White Privilege...Divide & Conquer -- by Davey D

WHITE PRIVILEGE AND THE HISTORY OF DIVIDE AND CONQUER

(from: HIP HOP'S ULTIMATE BATTLE: RACE AND THE POLITICS OF DIVIDE AND CONQUER - by Davey D)

Going back to that standing room only panel at the Critical Resistance Conference at Berkeley, I noted that in my wildest dreams would I have imagined that I would see a day where the activities we did as young kids growing up the Bronx in the 1970s would evolve to a point where we have a packed conference hall with people of all races seriously discussing ways that Hip Hop could be utilized to help change the world. Because of what I had experienced in radio and media, I cautioned the audience to be aware, because it was just a matter of time before the perception of 'white privilege' and the illusion of racial unity comes in conflict with the very real unmet needs and dashed dreams of Hip Hop Culture's primary creators.

I acknowledged that it was great to see all sorts of people engaged in the conversation…Black white, Asian, Latino, Native American. And it was great to see so many people passionate about this thing we called Hip Hop... I also cautioned folks that we should clearly understand history and that what we were doing that day was very dangerous.

I elaborated on my point about us being dangerous by noting that historically there have been serious attempts by people in power to keep people of different ethnicities divided and untrusting of one another. Divide and Conquer has long been a hallmark of America dating all the way back to slavery. It started when rich aristocrats who ran the plantation created division between African slaves and white indentured servants who worked side by side and for the most part actually got along.

In order to prevent any sort of unity which might result in a rebellion, the slavemasters manipulated things by telling the white indentured servants that although they were servants they were superior to the Black slaves who they described as less then human. To further hammer that point home, they granted these poor whites 'slaves' special privileges which gave the illusion of them being better than the Black slaves who were once potential allies against the oppressive aristocrats. This was one of the beginnings of ethnic divide and conquer.

Over the years this divide and conquer technique that has been refined and has been skillfully used by those in power who have an agenda to control and rule masses of people for both economic and social gain. Sometimes its used to divide rich and poor, men and women, young and old. But it seems like whenever the masses of people begin to build bridges and create a space where they can discover they actually have a lot in common and can build toward creating a better world, something happens to knock us back and keep us at odds. This is especially true when it comes to building bridges along the lines of race. This happened in the 60s and 70s during the Civil Rights, Free Speech, Anti-War and Black Power Movements.

When Dr Martin Luther King attempted to merge the Civil Rights struggle to the masses of people who were kicking up dust about the war in Vietnam, he was roundly criticized. Folks who were in power at the highest echelons of government who had vigoriously supported King were repulsed by him reaching out to the anti-war movement...

Although Dr King foundly spoke about the need for Blacks and whites to come together it was when he actually made moves to serious reach out and involve poor whites who were under oppressive conditions [Poor People's March] that King got his strongest resistance. Just as King was getting ready to lead a huge March on Washington which included Blacks and poor whites he was assassinated.

When the Black Panther Party decided to hook up with the mostly white Free Speech and anti-war movements they found that the FBI program of cointelpro was intensified... It was later discovered through the Freedom of Information Acts that the US government had a program under director J Edgar Hoover to neutralize and discredit Black leaders and their respective organizations. They would use agent provocateurs, the press and key individuals and opposing organizations with an ax to grind or a long standing beef to carry out their plans of disruption. No one was immune from this insurgency program. Not the non-violent Martin Luther King and not the militant Black Panther Party. There were similar measures in place to undermine and weaken the anti-war and free speech movements as well.

There are many who point out that Chicago BP leader Fred Hampton was killed by Chicago police because he was unifying people of all races. He had linked up the Black gangs with the Latino Gangs and had already broken bread and was building alliances with the mostly white Young Patriots.

Of course we know that it was after Malcolm X got back from Mecca and begin to to talk about building bridges with African Nations and that he was no longer advocating for separation of the races that he was murdered. Many think that while he was killed by other Black men, that the FBI's cointel program was behind the devisive climate that lead to him being killed.

It's important to note all this because as I pointed out at that conference if history is any indicator, than we should not be surprised if similar attempts aren't made to manipulate and divide Hip Hop especially along racial lines. The fact that Hip Hop has brought so many people together represents a potential threat to many in power who wish to maintain the status quo by keeping keep folks at odds.

I recognize that for many discussions about race are oftentimes uncomfortable and we are often urged to avoid it and sweep things under the rug. But this issue is not going to go away by us ignoring it and sweeping it under the rug... If there's any place where a heartfelt discussion about race relations should take place it should be within the Hip Hop community. We all know Hip Hop to be brutally and oftentimes uncompromisingly honest. We also know the Hip Hop community to rise up and meet on new challenges head on...

So its in that spirit that I encourage folks to read these various essays that have popped up over the past couple of months.. Discuss them, debate them and build on them until we finally get over the hurdles are parents and grandparents never seemed to be bale to get over-Race. Also keep in mind that there will be a lot of resistance for a variety of reasons for us not to get past the issue of race. Finally I urge us not to LISTEN and REFLECT on the various perspectives that people are offering up. ASK QUESTIONS for further clarity rather than write off and condemn folks for not being on the same page as you. Let's not simply sugar coat things when discussing Hip Hop and Race for the sake of 'making nice' and not hurting feelings... Hip Hop was always been upfront, abrasive and honest and in many ways it emerged because it was a reaction to a society that was not always forthright.

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[For the full excellent article see:

HIP HOP'S ULTIMATE BATTLE:
RACE AND THE POLITICS OF DIVIDE AND CONQUER

http://www.daveyd.com/commentaryiseminemelvis.html ]

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Davey D is a nationally-known, prominent hiphop journalist, columnist and expert in the San Francisco Bay Area,
currently one of the lead hosts of KPFA-FM's (94.1fm) "Hard Knock Radio" show (M-F, 4:00-5:00pm, http://www.kpfa.org) out of Berkeley, CA,
and terminated former veteran host and DJ on the erroneosly *so-called*--fake!--'People's Station' KMEL, in San Francisco.