>doug, your thoughts seem to make an excellent case against the
>exclusion of blacks from american mainstream culture (and
>politics and identity, etc), but the question is whether
>america can appropriate black culture and contributions as its
>own, isnt it? it is true that black culture influenced america
>in the long run, but only so through its presence as the
>"other", isnt it? if that be the case, then how valid is it
>for america today to appropriate these contributions as
Who or what is this "America" that is expropriating black culture? It reads like a very racialized view in which whites claim the national name and fortune and everyone else is just the ill-paid help. The U.S. is too much like this now, but it shouldn't be, so I don't want to concede that American and white are synonyms.
Doug