Invisible Blackness with Adrian Younge

Racism has fermented into an ever-evolving system that is difficult to recognize, without the right sensors. The pressure has been boiling for centuries and something must change. Ostensibly, the oppressed must recognize pressure, in order to push back; we must understand why racism exists and how to overcome our obstacles. Conversely, we must smile and enjoy how precious life is in order for us to feel freedom we’ve been fighting for.

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The end of slavery marks the rise of a secularized Black American culture; a transition whereby secularization found the Black community creating its own social systems. Nevertheless, these systems were created in an atmosphere that falsely blamed Black Americans as the cause of our bloodiest war to date, the Civil War. Did retribution have anything to do with the fact that segregated cemeteries refused to bury our dead?

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Within the first 150 years of Colonial America, it was clearly established that Blacks had no place in America, short of being the property of white colonists. Slave codes were established to divide and conquer, moreover, to separate the lower class by making poor whites identify social status with skin color. This sectarian view fermented complacency towards the plight of Black America. Black Lives did not matter, but in reality, they were America’s greatest asset. By 1850, enslaved Americans were worth $1.3 billion or one-fifth of the nation’s wealth. Within a decade, human collateral exceeded $3 billion and was worth more than the nation’s banks, railroads, mills and factories combined. The South (the Confederacy) seceded to maintain a system of oppression, for profit, at the expense of Black livelihood. The Civil War was fought to protect the financial interests of a racist south. In the battle of North vs. South, America fought its bloodiest war to date. When the South lost, they lost everything. Blacks were “emancipated” and lands were forfeited. Organizations, like the Ku Klux Klan, were established to enforce perpetual retribution against the enslaved that betrayed them. In the North, Blacks were also targeted as being seen as the source of our deadliest war. We became the cancer of America. Why did the institutions of America replace “Slave Codes” with “Black Codes (Jim Crow Laws)?” How did America become so desensitized and shielded behind the precepts of “necessary evil?” Why is President Lincoln canonized as a humanitarian even though he’s professed his indifference towards the institution of slavery? How did the Black consciousness evolve under the purview of freedom?

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In order to fully grasp the concepts behind Invisible Blackness, this episode breaks down the etiology of institutionalized racism. Race is a fallacy; nevertheless, the concept of race has been used to codify the dehumanization of Black Americans for 400 years. Even though predetermined prejudice existed before the transatlantic slave trade, America engineered a unique enigma, designed to dehumanize Blacks as expendable chattel. This optic has been engrained in the American psyche with a myriad of practices that still exist to this day. In 1619, the first recorded delivery of “20 & odd Negroes” came as servants, better defined as enslaved Africans. At the time, racism was essentially non-existent in America. Soon thereafter, avaricious desires catalyzed a movement to establish racism as a means of exploitation and control over non-white Americans.  

Ironically, America enlisted Blacks to fight under a Declaration of Independence against British oppression. While our government declared that “All men are created equally,” the enslaving Framers never sought to apply such protections to Black America. How did the slave codes establish the institution of racism? Why does the concept of “Double Oppression,” plague Black women today? Eugenically speaking, were Blacks ever considered humans in America? Is Drapetomania a relevant concept of today? How did the American Revolution galvanize the Black consciousness of young America?  Stay tuned for deliberation on this week's episode of "Invisible Blackness with Adrian Younge."

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British singer/songwriter Estelle began as a rapper in London. She rose to international fame, keeping her African and West Indian roots intact. 

In this episode, Adrian and Estelle discuss the African diaspora, Britain's National Front and Parallels between the racial justice movements in the UK and the United states.   

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Russell Peters knows the power of using comedy to challenge the status quo and how to make light of unconscious bias. In this episode Adrian and Russell discuss the expression of cultural intelligence through comedy, the power of hiphop to inspire identity and the subtitles of understanding intention when applied to humor. 

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Caroline Randall Williams is an esteemed activist, author, poet, and professor at Vanderbilt University in Tennessee. Caroline has been a featured guest on MSNBC and has penned a myriad of captivating articles on racial bias. Her New York Times essay "You Want a Confederate Monument? My Body Is a Confederate Monument" tells her story as the great-great granddaughter of the nefarious confederate hero, and KKK leader Edmund Pettus, that fathered a child with a formerly enslaved woman. On this episode Adrian and Caroline discuss the romanticism of the South, American patriotism, and how she uses her "white" or ancestral privilege to denounce the evils of America's past.

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Brooklyn raised composer, singer-songwriter, and producer, Brian Jackson, is a true luminary for Black American music. Brian is the long time writing partner of the late Gil Scott Heron. Throughout the 70s, Brian and Gil created music that elevated black consciousness and continues to inspire younger generations. In this episode, Adrian and Brian discuss Music as a tool for education, the nuances of segregation and how the struggle for civil rights informed revolutionary music in America. 

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Five time Grammy Award winning production duo Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis dominated the music industry in the late 80’s through the early 90's working with various artists  such as Janet Jackson, Mary J. Blige, Luther Vandross, Mariah Carey, Usher, and many more. With a career spanning four decades they have moved into a mainstream market freeing them from the limits imposed on many Black producers in the music industry. On this episode, Adrian, Jimmy, and Terry discuss the duo's journey to success and how the cultural zeitgeist made way for them to crossover from urban to pop charts. 

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Nelso George is Hip Hops’ historian, a New York native, author, and intellectual. Nelson has been documenting the culture with a legendary clarity since its inception. No-one has articulated the nuances of Hip Hops' emergence like Nelson George.  In this episode Adrian Younge and Nelson discuss black popular culture and the consciousness of the African Diaspora in America.

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