Lee's Erotic Revolutionaries in Conversation with the New Negro

Shayne Lee’s “Erotic Revolutionaries” is in conversation with the “New Negro” because he discusses women he feels are fearless just like the New Negro.  These “erotic revolutionaries” that are currently emerging throughout popular culture are challenging, deconstructing and resisting the “politics of respectability.”  Lee challenges racist and gendered ideologies as well as black feminist analyses within academia, which uphold a politics of respectability and present women as being sexually oppressed.  His theory is that sex is intensely sociological because society has scripts that tell he public what is appropriate and inappropriate.  These scripts have double standards that say men should be aggressive and women should be passive.  For example, women should not be promiscuous and should uphold their “morality” while men are not penalized for promiscuity.  Lee challenges beliefs such as these.  The fact that he challenges normative beliefs such as these, as do the women in popular culture he writes about, displays the similarities they have with the New Negro.

Lee challenges the idea that the politics of respectability resist negative, racialized, sexualized, gendered images in particular to black women.  The politics of respectability were made to challenge stereotypes that emerged during enslavement, like the “black male rapist,” and the “female black jezebel.” These end up de-emphasizing black women’s sexuality. Though they were initially a way to resist negative and controlling images, they end up ultimately silencing and suppressing black women’s sexuality.  Lee says when women don’t talk about their sexuality, it is disempowering.  Lee’s multi-dimensional view of women and the ways they can be viewed is similar to the New Negro in the sense that they are modern Negros that have a more open-minded view rather than a one-dimensional view.  Sexual agency, exploration and empowerment are all important subjects in Lee’s eyes.  Also, feminist activity should focus great attention toward deconstructing oppressive gender norms as a form of political action.  According to Lee, popular culture is an important site for feminist politics because it “affords women access to subversive sexual scripts and new discourses of sexuality to renegotiate their sexual histories.”  The easiest and most relevant way to convey feminism in this generation is pop culture because it makes multiple discourses available to people so that feminist scholars can sift through and distinguish between which are subversive to patriarchy and which are empowering.  Lee argues that Janet Jackson, Beyonce Knowles and other Black women in popular culture are “erotic revolutionaries” because they teach black women that a politics of respectability is no longer acceptable.  Also, they violate popular presumptions about gender and sexuality that limit potentialities of women.  They challenge patriarchy with rhetorical acts of resistance, stir up “gender trouble,” generate gender maneuvering and challenge the public square by providing images and narratives as themes accessible to confronting, redrafting, and recoding gender expectations on sexuality.  Overall, these women Lee discusses are representations of the “New Negro” because of their new and not necessarily “popular” views and strategies of resisting oppression.

The Artistic vs. the Entrepreneurial Negro

Alain Locke’s interpretation of the New Negro is centered on the artistic talents of the Negro and how far those talents can and will take them.  Locke explains that a “New” Negro is needed because “for generations in the mind of America, the Negro has been more of a formula than a human being […]” (3).  This means that the Negro was unable to speak for himself or even define himself.  Because of this lack of ability to speak for one’s self, the Negro was merely seen as a social problem (4). In effect, it becomes difficult for society to see the actual problems as well as the roots of the problems that the Negro continually faces because the truth is obscured.  However, this does not mean that the Negro wishes to be perceived as something he is not, rather he wishes to be known for, what Locke says “what he is, faults and all” (11).  He also reiterated the point that “hope rests in revaluation of artistic endowments by black and white as well as cultural contributions” (15).  Through artistic efforts, a new way of thinking for Negros was developed and they began taking more pride in their creativity and contributions to society.

          Contrastingly, Baldwin feels strongly that the New Negro depends on more than art and feels that this is an overly simplified way of thinking (5).  In addition to artistic contributions to society, in order to fully understand the meaning of the New Negro, we must examine how black consumer practices converted acts of desire into a political and intellectual life of distinction and defiance against traditional ways of life (6).  To Baldwin, the Negro has more to prove that artistic ability and must do so in every aspect possible.  One of these aspects that are highlighted by Baldwin is financial independence.  The Negro must break free from constraints of white economic dependence (7).  Generally, like we said in class, the New Negro must undermine white hegemony.

          Aside from the differences in opinion from Locke and Baldwin, both generally agree that the Negro should define himself rather than let himself be defined by others.  Also, Lock and Baldwin feel that both the entrepreneur and the artistic Negro are contributing to a free future and relying upon themselves to accomplish that freedom while breaking free from white domination.

Baptism/Ida Mae

While reading the poem “Baptism” from Locke’s “The New Negro,” I found myself relating it to the story of Ida Mae Brandon Gladney.  Claude McKay’s poem offers many elements that speak to Ida Mae’s story and gives voice to her different actions throughout her life.  In the third and fourth lines of “Baptism,” McKay writes, “I will go naked in –for thus ‘tis sweet-Into the weird depths of the hottest zone.”  Here, I was reminded of Ida Mae and her fearlessness of those around her, whether they were abusive toward her or not.  Ida Mae did not back down and was willing to stand for what she believed in.  An example of this resides in her belief that remains today that her father was buried alive and was in a coma, rather than actually dead.  Ida Mae held firm to this belief even though, looking back, she knew that no adult would listen to her because she was just a little girl (24).

Also, as McKay writes, “I will not quiver in the frailest bone, You will not note a flicker of defeat,” I recalled the instance that Ida Mae was called a nigger and when asked if she heard what she was called, responded by saying “They call you so many names. I never pay it no attention” (33).  This nonchalant response by Ida Mae tells me that she does acknowledge negative comments and negativity aimed toward her, but as McKay says, she does not “note a flicker of defeat.”  This occurrence in Ida Mae’s life also had an effect on Miss McClenna, the woman Ida Mae was with at the time, because she was seen to be stepping outside of her caste boundaries by associating herself with a black person.  As I read McKay’s poem, I interpreted the “furnace” to represent the higher caste of whites because Ida Mae enters “Into the furnace […] alone” in the sense that she goes along with Miss McClenna into the territory of other whites without showing any fear. 

Another reason I referred back to Ida Mae’s story while reading “Baptism” was because of the last two lines when McKay writes, “I will come out […] A stronger soul within a finer frame.” In relation to Ida Mae, I interpreted this to mean although she did go through a time in her life that she resented everyone and everything, she understood that these negative aspects of her life would eventually make her a stronger, wiser person who is more aware of the realities of life.  Isabel Wilkerson tells us that when Ida Mae learned about the Carter family leaving Mississippi, she saw it as a signal “that there was, in fact, a window out of the asylum,” giving her hope that a better life is in fact possible (35).

Self Assessment of Black Studies Courses

I enrolled in my first Black Studies class in the winter of 2009, which was my freshmen year. Black Studies 3, which Professor Daniels taught, was unlike any other class I had ever taken. I learned about the history of countries like Ethiopia and Tanzania, which were both countries that I had never gotten any information on in high school history classes.  In class, we also learned about Yoruba culture, Santeria, and the negative misconceptions that often go along with them.  My favorite part of this class was on the last day of lecture when Professor Daniels had a band from Africa come into class and perform for us.  They now perform often in Los Angeles, but stayed true to their roots and performed in the same style they originally started out with. 

In the spring of 2009, I enrolled in Black Studies 1 with Professor Robinson.  What I remember most about this class is watching a movie called The Birth of a Nation. It is a silent film that is blatantly racist and portrays blacks as unintelligent and basically worthless.  They are portrayed by white men in blackface.  This was the first time I had been exposed to blackface minstrelsy.  I had known nothing about what is was, where it came from, or the impacts it made until watching this film.  This class with Robinson opened my eyes about just how far people would go to present racist ideas and how much time and effort was put into ensuring that negative thoughts and opinions were perpetuated in order to keep blacks oppressed.

I also took Black Studies 133 in the spring of 2010 with Professor Banks, where we learned about race, gender and sexuality and how all three intersect and impact one another daily in the lives of many.  This class opened my eyes and helped me see popular culture in a different way.  It also helped me understand why certain races are placed in “boxes” so to speak and why people generalize so much.  The idea of women “taking one for the race” and having to sacrifice their own morals was repeatedly brought to light and was one of the more powerful ideas that I learned about in this class.

In the winter of 2011, I was enrolled in Black Performance Studies with Batiste as well as Black Feminist Thought with Banks.  Black Performance Studies showed me a new way to interpret black literature and focused more on symbolism of Jean Toomer’s Cane, while Banks’ class was more relevant to the present day because the research was recent, the last book we read was published last year, and it was far more relevant because part of its focus was on pop culture which is everywhere thanks to the media.  Professor Banks’ class has been the most meaningful to me thus far because of how relevant her topics are and because of how thoroughly we discuss each issue.
As a freshman at UCSB, I had no knowledge on the topic of Black studies.  I was not educated or aware of how important the subject was at all.  In my opinion, my knowledge has developed greatly and I now feel that all students should be required to take at least one Black Studies course for the sake of knowledge and helping to eliminate ignorance.  For my senior thesis, I would like to do meaningful research and have the possibility of my work getting published.  Also, I would like to have a writing piece that I could potentially use when applying to grad school if I choose to do so eventually.