Prometheus 6

The NAACP Goes Hip-Hop

People have been making the argument that the old guard of black leaders have been less than interested in handing the reigns over to a younger generation for some time. We saw this when Newark Mayor Corey Booker took two tries to unseat Sharpe James. And the claims calling for a new “hip-hop politics” are often not so much about hip-hop as much as they are about youth. In fact I’d argue that much of what passes for substantive discussion of black politics lately has revolved around the discussion about the need for “new leaders” and “new approaches” and “new blood.” These arguments are at their base nothing more than beefs about folks getting their turn.