The browning of white America - impact of Black creativity and leadership on American culture

Ebony, August, 1991 by Charles Whitaker

For generations, the gatekeepers of American history have smugly advanced the myth that the nation's cultural identity was concocted in a melting pot in which the principal ingredients were imported from Europe. Never mind the fact that most of the truly "American" cultural innovations - from rock 'n' roll and jazz to Southern cuisine - have antecedents deep in Black America, revisionists have tried to overlook or minimize the role that Blacks have played in forging the American ethos.

Today, however, it is virtually impossible to ignore the tremendous explosion of Black creativity and leadership that has burst upon the landscape. Black artists, athletes, politicians and intellectuals are not merely influencing popular culture, they are dramatically reshaping it in bold, brilliant and unquestionably Black ways that cannot be diminished or denied.

Gen. Colin L. Powell, chairman of the Joint Chiefs f Staff, and one of the architects of the Allied victory in the Persian Gulf War, personifies the unparalleled way in which Blacks are wielding power at the highest level of American society. Similarly, the considerable and unprecedented role that Black women played in the Gulf war has changed forever the way in which Americans will view the role of women in combat.

And no political power brokers or civic booster have displayed more marketing acumen than Atlanta's current mayor and its immediate past mayor - Maynard Jackson and Andrew Young, respectively - who not only out-maneuvered a host of international competitors to snare the 1996 summer Olympics for their city, but have completely revamped Atlanta's image.

And even in areas without Atlanta's considerable African-American presence, Black politicians such as Seattle Mayor Norman Rice and Virginia Gov. L. Douglas Wilder - both elected by constituencies that are principally White - are defying conventional wisdom about voting patterns and building bridges beyond the great racial divide.

Of course, the impact that Black entertainers and athletes have had on American culture is nothing if not staggering. Who in their right mind can disavow the effect that the gravity-defying artistry of Michael Jordan has had in converting the earthbound peach basket game invented by James Naismith a century ago into the high-flying slam-dunking show that the National Basketball Association is today? Who can dispute the fact that Cosby, Oprah and Arsenio have collectively and individually resuscitated terminally ill television species such as the sitcom and the talk show? Who can dismiss the impact that Eddie Murphy has had on film or the Jackson siblings on popular music?

More than mere celebrities, these phenomenally popular figures are cultural icons whose moves, mannerisms and modes of dress are imitated by millions of Americans - Black and White. Along with a host of other Black superstars, these personalities are dictating the new American style: a distinctively Black style, a style that the country is not only embracing, but is absorbing into the very fabric of American life.

In no instance is the pervasive influence of Black Americans more apparent than in the sweeping acceptance of the hip-hop culture that spawned rap music. Like the blues, bebop and a score of of other "American" musical genres, rap was born deep within Black America as a means of expressing the ecstasy and anguish of the African-American experience. Thanks to the telegenic presence of amiable, fleet-footed performers such as M.C. Hammer and Will (The Fresh Prince) Smith, rap became a national phenomenon and was co-opted and commercialized by a White mainstream audience that also adopted the de rigueur bare-chested, baggy-pants attire as well as the urban attitude and idiom.

Television - the ubiquitous music videos, in particular - has played a tremendous role in transmitting trends that originate in the Black community to an accepting White audience. Hardly a week passes when the youth of the country's predominantly Black inner-cities are not initiating a new dance craze, hairstyle or fashion phenomenon. Each innovation is instantly packaged and hungrily consumed by an American public that never seems to tire of Black creativity, though it is loath to credit Black genius.

But it is not just through entertainment and athletic that Black Americans are displaying heightened power as trend setters. The growing non-White presence in America has also helped effect some subtle changes in the national consciousness, most poignantly reflected in the shift in the country's concept of beauty.

No longer is the pale-complexioned, blue-eyed blonde the lone standard of American beauty. Black features today are envied and emulated, not caricatured as they were in days past.

The recent parade of Black beauty queens - including the back-to-back Black Miss Americas, Debbye Turner and Marjorie Judith Vincent - is but one signal of the country's reluctant acknowledgement of the glories of Black beauty. A more telling indicator is the number of well-known White sex symbols - notably Madonna, Cher and Michelle Pfeiffer - who are revered for, among other things, their full, sensuous lips, a feature long associated with Black beauty. Some White entertainers even have enlarged their lips through cosmetic surgery in order to achieve the voluptuous effect.