Cultural identity is a person’s background and how it refers to that person or groups culture, what you eat, think, and the actions that you take are all parts of the cultural aspect of culture identity. If you was to ask someone what the culture identity of the African Americans were no matter the race of the person you asked they nine times out of ten would mention the importance of black history month, but while the races around us are able to recognize the importance of this historic month why is it that today’s generation of young African Americans don’t realize the importance of this month? The race of people it celebrates, has placed it on the back burner. Due to the rise of technology and social media in today’s age has taken the youth’s eyes off of what is culturally vital in the black community opposed to the generations that came before. Have you taken a look around lately? What do you see? When was the last time you walked around and actually seen a youth without some sort of technology in their hands. Technology and social media has almost completely taken over. New society is now revolving around all thing techie. Today’s generation is known as “Generation like”, to acknowledge the fact that everything that gets noticed in today’s society is only by social media. This has affected the African American culture greatly, todays black youth are far less likely to have an understanding of the rich legacy celebrated by Black History Month than let’s say their grandparent’s generation. The average grandparent’s generation started in the late 50’s a time where they would have been directly affected by the Civil Rights Movement and other major events that were taking place in in the Black community. They were the... ... middle of paper ... ... also influences them to partake in negative activities. "Every film shouldn't have to be about some urban, hip-hop drug thing," (Lee.S) the way that blacks are portrayed in the eye of the media is nine times out of ten in a negative manner, this only adds on to the negative stereotypes that come along with being s African American. Music also affects the black youths close ties to fashion, and the news looks. The youth of today are so caught up if the new fads of today that they don’t even acknowledge or take time to educate themselves on their past, they are ignorant to the rich legacy that their ancestors have left behind. This generations has very little to no education about the past so what will they have to pass on to their children at this rate, if someone doesn’t swoop in and relocate the blacks focus to what’s important our rich legacy will soon disappear.
...nd provided Black Amer¬ica with tal¬en¬ted con¬tem¬por¬ary lead¬ers who voiced the struggle they were facing. Its major impact comes from the fact that it has encour¬aged a pro¬found Nation¬al¬ism in Black America.” Today’s Hip-hop & Rap artist promote the culture with guns, dope, violence and sexism instead the manhood and womanhood, support of the struggles, prisoners, and good entertainment from the roots of Afro centric culture. There may be a few that still install Black Nationalism into today’s society, like Jay-Z and P. Diddy who have built empires that will lead others to want to succeed and follow their the success route. In today’s society the youth lacks the encouragement to stand up for their rights and decides to fight to get their points across. They don’t think about the self-determination, self-defense or self-respect its all about actions, no unity.
In the month of February, African Americans have the privilege to reminisce and honor the people that stood up for the rights and citizenship for black people. Some people take it as a time to condemn all Caucasians for the harsh treatment the African Americans received on the road to success. I am satisfied with the African American race for constantly instilling the people with information about how they had to fight for freedom, but should that be all they discuss during Black History Month? Many argue that the Caucasians should feel bad and go into hiding during Black History Month because of what their ancestors did and only talk about how they enslaved the black people and didn’t consider them as humans. I disagree, in order to fully understand black history, one must educate people on all aspects of black history.
This article is titled “Rap music is harmful to African American communities” and is written by E. Faye Williams. Williams is a chairwoman of the National Congress of Black Women (NCBW). The national congress of black women is a non-profit organization dedicated to the educational, political, economic, and cultural development of African American women and their families. Williams’s article “Rap music is harmful to African American communities” makes her qualified and a credible source to be writing on this question: If rap music and other media is harming the African American community? In her article, she states her side of the argument of how rap music and media are indeed harming the African American community, using the context, and reasoning,
In black media today the hip hop culture is often referred to when defining what it means to be a black person in society. In particular the
... model for how the entertainment and media industries depict black people must change. Despite the progress that blacks have worked toward since the days of slavery, society continues to give in to the monetary benefits of producing self-disparaging entertainment and media. It is not only up to the directors, editors, producers and writers to establish this change, but it should also be the demand of the people, or the consumer. If the images of black people in the media are improved the outlook within the community will improve as well. Not only will positive goals and achievements become more realistic for black people if the media outlets discontinue their practice of equating blacks with aggression, lawlessness and violence, but a greater good will also result for whites, which would be represented by a true autonomy and equality in American society.
As hip hop culture became prevalent in pop culture, so did black culture. Hip hop stems from black struggle. Their vernacular, songs, and spiritual ways were different from what whites were used to. Their different lifestyle of “living on the edge” was intriguing yet inaccessible for the whites living among them. Thus, this initiated America’s fascination with the culture. It became about what people assume and perceive about black people rather than what they actually are. In essence, an essential to cool is being on the outside, looking in. In the media and celebrities today,
“At a time when people are seeking to become more culturally aware it is important to note distinctions which make cultures different and unique from one another” (Giger, 2013, p. 163). “Culture involves much more than race, ethnic background, and language” (Smith, 2013, p. 32). Culture is a combination of learned behaviors, beliefs, and values that are reinforced through exposure to social interactions within one’s immediate social group or surrounding society. A personal interview was conducted with Andrea Sinkler, is an African-American female, whose culture influence is mainly attributed from her association with family and social interactions.
Rap has been around since 1973, when Kool DJ Herc introduced this new mash of jazz, soul, gospel, and reggae. This culture has been focused around African Americans, and since has served as a voice for the underrepresented, that is spreading violence, alcohol, and drugs. In this genre the most popular and successful boast about who has murdered more foes as breezily as other artists sing about love. Rap music tells stories of drugs, violence, and alcohol. The youth of America is constantly exposed to this kind of music, and our teenagers are being desensitized to the effects of these stories.
Black history month is an annual recognition of historical events that took place during slavery. This observance period is set aside to honor the lives and history of African American descendants, in many parts of the world. It is a way of giving honor to African Americans, and those who made it possible for African Americans to have a voice within white society. It is observed during the month of February, and is recognized as an historical cultural, and educational presentations across the United States, Canada, and the United Kingdom. Black history month is observed in schools, churches, and in different countries. Some people argue that designating only one specific month to focus on African American history is just not enough time,
The aspect of African-American Studies is key to the lives of African-Americans and those involved with the welfare of the race. African-American Studies is the systematic and critical study of the multidimensional aspects of Black thought and practice in their current and historical unfolding (Karenga, 21). African-American Studies exposes students to the experiences of African-American people and others of African descent. It allows the promotion and sharing of the African-American culture. However, the concept of African-American Studies, like many other studies that focus on a specific group, gender, and/or creed, poses problems. Therefore, African-American Studies must overcome the obstacles in order to improve the state of being for African-Americans.
Everyone is raised within a culture with a set of customs and morals handed down by those generations before them. Most individual’s view and experience identity in different ways. During history, different ethnic groups have struggled with finding their place within society. In the mid-nineteen hundreds, African Americans faced a great deal of political and social discrimination based on the tone of their skin. After the Civil Rights Movement, many African Americans no longer wanted to be identified by their African American lifestyle, so they began to practice African culture by taking on African hairdos, African-influenced clothing, and adopting African names. By turning away from their roots, many African Americans embraced a culture that was not inherited, thus putting behind the unique and significant characteristics of their own inherited culture. Therefore, in an African American society, a search for self identity is a pervasive theme.
Black history month is mainly a month that promotes racism among society. In nineteen seventy-six, America names February as black history month, as a commemoration of significant events and individuals of the African-American ancestry. Even though, black history month started as an innocent idea and if the American government would have rejected it, there would have been a colossal backlash across the black community. However, if one would take a step back and look at the big picture, one would notice that black history is American history, shows that not all ethnic groups is treated equally and brings a past time up that pours salt in old wounds. Under those circumstances, there should not be a black history month in the United States
However, these kinds of music can be very destructive to teens. It is not the youth’s fault; it is the content that the music contains. Although Rap and Hip Hop music can be a force for good, they can also have an extremely negative impact on the attitudes and behaviors of our youth. Dr. Boyce Watkins compares Hip Hop to “Adolph Hitler’s Mien Kampf as a harmless little book or the Bible has no impact on Christianity” (KultureKritic). Basically he is trying to say that when you control a few groups of people’s minds you are controlling the people themselves.
McWhorter, John. “Rap Music Harms the Black Community.”Popular Culture. Ed. John Woodward. Farmington Hills, MI: Thompson Gale, 2005. 53-59.
Does hip-hop music effect today’s youth in a positive or negative way? The effects of hip-hop music has been disputable following the time when its rise into the social standard in the late twentieth century, but Hip- hop music is not just one sided but can be both positive and negative on today’s youth.