LESTER BANGS “The White Noise Supremacists”
Here is Lester Bangs article about racism in the NY Punk scene of the 70′s Originally published in the Village Voice, 1979
“The White Noise Supremacists”
The other day I was talking on the phone with a friend who hangs out on the CBGB’s scene a lot. She was regaling me with examples of the delights available to females in the New York subway system. “So the train came to a sudden halt and I fell on my ass in the middle of the car, and not only did nobody offer to help me up but all these boons just sat there laughing at me.”
“You know,” she said. “Black guys.” “Why do you call them that?”
“I dunno. From `baboons,’ I guess.“ I didn’t say anything.
"Look, I know it’s not cool,” she finally said. “But neither is being a woman in this city. Every fucking place you go you get these cats hassling you, and sometimes they try to pimp you. And a lot of the times when they hassle you they’re black, and when they try to pimp me they’re always black. Eventually you can’t help it, you just end up reacting.”
Sometimes I think nothing is simple but the feeling of pain. When I was first asked to write this article, I said sure, because the racism (not to mention the sexism, which is even more pervasive and a whole other piece) on the American New Wave scene had been something that I’d been bothered by for a long time. When I told the guys in my own band that I was doing this, they just laughed. “Well, I guess the money’s good,” said one. “What makes you think the racism in punk has anything special about it that separates it from the rest of the society?” asked another.
“Because the rest of society doesn’t go around acting like racism is real hip and cool,” I answered heatedly.
“Oh yeah,” he sneered. “Just walk into a factory sometime. Or jail.”