Twerkability Politics: True Kitchen & Respectability Politics in Black Spaces

The Absolute Ghetto

This week in The Absolute Ghetto, Sadé and Malcolm discuss the True Kitchen controversy and respectability politics. On November 29th, 2020, footage surfaced of the manager (Kevin Kelley) of True Kitchen in Dallas, Texas, ranting at a party of Black women and the rest of the restaurant after the women had been twerking to "Back Dat Azz Up" as the DJ blared the booty-shaking classic in the restaurant. As a Black-owned establishment that proclaims to cater to Black people and the fun-loving Black Brunch™ culture, the manager's response, in which he suggested that the women twerking do not respect themselves, sparked debate regarding whether he was in the wrong. Sadé and Malcolm recognize this as a prime opportunity to highlight the prevalence of respectability politics in the Black community, and the oppressive characteristics of respectability theory. They discuss how respectability politics falls short in practice in the True Kitchen fiasco and beyond, how it differs from "racial uplift", and the importance of looking beyond individual choice to address systemic factors that oppress Black communities in a white supremacist system.

The Absolutely Ghetto Org of The Week: The International Association of Blacks in Dance (IABD): "Our vision is for dance, by people of African ancestry or origin, to be revered, respected, and preserved in the consciousness and cultural institutions of all people... IABD preserves and promotes dance by people of African ancestry or origin, and assists and increases opportunities for artists in advocacy, audience development, education, funding, networking, performance, philosophical dialogue, and touring." - Website: https://www.iabdassociation.org/

Instagram and Twitter: @IABDinc

Show Notes:

• "Respectability politics: How a flawed conversation sabotages black lives" (Brando Simeo Starkey): https://theundefeated.com/features/respectability-politics-how-a-flawed-conversation-sabotages-black-lives/
• Righteous Discontent (by Evelyn Higginbotham): https://www.hup.harvard.edu/catalog.php?isbn=9780674769786
• "Understanding Respectability Politics (Studio ATAO): https://www.studioatao.org/post/understanding-respectability-politics
• Performing a Vanilla Self: Respectability Politics, Social Class, and the Digital World (Mikaela Pitcan, et al.): https://academic.oup.com/jcmc/article/23/3/163/4962541
• "How Bill Cosby’s 2004 ‘Pound Cake’ speech exploded into his latest legal disaster" (by Justin Moyer): https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/morning-mix/wp/2015/07/07/how-bill-cosbys-2004-pound-cake-speech-exploded-into-his-latest-legal-disaster/
• The Color of Money (by Mehrsa Baradaran): https://www.researchgate.net/publication/339885721_The_Color_of_Money_Black_Banks_and_the_Racial_Wealth_Gap_Mehrsa_Barardaran_Cambridge_Massachusetts_The_Belknap_Press_of_Harvard_2017_285pp
• "Running the Numbers on Closing the Racial Wealth Gap" (by Sandy Darity): https://socialequity.duke.edu/portfolio-item/what-we-get-wrong-about-closing-the-racial-wealth-gap/
• The Myth of Black Buying Power (by Jared Ball): https://link.springer.com/content/pdf/10.1007%2F978-3-030-42355-1.pdf
• "What is the Origin of Twerking?" by Maureen Monahan: https://www.mentalfloss.com/article/51365/what-origin-twerking

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