Some Interesting Reads

Here's a few articles I've read in the last few days that have really been interesting to me.

The first is titled "The Cotton Club," by Bakari Kitwana. It's about how politically charged Hip Hop -- the shit that I fucks with -- is met with a mostly white audience at most of these groups. Brother Ali makes an observation at the end of the piece about the white audience's opinion of white rappers that is startling, considering Hip Hop is the nonwhite response to imperialist oppression:

"One of the hardest things we're dealing with now is the underlying feeling of white supremacy among fans who feel they are a part of hip-hop, but are listening to and prefer mostly white MCs. hey believe that Aesop Rock is better than independent artists who are Black and mainstream artists like Ludacris. These MCs are doing a lot with hip-hop artistically that they have learned from Black people, but [their fans] don't want to hear from the old-school originators because they believe it's the white MCs who created the styles they like. This isn't an underground-versus-mainstream thing—it's a racist thing."

Ain't that the truth.... Damn, it's sad to think of hwo racism can creep into any facet of American culture.


(dead prez)

The other article Id like to share is a multiple part story titled "Maid for a Month," by Jan Wong. It's about a journalist who decided to show how Toronto's minimum wage increase affected those working for minimum wage by giving up all the luxuries of her life (she herself employs a maid) and working for a cleaning service. my problem with these stories is that the person undergoing the experiment always has a fallback plan they have an education, they have money if they needed it, they have good credit, and they tend to know how to avoid the trappings of their new lifestyle better than those that actually live it. for instance, Wong knew more about workers rights than the rest of the maids. she was also the only one in her company who didn't smoke. Wong also probably had a better attitude toward her vocation and living arrangements (she rented out a basement where she and her two sons stayed) because after all, she knew she was only doing this for a month. To my surprise, Wong acknowledges this.

"Were this my real life, I couldn't stand it. This is Maggie's (Wong's Co-Worker) real life, and she can't stand it."

So although no upper class reporter can truly capter what it is to be poor, I nevertheless enjoyed this story because I didnt really know how bad it was sto be a cleaning lady be fore i read this. Wong actually developed carpal tunnel syndrome from her month of working.

(Wong cleanin a toilet)