“Uh, what’s happening CC?
They still call it the White House
But that’s a temporary condition, too.
Can you dig it, CC?”
(Lyrics from Parliament’s Chocolate City LP)

Back in 1975 when George Clinton and the P-Funk band Parliament released Chocolate City, a tongue in cheek musical parody on the African American population majority of Washington, D.C. it is doubtful if any of those listeners thought a black man would ascend to this nation’s highest office.

“There’s a lot of chocolate cities, around
We’ve got Newark, we’ve got Gary
Somebody told me we got L.A.
And we’re working on Atlanta
But you’re the capital, CC”
(Lyrics from Parliament’s Chocolate City LP)

No doubt, today’s Hip Hop youth prone to believing conspiracies such as Tupac still being alive are probably declaring that the often sampled, 67-year old, multi-colored hair George Clinton is a prophet of sorts. Chocolate City would go on to reach number 18 on the Billboard soul LP charts in 1975 and later hit #91 on the album charts. “Chocolate City”, the title track and first single, reached #24 on the black chart and #94 on the Billboard Hot 100. Prior to Parliament’s use of the moniker Chocolate City local D.C. Radio One’s flagship station WOL-AM regularly referred to D.C. as “chocolate city” because of the preponderance of African Americans making up the capital city’s population.

“Hey, CC!
They say your jivin’ game, it can’t be changed
But on the positive side,
You’re my piece of the rock
And I love you, CC.
Can you dig it?”
(Lyrics from Parliament’s Chocolate City LP)

The year 1975 was an eventful, if not sometimes turbulent one, in the U.S. and abroad. John N. Mitchell, H. R. Haldeman and John D. Ehrlichman were found guilty in the Watergate cover-up and sentenced from 30 months to 8 years in jail; the South Vietnamese surrender Saigon and the remaining American POWs are evacuated back to the United States effectively ending the Vietnam War; President Gerald Ford escapes two assassination attempts in one month; home videotape systems (VCRs) are developed in Japan by Sony (Betamax) and Matsushita (VHS); the Altair home computer kit allows consumers to build and program their own personal computers; Saturday Night Live premieres on NBC; the current median household income (in current dollars) is $11,800; a first class stamp is 10-cents and the federal debt is $541.9 billion.

“Hey, uh, we didn’t get our forty acres and a mule
But we did get you, CC, heh, yeah
Gainin’ on ya
Movin’ in and around ya
God bless CC and its vanilla suburbs”
(Lyrics from Parliament’s Chocolate City LP)

This particular year also was cause for African Americans to celebrate small but important gains: Arthur Ashe becomes the first African American to wins the British Men’s Singles at Wimbledon; the Morehouse School of Medicine (Atlanta) becomes the only black medical school established in the United States in the 20th Century; General Daniel “Chappie” James of the Air Force becomes the first African American four star general; The first black owned television station, WGPR, begins broadcasting in Detroit, and Frank Robinson becomes the first black Major League Baseball manager when he takes over the Cleveland Indians.

“Ah, blood to blood
Ah, players to ladies
The last percentage count was eighty
You don’t need the bullet when you got the ballot
Are you up for the downstroke, CC?
Chocolate city
Are you with me out there?”
(Lyrics from Parliament’s Chocolate City LP)

In retrospect the iconoclastic cover art stands out even more so, because it displays images of the United States Capitol, the Washington Monument, and the Lincoln Memorial in the form of a milk chocolate medallion. The trickster-musician Clinton and his sidekick co-writers (Bernie Worrell and Bootsy Collins) are probably winking at one another in a knowing way–particularly since the mainstream press and the Obama cabinet have patterned the President elect as a 21st century reincarnation of the great emancipator Abraham Lincoln.

When the second executive order of the Emancipation Proclamation was issued by Honest Abe in 1863, it is highly likely that even he believed (or wanted) a tall, rangy, Senator of African ancestry with a non-Anglo name from his home state of Illinois, would in a little over 135 years become the President of the United States.

“And when they come to march on ya
Tell ‘em to make sure they got their James Brown pass
And don’t be surprised if Ali is in the White House
Reverend Ike, Secretary of the Treasure
Richard Pryor, Minister of Education
Stevie Wonder, Secretary of FINE arts
And Miss Aretha Franklin, the First Lady
Are you out there, CC?”
(Lyrics from Parliament’s Chocolate City LP)

Maybe George Clinton and crew in their own cosmic, otherworldly, way knew something in 1975 that the rest of us Americans are only understanding today.

“A chocolate city is no dream
It’s my piece of the rock and I dig you, CC”
(Lyrics from Parliament’s Chocolate City LP)

“A setting sun gives off no heat”
—Hayward L. Oubre, visual artist

Chicago and the Chicago political scene have long been said to be the playground of an assortment of unsavory politicians, corrupt and crooked public officials, shady hustlers and Mafioso old school gangsters (e.g. Sam Giancana, Al Capone, Bugs Moran) and their modern day prodigy (crews that go by names like Latin Kings, Vice Lords and Gangster Disciples). However, the recent comments whispered by aging Civil rights leader and longtime activist Rev. Jesse Jackson into an open microphone, to another guest on a Fox network program, to castrate presidential hopeful Barack Obama was the epitome of Windy City gangsterism.

Far from being a simple case of individual jealousy between individuals, the Obama/Jackson differences signify a greater issue: generational disconnect and ego starvation. Age and experiences tend to affect the viewpoint of the human being. Across the United States and the world, as they always have, youth are re-defining their realities, perspectives, vantage points and world views via their music, clothing, mores, technological advancements etc. The Baby Boomer, Civil Rights and Anti-Vietnam War Homo-sapiens scarcely understand their text messaging, computer saavy offspring.

For the Rev. Jackson and his Civil Rights era cronies Barack Obama’s theme of non-racialist collaboration, racial reconciliation and content of character seems to threaten their hegemony as the leader/spokesmen of African Americans and lower class Americans; equally it could cut into the lucrative race-based lectures, seminars and Shakedowns that have been said to benefit Rev. Jackson and friends. Of course this also applies to those on the opposite side (e.g. Rush Limbaugh, David Horowitz, Ann Coulter, Sean Hannity and Bill O’Reilly et. al) that have benefited financially from playing up racial differences and immigration issues.

For both sides (Conservative and Liberal) to expect today’s youth demographic to buy into their out of date manifestos and well worn truths, is analogous to the U.S. military in Iraq launching a ground offensive using Revolutionary War era muskets.

Amazingly, Rev. Jackson’s comments on Fox news that Obama was “talking down to black people” based on the latter’s Fathers Day sermon at a church, in which he asked African American men to be more responsible, seemed to be along the lines of comedia Bill Cosby’s much debated comments made in 2004 at an NAACP convention. Incidentally, several months later in July 2004, Jackson was on the stage beside Cosby at a fundraiser dinner for Jackson’s Rainbow/Push Coalition. At that time according to media sources Jackson defended a worked up and ranting Cosby by saying: “Bill is saying lets fight the right fight, lets level the playing field…drunk people can’t do that, illiterate people can’t do that.” Apparently Cosby’s ability to put large sums of money into the Reverend’s coffers far outweighed any comments the Cos had made that some took to be offensive and degrading when it came to African Americans.

Interestingly enough, for all of the Group Think-ism about black radicalism and extremism history points out the fact that African Americans, on the whole, tend to be pretty conservative when it comes to most issues of personal behavior. Even the Chicago based raconteur and Nation of Islam minister Louis Farrakhan seems to be speaking the same type of ultra-conservative, self-help message that sounds similar, at times, to that of Pat Buchanan, Jerry Falwell and Rush Limbaugh.

Many of the Clinton supported Old Guard Civil Rights activists like John Lewis and Andrew Young were not supporters of Obama during the Democratic primaries–(actually at times both were greater detractors than ardent Hillary supporters)–and attempted to rally African Americans behind Hillary Clinton, whose husband Bill was known to give numerous insider perks to certain people during his presidential days. The often beat up (during the Civil Rights protests and Freedom Rides) John Lewis eventually recanted his support for Hillary after black Georgians made overtures that he (Lewis) would not receive their electoral support in the future. The congressman and Super Delegate later retracted his support for Hillary and sputtered a new position: “The peoples of the 5th district have spoken!” Translation: Most of you (my constituents) are on the Obama change wagon, so I guess I might as well get with the program. His buddy in “Civil Rights redneck beat downs,” Martin Luther King, Jr. confidant, former Atlanta mayor and Nigerian oil speculator Andrew Young was also heavily criticized by African American youth and hip hop generationalists that were born many, many years after the passing of the 1964 Civil Rights Bill for his “bought and paid” attitude.

At the core of these generational divides is ego and what author Charles Johnson says may be the “end of the black American narrative“. Or rather, according to Obama and todays color-blind youth, the forging of a new postmodern racial construct may not be in line with Rev. Jackson and the Old Guard Civil Rights outlook. Following a protest march in the nations capital several years ago, one seasoned Harlem activist was said to have commented to a local newspaper: “Well, they (the opposition and source of the protest) have something for marching feet these days–Scholl’s foot pads.”

Charles Johnson’s narrative revision is not applicable to Rev. Jackson, Al Sharpton and his comrades alone, but also goes for Cold War ludites, rabid southern segregationists and that particular clique of citizenry that worship Rush Limbaugh, Jesse Helms and Ann Coulter as the coming of Jesus Christ. Problems of war, economic demise, food shortages and climate/ecological upheaval seem to be the issues on the radar of today’s youth. Thus, the left and right rhetoric and ideologies, represented in the worldviews of Jesse Jackson and Jesse Helms, appear more increasingly as dinosaur fossils to youth seeking middle ground and equitable solutions.

It certainly appears as though the rise of Obama, and other post Civil Rights babes threatens the affluence of the older “shakedown” activists and the legitimate politicians, conscious clergyman and well-meaning change agents still ensconced in a mythical past. As some black youth have contended, “we appreciate and revere the contributions made by Rev. Jackson and the older Civil Rights leaders, but this is a new day.”

Indeed it is. Indeed it is.

With the results of the North Carolina Democratic primaries between Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton young people of various genders, ethnic backgrounds and hues have decided that a CHANGE of mind, thought and aspiration is needed if people are to survive in the 21st Century. Here is what our youth, our future think of their parents, and grandparents antiquated way of thinking.

Youth independence within the “Dymaxion” framework refers to any featherless biped e.g. young person between the ages of 13 and 23. These ages reflect the time that children start to change physically and psychologically, are not as dependent on their parents or guardians and are old enough to drive cars, go to college and reproduce children that look like them. But wait—no longer are little Suzie and little Bobby allowed to grow into adult Susan and big husky Robert. The parents of today’s youth are holding on to their colleges are children as though they are still in kindergarten.

It has become normal for today’s parents to call their son’s or daughter’s university professors to inquire why their adult children received an F instead of an A; or for mom to write up a resume and then badger a perspective employer about how Jr. or Sally did in the interview; or for mom to call the residence hall every morning at 8:00 am to find out if their adult child ate a decent breakfast and studied for the upcoming English literature examination.

It is good that today’s parents have a closer relationship with their children; probably greater than at any other time in American history. However, in the current technological, interactive and globally competitive world which has seen formerly lesser developed nations like India and China surpass U.S. innovation, maybe it is time American parents followed the example set by the parents of Virgin Atlantic CEO Richard Branson.

Growing up in Britain in the 1950s Branson said that his “parents continually set challenges for us. My mother was determined to make us independent.” This is the complete opposite of the typical American parent that expects a call from their progeny every hour on the hour.

Branson’s headmaster told him on leaving the boarding school he was attending: “Congratulations Branson: I predict you will either end up in jail or a millionaire.” The dyslexic and slightly rebellious Branson ended up the latter.

Here are a few things mentioned in Branson’s autobiography Losing My Virginity: How I Survived, Had Fun, and Made a Fortune Doing Business, My Way that helped him become independent and find his own way in the world.

1. His mother stopped the family car a few miles from home and made a 4 year old Ricky find his way home. He got hopelessly lost but finally made it home.

2. At the age of 11 Branson’s mother packed him a lunch and told him to ride his bike to a relative’s house in Bournemoth fifty miles away and return the next day. He had to find his own water and did not have a map.

3. At the age of 5 his aunt bet him ten shillings he couldn’t learn to swim in a day—in the ocean. A day later, after spending hours swallowing a lot of water, scratching his legs on rocks and being chilled by freezing cold water he learned to swim.

4. As a boy he often played a game called River Run where you raced your bike downhill, then at the last moment braked to a stop at the edge of a riverbank. This was a challenge for Branson and his boyhood pals.

5. While in school the 15 year old Branson and a classmate started a magazine that would have interviews with famous people and include articles from students all over the U.K. In the publishing industry of 2008 it is slightly risky for the seasoned businessman to start a fledgling publication—Branson did it as a teenager.

Well, parents that chauffeur your kids to all their extra-curricular events or go to the extreme and chart out their 8-to-5 schedules, and generally don’t allow for individual exploration what can you do? I would suggest that you take some tips from Branson’s parents because apparently the strategy works. He turned out to be a well-rounded humanitarian and millionaire business owner.

New York Sun columnist Lenore Skenazy has recently come under media and public scrutiny for letting her then 9-year old son Izzy (now 10 years) ride a New York city subway by himself. Skenazy wrote about Izzy’s adventurous, carefree jaunt in her April 1, 2008 Sun column. Parents were outraged; morning news show pundits stared wide-eyed at Skenazy in disbelief and paid on air psychologists extolled the virtues of safety and good parenting skills.

In her article entitled “Here is Your Metro Card” Skenazy said:

“Anyway, for weeks my boy had been begging for me to please leave him somewhere, anywhere, and let him try to figure out how to get home on his own. So on that sunny Sunday I gave him a subway map, a MetroCard, a $20 bill, and several quarters, just in case he had to make a call.

No, I did not give him a cell phone. Didn’t want to lose it. And no, I didn’t trail him, like a mommy private eye. I trusted him to figure out that he should take the Lexington Avenue subway down, and the 34th Street cross-town bus home. If he couldn’t do that, I trusted him to ask a stranger. And then I even trusted that stranger not to think… Long story short: My son got home, ecstatic with independence.”

Was young master Skenazy’s journey perilous, dangerous or the scheme of an uncaring mother? To some the answer might be to the affirmative. But hold on, American history—past and current—is full of examples of parents that allowed their young charges to learn, really learn, the old fashion way—through their experiences. In this day of instant messaging and cell phones where parents keep their adult, college-aged, children tethered to their apron strings with constant calls enquiring whether they got enough sleep, passed their mid-term tests, took their vitamins or ate a sufficient breakfast.

Consider the fact that many years ago another mother in London (United Kingdom) put her four year old son out of the family car miles from home and told to find his way home. The young boy that found his way home was Richard Branson the founder of Virgin Airlines and one of the richest people in the world. Also, Branson was a school dropout.

How would the average American parent react if little Johnny was suddenly thrust into harm’s way as a soldier in Iraq? How would the country react to the news that teenagers were being conscripted to fight in a war? Well, one of the greatest and most decorated naval admirals in American history, who as a twelve year old, commandeered a captured British whaling vessel during the Civil War was David Farragut.

Another enterprising and curious youngster was Thomas Edison. During the Civil War Edison, then age twelve, traveled on trains across the U.S. obtaining news from telegraph operators, which he published in his financially successful broadsheet during the Civil War. It was the first American newspaper to carry such in-depth news on the Civil War. This same adventurous and curious young man, who later invented the filament for the electric light and numerous other inventions, only attended school for three months of his entire life.

So, maybe there is something to be said for allowing American youngsters to explore, learn and live. If this type of learning experience will spark creativity, learning and innovation in American educational institutions I am all for passing out train tokens to every school-aged youth supplemented by John Taylor Gatto’s excellent book The Underground History of American Education.

With the national airing of Dan Klores’s and ESPN’s release of the epic four hour, 2-part film “Black Magic” many American youth and people in foreign countries will be introduced to the exploits, heroics and life of the man some called “Jesus”, “Black Magic” and “The Pearl”. After seeing this footage there is no wonder Vernon Earl Monroe was chosen as one of the top 50 all-time best players in the NBA.

If his former college basketball coach Clarence “Big House” Gaines were still alive he would be proud of as he used to say “my boys”.

Here is Earl at his best:

The grand man of African literature, the genteel and erudite Chinua Achebe was the first exposure of many Americans to the rich legacy of African literature. Achebe’s Things Fall Apart was requisite reading and often the lone title by an African writer on the syllabus of college World Literature 101 courses. After Things Fall a Part the serious and attentive reader’s appetite was sufficiently whetted; making it perfectly okay for future birthday and Christmas gifts to consist exclusively of other Achebe works, e.g. Arrow of God, Man of the People, No Longer at Ease and Anthills of the Savannah.

The writing and literary output by African writers received some intellectual credibility as a result Aime Cesaire’s 1930s praxis of Negritude;  the Marxist polemics of Franz Fanon and later viability via Black Arts patriarchs Amiri Baraka and Haki Madhubuti. Although there were no definite organized actions, to bring African literature to the forefront of the Western literary canon, intermittent mentions in books and essays by Madhubuti (formerly Don S. Lee) directed young would be revolutionaries to the writings of African writers such as Ayi Kwei Armah, Chinua Achebe and Ngugi wa Thiongo.

Following my undergraduate studies, during a stint organizing youth activities in Zimbabwe, under the auspices of the United Method Church’s General Board of Global Ministries, I came face to face with Ghanaian literary giant Ama Ata Aidoo strolling down the streets of Harare. I had seen her face often enough on the outside back cover of her books to recognize her, but, I had no idea as to why she would be residing in Southern Africa—away from the cuisine, sights, sounds and smells that make Ghana…well Ghana. During that time Zimbabwe was a progressive place full of open-minded, socially progressive people.

The recent outcry by black and white citizens—both for and against—sparked by the callous comments of radio Shock Jock Don Imus, that described the African American players on the Rutgers University women’s basketball team as “nappy heade ho’s,” has caused an avalanche of controversy, and placed the twin specters of gender and ethnicity at the epicenter of public discourse. 

In his rebuttal to detractors, proponents and various media outlets, Imus, in Flip Wilson* style, rationalizes his remarks by asserting that his words originated in the African American community. On the April 10th (2007) NBC Today Show, Imus told host Matt Lauer: 

“I may be a white man, but I know that…young black women all through that society are demeaned and disparaged and disrespected…by their own black men and they are called that name.”  

The debaters in the ring on this issue are: public figures such as TV evangelist Pat Buchanan, scores of citizen bloggers and social conservatives that support Imus’s constitutional rights to free speech; the liberal leaning activist community that wants Imus fired because of his perceived, inherent racism; and lastly, the Hip Hop music industry that believes Imus was wrong, but, that Hip Hop artists should maintain a level of freedom that allows for free artistic expression—even if it means course, lewd, derisive expression. 

One key element of the debate, which none of the aforementioned parties (and very few media pundits) has trumpeted very loudly is the money making aspect. The American business structure and our very existence as the world’s number one super power, is predicated upon our economic system. Capitalism must have an ongoing cycle of goods (regardless of tangibility), sellers and consumers. 

Regardless of how profane and crass some consider Imus, he does meet and far exceed the criteria of what corporations look for in a strong, viable, money generating entity. The same can be said for the commercial rap music industry; though considered repugnant in some circles, is in fact a fattened cash cow, with adherents on urban streets and high rise board rooms hypnotized by its hedonism, machoism and bling-bling http://www.m-w.com/dictionary/bling.    

When the rapper Nas http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nas  recently commented that Hip Hop is dead, he may have been referring to the fact that black and Hispanic inner city urban youth are no longer the primary consumers of rap music, and that corporate control has stifled musical innovation which was the hallmark of jazz, R&B etc. The car window rattling music, the prison inspired low hanging pants and the sexist, violence-laced songs have found a home in Middle America. The Hood has moved to the corn fields of Iowa, the potato fields of Idaho and other areas of suburbia—and with it drive by shootings, drug activity, gangs etc. 

Constitutional rights and consumerism aside: I am of the opinion that the Hip Hop rappers and Mr. Imus are birds of the same feather except on different birds! But they may both be influenced by “unconscious racial and gender” attitudes and, a degree of self hate that even they are unaware of.  

The journalist and author Malcolm Gladwell http://www.gladwell.com/ devotes an entire chapter to the subtleties of unconscious attitudes in his book Blink: The Power of Thinking without Thinking http://www.amazon.com/Blink-Power-Thinking-Without/dp/0316172324 . In the chapter “The Warren Harden Error,” Gladwell contends that of the 50,000 African Americans that have taken the race assessment test, over half tended to see whites (Anglo Americans) in a more positive light than blacks.  

The conscious attitudes of prejudice and race are stated values and belief systems; which was apparent in the segregated Jim Crow South, apartheid era South Africa and Hitler’s Nazi Germany. But the “unconscious attitudes” are far more nefarious; in that they tend to be the automatic assumptions people make when they see or experience something, e.g. people, events etc. Often these assumptions have their origins in daily living, people, books, parents, television etc. 

What unconscious associations will the policeman make when he sees a young African American male dressed in the popular youth attire of the day? What unconscious associations will an Arab national make when he sees a white airport officer approach him in a crowded airport? Similarly, what unconscious associations went through his Mr. Imus’s mind when he saw the African American women basketball players? Or, what unconscious associations do Rap musicians have when they see young black women? The associated image might register as a benevolent maid or a bikini-clad, rump shaking video girl or a smart business woman.  

The self-hate and prejudice that portray women in negative stereotypical ways so prevalent in rap videos, books and popular culture has its origins in America history. A good book on the subject is Winthrop Jordan’s The White Man’s Burden: Historical Origins of Racism in the United States.  

This type of ethnic self-loathing, which may have been brought about by the continuous, generational onslaught of negative portrayals (in image, word and deed) was first brought to America’s attention by pioneering psychologists Drs. Kenneth and Mamie Clark http://c250.columbia.edu/c250_celebrates/remarkable_columbians/kenneth_mamie_clark.html.

In the Clark’s Doll Test (conducted in 1954), black and white dolls were shown to black and white children across the United States. The children were asked which dolls were nice, which dolls were bad and, which they would like to play with. The majority of the white and black children chose to play with the white dolls and reacted to them positively. The majority of the same children reacted to the black dolls with disdain and contempt. 

Some might argue that these reactions are not applicable to our modern situation; that the children of Pre-Civil Rights Bill America were products of their environment and education. However, a young New York film maker Kiri Davis, in her short film A Girl Like Me http://www.mediathatmattersfest.org/6/# corroborates the Clark’s earlier findings and reminds us that today’s Hip Hop http://www.youthspecialties.com/articles/topics/urban/hip-hop.php, rap music loving youth, are not immune to the ignorance and illogical thinking of an earlier generation.  

As a result of the mergence, development and access to New Media http://rebuildingmedia.corante.com/archives/2006/04/27/what_is_new_media.php  younger generations may be more prone to emulate the nescient behavior frowned upon by W.E.B. DuBois’s http://www.duboislc.org/html/DuBoisBio.html Talented Tenth http://teachingamericanhistory.org/library/index.asp?document=174 and people of an older generation. 

 Individuals interested in understanding their own unconscious attitudes relative to race and gender are asked to take the Implicit Association Test or IAT developed by psychologist Anthony Greenwald. This online assessment test can be found at http://www.I-A-T.org.  

Although current governmental and constitutional laws have, by and large removed many of the vestiges of inequality in American life, it may be erroneous to conclude that the progeny of the persecuted (African Americans) and the persecutor (Anglo Americans) are void of astuteness, sophistication and learnedness.  Learned patterns of behavior are especially difficult to unlearn.  Who knows? Maybe at the end of the day, Mr. Imus, today’s crude Rappers, the Hip Hop music industry and the professional critics will laugh their way to the bank while the bamboozled consumer constituents and social reformists debate the reasons they were not allowed to share in the wealth.

* The comedian Flip Wilson had a TV comedy show in the early 1970s and one of his characters (the mercurial Geraldine often justified her bad actions by saying “The Devil Made Me Do It!”

The formal announcement by the mainstream press that New York City PR mogul Dan Klores http://www.dkcnews.com/about/Dan-Klores.html and NBA great and WSSU http://www.wssu.edu/wssu alumnus Earl “The Pearl”
Monroe http://www.nba.com/history/players/monroe_bio.html,  were collaborating on a documentary   http://www.imdiversity.com/villages/african/history_heritage/bpr_black_magic0307.asp, chronicling the legacy and history of black college basketball sent a long overdue, collective “thank you Jesus” through the community: of African American fans, black college alumni, lay sports historians, former players and coaches; and the pilgrims that sojourn to the Mecca-like CIAA http://www.theciaa.com/landing/index.html basketball tournament year after year to meet old friends and classmates, party, shop and catch a game or two.

The announcement meant a lot to men of my generation because we came of age during the time when basketball—collegiate and professional—was a relatively pure sport and seemingly was played for enjoyment and not money. However, the financial acumen generated by hefty million dollar contracts and exclusive corporate shoe deals, from manufacturers like Nike http://www.nike.com and Adidas http://www.adidas.com/ for players did not come until later. The black men with nick names like Clyde (Walt Frazier), Butter Bean (Bob Love, Pearl (Earl Monroe), Ice Man (George Gervin), Dr. J (Julius Ervin) and World (Lloyd B. Free) that ran up and down the hardwood in the 1970s sporting Afros, sideburns and mid-thigh shorts embodied the freedom loving spirit of men in my neighborhood.

Basketball these days, particularly the professional NBA http://www.nba.com/ variety, has generated a lot of money and capital accumulation for owners, coaches and players. But I wonder if the young, nouveau rich, hip hop millionaires with their gross domestic product type contracts, and the legions of fans that support their on-and-off court antics, ever take the time to contemplate the origins of why these contemporary African American players have their glamour, wealth and popularity.

In his thought provoking book The Forty Million Dollar Slave:  The Rise, Fall, and Redemption of the Black Athlete http://www.amazon.com/Forty-Million-Dollar-Slaves-Redemption/dp/0609601202, journalist William C. Rhoden  http://www.nytimes.com/ref/sports/bio-rhoden.html recounts how Seton Hall University basketball player Tchaka Shipp, wearing a Negro Leagues http://www.negroleaguebaseball.com/ cap responded incredulously, with wide-eyed amazement, to his coach’s remarks that black players at one time could not legally play in the major leagues. The player responded to assistant coach Mike Brown with “Coach get the f&%$ outta here!.” Even though he was an African American athlete he had no historical understanding of the trials of former African American athletes and civil rights activists that made it possible for him to play at Seton Hall—when in a previous era, the best he could have hoped for was a janitorial job sweeping the gym floor.

Boys of my youth frequenting the pebble and glass strewn, concrete basketball courts, idolized Earl “The Pearl” Monroe; his New York Knicks backcourt mate Walt “Clyde” Frazier, Nate “Tiny” Archibald, Oscar “The Big O” Robertson, Bob “Butter Bean” Love and other noted professional and playground legends. We wanted to emulate their soulful style and play—not because they were overly wealthy (and many of them were not)—but because they exhibited sportsmanship, could really play the game (fundamentally and streetball wise) and carried themselves in a decent respectful manner most of the time. If they did not (exhibit respectful mannerisms), it was because the press chose not to mention it in the news, essentially keeping me and my youthful cohorts otherwise ignorant. The players of that time did not display the spoiled, bratty, egotistical demeanor that has caused a rash of idiotic actions, e.g. choking their coaches http://espn.go.com/classic/biography/s/Sprewell_Latrell.html, kicking cameramen and fighting fans http://www.ifilm.com/player?ifilmId=2657302&refsite=7063 in the stands.

In our youthful (if not star struck) eyes, the act of driving to the basket and taunting a defender with “smoother than Nate Archibald” or dribbling the ball between your legs and shouting “Earl Monroe baby!” or taking a pan-handle jump shot and praising Bob McAdoo was a sacred mantra connecting you to the Rucker League basketball gods. It also signaled your transition from childhood to manhood when you could taunt, laugh and joke with your peers and not fear someone putting a gun to your head.

I recently made the assumption that The Legends of basketball were known to college basketball players and just as popular as the hip hop rappers they listen to. Wrong. Imagine the fallout and ridicule that would be played out in the media if President George Bush loudly and proudly proclaimed he had never heard of the first president George Washington.

How can basketball coaches, fans and players sleep at night or claim to be the least knowledgeable about basketball, and not know about the Pee Wee Kirklands, Al Attles, Sam Jones’ or the Bob Dandridges’ and their contributions?

A recent article by Winston-Salem State University News Argus sports editor Steven Gaither  http://media.www.thenewsargus.com/media/storage/paper646/news/2007/02/26/Sports/Wssu-Athletics.Needs.A.History.Lesson-2774364.shtml called into question his university’s “ways” when it failed to recognize its 1967 NCAA championship team. Numerous respondents to the article and those logged in to online sports chat boards, wanted to know why historically black athletic conferences e.g. (CIAA http://www.theciaa.com/sports/wbkb/index , MEAC http://www.meacsports.com/, SIAC http://www.thesiac.com/ and SWAC http://swac.org/index.htm ) don’t do enough to recognize and celebrate the black players that came from these institutions.  

By and large young, old and middle-aged Americans seem to have short-term historical memory loss. Earl “The Pearl” Monroe, one of the top 50 NBA players of the 21^st century, has a bobble head toy but no Nintendo or X-Box interactive game named in his honor. How is that possible?

However, the greatest indictment of America’s microwave, fast food, historical amnesia mentality is the story told by Monroe’s wife Merita. According to a story in the February 18, 2005, Washington Post, Earl and Merita Monroe were at the 2004 All-Star Game in Los Angeles. The Monroes were in line to attend a tribute for former Los Angeles Laker star Magic Johnson; however, the young woman charged with distributing the credentials to attendees had never heard of Monroe—who by that time had been inducted into the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame and named one of the top 50 NBA players of all time! After some waiting the Monroes finally got their tickets and headed towards the red carpet. Once there, they hear a loud roar of applause. According to Merita, “I thought, finally, Earl gets his due around here.” But instead of the cheers being for the vaunted and esteemed Monroe, they were for the eccentric, tattooed, cross-dressing http://www.halloffamememorabilia.com/main.php?id=6283&mod=510&mm=2 rebounding machine Dennis Rodman.

Human illness (be it physical or psychological) is most often cured by admitting there is an illness and then seeking the proper medical attention to eradicate the disease. Black Magic a film about the legacy of black college basketball will go a long way in ameliorating the historical Alzheimer’s affecting the
United States sporting populace that has become increasingly enamored with the thuggish and crass.

After many years of hearing the unique, albeit often strange names of African American youth (names that I am apt to mispronounce), I was fascinated by the premise made by Steven Levitt http://www.ted.com/tedtalks/tedtalksplayer.cfm?key=s_levitt and Stephen J. Dubner’s in two of the chapters in their New York Times best selling book Freakonomics http://www.amazon.com/Freakonomics-Economist-Explores-Hidden-Everything/dp/006073132X .

Essentially Levitts and Dubner surmise that the creative names held by many African American youth today are key indicators of the parent’s socio-economic background. In a paper by Roland Fryer http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=4751829 and Steven Levitt entitled The Causes and Consequences of Distinctively Black Names http://pricetheory.uchicago.edu/levitt/Papers/FryerLevitt2004.pdf the authors found “no negative relationship between having a distinctly Black name and later life outcomes after controlling for a child’s circumstances at birth.” 

Theoretically the authors’ argument might be true; however, in the real world United States, there is a strong stigma attached to certain names that deviate from certain cultural and ethnic majority norms. If you are from India, the African continent, Japan, Russia, Germany or some other country, and have a name unique to that countries culture(s) then your “unique” name may be overlooked—and in some cases celebrated! A name that is difficult to connect to land, culture continuity is often ridiculed and viewed the way most people viewed the artist Prince–when he revealed his symbol of a name. 

 So what does Maniqwa or Delayshawn mean if you are an African American to another person of African ancestry throughout the Diaspora? The cultural nationalist that came of age in the 1960s might ask the question: What ethnicity, language, culture, land mass or food does the 21^st century African American names connect to?     I believe the only time that people with “interesting names” are not stereotyped and not looked at with indifference is when they are wealthy, popular and influential—not necessarily in that order.

 According to Levitt and Dubner there is discrimination towards job applicants that have uniquely black, low socio-economic sounding names. Even though the applicant might be highly qualified his or her name sends out an indirect signal of inferiority. 

 In 1960s America there was very little difference between the first names of black and white children, regardless of the socio-economic disparities and segregated neighborhoods that separated them.

 However, as the country trudged through the rutted road of the Civil Rights Movement on to the more overt, militant, Black Power/Vietnam War protest era 1970s, personal names of African Americans (or at least the names people identified them by) took on new or greater significance. African Americans of diverse socio-economic backgrounds adopted the names of their continental African ancestors. Because most black people throughout the African Diaspora were unable to connect to a specific ethnic group, geographical area or language the entire African continent became a point of ancestral connectivity. 

Noted black American professionals and public figures took on African or Islamic names to convey their cultural transformation and new mindset as an independent thinking citizen. Thus, the writer/poet Leroi Jones became Imamu Amiri Baraka http://www.amiribaraka.com/; the radical sociologist and theorist Gerald McWhorter  became Abdul Al-Kalimat http://www.africa.utoledo.edu/faculty/alkalimat.html; the educator/social activist Howard Fuller  http://www.marquette.edu/about/faculty/fuller.shtml became Owusu Sadaukai, and the activist/politician Frizell Gray became Kweisi Mfume http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kweisi_Mfume.

These names, like names that originate from other ethnic populations throughout the world, have a particular meaning.  The Akan http://www.ushaka.com/akanpeople2.html peoples of Ghana http://www.infoplease.com/ipa/A0107584.html name believe that your name indicates your purpose and mission on earth. The Akan child also has a name that indicates the day that the ‘Soul’ incarnated the body, e.g. day of birth. So, you might have the European name Samuel but the society would know you by other names, e.g. Kofi Mensah. Kofi tells everyone that a male child (that has the character traits of the adventurer/campaigner) was born on Friday and is the third born child in his family. Though geographical locale, language and cultural variances divide most of the planet’s human inhabitants there are marked similarities when it comes to names, e.g. the act of naming human progeny. Tibetans believe that illness is caused by an inappropriate name and that the acquirement of a new name was the cure. In ancient
Egypt, a person’s name was so important that it was believed the blotting out of a name would cause the person and their after life to be destroyed. In Ashkenazic Judaism—much retained by American Jews—parents would not name a child after an older living resident as a precaution to prevent the “Death Angel” from taking the younger person’s life before its time. The other uses of names throughout human history have had to do with description, location, occupation and relationship. In the western world examples of descriptive surnames would be Young, Black, Roundtree, Small or Whitehead. Location names are denoted by names such as Hill, Radcliff or Poole. Occupation surnames refer to human work endeavors (usually practiced for generations) and can be seen in names like: Cook, Miller, Taylor, Smith and Carter. Relational names are exemplified by names such as Williamson (son of William), Wilson (son of Will) or Robertson (son of Robert).  According to anthropologists names also evolve over time; particularly after they have been translated from one language to another: i.e. Cameron once meant “crooked nose,” Kennedy was given to a man that had a “big head” and Burke ostentatiously meant “killer”.

An excellent book for the lay social scientist or just plain curious is Murray Heller and Newbell Niles Puckett’s Black Names in America: Origins and Usage. Dr. Puckett’s book’s primary fous was to “serve as a study of the social role of names in general.”  In the context of the African slave trade enslaved Africans were often renamed by their captors. In the book Slave Ships and Slaving Edward Manning, a sailor on the slaver Thomas Watson says: 

    “I suppose they…all had names in their own dialect, but the effort required to pronounce them was too much for us, so we picked out our favorites (slaves) and dubbed them Main-stay, Cats head, Bulls eye, Rope-Yarn, and various other sea phrases.” 

Only favorites had names; the other slaves had no names at all. Thus, the true meaning of the adage: “To name a person is to recognize their existence.” The specter of slavery had a dehumanizing effect on its victims and perpetuators alike. In his autobiography, Nation of Islam minister Malcolm X, tells the reader why he and others in the organization use X for a last name. The little known historian and scholar Raphael Powell wrote a book in 1937 entitled Human Side of a People and the Right Name in which he said “free people name themselves, slaves and dogs are named by their masters.”   

One of the most substantive and interesting chapters in Puckett’s book is chapter IV ‘Conformity vs. Individuality’. The author’s data is derived from name samples from black southern colleges and geographical locales. The most striking passage in chapter IV reads: 

“We can assume that in 1935 Blacks attending college constituted the portion of the Black community most fully attuned to White values and most able to participate in activities which reflected white values. Whatever arguments may be voiced in 1974 questioning the desire for a college education as reflective of white values, all indications suggest that in 1935, a college education represented a major value for white America. Thus, most Blacks desirous and able to attend college must have been highly attracted toward some aspects of the white value system. Name usage reinforces this assumption.” 

However, Puckett’s research also contends initially, black slaves had a higher rate of unusual names than free Blacks, but a reversal takes place in the 19^th century when free blacks utilize a higher percentage of unusual names.  During the period of time that the bulk of Puckett’s research data comes from, namely the 1930s, there is significant data that implies white Americans also used unusual naming conventions—albeit to a lesser degree than African Americans. In my or anyone else’s attempts to understand current naming conventions among Americans in general, and a younger generation of African Americans specifically, it must be remembered:

“However strong the pressures of social life, however powerful the demands upon an individual to accept the values, tastes and judgments of his culture, human beings have always managed to somehow avoid complete subjection to group desires and whims.”