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LR's avatar

When I look back at old photos of Harlem in the 20s and 30s, I see a lot of happy faces. People in their finest attire, laughing, studying, getting along with everyone. It begs the question. What happened?

Personally, I have always been a supporter of civil rights, but when you see those pictures you have to wonder if black culture would have kept flourishing if brown v board never happened.

But black culture is not the only thing on the decline. White culture, since the 1960's hasn't faired much better. It seems everywhere you go in America some degenerate is there to greet you.

I prefer to dream of an American renaissance. One where everyone stops talking about race and quotas, and what the federal government can do for them. I also dream of an America where people can speak one sentence without using teenage exclamations and/or profanity, and where the adults learn to dress themselves properly.

That would be step one. Because I don't expect drugged up lunatics, with shorts at their ankles, and vocabularies so elementary that every other sentence includes the word muther*****, to be producing a renaissance anytime soon. At least, not the type of renaissance you would want to promote. We might soon, however, win the historical award for the "golden age of losers".

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Iconoclast's avatar

Asking if another Harlem Renaissance is possible is like asking if the Yiddish theater can be revived. The Yiddish theater existed because Jewish actors had few venues that accepted and the Jewish immigrant community were a ready audience. With the successful assimilation of the Jewish community into the American mainstream, the Yiddish theater no longer served a purpose. Similarly, the Harlem Renaissance existed because Black artists and intellectuals had few other venues where they could work. With the widespread acceptance of Black artists and intellectuals within mainstream venues, it seems unlikely that another Harlem Renaissance would attract the same level of talent as the original.

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