Customer Reviews

Everything But the Burden: What White People Are Taking from Black Culture

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

I had very high hopes for this collection--so high, in fact, that I kept hoping that it would get better all the way to the last essay. The first and main problem, I think, is that this is a topic better dealt with in a book-length and coherent manner. Oddly, though, I found "Race Matters" by Cornell West much more satisfying than this book even though that, too, is a collection. Perhaps the topic of black cultural influence needs at least a coherent idealogy within a collection of essays in order for a book to address it properly. Either way, this collection lacks a cohesive theme, and also a discernible sense of the problem. Because the essays deal with different aspects of white appropriation (and some, like the essay discussing "kinky afro human hair" don't seem to touch on white appropriation at all), a clear discussion of the issues surrouding white appropriation is impossible.

The second problem I had with this collection was the emphasis on anger--as discernible from indignation, a sense of irony, or irritation. I have never felt that emphasizing rage or race hatred is a productive method of dealing with racial issues, and I maintain my position here. Race is already an emotional issue, and I feel that a book exploring white appropriation of black culture should (1) explore the causes for such appropriation, (2) analyze the emotions that such appropriation elicits throughout the black community--and the white community, and (3) perhaps suggest possible ways to use white appropriation to raise the socioeconomic position of blacks as a community. This book emphasizes step (2), wih almost nothing of (1) and (3), and further almost exclusively highlights anger as the prevailing emotion. Surely there is SOMEONE in the black community who has some other emotion, at least in combination with anger, like a sense of irony, or sadness, or disappointment with regard to WHICH aspects of black culture are being appropriated. In addition, the attitudes of the white community (including the appropriators and the older generation who often dislike appropriation of black culture) with regard to approriation, and the reasons for such attitudes.

Last, I don't even feel like this collection explored all the ways that whites appropriate black culture! The most important aspects were covered, like the exoticization of black men and women as sexual objects, music, and athletics, but I still felt like there were other topics that weren't covered. For instance, the discussion of athletics and speech patterns was cursory at best; additionally, there are political and religious appropriations that have taken place (the religious appropriation being especially visible in the South, where numerous traditional Gospel songs have found their way into white churches). The efforts black politicians have to make to attract white constituencies is left undiscussed, as is the co-opting of black worship traditions by white evangelical churches.

On the whole, I'm very disappointed, and I'm going to re-read "Race Matters" to erase this book from my mind.

greg tate's "everything but the burden" is a wide ranging collection of literary essays most of which deal convincinglyand several quite brilliantly,with the subject at hand- how white folks appropriate and misappropriate black culture.
the writer attributes the book's title to his mother who "once wrote a poem called 'everything but the burden'" in which she railed against white people's wanting everything culturally identifiable as black---but the burden.
my personal favorites among the essays are the ones by the brilliant writer and editor greg tate; fashion stylist michaela angela davis' poignant piece on growing up black and beautiful but not sure of being either; historian and jazz scholar robin b d kelly; writer and etherealist latasha n diggs satire on her satirical fetish for asian men ; and a breathtakingly informative and analytical piece on musician james brown's cultural influence on post- colonial west african youth by author/filmmaker/scholar manthia diawara.

an altogether welcome addition to the increasingly important writings about what"burden" contributor and artist/cinematographer arthur jafa calls the "post-soul culture".

Everything But the Burden: What White People Are Taking from Black CultureThis collection of essays and short commentaries is well-written and hits the mark not just for African Americans, but for those people who keep current - or want to keep current - with the origins of all those hip, cool sayings. It will be surprising to find that among some of us, this phenomenon is far from new.

The intriguing title of the book raises hopes that one will have the opportunity to learn about how whites have historically taken advantage of blacks by using their unpaid labor and appropriating their various extraordinarily artistic and cultural accomplishments, while at the same time lacking sympathy to their plight of poverty and racism. The essays in this book, however, largely fail to address this issue. One essay in particular stands out: a white author long describes at length the bullying he suffered at the hands of blacks in his youth, then in the last paragraph mentions how his brother is a rapper.... please.

Tate's anthology is so badly needed that if it didn't appear, someone would have *had* to invent it. Why? The answer is simple. Black cultural nationalism is not simply an historical relic. It is a smart, vital 'movement', not the hyper-masculine, homophobic monolith it is routinely assumed to be. It has taken on new shapes & forms. At a time when Black neo-cons & neo-liberals, with the support of the majority of US body politic, are punitive anti-essentialists, asserting that all cultural production is a result of 'hybridity', the writers in this book are not afraid to point out, in a nuanced and intelligent manner, that white people are still taking whatever they like from Black cultures, and leaving the hard work to Black people. Filmmaker and sub-rosa genius Arthur Jafa's mindblowing essay, 'My Black Death' is a brilliant polemic which responds unequivocally to the book's assertion. If this crucial book fails to convince readers that Tate and the contributors are not kidding around, consider the (fairly) recent incident in which Eric Clapton, while observing the late Eddie Kendricks in a studio session, asked the engineer if he could go into the studio and look down Kendricks' throat, believing there was a *physiological* *thing* that would explain how Kendricks' was able to sing in the way he did. Consider why beloved English 'techno' heroes 808 State, in an interview with a UK music paper, said that, for them, making dance music invented in Chicago & Detroit by Black people, was the "the white kids' revenge". Urban legends? Heard/read from a source wholly unconnected to the events? No. It is apparently much easier to consider the fate of James Byrd, Amadou Diallo, Abner Louima, and too many others as repulsive racist violence (and that's what those acts are) but stand idly by while Clapton, 808 State, etc., etc. go on with their hatred/envy of Black people. Please read this book. There will likely be very few other books like this in the forseeable future because they don't permit neo-liberals and conservatives to sleep well.

THis book belies an obsession w/ grievance on the part of the editor as well as most of his contributors. IF immitation is indeed the sincerest form of flattery, then why so much outrage at this cultural borrowing? The goal seems to be basically to vilify whites as ungrateful thieves. Unfortunately, however, the premise of the book itself is flawed in that it is based on the false belief in a unitary ,original "black culture" which developed independently from whites. I will use an example on the upper end and one on the lower. Jazz does have African roots but jazz as a form of music was something that was mediated by and developed in the West with at least as much input by whites as by blacks. On the low end I would simply point readers to the title essay in Sowell's "Black Rednecks & White Liberals" where he makes a bulletproof case that the single biggest influence on what is known today "authentic" ghetto culture was the culture of the neighboring poor irish and scots from the British highlands (This is where "Ax" for "Ask" came from, BTW). The result was a hybrid culture similar to the one Elvis grew up in (which explains why he seems similar to blacks [a little] but not really. I would highly recommend Gurelnick's exquisitely balanced and highly readable 2 volume bio) Heretical,maybe, but true. I think the lesson here should be that we are all assimilators, blacks as well as whites.

You can see in the aggressive, attitude-copping title and subtitle where Tate thought he was going with this book, but he doesn't get anywhere near the mark. A lazily-edited, not well thought-through mixed bag of essays, poetry, memoirs and anecdotes, it vogues with some heat but brings little light and few insights to the notion of white folks apropriating black culture. A few good, smart entries--Hilton Als, Manthia Diawara, a couple others--but the real problem is that Tate provided no editorial cohesion or coherence, no real sociological framework, historical perspective or philosophical focus. He just threw a bunch of pieces together and called it a book. It's a huge, important topic that deserves much more thought and care than this--which is how many other, better books treat it.

"Everything But the Burden" is a book that promises much and delivers little. Subtitled "What White People Are Taking From Black Culture" the book holds forth the promise of exploring how Black culture has influenced white society. Unfortunately, the promise is broken.

Asides from the first chapter, Eminem: The New White Negro, "Everything But The Burden" fails to deliveranything of substance. The book which is a collection of essays by more than 15 writers is an esoteric mixture of the scholarly and the street and that is its downfall. The book misses its mark by trying to mix Hip-Hop cool with Ivory tower scholarship, an idea which is certainly ambitious, but not impossible.

Unfortunately, there are not enough writing chops here to pull it off and the reader is left to stumble through 257 pages waiting for the revelation of the book's title.

There is nothing new here, even though the introduction and first chapter are interesting, the remainder of the book is a collection of disjointed essays, poetry and fatal collisions of Hip-Hop advocacy and attempts to be glib, but as far as "What White People Are Taking From Black Culture" the search is too long and too difficult for the few gems to be found.

In the midst of trying to keep it all together, Greg Tate and other contributing authors share their thoughts on the world today as they see it: whites trying to be black. The shocking sensation of pointing fingers and exposing what society may deem "The Great White Hope" is surreal, but embarrassing, nonetheless.

From entertaining thoughts of why certain whites deliver their own renditions of what it means to be black, to emphasizing the notion that they need to stay in their place and stop portraying something that they are not, EVERYTHING BUT THE BURDEN touches the sensitive, the desensitized and the current "victims" of society's finest.

To say the least, EVERYTHING BUT THE BURDEN is nothing short of controversial. With its own spin and opinions on topics ranging from music to art, this culmination of what it means to not have to endure the burden, while at the same time being able to capitalize and cash in on the black burden is done with superb writing style. Although the main focus is to vent and share opinions, it seems that giving these topics justification for discussion places the real burden elsewhere...

Reviewed by T. Belinda Williams
of The RAWSISTAZ Reviewers

Why such a book needs to be written in the first place? What is it's social redeeming feature and how does it benefit the racial problems we have in this country? Of course the Roots of this book go much deeper, it's the USA version of the "Out of Africa "books. Those books insist that the Greeks, and others, stole the art, religion, philosophy, science and literature from Africa, apperently the Greeks were unable to come up with anything new without consulting with Africans first(of course we never find out which Africans). Now we are told that White Americans are ripping of Black Culture, that we want everything that is black; and that, Heaven forbid) that white Churches have even stolen Gospel songs. What this book reflects is cultural arrogance and gross ignorance. If anything, the Hip Hop, gang signs, sexualizing of black men or women and the worshipping of athletes show a distinct lack of culture. Of course the trend is to blame Whitey for both pushing and stealing from this culture; therefore absolving Black Americans from any responsibility for social degeneration. It might be more historically correct that Afro-Americans have been using and misusing European culture for the past 400 yrs. Besides, where and from whom, did the slaves learn the religion, songs and music to develop the Gospel Songs; I doubt that they brought them over from Africa.