In what may be a brush of brilliance, Vibe pulls from the nostalgic yearning of Tupac’s fans with the reference to Shakur’s first posthumously released album. Another striking detail is the attempted alignment of Tupac’s troubled past and criminal woes with Brown. The visual blending of Shakur and Brown presents a peculiar dichotomy of suffering and masculine expression.
Can Chris Brown join the ranks of Shakur as one of our community’s tragic heroes?
The tragic hero by definition has an immense personality flaw that is agitated by fate and outside forces. Our fascination with celebrities' internal conflicts that manifest themselves in public displays of irrational behavior and actions often blinds us to the reality that they are human as well. Celebrity status, a frenzied and often biased media, and one’s own hubris set up these men of color for the okey doke. Once they fall from grace, they are reintroduced to the marginalized space of our understanding of blackness and masculinity. Chris Brown fell faster than Icarus.
What is most striking about the whole fiasco behind the battery charges, Rihanna, and even the possibility of redemption is that his young black male body bears the brunt of not only his own indiscretions but those of ALL black men. Many critics who protest Brown’s return to the public view force him to embody the actions of what is seemingly all black men who ever thought about or participated in domestic abuse. While I am by no means supporting Brown’s acts of domestic violence, it is problematic that he is the scapegoat for all that is wrong with black manhood. What are the requirements for forgiveness? And who is in charge of those factors?
Let’s return to the idea of paralleling Chris Brown and Tupac Shakur. The narrative of suffering shared by both artists through their music speaks to their lived experience as black men in America. What is most fascinating about Shakur (and probably the key to our fixation with his life) is his enigmatic outlook and borderline schizophrenic perceptions of his manhood and blackness. He was influenced by the mantras of the Black Panther Party and the streets of New York, Baltimore, and Southern California. He can sing the praises of black women (“Dear Mama,” “Keep Ya Head Up”) and cast them aside on the next track. Tupac showed himself as a Thug and a T.H.U.G. L.I.F.E. intellectual. We focus on the brilliance and internal conflict that constituted Shakur’s genius. We try to steer away from the rape conviction, incarceration, and negative media blitz surrounding his legacy.
For Chris Brown, we over look his dancing talent and focus on how he Ike Turner’ed Rihanna. Because of spite or a move to avoid bad publicity, Brown is banned from television tributes to Michael Jackson, the man Brown idolized most. What is our angle? Do we both embrace and despise Chris Brown because he reaffirms our embedded understandings of black masculine expression as violent, passionate, and unyielding to reason? Or do we simply see a black male body that is past redemption and can no longer be a functioning member of society?
Why is forgiveness biased? James Brown, Don Cornelius, and, to an extent, even Ike Turner got a second chance. We forgave Tupac. We only forgave Michael Jackson because he passed. Michael Vick is still searching for acceptance.
We can forgive Tupac, why not Chris Brown? I’ll wait.
When news hit the airwaves regarding Chris Brown attacking Rihanna, I was among the first to defend her against a wave of "it must have been her fault" or "she deserved it" comments from members of the Black community. No woman deserves to be abused period. All that being said, no abuser is unworthy of repentance & forgiveness.
ReplyDeleteThere are many reasons that the public has a right to be reluctant to forgiving Chris. His handlers ill prepared him for his interviews and re-emergence (exhibit A - the bow tie interview). He needs help from a visible, responsible, embraced black male figure. He needs guidance. I hope Steve Harvey, Tavis Smiley, Quincy Jones, somebody reaches out to Chris. He threw tantrums on Twitter. He is screaming for help, and I pray that we as a community heed the call before something happens to make us regret our hesitance.
Regina, I think you hit a lot of salient points on the head. Chris deserves forgiveness. But even more, he needs a community to teach him how to heal the scars that caused this episode to explode in the first place. Our community is not traditionally equipped to do that well, so I pray that the right people work with him.
He is a young, talented man who still has the possibility of a bright future, solong as he is positioned to grow from this and not shadowbox himself into a corner.
When I first heard about the incident, I wanted to wait and see what the facts were. There's no way to say he wasn't wrong, regardless of who "started it", but I think we've gotta realize that just because he's a celebrity doesn't mean he's beyond forgiveness. The unfortunate reality is that men in corporate America beat their women regularly and don't suffer the menacing blows that Chris Brown has suffered. Why do we hold him to a higher penalty? His life is public and thus, his indiscretions become public. People forget that he's human too. I have forgiven CB, and the world needs to. This was a one-time mistake, and a lot of these folks judging him need to check their own lives for "mistakes". He can't bear this scarlet letter forever and he has too much talent to be denied a fair shot. It will take some time but he'll rise again.
ReplyDeleteBy the way, I ain't forgave Ike for shit! It took me 3-4 tries to get through "What's Love Got To Do With It" and even still I shudder.
I too forgive Chris because sins are sins, and no one sin is more egregious than any other sin. I am non-judgmental in all things, including this. Its my understanding that Chris had some abusive episodes in his past at the hands of his own father against his mother. Some look at that and say since he grew up with that and saw first hand what it did to his mother, that he should be doubly punished for doing it to Rihanna. But unfortunately, that view totally dismisses the great impact that our upbringing and our environments have on us as burgeoning adults. Sprinkle in the fact that Chris Brown became a millionaire at 16 yrs old and all he knows is that he's a kid with lots of money to blow dating a hot young singer who is the fantasy of boys and men alike. I can forgive Chris Brown more than I can forgive some of these older cats out there who lived enough of life and should have known better.
ReplyDeleteInteresting piece. However, I don't think that Chris Brown can be compared to Tupac.
ReplyDeleteFirst, it was easy for the public to forgive Tupac because he maintained his innocence regarding the rape charage until his death. Secondly, he portrayed himself to be a product of white supremacy, poverty, and racial discrimination, a thug. Every black person can relate to the idea that young black thugs are a product of a very hateful American society. (Similarly, many people can relate to his bi-polar personality and lyrics because on some level we are all walking contradictions.) As a result, Tupac, would argue, he often did, that his rape charge was a result of white America wanting to believe the confessions of the pure White woman over the bestial black man.
But Chris Brown's situation is very different from Tupac. Chris Brown was the squeaky clean, momma's boy who beat his girlfriend unconsciously. He confessed and admitted his wrongdoings. Unlike to Tupac, there is no confusion as to whether he committed the crime or not. Consequently, when Brown confessed to domestic violence Americans, white and minorities, were shocked, appalled and confused. The squeaky clean momma's boy was NOT so squeaky clean. However, Tupac portrayed himself as a thug, thus America expected certain behavior from him.
In my humble opinion, I just think you forcefully draw paralles where few parallels exist. However, I do like reading your work. I too am interested in performance and gender identity in black pop culture.
Yes, Tupac was an enigma. He was a scholar but people overlooked or overshadowed that fact because they were so focused on his exterior. I'm not forcing parallels, I'm teasing out ideas that the Vibe cover suggests.
ReplyDeleteWe can also agree to disagree. From your definition of thug, Chris Brown fits the bill and should be given a pass just for that. He is a young black man in a "very hateful American society" where he is now a convicted felon and part of the penal system, where many critics argue white supremacy runs supreme because of its majorily black (male) population. He's been conformed to the bestial black male. He's a thug.
Clarify something for me, Courtney. Are you suggesting that if Tupac relented to and admitted some form of guilt, we wouldn't have forgiven him because that's outside of his projected caricature?
Thanks for stoppin' by!
Yes. I do believe my earlier comments need to be clarified. I personally believe that the black community has already forgiven Chris Brown for the domestic violence convictions. He has been on the cover of several black magazines, he has been invited on countless talk shows and radio stations to explain his side of the story, and more than a handful of black celebrities have rallied around the young man. Not mention the blogs, news articles, and opinion pieces that have defended and made excuses for his heinous act. In what other ways can the black communtiy show their forgiveness? Buy his albums? Well we all know that a majority of Brown's fan base was young children and white teenagers. Thus, support and forgiveness for Brown cannot be shown through album sales. So what more do you want? I just meant that IF SOME people have not forgiven Brown for the Pre-Grammy inicident it MAY BE because he was America's post child who seemingly turned violent. His actions were so unexpected. He wasn't condemned to the bestial thug until AFTER the beating incident. Before that he was the beloved smooth crooner. He was light skin, had a great smile, a nice voice and impeccable dance moves. I just think some people's confusion over his actions has caused them to lash out.
ReplyDeleteBut the type of forgiveness that has been bestowed upon Brown is not uncommon in the black community. In fact to be quite honest Regina I think on some level the black community always forgives our black men for their indescretions. For instance, OJ Simpson, Mike Vick, Jesse Jackson, Martin Luther King, R. Kelly, Tupac, and yes to some extent even Chris Brown are just a few of the black men that the black community has forgiven. As black women we constantly make excuses for these men and turn a blind eye telling ourselves and our children that, "it was just one time." I say all of that to say, that regardless of whether Tupac confessed to rape or maintained his innocence, the black community, especially black women, are a forgiving group of people. Now have the white people forgave Chris? That's a whole 'nother story..
Sorry for any errors I was typing way too fast. Womp. Womp.
ReplyDelete