All of the eighties and nineties hip hop
albums that have been reviewed so far have discussed racism or inequality of
the races in some way. This happened because all hip hop artist’s lives’ in
this era were influenced by societies racial imbalances. Fear of A Black Planet by Public Enemy is not an exception to this
trend. The relationship between blacks and whites in the United States has been
a controversial topic for the last few hundred years. It is not even too much
to say that the origins of the United States were built on slavery and the idea
of white supremacy. Even though these days are well in the past and our laws are
there to create equal opportunity and racial equality, there is still an unmistakable
discriminatory mindset that is prevalent throughout our country. We live in a
country that has had freedoms granted to African Americans for the last one
hundred and fifty years and yet still has racial relations problems that each
and every American can identify. How is it that a county that allows for a black
president to be elected, a black man and a white man to fight along side to
protect our country, a black man to teach a classroom full of white children
have such large problems with racism and such strains on racial relations? I
have no solution to this problem, but I hope to show how racism and racial
relations is bigger than just individual actions and attitudes towards certain
groups, but rather a societal problem through Fear of A Black Planet.
The album starts out with “Contract on
the World Love Jam” which acts as the introduction to the album. Right from the
start, you realize that Public Enemy is playing no games. They go straight to
the point in saying that people are starting to change for the better but the black
community needs to keep fighting the system that holds them back. The use of
samples of Malcom X speeches and other audio clips brings back memories of the
Civil Rights Movement and gives off the idea that this movement is still going
on just in a new form. Racism is still very much a problem in society. According
to Richard Delgado, “A big problem with racism is that it is ordinary, where it
is difficult to address or cure because it is not fully acknowledged” (7). In
society today, many people get caught up with the idea that since legally
everyone is equal and have equal opportunities, that this is actually true. Racism
is now something that is hidden in every day things and Chuck D and public
enemy use the rest of the album to bring these things forward.
“911 is a Joke” proves to be one of the
more controversial songs out of the whole album. With the hook of the songs
being “So get up get, get get down/911 is a joke in yo town/get up, get, get
down/Late 911 wears the late crown”, Public Enemy is attacking a system that is
crucial to keeping Americans safe. They claim that emergency services are
slower to respond to distress calls in black neighborhoods compared to white neighborhoods.
Something way more important than just slower response times is evident here.
There is a total mistrust in the system. Public Enemy is speaking for the black
community in saying that the countries system is so biased and flawed that is
laughable. They are not just pointing out flaws in society, but showing the
need for societal change. The problem with all of this is perception. Whether
or not the problem actually exists, if a community feels like it does than
something needs to change in order to counteract this. The system involving the
police force, emergency services, and the government as a whole is put to question
here. According to Jeremy Gorner “because
of experiences such as this [extremely delayed or possibly ignored emergency
service calls], many of our neighbors simply will not call the police.” The
black community feeling like their lives matter less than the white peoples
lives creates a boundary that stresses the fragile relationship between races.
One of the most interesting concepts out
of all is going on in “Fear of a Black Planet.” The song uses an incredibly
vast number of samples. This creates a slightly chaotic feel to the song, which
acts as a good background for the lyrics talking about whites being fearful of
a black planet. In this song, there is a sample saying “Black
man, black women, black baby. White man, white women, white baby. White man,
black women, black baby. Black man, white women, black baby.” The sample from “Fear
of a Black Planet” brings up an interesting point. Why does anything that is
different considered “impure”? The fact that even if you are half black and
half white, three quarters white and one quarter black, or even ninety-nine
percent white and one percent black, that connection to being black makes you
black. The group also brings up the fact that history may play part in the fear
of a black planet in “Fight the Power.” In this song they rap “Sample a look
back you look and find/Nothing but rednecks for 400 years if you check.” The
history of the United States and the fact that blacks were slaves contributes
to this idea of fear of a black planet. For hundreds of year, blacks were seen
as property, violent, unlawful, and pretty much any other word with a negative
connotation. Even though this was far in the past, nobody can forget what had
been in the past. The fact that the group brought this up reignites the
conflicted pasts that whites and blacks had. Public Enemy discusses the idea of
being fearful of a black planet and this being the reason for discrimination,
but is this really the case? It is debatable whether it is truly a fear of a
black planet or just fear of things that are unfamiliar or things that are
different than what you are. Greenwald argues that “discrimination happens more
in todays time without negative intent.” In-group favoritism that happens
naturally when humans grasp on to familiarity could be the reason for the
increased racial tensions in today’s times. Looking at it this way, Public
Enemy is opening the doors to seeing the true reason for the stress on
relations. Maybe racism isn’t just an individual problem, but a societal
problem. Society as a whole grasp too much onto what they are familiar with
which has allowed the division of races in America to continue to spread.
Continuing on with the album, Public
Enemy shows a constant distaste with the media. They directly discuss this
discontent in “Incident at 66.6 FM” and “Burn Hollywood Burn.” I think the
problem is bigger and more complex than what they are making it out to be, when
it comes to the idea of the media hurting racial relations. The media puts
things out there and viewers assume that the media is being racist, but is this
really the case? Is the media causing these racial tensions or is it societies racist
perceptions of what the media presents that is the being seen as racist? In “Burn
Hollywood Burn”, Public Enemy raps “In the movies portraying the roles/Of
butlers and maids, slaves and hoes.” Having a black person play the role isn’t racist
in itself, yet the idea of a black person being inferior in the media is taken
as more then just a role in a movie. This is because of ethnocentrism. Nguyen Thien says that “ethnocentrism is used
to refer to a process that simultaneously produces in-group hostility as a
result of the human striving for belonging, as a form of we-ness that pits us
against them” (28). This ethnocentric ideology is pinning blacks against the
media. This idea is something that Public Enemy over looks. In striving for
belonging and equality, blacks may be using the media as a target for something
that the media does not control. The blame is being placed on the media when
really society as a whole is keeping these century year old stenotypes alive
that blacks are violent or uneducated. The improvement of racial relations can
only be done with the total elimination of these outdated stereotypes.
Although Public Enemy never talks about
how to solve problems existing in society with racial relations, it is implied
that the goal is to have a cohesive society where all people are seen as equals
have equal opportunities. Public enemy uses each song in this album to show
what parts of life that they see as wrong and in need for change. It is not enough
for individuals to just treat others equally, but society as a whole has to
transform to remove the stereotypes that exist today. The relationship between
races is likely something that will continue to be strained because of how
complex and fragileness it is.
Works Cited:
Delgado, Richard, and Jean Stefancic. Critical
Race Theory: An Introduction. New York: New York UP, 2001. Pascal.
NYU Press, 23 June 2014. Web. 10 Nov. 2015.
Gorner, Jeremy. "ACLU Suit Alleges Police
Slower to Respond in Minority Areas." The Chicago Tribune. N.p., 28
Oct. 2011. Web. 11 Dec. 2015.
Greenwald, Anthony, and Jerry Large. "We
Tend to Discriminate by Favoring Familiar." The Seattle Times.
N.p., 21 May 2014. Web. 11 Dec. 2015.
Thien,
Nguyen Phuoc, and Seow Ting Lee. "Media, Race And Crime: Racial
Perceptions And Criminal Culpability In A Multiracial National Context." International
Communication Gazette 77.1 (2015): 24-50. Academic Search Complete.
Web. 19 Nov. 2015.
