White Oppression Of Black Culture Essay

White oppression of black culture reflects an elitist system that values white experiences and voices over those of people of color. This is evidence in rap and hip-hop music, as the music and culture made by musicians of color are conveyed as noise and unpleasant to sensitive white ears. According to Jennifer Lynn Stoever, “U.S. White supremacy has attempted to suppress, tune out, and willfully misunderstand some sounds and their markers and histories.” This is evidence in how white musician “borrow” the music from black culture but refuses to acknowledge the culture the music was created in. Whites separate the music from the message and experiences of black culture without the reciprocation of the black experience. This leaves those of white culture tone deaf to the pleas of their peers of color, as they have not only deemed their experiences inferior but refuse to acknowledge an issue with race in America. By refusing to listen, we, as white people, are refusing to not only acknowledge the cries of injustices in black society but are enabling a system that favors white sounds and therefore the white

experience.
White culture in white society is presented as the norm others should achieve to strive for, while black culture and the culture of individuals of color, is only experienced by outsiders. We, as a white culture, have determined social and economic cues in how we listen to black voices. We find music of black origins, such as rap and hip-hop, to be raunchy, intelligible, and loud. According to Stoever “White Americans often feel entitled for their sensibilities, sensitivities, and taste and to their implicit, sometimes violent control over the soundscape of an ostensibly “free”, “open”, and “public” space.” Our lack of sensitivity to rap and hip-hop only further reflects our lack of sensitivity to black issues. By refusing to listen to black music, we as white people, convey the experience of black society is just noise and is not worth our attention. We have created a value of which voices can be heard and when we want to hear them. We profile voices much like we profile faces, and create false identities and narratives based on the words we hear, not the words they want us to listen to. We refuse to acknowledge the message because we refuse to accept how the message is delivered.
There is an erasure that occurs when white culture silences the voice of the oppressed.

We have determined their words to be invaluable to ours. We have determined the person their message, as well as what they stand for, is both powerless and useless. Erasure of black culture and black experiences occurs when white musicians cover black music. By covering black music, white musicians twist the words and meanings of songs to fit their own agenda, neglecting the impact the message was supposed to have. White society feels our message is more important and will twist black rhetoric to fit in with the ideal white society. An example of this form of silencing is evident is the prominent use of “All Lives Matter” to downplay and reject the message of “Black Lives Matter” as white society has become color-blind to issues they no longer believe are race

related.
White people as a society are uncomfortable with the idea of a narrative not revolving around us, as we are seen as the norm of society and the goals all groups should achieve to be. As Stoever states “White authority figures still expect black people to perform more visible overt, and extreme measures of compliance- through speech, vocal tone, eye contact, and physical behavior- than they ask of white subjects.” Our discomfort of black culture leads to the push of a colorblind society, where issues have to affect the whole in order to be important issues. By refusing to listen to those of other cultures who experiences are different than ours, we are refusing to accept the world does not fit the white “color-blind” narrative. Yet though borrowing the music of black culture, we attempt to stratified our desire that we can all have the same experience in America, as we attempt to separate the music of the culture and experiences that have shaped black society. In doing so, our color blindness to issues removes the notion that white supremacy and white privilege still exist in our social arrangements. That no socio-economic difference exists between races. We when are color blind, we still acknowledge race, but disregard social hierarchy, instead we reduce racial coded styles and products as commodities that both whites and racial minorities can purchase and share. When in reality we only take want we desires from cultures we want to keep oppressed.