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The audience gave Dr. Michael Eric Dyson a standing ovation as he came in and as he left the auditorium. During the hour long lecture, Dyson rapped, sang parts of songs and talked about how African-American and Latin men can empower themselves to better their lives.

Hip-hop intellectual wants minority men to move on up

By: Jessie Burche

Posted: 10/8/07

Kanye West is the ultimate gangster, according to Georgetown University professor Dr. Michael Eric Dyson.

West is the ultimate gangster because he spoke out against the most powerful man in the world, George Bush, after Hurricane Katrina.

"What's more gangster than that?" Dyson said.

Dyson visited UMKC Friday, Oct. 5 and spoke to a packed Pierson Auditorium. He was the keynote speaker for the African-American Male and Latino Empowerment Summit (AALo).

He is also one of the most well known black intellectuals in the United States and according to his book jacket for "Know What I Mean?" Dyson was named in Ebony magazine as one of the hundred most influential black Americans.

The AALo summit's subtitle was "How do you 'do you' in academia?" This topic, among many others, was the subject of Dyson's speech.

Before he began speaking, Dyson got the audience going by rapping some Snoop Dogg lyrics.

He addressed stereotypes.

"There's a huge perception and a grand tradition, even a pervasive and profound and problematic stereotype that young people of color are disinterested in learning," Dyson said. "When everywhere, all together, there is a decidedly explicit rejection of such a ludicrous presupposition...Black and brown kids are just as interested [in learning] if not more, than their white counterparts."

He said this stereotype was based on a study done in one school.

He also addressed the issue of dominant white culture and minority cultures of color in the United States.

"The project of deromanticizing white-ness is a project that must be taken up not just by people of color, but by white brothers and sisters themselves so they can be freed of the mythology of their inherent superiority," Dyson said. "Mediocrity has no copyright in terms of color….But why is it that people of color have to prove themselves to be geniuses just to get along with the folk from New York and other communities?"

Dyson spoke in opposition to anti-immigration feelings in America.

"It's a bunch of immigrants who got here trying to dog the immigrants just getting here. You all got in by the boat, the plane, the train or however you could get here. We ain't mad at your group, but we mad at Jose," Dyson said. "We don't mind German immigrants coming here trying to build the information superhighway, but we don't want the Joses of the world coming through here….We want to build a wall to keep them out. Who gonna build it? The Mexicans."

Dyson told the men at the summit not to quit working in school no matter how hard their classes are, even if they have a hard time at home because of money or because it's a single-parent home.

"I understand how difficult that is … that's the more reason to get there," Dyson said.
He said anti-intellectualism is an American phenomenon.

"I'm asking you to be a dissenter," Dyson said.

He also talked about how schools may not be teaching minority students correctly.

"There are cultural differences that sometimes manifest themselves in styles of learning, how people talk and speak ain't the same as everybody else," Dyson said. "So we get written off as pathological, you know, can't learn. We can learn, you just got to learn how to learn us."

He spoke about Ebonics' role in America

"The purpose of black English is to allow black people to communicate with each other in … a way they could understand, but the enemy couldn't," Dyson said. "English without people of color would be a darn sight ridiculous."

He also said all the uproar about sagging pants is unfounded.

"I'm not worried about sagging pants; I'm worried about sagging dreams," he said.

One of the last pieces of advice he had for the AALo summit focused on working within the system in the U.S. in terms of working hard in school, not speaking in Ebonics while trying to get a job and clothing. He encouraged the men at the summit to fit in so they could become successful.

"You ain't sellin' out, you tryin' to buy in," Dyson said.

He also encouraged the men to treat women better.

"Black and brown men, lighten up on the misogyny," he said.

Cheryl Ellis, Kansas City resident, agreed the teaching system must change in the U.S. Ellis does volunteer work for the Police Athletic League (PAL) and said her organization gave free haircuts to boys and girls before school started this year.

"Kids can't think if they don't like the way they look," Ellis said.

The idea of the free haircuts was to relieve one more worry for school kids and allow them to focus on academics.

Tyrone Harris, freshman at ITT Tech, liked the speech.

"He can relate to us," Harris said. "He gets to the point."

Harris also liked the speech wasn't focused on one race.

jburche@gmail.com