Race and Beyond: The Intersection of Pop Culture and Race

            
 In an article written by Sam Fulfood III, he discusses the way popular culture is manifested through different races. The author uses a personal anecdote to illustrate the way pop culture flows into our everyday conversation and language. As described in the article, the author's friend, Ernie, is an African American that enjoyed listening to classical music at the Atlanta Symphony. Ernie has not gone to the symphony in many years and he received a call from a man trying to sell him a subscription to the Atlanta Symphony. The author points out various assumptions of the situation such as Ernie's last name being Holsendolph, which one may not recognize as being African American. Ernie assumed the man calling was white and was very surprised to hear him use the phrase, "in a minute." Ernie has heard that phrase from his younger son who is very involved in pop culture, especially the hip-hop industry. The author described how surprised Ernie was to hear a phrase known to be from the black culture used in a non-calculating manner. Through this example the author explored the notion of performers using work from black or white cultures. Phrases are created by an influential figure in pop culture and flow into the mainstream where kids from various races start adapting and changing them into their own vernacular.

            This article made me realize that pop culture can bring races together as well as put boundaries between them. In this particular article on the creation of phrases circulating into the mainstream, it is difficult to decipher where the phrase truly originated from, therefore making it hard for a certain race to claim its creation. Although those origins can be blurred at times, races may argue or fight over who created it and who was copying it. I thought this article brought up an interesting point in that phrases in the mainstream can be changed by people in different races to be used in things such as songs and social media posts.

Fulwood, S. (2012, May 1). The Intersection of Pop Culture and Race. Retrieved from https://www.americanprogress.org/issues/race/news/2012/05/01/11510/race-and-beyond-the-intersection-of-pop-culture-and-race/