In response to the” absence of structure” in the Black community
1) I argue that that Black culture (particularly hip-hop culture) has a more complex structure than the white middle class ideal that Lemon judges it by. A lack of understanding of this more complex structure positions all who observe it without knowing it as outsiders. Outsiders who perceive their worldview as the norm and others as less than the norm naturally misperceive the value of the culture they are observing. To quote Einstein, “Everybody is a genius. But if you judge a fish by its ability to climb a tree, it will live its whole life believing that it is stupid.” Lemon is obviously unaware of the complex structures of hip-hop and the rules of engagement of hip-hop culture. I certainly do not expect him to be fully knowledge able of the culture, but do expect some respect for the culture – I equate his Blackness in the context of his understanding of hip-hop culture to a group of mathematics students. One (Lemon) is an expert in basic arithmetic. The others (the hip-hop generation) are experts at advanced calculus. The basic arithmetic student has no choice but to view calculus as lacking structure. He simply doesn’t understand that without the structures of calculus, his basic arithmetic would have no meaning.
2) In response to rejecting education
The notion that Black/Hip-hop youth reject education or see it as “Acting White” is a fallacy that continues to become a talking point for people without any full understanding of urban youth culture because it is an easy way to explain why the community rejects them. Ironically, those who say urban youth see getting an education as Acting White also happen to endorse celebrities and organizations who brand themselves as education experts and profit from the perpetuation of this flawed narrative. In reality, intelligence and academic success are cherished and supported among Black youth and within the hip-hop community. Youth value academic success, and support their peers who achieve it. What they do see as “Acting White” is self -righteousness, speaking disparagingly about Blackness without understanding youth culture, and looking down upon people of color. Black youth do not reject education. They do reject those who see having an education as a justification for perpetuating mistruths about who they truly are.
3) In response to gravitating towards drugs, hustling, and gangs
Drug use is lower among Black youth than it is among any other racial group. In addition, Black youth are less likely to use illicit drugs such as heroin, cocaine, or LSD than their peers from other racial groups. Lemons suggestion that Black youth gravitate towards drugs is actually more accurate if he is mentioning their seeming gravitation towards getting arrested for drugs – which is at a rate ten times higher than that of whites (http://healthland.time.com/2011/11/07/study-whites-more-likely-to-abuse-drugs-than-blacks/ ). Following his logic, they probably want to get arrested as a higher rate than their counterparts even though they are less likely to use the drugs.