The Fab Five, Bitches and Toms

Come on Man……!! Tell me ESPN’s most recent “30 for 30” documentary about Michigan’s “Fab Five” wasn’t fly! Hell, it was the most thought provoking documentary I’ve seen in some time on TV, DVD, YouTube or any other media platform. It wryly delved into the socio-economic, cultural, historical, and psychological rifts produced by the ascension of the Michigan Wolverines’ 1991 freshman recruiting class. Also, because the show was produced partially by the Michigan players themselves, we got to see/hear them speak in their own brash - and refreshingly bracing - flow. We also glimpsed how, as mere freshmen, these five players represented the polarizing, intensely urban, vaguely foreign (and therefore vaguely frightening), ethos of the hip-hop generation.   

In many ways almost every commentary/response I’ve seen about the documentary so far misses the point. Despite the histrionics and obligatory angry responses from Duke Players and others, more than anything the documentary was a testament to the idea that social mobility in the United States still thrives. The sub-title of the show could easily have read “The Fab Five; how unlike almost anywhere else in the world, a group of marginalized, undereducated, socially and economically deprived Black youth could overcome their fragility, their relative anonymity, and their early obstacles to not only explode into our collective consciousness, but to accumulate phenomenal wealth in the process.”   

The American context in which these Black young men found themselves is not unique. The current Arab unrest illustrates that the globe is full of angry, marginalized young men on the sidelines of life waiting to get in the game. What is extraordinary however, is how much our national mythology depends on the occasional Cinderella story like this to justify our high threshold for both huge social-economic inequality, and our decreasing sense of social mobility. Our collective acquiescence to the ravages of urban and rural poverty depends on the masses of Black, Brown, and poor - as well as America’s predominantly white middle class - to both subscribe to the belief that either group culture or individual will determines outcomes. Simultaneously, we’re encouraged to reject the idea that the historical, episodic shredding of our social contract trumps individual agency. 

I loved that the documentary deftly portrayed this tension by juxtaposing the “grimy”, urban Wolverines (yeah I know its funny) against their arch nemesis, the “affluent, suburban” Duke Blue-Devils. Both Jimmy King and Jalen Rose spoke artfully about how they chaffed under the perceived perfection, and perceived "bitch-ass-ness", of the Duke Players; an increasingly class based existence in which everyone seemed to have a father, steady work, good grades, and a nice home. And Grant, though I understand why you felt obliged to defend the perceived attack against you and your fam, your response proves again why Racism Bores Me. Seriously dude, you missed the whole point. Jalen & co. were striving to give voice to those young men from 20 years ago who had none. It was through their teenage, brash, angry, ignorant & profane eyes that they were speaking. Your discussion of your family’s legacy, and resiliency only enforces Jalen's point.

Language is powerfully intentional. We collectively refer to your family’s story as objects; an object of admiration, object of affection, objects to be emulated, as in your life story is an object lesson in how to work hard and get ahead. You, Christian and Bobby attended Duke as objects.

Jalen, Chris, Juwan and the other freshman came to Michigan as subjects. You subject someone to ridicule, doubt, investigation, disdain, strip search, punishment, etc. Hell, what do we call folks beholden to authority - subjects! It makes perfect sense that those teenage kids, (they were first generation survivors of that time period's wave of structural violence - the destruction of light industry and benign neglect that took place in the 60’s and 70’s), would not only come to a predominantly white university angry, but come as hip hop heads. The whole point of the music is to switch subjects and objects.  

1989 Public Enemy – Fight the Power

Elvis was a hero to most
But he never meant s%*t to me………
Straight up racist that sucker was
Simple and plain
Mother f%$#k him and John Wayne
Cause I'm Black and I'm proud
And I’m hyped plus I'm amped
Most of my heroes don't appear on no stamps
Sample a look back you look and you’ll find
Nothing but rednecks for 400 years if you check

During the two years in which they played together, the unified gravitational force of the Fab Five forced us to witness the brashness of these particular young Black men, together  on the national stage. As Cornell University PhD candidate Vernon Mitchell Jr. expressed it recently, “In the wake of Rodney King, etc., (they) came to symbolize the expressive nature of African American youth culture in very real and salient ways that redefined the way we saw ourselves both on and off the court."

They wanted desperately to let the world know they had swagger, and yes that they liked baggy shorts and black socks. Typically, we blunt the impact of these “troublemakers” throughout our k-12 education system, by marginalizing them in in special ed. classes, or prisons, maintaining their status as subjects. Not since a young Muhammad Ali had America been faced with such boisterous athletic self-determination. 

I for one enjoyed their time on the stage, and on behalf of millions of marginalized youth I thank them for expressing so clearly what so many were trying to say both then and now; we’re here, we’re not invisible, we exist!