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February 04, 2004
Romance
LKS writes over at VisionCircle an un-romantic blurb on The Washingtonians, a visual retrospective of the Talented Tenth of 40s Washington DC. It's very difficult for me to resist the sentiment and romance associated with these pictures. In some ways, they remind me of the power of the Cosby Show.
The first time I saw the Cosby Show, it knocked me over. It was the very first television show that showed blackfolks that acted like my parents. Granted, my folks took the routes of social activism rather than the lucrative professional careers they could have certainly achieved, but the scene was right on target. Now that I think of it, I have yet to see (although I didn't watch 227) any portrait of black families on television that gives appropriate weight to Christianity's role in much of African America's lives. At any rate there was no 'lawd a mercy' in the Cosby household, as there was none in mine.
For better or worse, because of the Cosby Show, I began to take television specifically, and cultural production generally much more seriously as a force in American life. I submitted to the power of images and mass media. Now I see that it was me, such things cannot be sustained. They are romantic, and it is the emotional power of such images that the entertainment business is attracted to. This is directly in conflict with television & pop culture as an educational and redemptive medium. Coming from Hollywood, it's either or. Nevertheless in exemplifying the archtype of the high bourgie family, something of those values leach out. If only the ways and means show up, it can be uplifting. Uplifting and yet irresponsible.
It is that irresponsible uplift that I get in viewing these old photographs from the Scurlock collection. My own mother has a photo almost exactly like the one above, and were we to lighten the skin a couple shades and lengthen the hair, that woman would look just like my mother. These young girls remind me of my very own daughters. 
The Talented Tenth, from which I consider myself an expatriot member is somewhat ineffective these days because of the success of integration. African America is a diaspora, and the core worlds, such as Howard University, while still respected do not dominate our intellectual and cultural center as they once did. Scholarships from anonymous corporations are more lucrative than those sponsored by the Links. Sad but true, some of the dysfunction of African America comes from the inability of many Old School institutions to keep track and mentor over the most significant programs of uplift. Racial uplift has been effectively upstaged by general integration. That's all and good, but the romance has rather died off.
It's very important to distinguish between the romance of uplift and the reality of economics and social science. Reviewing Skip Gates' ambling journeys on PBS this black history month, I am convinced that he's struck with a heavy dose of romance about what can be done in that old spirit of the Talented Tenth and the Civil Rights Movement. In that, I believe that he's making a crucial mistake and his airplay, mildly provocative as it may be, raises improper questions about the state of African America.
Distinguish between Romance and Reason.
Posted by mbowen at February 4, 2004 11:29 AM
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� Distinguish between romance and reason. from Negrophile
The first time I saw the Cosby Show, it knocked me over. It was the very first television show that showed blackfolks that acted like my parents. Granted, my folks took the routes of social activism rather than the lucrative... [Read More]
Tracked on February 5, 2004 02:26 AM
Comments
One problem with Skip Gates is, I suspect, that he interprets his own past from the comfort and (peculiar) power of his current position at Harvard. That is, he reads the insular blackness of his childhood in the black boondocks through the power and privelege of his current position. And so he thinks that his current position is a more or less direct consequence of his parents' belief in the talented tenth. And, of course, that's part of the story.
But we're a long way from being a meritocracy. Much less a colorblind meritocracy. There's still economic power to be taken, however.
Posted by: Bill Benzon at February 4, 2004 05:51 PM
Before I went off to retch in the sink, Skip said something that I think was very telling. I got over my nausea and came back to watch more to confirm my suspicion.
The first thing was that as he talked to one of the kids in the rehab program about how much money he made as a drug dealer, Gates seemed genuinely impressed with the kid's ability to make thousands. Then again after his talk with the prisoner (which I missed/avoided) Gates suggested that were it not for a twist of fate, or a change in the law, we would all be looking up to these guys as business leaders.
There's nothing that points to Gates as an academic as this notion that all business is banditry of some sort. This is precisely the same sentiment that was expressed by Randall Robinson in his book 'The Reckoning'. I'm screaming at the TV "LOSER" because it's so obvious to me that both this old and young crook are nowhere near being productive members of society.
But Gates must honestly believe that middle-class gumption and dad popping you upside the head is going to make the difference for these people, which is why I wasn't so incredulous when he introduced the ghetto baton twirlers.
Gates is hung up on human dignity, self-respect and the like as if they were the real engines of society. I'm convinced he's Hobbsian.
Posted by: Cobb at February 4, 2004 06:14 PM
I also wanted to add that it was also very telling that the Popeyes kid wouldn't let Skip walk down a certain section of the block over at Ida B. Wells. It was just at this point in the conversation that the kid says something to the effect that 'of course it's the fault of these people that they are here'. Blows a big hole in his worldview, but I'm sure some 'education' would straighten up that kids perception.
I keep wondering if there are outtakes where some creep tries to steal Skip's cane or jack his camera crew. He makes it look like anybody on any day can walk into Robert Taylor and have a casual conversation...
Posted by: Cobb at February 4, 2004 06:19 PM
I don't think he was "genuinely impressed" with the drug-dealer - he acts that way with everyone, it seems to be his interviewing technique, and on the results, by and large, it's not a bad one. I can't stand his pontificatin', but he seems pretty good at getting folks to say what they feel.
I didn't really understand what his agenda is in this series, even though I enjoyed watching the folks he interviewed (the second night, surprisingly, was better than the first). Thanks, then, for posting the helpful background.
Posted by: jason at February 4, 2004 08:37 PM