The Army's got a brand new bag. The Godless capitalist thinks it isn't a bad idea. Whatever the case, the Air Force has picked up the ball...I drove by a tricked out Air Force hummer on the way to the office last week. Maybe the young brothers are in the forces?
Nope. The armed forces have pretty much scaled back, though there is some talk about a return to the draft. Where the army, navy, air force, and marines, used to take young brothers (and some sisters) out of places like Detroit like it was nobody's business, there's been a marked attempt to scale back the size of the forces. To use an old school metaphor, the army is trying to become "pimp size." So even though the numbers of working class black, white, and Latino men in the forces are (probably) significantly larger than their proportion in the general population, we can be sure that the gap we're seeing isn't because most of them are in Iraq.
Eventually I'm going to get to some policy solutions, but the Godless capitalist brings up a point. Maybe the army is the best way for young men of various backgrounds to become disciplined and to make a way for themselves. Certainly cities aren't the place for them anymore as manufacturing jobs are being shredded like so much wet paper. If cities have no use for them anymore (I've got Warren/Ralph Ellisonian visions of living mecha cities jettisoning black and latino men out of their pores), then where do they go?
Unless we see a significant political tectonic shift, there won't be a large scale public works project designed to rebuild cities. Unless there's a similar shift in private industry, Rouge Steel is NOT going to be hiring every high school aged graduate in Detroit to work within her dark confines.
So while they aren't there...maybe they should be?
And in as much as hip hop is now the tool used to sell everything from Sprite, to full metal bling bling grills, to Chevrolets, to Ipods....why not use it to recruit? If house music brings me to God, hip hop is the air my generation breathes, the water we drink. But I'll be damned if hiphop lost its revolutionary fervor the minute we lost the distribution rights.
Posted by at November 4, 2003 08:48 PM | TrackBackI'd say it is already predominantly urban AND rural. Because i'm focusing on young brothers i'm skipping over the central fact that the same dynamics are hitting rural white america too--which is why dean should've stuck to his guns with the confederate comment. but i'm not sure that they'll return to rebuild the city unless federal dollars follow.
Posted by: lks at November 6, 2003 10:23 PMIf I was a grunt preparing for battle, I'd be blastin' DMX all day long. Forget 'Bring it on', say 'We right here'.
Posted by: Cobb at November 6, 2003 11:25 PMI knew there was something I forgot. Chuck D. called rap music the black "CNN." If he's referring to Persian Gulf War era CNN, he's on the money. If rock is the music of rebellion, and r & b is the music of love, then rap is the sound of modern warfare. the only thing that puts me in more of a martial mood than rap is orff's Carmina Burana. so it's the perfect soundtrack for an OMAC.
Posted by: Lester Spence at November 8, 2003 11:44 PMCobb - Or "X gon' give it to you".
Iks:
It's often said that the military is one of the most racially meritocratic organizations in America. It's one of the few in which young black and Latino males (e.g. drill sergeants) regularly boss around whites.
Also, as I was saying - it's not *just* the inner city that they're recruiting. They're also looking for NASCAR fans, computer gamers (see the America's Army video game), and college students (push for ROTC back on campus).
Cobb - Or "X gon' give it to you".
Iks:
It's often said that the military is one of the most racially meritocratic organizations in America. It's one of the few in which young black and Latino males (e.g. drill sergeants) regularly boss around whites. Those kinds of leadership opportunities are not available in many other venues.
Also, as I was saying - it's not *just* the inner city that they're recruiting. They're also looking for NASCAR fans, computer gamers (see the America's Army video game), and college students (push for ROTC back on campus).
Cobb - Or "X gon' give it to you".
Iks:
It's often said that the military is one of the most racially meritocratic organizations in America. It's one of the few in which young black and Latino males (e.g. drill sergeants) regularly boss around whites. Those kinds of leadership opportunities are not available in many other venues.
Also, as I was saying - it's not *just* the inner city that they're recruiting. They're also looking for NASCAR fans, computer gamers (see the America's Army video game), and college students (push for ROTC back on campus).
of course gc is right. as i'm thinking about it the characters in THREE KINGS loom large. cube was the detroiter, and spike jonz was the hick right?
Posted by: lks at November 12, 2003 10:08 AM
If the Army becomes predominate urban,how will that affect the future Collin's,will they more likely lean Democratic?Will they return to rebuild the city?
Posted by: tootsie at November 6, 2003 07:26 AM