Coach Powell was a dynamic and powerful speaker. As soon as he began his talk, I found myself repositioning my body so that I could see him; When selecting my seat 5 minutes earlier, I didn’t think I would care about the huge column obstructing my view. How wrong I was, as Powell began his unusual and attention grabbing talk that I instincitively wanted to be a part of. I appreciated his candidness, and was hooked by his unorthodox interaction with the audience and his promise to offend us and make us mad.
And true to his promise, I actually did find myself feeling at times offended, and yes, even mad. I also felt other strong emotions, like excitement, inspiration, and outrage (the “at society” variety).
While there are plenty of positives, I would like to take a moment to get into some things that made me cock my head: Like Powell's “ghetto sex
ed” lesson, where young African American girls are told “you’re either a
princess, a queen, or nasty.” My initial reaction to this statement was to lean over to Lindsey
and whisper “wow, he is very judgmental of young women’s body choices, isn't he”, but my
distaste with Powell’s approach to female sexuality ran even deeper than that.
A major source of offense for me was the impression that in this imaginary
classroom Powell describes, only heterosexual, gender conforming students
exist. Students who identify otherwise are either invisible or unwelcome in
Powell’s scenario. I wasn’t sure what to make of this; was it an innocent overlooking
of this sub-group of AA young people? Did he simply not find it relevant to
mention these ‘others’ in this particular anecdote? Or, my least favorite
possibility, did he intentionally silence these children? There were certainly
some religious undertones of Powell’s whole talk, and I am pretty sure he
implied that women who don’t wait until marriage are “hos.” Can I count this as
part of his larger-than-life, outspoken personality that is also so magnetic? I
feel so much respect for his entire presence and body of work and the genuine
thought-provoking he facilitated, yet I am troubled by the possibility that he
is blind to the needs of a tragically overlooked population of kids. Thoughts?
This was all a strange, eyebrow raising tangent to an
otherwise impactful presentation that made me reexamine some of my own cultural
practices. Consuming hip-hop culture, for instance, is something I do regularly
and enthusiastically, without thinking about the impact the images and
messaging has on young African Americans. I started to reflect on whether it
was appropriate for me to even enjoy this entertainment in the first place.
Ultimately, I decided that yes; I have the right to consume whatever media I
like, so long as I do it as a discriminating, critically-aware adult. It’s
those skills of critically examining the cultural practices and messages that
surround us that we need to foster in young people of ALL COLORS, and perhaps
is becoming a central conviction of mine. I think hip-hop can be used for good
in the classroom under these same guidelines of critical thinking.
I wasn’t sure Powell saw any value in hip hop as a
legitimate art form, despite the ‘cypher’ analogy that kicked off the entire
conference. Certainly there are cultural ills reflected in the lyrics of
contemporary hip hop, but does that mean these artists don’t have the right to
speak about these troubling features of their cultural heritage in their music?
Beat poets also glorified drug culture and hypersexuality, but beyond that,
they were giving voice to a subculture that the establishment was trying
desperately to ignore and silence. Today, this subculture is recognized as a
legitimate art movement worth studying and applying to our understandings of
our country’s cultural and artistic heritage during this time period. Couldn’t
you say that hip-hop artists who sing about their cultural contexts AND get paid for it are doing something worthwhile? Perhaps exercising their creative right to explore the issues that consume
them? Isn’t there value in that window into an often silenced, marginalized
subculture that we can break down and study as a legitimate topic? Can't we bring that question to critically thinking young people and say "what do YOU think is problematic here?"
Ultimately, I feel like Powell is really on to something powerful in terms of reaching this demographic of AA youth, but is too
narrow in his scope. In my opinion, kids don’t need to be protected from hip
hop lyrics so much as taught to examine the lyrics critically and against the
political and cultural backdrop that Powell does such an incredible job helping
us emotionally visualize. I truly believe there is a place for flexibly
engaging in the hip hop genre, as well as a place to welcome and legitimize
gender and hetero non-conforming young people into this conversation as well. I am certain that what I don't know about working with "at-risk" (whatever that even means anymore!) African American youth could fill many books, which, Dr. Coach Powell has written many of. I have a LOT to learn from him, and can't help but feel an acute call to action from his words and wisdom. I was kind of jealous of how he was buddies with Dr. Joyce King, and would only dream to ever speak amongst them on that level. They are the village elders, to use some of Powell's words, and I would need permission from the village to speak. Yet while I feel very small and insignificant compared to Coach Powell's long body of work and experience, I hope that if I ever were seated at the table with him, I could add something to his thinking, and encourage him to hear and speak for even more voices in the young AA community. Even an impressive orator like Powell has room to learn and grow, and I would wager that he feels the same way.
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