Modern Saint #271

This story outline a prostitute and how she became one. It also discusses how her relationship with her pimp, Bob who start as a friend along with was very intelligent. Bob himself can be seen as falling on hard times becoming a taxi driver with a double PhD. Bob didn't take the role of the pimp has many would have viewed it, he wasn't harsh or damaging, and it was up to her how much money she hands over to him, she allowed him to become and kept a man. "I paid bills, brought his ribbons, and if I felt like handing over any extra money to him, it was up to me" The job also allowed her in a time when women didn't really have the financial independence to have that. It was really herself that kept her on track to pay the bills, with her "nightly quota". Although this laid back attention wasn't always something always she needed, she outlines that she wishes Bob was more aggressive. Instead of just showing up to the flowers and food at the hospital after a hard tonight. But she realised that she wasn't able to embrace that kind of lifestyle, there were pimps called the shots, had a knife and pushed her towards anyone with money. "That was genuinely alien to me, despite my middle-class up bring" Also the way she talks about penises, how she was grateful she didn't have one, during this time many women felt that the only way they could have got anywhere in life was either being a man, unfortunate that wasn't an objects, so the next best thing was to ride on the back of a man success.

The out the story she talks about taking parts of people or thing for a price. "I was like a social worker for lepers" Which is interesting because she is a Jewish girl, who really plays into the stereotype of Jewish are all good with money and are very materialistic, she every talks about how it was in her DNA, and she would have hope to have grown out of it once she has everything she desired. Although she was Jewish, as a child liked books about women going to a convent, being allowed to give them self to something higher, which she couldn't be because she was Jewish. She can't do what her Daddy wanted; she had to rebel against him, the school she was at, really anyone she could. Her father tried to "sort her out" sent her to an institution for treatment, but in her eyes the solution to her problem to sent her a co-ed school, then at least the need to rebel would not have been so provident. She slept with a man member of staff, by the way, she writes of it just to pass the time as she was bored and needed another reason to piss her father off. Also, the stereotype comes back into play, as her father came in to save the day with money once again, the school would never think more of them then he was just a rich jew. Along with how the Dean, never saw a future for "a girl like me."

She discusses her job as her vocation, almost like it was that job she was made to do, and she keeps comparing her life to one as such in a convent. "As in the convent, life is not easy... " It's like she's given herself up to something more to allow her to reach her destiny, even though it is a hard life it is where she meant to be
.  

Ode to the heroine of the future

In this short story Tama Janowitz explores two major taboo subjects during the 1980s, drugs and homosexuality. The story for me is a warning message of the dangers of falling into the excesses and paranoia that fuelled the decade. The protagonist narrates the last time she saw her sister Amaretta, who she romantically likens to a greek tragedy- "I had arranged to meet her in one of the bars she spent all her time in- all she did besides take drugs and drink and pick up men". [245]

Her reliance on alcohol and drugs causes her to get her driving license being taken away for drink driving, causing her to rely on the 'stabilising' influence of a group of drug dealers and gurus who exploit her and "made her think she made no difference at all." After this long string of events she commits suicide while under the influence by jumping naked from the top of a seven-story building.

This was a time when stoic politics and ignorance towards sexuality was optimised by the AIDS panic. Amaretta spends time with men such as 'Jonny' whom she regularly takes coke with and who it is implied gave her a black eye, which she plays off as having walked into a cabinet door. Her drug of choice is coke, which resonates with the crack epidemic that occurred from 1984-1990 as crack became cheap, easy to use and easy to produce, that caused a moral panic at the time.

She is used by all the men in the story, with Jonny's only real interest in her occuring when she recalls an experience with a woman she meets at a lesbian bar. She chastises the women for looking like 'dykes', for being overly masculine and generally shows an attitude that reflects the time. "The old dyke actually wore men's jockey shorts!"[258] At one of the self help classes she attends she is told that "everything happens to you because you want it to" [249]. It is therefore implied that Amaretta chooses to take her life in a purification for her moral sins in society for taking cocaine and participating in experiences with women. Her sister does not seem that surprised or show much emotion at the end of the story "there aren't many more thoughts in my head", as if after hearing Amaretta's tale was the reason for her demise and that she was "beyond help" like she had been told when she took her drunken-driving evaluation. This certainly reflects the attitudes of the time towards people like the narrators sister.

References
http://www.drugfreeworld.org/drugfacts/crackcocaine/a-short-history.html

The Slaves in New York

Slaves of New York is a collection of short stories that portrays the struggle of artistic individuals within Manhattan. Each individual has come from a different background but they are all trying to feel a sense of belonging and success in this highly competitive and expensive part of New York.

Slaves in New York shows the situation that Eleanor has fallen in to. The beginning of this short story shows how due to the lack of money Eleanor has to move back home away from New York. The rent that she is paying for her apartment is too high and she has no job to support herself. It seems that this character had a distorted vision of what life would really be like in a demanding city such as New York. Eleanor says ‘I mean, I wasn’t exactly earning any money. I thought I’d just move to New York and sell my jewellery’, this shows how this character is quite delusional as her situation was never going to be that easy. After Eleanor tells Stashua, who she had been dating for six months, that she was going to leave New York Stash recommended that they live together. Stash is a self-employed artist and the two characters seem to have an unusual relationship. Stash seems to patronise Eleanor and comes across as a superficial individual who tends to lecture Eleanor, for example when she buys the wrong deodorant ‘he has to take fifteen minutes to explain to me why he only uses deodorant and not antiperspirant’. Instead of her wanting to live with her partner it seems that this is forced as she has nowhere else to go but back home which implies she sees this as a step backwards.

During the closing pages of this story there is this sense of irony as Eleanor’s friend calls from Boston describing a dilemma, she was bored of Boston and the man she was with and was considering moving to New York with an ‘old flame’. She acknowledges that her ex is not who she wants to be with but wants to take the opportunity to move to New York. She says ‘I know Bruce is a creep but I thought I’d be with him while I looked for someone else’. This is another example of this cold hearted reality these characters live within, again the female character just wants to be in a secure situation. Eleanor tells her friend not to move to New York as she says ‘you’ll be the slave’, this can be seen as a hypocritical point or a warning from someone who is living in the ‘slave’ role.      

This short story shows how dependent the female character is on the male. Eleanor is aware of her situation as she tries not to argue with Stash as she fears that he will force her to leave and as a result she will have no where beneficial to go. This can represent how difficult it can be for women to become successful in New York, specifically Eleanor as she feels she has no real purpose but to serve the male character.       

Modern Saint #271

Slaves of New York is a collection of individual stories reflecting the art scene of the 1980s. Tama Janowitz creates a series of characters and whether they are artists, visionaries, or prostitutes they all aspire towards fame and acceptance in society. In Regards to the first short story that is told, the Modern Saint sheds light on the crazy, funny, ridiculously worded, and rather trifle nature of Slaves of New York. Janowitz undoubtedly does not hold back on the satire involved within this and the unconventional literal  descriptions. 

The fact this story initiates with the outlook of a prostitute and the troubles they face stating some males genitalia were "blue-veined and reeking of stilton". This rather vulgar and carefree description used by Janowtiz is rife throughout her stories and particularly in the Modern Saint. The title of this story is immediately ironic yet is very much normalised in the city of New York. A place of such great reputation and commerce, some would argue (including Janowitz herself) , actually had a vast array of peculiar characters but all wanting to be successful in the big city world. 

This story also reflects the true nature of New York for artists, which in essence is largely revolved around having unskilled jobs then having other jobs on the side such as prostitution. This particular story, therefore, perhaps highlights the struggle for women that attempted to become successful in New York. These unsuccessful attempts ends up leading to greater problems such as drug taking, drugs that even the protagonist admits not knowing what exactly is being injected into her. The state of her flat is also massively representative of the art scene during the 1980s; "months would go by, during which time... empty syringes, cartons of fried rice, torn Kleenexes" covered the floor, along with a cockroach infestation. In terms of the work, the prostitute claims that when she was with her pimp his main job was as a taxi driver yet admitted there was "little time for his own work, which was to write". This furthers the idea that when coming to New York City, your goal to "make art" is often not granted because of the money it takes to fund, and also the time it requires. Time being continually limited due to the shokcing lifestyle these types of characters live. Whilst Janowitz did not aim to be shocking, you could argue she was simply attempting to give an accurate detail of these peoples lives. 

Modern Saint #271

Modern Saint #271

The book “Slaves of New York” contains a selection of interlinking stories while resonating in Manhattan, the stories within the book primarily focus on the constant struggle in pursuing an Artistic life. All the characters come from different backgrounds who all aspire to become either famous or loved or just to feel that they belong in society.

This can be clearly exemplify with the character of the prostitute who initiates the book in the opening chapter “Modern Saint” which tells the story of a girl who is also the narrator of the story who moved from her wealthy family in Tennessee as she believed that she could “never accept the role life had assigned to me” who then moves into an apartment in New York. She has a slew of jobs from and intern at an Advertising Agency to a script until she then ultimately becomes a prostitute in which she meets her pimp called ‘Bob’.

Throughout these stories, women tend to serve or be dependent on men. Thus suggesting that their self-esteem is lower than that of men. This can be exemplified through the character of the prostitute. She also is very descriptive about the many types of penises she has encountered “Some large, others quite shriveled and pendulous of testicles"

She later explains that “when [she and her pimp] first became friends, he was driving a taxicab, but soon found this left little time for his own work, whic h was to write.” The irony of this is that in coming to New York to pursue a writing career, to “make art” you’re never permitted the luxury of time or money to create it From the the very outset of the book, we are shown the consequences of living within New York for an up and coming artist, which in essence is to performing menial jobs for money while you try to reserve time in order to explore your own personal ambitions in life.


"Although the medium of artistry has changed since the late 80s–where once it was graffiti, canvas and mixed media that prevailed, now it seems blogging and social commentary of a bloviating kind is the constitution of an artist"

The portrayal of New York within the book is still very much a relevant portrayal of the city in the modern era. Because everyone who moves here with dreams of fame and importance within his or her particular niche.

Slaves of New York: You and the Boss

This short story towards the beginning of the book spans a mere six pages. Yet within these six pages, Janowitz creates a reality which certainly does not feel real. While this story could be interpreted in several different ways, I read this as a woman in a dream state imagining her life if she were to replace Bruce Springsteen's wife. It is safe to assume she is a woman with an obsessive personality and obtains desires for celebrities. The late 1980s played host to the height of celebrity culture (Cashmore, 2014), where Arnold Schwarzenegger was known as a cultural icon, not just an actor. In the same regard, Bruce Springsteen was a household name, not just a singer. Therefore, it is not unusual for the public to fantasise about lives with these stars.

The story begins with the line "First, you must dispose of his wife" (p. 36). From this line, the reader gets an immediate sense of a bitter tone and what the story might entail. Also, this real-time writing seems to be conducted in the form of a semi-stream-of-consciousness (a thought process in written form instead of composed prose). She gives Springsteen's wife a lobotomy, Valium, and a one-way ticket to Hollywood and the wife accepts this and leaves. Of course, this simply would not happen in a fashion such as this in real life which is what hints that this might be a dream of sorts. This is also supported by Janowitz writing in the third person about the narrator herself (i.e. referring to myself as "you").

The narrator shows an unnerving sense of infatuation by immediately changing the scene to furnishing shopping with "Bruce" and including jokes about his songs. For example, everything Bruce chose was "made in the USA" (p. 37). These visions of her and Bruce seep into every aspect of life in some capacity. Soon after she begins to discuss the sexual nature of their relationship with highly fetishised notions of what happens between them. This would also speak to the sexualisation of celebrities which was apparent during this decade. This continues when she finds out she is pregnant. This story seems to highlights the fantasised ideals that the general public enforce onto celebrities, a culture which still exists today.

There also exists the notion that celebrities are not simply just people, but living legacies and almost godly figures. She compares Springsteen to the likes of "the Beatles, Christ, Gandhi, Lee Iacocco" (p. 39). She also states that he cured a little boy of cancer by simply seeing Springsteen on TV. This, of course, is a medical impossibility, but again, highlights celebrities are not like us, but are above us. Yet this does not stop the narrator becoming sick of Springsteen's company and very easily persuades his wife to leave Hollywood and return home to him.

Even she is only referred to as Bruce's wife. The narrator does not have a name. The only actual name in this story is Bruce. This writing technique has been used in several literature pieces; notably, Curly's wife from Of Mice and Men. This method is employed when characters need to be rendered unimportant or have a superior authority above them. This story is no different. While Bruce is placed on a pedestal, the rest of the world must remain nameless.


References
1. Cashmore, Ellis. Celebrity Culture. New York: Routledge, 2014.

Case History #4: Fred

'Slaves of New York'


Case History #4: Fred is a short story about a man named Fred who clearly has a problem. He has an obsession with talking to girls and taking them to shop at Tiffany's, in which he 'buys' them gifts; whatever they want., except he has no money. This is his way of talking to girls and thoroughly enjoys doing it. Some days he is successful and some days he is not, in the story Tama Janowitz explains how Fred was turned down after asking to take one girl shopping, as she says 'buzz off', which does not come surprising as this would be a inevitable response. However, he then asks another girl but adds on to his proposal that he is a millionaire and will buy here whatever she wants. Fred says 'I'm a millionaire and I get a kick out taking young women shopping at Tiffany's.' The way he says he gets a kick out of it, sounds like some sort of crazed fetish that he has, and shockingly the girls response was just,  'okay'.


This part of the story shows the effect money can have on women, this is very stereotypical, yet true among most women, which is kind of sad and degrading when you think about it. The relevance of the shop Tiffany's as is important, as in this period the shop Tiffany's in New York was seen as the aspiring place to shop, where all the high class, wealthy people would go to shop. This reinforces the persuasion to a girl of being offered to buy anything they want from Tiffany's, this is portrayed in the 1961 film Breakfast at Tiffany's, in the scene below we see actress Audrey Hepburn eating her breakfast outside Tiffany's, clearly wanting to go in, this reinforces that appeal of being able to shop in Tiffany's, and for the girl that Fred had asked...thinking that she was getting free items from there must have been very appealing.

The following article written by Christina Crapanzano describes this scene in detail, saying how later on in the film this is what the character Holly Golightly (Audrey Hepburn) says; “Well, when I get it, the only thing that does any good is to jump in a cab and go to Tiffany’s. Calms me down right away. The quietness and the proud look of it. Nothing very bad could happen to you there.” This idealises Tiffany's and extrapolates it wealthy status.






When Fred takes the young girl to Tiffany's she chooses out various items costing thousands of dollars, but when they get to the cashier Fred 'realises' that he has forgot his bank card, 'the girl looked wistful, but she understood completely.' After this encounter Fred was banned from Tiffany's or threat of calling the police, however its disturbing to read how he became aroused by this occurrence and would carry on to perform it. This short story is parallel with the idea that many women are dependent on men, that this girl was happy to take this mans money for no cost, it infers deviance and manipulation just by the words millionaire and Tiffany's.




Many of the short stories in Slaves of New York show how women are subservient or dependent on men, feeling subordinate and less merited. This is also clearly shown in the short story 'Kurt and Natasha, a short relationship, in this story Natasha seems completely controlled by Kurt more so than the manipulation of Fred, she does what ever he asks just like a dog, from cleaning or cooking to sexual needs and empowerment.




http://entertainment.time.com/2010/05/18/field-of-dreams-for-sale-top-10-iconic-movie-locations/slide/tiffanys-co-breakfast-at-tiffanys/

Case History #15: Melinda

Tama Janowitz was a member of the 'Brat Pack', a group of writers including herself and Bret Easton Ellis and in her late-’80s heyday she appeared on David Letterman and posed for ads for Amaretto liqueur and Rose’s Lime Juice (NY Mag, 2016). Janowitz writes her witty and fun short stories based on New York's peculiar characters with the most penetrative observation. In reading the stories as a collection, certain themes manifest themselves as both a commentary on New York in the 80s and a discourse on the life of Janowitz herself. Case history #15: melinda (223-226) is no exception to that rule. 

Melinda's strange situation is a product of a city emptied of love and sympathy, especially for women it seems. "The animals, she thought, were a substitute for a man and a real relationship...the animals loved her in a way in that no man ever could" (223). As this section shows, Melinda is alone in a society in which she can find solace only in mangy, broken animals - I think this is Janowitz's commentary on the big mixing pot of artists whom inhabited New York and lived meagre lives to achieve 'celebrity'. Janowitz of course lived that life and did become successful and well known, but this must have allowed her to observe many who were not so lucky. Melinda later finds a love interest in "Chicho" who "was a true child who worshipped Melinda and thought everything about her was wonderful" (225). She is clearly attracted to him primarily because he offers her an antidote to this endless unimportance. 

Melinda goes on to describe all the animals she cares for and its written in a comedic way which I read metaphorically - gummy Schnauzer's and petrified attack dogs included. Janowitz might just be describing, in abstract terms, some of the odd, almost funnily pathetic people whom she met along her road to fame and celebrity in New York. In 1986, Jay McInerney wrote for the New York Times; "reading many of these tales, I couldn't suppress an image of the author wearing sunglasses, standing at a safe or, perhaps, sophisticated distance" (NYT, 1986). Janowitz consistently comments on the thirst for success and notability amongst the art world. Earlier her most hilarious and annoying character, Marley Mantello says, "In today's world, all we have are celebrities, people known for their well-knownness" (201).

Another of the themes identifiable in Janowitz's stories is that of women being subordinate to men. Its as present as ever in this chapter. "Most of the men she [Melinda] knew didn't mind their own mess but it was quite a different story in a women" (224). Melinda's internalised thoughts here speak to the gender disparity in the strange community that Janowitz's characters inhabit; the way in which men appear to put themselves on a pedestal, unjustifiably, above women. In a preceding story in the collection, another of Janowitz's female characters, equally dissatisfied by her situation, warns a friend on the telephone, "If you live with this guy in New York, you'll be a slave" (15).

A hopeless optimism is key to the way in which Melinda and Chicho are presented and is congruent to many of the other characters in the whole text. Chicho hoped to get a job working with elephants at the zoo or studying dolphins in Florida (224-225) which of course is far from his reach and later as Melinda laid dying "she knew that Chicho was probably thinking about her all the time" (226) which of course, he was not. He was in fact selling her animals, re-painting her apartment and sleeping with her best friend. Fairly dire circumstances to which Melinda can only be "neither joyful nor despairing" (226).

It is this exhausting indifference which I find to be the most interesting part of Case history #15. Melinda appears to be part of a culture or society which so desperately lacks empathy for one another, and love, that she simply recedes back to her life of pitiful indifference and loneliness having been a part of the most physically and emotionally tumultuous events. Maybe Janowitz viewed her life in this very arena to be similarly empty and vacuous, despite being exciting and fun. 

1. NY Mag
2. New York Times

Sun Poisoning

Lisa Rosman states "More than any other writer of the 1980s Janowiz captured the true zeitgeist of that decade in which the spirit of the 1960s finally loosened on America. Conservatism and Capitalism were on the rise, gentrification was the name of the game, and "alternative" scenes were suddenly more about aesthetics - music, fashion, pop art, blackened catfish and hair than ideology"
This quote encapsulates the book as a whole but relates to this story with the ideas of being alternative in relation to art and a form of escapism from everyday life by going on vacation.


Sun Poisoning is an interesting short story by Tama Janowitz as it has a humorous take on the everyday antics of preparing for a holiday and what you do on holiday from a woman's perspective. It touches on the stress of getting ready for a holiday and how as a woman you are expected to take pride in your physical appearance due to the medias standards of beauty. In that respect the narrator states that "Somebody made a big mistake when they assigned you to a female sex role; you'll never get over feeling like a female impersonator" suggests  that society have ridiculously high expectations of beauty for women that they feel like they do not fit in to their own gender. Particularly as the characters in this story can be considered bohemian as they are a couple who live quite unconventional lifestyles centred around the world of the arts. Therefore as a woman who does not necessarily conform to societies expectations she struggles to identify with the typical gender roles of women.

The woman and her boyfriend are going on holiday to Haiti following his art show in New York, yet she believes that it is more hard work to go on holiday rather than stay at home. This is apparent as she is not too pleased over the course of the holiday as she faces little obstacles that stop her from relaxing. One of these obstacles is when the water stops working in the cabin so she cannot take a shower, despite this being temporary to her this is a massive inconvenience and is the first disappointment of the holiday. He boyfriend also spends a lot of time talking to different people instead of spending time with her which she does not approve of and quickly tries to call him out on his twisting of the truth to get him out of the conversation so they can both relax. Despite this their ultimate failure is spending too much time in the sun whilst enjoying themselves on the beach. Consequently the boyfriend gets tropical fever which ruins the holiday and the woman has a bright red nose, therefore ruining her appearance and enjoyment of the vacation. It is trivial issues that arise on a typical holiday that ruin the vacation for the couple but it emphasises that no matter how hard you prepare for a holiday something will go wrong.


Sources
http://www.signature-reads.com/2016/04/slaves-of-new-york-reason-to-revisit-this-1980s-gem/

N.W.A - Police brutality and profiling

N.W.A remain as perhaps the most influential group of artists towards the hip-hop genre. Their bass-driven and offbeat songs along with their hyperbolic lyrical flair meant they stood massively against the American music industry. The lyrics reflected their perspectives of life in Compton, and were culminated from the brutality, racial profiling and general discriminatory offences from police officers. 

One of their most notorious hits, "F*** tha Police" - released in 1988, was a protest song which criticised the American police department for the aforementioned offences across the country in poverty-stricken areas such as Compton. With police brutality somewhat lesser yet still very much occurrent today, N.W.A's legacy is partly centred around this song and has since become a slogan within popular culture and merchandise. Various artists have also quoted the line "F*** tha police", therefore reflecting N.W.A's long lasting legacy. 



The film Straight Outta Compton (2015) furthers this legacy and details the groups assimilation struggles in America. This film evokes the groups experience with the police and how there was a common trend of mutual hatred which was rife throughout Compton. One particular scene shows police officers ordering the group to get on the ground with their hands behind their back for the reasoning of quite literally nothing. This was a clear example of racial profiling and the fact that they were black immediately made the police officers suspicious and created a representation of prejudice towards African Americans. Furthermore, towards the middle of the film, Eazy-E quotes at a press conference that "our art is a reflection of our reality". Whilst this quote was not officially noted from Eazy-E, it's undoubtedly true hence why most of their songs are the reflection of gang violence, misogyny, along with the glorification of crime and drugs. As well as the treatment of black people at an authoritative level. 

The initiation of the 'War on Drugs' only added to the long history the USA has on racist policing (or profiling) which stemmed from the 'Jim Crow' laws, and even further back when slavery was still omnipresent. Policy officer in ethnic profiling for the Open Society Justice Initiative, Rebekah Delsol,  states that the Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) established a 'drug courier profile' in the mid-1980s which trained officers to look for 'indicators'; race being fundamental of the indicators. The mass incarceration that occurred in the 1980s only added to the anger and lyrical expression that N.W.A put forward.  

Since their rise to fame and fortune, other hip-hop artists have also spoken out against life in high crime areas. Kendrick Lamar, for instance, has an entire album based on his Compton roots. He also has a song called 'Compton', where he relates back to N.W.A:

"Now we can all celebrate 
 We can all harvest the rap artists of NWA".

This is in reference to how Kendrick (and other artists) were able to utilise the expertise and knowledge of NWA so that he could create and develop his own style and become successful in what would be known as the West Coast scene in hip-hop. 

Do the Right Thing

Do The Right Thing is a 1989 comedy-drama created by and starring Spike Lee. This film depicts the racial tensions within a certain majority black neighbourhood in Brooklyn. It’s obvious too assume that there are tensions between white and black Americans, however the film also shows the racial hatred between the different minorities in Brooklyn. The film shows the different opinions towards race relations and also shows the different ways in which individuals protest racial inequality. Some characters have a more aggressive approach highlighting and Malcolm X’s values and others have a more passive but equally important approach resembling Martin Luther King Jr’s values.

Spike Lee’s character ‘Mookie’ is a 25 year old African American father, he works for an Italian character called ‘Sal’ at a local Pizzeria which has been established for twenty-five years. Sal has two sons called ‘Pino’ and ‘Vito’, both brothers have different attitudes towards Mookie. The oldest brother Pino has an intense hatred towards African Americans and openly shows his racist attitudes towards Mookie throughout the film, Vito on the other hand has no problem with Lee’s character. There are many quirky characters in this film such as ‘Da Mayor’ who is the local drunk and ‘Radio Raheem’ who carries his boom box and plays public enemy openly without any regard for the rest of the neighbourhood. While in the restaurant Mookie’s friend ‘Buggin’ Out’ questions Sal’s ‘Wall of Fame’, the wall is full of Italian Americans and due to the fact the restaurant is in a majority black neighbourhood Buggin’ Out feels that there should be black celebrities on the wall. Sal disagrees and this leads to issues of race between two minorities, Mookie and Pino begin insulting one another based on their ethnic backgrounds. Later that night Radio Raheem and others supporting Bugin’ Out’s idea return to Sal’s and demand that there be black celebrities on the wall, tensions rise and a brawl breaks out. In one of the most iconic scenes in the movie police arrive to stop the brawl and one officer refuses to release Raheem from a chokehold, as a result he dies. A riot breaks out due to the death and Sal’s restaurant is destroyed.

Reviewers suggested that the ‘film could incite black audiences to riot’, Spike Lee criticised this view saying that the majority white reviewers were ‘implying that black audiences were incapable of restraining themselves while watching a fictional motion picture.’ You can see the racial tension that this movie caused after it was released. Do the Right Thing portrays the fragility of certain characters in terms of race, both ethnic groups are minorities but both still try to oppress the other. The film highlights issues such as police brutality and comparisons can be drawn from Raheem’s death and the Black Lives Matter movement of 2014 where the slogan was ‘Hands up, don’t shoot.’ This film shows the racial inequality between minorities and white America and many issues within this film are present today such as unnecessary police violence.       

Klein, Joe. "Spiked?" New York June 26, 1989: 14–15.

Spike Lee's Last Word', special feature on the Criterion Collection DVD (2000)

Ryan White and fight against gay stigma

Although not gay himself, Ryan White gave a face to the represent the stigma surrounding the gay community in the 1980's when he was diagnosed with AIDS.

In the HIV/AIDS epidemic 1987's book And the Band Played On, by Randy Shilts, who contends that Ronald Reagan's administration dragged its feet in dealing with the crisis due to homophobia, while the gay community viewed early reports and public health measures with corresponding distrust, thus allowing the disease to spread and hundreds of thousands of people to needlessly die. One of the most well-known victims of this was Ryan White, a 13 year old boy with haemophilia, who was diagnosed after receiving a blood transfusion infected with the disease sometime in 1984. The stigma surrounding AIDS, formerly known as GRID (Gay Related Immune Deficiency), and the lack of knowledge surrounding the spread of the disease, caused White to be excluded from school. 

According to White's mother, people on the street would often yell, "we know you're queer" at Ryan."It was really bad. People were really cruel, people said that he had to be gay, that he had to have done something bad or wrong, or he wouldn't have had it. It was God's punishment, we heard the God's punishment a lot. That somehow, some way he had done something he shouldn't have done or he wouldn't have gotten AIDS." 1 Even though numerous scientists at the time went on record to say that AIDS could not be spread through touch or sharing a glass, for instance.

Eventually Whtie's story catapulted him into the national spotlight, amidst a growing wave of AIDS coverage in the news media. Between 1985 and 1987, the number of news stories about AIDS in the American media doubled, with him becoming a poster boy for the need for further research into the disease. 2 He helped changed the perception of the disease. 

"The biggest contribution I think that Ryan made is, and I didn't know it at that time, that his legacy would be that people are getting their drugs and their treatment and that people are living with AIDS." His mother ultimately set up the Ryan White Foundation which worked to increase awareness.

1,3 https://hab.hrsa.gov/about-ryan-white-hivaids-program/who-was-ryan-white
2 Brodie, Mollyann; et al. (2004). AIDS at 21: Media Coverage of the HIV Epidemic 1981–2002 (PDF). Kaiser Family Foundation. Retrieved on 13 February, 2016

1980s and era of Hip-Hop

"Keep in mind when brothas start flexing the verbal skillz,

it always reflects what's going on politically, socially,

and economical/y." - Musician Davey D

During the decade of the 1980s, it was the hope of many Americans that the period of strong racial tensions would soon be coming to an abrupt end with the insurgence of the civil rights movement. However, whilst some improvements were made, it soon came to realisation that racial discrimination was still very apparent with brutal murders happening on a very frequent basis, and with these tragic events it was very concerning for the American public. 

Reagan’s presidency in the 1980’s played a key role in the development of racial issues. His presidential campaigns clearly did not support Civil Rights movements of previous decades so minority groups were left to fight for themselves without funding. "He did not believe in racial preferences, did not believe in quotas or what has come to be institutionalised as affirmative action and thought it necessary that no one be given special treatment on account of his race or religion” 

It was seen in the decade of the 80s that music, especially Hip-Hop was seen as a platform for minorities, African Americans in particular to fight these racial issues and express their opinions to the masses. Whilst it’s inception was in the 70s, it was not until the 80s in where the it was labeled “the golden age of Hip-Hop” Hip hop was used as a means of resistance to racism, classism, and deep forms of oppression. 

Public Enemy, one of the most politically active and influential groups within the rap genre, grew in popularity throughout the 1980’s and early 90s. Public Enemy was representational of resistance and spoke out against social issues while raising consciousness about the negative conditions facing average black Americans . One of Public Enemy’s major hits, Fight the Power, served as an anthem for the black American community and others witnesses to social inequalities.

In todays era of Hip-Hop,  fewer rappers are speaking out about social injustice or about issues of inequality and oppression. Instead they are more focused lyrically on the amount of money they earn and possessions they own. "They rap about women, degrading them, and uphold ideas of gender involving masculinity and femininity through their lyrics."

"Few rappers attempt to question the social norm and instead push complacency. One reason for this is the precedent established by major record labels during the past thirty years." Record labels are reluctant to sign rappers who speak of changes within society and question authority as they it will affect sales, and thus resulting in loss of revenue.

References

Blanchard, B. (no date) THE SOCIAL SIGNIFICANCE OF RAP & HIP-HOP CULTURE. Available at: https://web.stanford.edu/class/e297c/poverty_prejudice/mediarace/socialsignificance.htm (Accessed: 13 February 2017).

History of rap and its oppressive state (2012) Available at: https://hiphopforchange.wordpress.com/2012/04/11/history-of-rap-and-its-oppressive-state/ (Accessed: 13 February 2017).

1980s - American race and racism 1970 to present (1984) Available at: https://sites.google.com/a/micds.org/american-race-and-racism-1970-to-present/home/19 (Accessed: 13 February 2017).

The portrayal of race in the 1980s

Society in the 80s was a grim picture for African Americans and people of colour and a narrative, which continues to be damaging to this day, was constructed around race. When addressing racial matters in the 80s, it is important to be aware of what came before and upon which ground Reagan was building his domestic policies, for context is essential, particularly when addressing race as a concern in American society.

Prior to the 1980s, presidents - such as Nixon - put in place a variety of policies that partly nullified the victories that the Civil Rights movement had won for racial equality in America. African Americans and people of colour have lived in a society in which systems perpetually inhibit their freedom and you can argue that these systems constantly change to remain powerful; the 80s saw such a change.

Reagan’s ‘War on Drugs’ had many facets, but overall it propelled a system of mass incarceration which sees vast numbers of citizens, predominantly African Americans and people of colour, imprisoned for minor offenses that constitute ridiculously inflated and disproportionate sentences. This graph, for example, shows the hike in prison population under Reagan (1982-1990 in the case of this scale);

Crack cocaine was at the forefront of the War on Drugs and it was essential in the process of criminalising African Americans and people of colour throughout the 80s. In response to the Reagan Administration's rhetoric regarding crack and its proliferation, Michelle Alexander suggests that; Almost overnight, the media was saturated with images of black “crack whores”, “crack dealers” and “crack babies” – images that seemed to confirm the worst negative racial stereotypes about impoverished inner city residents (Alexander, 2012:5).

The coverage of the War on Drugs speaks to its legacy. It began to criminalise African Americans and people of colour, not only in the eyes of white Americans, but in the eyes of black communities to. ‘Super-Predator’ became a linguistic device amongst the media and even political leaders - Hilary Clinton used the phase - to define this poor, normally non-white character in American society.

Of course, such rhetoric is bound to breed a sense of fear and anguish. In fact, during the Bush Snr. vs Dukakis campaign of 1988, the notorious Willie Horton ad played on this exact construction of racial fear. The use of Horton’s image was deliberately divisive in the way that it targeted a scared, middle-class white demographic to garner political support. Jesse Jackson said on CBS News what few had said publicly to that point: that using Horton’s case as a campaign message actually played on racial fears (Sides, 2016).

There are similar cases which suggest that this racial fear was prevalent in the police and judiciary also. The central park jogger case, for example, saw five black youths criminalised in the media and falsely imprisoned for attacking and raping a female jogger in 1989. Donald Trump actually took out a full page ad in numerous newspapers which called for their execution by death penalty.

In terms of racial identity, the 80s saw a worryingly visceral degradation of the image of African Americans and people of colour across America. Politicians and the media played on a societal fear that drew from racial stereotypes and destructive rhetoric surrounding the War on Drugs. The criminalisation of African Americans and people of colour caused a rift in society by terrifying white America and damaging black America's sense of self. The portrayal of race during the 1980s is influential in terms of the racial inequality that continues to plague America today.

1. Graph: Sentencing project PDF

2. Alexander, Michelle. The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colourblindness. New York: The New Press, 2012

3. WP article: Willie Horton Ad