From Community to Collective Complacency
by Shaunelle Curry
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My elder teachers once taught me that community was
the crux of Black life in traditional African societies. Responsibility belonged
to everyone. When we were responsible
for one another's well-being, we were all taken care of. Period.
I
recently received an email from Paul Porter, co-founder of the media industry
think-tank Industry Ears. The subject
line said simply, "responsibility." In
the email was a link to a video that had been posted on the radio blog "Radio
Facts: Urban Entertainment Education."
The video shows youth in, what looks like, a school auditorium watching
a young hip hop group perform a rap song.
Teenagers were on the stage dancing and gyrating and somebody's little
man (a small child being egged on by teenage boys onstage) was getting his
dance groove on with a fierceness. It
was a hip-hop groove in full force.
I watched
in stunned silence. In rhythmic
repetition these children chanted their desire to perform oral sex in the most
explicit and graphic terms imaginable. As a lead vocalist stood on one of the
chairs in the audience, he explained that he would need a napkin on his chin
because, well...think, "Colonic" without the irrigation. As I sat there, listening to this child rap
about what he would do if given the chance, I thought, "Ummm...excuse me?! You
most certainly will not!"
Now,
I may be particularly sensitive to the degradation of Black girls and boys so
prominent in what we continue to call "entertainment." I am a community advocate for women and
youth. I help create and develop media
literacy initiatives that empower youth to take their image, their lives, and
their Genius back from the oft destructive forces of exploitative media. But, what angered me as I watched this video
is the fact that--even with the drastically high rates of HIV and sexually transmitted infections among
our Black youth, and even with the chronic levels of dating violence--we are so
hard pressed to find individuals who accept responsibility for challenging the
mental/emotional pollutants that plague our community.
Community. We have gone from collective responsibility
to collective complacency. In the Black
America of today, responsibility is now akin to placing blame and pointing
fingers. We chant, "It 'aint my fault."
We chant, "Look at THOSE ghetto children; SOMEBODY ought to do
SOMETHING." We chant, "Where are their
mamas?" We chant, "Look at those rappers, look at those producers, look at that
industry, look at this society."
But,
not often enough do we chant, "What can I do?" And in the meantime, the mental,
emotional and physical well being of our young girls and boys continues to
disintegrate--rapidly.
Please
understand that when I speak of responsibility, I am taking "blame" out of the
picture. I am doing that because too
often we place blame as an excuse to not do anything about the travesties that
we see. The definition of responsibility
that I am using here is our "ability to respond." Do we have the ability and the capacity to do
something to bring about improvement as a community? I think, yes.
Below
are some of the collective complacencies--excuses--we lean on to avoid
responsibility for dealing with exploitative media and its impact on our youth.
My suggestions for how we are able to respond
follow:
Collective
Complacency 1: It's too big of an issue; I don't have the resources to deal
with this.
Able
Response 1: Put your money where your heart
is. Seek out and purchase music that
supports a healthy, positive, and accurate view of Black and Urban life. When you're out dancing and a song with
misogynistic, degrading lyrics starts to spin, get off the dance floor and make
your feelings known about the song selection.
Change the station when offensive material comes on.
Collective
Complacency 2: This is really not my problem.
This is just the way of our society.
Able
Response 2: This issue belongs to all of
us. Studies show that sexually degrading music influences the early sexual
behavior of youth. It impacts their
socialization, their mental health and eventually, their physical health. Know
what's on your child's iPod playlist. Speak
with your children-or someone else's children-about the meaning of the song lyrics
they listen to. How would they feel
about inserting their mother's name into the lyrics of the song? Stop making
excuses when sexism comes wrapped all pretty in a song with a funky beat sung
by people of your own hue.
Collective
Complacency 3: I don't believe in
censorship. Why are we trying to limit
the artistic expression of these artists?
Able
Response 3: "I eat da pussy and da asshole too" is not the height of artistic
expression. Authentic expression comes
from a place of creativity, a deep center inside of each of us that is sparked
by inspiration. We actually want to
un-censor those artists that are putting out quality content that do not get
the recognition, financial backing and airtime necessary to succeed. Start a call-in campaign to your local radio
stations suggesting local artists whose music you want them to play.
This
list is just a beginning. It is a
beginning to Paul Porter's simple but potent call: Responsibility. It is a beginning to shake up our collective
complacency and return to what our elders have taught is the root of our
origins: Community.
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