SXSW: The Panel, a Clarification

"Yo bailan en Puerto Rico. Yo bailan en Nuevo York" - Antibalas Afrobeat Orchestra, Che Che Colo

Lawver.net has the wiki of our panel and I want to expand on something I said.

Jason: It doesn't just apply to hiphop. You can talk about the music, but when you talk about the issues of the culture - it applies to black people. If you're coming from Harvard as a white or asian male, you're not the right voice to be the "official" voice of that issue.

Retrieved from "http://www.lawver.net/wiki/index.php/Blogging_While_Black"

I use the example Aaron used a few years ago. I might love Kabuki theatre or Bollywood films. I might read everything there is to read about those subjects. Hell, I could be a Ph.D. in the subject. As a black American, however, I can't truly understand it in the same way that someone who grows up and lives in the culture that brings forth those art forms understands them.

I could go to Kabuki with a person of the culture or attend a Bollywood film in the same way and we would experience completely different things because of who we are.

I don't want to come across like I want to limit what people can and should talk about. I just want their to be an awareness that, perhaps, when we talk about cultural issues, the most relavent voices are the experts within that culture and that we should seek them out.

Comments

[Hashim]

this is the same issue I bought up when I asked "where are the black hip-hop bloggers?"

I'm cool with non-blacks being in the conversation, but I had a *problem* with those voices presenting themselves as too authoritative or definate.

[j. brotherlove]

Seek them out? But that would entail leaving the comforts of our authoriative circles and listening to strangers.

[j. brotherlove]

Seek them out? But that would entail leaving the comforts of our authoritative circles and listening to strangers.

[METALFACE]

I here what you're saying and I know in this day, that the statement could easily be misconstrued. Wondering if you got any flack over it? I bet you did. The thing is, especially in the case of black art, there are so many people who all the sudden are the authorities.

It's like watching a sportscaster talk about basketball, or any sport for that matter, and they all of the sudden are an authority yet they've never suited up. Why not ask the players what it's all about. Granted, a sportcaster has the job to interpret that news, but they have their own emotional involvement with the sport and the player has another. Which voice is the authority?

When it comes to say hip-hop, many of the people who will become authorities, i.e. journalists, have never got out there. Never fought to get this thing we call hip-hop culture off the ground. They are living vicariously off the culture, yet somehow they are deemed "authorities".

Don't get me wrong, struggles are struggles and yes there are black writers that never were down with it either, but at the very least these writers have a jumping off point because they are always reminded about their status in this country as a black person.

[lynne]

interesting journalist dan gilmor http://dangillmor.typepad.com/ mentioned that as a journalist he found that his readers, a lot of the time, knew more about topics than he did - i think that's what's great about blogs - i make a statement put it out there - and then someone comes from a different perspective or with fresh information etc.

[cindylu]

Like someone else wrote above, the statement can be misconstrued. However, I think those who will understand it most will be those who have sat back as experts talk about aspects of our culture(s) without even consulting those within the culture. Or when the most prominent voices on an issue in the mainstream are somewhat removed from the issue because of culture, ethnicity, nationality, gender, sexuality, etc.

[Jason]

I think the requirement is to be authentic and say, "My perspective of this is from the outside looking in" or just to be genuine in where you're coming from.

I would never presume to tell a woman what is and isn't sexist as it relates to how she feels about imagery and objectification.

I would never presume to tell a buddhist how they should have a relationship with thir faith.

I simply cannot have the cultural currency with which to be wholly accurate or honest. I can input how i view it. How who I am informs my perspective on something that I am not living directly.

The conversations should happen. Should always be happening but disengenuous rightness from someone not living it is played out.

[Kevin]

Jason, thanks for clarifying that... it's been bothering me since the panel, and I've been wrestling with how to express it. Your clarification helps a lot.

[the iz]

not sure why your original statement needed clarifying . . . I found it more than clear. I reject the notion of spoon-feeding common-sense-type arguement to people with Pollyanna sensibilities. If they can't figure out what your trying to say at first blush, then let them sweat it out. Who cares if the "They" amoung "Us" don't"get it and are offended?

I respect the fact that you clarified, but it strikes me as one step away from that Negro Tour Guide-type ish. Others don't clamor to clarify the way you and I seemed compelled to. And never will.

I say like Zora said--- speak now so that you can speak later, and let the truth ring out to those with ears . . .

because you could spend a lifetime "clarifying."

holla if ya hear me

[Jason]

Hey jimi,

I clarified because it read innacurately to me and because I knew during the panel that we wouldn't have time to go into the nuances of the statement.

Lynne and I have these discussions regularly and, in part, my clarification was for her.

Also, if I'm going to present myself on a panel as a relavent voice on a topic, I have an obligation to be as clear as possible in order to connect with as much as my audience as possible.

And if in this they and us conversation neither side is willing to truly
converse with one another, common ground can't and won't be found.