By Joseph "Jazz" Hayden  (In response to: The Crime of “Saggy Pants”?)

Some say that Black youth subculture has reinforced every negative stereotype attributed to Blacks in   America from slavery to the present?  And that Black entrepreneurs, with the support of governmental and private media forces, have facilitated the creation of a black youth subculture that has been antithetical to everything that blacks have struggled for since our forced kidnapping from the shores of Africa and our subsequent enslavement and brutalization to this very day.    

The transition from a culture of racial pride, unity, and resistance to a culture of ignorance, self-abasement, and widespread fratricide against other people of color did not happen in a vacuum.  

The forties, fifties, and sixties in Harlem was a community of heightened political awareness, i.e., Marcus Garvey movement, Nation of Islam, NAACP, Black Panthers, Young Lords, Father Divine, and Daddy Grace, with a sense of black pride and community.  This was reflected in the politics, religion, activism, and foremost in the music of the times; Jazz, gospel, rhythm and blues, James Brown, Marvin Gaye, and the Temptations.  This was the Civil Rights era, Black Power movement, racial pride, activism, community organizing, Black Nationalism, self-defense, and black students organizing all around the country.  Today’s black youth culture could not have even been imagined then ---- much less gained any traction.  It took governmental policy and its Lap Dog Media to make today’s black youth sub-culture possible.

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