Why is the opening page of their site consist of two Black guys? If you didn’t know the artists, you could be forgiven for thinking that those two guys are them. If it’s part of a marketing concept, it is an instance of appropriating Black bodies, images, etc. in order to make Hollertronix appear cool?, Black, ‘down’ with Black people? I don’t know. But the fact that this sort of practice is unending cannot but lead to a demand for a pedagogical strategy by which white people learn about their white privilege at an early age, so that it is not perpetuated. The slipperiness of white supremacy is that is everywhere and nowhere. In this sense, I take the risk of asserting that racism per se can be defined as one or a series of discrete acts. These acts can range from the 41 bullets fired into the body of Abner Louima, and James Byrd-whose feet were tied to the back of a pick-up truck as he was dragged, mutilated, and killed-to the everyday racist acts-shouted/whispered racial epithets, being unable to get a taxi, security officers following a Black person in a retail store, being mistaken for an employee, and the list is endless. In all of these acts there is racist intent

White supremacy is not only what is still called institutional racism, but the accretion, over hundreds of years (in the US), of juridical, social, political, domestic practices which, though not intentionally racist, position non-white people below white people. And that remains a simplification.

>Rather, it is to emphasize the need to remain vigilant, to be always aware of how white supremacy and its desire to regulate the mobility, life chances, and representations of Black people, will continue

That (pretty genteel) analogy of Elvis/R&B as Hollertronix/Crunk is right enough, but I can’t link it to your comment above, at least not at the fan/consumer level. What gets closer is the flyers and graphics on the Hollertronix site. Using Black Hip-Hop icons to market something made by white guys is disappointing, but also familiar (see the Big Chill). Sure, representations are going to be neutered/de-radicalized, with Flavor Flav turning up more than Chuck D or S1W’s (and never Professor Griff), but I don’t think there’s a nefarious racist intent with that. In Chuck D’s case at least, a lot of people respect him as more than an ancient fashion statement. I was way more upset about the flyers that mix in nostalgia icons and Black women in thongs, like all those are things we really liked but just forgot about. That blatant sexism exposes the whole scheme as exploitative, and might contribute to the effect on Black women that you’re talking about, but it still seems like privileged unconciousness/bad taste, as opposed to a desire to control or regulate.

LOL - there aren’t any – Black people are sitting on their asses letting the rights generations before them fought for be taken away. We have 2 Black people in the white house and they couldn’t stop what happened in Florida during the last election when Black people’s votes were not counted.

Black people need to realize they represent and should stand with everyone else who is outside – if all people of color and all the outsiders (gay on down) stood together it would be a very unusual coalition but it would be a coalition of compassion and hope – it would also outnumber ALL over coalitions

Black people need to broaden the struggle
There is no hope for a Black struggle on it’s own

Is this not the lesson of the Panther party ?