Martin Luther King, Jr. | Martin Luther King, Jr. (1929–1968) was an African American clergyman, activist and prominent leader in the American civil rights movement. His adherence to non-violent tactics and his oratory talents were effective in bringing an end to legal racial segregation and in combating racism generally. King was assassinated in 1968. | Photo: Archives | Related: Martin Luther King, activist, civil rights, assassinated

In a half drunken moment of clarity and true empathy a friend of mine was trying to explain the significance of an image of Rosa Parks sitting alone on a bus. He was planning on using the image for a line of t-shirts and was attempting to make a pitch to the three "black" guys in the room, of which I was a part of. He was looking for our co-sign and he not being African American probably felt that approval would justify his decision. He was careful with words, although he was clearly being effected by the "Grey Goose" he had consumed earlier. I was impressed by his bravery to approach three African American males about an obviously touchy subject. I was also impressed by his ability to form coherent sentences through the malaise of alcohol. "She chose to sit there...and that's what I was trying to show...that we choose", he stammered. "People are saying that it's offensive to African Americans...there were people in there but I took them out". Staring at the enlarged image on his smart phone, he had indeed removed everyone, including the driver off of the bus. It was a powerful statement but was it necessary? Was not the imagery of Rosa Parks on the bus enough to make a statement?

Before I could add my two cents one of the other "three" answered, "I'm not offended...it's funny because we used to sit in the back of the bus by choice...and then one day this older black women said we outta' be ashamed of ourselves after all they did for us...and we still sitting in the back of the bus" Suddenly a collective moment of clarity brought about an awkward silence that was broken by my uncomfortable laugh. Damn, he was right but in my academically trained mind I was going to point out the use of "exclusion" to an already marginalized people. I wanted to argue that it wasn't offensive to feature Rosa Parks but it was a ethical obligation not to "remove" the other people on the bus in the original photograph. I felt as if he were trying to manipulate the image by "removing" the weight of it's significance. Surely there were other ways to emphasize the image of Parks without taking the other riders out of the photo.

I fought, in vain; to defy the A.D.H.D. culture of the information age and reopen the discussion. This was on the eve of Martin Luther King Day and as an educated Black Man there was no way I could not re-engage in this discussion as a representative of the community. However, at this juncture it would be an exercise in futility because clearly what was happening now was more important than what happened a few minutes ago. Most of the people in the room were now fixated on watching Blake Griffin jump over the listless Lakers a "Battle for LA". However, as spectacular as the game was; the conversation lingered in my mind. Probably finding some comfortable place to seek refuge between my thoughts on Hip Hop Culture and my distaste for Reality T.V. Then I felt as if I slipping into sub consciousness like the would be defender in front of Chris Paul. My drunken friend was doing exactly what the Hip Hop community has been doing for the last two decades. He was merely "sampling" and using old material, in this case a photo to create his own interpretation.

This is where the conversation becomes contentious because many would argue that "borrowing" is not exclusive to the Hip Hop culture and I would agree emphatically. Nonetheless, the very nature of the subject of black sociopolitical history allows there to be a interjection of the possibility Hip Hop aesthetic. Hip Hop culture at it's foundation is linked to the post Civil Rights era. In a moment where the impact of de-segregation and mobility led to unforeseen economical disparity in the Bronx, the kids of the neighborhood began to reclaim the environment that should have destroyed them. Those early pioneers of Hip Hop created a counter culture based on re-appropriation and re-interpretation which lead to Graffiti, The DJ, the B-boy and later the Emcee. Using the mode of re-appropriation within the context of this particular subject matter can make the argument that my drunken friend was operating in a Hip Hop aesthetic in re-imagining the picture. Hip Hop academics refer to this process as "Recontextualization", which is one of the basic modes that spun out of the Hip Hop Generation and bled into the Post Hip Hop Generation of tweeting, blogging and downloading. This is a mode that the Post Hip Hop Generation has applied massively to nearly all aspects of their counter-cultural pursuits. One need to look no further than their obsession with "Retro" fashion or their ability to effectively mash-up several cultural norms when socializing and creating. The Hip Hop Generation gave way birth to a culture that is unashamed in borrowing styles, languages, traditions and thoughts from history, from each other and from the globalized world. We have become a world of shared ideas and there is no other culture that demonstrates this theory of "shared ideas" more so than Hip Hop.

We have reached a point in our history where history is digi

Is Martin Luther King Jr still relevant?

tally archived and seems to just be "Old News" in the 24 hour cycle of information. M.K. Asante said it best in his book It's Bigger Than Hip Hop when he wrote, "In a world that seems obsessed with right now, sometimes we lose sight of the reality that today is only today because of what yesterday was". It's not that we don't care as a generation but its the way in which we quickly process the past and yearn for the future. There is a need in the mode to re-contextualize that forces the subject to be continually stripped of it's original intent. The "sampling" of records was once an art as Producer searched for "break beats" that could be the foundation of a new sound. However, technology has distorted the process making it difficult to locate the samples, which denounces the influences if the original artists. Martin Luther King Jr. as a historical figure is much like a record being "sampled" as contemporary society aims to fit him into society with little to no concern for the original intent of his many endeavors. It's the reason companies create "limited" edition MLK sneakers and clothing aimed at the Post Hip Hop Generation. It's not in our collective nature to reflect on the past we'd rather recycle the best of the past like a Hip Hop Producer sampling without listening to the entire song.

MLK Day has fallen victim to the mode of "sampling" by the Post Hip Hop Generation.

It was a "trending" topic that was buoyed by searches, stories and images on the web. Martin Luther King Jr. is much like a record to sample from, as we quote him on our Facebook pages and post videos of his speeches in our twitter feeds. We are keeping the "Dream" alive in terms of conversation but is the application present?

There is a responsibility that was left behind by King and the countless others that gave their lives in order for what Hip Hop historian Jeff Chang calls "polyculuralism"to exist. What Chang was referring to was a large culture comprised of There are at least three legitimate generations of Americans that have no experience with segregation or the racist practices of the Post Civil Rights era. In fact besides the apparent shift in classes and regional political parties, the latest generation has essentially transcended racism in most of the United States. However, one of the dangers of a "polycultural" society is the blending of identity, which could possibly mute the importance of cultural pride and tradition. Could this be one of reasons why the urgency of the African American community to promote the ideals of Dr. King seems weakened? Why we still choose to sit in the back of the bus? Or is it the reason why Barack Obama was elected the first African American President of the United States? One thing that Hip Hop has done is create a multicultural movement of art, language, fashion and politics. Hip Hop has never been exclusively African American and has always offered it's love to those of all backgrounds regardless of race. The question is not whether or not the "Dream" is dead or alive for this generation but it's a question of how we re-appropriate the Civil Rights Movement in our own era of recession, Occupy Wall Street and class based stratification. Do we dare to "sample" the rebels that have preceded us or do we alter their legacies in order to build our own?