| 
The Sounds of Blackness
A
Message from the Interim Editor, Phil W. Petrie...
Africans who later became African Americans have given an indigenous music to
this nation ever since they have been here. First, there was the spiritual, a music W.E.B. Du
Bois said “stands today not simply as the sole American music, but as the most beautiful
expression of human experience born this side the seas.” From slavery also came chants and
hollers that eventually led to blues and work songs. Shortly after slavery’s end came ragtime,
a Black creation. Jazz quickly followed ragtime and morphed into many forms, especially
bebop, then “hard” bop. While all of this was going on, gospel music crept onto the scene and
has affected almost all forms of music.
With such a rich heritage and persistent lobbying by recording magnate and songwriter Kenny
Gamble, in 1979 President Jimmy Carter designated the month of June as Black Music Month. It
has been commemorated annually since then. We honor Black Music Month, too, in this May-June
issue of The Crisis. We feature two forms of music — one secular (rap), the other sacred (gospel).
The music of hip-hop’s culture is rap. We look back at rap from its beginnings when its
practitioners were community poets to the period when they became
corporate commodities downgrading women and lifting up gangsters
for huge profits. Is this a fatal flaw, or merely a precursor to a positive
change?
Gospel music, too, has undergone many changes since its popularization
by Thomas A. Dorsey in the 1930s. It isn’t your grandparents’
gospel. We profile Teresa Hairston, publisher of Gospel Today magazine
and a major player in the gospel industry determined to present
the good news with dignity. Through foundations she’s also working to
ensure that gospel music will be here for future generations.
We also profile Ms. Lorraine C. Miller, president of the NAACP
Washington, D.C. branch. Ms. Miller, senior adviser to House
Speaker Nancy Pelosi, was recently appointed as Clerk of the U.S.
House of Representatives. She is the first African American to serve in this capacity.
We move from the House of Representatives to the White House (maybe), as Dr. Ron
Walters gives us a perceptive view of Sen. Barack Obama and the politics of Blackness.
Although the current political dialogue is rife with discussions of whether Sen. Obama is
“Black enough” to represent the Black community, Walter believes his Blackness is not
enough. The key question, according to Walters, is whether Black Americans have the cultural
confidence that permit them to believe Sen. Obama is able to fully understand and to faithfully
represent their dominant interests in the political system.
Surely, this is the first time in American history that the prime qualification for a candidate
to run for president is Blackness; in the past this put one out of the running, not in it.
This month the Crisis Forum kicks off with the story of a violinist who also makes violins
for members of Washington’s National Symphony Orchestra. His may be the story of the only
African American luthier (a maker and repairer of stringed musical instruments) in the country.
If you know of another, please write and tell us. We’d like to know.
Finally, I would like to thank Publisher Roger Wilkins for providing me this opportunity to
act as interim editor-in-chief. I also thank Business Manager India Artis, Creative Director
Wayne Fitzpatrick, and Senior Editor Lottie Joiner for their help.
Letters
to the editor may be sent to
The Crisis
7600 Georgia Avenue, NW
Suite 405
Washington, DC 20012 or
thecrisiseditorial@naacpnet.org
* Letters may be edited for length or clarity.
|
