really?!

Date: Mon, 24 Sep 2007
From: Abdominal
To: Me
Subject: Re: Misquoted…

“…after Wrong got off the stage, the emcee, abdominal, mentioned something about it being the longest set ever, and for the sake of the jewish new year, would people please refrain from using the n-word?what. the. fuck?”

Hey _____, I know you wrote this blog a while ago, but I just saw it today for the first time. I’m only going to comment on the bit above calling me out, as I know there has already been much heated discussion on the blog in its entirety. So, as far as the quote above, quite frankly it’s not at all what I said that night. At no point did I say anything to the effect of, “don’t use the n-word BECAUSE it’s Jewish New Years”. I said, “Rule #1 is no use of the n-word. Tonight, in honour of Jewish New Year I would ask you to replace it with Jewish”. Normally I would say the usual, “either blank it out, or use brother”, but I thought it would just be a funny twist to use ‘Jewish’ that night instead, ‘cuz it happened to be Rosh Shashana (+ I hoped that twist would help people remember the policy). Obviously it didn’t work in the case of ‘Wrong’. Now, like I said, I’m not going to really comment on the larger discussion, as I think it’d kinda been done to death at this point. All I will say is, I’m not making excuses for what happened. It was wrong. And it highlighted that we do need to have a more concrete policy in place to handle these sort of situations. In retrospect, I agree we should have cut dude off immediately. And on my part, I should have been repeating the ‘no n-word’ policy more frequently throughout the night, rather than just at the beginning (although, in my defence, it was my first time hosting HHK…I’ll know better for next time).

All that said though, at the end of the day we can cut people off left, right, & center, & I can give warnings ’til I’m blue in the face, but I guarantee this sort of thing will still happen again. Ultimately, the word IS in many of the songs. And obviously we can’t control what comes out of people’s mouths. Again, I’m not defending dude, but I honestly don’t think he was some sort of rampant racist with a hidden agenda. He was a drunk idiot who didn’t hear/listen to my warning, & he just did the song as he knew it (complete with n-words). So like I said, in the future we CAN work on improving how we handle these type of scenarios, but I would still say that if you know you’re going to be offended by this sort of situation, don’t come back to HHK…and I don’t mean that in a harsh way. I’m just being realistic. Inevitably with the word present in the songs, these kind of slip-ups WILL unfortunately occur from time to time. I’m sorry that some people are insensitive idiots, but luckily they’re in the minority. They shouldn’t jeopardize what is otherwise one of the most tolerant, positive parties going in the city right now. Thanks for your time, Abs.

***

Date: Mon, 24 Sep 2007
From: Me
To: Abdominal
Subject: Re: Misquoted…

Abs,

Thank you for getting back to me.

I really don’t know how to respond to you without getting aggressive at some of the ignorance you’ve demonstrated in your email, and so I won’t.

I’ve mentioned to Dalia that I would be willing to work with you guys to develop a policy to ensure that this NEVER happens again, as I believe that it is inexcusable and reprehensible. But mistakes get made, and in the name of progress and understanding, I believe that it is more productive to work together on making sure that this situation does not come up again. My offer still stands.

Thank you for your time.

***

Date: Mon, 24 Sep 2007
From: Abdominal
To: Me
Subject: Re: Misquoted…

Wow…_____ all I can say is, if you’re going to call me ignorant, expect aggression in return. I thought I was pretty civil/rational in my e-mail to you. Guess I’ll see you at the pending sit-down & you can tell me where you thought I wasn’t.

****

Date: Mon, 24 Sep 2007
From: Me
To: Abdominal
Subject: Re: Misquoted…

Abs,

This is the statement that got me:

“So like I said, in the future we CAN work on improving how we handle these type of scenarios, but I would still say that if you know you’re going to be offended by this sort of situation, don’t come back to HHK…and I don’t mean that in a harsh way. I’m just being realistic. Inevitably with the word present in the songs, these kind of slip-ups WILL unfortunately occur from time to time. I’m sorry that some people are insensitive idiots, but luckily they’re in the minority. They shouldn’t jeopardize what is otherwise one of the most tolerant, positive parties going in the city right now.”

I have no desire to mudsling when we meet collectively, and don’t really feel the need to go over everything with you guys – I fully intend on simply developing an action plan that can be put into place effectively, because once people start talking about their feelings, it clouds progress.

Having said that, I’m down to explain to you on a personal tip where I’m coming from on all this, and why I found your email offensive. My evening phone number’s xxx.xxx.xxxx.

***

Date: Mon, 24 Sep 2007
From: Abdominal
To: Me
Subject: Re: Misquoted…

Was it specifically the “…don’t come back to HHK…” part? ‘Cuz if so, I genuinely didn’t mean that in any sort of ‘mudslinging’ way (hence the, “I don’t mean that in a harsh way” part which I wrote right after). I was just saying that I do think that this is sadly an unavoidable situation. All we can do is try our best to reduce the amount of times it happens (with more frequent, & harsher warnings) & deal with offenders more strictly (ie. immediate cut-offs). But I still believe that even with all that in place, there will still inevitably be the odd slip-up. At this point we’re not considering shutting down what is otherwise a positive, tolerant night because of a few (& luckily it is very few) bad apples. So all I meant was if that’s still unacceptable to you, you may want to consider not attending. I hope that clears things up somewhat from my end. Thanks for getting back to me, A.

***

Date: Mon, 24 Sep 2007
From: Me
To: Abdominal
Subject: Re: Misquoted…

I would like to clarify that at no point have I called anyone “racist”. I believe you guys (the organisers) made a mistake that stems out of ignorance and a misunderstanding of your role in a borrowed culture. I don’t hold you (the organisers) responsible for what someone said, but I do hold you individually responsible for the fact that he was allowed to continue, seeing as you (the organisers) were responsible for giving him a stage and a microphone.

I have also not asked for the night to be shut down. I still have no idea whether I will ever attend again, nor a desire to. But I don’t think my presence/absence is important. What I do think is important is that you (the organisers) take responsibility for your actions, and have a concrete plan in place to prevent this from happening. And to be completely honest, I don’t think you’re aware enough of the implications, consequences and weight of your (in)actions to be able to shoulder that responsibility. I say that simply because I get the impression that you (the organisers) went on the defensive, and no one stepped up in a responsible, progressive, and constructive fashion.

***

Date: Tues, 25 Sep 2007
From: Abdominal
To: Me
Subject: Re: Misquoted…

I never said you called anybody racist. I do take issue with you calling me ignorant & claiming I’m part of a borrowed culture though. Obviously hip-hop was created by inner-city blacks, & to a certain extent latinos. But it’s clearly grown to become a worldwide culture, lived & shared by many. If you listen to any of the hip-hop pioneers (Herc, Bam etc.) you’ll hear them speak repeatedly about how hip-hop was designed to be inclusive, & for everyone, regardless of race, class etc. I’m a middle class Jewish kid. But I’m also someone who’s been a fan of hip-hop for 20 years. I’ve been participating in it for 14. I’ve invested more of my life into this culture than anything else I’ve ever done. To use a tired, but accurate cliche…I’ve paid my dues. So quite frankly, for you to tell me that hip-hop is a “borrowed culture” for me is nonsense.

All that said, i still agree with you that we need to tighten up our response mechanisms for when a situation like this arises again. Looks like we’re getting together Sat., so hopefully that will happen then.

***

I can’t engage in this email exchange anymore.