Dr. Spence The Originator of This Discussion Responds To My Take On His Post "Class Warfare In Black Lit. And Theater"...To See What I Originally Said Please Go Click On The Following Link:
http://weallbe.blogspot.com/2007/04/tha-artstorian-responds-to-class.html
Dr. Spence's Words Are In Red While Tha Artstorian/Artivist's Words Are In Blue:
Dr. Spence Says...
"Bro. Herd I believe there is some miscommunication here. On the one level I think you are right in that Cruse would probably have a great deal of respect for Perry's project, because of the relative autonomy he has been able to carve out for himself. But on the other Cruse was interested not solely in autonomy but in the development of the art itself. And this is where Perry, and many self-published writers fall short. Perry and some of the self-published artists have been able to make a great deal of money...but have they pushed the ART forward? What new techniques have they developed? What aspects of the black experience have they done a better job of delving into than their peers? They do own the means of cultural production, but what are they doing with those means? Now Perry and others argue--as you do--that he is reaching a group of people that no one else is reaching. And for this we should applaud especially because these people are working class black folk. Lil John routinely sells more than ten times the cds that any straight ahead black jazz artist sells. Does this mean that we should have kids listen to more Lil John?"
Tha Artstorian/Artivist Says...
"Prof. Spence, i definitely appreciate this extended dialogue...Jesse Jackson once said that he did not have a problem with the Amos and Andy Show when it first came out..His problem was that it was the only Black show on television at that time..I do think we should have a range of Black images available in all artforms, but I also believe like the Imus incident illustrates that until we can control our own instituitons and revenue we will never have the chance to have innovation that's going to be commercially successful... Oscar Micheaux once said that in order to be successful you must have access to talent, finance and distribution...He went on to say that if you control one out of the three you had a voice, but if you controlled two out of the three you are a force...We are too busy asking for acceptance when we should be creating our own value codes and standards...Why is it that Picasso is more valuable than a Romare Bearden??? Who makes those value calls??? When we attack each other, we are not really attacking the enemy...What qualifies as art and innovation are truly subjective calls...All of our most important art came from the so-called lower classes...Jazz and Ragtime were looked down upon by even our most distinguished scholars such as W.E.B. DuBois...It came from the brothels of American life...But now we have Jazz @ The Lincoln Center and we have National Jazz Appreciation Month in April...So history and time will only tell what was truly innovative and original...
Tha Artivist."
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