... the other Black experience
Another topic about being the POC in the white scene.
Does anyone want to share their experiences of playing in bands with white people? While I was in college I happened to play in a hardcore band where I was the only person of color and this was during a very intense period of introspection about my identity as a person of color. I felt alienated within the hardcore scene as an outsider who often times became the butt of inadvertently racist jokes and whose cultural experience was foreign to white punks. Going on tour was difficult for me and I have a memory of being miserable, cold (winter tours on the east coast suck when you don't have long-johns or a proper coat), hungry (I was the only vegan in the tour van), and isolated listening to Belle and Sebastian while wanting to almost cry. On the other hand being Filipino and being a punk was unbearable at times when people made fun of mymusic or would somehow reduce my experience to a caricature of headbanging while air guitaring, imitating the "yah dude" accent of "rocker white people" and trying to identify with me by saying that they liked a few Metallica and Nirvana songs.
There are more specific stories I have, but I'll just start there and see what other folks might have to say.
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Addicted ToBad Things on -
i have few experiances with whites on the metal scene. i recently met a person through a friend of mine. (also a black guitarist but he has issues with him self and his color) anyways the guy was white and perseeded to tell me how the guy in his class at college was acting like a "n-word" (his words) for playing his rap music too loud. he seem pretty cool before that tho. we were talking about bands and music. and then he said that ish to me. it honestly digust me, i dont know if he met any harm. but just because im black i listen to metal and play guitar, doesnt mean im some white ass kisser. i dont know what to do about this type of thing. granted not all white metal heads are like this my other guitarist friend is white and wouldnt say stupid things like that. by the way i think ive seen you play on youtube. im not sure but i think its you. you go hard my brother.
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Permalink Reply by Coleman J. Brahski on -
the key is to understand where the people you deal with are coming from and what fuels their perceptions. i used to be turned off by "black culture" but i had to realize 1) i am black and nothing i do will remove that and 2) context is everything.
learning the context behind things helps you, the individual, to see things so much more clearly. i was always the only POC who was into punk, or metal, or skateboarding and it sucked for a while because i gradually began to assimilate into the majority culture but couldn't relate to other POC. so what did i do? i actually studied hip-hop and got good at it and understood it. i chilled with hood dudes and they showed me love because i stepped to them with authenticity. real recognizes real at the end of the day.
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