restructr!

zuky:

[ I wrote this piece in 2007 in response to one of those regular waves of white condemnation of “gangster culture” in Black music. Reposting here with some tweaks and updates. It was originally published on my old blog on April 13, 2007. ]

In order to talk about gangster culture at all, we have to begin by talking about how we, in US society, live in a culture which celebrates the machinery of mass violence and extols the heroic virtues of war. We live in a culture where misogyny is the norm, where women are assaulted and raped and objectified and demeaned and otherwise abused every day, every hour, every minute, without much bellyaching from the pundit class. We live in a society whose leaders speak of killing and humiliating their enemies with barely-concealed chest-thumping and juvenile macho posturing. We live in a society whose budgetary priorities demonstrate a violent obsession with body-shattering weaponry and a distinct lack of interest in the health and well-being of human beings.

So I agree with those who are saying that it’s time for all of us to confront the virulent culture of violence and misogyny and crime that is polluting our world. And it begins at the top: with the corporatist kleptocracy of the US government, the global gangster state which dominates and exploits through violence and intimidation and the hoarding of wealth, granting favors to loyal subjects, issuing threats to the unruly, and killing rivals. If we can eradicate the culture of violence and misogyny and crime at the top of our society, then just maybe we’ll have a shot of eradicating it at the bottom too.

All that aside, in my opinion we do have a problem with mass-media representations which glorify gang violence. The most highly-acclaimed television series in recent years tells the story of an out-of-control foul-mouthed misogynistic group of gangsters who regularly murder and rape with impunity: The Sopranos. The protagonist, Tony Soprano, is a semi-sympathetic character whose leadership role in his criminal gang is portrayed primarily as a psychological burden; the pain to his torn conscience receives more play than the pain he inflicts. So if we’re to go after the glorification of gangster culture in the mass media, The Sopranos is a good place to start. But that’s not what most white critics are talking about when they bemoan gangster culture; they’re talking about Black people.

Actually, basically every racial and ethnic group in the USA has its history of street gangs. The reality is that gangsterism is a predictable response to certain social conditions having nothing to do with race, ethnicity, or genetics. Nevertheless, the story of African American gangs does indeed have unique characteristics, because the African American story is unique. So let’s talk about Black gangs.

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