Can Postmodern Blackness Exist Without an Understanding of History
As abstract as the topic may be, it is of high importance to understand postmodern blackness and what it means to society. It includes the views and experiences of blacks after the Civil Rights movement. Holding high importance in present day society, it is much ignored and it needs to be better understood. A first step into understanding postmodern blackness is to give recognition to our history.
Many critics claim that today’s generation does not credit its history and is in fact outright disrespectful and rebellious. This assumption does provide an easy scapegoat but this is truly not the matter. Changes in time yields changes in values. Bell Hooks announces some explication of the postmodern state in her essay, Postmodern Blackness:
In the wake of the black power movement, after so rebels were slaughtered and lost, many of these voices were silenced by a repressive state; others became inarticulate. It has become necessary to find new avenues to transmit the messages of black liberation struggle, new ways to talk about racism and other politics of domination. (2479)
Presented here, is a discussion of some aspects that entail a black postmodern socie

Isaac in Barbershop is the white barber who gets little respect in the shop because they think that he doesn’t know how to cut black hair. When he arrives in his a Cadillac Escalade with 20” rims and his black girlfriend in the passenger seat (things characteristic of black hip hop culture), and then tongue kisses her, Jimmy turns his nose up. He thinks that Isaac is pretending to be black. Defensive of his position as a black man, he throws insults at him saying that he is a “minstrel show” and he is “the blackface for the new millennium”.

In conclusion, a deeper understanding of black history’s liberation struggles can help stop the postmodern black generation from repeating history. Once, Calvin understood the history of his father’s barbershop, he had more ammunition added to his resistance struggle with the loan shark. He realized that the barbershop meant a lot to the community and his family. At the end of the movie, each character appreciated their history more and their places in life as a result of it.