For those who have read my pieces, I'm something of a contrarian. Black leaders? Against them. Black churches? Strong critiques of them. Black Public Intellectuals? Most of them I can't stand.
But you know what?
I like Tavis Smiley's Pass the Mic tour. Now I don't really like Tavis (gives soft shoe interviews particularly with brothers and sisters), Michael (there's something about a 45 year old full professor busting a rhyme and posing like a b-boy that i find distasteful), or Cornel (Don't get me started). And at first I thought this was just another hustle.
But Barbara Streisand changed my mind.
Remember when Barbara was doing her farewell tour? I think tickets ran about $1000 a pop at LEAST. I think Streisand is ok...but people who most likely had all of her cds ALREADY were willing to shill out massive loot for her supposed final performance. If folks are willing to shell out that type of loot for a singer...why not for a set of public intellectuals?
Another way to think about it. For those of us lucky enough to even live NEAR a college campus, we can see these cats on a regular basis. I was just on a panel with Michael Eric Dyson on hip-hop last year (best lecture on the subject I ever heard to give Dyson his props, but why did he have to leave in the middle of the panel discussion to give ANOTHER lecture all the way in Boston?!?). Cornel has fallen through the University of Missouri at St. Louis a few times, and I just didn't fell like seeing him. But what about those of us who aren't as lucky? Shouldn't they have access to these cats (for what it is worth) as well? As much as I can't get with Dyson or West NOW, they were very influential in my own decision to pursue the life of the mind (no...they aren't the knuckleheads I refer to...though they DO fit the bill). I'm thinking they are going to give those in attendance something to think about.
A third way to think about it. What would you call the intellectual version of the Kings of Comedy?
Posted by at November 27, 2003 05:19 PM | TrackBack
You are right. I've been thinking about your ideas about class, and they (along with the education thing) have had an influence on the quantity of my production here. I'm not quite sure Nelly and Pimp Juice are our enemy...though my research this semester should tell us more.
On the other hand I AM fairly sure that people like West and Dyson ARE our enemies in the long run. People like them stand in the gap between us and the next level. (Even while I still suggest that if you've got the discretionary income you should check Pass the Mic out.)
Posted by: Lester Spence at November 30, 2003 12:31 AMI can agree with that. Nelly is a friend from a class perspective, but an enemy from a cultural perspective. That is a conflict which is inevitable from the standpoint of capitalism's amorality.
I hope to achieve a shabby gentility in compromise myself. I'm not so confident sending my own kids down one aisle or the other. But it's probably better for la raza if what is considered a black renaissance man is a considerably larger profile than what's commonly accepted today.
Posted by: Cobb at December 2, 2003 05:15 PMAll I can say is if this little deal were to come to a place where Cobb and LKS could get ON the mic, the headliners would have to do some fancy steppin' to hold their own.
Posted by: Bill Benzon at December 4, 2003 03:29 PMSo what you suggesting, Lester?
Are Smiley, Dyson and West gatekeepers somehow...to an overly left-influenced, civil-rights-era traditionalist (with a veneer of hiphop sensibility) mode of thought that somehow delimits Black folk in the ability to build wealth and establish themselves in higher numbers in science- and math-based technical fields?
Posted by: Michael R Hicks at February 3, 2004 10:39 PMNo. They aren't gatekeepers at all. When Wash. U. hired me, none of them called West, Dyson, or even Gates. They are hustlers. Passing themselves off as activist/intellectuals when they haven't done the work to properly use either label.
Posted by: lks at February 4, 2004 07:33 AM
I started the other night talking to my car dashboard, imagining the mic had been passed to me. What eventually came out of my mouth was rather surprising. I'm rather class-bound these days but it was interesting to see how much. Other than to pub up these sites and take a swipe at all the black academics i've berated before for not hopping onto the net, my message was simply to inherit the range of enterprises we have only sought to be associated with.
I've long thought that the historical imperative of this generation was to integrate and take over, but I think we didn't have quite enough intellectual ammo. So we did a halfway decent job, but we didn't get the dollar bills y'all. There's an inherent conflict, I think. It cannot be finessed.
Posted by: Cobb at November 29, 2003 04:50 PM