Panel Discussion- Craig Smith
Question: How do you feel about the large trend of young white people attempting to adopt the hip hop "lifestyle" when it was born largely out of oppression, poverty, exposure to violence, etc., which many of the young white fans have never experienced?
Answer from Prof. Pate (extremely paraphrased): Any time one culture is actively exposing themselves to another culture, it is a good thing.
Professor Pate and Melisa had a lot of very interesting things to say during the panel discussion Wednesday. As a fan of hip hop, and most all other genres of music, I was excited to hear what they had to say. As a white person growing up in the racially homogenized suburbs of Milwaukee, I never experienced many of the things hip hop poets (to use Prof. Pate's term) spoke of. As I got older, branched out from white suburbia, and started to become "enlightened" to the social inequalities faced by Black individuals and other non-White people, I began to wonder if I had any business or "right" listening to hip hop. Listening to Mos Def's song, Mr. N****, is a prime example of this feeling I had. Mos raps about various experiences he has had with White people stereotyping him because he is Black. "Late night I'm on a first class flight, the only brother in sight, the flight attendant catch fright. I sit down in my seat 2C, she approach officially talkin' 'bout 'Excuse me'. Her lips curl up into a tight space, She don't believe that I'm in the right place. Showed her my boarding pass, and then she sort of gasped, all embarrassed put an extra lime on my water glass. An hour later here she comes by walking past, 'I hate to be a pest but my son would love your autograph', Wowwwww" (Mos Def). So, I'd listen to that song and in the back of my mind I'd wonder: "What if Mos Def was sitting next to me right now as I listen to his song about his experiences of white people oppressing him?" It definitely crossed my mind that he might say: "What the fuck are you listening to this for?", or something to that effect. Instead, reinforced by what Professor Pate had to say, I feel that Mos might be glad I was hearing his words. Even though I can't identify with the experiences Mos tells his listeners, I am learning through his song how racism is still a big problem worldwide. Although it isn't the same "brand" of racism it was 20, 50 or 150 years ago, it is still around. The flight attendant thought he couldn't possibly be sitting in first class because of her own prejudices. Once she realizes it is his seat, she gives him an extra lime to make it all better, then has the nerve to ask for his autograph, apparently not even realizing the gravity of her racist attitude towards him. It was an eye opening experience to listen to what the panelists had to say on Wednesday. I'll definitely continue to be a fan of hip hop, and hopefully the words from the artists I listen to will continue to enlighten me to the problems African Americans and others face in the world.