Henry Louis Gates Jr., Harvard professor, acclaimed author, and an occasional contributor of thoughtful articles to the New Yorker, made a very sensible observation on "The Two Nations of Black America," the recent PBS documentary he hosted on the economic successes, and failures, of black Americans. Speaking of the glamorization of the ghetto, Gates said, "I find it hard to concede that these young hoodlums are part of the same community I belong to." He added, "Since when does being black mean embracing the worst of what we can be?"
Hmm. Maybe since 1990. That's when Gates was defending the sexually vulgar lyrics of 2 Live Crew as nothing more than "heavy-handed parody." Indeed, in a 1990 op-ed for the New York Times, Gates argued that the rape- and misogyny-glorifying songs of 2 Live Crew could be read as "off-color nursery rhymes [that] are part of a venerable Western tradition." He counseled those who were critical of the group to become "literate in the vernacular traditions of African-Americans."