I had to put this in humor, because if I don't I will cry myself to sleep tonight. My friend Alice, a new resident of Williamsburg, Brooklyn just told me about these "Kill Whitey" parties that have been going down in Brooklyn. This is infuriating...
"Kill whitey!" yells Tha Pumpsta into the microphone as he bounces to the beat. "What . . . gonna . . . do dance . . ." he raps to the beat. "Kill whitey!"The kid by the bar busts out with a break-dancing move. Women drop their booties and the guys slide in close. Tha Pumpsta struts around in an all-white outfit from his headband to his high tops, shouting it again: " Kill whitey!"
Guess what, everyone at the party is white. It gets even better...
His proclaimed goal, in between spinning booty-bass, Miami-style frenetically danceable hip-hop records that are low on lyrical depth and high on raunchiness, is to "kill the whiteness inside."What that means, precisely, is debatable, but it has something to do with young white hipsters believing they can shed white privilege by parodying the black hip-hop life. In this way, they hope to escape their uptight conditioning and get in touch with the looser soul within them.
Because the opposite of whiteness is black hip hop. Because shaking your ass to culturally appropriated music makes you understand how your life and priviledge are directly connected to the oppression of people of color in your own little gentrified hood.
It gets even better, I didn't think it could.
"I'm throwing this party, and it's obvious that I'm white and I'm kind of appropriating this culture but in an ironic way," said Tha Pumpsta, whose name is Jeremy Parker. The 25-year-old takes his Pumpsta moniker from his high-top sneakers. "Kinda poking fun at myself and my origins and white people in general," he said."I'm trying to kill the whiteness inside," Parker added, although his blue eyes, milk-white skin and blond hair might suggest he has some work ahead of him.
A melanin-lacking hip-hop party might be a fact of demographics in a few corners of the United States. But in New York, where hip-hop was born in black and Latino neighborhoods, the all-white parody of black culture can strike a jarring note.
Yes because I totally see what is ironic about un-aware white hipsters colonizing (their perception of) black culture, distributing it and distorting it to make themselves feel better about their own priviledge. I think there are more effective ways to doing this. The only thing ironic about this is how kids with so much priviledge could end up so stupid.
On a last note, the article interviews a woman who attends these parties and she tried to go to a "real" (whatever the fuck that means) hip-hop party and found the men to be too hardcore. Hmmm. I don't even know where to start, fear of the black man much?
Somehow "Kill Whitey" has become a safe space for white people to act out black racist stereotypes, while sexualizing women, appropriating culture that they don't understand and feel like they are doing something POSITIVE through this process.
You have got to be fucking kidding me. When did hipster culture become totally void of the political?
My friend Dave and I were just talking about this and he suggested what would the opposite of this look like. What if a bunch of people of color got together and said let's kill the color inside? What would that look like?
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My god. What the hell is wrong with these people. What does that even *mean*? "White" must mean racist, so they should kill their "whiteness", and none of the un-enlightent whities can ever be not-racist? AAAAAAAAHHHH *head asplode*
And seriously: "What . . . gonna . . . do dance . . ." he raps to the beat? Even Eminem can turn a rhyme.
Faux-ironic racism and sexism is really big in hipster culture these days. I stopped hanging out at one indie rock board because they couldn't stop calling each other "ni***r" and talking about how stupid they think women are. Ironically, of course.
I think this is great. No, really. Rich white kids who have had everything handed to them are shedding their priviledge in exchange for the sort of oppression they've unknowingly been doling out most of their lives. I imagine they're also leaving law school and high-paying consulting jobs in favor of minimum wage line-cook positions, giving up their large lofts for rent-controlled dumps, and passing up $30 a plate restaurants in favor of laying out their last $3.50 on a couple of double-cheeseburgers and two apple pies at McD's. I mean, what could be more compassionate? *Sigh*
I hate hipsters. I wish someone would kill those whiteys.
What if a bunch of people of color got together and said let's kill the color inside? What would that look like?
Pat Boone
ugh... i live a short bike-ride from where this bullshit goes down... such dumb shit... and this "pumpsta" character (named after reebok pumps) is getting mad press, probably gonna make some good money off of his fucking minstrel show. makes me sick...
anyways, i think pretty sami's pretty much on hit the nail on the head with this one... except i can't believe you can't understand how these white kids might not be super-smart...
c'mon, now, just 'cos someone's priviledged don't make 'em smart. in fact, in insulates people from some really basic knowledge - remember my whole thing about how my whiteness makes me oblivious to a whole lot of stuff? yeah, well it does, i'm mad dumb in plenty of ways... just a little insight from one ignorant cracka-ass-cracka.
one aside, too, i know sharda sekaran (quoted in the article)... haven't kicked it with her since i moved back to nyc, but she's mad cool and y'all should check out this nonprofit, National Economic and Social Rights Initiative, she just happens to be the associate director of... i'm sure they could use some helping hands if anyone wants to use their privelege (whatever form it takes) rather than pretending it doesn't exist like these bozos.
"What if a bunch of people of color got together and said let's kill the color inside? What would that look like?"
Perhaps I shouldn't say this, because I actually think he's really talented and funny, but...I just know there's a Wayne Brady joke in here somewhere.
Any fans of Arrested Development here? I am reminded of the puppet song...
It's not easy being white...
Sorry, I don't get the outrage. In my home town white people get together and threaten to kill black people, and vice versa. If each group were to get together to issue non-serious threats to kill themselves for being the colour that they are then that would be slightly surreal but a definite improvement. Exactly what harm is a person doing by threatening himself with racial violence? (I'm not tempted to go the parties, but that's just a personal choice.)
stephen,
kudos for speaking your mind...
so, well, i'm gonna try to make this succinct.
if, in fact, it were a group of people getting together to "threaten [themselves] with racial violence," well, that would have some problems no doubt (like that self-hate is not a really constructive way to deal with injustice and hatred), but it wouldn't be as bad as this...
what this is is not so much white people getting together and inciting racial violence against one another (i've never heard of any kind of fight breaking out at these things) as it is a bunch of white people getting together and pretending to be pop culture stereotypes of black people. that reinforces said stereotypes without any sort of reality check...
i mean, read the article and check out the vocabulary used to describe what these white people think of black people ("nasty", "sexual", "freaky", "hardcore", they eat a "bucket of fried chicken")... those stereotypes are further programmed into these ignorant white people (who happen to be scared of black people) who are actually scared of real black people (see page two of the article).
on top of it all, these parties are by white people and for white people... in essence, they promote segregation and misunderstanding...
perhaps this is not so dire as the out-and-out war in your home town, but it is certainly not good for race relations.
does that make more sense?
sorry i said that scared thing twice... oops...
OK, two crimes:
1. white people getting together and pretending to be pop culture stereotypes of black people.
I don't imagine that hip-hop or any other aspects of black culture are in the least threatened by this parody. Stupid kids. So what? I know clubs where men all get together and pretend to be pop culture stereotypes of women. They're gay clubs with drag acts. Dumb. Or fun, if you're Judith Butler. But so what?
2. The language you mentioned. E.g.
"It's about being nasty, people come to grind on each other," said Casady, 23. "It's like friends being sexual with each other."
Casady said that "it's a safe environment to be freaky."
They eat a bucket of "fried chicken."
That's how rich twenty somethings talk these days? Why should I be shocked?
okay...
let me connect number 1 and number 2 a little more clearly for you... i thought it was obvious, but you must be white like me, so i gotta make it super-fucking-clear...
it's not about "how rich twenty somethings talk these days," it's about:
what rich white twenty somethings think about black people these days.
the problem is that this event reaffirms racial stereotypes of black people... particularly, it encourages rich white people to believe that black people are raunchy, hypersexual, hardcore, nasty, etc. and then it makes those same rich white kids think that they are "enlightened" and over the whole "race" thing because they can laugh at it all... even though they're afraid of actually meeting real live black people.
okay... you want to know how that's harmful for people of color in general and black people in particular?
have you ever heard of "minstrel shows"? how about "black face"? have you ever heard the name "jim crow"? how about you read a little bit of criticism of these aspects of white supremacist culture? there's treatises dating back at least a century discussing the negative effects of such cultural practices on race relations.
here's a starter - a book called The Souls of Black Folk by a guy named W.E.B. DuBois. read it.
as far as not feeling that "any... aspects of black culture are in the least threatened." well, i can't speak for black culture, but every single black person (or person of color) i've spoken with about this has been really pissed off and threatened. maybe they don't represent whatever this amorphous "black culture" is.
good morning
in case you didn't get it, that means "one crime", not two... the language is an illustration... maybe you didn't get that, but like i've tried to explain before, white people are pretty fucking thick about racial issues, so don't worry, you're normal.
Yes, I get it now, puckalish. Maybe there's a cultural gap (UK/US) because freaky, grind and fried chicken have no stereotypical racial overtones for me at all. The thought about the minstrels occurred to me too - that had the added evil of doing black performers out of jobs, making black people objects of entertainment without the right to profit from being entertainers. In UK, Ali G is a Jewish comedian who does a version of a white youth pretending to be a hip-hop gangsta rap character - it's not an issue here from race relations point of view that I have ever heard, but I wonder if he would be an outrage in US, or if he's pitched it in a way that mocks the hip-hop and mocks the way white youths mimic the hip-hop style and yet doesn't mock black people. He's a clever guy but it's a fine line to tread.
Btw, what do you think about the drag act comparison? I know people who are offended - promoting stereotypes; people who like it - camp fun; and people who don't care. also, thanks for the book rec., I'll look it up.
i'm about to leave for the weekend, but i just want to say thanks, stephen, for handling my tone so well... i get kinda short about some things and you're really earnest... that's dope...
as far as the drag thing, i really don't know enough about drag, really...
however, it strikes me as being kind of on the line... i mean, most queens i know have a lot of women friends... however, they also tend to promote negative stereotypes of women and act those out as men (the bitch, super-emotional, all about shopping & glamor, etc.)... i also know that there is a degree to which some segments of the gay male community (not to say that all queens are gay or anything, but there is a lot of crossover) is really ignorant of women's issues...
yeah, well, yeah... that book is off the hook... "black reconstruction" is another really amazing one by dubois, but, to tell you the truth, i haven't read anything by him that hasn't blown my mind.
peace and blessings
#1: In my tenure on a Canada-wide indie rock message board, I foud that there are a respectable minority of politically conscious indie rockers, a bunch of sympathetic but mostly neutral inde-rockers, and a small but frustrating minority that thinks that they're somehow allowed to be offensive cause they can muster a half-coherent criticism of political correctness. I can't fucking stand Vice magazine for that exact reason.
Now, I'm all for killing whitey, but the way to ill the whiteness inside is not, as has been covered, parodizing the less politically conscious elements of hip-hop culture in all (or mostly) white crowds. It's far more useful to put yourself in situations where you're the minoity and learn from them.
Unless they mean "whiteness" not in the sense of white priviledge, but total squareness. IE: "you dance like such a white man". I suspect that's more what this is about......
Hmmm, I forgot to follow up that #1 with a #2....
Here goes.
#2: It should be noted that I'm extrememly white and love old-school hip-hop. It's not that I don't get the attraction or fun of parties like this. It's just so frustratingly obvious that these kids (although all the people inteviewed were over 20, so we can't blame this on youth) don't fucking get the power/class/whatever issues wrapped up in this. The _worst_ is the fried chicken thing. Hell, though should give free grape soda and give "food stamps" out at the door as drink tickets. And you're _totally_ allowed to drop the n-bomb all you like.
BTW, whenever I've called white people on droping the n-bomb, the response is usually some variation on "whateva, it's 2005..." Absolved!
The whole point of the Ali G character is that you're *supposed* to look at him and realise that he's a white suburban boy trying to act Black and failing miserably. Or at least it was, till his creator got so far up himself that he pretty much became what he was originally poking fun at.
One of the running jokes on the original series was that when Ali came face-to-face with real Black people, he was totally lost.