Hip Hop Remembrances: Digable Planets

I was a little behind the curve when it came to warming up to hip hop back in the early and middle 80s. I was much more interested the music coming out of the UK, from Duran Duran to Sade to the Smiths to Loose Ends. That music was innovative, and for me it was aspirational; hip hop seemed to me to be more of a reality based genre, so I wasn't really there.

I think it took going to a school as white as Hampden-Sydney for me to be slapped back into a black reality of sorts, and with that slap, hip hop was there to welcome me back into the fold. I took to it like a duck to water. I could write thousands of words to express how hip hop helped to shape aspects of who I am today, but I want to focus on just one group today: Digable Planets.

1993 was a year of promise for me. I'd come out of the closet to my family and friends, and I'd decided to pursue graduate school in history (which I would begin in the fall of the following year). That was the year that "Reachin' (A Refutation of Time and Space)" was released. Digable Planets' explicit combination of jazz and hip hop really appealed to me; it represented a sense of just how cool hip hop could be. I also liked the fact that Butterfly, Doodlebug, and Ladybug Mecca seemed like people with whom I could relate (like the brothers from De La Soul and A Tribe Called Quest). I wanted to feel that sense of connection, and they provided it.

"Where I'm From"


I remember that their next album "Blowout Comb" didn't do nearly as well, but I liked it just the same. I definitely love the song "9th Wonder (Blackitolism)," because I was "slicker" that year myself, and on a path that made real sense to me. Enjoy.

"9th Wonder (Blackitolism)"

Calling All Conservative White Men (and Others)

I am finding the discussion by primarily white male conservatives about the nomination of Sonia Sotomayor very interesting. I've been watching Pat Buchanan lead the charge for the oppressed white male on MSNBC (here is his latest column). I just read a blurb from John Derbyshire on "The Corner" on National Review Online. And I think I agree with Rachel Weiner's "Huffington Post" post that Sotomayor's nomination is beginning to show fissures within the conservative movement along racial lines.

This is something that only the white guys can tell me. Do white men really feel oppressed by the effort to diversify colleges/universities and workplaces (this includes white women in that diversity mix)? And, how do we practice equality under the law, when there are, I believe, many white men who perhaps share the disdain that Buchanan and Derbyshire seem to have toward racial minorities and women? How do we ensure that the likes of white men like that really would practice equality (that does not mean that all white men, and only all white men, seem to be created equal)?

And I just heard on MSNBC that Rush Limbaugh equated Sonia Sotomayor with David Duke. David Duke? Well the National Council of La Raza was compared to the Klan.

Ban Divorce in California (and Make It Retroactive to Everyone's First Spouse)

Once again, I have to come down from a high. I am excited that Sonia Sotomayor has been nominated to the SCOTUS. I am sad that the California Supreme Court has decided to uphold Proposition 8. That ruling just came down a few minutes ago.

Interestingly, the California court wimped out on us. If, as they have deemed, Proposition 8 is legal, then it would follow that the same sex marriages that they have declared safe, are in fact against the law. Should they not be nullified? Right now, there is a definite two tiered structure in California. When will those on the right, buoyed by the decision today, decide that their gay married neighbors, by just existing, should have their marriage destroyed. Remember, it violates the law of California. I am waiting for them to begin to destroy marriage, to do what they said that they are trying to prevent.

I suggest to all of my glbt (and straight allied) brothers and sisters in California to generate a petition banning divorce, the real destroyer of marriage, throughout California, and to have that law go retroactively, so that all of those married to someone other than their first spouse will be forced to have those first marriages reinstated.

If marriage is in need of protection, then go hard, and see how far you get. Destroy the marriages of the people who married last year in California, and explain why to the public.

Obama and the Supremes III

I am glad that BHO selected Sonia Sotomayor. I guessed early on that he would do so. I like the idea that a Justice on the SCOTUS should have empathy, intellectual heft and a respect for the Constitution (check out Jeffrey Toobin's analysis of Chief Justice Roberts to learn about a person I see as far from a person BHO would consider for the SCOTUS).

And it will be interesting to see if conservatives will go down the path that someone whose race, ethnicity or gender is a problem (since BHO's pick will not be a conservative, in which case those aforementioned qualities aren't as important, as long as a conservative ideology is held) with regard to being a good judge. I also wonder if they will step into the quagmire of arguing that somehow someone like Sotomayor cannot be the "best qualified," because her demographics "automatically" render her qualifications suspect.

Finally, it will be interesting to see how the GOP and the broader Hispanic community will do this dance. Politically, it will be quite difficult to go after Sotomayor with ideological guns blazing, and being able to reach out with real success to Hispanic communities (unless there is a major revelation that is crippling to her nomination).

Since "Preservation Nation" is Already Taken....

I am seriously considering starting another blog. If I decide to go that way, the blog will be directly related to my professional work in American history (African American and U.S. Sport among others) and historic preservation, with an emphasis on diversity in the fields. In a past life, I was Director for Diversity with a preservation organization. I am also an historian by training.

By working in the field of historic preservation, I feel like my appreciation for academic history and preservation have grown tremendously. I see the interrelationships; I see the puzzle pieces and how they fit together. Thankfully, I long understood that diversity is more than just race and ethnicity; it is reflective of all of the things that make us individually unique.

Though I know that everything cannot be saved (nor should everything be saved), I do believe that communities need to be fully engaged in determining what is of value, and what needs to be preserved for future generations. This story out of Bridgeport, CT is an excellent example of why more attention needs to be given to the preservation of historic resources in diverse communities.

Be on the lookout, and follow me if you like.

Supporting the GOP, the Christian Thing to Do (according to Liberty University)

Sometimes, one just has to shake his head. Liberty University in Lynchburg, VA (established by the late Jerry Falwell) has decided that it can no longer officially support the school's Democratic Club (which was formally recognized in October '08), because the values of the Democratic Party are not in line with the university. I have not a single problem with the school deciding not to fund the program. Private schools can do that.

My problem is with the inference that one cannot be a Democrat and a Christian. According to the article in the Lynchburg News Advance, the university's Vice President of Student Affairs, in an e-mail message, wrote "[t]he Democratic Party platform is contrary to the mission of Liberty University and to Christian doctrine...." Meanwhile, College Republicans has been at Liberty for years.

So, that's settled. It appears that the Republican Party is the party of Christ, while the Democratic Party is not. Therefore, supporting the Republican Party means that you support God. Following the Democratic Party is both immoral and anti-Christian. I could go into a nice long rant about this, but I think that the feelings expressed by the officials at Liberty speak for themselves without additional help from me.

Oh, and someone might want to tell all of those black Christians who have strayed from "the path" by voting Democratic all of these years.

Hey, Newt Gingrich! Double Standard Much?

I think the clip below will speak for itself; it's so pitiful. Man I love Rachel Maddow!

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