearing cheap “bling”, and baggy jeans with their “wife beaters” tucked into their boxers.
Comedians tell jokes about white suburban kids going into the Mall, and saying, “I wanted sprinkles with my yogurt, yo!”
Yes, but the sad truth is that it is spreading so that this is not just a problem for the African-American community. I regularly see young white males adopt the same pose.
I just wish there was a way to let those skinny white boys know how stupid they look with their pants down around their knees. I really don’t wanna see your ass, kid. Pull up your drawers.