An innovative academic act sets a white cat among black pigeons

Objection to African-American’s rap thesis masks – fig leaf-style – racism

In an age when we believe we have seen it all, that there is no possibility of really new ideas, just the rehashing of old ones, something comes along that takes innovation to new heights – inevitably getting some sectors of society in a froth.

I am talking about a Harvard University student who graduated from that Ivy League institution with one of the highest accolades – graduation with honours – after submitting a 10-track rap album for his final thesis, the first to do so in the history of the institution.

And, no, Obasi Shaw is not a music student. The rap album, which took him a year to write, was submitted for his English class. Rather than write an essay, a collection of poems or a piece of prose, Shaw decided to try something different.

The album, titled Liminal Minds, is a commentary on American history – going back to the trans-Atlantic slave trade, right down to racial profiling and police brutality (mainly against black men in the contemporary United States).

In the first track, Declaration of Independence, he writes, or raps rather: “Behold, what we hold is threefold – body and spirit to be thrones for free souls. Self is the evidence, please close the freak shows. And depose the evils, our peoples are equals”.

It is also to his credit that he samples the writings of James Baldwin, one of the foremost literary voices of black America, if not America.

Needless to say, Shaw’s story has received a backlash from political and cultural conservatives – both online, and on public platforms.

It does not help that Shaw is a young black man. As a result, when you read the criticisms and comments on his innovation, there’s a veneer of racial discomfort, with one respondent to an article in The Independent newspaper (the one in the UK, not the local one) saying: “Some groups are held to such a low standard.”

To which there is a quick rejoinder: “What are you talking about?”

And then the clincher, dripping with sarcasm: “Blacks. That’s what he’s talking about. He’s attributing his success to apparent low standards for blacks as opposed to the possibility that this kid might actually be incredibly intelligent and talented.

“You know, because Harvard is an easy place to get into or complete even a semester, let alone finish with honours. You know, because all minorities finish with honours and have to try less to do it than whites who never finish with honors there.”

The standards have fallen, some have lamented. But the word “standards” has been found abroad and here at home to be a fig-leaf that covers naked racial superiority proclivities of those who believe too many non-whites are being admitted into institutions which were previously “theirs”.

If you ask me, I do not see what the kerfuffle is about. The child submitted a rap album, where he could have submitted an essay. Rap is nothing but poetry set to music. Well, some rap anyway.

If anything, Shaw should be praised for doing something different, new, challenging. Everyone else submitted an essay – he did double the job: he wrote the lyrics, memorised them, and then set them to music.

It clearly took him more time and effort than an average essay would have taken him. Had he submitted an essay, he would have been one of the sheep – but he decided to break away from the flock.

That having been said, the silver lining to this cloud is that Shaw’s submission has added a new layer to the dialogue taking place in America about race. A dialogue, incidentally, which dovetails with our own fallist movement here at home. Let’s not stop talking.