By Anthony Alford
After winning the gold medal at the 2012 Summer Olympic Games, Serena Williams celebrated by performing the “Crip Walk.” The mainstream media (perhaps outside the Hip Hop Culture) have never seen the dance before judging by their reactions. Upon learning what the dance is and where it came from, various media members and conservative commentators blasted Williams for performing it on a grand stage as the Olympics. Those same people had no problem with Brent Barry performing it at the 2003 NBA All-Star Weekend because it was just perceived as fun and entertaining for a non-black person since their race was not associated with gangs. My initial response upon hearing what these various commentators had said was it was “shut up; they’re making a big deal out of nothing.”
But upon research, how dare do I make such an ignorant statement without knowing and understanding the history of the dance?
This 2003 film by CJ Mac and other popular stars like Snoop Dogg and Ice-T entertains and informs viewers the history of the “Crip Walk” from the people who started it. To understand the “Crip Walk,” one has to understand the gang lifestyle. This film does a great job pointing out what it is like to be involved with a gang. The lifestyle is real and while it builds bonds and relationships, lives (especially young lives) are being taken away.
Some people in this film believe this dance should not be used except for those in the Crips because the “Crip Walk” is a way of life. Others believe it is okay for people and mainstream stars like Bow Wow (now Serena) to be using it because the dance has grown to becoming a use of entertainment. There is certainly a fine line between the two opinions and I have grown to understand the viewpoints of both sides.
So my judgment after the research is that the “Crip Walk” was just a dance for Serena Williams, just like many youths (30 years old and younger) understand it to be. She did not throw up any gang signs and many of us do not throw the gang signs while performing the dance. The “Crip Walk” has evolved to this point to which I believe anyone could do it in a fun way. However, just do not go to South Central Los Angeles and perform the walk if you are not a member of the Crips. The bigger lesson is not to dismiss the history of the walk or blast African-Americans who perform the walk and just assume we do not know the history of it. Serena knew what she was doing (especially considering she is from Los Angeles) and I find it perfectly acceptable for her to celebrate in that manner.
I agree with you when you say that the "Crip Walk" has evolved to the point where people just do it for fun now without attaching the historical context to it. The "Crip Walk," in this sense, is very similar to the N-word nowadays. The N-word is used all the time within the African American community and no one is trying to use it in association with its negative past. The N-word is okay as long as it is only being used by African Americans. However, if a white person or another race uses the word then things start to get serious. Like you said, when Brent Barry did the "Crip Walk" in celebration there was no commotion. However, as soon as a black athlete did it in celebration, there was a big fuss about it. People are held to certain standards when it comes to sensitive topics such as the "Crip Walk" or the N-word. However, I believe both of these are primarily used in a completely different way now than they were in the past.
ReplyDelete-David Shelmon
I also agree with you that the "Crip Walk" has become a household dance in our culture and should not be that big of a deal. With the exception of gang members doing the dance I feel that it shouldn't really matter if a person is doing it or not. To me it is just a regular dance celebration that is not that big of deal. The reason it was such a big deal when Serena WIlliams did it in my opinion is because she is African American. The reason for this is because the gang called the "crips" is predominantly African American, and are known for there blatant acts of violence and their outlandish ways. That is the only reason that this dance receieves such backlash from the media and I can see where they are coming from in that regard. However, I do not feel that the negative criticism Serena Williams received was fair and it should be taken into account her excellent reputation in community events and what she does for charity. In my opinion Serena would never condone the practices of a group such as the Crips, but simply perform a harmless dance that was created by them.
ReplyDeleteBy: Taylor Cook
DeleteI think the original Crips disagree on who can do the C-Walk. From that video some talked about how people would be killed for doing the walk if they weren’t Crips, no matter what their race or gender was. It has been turned into a dance and a lot of people only know it as that. If we asked Bow Wow, Serena Williams, and Brent Barry why they did that dance when they did they would probably all give us different answers, just like the Crips would probably give different answer on how they felt when they saw these stars perform the C-Walk. Before seeing Serena do the walk in the Olympics I don’t think I have ever seen it or at least didn’t know its significance. All of the people that did perform it did not connect it with gang symbols so we can assume they were just doing a dance and had no violence associated with it. I will probably never do the Crip Walk, simply because I’m not coordinated for that but if I saw someone do it now I would probably associate it with a dance and I might ask them if they know the history behind the dance, because I believe most people have no connection with the Crips and the true meaning behind the walk.
ReplyDelete-Jessica Gatten
I had the same initial reaction as you and thought to myself, “well who cares? It’s just a dance” to all the criticism she got in the media for performing it. However, the dance doesn’t mean anything to me and I didn’t know the history of it either so that’s most likely why I felt that way. I can understand both sides of the issue as well and I guess no matter how people feel about it, it’s simply going to be different opinions depending on who you are and where you live. Doesn’t make any difference to me but I can understand people being upset about it.
ReplyDeleteBy: Matt Goryance