The politics of hip hop education are complex. Students are assigned Vonnegut for summer reading, complete with multiple uses of the word “fuck” and a voyeuristic sexual scene that makes many adults uncomfortable, but we allow this, and in fact require it, because Vonnegut is white. He’s been accepted into the literary canon, and thus, his writing is considered “high art.” Hip hop is still the subject of intense, misdirected hatred and discrimination in schools. We aren’t protecting students from vulgarity when we forbid hip hop in the classroom. We are protecting ourselves from our fears about race – while simultaneously robbing our students of authentic opportunities to think critically about the media they consume. Literacy in the 21st century means bringing all different kinds of “text” into the classroom – especially hip hop.
That's pretty disrespectful to Vonnegut. I had to learn Toni Morrisson when I was in college. It was a white teacher teaching white students (maybe other races, it was 10 years ago) and we all learned Beloved. Did we read it because Toni Morrisson is black? Honestly, I didn't know if she was really black or not just now and didn't want to embarrass myself and so I had to look it up. We read it because it was a good book. I just read Slaughterhouse V for the first time coincidentally today. It's an ambitious book too, taking on war and writing in a way that was pretty avant garde for the time (won the Hugo and Nebula I believe). That's why I read it. Not because he was white.
That's not what the quote says at all. It's saying we accept Vonnegut's vulgarity because his work is considered "high art," not that we only read him because he's white. The claim is that studying certain hip-hop is valuable in spite of its vulgarity, and that the reason we find it hard to overlook the vulgarity is that its considered somehow baser than the writing of (a notably white) Vonnegut. We study art because it's beautiful, profound, or otherwise "good." We should not overlook art just because it's vulgar, whether you're talking about Vonnegut or Kendrick. Did you read the whole post?
I did read the whole post. You don't have to be disrespectful to make your point. The lady outright says that we accept Vonnegut despite his use of the word fuck because he is white. I'm saying that we accept him because he is a good writer and that we should study high art like you said. And besides, even if he is white and is accepted as part of the literary canon, his book is commonly banned from schools specifically because of the use of the word fuck and its sexual situations.
Didn't intend disrespect; I was genuinely curious. If I wanted to be snarky, it'd be much clearer than that. I would need to get almost meaninglessly technical to refute the rest of your argument, so whatever. The long and short is that the two sentences in your second paragraph aren't contradictory. PS Not a ladyI did read the whole post. You don't have to be disrespectful to make your point.