1990s: Mass Incarceration and Mass Media

1900-1999: A New Divide
Written By Stephanie Brizee

Big Idea

The 1990s had many contradictions. Heavy policing and imprisonment harmed Black communities, while mass media celebrated Black sitcoms and breakthrough artists like Mary J. Blige, appealed to both White and Black audiences.

What’s important to know?

  1. Mass Incarceration:

  2. The Resurgence of Black Power Rhetoric:

1: Mass Incarceration

By the 1980s, failed urban renewal and decades-old public housing set the stage for expanded racist drug laws (“Three Strikes Law”), the crack epidemic, and the HIV/AIDS epidemic. As a result, by the early 1990s two generations of African American males had been devastated by mass incarceration, HIV/AIDS, or both (Feagin, 2014, p. 160; CDC, 2016). 

From the beginning of the War on Crime through the 1970s expenditure on law enforcement rose by 2,900% - for a total of $300 million (Hinton, 2021, p. 22). The over-policing, harassment, and daily infringement of rights wore down many Black communities who then rose up in rebellions when extreme transgressions, such as the beating of Rodney King in 1992, produced visceral and sustained counter actions. The “war on crime” only further isolated, impoverished, and harassed, Black communities - making the situation worse rather than better in many urban centers. And so cycles of crime, violence, over-reaction, and death leading to uprisings and Black movements became the pattern of the later part of the twentieth century.

2: The Resurgence of Black Power Rhetoric

As Black youth faced increasing poverty, unemployment, and the drug crises tearing apart their communities, they searched for agency and a way to recapture Black pride. This searching eventually led to the formation of the Black Panther Collective, not quite a reconstitution of the now disbanded Black Panther Party for Self-Defense, but in the words of historian, George Derrik Musgrove (2019), “a political grammar for revolutionary nationalism” (p. 624).

Black and white log of New Panther Vanguard Movement

New Panther Vangard Movement

Image Source: Wikipedia

As Reagan’s gutting of social welfare programs hit Black communities hard, in turn these communities turned to history and to messages of Black nationalism and power to find resolve and hope for creating a new path forward. Hop-Hop, conferences, bookstores, Kwanza celebrations, and other forms of community gathering and public expression grew throughout the 1990s (p. 627-628).

In Los Angelos where the Black unemployment rate was 13% (2% higher than the national average) and Black youth unemployment was at a staggering 44% - conditions quickly deteriorated (p. 637). With one of the only means to make money being the drug trade, the south side soon devolved into gang wars and armed police incursions. In an act to recapture the best parts of the Black Panther movement, organizers came together to create the African American Vanguard Movement (NAAVM). This movement focused on the social welfare programs that the Black Panthers had organized so successfully and specifically disavowed all calls to arms and law enforcement infiltration. By 1995 they had office space and “provided an impressive array of community service programs from computer training and food giveaways to free rides to prison for relatives of the incarcerated” (p. 640).

The Nation of Islam, first popularized under Malcom X in the early 1960s, also began to find renewed support under the leadership of Louis Farrakhan. In 1995, he held the “Million Man March and Day of Atonement” in Washington, D.C. (p. 628).

3: Entering Mass Media

The 1990s also saw a rise of Black television shows and music. “The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air,” “Martin,” “Sister Sister,” “Moesha” and “Living Single” were all shows featuring Black individuals, families, and friends. Moving away from the stereotypical portrayal of the 1980s these shows began to show a fuller, more nuanced perspective on Black life.

Image of Public Enemy performing

Public Enemy Performing in 2000

Image Source: Wikipedia

Hip hop and rap grew in influence and impact in American popular culture. As Tricia Rose (1991) notes in speaking to the attraction of rap music to African American youth, in particular, “Young African Americans are positioned in fundamentally antagonistic relationships to the institutions that most prominently frame and constrain their lives. The public school system, the police, and the popular media perceive and construct them as a dangerous internal element in urban America - an element that if allowed to roam about freely will threaten the social order, an element that must be policed. The social construction of rap and rap-related violence is fundamentally linked to the social discourse on Black containment and fears of a Black planet” (p. 279).

Rap also served as an outlet for public commentary and subversive message about ongoing American racism. The group Public Enemy led in this area with its hits, "Fight the Power," "By the Time I Get to Arizona," and "911 is a Joke" (Sullivan, 2003, p. 606). Similar to the creative expressions made in other medias and forms by Black artists, "Rap's poetic voice is deeply political in content and spirit, but its hidden struggle-that of access to public space and community resources and the interpretation of Black expression-constitutes rap's hidden politics" (p. 607). Despite, overlty racist and derogatory comments about rap by political leaders and the ongoing policing of the venues where rappers could perform, rap grew in popularity and in cross-over appeal with Whites. In 1998, Billboards top 100 albums included 13 rap artists (p. 609).

With Michael Jackson’s hits, ideas of cross-over and acceptability by Whites also changed. “His work from the production side was mirrored in consumption, as Off the Wall and Thriller reached audiences believed at that time to be incompatible, resulting in the most readily observable feature of a crossover artist: success on multiple popularity charts at the same time. Kobena Mercer, in an oft-cited article about race and the video for “Thriller,” argued that Jackson crossed over, not by moving to the middle of the road, but by “playing with imagery and style that has always been central to the marketing of pop” (Brackett, 2012, p. 172).

Mary J. Blige

Mary J. Blige performing in Hamburg, Germany

Image Source: Wikipedia

Mary J. Blige was another cross-over artist that attracted attention worldwide. In 1992, she released her debut “What’s the 411?” (Isles, 2023). It reached number 6 on the Billboard 200 and topped the R&B/ Hip-Hop Albums Chart (Billboard.com).

Even as White and Black lives diverged significantly in some ways, in other ways, musicians such as Jackson and Blige brought them together.

Your Turn

What advancements did the 1990s offer the Black community? In what areas did they struggle to realize equality and dignity?

Stephanie Brizee
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