Greetings, y’all. I am Keladry of Mindelan. Except that I am not really, because then I would be somehow transmitting this post to you from between the pages of a book, and as we all know, that’s the kind of shit that belongs in a horrifyingly-bad ’70s sci-fi movie.
At the moment, I’m getting some experience of teaching (not a lot, it must be said, given that my placement has doubled in length and disjuncture thanks to exams!). I’m in an east London secondary school, one which was rated by Ofsted as ‘good and improving.’ Hence, whilst it’s an, ahem, education in many ways, it’s not the suicide-inducer that screaming headlines about teenage knife crime and pupil defiance would have you believe.
However, it has been drummed into me – so hard that I am metaphorically rippling still – that secondary schools are places of unbelievable conformity. This isn’t all that surprising, given that you hit puberty and then your teens in secondary school – a time of horribly acute self-consciousness.
‘Sex changes everything.’ Amen! The struggle with yourself that puberty-and-teens brings is legendary. You don’t understand. Your parents sure as hell don’t understand it. You think your peers might, but sometimes you worry they understand it better than you. Nobody wants to be left behind, and even if they do (even if they’re not hell-bent on ‘growing up,’ as in the case of yours truly), they can’t admit it.
So… everyone copies those who seem the most confident. In socially deprived areas, this is important. It means a certain type of stereotype figure, which ought to DIE A DEATH, lives on.
I’m talking about the black macho stereotype. Think of your rappers and gangsters.
Now, it’s a pretty well-worn cliche. In America especially, the issue of the ‘gangster’ or ‘gangster rapper’ and the terrible role-model it offers to African-American kids is hardly new. Chris Rock summed it up better than anyone, I think, and the excellent HBO show The Wire demonstrated how little real choice those living in impoverished areas have, but to get sucked into the cycle of dangerous and illegal living.
We’re in Britain though, and race relations are certainly very different here. ‘Better’ or ‘worse’ aren’t terms to be applied; it’s just different.
The ‘gangster’ (aka black macho) stereotype proliferates in a very different way here. While those most susceptible to it are often children from poorer families, middle-class kids aren’t immune either. Asian boys from middle-class backgrounds ape it wildly and buy into ‘gangster rap,’ ‘crunk’ and all the other related subgenres with great enthusiasm. The most ironic thing about that particular situation is that it often constitutes a ‘rebellion’ against parents perceived to be more conservative and authoritarian, more ‘old-fashioned.’
And yet! They ‘rebel’ by selecting as their model something which is centred on money, superficiality, isolation and misogyny. That’s ironically not a million miles way from many Indian parents, many of whom think that a job which earns good money trumps all others, aspire to own a Mercedes above all else and divide labour along VERY predictable gender lines. If you’ve seen the Bollywood film Devdas, then that IS a semi-accurate depiction of how many Indian fathers are. Even if they’re not that strict (and many aren’t), there’s still an incredible awkwardness and distance between themselves and their children. Communication is something ‘that the woman does’; most fathers seem to think that simply being at home, and driving their kids places, constitutes quality time.
The collateral damage here is pretty notable. Mothers become much more present influences in their sons’ lives, exerting the power they have been denied THROUGH their sons. The story of the mother-in-law oppressing her daughter-in-law is one of the most frequent tropes in South Asian soaps and dramas (also in films…). That would be because it is unfortunately very often true. Gautam Malkani linked this frequent ‘matriarchy’ with the aggressively macho behaviour of boys in his novel Londonstani (interview highly recommended!).
This ridiculous and exaggerated performance of masculinity conceals a powerful need for good male role models, pride in one’s ‘own’ culture and understanding of other genders. It also promotes the supremacy of the ‘crew’ over the individual (just what we need in schoolchildren! Even more motivation not to think for themselves). Ironically, given that part of this attitude also involves virulent homophobia, the ‘black macho’ stereotype allows homosociality, permitting Asian and white boys to replace the misogyny within their own cultures and societies with a stronger version which posits itself as more ‘dynamic’.
The notion of the ‘crew’ is vitally important, because it taps in to what puberty is all about: self-consciousness and the desire for approval and validation. Puberty feels to some like an ongoing popularity contest and that’s because it is. A lot of British culture venerates pairs or individuals (don’t make me give you a list… OK, OK: The Prisoner, The Avengers, Saturday Night and Sunday Morning, Doctor Who… even The bloody Apprentice! Let’s not even mention the ‘reality’ shows…). So, between one stereotype and another, there isn’t much scope for positive development. Of course, as any fule kno, the ‘crew’ is likely going to be hierarchical too, with a pre-defined leader. However, teens think that by choosing the person they wish to validate them, they are empowering themselves. Er, no…
The ‘black macho’ stereotype doesn’t just affect boys though, although the effects are perhaps worse for them. It also affects girls. Just the other day, I witnessed a Bengali teenager with a giant, grease-cemented ponytail-handlebar on the side of her head, and those giant gold hoop-earrings that just looking at makes my earlobes want to drop quietly off. The near-identical white version, or ‘wigger,’ is very well-known too. However, for the most part, girls aren’t allowed to continue being ‘macho’ for very long. Society usually does what it can to wear them down, more often than not with quite a lot of success.
To conclude, let’s just return to the ‘popularity contest’ notion. We all know, whether it involves increasing detention time or keeping a person ‘in’ a programme via the sympathy vote – le grand public is not always right. Or even rational/logical. Yet if something gets their support, it lives, wretchedly on.
The black macho stereotype is just that – a stereotype. A figment of imagination. Even the people who promote it don’t really believe in it, much of the time. I remember being shocked to discover that most rappers had wives. Not just girlfriends, but wives. Also, a lot of these women weren’t necessarily what you might expect – not really like the girls in the videos at all!
For the sake of themselves as well as for black people (in Britain, and I would hope, in America too), Asian and white kids need to get a grip and stop acting this unpleasant charade. People rave about Islam being antithetical to Western values, but interestingly enough, nobody seems to think much about the likes of this. It too involves racism, sexism, homophobia, a tribal mentality – many of the things which they attribute immediately to Islam. It involves ridiculous megalomania and a persecution complex (at times), and glorifies anti-intellectualism (a trend unfortunately already embedded within British culture) and consumerism.
I mean, if you think about it, how often do you actually see black girls wearing gold door-knockers? The black community’s not going to have much luck putting this awful character to death whilst it is being enthusiastically and exaggeratedly adopted and performed by their white and Asian compatriots.
Just what we need to be imparting to the next generation at a time of global recession, climate change and cultural conflict!
How, then – how, even in the most miniscule of ways – might we even hope to begin putting a stake through that particular vampire’s heart?
