no i don't think the culture should be hoarded just for us, but in my opinion many current artists don't respect the culture and what black artists had to go through before them. because of this lack of respect, they leave themselves (and our musical legacy) wide open to be exploited. sometimes knowingly so just to profit from it's demise. i do remember when mtv did not play black artist. it wasn't until they saw that they could profit from it and exploit it, that they decided to play black artists. it just seems like people forget those things too easily.
Now if we were to look at it from yet another perspective....does this mean that "other" cultures are being more supportive than our own??...think about it.
supportive of what? we are not talking about support here. we are talking about the raping of our culture. we are talking about people who are not black, attempting to define what blackness is. we are talking about white fans who are attempting to be what they think "we" are based on what they see on a stage or in a video. my personal dictionary doesn't define that as support.
First of all my statement about "support"...referred to your point that 80% of the audience at the event you mentioned was non-black. As for the raping of our culture....I think far too much energy is spent rambling on about things we cannot change. NO ONE can take away from us what is ours! They can imitate, mimic and come up with counterfeit copies, but they can NEVER be what they are not. This culutre that is ours is born to us and only we can represent. If they are so intrigued and facinated that they want so much to be like us....so be it. Let US not waste time worrying about what they are doing. Let US continue to be proud of who and what we are. Let US find ourselves attending venues that support our culture. Let us move forward in educating and working in our communities and bridging that gap that is so apparent between US. As long as they are successful in keeping our eyes on them....they will also be successful in keeping us from focusing on US.
sista NyOsha i understand your point completely. but what i am referring to is profit. as the author of this article has stated, there are people in this world who choose to use black culture as a commodity for their personal profit. a key component in controlling OUR culture and collective destiny is by controlling our community economically. in my opinion, it is not enough for us to just attend venues in our communities, but to own them and control the images seem inside them. but for the most part, WE are not doing this. someone else is controlling the images seen by OUR children in the venues in OUR communities. that's all i'm saying. no disrespect.
