Post #5

In the first chapter of Malcolm X's biography, he speaks on the problem of internalized racism his father held. You can also say that young Malcolm himself suffered from this too. In the reading we Malcolm speaks on how his father was a strong follower of Marcus Garvey, earning the label of "uppity nigger" from the whites in their neighborhood. However, even his father couldn't shake the belief of lighter skin being superior than darker skin. His father would barely beat him and only took Malcolm with him to U.N.I.A. meetings, being that he was the lightest child in the family. This influenced his earlier beliefs that his fair skin made him superior than his darker counterparts. Also, Malcolm stated that no matter how many meetings he went to he still pictured Africa as a continent of jungles, wild animals, naked cannibalistic savages. Malcolm viewed his early beliefs as mental conditioning from a racist society, and plain ignorance. I believe he wanted the reader to become more informed to the rationalizations and idealogies society imposes on the reader, such as internalized racism.

Essay

 For the politics and protest paper I will be researching Gil Scott Heron and Brian Jackson’s Winter in America album. This album was the artist views on African American culture in his surroundings during the 1970s. Many of the tracks were vivid insights to frustrations of not only the African American community, but to those stricken by poverty and other social injustices. Winter in America was not released on a major label but was a considered underground hit. The artist used “guerilla marketing” such as spray painted ads and flyers to promote the album, which lead to its huge underground success. This made Heron known as a street poet of sorts, which is largely due to his grassroots marketing and his stance on many social issues. Heron also used what many believe to be the earliest form of rap music to drive home his point of social equality.