“HE’S SO DUMB INNIT. I DON’T MEAN TO SOUND RACIST YEAH, BUT HE IS AFRIKAN”
These are the words of English Frank to a room full of Afrikans at a Hip-Hop showcase in London. I don’t have to run down the sequence of events. Most of you by now have seen the video – If you are yet to see it click ((HERE)).
As I speak a big conversation is raging on twitter. It should be noted that Akala has stated publicly that English Frank was pulled up and made to apologise to the audience on the night. Akala is a Brother whose integrity I feel I can trust in this regard. Having said that in my humble opinion an apology neither wipes the slate clean, nor does it mean that there’s not a conversation to be had.
I thought long about writing this piece. I thought long about it because I have no idea how this will be taken or received. It was suggested to me that I write and I knew that to remain silent would be to fight my nature. I have simply chosen NOT to remain silent.
“Black People, Afrikan People – exist in a state of accommodation. What this simply means is that we’ve gotten accustomed to getting our butts kicked for so long that we think that its normal to live in pain and in some strange way, we’ve even started to like it.”
–Sister Souljah (click here)
As Afrikan people, we have become used to baring insult. So much so that we have made overlooking BLATANT disrespect some kind of enlightened state of being. It has become not only normal, but virtuous for us to let things slide and brush them under the carpet in an attempt to be the supposed “bigger person”. All so we that we can come together and dance in the name of Hip-Hop, or Reggae, or Jazz, or damn near any cultural art form created from the very blood sweat & tears of Afrikan people.
So something like this happens and in the face of this blatant disrespect we are debating things like “ does making a racist comment make English Frank a racist”. Some are out right defending him. Some are exercising high levels of diplomacy while others are remaining very silent and trying their best to promote his up coming event. A straight up challenge or strong stance on an individual in these circumstances would seemingly threaten to destroy the “urban” façade that has become Black music, which is suppose to be a multi-cultural melting pot void of any racial identity. This “multi-culturalism” sees Europeans not only as the controllers of the business of Black music, but more & more the front men/women of the art itself.
In this environment, the “white boy who can Rap” has literally become a REVERED figure and as such UK Hip-Hop has been has been rife with this dynamic for as long as I can remember. Forgive me, but I simply do not share the same reverence for European MCs and as such have never been fooled into thinking “white boys rapping” is remedy for curing racism.
Racism can not be reduced to an off beat comment in a pub or on a football pitch. The deeper levels of racism lie in the conditions that govern our lives. It is about the power dynamics that exists between different races, and how we interrelate based on those dynamics. Racism is a sub-conscious mental state long before it is ‘a comment’ and it would be a mistake to deal with the comment and not address the conditions or the state of mind. Racism is not just about how “the powers that be” relate to “ethnic minorities”. It operates at ALL levels of society from Parliament to on road and certainly brought itself to bare in that club on the night in question.
In truth, the REAL racism was not just in English Frank’s comment alone. The real racism lies in the fact that ANY white man felt comfortable enough to say something like that in a room full of Afrikan people. This should be seen as a problem. The fact is the English Frank obviously felt he had THE POWER to say what he said in that context and come out with his body & reputation in tact. It is this same subconscious mentality that resulted in the derogatory portrayals in Professor Green’s “Jungle” video. It is the this same sub-conscious mentality that led to Bashy’s ‘Black Boys’ being branded racist. THE POWER is given because too few of us even recognise it, let alone choose to challenge it.
Big Cakes (who took the mic from Frank) is a Brother who I have met on occasion and have much respect for, but I am not buying the “he was drunk” excuse. Quite frankly (no pun intended) I am not interested in how drunk he was. I have been around drunk Afrikan people enough to know that cussing white people is not common cultural feature associated with our being intoxicated. So what is it about white English men that makes drunkenness result in racial abuse?
To preface the comment with, “I don’t mean to sound racist but…” CLEARLY indicates that he was of sound mind and knew exactly what he was saying. The wry smile with which he said it suggests that he somehow expected support from his fellow artists and the crowd at large. Please pay attention to English Frank stating that he “hired” the security as an excuse. He felt he had the POWER of ownership over the Afrikan and therefore could ridicule and insult as he saw fit. Thankfully the crowd nicely told him where to go. But once again the attempt to mitigate with the new popular sound bite “we are all Afrikan”, is to give such people POWER that have not right to. Suddenly everyone’s Afrikan and everything bless – Nah BUN DAT!
I am not here to tell anyone how they should have dealt with it on the night. But as I observe the backlash I see that there are some who are visibly angry and annoyed at those who have openly called English Frank racist – Why? Why are you annoyed with those who do not feel compelled to let this just slide? Some of you are not even Afrikan! But for those who are – Why should “keeping it professional” be our primary concern? Why should professional integrity come before racial integrity? Why can’t our primary concern be defending the integrity of Afrikan people?
For me this is about more than English Frank and what he said. In my humble opinion it is not the responsibility of ANY Afrikan to excuse the racism of white people. To do so is exactly what encourages this kind of disrespect. It is Black defense of white racism that breeds incidents like these.
But more importantly, we need to ask – have we as Afrikan people made it our business to assert Afrikan dignity & self-determination? Or have we sacrificed it at the altar of urban multiculturalism? How is it that Afrikan cultural art forms are the ONLY cultural art forms on the planet that can be so thoroughly dominated by other people?
We are the people who invite others into our culture and allow them to take over. We tell stories of the progression of our art forms based upon how much they gained commercial success by reaching markets of white people. We write songs and encourage Europeans to scream “nigger” at the top of their voice. We put on Comedy shows and called “Afrikans vs Caribbeans” and make Europeans the moderator and see nothing wrong with this.
There are people in this world for whom an insult to their racial dignity could very well END YOUR CAREER. But then they own and control the industry that governs their art. Furthermore, they also control THE IDEAS that govern their industry. No Afrikan can diss a Jew and have a successful career in damn near any profession especially Hollywood. No Afrikan could stake claim to Bangra & Bollywood in the way that we have allowed others to stake claim to Hip-Hip, Reggae, Blues etc…. Nor would any Afrikan feel they had the right to. It would seem that no other people are in the position where by someone can use their own culture, to so thoroughly insult them. So is it a surprise that an incident like this happens on our door step?
I have no doubt that many of you will not agree with me. That’s fine, we can have the discussion. Many will even attempt to suggest that I and what I have said is in it self racist. We can have that discussion to. There so much more to say on this that i have not said here. Either way, when I see Afrikan people and our culture being abused I will defend it without fear or favour and I do not apologise for this in the slightest.
I submit to you that no Afrikan owes English Frank any allegiance in the face of such insult. I humbly suggest that we use this as example of the fact that as a people we have not empowered ourselves in the way that we should. I humbly suggest that as artists business people, activist and cultural warriors – we make it our business to take back the power of the culture that our ancestors bled for and stop allowing it to be squandered for an illusion of inclusion. In so doing we reduce the possibility of such disrespect occurring and/or have the means to deal with it or render it irrelevant when it does.
Thank you for reading. Peace & Blackness….
Tafadzwa ShakaRa Mbandaka
I agree with the article
My only question now is, so what are we to do now with English Frank now we’ve established he is racist (or what he said was racist [P.C])? Seen as he has made an apology albeit a month or two late, as the vid has been on the web for a minute, what more to do we as afrikans then do, or require English Frank to do?
Sidenote: a little video I watched a while back on how to approach a ‘what he/she said was racist’ conversation
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b0Ti-gkJiXc&list=UUjj9EnVJUY7pTkP5MX8F9gQ&index=83
I agree with the article
My only question now is, so what are we to do now with English Frank now we’ve established he is racist (or what he said was racist [P.C])? Seen as he has made an apology albeit a month or two late, as the vid has been on the web for a minute, what more to do we as afrikans then do, or require English Frank to do?
Sidenote: a little video I watched a while back on how to approach a ‘what he/she said was racist’ conversation
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b0Ti-gkJiXc&list=UUjj9EnVJUY7pTkP5MX8F9gQ&index=83
Wrong video, Sorry!
I agree with the article
My only question now is, so what are we to do now with English Frank now we’ve established he is racist (or what he said was racist [P.C])? Seen as he has made an apology albeit a month or two late, as the vid has been on the web for a minute, what more to do we as afrikans then do, or require English Frank to do?
Sidenote: a little video I watched a while back on how to approach a ‘what he/she said was racist’ conversation
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b0Ti-gkJiXc&list=UUjj9EnVJUY7pTkP5MX8F9gQ&index=83
One last try …sorry for the spam
I agree with the article
My only question now is, so what are we to do now with English Frank now we’ve established he is racist (or what he said was racist [P.C])? Seen as he has made an apology albeit a month or two late, as the vid has been on the web for a minute, what more to do we as afrikans then do, or require English Frank to do?
Sidenote: a little video I watched a while back on how to approach a ‘what he/she said was racist’ conversation
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b0Ti-gkJiXc
There is no discussion. This is a racist comment from Frank. Surely he can’t claim ignorance or inebriation in any way excuse or justify him. He is white rapper and so to be ignorant of the offensive nature of these comments is just not feasible. I teach people to be aware of African heritage, but to use the ‘We are all African’ line would only make his comment nonsensical and almost more insulting to the intelligence of his audience than his original comment, as if we are all African, what is the logic of his statement. Alcohol only limits the ability to self censor, it doesn’t place in to your head thoughts that are alien to you. He may usually be too economically and socially adroit to make such comments, but the thoughts are obviously there at least at subconscious level.
“He is white rapper and so to be ignorant of the offensive nature of these comments is just not feasible. ”
It is feasible if said white rapper has only a double digit IQ to work with. It’s great that his stupidity has opened up a wider debate across the web, debate is always good, but English Frank is just not the sharpest knife in the drawer.
It would take a wilful suspension of disbelief for me to genuinely believe that a guy who’s chosen to immerse himself in hip hop culture is a racist. I doubt his ignorant slurring on Africans wasn’t racially motivated, it was cultural. Still pig ignorant, but there is a difference.
But what if the bouncer had been a black American as opposed to African? I reckon it would have been a very different story. I’ve witnessed first hand in a shop in Brixton, a black American guy being verbally shredded on anti-American grounds by an Iraqi shop owner, with a few black English guys pissing themselves laughing. I actually, to my shame, had to hold back laughter too, as the Iraqi guy was very funny. But it was still bigotry aimed at a guy because of where he was from and not who he was, that said, race had nothing to do with it.
Apologies, typo there:
” I doubt his ignorant slurring on Africans was racially motivated”
That’s how it should have read…
What is a racist? To me it is simply a person who actions are racist. Africa is not one place but a continent, so this is not about where he is from specifically but more generally. Prejudice based on generalised stereotyping of ethnogeography pretty much sums racism to me. When he is sober, I am guessing he is closer to Mensa entry requirements and so less likely to say something so obviously offensive, but underlying that is the idea that mocking people in this way is funny. Alcohol only lowers the inhibitions, it doesn’t create the jokes.
Hi ShakaRa
I initially rolled my eyes when I saw the length of your retort to the English Frank issue. But as I have no aversion to reading decided to do so and was pleasantly surprised that I agree with you. When I saw the video my first thoughts were ‘would he have used the word Jew if the bouncer was Jewish?’
Much like you I doubt he would have because of the ramifications of doing so. In all honesty, what do you/we expect when we glorify any white person who can mimic something/someone black? Do you think a black can make it singing opera? Doing ballet? etc. Of course not, as Europeans do not accept us unless we are overly aggressive or effeminate. What we have to do some how / some way is to stop backing these white people who use ‘blackness’ and ‘black culture’ in order to get credit/ certified. We have to say no and turn our backs on white folks whose use and profit from black culture in ways that we as black people find difficult to do ourselves.
E100
ST Harris
“Do you think a black can make it singing opera? ”
I’m just going to presume you, like me, are not an opera buff, so you, similar to me until a few minutes ago, were unaware of black artists making it singing opera. Same goes for ballet. There are black people making it, people like you and me just don’t know about it, I’d posit because neither of us cares much about either art-form.
Which brings me to a major reason why black people don’t adopt arts of European origin; the most common one in my own experience, at the present time, is simply because they don’t like them and aren’t interested in pursuing them.
There is another far more insidious major reason however, which iis the fear of being accused of ‘acting white’, of selling out on cultural heritage and ultimately the decision to pursue a European art-form that interests them being perceived as some kind of abandonment of their roots tantamount to bleaching the skin.
Do you really think that all these white kids rapping are being cheered from the sidelines by white society in general? No, they are labelled as ‘wiggers’ by the majority of people with the same skin colour as them as they attempt to shame them for ‘acting black’, accuse them of selling out on their cultural heritage, and, well you get the picture…
At the end of the day, those profiting from the exploitation of ‘black culture’ are the same people profiting from the monopolization of any culture’s economic potential, greedy scumbags. They come in all colours, shapes and sizes and will sell ‘their own’ down the river in a heartbeat to any takers, regardless of race, if the price is right. It just so happens that white folk have dominated the scumbag game globally for quite some time. But last time i checked there were a few Africans who have no problem profiting off the bloody and broken backs of the poor too.
It’s not a black/white/asian/whatever thing, that’s just a distraction to keep us divided and too busy arguing about petty BS to pay attention to the fact that the majority of the worlds wealth is owned by a tiny percentage at the top, who don’t care what colour you are if you can help them make more money, just look at Obama.
Ive arrived very late to this debate. Not even sure how I got here but I saw the clip of Frank and I’ve read various responses. I completely agree with the author of the article and your comments. White People like Frank, want all the recognition,popularity, money fame etc that come with acting black, talking, singing, dancing dressing and stealing our black culture but many of them can’t even comprehend the hardship and suffering we and our ancestors have had to endure. Black is cool as long you’re not actually black! I dont forgive or forget! Black people need to stop promoting these fools and giving them the authority to disrespect us time and time again. His comments prove to me that most white people (particularly in his position where he has been given the undeserved title of honorary black man) are inherently racist and feel they are superior to Black people. That worldview isn’t changing anytime soon. All we can do as Black people is change the way we respond to these ignorant fools, so they know we won’t tolerate their BS! We all need to be united on this that’s the only way forward.
BRILLIANT!
When did this event take place?
Why did it only come to light in the past 24 hours?
absolutely quality article. needs to be disseminated more widely!
As much as we love Akala, he should not give English Frank a pass. Although he said he made his feelings clear on the night, publicly he’s being vague on his position. Akala was unhappy that Nas gave Gweneth Paltrow a pass about her n word controversy (and rightly so). He should not be promoting Ennglish Frank’s mixtape. Still love Akala though.
Beautifully put. I agree with every single word. Signpost people to this piece everywhere you go.
Really well written response to what has happened and important points raised. I just don’t believe that a person, however drunk or high they are, could say these things and make these implications unless they harbored deep-rooted racist beliefs. Even if his best friends are Black people who hold these views about Africans and express them in jest and that’s where he’s picked it up or wether it’s purely deeply ingrained white supremacist views leaking out, there’s no excuse… it’s really sad to see how things have gone down but the discussion is important and I hope it will lead to people examining their own personal views; conscious and subconscious. If people are angry about others being offended, this is probably a symptom of us also being victims to the system and feeling uncomfortable about the status quo being challenged, it can be easier to laugh things off or pretend they haven’t happened rather than really dealing with the issue, it’s also easier to protest against a government or institutionally racist police force or illegal war than it is to challenge our peers in our own communities. Plus it’s quite a British trait to ‘not make a fuss’. Much respect for the article, I appreciate it’s a sensitive subject, especially when you know some of the people involved.
well said
I do not know this Frank person. But if he is a rapper who feels he is amongst ‘his own’ people might he not make a racist joke (a bad one) out of irony? And if he is drunk, might he not misread the crowd’s mood? The smile afterwards suggests it was tongue-in-cheek. But leave it to the fanatics to leap to the very worst conclusion at the slightest provocation.
You do know “this Frank person” is a white male, right?
you no africa is a continent not a race right?
Personally I would call it banter, not very good banter in this occasion. I’m a white guy who has very few white friends. Mainly because of where I was brought up but the banter we used to dish out regarding race etc was the norm. Black people especially those with Caribbean parents love to dish out abuse about Africans. As a white lad, I was often ridiculed for many things… Dancing, small in a specific area lol and not to mention their thoughts on white girls. People need to just learn to laugh at themselves. To the writer of the article… Peace out, one love, white power!
Don’t start crying now…
It’s only a joke… Although I’m sure you’ll be crying into your cereal tomorrow morning.
You are actually exactly the type of white person that is most difficult to interact with, because you think that your ‘mild racism’ or ”banter’ as you like to put it, isn’t harmful. You are also under some strange illusion that Caribbean families making offensive comments about Africans is the same as a white person having ‘banter’ or whatever you want to call it, with a black person. This is because you might not have read anything on the socio-economic structure of white supremacy and how it plays out on a day to day basis. I’m assuming that you probably have some ignorant, but no doubt well meaning black friends who support you in your ‘banter’ and say that it’s just a bit of fun. *sigh*. This kind of thinking is just as damaging as people who are proudly racist.
English Frank was a rapper who had an amount of respect from me up until this point. His preemptive request to not be viewed as racist instantly shows he was aware, as you have argued. His pathetic attempt to apologise and cover it up is even worse. Trying to claim, “we are all Afrikan” is pointless after the requesting not to be seen as racist. Not only that but it discredits the belief and I hope I never hear it used in this way again.
I feel you are highly critical of white people being rappers, or emcees. You must look at the History of Britain, the Bards who traveled North Western Europe carrying the news through spoken word, verse and song. White people have been rapping for hundreds of years, and indeed the UK has seen some very revolutionary and humorous white emcees in recent years.
Furthermore to suggest that Afrikans have allowed any other race to stake claim to Hip Hop, Reggae, or Blues is preposterous. They are still and always will be seen as black music. Just because other races have contributed or borrowed doesn’t mean for one second they have staked claim. Reggae is the least convincing example of this. The English language is widely used by so many due to its diversity of words, with nearly 200,000 or so, built up by generations of great writers and poets of different faiths and politics and the local words of rural hamlets. It’s the language you yourself chose for spoken word, which produces impressive results. To then suggest that white people should not use the rhythm’s created by black people in creating music is mad. My favourite songs nearly all combine the English Language with Reggae or Hip Hop rhythms. I shall not let one fool spoil my view of white people in black music or to assume that they are all secretly racist. You have made many good points ShakaRa but the ones I have disagreed with I have mentioned.
Respect
“Furthermore to suggest that Afrikans have allowed any other race to stake claim to Hip Hop, Reggae, or Blues is preposterous. They are still and always will be seen as black music.”. Erm…so why are they now called ‘Urban’ music?
While I personally detest the term ‘urban music’, largely because it lumps R&B (a cheesey, commercially sanitized, watered down perversion of true Soul music) in with rap and other genres that have no business being mixed, the sentiment was to give a nod to the multicultural urban-centric nature of these genres today.
The fact of the matter is that right from the early days of rap, there were pioneers of various races involved. Rap essentially evolved as we know it today from New York, which was one of the biggest cultural melting pots on the planet. If this cultural diversity and it’s influence had no bearing on the evolution of rap, then why hasn’t there been a veritable pantheon of rappers defining the sound in Africa for the past 40 years, drip feeding it out to the West?
The fact is, like it or not, what we call ‘black music’ here in the West, evolved out of racial diversity and multicultural environs. It is multicultural music, just like most of the ‘white music’ we hear.
“I feel you are highly critical of white people being rappers, or emcees. You must look at the History of Britain, the Bards who traveled North Western Europe carrying the news through spoken word, verse and song. White people have been rapping for hundreds of years, and indeed the UK has seen some very revolutionary and humorous white emcees in recent years.”.
I’m sorry, but this is simply the most tenuous association I’ve heard in a while. Are you seriously trying to compare the Bards of Western Europe with an art form that sprung up amongst inner city black kids in the late 20th century? That’s like saying William Wordsworth was a rapper, and so white people have being rapping for centuries. I might as well have said African-American spirituals and Opera are basically the same thing, just in a different context. No one is saying that white people have an inability to rap. It;s simply that every time a white person does something that has originated with black people, they are lauded, praised, and pushed to the limelight even if they are distinctly mediocre or sub par. It’s irritating, and frankly patronising to white people, and it needs to stop. It’s the same as congratulating a black person for being well spoken.
I agree totally
“Are you seriously trying to compare the Bards of Western Europe with an art form that sprung up amongst inner city black kids in the late 20th century?”
The English language, recited to a rhythm? Yeah, you’re dead right, no connection whatsoever. I mean, what influence could the forms ingrained in the English language, afforded to us by poets and masters of the oral tradition stretching back centuries have had on the poetry of these inner city youth. Are you going to say that the four bar rhyme structure had no grounding whatsoever in English poetry?
“every time a white person does something that has originated with black people, they are lauded, praised, and pushed to the limelight even if they are distinctly mediocre or sub par.”
Every time? Funny, I’m looking at my rap collection here and I’d wager that out of the relatively small representation of white rappers here, most people have never heard of them; not because they’re not gifted or worthy of praise and a piece of the limelight, but because they’re not what the mainstream moneymen are looking for. But I could list out a colossal number of black MCs from my collection and even people who know next to nothing about rap will at least recognise their names, if not own an album or two.
Let’s look at rap on an international scale right now, Drake, Whale, Kid Cudi, Lil Wayne, Nicki Minaj, Kayne West some of the biggest names in mainstream hip hop right now (where all the cash and praise is), all distinctly sub par, yet still hogging the limelight and being lauded and praised. With the exception of Eminem, which white MCs exactly are getting unfair dues paid to them when compared to the talentless clowns mentioned at the start of this paragraph?
White MCs, just like most of the best black MCs, have and continue to earn respect in the underground, from real rap fans of every colour and creed who respect ability above all else. To be honest, I’m tired of people who grew up in the 50s and 60s, and their acolytes, insisting that we enforce some kind of racial segregation upon underground rap culture. In general we get along just fine down here, it’s where black and white kids go to escape the quasi-racist view of their parents and to form their own opinions of other races, by actually interacting with them on a meaningful level.
Agreed
Spot on.
“The fact of the matter is that right from the early days of rap, there were pioneers of various races involved. Rap essentially evolved as we know it today from New York, which was one of the biggest cultural melting pots on the planet. If this cultural diversity and it’s influence had no bearing on the evolution of rap, then why hasn’t there been a veritable pantheon of rappers defining the sound in Africa for the past 40 years, drip feeding it out to the West?”.
There is no denying that there might have been young white people around the time that rap developed that might have in some way contributed, but let’s not be mistaken, it is primarily a type of music that arose from people of African descent. West African griots used drums and spoken word to convey messages long before any bards of Western Europe, and that is generally agreed by historians to be the historic foundations of rap.
“The English language, recited to a rhythm? Yeah, you’re dead right, no connection whatsoever. I mean, what influence could the forms ingrained in the English language, afforded to us by poets and masters of the oral tradition stretching back centuries have had on the poetry of these inner city youth. Are you going to say that the four bar rhyme structure had no grounding whatsoever in English poetry?”
I’m saying that it had grounding in West African tradition, but seeing as people of African descent no longer had their original languages to speak, they did so in English. Were some rappers influenced by English poetry? No doubt, and there’s no problem with that, but let’s not try and paint rap as some multi cultural art form.
“Every time? Funny, I’m looking at my rap collection here and I’d wager that out of the relatively small representation of white rappers here, most people have never heard of them; not because they’re not gifted or worthy of praise and a piece of the limelight, but because they’re not what the mainstream moneymen are looking for. But I could list out a colossal number of black MCs from my collection and even people who know next to nothing about rap will at least recognise their names, if not own an album or two.”
‘Every time’ was not a sensible phrase and I apologise for that because there are exceptions to this. I will modify that to say ‘most of the time’. It’s the same with singers – white girls who can sing as well as the stereotypically average black singer get praised for being decent imitations, even if they aren’t vocally amazing. On the flip side, black classical singers who are vocally very good find it hard to break into their industry.
“To be honest, I’m tired of people who grew up in the 50s and 60s, and their acolytes, insisting that we enforce some kind of racial segregation upon underground rap culture. In general we get along just fine down here, it’s where black and white kids go to escape the quasi-racist view of their parents and to form their own opinions of other races, by actually interacting with them on a meaningful level.”
No one is saying to segregate rap culture. I’m simply saying that white people should be judged on their own merits, not in comparison with black rappers/singers etc. Getting excited with someone at a hip-hop concert is not interacting with them on any meaningful level especially in regards to having a conversation about race. White people have never been averse to attending music concerts in which black musicians played at, primarily because the majority of popular music in the last century originated in some form people of African descent. In the 1920’s, 30’s, 40’s – white people loved jazz, and they also loved segregation. In England they loved reggae, but put signs on their doors saying ‘no coloured, no Irish, no dogs’.
The solution to the problem of white supremacy is to acknowledge the issues and deal with them. One of the first steps is for white people to acknowledge white privilege and the fact that it allows them opportunities that would not have been afforded to them if their skin was brown. Ignoring racist comments by white rappers and painting them as ‘banter’ is not dealing with the issue.
Black Americans own less than 1% of the media – all the sub-par rappers are there because white people allow them to – hence no black revolutionary rappers ever make it “far” in the systems eyes.
-RA-
As far as I’m aware the bards you speak of where in fact black / people of color according to a historian Scottish Historian David Mac Ritchie author of the two book classic called Ancient And Modern Britons part 1 and 2, he goes into great detail of the histories of ancient Briton and Ireland and Scotland. Pre-Celtic meaning before the Germanic tribes came to this part of Europe. Slightly off the beaten track but relevant to the points you were making. The original tribes that lived in this part of Europe were in fact black tribes and tribes of color.Therefore the singing dancing bards were people of color of which later European visitors ie the engles and the jutes assimilated there customs of playing certain musical instruments like the bag pipes and spoken word, verses and songs. A fine example is the Morris dancers / Moorish Dancers now seen as a British dance. We need to also quickly mention the origin of the word Scotland which is attributed to Scota, in Irish mythology, Scottish mythology, and pseudohistory, is the name given to two different mythological daughters of two different Egyptian Pharaohs to whom the Gaels traced their ancestry, allegedly explaining the name Scoti, applied by the Romans to Irish raiders, and later to the Irish invaders of Argyll and Caledonia which became known as Scotland. Also according to the Greeks the name skot, citing the parallel in Greek skotos (σκότος), meaning “darkness, gloom” With a little research we can clear up inconstancy and half truths. Oh yes and of course English Frank was been racist………..
ABSOLUTELY FANTASTIC – loved it!!! More of this please.
Wow. Firstly let me thank all who have taken the time to post, commend, critique and reply to this Blog. Secondly let me apologise for only becoming aware of the comments about half an hour ago. I am a lil new to the Blog thing and am trying to figure out how to let things post without me having to approve it the comments.
I will respond to all the comments soon. Some very interesting post raised. Feel free to continue the discourse and of course share the articles.
Tatenda (Thank you) all once again.
Bang on point. I couldn’t agree with you more.
Well written ShakaRa!
I see you Aruba 😉
Thank you for your words ShakaRa.
I would like to ask all those who are not going to discuss the point of the post to quietly remove themselves from commenting. You see the very thing that is being argued in the blog is being demonstrated in the comments. Entitlement and more so, distraction from the topic at hand is the very essence of the power plays that the article speaks of.
The subtle yet ever present attempt at leveling the ‘field’ by presenting arguments about the absence of commercial success of ‘white rappers’. The nonsensical deviations from the question that asks why a ‘white’ man felt it acceptable to make the comment he did in the audience he did, whilst others seek to justify his stance.
To you Jay, and your underground rap scene, post-racial Utopia – what has “interacting meaningfully” with “black” people done to help Mr.Frank’s attitudes?
To you Anon – what has your dancing ability and I presume, penis size, have to do with the system of global white supremacy? Why would you deem those comments as appropriate in a conversation about racism and its effects?
If you aren’t able to focus on that matter, your comments have no place here. That is my opinion. I’m sure that ShakaRa might want as many people to comment as possible.
I am not him.
I would like an unclouded and focused conversation. Those of you that think that English Frank is righteous, go and talk to your boy. Then maybe you can leave grown folks to discuss their business – business that is wider than this guy, but whose example merely seeks to demonstrate wider social, economic and political viewpoints.
“I would like to ask all those who are not going to discuss the point of the post to quietly remove themselves from commenting.”
I can’t apologize for everybody else who has had the temerity to opine here in a manner that doesn’t suit you, but allow me to prostrate myself at your feet and beg your forgiveness if I have commented in a manner that may have led m’lady to believe I had notions above my station….Entitlement? FFS…
Conversations and discussions don’t always go the way we like, they often deviate, digress and meander through the grey areas surrounding issues; this can be infuriating to those who have polarized opinions and who generally restrict themselves to environs where they can engage in circle jerks with people who all agree with them, but try sucking it up and dropping the sanctimonious, holier-than-thou attitude, it might over time help you broaden your perspective.
“The subtle yet ever present attempt at leveling the ‘field’ by presenting arguments about the absence of commercial success of ‘white rappers’. ”
Interesting that you take exception to this as a ‘nonsensical deviation’, but have no problem with the initial comment that brought this point to surface by way of response. Try not wearing your bias so transparently for crying out loud. An absolutist point made in the original post was challenged, you didn’t like that it was challenged, largely I’d posit because you are a sycophant more concerned with winning the authors admiration than anything else.
“To you Jay, and your underground rap scene, post-racial Utopia ”
‘Post-racial Utopia’? Really? What’s with the barely concealed contempt? Are you afraid that we’ll all end up as mixed race mongrels like me who’ll end up resenting you and your attempts to sustain a climate of racial segregation under the guise of ‘pride’? I bet that would just turn your stomach, the thought of pure bloodlines being tainted in a cesspit of race treason…
It is such an incomprehensible affront to you isn’t it, that somebody who shares a skin tone with you might prefer to hang out with another human beings who share similar interests and values, instead of uncritically siding with you based on race. You probably feel you should have more of a connection with a black kid you’ve never even met, see or spoken to, than he should have with a white mate he’s grown up all his life; it’s a demented perspective to many of us who choose to interact meaningfully; a concept so alien to you, you need to put it in inverted commas.
“what has “interacting meaningfully” with “black” people done to help Mr.Frank’s attitudes?”
First let me address your prickish use of inverted commas. Disrespect doesn’t generally reap respect, so please don’t play coy and feign injury at me reciprocating throughout this comment. I don’t care for your tone, your sanctimony or your thinly veiled contempt for race-traitors masquerading as something more graceful. If you continue to address strangers in this condescending and abrasive manner, expect plenty of this kind of sentiment by way of response.
To answer your question, Frank’s meaningful interaction with black people via the underground rap scene has essentially helped him figure out that despite how funny he and some of his West Indian mates in Brixton might think it, bigotry aimed at Africans is not cool and won’t get a laugh outside of the insulated confines of his personal circle of friends when he airs it to a multi-ethnic audience at an underground rap event or indeed on any forum populated by the underground rap community at large.
I don’t care for Frank as a musician or as an individual, although I know very little about him as a person and will concede that my opinion rests on a very shallow basis and a disdain for people I perceive as being malignantly stupid, but I will not allow my personal bias or a desire to have ShakaRa find me agreeable prevent me from defending an idiot who has been charged with the wrong crime.
There is a difference between bigotry and racism, crying wolf all the time devalues the word racism and is utterly counter-productive, although I have heavily suspected for some time that this is precisely the desired effect for those who tend to do it most.
Well written, intelligent article. Articulated exactly what I was thinking much better than I could have and made me reflect on some of the many things I’ve let slide in my life. One thing is certain, English Frank (bet he wish he’d just chose Frank now) is an ignorant donut and should put down his mic down and leave it there. Inebriation didn’t work as an excuse for Mel Gibson and it doesn’t wash with him either.
africa is a continent not a race of people! their is many diffrent races on the continent arabs/asians/whites/!! please don’t be ignorant enough to just think its black people or claim african means black people it does’nt!!take offence if you live their or was born their
Blaze… Please shut up..
You could av put it any better I-brethern.
Black people need to come of this ‘One Love’c ting becar it’s a facade! Your loosing out on our own identities and future history becar we allowing the infiltration of a system which continues from slavery to manipulate we daily!
Drop jumping on the power boat when it suits you to whilst supporting the system to make money out you!
PTH
Our ancestors would be turning in their graves. Seems like all the rights they died for are slowly being clawed back with the excuse being lets be liberal. But I know one thing if he had said that among a bunch of chinese he would have been the main course at an ass whooping dinner. So am a say this once stand up and represent BLACK ARTS.
Thank you for this absolutely super article. Will at present more stop by. Greetings from Cologne
Love the article, and agree completely, blessings : )
the guy made a mistake, get over it
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