There’s a been a lot of conversation about the recent revelations of Hip Hop and Hip Hop artists being via infiltrated through an agency called USAID with the goal of shaping opinions and sparking unrest to create a climate that would lead to the overthrow of the Cuban government. You can peep one of the many stories about that HERE—http://huff.to/1qMR5T7
In speaking about this case, I noted that far too many have fallen into the trap of seeing themselves and this music/culture as being unique in it being besieged, put under surveillance and being deemed a potential threat to those in power. Too many people saw the police collecting dossiers on Hip Hop as some sort of badge implying it was a reflection of power. Such assertions have been made without the context of history…
First its extremely important to note that this Government has always used culture and popular expression and mediums to undercut, destroy, marginalize, control, redirect a people and yes even help overthrow governments. What was revealed about Cuba is by no means unique. It may be unique for folks hearing about this for the first time..What we are talking about here is something that’s global..Cultural expression is serious biz..
I can say this in 2006, I went to Beirut and attended and participated in global conference on music and censorship. There I met folks who had spent many years in jail from all over the world because of their music and art which challenged those in power. You can read some of what was spoken about at that conference HERE
In order to understand this what folks need to clearly understand is that culture expression here in the US is often limited in how it’s defined. Many simply call it art. And art in the minds of many is luxury that is brought and sold and put on display to admire and debate. Our history and understanding of how we express ourselves has been erased or distorted. So instead seeing many types of cultural expressions (rapping, singing, dance, poetry, playing of music) as important and even primary ways of communication, we fail to see to see that the government sees what we do in that light..
Dr Jared Ball
With respect to Hip Hop as professor Jared Ball has long pointed out, its ‘mass communication’..Those in power have never ceded ground or allowed us to have too much independent control of mass comm outlets.
Second point, Hip Hop being infiltrated and aspects of it being compromised is one the latest cultural expressions in a long line to be compromised. In order to best understand this.. I encourage folks to go on-line and look up this video that came out in the 1970s with a former FBI agent named Darthard Perry talking about how the government studied culture, in particular Black culture as a way to control the people.. You can and should peep that HERE—http://bit.ly/1BKXWjM
For those who find this be a bit of a stretch.. I encourage you to peep the speech Dr Martin Luther King gave August 11 1967 to the National Association of Television and Radio Announcers about the role of culture, in this case music and Black radio deejays.. He plainly states there is no Civil Rights Movement without these deejays and the powerful influence of Soul Music, which like Hip Hop had its own challenges of being deemed unsavory, less than sophisticated and even violent.. (Folks living here in the Oakland, ask your parents or grandparents about James Brown being banned and concerts being shut down because he brought out the ‘wrong crowd’).. Check out King’s speech and the one given by Minister Farrakhan to a similar body of Black music industry folks 13 years later… http://bit.ly/1yNyLXO
Third point, Hip Hop being as popular as it is was undoubtedly going to be seen as something that needed to be derailed, distorted and used a s a tool of oppression vs allowing it to be used as a tool of liberation. Wherever large crowds are gathered, we have got to expect those in power to be sizing it up and trying to figure out how to economically exploit it and politically derail it..
From icons like Bob Marley being followed and undermined by the CIA to the banning of the drums during slavery at Congo Square to Fela Kuti who specifically said his music was a weapon being attacked, to the Black Arts Movement being marginalized where the late Amiri Baraka and others called upon Black folks to use their poems and music as weapons and be in alignment with the Black Power Movements of the time, to French rappers coming under fire and accused of sparking the 2005 riots in Paris with their music to the way the US uses its radio arm Voice of America to undermine governments, we should be clear in knowing that obtaining and maintaining public space will and has always been a challenge. We should be crystal clear that if you can ‘move the crowd’ folks are gonna have their eyes on you…
What’s most interesting about this scenario is that in many so-called progressive enclaves, culture is still seen and treated as an after thought or sidebar to the movement. Perhaps that’s deliberate because those in power in on that side of the political spectrum like their counterparts on the right want to keep many in the back of the bus and not have a seat at the table.
The solution to all this is to 1-fully understand the power of our culture. Martin Luther King talks about that in his speech. In understanding its power, one has to then move in a direction where you are not dependent on entities and individuals who fear or don’t respect our culture for affirmation, funding etc..
2-Recognize many aspects of our culture are indeed powerful forms of communication. If Hip Hop has this much influence that governments use it to move folks from point A to point B, then what role are we playing when we consciously produce it or consume it?
3-Check out an incredible book called Party Music by Prof Rickey Vincent who digs real deep into this topic. He talks about the impact the Black Panthers had on Soul Music and how cultural expression was challenged and seen as a threat by those in power and ultimately used to destroy facets of the Black Power Movement..
4-Read Jared Ball’ s Book..”I Mix What I Like!: A Mixtape Manifesto” where he meticulously details how Hip Hop Music has been colonized. It’s important for folks to understand the many forces at work to harness our expression.
5-Read Jeff Chang‘s book Who We Be the Colorization of America where he talks about the wars, political attacks and commercialization around Art and Culture and the derailment of movements around the concept of Multiculturalism.
6-Look out for an upcoming book due out in February 2015 from Timothy Taylor aka Wise Intelligent of Poor Righteous Teachers that addresses many of these key issues.
Bottom line, we may take what we do culturally speaking for granted. We may think our songs and dances are no big deal.. But others are not. They study it, see it as a threat and know its potential to liberate and empower if left unchecked. #staywoke.
Admittedly, my book title is rendered in colorful, flowing letters, by the Brooklyn artist 
As historian Jeff Chang writes, the early 70s saw the politics of abandonment give way to the politics of containment in communities of color. The War on Graffiti is a prime example, and it midwifed today’s era of epic incarceration, quality of life offenses, zero tolerance policies, prejudicial gang databases, and three-strike laws. The War on Graffiti turned misdemeanors into felonies, community service into jail time. It put German Shepherds to work patrolling the train yards; Mayor Koch once suggested an upgrade to wolves. Today, the city prosecutes hundreds of graffiti cases each year, and maintains a dedicated Citywide Vandals Task Force. Nationally, writers have been sentenced to prison terms as long as eight years, and ordered to pay six-figure restitutions. In other words, the war rages on.
As you can probably tell from the title of my paper, I have a number of topics I hope to tie together. The plan is to pull together many ideas into one big theme (which is): this election matters, but not in the way it is usually framed. I don’t think this election matters politically at all, because politics as this system is now set up tells us nothing really. At best, it reflects the will of the highest bidder, or the frame of corporate media, or the effectiveness of the latest legislative tactics to manage or suppress voting (via voter ID laws or redistricting for example). Those that actually do vote do so with great skepticism, and a large percentage don’t even participate in the process at all. While the outcome of this election will not offer very different results (in terms of governance), it will illuminate two very different trajectories for this country (culturally)…and that matters greatly. That is what I want to focus on in this paper.
Self inflicted wounds may be the most difficult to heal, psychologically at least. Since its inception, the United States has lived with a self inflicted wound that has defined every aspect of this society, most importantly, the distribution and control of all economic and political resources. The racialization of this nation (or the color line as W.E.B. DuBois called it) continues to plague this country (and the globe more broadly) and the election of the first biracial president did nothing to change that reality.
For those that think critically, including sociologists, moving beyond the “what” level to examine “who” is in control is critical to understanding how the status quo power structure remains so entrenched. Much of our sociological analyses focus on the producers of our social woes – the corporate elite (1%), imperialists, corporate media, fascist governments, white supremacists, racists, democrats, republicans, Obama, Romney and so on.
While fewer and fewer control the world’s resources, the world has become more open in other ways, specifically due to technology. Disney was right: It’s a small world after all. 🙂 Technology has forever changed the power to control information. Propaganda is still a viable tool via media framing, but with technology, information comes quickly and much more freely via a number of sources. The status quo power structure will have to take more drastic means to maintain its control; hence more infractions on civil liberties, police state tactics, etc.
Census data shows us that fewer white babies are born today than babies of color. Whether the spike in hate groups and the recent mass shootings linked to white supremacists are manifestations of “white angst” over this reality or not can be debated, but much of the cultural strategy on the right seems to be a direct reaction to the shifting demographics. Nativist movements like the tea party exploit white fear to maintain a system of white supremacy in a country getting browner everyday.
Factor #3: The New Cultural Majority – Demographic make up of the electorate
The right’s cultural strategy involves both short term and long term objectives. The short term strategy consists of taking advantage of the 2010 gains at the local and state levels as well as tapping into white angst via nativist movements like the tea party. From it we have gotten a number of battles:1. Anti-immigration legislation, SB 1070 including even crazy talk about repealing the 14th amendment, 2. Ethnic study bans, revisionist history textbooks etc.2. Anti-gay legislation against same sex marriage etc…or even long lines at Chick Fil A to show support for “family values”3. All sorts of anti-abortion and anti-contraception legislation…probably the most targeted war on women since the women’s movement4. Anti-Muslim hysteria – Mosque protests in NY and TN, look up OC Hate video on YouTube, bans on Sharia law passed here and other nonsense5. Voter ID laws to suppress votes of students (youth vote), people of color (particularly black vote) and elderly (Medicare vote)
Succinctly stated, the left cannot depend on the weakening of the nation-state and shifting demographics alone to foster progressive social change. Demographic shift or not, white supremacy can and will manifest itself for generations to come via resource distribution and control. The LONG TERM war, the end of racialization of resources and the real healing of the wound that continues to plague this country will only be healed through changing attitudes, context, narrative building and cultural work.
While the future is not clear, a few things are: The next generation will be more diverse; social issues will become less relevant with this next generation and hegemonic ideals that shape today’s political landscape will continue to be challenged…in other words, the younger generation is beginning to be a cultural force in politics. Does that mean the end of racialization of all aspects of this society? the end of white supremacy and corporate fascism? Not anytime soon but given the mass rejection of the political system by both sides of the spectrum, there is room for movement politics to take hold and a clear cultural strategy is required to move the movement in a progressive direction.
In countries considered “poor”, i.e. most countries in the world, education is a luxury. In actuality, only about 7% of the global population receives a college education (college degree) and the majority of those people are in what are labeled the “developed” world (read richer nations). Well, while education was never really treated as a right in the United States, the electorate is now being molded to accept education as a luxury that only the most affluent of the society will be able to afford (like the rest of the world). While the push toward privatization has taken on many phases (faces) over the last few years (from charter schools to anti-union measures), the next phase (face) is probably the most deceptive: student success initiatives. Budget pressures and student success task force reports provide the cover for the most dramatic changes to the public education system we will see pass through the state legislators to date. Students who are not already excellent academically or who are not economically able to afford increasing costs will be pushed out…and expeditiously. While public schools are still public, affected constituent groups (students, parents, and educators) must educate themselves on the changing laws and organize vehemently to hold THEIR public institutions accountable to the communities they serve. Education is one of the only paths of upward mobility in class based structures that define our society. The more access to education a society’s members have, the less rigid its class system…the less access to education, the more rigid the class system. The privatization of education in a globalized system is meant to control who has access to education…the elite, and only the elite.
So what does a once educated country do when it stops educating a large majority of its population? Very few countries can boast a “middle class” of the sorts that once defined the United States. But with access to education disappearing, that middle class disappears also. Now what? Plan B. The prison industry has proven to be most lucrative. It should be obvious to all that middle class Americans would never be able to accept competing for slave wages in a global economy, and seeing that steep of a decline in standard of living, a forced alternative was hatched. Legal slave wages under the guise of the prison industry complex. Call it indoctrination into the global economy. Private entities can own prisons and corporations can utilize prison labor – from manufacturing products to telemarketing. Cheap labor once outsourced finds its way back to US shores. Those we are now locking out of education, can now be locked up into private prisons as bodies to fill new buildings and cheap laborers to make products.
