
In 1992, Dr. Richard Majors, along with Dr. Janet Mancini Billson, co-authored a book called Cool Pose: The Dilemmas of Black Manhood in America.
Cool Pose was the result of a six-year study that followed 60 black
youth in the Boston inner-city.
The cool pose behavior, according to the authors, is a “set of language, mannerisms, gestures and movements that exaggerate or ritualize masculinity”.
Who are the ‘cool’ kids in the neighborhood, on the block and at school? Who are the kids that set the trend for clothes, flashiness and pose? Who are the kids we look to for rhyme and acoustic soul? It’s our kids, that's who!
African American youth are burdened with an albatross of cool. As Hip Hop has ensconced itself into African American consciousness, the same can deduced of grown men and women in our community.
We know this intimately because every adult (myself included) has passed through this vicious rite of passage. Those who resisted – as some courageous black youth do today – are ostracized and ridiculed or branded as race traitors and vilified for ‘acting white’.
‘Cool’ is evidenced almost everywhere our youth gather: at school, malls, social events – even in church Sunday school!
Some years ago, I observed my teen boys class file into the room for bible study. To a man, each walked to the back row to take a seat. Is this cool behavior? I wanted to know, so I polled them. I got responses like “I wanted to give anyone late coming in the front seats” or “These seats are more comfortable”. When I pointed out that most teens who migrate to the back of the room are ‘clowns’ who wanted to engage in clownishness (no disrespect intended), I was met with stiff denial.
The point is that our youth are trend-setters and, unfortunately, when it comes to academic performance, too many are setting the wrong trend. As my pastor used to say, they are leading from behind!
Where does ‘cool pose’ come from? According to Majors and Billson, it’s an elaborate social defense mechanism, a way for the minority to show how it’s coping with the ‘dominant minority’.
While it is easy to point a finger at Hip Hop and rappers that would be oversimplifying how huge this issue is and how ravaging its consequences are on the academic performance of our youth. Hip Hop and rap are EFFECTS not causes – they are the birth children of cool pose.
Like it or not, there are still grown men in our community exhibiting cool pose behaviors such as sagging pants (one might even argue that some rappers who’ve reached middle age are stuck in cool pose).
Troubling, though, is the incessant rationale that being 'cool' is equated with being "gangsta", as I recently heard a Hip-Hop college erudite explain in an interview. Talented Hip-Hop inspired rap artists, celebrities, athletes and entertainers "put the G in gangsta" and made it palatable to a general audience (read: white people), according to this professor.
Maybe that's why a significant percentage of Black men voted MAGA last November? Perhaps it explains the prevalence of rap artists who endorsed Donald Trump in the lead-up to the 2024 election? Is Black culture so gangsta-infested that we can now rationalize a symmetrical identity with a convicted felon?
Malcolm X chided his community for relying on celebrities for "leadership" roles.
Look to Jesus Christ, who thought it was 'cool' to defend the poor and 'gangsta' to speak truth to power.
What do we as adults do in response to cool pose in a culture of apolitical correctness? First, understand it. Second, remember how you (especially males) at one time were forced to be ‘cool’ at one point in your evolution. Finally, never give up on the demand that excellence must precede and ultimately trump cool.
Being cool can be cool, but in the end we must insist our youth excel in school.
Note: This article was originally published June 17, 2017 and had been updated to appear here.
Contact Pastor C at info@pastorwericcroomes.com
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