Skip to main content Accessibility help
×
Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-l7hp2 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-22T08:08:01.579Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

7 - Public Enemy’s “Black Steel in the Hour of Chaos”

from Part II - Imprisonment

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 January 2022

Gregory S. Parks
Affiliation:
Wake Forest University, North Carolina
Frank Rudy Cooper
Affiliation:
University of Nevada, Las Vegas
Get access

Summary

In this chapter, Gregory Parks deconstructs Public Enemy’s 1989 song, “Black Steel in the Hour of Chaos” to offer an analysis of four of the song’s themes. First, he grapples with the assumption that Blacks (like other racial minorities) are often viewed as less “American” than whites. As a parallel phenomenon, Blacks view patriotism to America in different, albeit more critical, ways than whites. These dynamics highlight broader dynamics around racial justice in America. Second, there has been a long history of racism in the United States military. Even to date, issues around white nationalists in the US armed forces linger. Third, the arch of the US criminal justice system has demonstrated that racism has been at the heart of it in ways that reverberate to this day. Fourth, central to Blacks’ quest for freedom, justice, and equality is firearms.

Type
Chapter
Information
Fight the Power
Law and Policy through Hip-Hop Songs
, pp. 149 - 172
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2022

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Save book to Kindle

To save this book to your Kindle, first ensure [email protected] is added to your Approved Personal Document E-mail List under your Personal Document Settings on the Manage Your Content and Devices page of your Amazon account. Then enter the ‘name’ part of your Kindle email address below. Find out more about saving to your Kindle.

Note you can select to save to either the @free.kindle.com or @kindle.com variations. ‘@free.kindle.com’ emails are free but can only be saved to your device when it is connected to wi-fi. ‘@kindle.com’ emails can be delivered even when you are not connected to wi-fi, but note that service fees apply.

Find out more about the Kindle Personal Document Service.

Available formats
×

Save book to Dropbox

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Dropbox.

Available formats
×

Save book to Google Drive

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.

Available formats
×