The Black American Studies Participatory Action Research Team presents ‘Cope, Conform, or Resist?: A Lecture on Double Consciousness of Young African-Americans’. Lecturer: David Banner. February 26, 2008, Clayton Hall, University of Delaware.
-Banner’s Lecture (57:42)
-Question & Answer After the Lecture(58:49)
Right after saying something genuinely controversial, David Banner would punctuate his speech to students and faculty of University of Delaware with references to how a lot of people at the school didn’t want him there. He probably employed some rapper-like hyperbole about university opposition, but the mildly nervous looks professors and participating students would shoot to one another when he’d veer off his “Lecture on the Double Consciousness of Young African-Americans” and directly engage the crowd, were pretty real. That’s not to say all involved didn’t want him there- otherwise you know, he wouldn’t have been- but there was a sense that some faculty and students weren’t into the idea and those that were, wanted him there enough to kinda sorta put their asses on the line.
Opening remarks by student Carl Suddler mentioned the way many, especially in the academic world, develop “patchwork theories” based on pieces of information and rarely the entire thing: “Just because you’ve heard one or two lyrics and watched the Youtube clip, doesn’t mean you understand the man speaking tonight.” It was a polite but firm attack on the all-theory aspect of academia from a member of PARS- the Participatory Action Team- and presumably, a comment on those who don’t know shit about dick when it comes to hip-hop, but critique it anyway.
There’s no point in giving you a bunch of quotables because the (decent but not great) audio’s above, but without visuals, something’s lost. Not only because Banner was a lively speaker who took over UD’s Clayton Hall and directly engaged his audience–direct engagement is an academic no-no–but because it was more like a performance than a lecture. That performative tone was set by Suddler when he walked up to the podium in a button-up, sweater, and a fresh baseball cap, and it was continued when Banner approached the podium in a suit and bowtie and sunglasses even though it was 7:30 in the evening; The audience witnessed double-consciousness instead of simply hearing about it.
Throughout his lecture, Banner would bounce between an eloquent and easy-to-follow speech and a seemingly on-the-fly improvisational discussion. A word or phrase would send him away from his podium and towards the crowd to speak from the heart instead of his paper. The lecture and performance would always complement and occasionally contrast one another and what many saw as a lack of discipline or organization was in fact, double-consciousness made manifest, which is appropriate for a guy that is, at least equal parts action and words.
Banner’s controlled chaos was effective in making no member of the audience complicit and as he gained momentum, the context of the event itself seemed to change. Clayton Hall’s muted colors and high ceilings began to recall a bizarro late-night TV mega-church with David Banner speaking the Truth and not your usual nonsense-spitting waxy-looking pastor. When Banner removed his suit jacket for questions and revealed some monster pit-stains, it had the same overly dramatic effect of say, 50 Cent revealing a bullet-proof vest but Banner wasn’t saying anything about being hard, it was his way of showing the audience how hard he was working. And during the Q & A, a busted-looking white girl in some lame boots who sorta missed the point of Banner’s half-facetious advice to the fairer sex, ended up representing some minor but awful form of white privilege when she ignored the line of others yet to ask a question and asked her third leading question in a row…
I left invigorated, but a little depressed because I knew a lot of people in attendance really didn’t get it and would cite Banner’s constant deviations from his lecture as an example of it being “sloppy” or “ineffective” without realizing that was Banner’s desired effect. His lecture was a performance of double-consciousness and in that sense, way more effective than a well-researched lecture.
*Photos by Monique Rivera
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6 Jun 12 at 1:42 am