Blogs and Stories
The End of 'Bad Boy' Thinking
Joe Raedle/Getty
Barack Obama's election brings down the curtain on decades of potted history, academic hustles, and bad-boy thinking in black politics and culture.
Racism is actually a childish form of paranoid narcissism which makes one group taller by cutting off the legs of another or, when considered necessary, stacks up as many bloody legs as the mass market demands. That is why it works for conservative identity politics as well as it does for purportedly militant and radical ethnic identity politics. On the right or the left such politics has become boring and ineffective.
So it will be good if the Republicans drop their sentimental version of identity politics for white people, which Richard Nixon used in coded language during his first victorious presidential campaign exactly 40 years ago. That stuff has run some kind of a course and, as they used to say, will only fool a one hundred percent fool. People can see it coming from a mile away with their backs turned. Identity politics has a smell that sets the mouth in a bitter pose and goes down no more succulently than a three part mixture of motor oil, mayonnaise, and honey. More slippery and greasy than sweet, the old identity politics for white people leads to the heaved up muck that precedes a pratfall, not a victory. The McCain campaign can give you the particulars. A clear and decisive majority of white people no longer fear being called "elites." Because of Barack Obama, black people, high profile or not, are no longer reluctant to generally appeal by being sophisticated and doing well, which can still be attacked for "acting white," another way of being smacked down as "elite." Everybody seems to agree to one thing with this new president: It is time for the brain to make a comeback.
Everybody seems to agree to one thing in this era of the new president: It is time for the brain to make a comeback.
If carried to its logical extreme, letting the brain make a comeback should allow for a sober and ongoing rejection of the misbegotten world of cynicism, potted history, racism, and adolescent bad boy thinking that has had too large a place in black politics, culture, and higher education since Martin Luther King's death in 1968. The Obama victory proved its emptiness because its campaign resulted from an extraordinarily sophisticated effort based in the most unbending fact of American politics and history: every gain of any true significance for black Americans and, therefore, for the nation as a whole, never failed to be fomented by integrated alliances. If white people did not want it, it did not happen.
Had Obama taken all of the independent voters and all of the black voters, he still would have lost. While embracing the miscegenation that defined his parentage, he did not allow his color to be seen as symbolic of a special interest group. The only special interest group to which he appealed included everyone. Consequently, it was an American victory, not a separatist or segregated win. Integrated purposes and alliances are and have always been the only way, from the Abolition Movement that began in the eighteenth century to November 4, 2008. The final slavery of limited expectations ended on that night as what seemed to be the content of his character had taken the highest set of hurdles in the nation and gone on to snap the finish line tape with a report heard around the world. American history was split into two parts, B.B. and A.B. Before Obama and After Obama. It was actually like that.
So when Obama won, Martin Luther King was exonerated from all of the insults heaped upon him while he was alive by Malcolm X and by others after his death. Living or dead it is now time that they be seen for the fools, frauds, defeatist demagogues, and saber-rattling charlatans that they have always been. Such people had accused King of being hopelessly optimistic about an America that would never accept more than certain kinds of black "tokens." I guess "never" is a shorter time than we used to think it was. Supposedly, the non-violent strategy was embraced because King and his followers were either "in love" with the white man or no more than cowards afraid to stand up and confront "that old pale thing," as Malcolm X loved to say. King dismissed Malcolm X's conveniently crabbed assertion that non-violence made the Southern white man “comfortable” since it wasn’t aggressive enough. King knew better and was sure that anyone taking on the power structure in the redneck South knew much better than a rabble rouser speaking from behind the safety of a Harlem podium guarded by the NYPD. But Malcolm X—and the many who came after him—wove their variations on a stubbornly stupid set of conceptions that are still accepted as the outrageous emperor's new clothes at public gatherings of one sort or another, which has been possible for far too long.
Louis Farrakhan, for instance, has been given a pass by the entire media and has not been exposed for all of the racism that underlies his "militance." Like Malcolm X while he was a member of the Nation of Islam, Farrakhan taught his followers that white people were invented by a mad black scientist 6,000 years ago, back when the world was a black paradise. But the Nation of Islam had up to date imbecility to offer as well. For instance, UFOs are actually black scientists in space ships waiting to drop bombs on America and destroy it. The roughest line is that white people are, simply, devils. Hmm.
The Right Dumps Carrie
Jacob Bernstein is a senior reporter at The Daily Beast. Previously, he was a features writer at WWD and W Magazine. He has also written for New York magazine, Paper, and The Huffington Post.
What's Joe's Problem?
Lloyd Grove is editor at large for The Daily Beast. He is also a frequent contributor to New York magazine and was a contributing editor for Condé Nast Portfolio. He wrote a gossip column for the New York Daily News from 2003 to 2006. Prior to that, he wrote the Reliable Source column for the Washington Post, where he spent 23 years covering politics, the media, and other subjects.
Geithner's Stock Plummeting
Jeff Madrick is a contributor to the New York Review of Books and a former economics columnist for the New York Times. He is editor of Challenge Magazine, visiting professor of humanities at Cooper Union, and senior fellow at the New School's Schwartz Center for Economic Policy Analysis. He is the author of Taking America, The End of Affluence (Random House) and The Case for Big Government.
Desperately Seeking a GOP Hero
Stanley Crouch's culture pieces have appeared in Harper's, The New York Times, Vogue, Downbeat, The New Yorker, and more. He has served as artistic consultant for jazz programming at Lincoln Center since 1987, and is a founder of Jazz at Lincoln Center. In June 2006 his first major collection of jazz criticism, Considering Genius: Jazz Writings, was published. He is presently completing a book about the Barack Obama presidential campaign.
Carter's Charge Is a Distraction
Stanley Crouch's culture pieces have appeared in Harper's, The New York Times, Vogue, Downbeat, The New Yorker, and more. He has served as artistic consultant for jazz programming at Lincoln Center since 1987, and is a founder of Jazz at Lincoln Center. In June 2006 his first major collection of jazz criticism, Considering Genius: Jazz Writings, was published. He is presently completing a book about the Barack Obama presidential campaign.
How Insane Is the Beer Summit?
Stanley Crouch's culture pieces have appeared in Harper's, The New York Times, Vogue, Downbeat, The New Yorker, and more. He has served as artistic consultant for jazz programming at Lincoln Center since 1987, and is a founder of Jazz at Lincoln Center. In June 2006 his first major collection of jazz criticism, Considering Genius: Jazz Writings, was published. He is presently completing a book about the Barack Obama presidential campaign.
I think President elect Obama is a man of our time...he will bring all races, genders, religions and ages together.
It is so nice to watch and hear this young intelligent man it makes me very hopeful for the future of this country and mostly the young people coming up.
They will have a smart man, who is eloquent in his speech and very trendy and smart in his dress.....hopefully they will try to emanate him in all ways and that can't be anything but good.
So looking forward to the New Year and seeing President elect Obama sworn in, what a great, historic day for this country.....we need to come together as one nation and get this country back on track.
Thank you for a comprehensive article. I have never understood how the unscholarly rants of certain professors are tolerated at our academic institutions. As you say, enough students asked for just that.
BRAVO Mr. Couch!
This is stunning. One forgets the beauty and the legitimacy of the idea of pluralism, and that more often than not both sides are to be implicated in its continual degradation...
Stanley Crouch....I must remember this name because you Sir are a Clown. You make some good points about some of the more misguided thought processes of some of the Young Brothers and Sisters from today's era and honestly, mine (I'm 27) but speaking about Malcolm X and other members of that particular movement the way you do is nothing more than a stunning play on your own self-righteousness or an unfortunate example of a staggering degree of self hate.
Either way, as a Grandchild of the results of the struggle of the Civil Rights Movement I have to say that I appreciate the sacrifices made by ALL sides of that struggle for even though they may have disagreed with one another on the philosophical approach to the struggle, the recognized that it would indeed be a struggle and they were willing to struggle on our behalf. I am of the notion that one couldn't have had one without the other, no matter what many of the history books would lead us to believe.
In this regard, nothing is perfect and there may have perhaps been an overcorrection on many a college campus throughout the 80s and 90s as it pertains to African American History classes. However, this could perhaps be argued as a small price to pay for the 100 plus years of Education on many a campus that was void of most, if not all references of any positive or true historical contributions of African Americans to the many successes of this nation's great history.
Again, a disgustingly one-sided distortion of a few historical Giants of the Civil Rights Era.
Wherever it goes unquestioned, ignorance will flourish. Very thought-provoking piece.
This article is spot-on!
To me, one of the most fascinating developments of the 2008 presidential campaign was the talk of "elitism." For so long African-Americans, coloreds, negros, people of color (fill in your own term) have been critizied for not being intelligent and lacking the ability to be articulate. Yet, as Barack Obama made his way across the country he was lambasted for being just a "good speaker" with "good speeches."
It was apparent to me that the fact that he attended Columbia and Harvard were strikes against him. But, don't we want intelligent people running the country?
It is refreshing to me to know that what Mr. Obama has done is to raise the bar for all Americans to become well versed, thoughtful and pragmatic in the way we communicate our thougths and ideas. Hooray for a brain in the White House!
Great Stuff Stanley! Pluralism rules!
Malcolm X, Amiri Baraka remain great and inspirational figures. But we have moved beyond insecure teenaged "revolution" into a more adult "evolution".
Having a Black President changes the whole equation...
One of the things that I like about Obama is that he respects other peoples views. He may not like it. He may not agree. But he respects their right to their beliefs. He isn't closed or narrow minded enough to believe that he's the be all to end all or the absolute authority on anything.
I understand that you want to be invited by, or included by, white folks whereever you go. That's cool. If you want to assimilate into their culture that's fine, too. But to insist that blacks who don't share your views are somehow ignorant or stupid, says more about your intelligence than it does about theirs.
People like you kill me. I read your article but nowhere does it slam Asians, or Arabs, or Europeans, or Pacific Islanders, Hispancis or Africans for having their own special enclaves in every large city in the Union. Or having Asian or European history classes taught at all major universities. Yet, you criticize and demonize black folks (American) for wanting the same things.
Looking at your picture, you appear to be of a certain age. I know you're not claiming that because Obama's been elected President, that somehow, racism is a thing of the past!? Please take a tour of the criminal justice system in the country (preferably in the south, Texas specifically) and review some of the cases, past and present.
The Justice Dept has declined to prosecute the woman at the center of the Emmitt Till case. Not even a conspiracy charge. You may not think that's relevant, but there are plenty of women alive who lost their children and husbands and had to swallow the bitter pill of racism. I won't mention education.
I have one final question for Mr. Crouch. Are you in love with Hon. Min. Louis Farrakhan? I ask because it seems that no matter what you're ranting and raving about, you tend to keep his name in your mouth.
Thank you.
As a first time user, your comment has been submitted for review. It can take anywhere from a few hours to a day or two for your comment to be reviewed, depending on the time of week and the volume of comments we receive.
Please log in to leave comments.