Black Directions

Will White Rap Fans Help or Hurt Black America?

Eighty percent of hip-hop consumers are white according to the Simmons Lathan Media Group. In the various debates about rap, too little attention has been paid to this majority-white consumer base. Are white rap fans a force for “achieving Martin Luther King’s dream” as Bakari Kitwana argues? Or are they merely fans of stereotypical images of blacks as Bill Yousman declares?

Rap has been a vehicle for serious commentary about racial inequality and American society. But the heyday of political rap was more than a decade ago. Further, researchers have found that references to alcohol, drugs and violence in rap have increased along with the growing popularity of rap music. Today, even Kitwana admits, one can find a parade of negative stereotypes of blacks on display in rap music. Much of the music, the critics charge, has become a modern-day minstrel show. Thus, one can ask, will white rap fans help or hurt black America? Do whites who love rap love black people or merely negative stereotypes of black people?

In addition to helping or hurting black America, there is, of course, a third alternative. Rap music may be just pop music and may not make much of a difference one way or another.

This issue of Black Directions reviews the social-scientific literature on the effect of rap music on white racial attitudes. Additionally, the Thora Institute conducts its own statistical analysis of white rap fans.

To order this issue send a check or money order for $9 made out to “Thora Institute LLC” to “White Rap Fans,” Thora Institute LLC, 1380 E. Capitol Street NE, Washington D.C. 20003.

To keep abreast of the latest high-quality social science research on black America, subscribe to the Black Directions newsletter. Send a check or money order for $36 (33% off) made out to “Thora Institute LLC” for a year’s Black Directions subscription (six issues) to Thora Institute LLC, 1380 E. Capitol Street NE, Washington D.C. 20003. Only Black Directions separates the myths from the facts about black America.

Criminal Justice Reform

As important as it is to address racial disparities in sentencing, this issue is just the tip of the iceberg for criminal justice reform. We need a complete overall of the criminal justice system to undo the damage and waste caused by more than 30 years of tough-on-crime and war-on-drugs legislation. The harm of these failed policies has been born most heavily by blacks.

In 1970, the incarceration rate in the United States was about average for a developed, Western country. Today, it is about seven times the average. Are we seven times safer than we were in 1970? Not even close.

America has the toughest criminal justice policies and the highest incarceration rate in the West. Are we the safest country? Not at all.

Tough-on-crime policies are extremely expensive; weaken black communities economically, politically and socially; and do precious little to reduce crime. It is time for civil rights activists to insist that we engage in constructive crime prevention instead of continuing the destructive crime prevention of tough-on-crime and war-on-drugs policies.

High-quality pre-kindergarten education has been proven to reduce crime. It is more effective at crime prevention than incarceration, and it has none of incarceration’s negative effects. Providing jobs for poor black youth will reduce crime, and it too has none of the negative effects of incarceration. We need to invest in and develop more constructive crime prevention policies. Three decades of tough-on-crime and war-on-drugs policies have proven them to be harmful, inefficient and extremely expensive. The current issue of Black Directions begins the necessary discussion on fundamental criminal justice reform.

What’s in the current Black Directions

• Comparing Constructive and Destructive Crime Prevention


• The Three Biggest Myths about Blacks and Drugs


• Clifford Thornton’s Plan to Stop 90% of Drug-Related Violence


• The Flaws of Relying on Incarceration for Crime Prevention

To order this issue send a check or money order for $9 made out to “Thora Institute LLC” to “Criminal Justice Reform,” Thora Institute LLC, 1380 E. Capitol Street NE, Unit B, Washington D.C. 20003.

To keep abreast of the latest high-quality social science research on black America, subscribe to the Black Directions newsletter. Send a check or money order for $36 (33% off) made out to “Thora Institute LLC” for a year’s Black Directions subscription (six issues) to Thora Institute LLC, 1380 E. Capitol Street NE, Unit B, Washington D.C. 20003. Only Black Directions separates the myths from the facts about black America.

While Bill Cosby, Juan Williams and John McWhorter have been condemning blacks for not valuing education, black students have been going to college in growing numbers. All racial groups, not only blacks, are going to college in increasing numbers. How are blacks doing relative to other groups? When we look at the share of all degrees going to blacks, we find significant positive movement. In 1994, 7.2 percent of all bachelor’s degrees went to blacks. By 2004, black students increased their share to 9.4 percent. In 1994, 8.6 percent of all associate’s degrees went to blacks. By 2004, black students increased their share to 12.2 percent. Once again, the facts about black student achievement differ greatly from what the pundits are saying.

In addition to this story missed by the pundits and the rest of the media, “The Truth about Black Students” discusses:

• Why the Claim of a 50 Percent Black High School Graduation Rate is Wrong
• The Evidence that Black Standardized Test Scores are Rising
• The Actual Facts about the State of Black English
• Two Programs Proven to Increase Black Educational Achievement

To order this issue of Black Directions, send a check or money order for $9 made out to “Thora Institute LLC” to “Truth about Black Students,” Thora Institute LLC, 1380 E. Capitol Street NE, Unit B, Washington D.C. 20003.

To keep abreast of the latest high-quality social science research on black America, subscribe to the Black Directions newsletter. Send a check or money order for $36 (33% off) made out to “Thora Institute LLC” for a year’s Black Directions subscription (six issues) to Thora Institute LLC, 1380 E. Capitol Street NE, Unit B, Washington D.C. 20003. Only Black Directions separates the myths from the facts about black America.

Source: Adapted from Girl Scout Research Institute, Feeling Safe: What Girls Say, 2003, 41.

For twenty years, black students have been chastised based on flawed research. Black leaders and black public intellectuals routinely claim that black students see academic achievement as “acting white.” The actual evidence for the “acting white” hypothesis, however, is meager and not at all convincing when examined carefully.

A study by the Girl Scout Research Institute shows that black and white girls experience equivalent levels of academically-oriented teasing. Forty-one percent of white girls reported that they worried about being teased for speaking or participating in class. Thirty-five percent of black girls felt the same. These results are statistically equal because the margin of error is plus or minus 7 percentage points.

The proponents of the “acting white” hypothesis claim that black students experience much more academic teasing than white students, but they have never presented any direct evidence to support this assertion.

For a detailed discussion of the flaws in the “acting white” research of Signithia Fordham and John Ogbu—the originators of the hypothesis—send a check or money order for $9 made out to “Thora Institute LLC” to “Flaws of ‘Acting White’,” Thora Institute LLC, 1380 E. Capitol Street NE, Unit B, Washington D.C. 20003.

To keep abreast of the latest high-quality social science research on black America, subscribe to the Black Directions newsletter. Send a check or money order for $36 (33% off) made out to “Thora Institute LLC” for a year’s Black Directions subscription (six issues) to Thora Institute LLC, 1380 E. Capitol Street NE, Unit B, Washington D.C. 20003. Only Black Directions separates the myths from the facts about black America.

Contents

• A Profile of African Immigrants


• The African Model Minority Myth


• Giving Back to Africa and America: An Interview with Eloka Ifudu


• Are Africans in America African Americans?


• Scenes from African Immigrant Life

Order This Issue

To order your copy of Are Africans in America African Americans?, send a check for $9 to Thora Institute, LLC, Attn: Africans Issue, 1380 E. Capitol Street NE, Unit B, Washington D.C. 20003.

Or Save 33% and Subscribe to Black Directions

For $36 you can receive Are Africans in America African Americans? and the five following issues of Black Directions. Send a check for $36 to Thora Institute, LLC, Attn: Africans Issue + 5, 1380 E. Capitol Street NE, Unit B, Washington D.C. 20003.

Contents

• Black Progress: The Best Kept Secret in America


• The Conservative Power of the Underclass Myth


• The Class Politics of the Black Middle Class


• Revisiting E. Franklin Frazier and Black Bourgeoisie Fifty Years Later


• Black Middle Class Estimates

Order This Issue

To order your copy of The Size and Politics of the Black Middle Class, send a check for $9 to Thora Institute, LLC, Attn: Black Middle Class, 1380 E. Capitol Street NE, Unit B, Washington D.C. 20003.

Or Save 33% and Subscribe to Black Directions

For $36 you can receive The Size and Politics of the Black Middle Class and the five following issues of Black Directions. Send a check for $36 to Thora Institute, LLC, Attn: Black Middle Class + 5, 1380 E. Capitol Street NE, Unit B, Washington D.C. 20003.

Contents

• Silence Still Equals Death
  
• Causes and Solutions to the Black HIV/AIDS Problem
  
• Conspiracy Beliefs, AIDS and Combating Racism
  
• Stories of AIDS and Black America
  
• Challenges in HIV/AIDS Treatment and Prevention: An Interview with Leif Mitchell
  
• The Alphabet Approach to HIV/AIDS Prevention: A, B, C ... T
  

Order This Issue

To order your copy of Why Is AIDS . . . , send a check for $9 to Thora Institute, LLC, Attn: AIDS Issue, 1380 E. Capitol Street NE, Unit B, Washington D.C. 20003.

Or Save 33% and Subscribe to Black Directions

For $36 you can receive Why Is AIDS . . . and the five following issues of Black Directions. Send a check for $36 to Thora Institute, LLC, Attn: AIDS Issue + 5, 1380 E. Capitol Street NE, Unit B, Washington D.C. 20003.