Chief Boima, dj, activist, descendant of slave traders.
Frank
2,370 Posts
A few days ago I did an interview with the BBC. I don't know yet when this will be aired but when they first approached me, they mentioned this old article here: http://africasacountry.com/collection-cultures/ that called me (and other people who are going to Africa to buy records) out for being "plundering opportunists" using Reynaldo's funny little map assigning former colonial territories to various DJ's that first showed up in the infamous BBE thread. I had already long forgotten about that idiotic piece of text but now I found myself being confronted with this garbage again.
I had a few days to prepare for the interview and wrote down a little manuscript so I could give them some choice facts and personal opinions on the issue. I'm afraid most if not all of this will get lost in the editing. I thought I would share it here as this is exactly the type of shit that often seems to revitalize this otherwise fairly sluggish board.
An American citizen accusing me of neo-colonial behavior for going to Africa to buy records, simply based on my heritage as a European. This is stupid and in its core racist but it's also truly funny. Here are the facts you need to fully appreciate the irony:
America had a colony in West Africa: Liberia, colonized in the 1820s by the ACS (American Colonization Society) and this was one of the shittiest displays of human behavior of all times: The colonialists were free African Americans and upon arrival they immediately enslaved the local population, denied them the right to vote and erected a one party dictatorship that would last for over 130 years. These Americo-Liberians spent their days prancing around in gaudy costumes and European wigs while they had their domestic slaves clean up behind them. They also used slave labor on an industrial scale well into the 1970s. Liberia also became a major player in the by then illegal slave trade and was exporting slaves as late as 1930 when Liberia shipped slaves to the plantations of Fernando Poo. The fucked up history of Liberia culminated in one of the regions most bloody civil wars. Here's a fun but sadly little known side fact: The Revered Jesse Jackson was a strong political supporter and a close friend of butcher Charles Taylor. That's true neo-colonialism for you. Thank you, USA.
Now let's look at our self-appointed "Chief" Boima Tucker. The "Sherbro son" how he sometimes refers to his highness and see what his proud African heritage and Sierra Leonean roots are really made of:
There's an interesting Wikipedia entry about the Sherbro Tuckers:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sherbro_Tuckers
The Tuckers of Sherbro are an Afro-European clan in the Southern region of Sierra Leone and they ruled as chiefs in Gbap. The clans progenitors were an English trader and agent, John Tucker (merchant), and a Sherbro princess. Along with the Caulkers, the Tuckers became one of the two most powerful Afro-European chiefdoms in the Sherbro country. The Tuckers were also one of the three most notorious Afro-European slave trading clans in West Africa alongside the Rogerses and the Caulkers.
So here we have a Faux Rasta, direct descendant of European colonial merchants and slave traders calling me out for being a "plundering opportunist". Because I'm European and because I buy old records. In Africa. Amazing.
Unlike you I can say that nobody in my family ever was involved in any colonial trading and that nobody in my family ever owned or sold slaves.
Fuck you, "Chief".
I had a few days to prepare for the interview and wrote down a little manuscript so I could give them some choice facts and personal opinions on the issue. I'm afraid most if not all of this will get lost in the editing. I thought I would share it here as this is exactly the type of shit that often seems to revitalize this otherwise fairly sluggish board.
An American citizen accusing me of neo-colonial behavior for going to Africa to buy records, simply based on my heritage as a European. This is stupid and in its core racist but it's also truly funny. Here are the facts you need to fully appreciate the irony:
America had a colony in West Africa: Liberia, colonized in the 1820s by the ACS (American Colonization Society) and this was one of the shittiest displays of human behavior of all times: The colonialists were free African Americans and upon arrival they immediately enslaved the local population, denied them the right to vote and erected a one party dictatorship that would last for over 130 years. These Americo-Liberians spent their days prancing around in gaudy costumes and European wigs while they had their domestic slaves clean up behind them. They also used slave labor on an industrial scale well into the 1970s. Liberia also became a major player in the by then illegal slave trade and was exporting slaves as late as 1930 when Liberia shipped slaves to the plantations of Fernando Poo. The fucked up history of Liberia culminated in one of the regions most bloody civil wars. Here's a fun but sadly little known side fact: The Revered Jesse Jackson was a strong political supporter and a close friend of butcher Charles Taylor. That's true neo-colonialism for you. Thank you, USA.
Now let's look at our self-appointed "Chief" Boima Tucker. The "Sherbro son" how he sometimes refers to his highness and see what his proud African heritage and Sierra Leonean roots are really made of:
There's an interesting Wikipedia entry about the Sherbro Tuckers:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sherbro_Tuckers
The Tuckers of Sherbro are an Afro-European clan in the Southern region of Sierra Leone and they ruled as chiefs in Gbap. The clans progenitors were an English trader and agent, John Tucker (merchant), and a Sherbro princess. Along with the Caulkers, the Tuckers became one of the two most powerful Afro-European chiefdoms in the Sherbro country. The Tuckers were also one of the three most notorious Afro-European slave trading clans in West Africa alongside the Rogerses and the Caulkers.
So here we have a Faux Rasta, direct descendant of European colonial merchants and slave traders calling me out for being a "plundering opportunist". Because I'm European and because I buy old records. In Africa. Amazing.
Unlike you I can say that nobody in my family ever was involved in any colonial trading and that nobody in my family ever owned or sold slaves.
Fuck you, "Chief".
Comments
It only makes it seem like you have something to hide.
I dunno about that...it might make it seem like dude is sick of getting accused of something shitty when he's simply diggin' for music he enjoys and has the acumen to turn a profit from raers.
Sounds like dude is just taking his accusers to task...
edit: assuming the other dude actually accused him of something.
This sorry "Chief" put my picture on the top of his article, mentioned me by name and called me a plundering opportunist. He made it personal.
Doesn't make any sense. If I'd have anything to hide I would think twice before attacking anybody personally.
A thought that should have gone through faux rasta's head before taking my name in his mouth and putting my picture on top of his scribble.
Hmm, I've never subscribed to any standards when it comes to settling scores and exposing some pseudo-intellectual, hypocritical, self-righteous, pompous little shit for the fraud that he is seems like a duty to me..
But you don't need to expose him. Attack his central claim, not his roots: that describing the act of retrieving, documenting and promoting records that would otherwise be on the scrap heap, lost forever, as some kind of neo-colonial plundering just because the documenter is white and European is nothing more than stupid, wooly and extremely lazy thinking. The more you refer to his past, the more you create the impression that you want to distance yourself from his absurd claim that is based in the present. I mean do it as a second nail in the coffin, but only after you nail him with the first.
I don't need anything besides more records and the Chief sure won't be able to help me with that since by the time he got to Sierra Leone I've already done plundered the place thoroughly.
I've already dealt with the Chief's claims when the "article" first was published. Like I said, I had completely forgotten about this little episode when I was approached by the BBC about the interview. After doing a little thinking and a little research I wrote down the lines in the original post and used them in the interview when asked about these accusation of neo-colonialism and how I would respond to them. I later realized that they will most likely not publish these sequences. Because I felt I just wanted to have my statement out there and also because I frequently have been accused of neo-colonialism and exploitation on this very board I thought I'd poast this shit. Some might get a chuckle out of it, others maybe not.
I see, I chuckle. Incidentally I remember in the eighties the Brit dealers frequently got accused of plundering the US for vinyl. It was true but there was a whiff of the Boston tea party in it which I found hilarious Plundering's great, post colonially speaking.
No comment on the personal beef or the digging-as-imperialism thing, but the "history of Liberia in a nutshell" paragraph definitely caught my attention!
My area of interest is slavery/anti-slavery in the British Empire during the 18th/19th centuries, and I'm totally willing to admit that I know jack-shit about America's colonial past (besides how it's tied up with England's adventures in worldwide fuckery). That said, I do know that the whole America-in-Liberia thing is a lot like the England-in-Sierra Leone thing -- that is, they're both really complex historiographies that have been changing since they were established. The perspective you took was super fashionable after WW2, and a lot of cats still take that position (for solid reasons). But there have been a bunch of changes in the field, and now-days I think you'd find a gang of historians that'd disagree with the "ACS = white devil" narrative. Without getting into technical shit that no-one cares about (...that ship has probably sailed...), its becoming popular to take good/sincere intentions seriously: the Americans who fucked things up for Liberia (like the Brits who fucked things up for Sierra Leone) may very well have been doing what they sincerely believed to be in the best interests of black people. And if that's the case, is it really fair to consider their movement "one of the shittiest displays of human behaviour of all time"?
Geeking out hard right now, apologies for the derail, good luck with the beef and stuff.
http://www.pambazuka.org/en/category/comment/31756
"In late 2005, the International Labor Rights Fund filed an Alien Tort Claims Act case in the US District Court in California against Bridgestone, alleging "forced labor, the modern equivalent of slavery" on a Firestone Plantation in Harbel, Liberia."
If there's one thing you can count on which never will change then it's the fact that there's something rotten in the heart of man.
I mean, I'm pretty sure Bridgestone in Africa was a 20th century thing, so you could basically tell me anything and I'd take your word for it. I was mostly just devils-advocating your ACS position.
e: And by "changes in the field," I didn't mean actual changes on the ground. I meant changes in the way historians are thinking about and writing about the early 19th-century "experiments" in Africa.
However, I do think the dude brings up several good points, including the fact that from an outsider's perspective, the process of uncovering and reissuing African music to be sold in U.S. retailers, can seem exploitative.
Dude gets carried away with statements like this though.
"but it does seem that the current mad-dash for rare African vinyl could be analogous to Europe???s 19th Century Scramble for Africa, a mad-dash for rare African minerals. "
I'm not sure if Boima Tucker said you were 'a plundering opportunist', I think he merely described the fact that out there exists this image of diggers as plundering opportunists.
He even says:
Later on Tucker does sound a little condescending though when he says he worries that with these diggers only focusing on specific African musical genres, other African musical genres might be marginalized. But that's a stupid and ignorant statement because there's a general renewed interest in African music now, so sooner or later people will start turning their attention to the other African musical genres as well.
Tucker also gives the impression as if rock and funk are foreign and Western influences that are completely alien to Africa. Did he not know these musical forms have their roots in African music? Likewise, Highlife and Rumba/Soukous too were influenced by musical styles from the Americas, but most of these styles were brought to the Americas in the first place by Africans.
However, blaming someone for the actions of their relatives of a previous generation is somewhat spurious, IMO, in dismantling his insinuation that you are a neo-colonialist. Many of the things you have already said to him have done that job 110% already. He's already a hypocritical cunt before you even get into his family's history. My $0.02.
Also, this. ^^^^^
I don't mean this in any type of personal way, but I think this thread might be kinda unnecessary, man. As far as I can tell, he didn't call anyone out in his piece aside from "one music journalist" whose rhetoric made him uncomfortable (and even that call-out was done pretty tactfully, I feel like).
Look at the structure of the essay: a paragraph introducing a perceived problem in the community; a paragraph that justifies digging in Africa; a paragraph that criticizes digging in Africa; and then the ol' "decide for yourself!" conclusion.
If anything, the blog-post takes a pretty balanced stance on a complicated issue, no?
Why? When done fairly the original artists get a percentage. I'd say the reissues are more about exposing people to fantastic music (and, of course, bragging rights & letting labels put their stamps on the projects) than creating revenue streams of any significance.
Well, I'm getting called out as a colonialist, imperialist plunderer based on my nationality, ethnicity and geographic heritage. So if the one calling me out happens to be the descendant of a infamous slave trading clan then I don't think it's out of place to point of the irony in that.
The Liberia bit was meant to point out that colonialism, slavery and exploitation in West Africa was not solely perpetrated by Europeans but also by African American colonialists.
I would assume that after having been called a Colonialist-Imperialist Exploiter many times and often here on this very board it would be legitimate to pint out these historic facts and casually mention that the US still today pursues Imperialistic interests in the region.
yes, I guess from the perspective of someone who doesn't know what they are talking about all sorts of things could seem exploitative.
I also always enjoy your writing style, full of absolutes and profanities.
But I think the more the BBC edits out your manifesto the better you will look.
As a German I think you might be able to see the problem in attacking someone based on their ancestors and their country's history.
In your manifesto you never defend what you do, you only attack Tucker. You do not attack his arguments, or him personally, you attack his ancestors and the history of his country.
Your use of profanity is highly entertaining to read on soulstrut. For those who are not used to your style it makes it seem like this has been a festering sore you never forgot.
b/w
Where can I see "Reynaldo's funny little map"?
Time to take a deep breath, talk up you accomplishments in promoting a near forgotten music and it's creators, and let the hatters hat.
Frank, seriously, the guy is building you up, not tearing you down. I know that when ever a journalist writes about someone it never looks the way the subject wants, but really, he is not attacking you.
His complaint is that you don't give equal shine to every record, style, artist. A stupid, but trivial complaint.
I really don't want to get into a thing with you. But no. He is not.
He says that finding records in Africa and selling them in US/Europe might look to some like colonialist and imperialist.
He then goes on to defend you. He never mentions your nationality, ethnicity or geographical heritage.
In fact, the article is not even about you. You are mentioned as one of many djs searching for records in Africa.
And you are a plunderer. And I mean that in the nicest way.
Well, it definitely sounds stupid and trivial when you phrase it like that, haha. But if you said something like, "his complaint is about how you, a non-African, present and represent African music to non-Africans audiences," it starts sounding like an issue that postcolonialism is super interested in.
Frank: I just joined Soulstrut, but I've been interested in this issue for a bit (no opinion, for the record -- I just like seeing people get salty). I'm curious if you've ever read something like Edward Said's "Orientalism"? You mentioned that the people who call you exploitative don't really understand what you do and how you do things. But to turn the tables, do you really get where they're coming from? And I ask about "Orientalism" in particular because that blog-post mentions two specific issues (cataloguing Africa and representing Africa) which are associated with that book.
I can only agree.
I don't know, guys. Frank is sitting on a pile of vinyl in a photo at the top of the page, and a video of him in action in Africa ends the article. The article, BTW, says things like this:
Let's be real....
Exactly.
The map used to be embedded in the article so it was my picture in the header, the map in the center and then the video clip on the bottom.
You should hear me rant about my Kraut brethren. Trust me, my contempt for humanity is distributed very equally. I do definitely not discriminate.
Also, I'm not attacking anybody, I'm stating historic facts. Calmly and matter of fact. OK, maybe the "fuck you" at the end could be seen as an affront but it slipped out so spontaneously, I just couldn't help it.
The BBC interview only briefly touched the subject. I'm quite aware that what I said was way too controversial to be aired and that's why I posted it here and in the comments section of the article in question. Of course it's going to offend and piss off some people. Chances are the right people get to read it before it gets deleted.
I know, I know, and I love to hear your contempt.
I was only pointing out how your manifesto might look to those who don't know you and your style.
I wasn't necessarily stating my opinion. Just saying, an "outsider" = someone that may not understand the effort/money/time going into a project like yours.