AFRAM Blog Post #3

Nina Ulbrich 

Both Nyugen’s “It’s (not) a White World Looking for Race in Punk” and Ryan Moore’s “Nirvana” discuss the racial and class disparities within punk rock. In “Nirvana”, Moore writes “these forms of indie and alternative rock represented something like the sound of the middle class in a stage of decline and resignation.” He’s referring to the group of young people that listened to this genre and how it was different from rock because traditionally working class people listened to rock. He goes on to talk about the young generation being affected by “ the discrepancy between increasing expectations and constricting opportunities.” I feel that this is valid even to this day and is a generational difference many children feel from their parents. Nyugen goes further into the discussion of racial disparities in punk. Nyugen points out that racism in punk was “something that irrational extremists (you know, good ol’ boys in white sheets or marching around with shaved heads) and maybe the Big Bad State do, while “ordinary” people occasionally indulge in individual acts or attitudes of “prejudice.” And by viewing racism in punk this way, it portrayed punk as anti-racist, -sexist, or -homophobic but did not allow for intersectionality. This view of racism is one sided in that it does not account for the oppressive systems in place that coincide with other social inequalities such as gender, class, and sexuality. It was incredibly interesting to learn about Nyugen’s background and why she got involved in punk and how that affected the way she perceived the genre. She goes on to say that “the reasons why I got involved with punk have everything to do with my refugee-queer background, the way I came to understand myself as “alien” in a white working-class neighborhood in central Minnesota. And it might be hugely significant for kids who are otherwise wondering what the hell this white Punk Rock has to do with them, anyway.”

For my DJ selections, I choose two Latino punk bands to show that punk is not only comprised of white males. 

Generacion Suicida - Criminal: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0uyX-V2gzsk

FEA - Mujer Moderna: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fv4yHCASirU