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criticism. Consider for a moment just how closely Gates's view of black
canon formation resembles an affirmative action viewpoint of black writ–
ing. If it is one of the purposes of affirmative action to protect its
beneficiaries from judgment on the basis of meritocratic standards, then, to
a certain extent, isn't Gates trying to extend to black literature this same
kind of protection by discrediting all literary criteria not based on race? Is
he not saying that for black literature to be retrieved and appreciated, it is
necessary to change the standards by which it should be judged? That even
such a highly regarded and moderating voice as Professor Gates's should
take this approach adds considerable weight to the words of the black legal
scholar Stephen Carter, who insists in
Rriflections of an Affirmative Action Baby
that "in our color-conscious, preference-bound society, there is no escape
from the affirmative action thicket."
That the thicket of affirmative action governs the direction of black
criticism may be the only reasonable explanation as to why black intellec–
tuals have looked to black popular culture, particularly rap music, as the
most desirable foundation for a
volkish
cultural nationalism.
It
may be one
way privileged black elites compensate for the problematic relationship
they have with the black poor. Perhaps this is why Cornel West, the most
celebrated member of today's black academic elite, in his book
Keeping
Faith: Philosophy and Race in America,
has no misgivings about the racial con–
scription of black musicians. "The repoliticizing of the black working poor
and underclass should focus primarily on the black cultural apparatus, espe–
cially the ideological form and content of black popular music. .. .Black
activists must make black musicians accountable in some way to the urgent
needs and interests of the black community." In a similar vein, it may also
be why Gates exaggerates the folk and vernacular origins of black litera–
ture. In the 1996
Norton Anthology ofAfrican America/1 Literature,
Gates claims
a place in the canon for black folk sermons, songs and stories, which he says
constitutes a "talking book" and an "archive."
If it is true that the imperatives of postmodern race consciousness have
prevented some contemporary black cri tics from moving much beyond the
parameters set by Irving Howe, there has been at least one very promising
development: the battle over diversity and the possibilities of black culture
has now been joined by a cohort of widely respected black intellectuals like
Stanley Crouch, Gerald Early, Orlando Patterson, Darryl Pinckney , and
Shelby Steele, who strenuously insist that blackness can mean both every–
thing and nothing at all. It is true that these wri ters have been somewhat
marginalized within black intellectual circles, and that the battle between
them and black critics on the left, in the words of Stephen Carter, " is in
an important sense an unequal one, for the dissenters lack a black power
base from which to intimidate their opponents." But it appears now that
