Chet Hanks: Transracial Jamaican, Appropriation or Delusional Privilege
By: Gfc, Grown Folk Conversations
Tags: Appropriation, Hip Hop, Race, Chet Hanks, White Privilege

Chet Hanks: Transracial Jamaican, Appropriation or Delusional Privilege

Culture vultures versus real artists

Photo by Kyle Cleveland on Unsplash

Chester Marlon Hanks (Chet) is the son of millionaire actor Tom Hanks. Chet is also an actor and aspiring rapper, Chet Haze who’s occasionally transracial Jamaican since January 2020. If you’re not familiar with hip hop culture, he’s like the male Amethyst Amelia Kelly, a runaway white girl from Australia that magically morphed into hoodlicious, Black-inspired rapper, Iggy Azelea.

As a woman of African descent with friends and family from Jamaica, I find Chet Hanks’ fascination and use of Jamaican patios to be both annoying and sad, but I don’t totally blame him.

I think the music industry and social media platforms should share the blame because they make millions of dollars featuring white people like Chet and countless others that steal and appropriate Black culture, music and intellectual property. I refuse to use my platform to get them more profitable clicks and views — so feel free to Google a popular Black artist and there’s probably a video of some random suburban teen or adult culture vulture calling it “their new song” (without permission, credit or compensation to the original artists).

Chet isn’t known for having prolific acting or writing skills and he doesn’t have a distinctive rap flow. Therefore, he stays relevant and connected to Black music culture through social media and his brief role on Empire. Yet, Chet is a “struggling” artist that’s why I think Chet’s case is a little deeper. I don’t think he’s doing it for money — he doesn’t it. I think he’s doing to for attention.

Again, I put the bulk of the blame on the music and social media industries because they know what they’re doing — even if Chet should and doesn’t.

They are marketing a tried and true formula: steal from Black culture and artists and make white-washed versions of their image and songs to market to white audiences so they get inspired wash, rinse and repeat and another white star (and cash cow) is born. Chet is a Jamaican culture vulture. It may be a little funny, but for real artists this is no laughing matter. The money spent to promote Chet and his antics could have gone to real reggae artist.

This is where the phrase “blue-eyed soul” came from. The music industry literally stole the look, lyrics, compositions, music rights even dance routines from Black artist’s songs often leaving them destitute or struggling on the Chitlin Circuit — to segregated audiences. The white record companies would work with white owned radio and television stations, clubs and venues so they could market and promote white artists to the masses. And the rest is literally history.

Unfortunately, there isn’t a Black or African American culture board so there really isn’t anyone to stop this highly profitable, parasitic behavior or hold any of the culture vultures or the companies responsible — unless the artist sues like the Marvin Gaye v Robin Thicke case.

The humanity

As a mother — I feel sorry for Chet. Based on his sincere defense of his bizarre and embarrassing behavior, he is drowning in delusional privilege and doesn’t understand why it’s wrong to profit from pretending or acting like he’s from an oppressed country or culture. Something is clearly wrong. This situation begs the question: Why can’t Chet just be happy being Chester — son of “nice”, rich actor Tom Hanks?

What happened to Chet that made him lose touch with reality in this current social and political climate?

Who is just as delusional and culturally incompetent to cosign Chet’s verbal Blackface with a reggae twist?

When I first saw Chet use Jamaican patios to congratulate his father for his award, I cringed — it was hard to watch because he looked like a kid playing a character. This is the primary reason I think Chet’s case differs from other white performers who have consciously and deliberately made characters for profit. Chet seems to desperately wants to be anyone other than himself and contrary to popular belief — Black people are some the most loving, welcoming and forgiving people regardless of country of origin some of us are letting him slide…

This also explains why Chet isn’t facing a bigger scandal or backlash from the Jamaican community. We are way too nice, tolerant and trusting…How else could colonization started… We gave one invitation and a gift — but predators are going to prey and colonizers are going colonize…You give an inch and they literally take your whole country, steal our art and culture and then tell us we’re uncivilized…but I digress.

True to form, this is where I feel Chet get’s a little mercy. He is in recovery and a loving father of a beautiful, biracial daughter. That’s where he differs from other white “performers” that seamlessly go back to good, ol’ white privilege like Elvis and his hip hop versions:

Marky Mark who is now mega rich actor, and family man, Mark Wahlberg, part owner of Wahlburgers and UFC. Mr. Wahlberg admitted to and has since apologized for his vicious, race related attack on an Asian man that left him partially blind. He tried to get the case expunged, but the incident went public, again.

Picture courtesy of People.com

Then, there’s Vanilla Ice who is now a real estate investor and house flipper, Robert Matthew Van Winkle. Van Winkle has since apologized for his appropriation and caucastic coonery after selling 40 million copies of his single. Yet, he says he was “a puppet”- a puppet that made millions off a culture I don’t think he likes or respects, but hey he’s since bought the rights to Under Pressure (the sample he originally used without permission) so at least the white artists he stole from got some compensation.

Youtube Apology

I would throw Pink in the mix, but her white girl roughneck image was also created by her record label. She’s talked about how record execs wanted to a push a false narrative, but she didn’t comply. She’s always been a bad-ass, white girl and never faked being a “sista” with the fake, stereotypical Black girl accent — and it’s appreciated. She just happens to have a soulful, strong voice — that matches her equally strong, acrobatic body — get em Pink (you rock).

Real and white

But as Dr. Dre said, “back to the lecture at hand”… Chet could easily take a page out of Eminem, Paul Wall or Bubba Sparxxx’s books who are white, rap artists that “don’t front”, have fake accents or gangster back stories. They love and respect hip hop culture and they’re accepted as real hip hop artists that bring their own authentic flavor — as white, American men. Eminem is undeniably a brilliant lyricist and battle rapper. Paul Wall and Bubba Sparxxx bring their southern swag without the messiness of appropriation.

As a matter of fact, Paul Wall gets extra props for being a proud, loving husband and father of two children with his beautiful wife, Crystal and if you question his love of sistas — check out his song with Jill Scott. Bubba on the other hand is a proud, country boy and can kinda be credited for ushering in the age of “new booty” with his 2005 hit song, Miss New Booty. That song is a club banger and still makes me laugh and dance at the same time.

But there is always an enigma and his name is Collie Buddz. I’d be lying if I didn’t admit that I have Come Around on my playlist, but I don’t know where he fits in this discussion.

His bio says, “Colin Patrick Harper hails from the tiny island of Bermuda. In the music industry, he is known as the reggae artist Collie Buddz. Buddz was born on August 21, 1984 in New Orleans, Louisiana.”

I don’t know Colin’s connection to Bermuda when he was born in New Orleans and graduated top of his class from Full Sail University in Florida. Yet, even he doesn’t have a full on Caribbean accent in his interviews and he’s worked with some noteworthy Jamaican and Ghanaian artists. Honestly, I put his music in the “weed culture” genre more than reggae so I don’t really see him exploiting Caribbean/West Indian culture and music, but that could just be my colonized mind finding sympathy for colonizers…

Conclusion

I really don’t know how or why white people like Chet aren’t happy with their privilege and love stealing Black and African swagger, fashion, music, food, dialects, accents, culture or lives in general.

It’s like white America is Black people’s Single White Female… They copy what we do out of strange, obsessive flattery, admiration and a tinge of jealousy, but become defensive, aggressive and dangerous when we call them out or ask them to stop.

I hope Chet has some real people from Jamaican and the Black community so he can learn how hurtful and offensive his behavior is, but most importantly — I hope he finds is authentic self. It’s too late for him to be brave like Pink, fight the power to live and push a false narrative, but I pray he finds some clarity, integrity and real cultural competence.

I hope he can find the real Chet, and become a beacon of hope for his fellow white brothers and sisters like Eminem, Paul and Bubba who can love, like and be a part of our various cultures and communities without profiting from our mockery and their proximity to power and privilege. Or at the very least, I hope Chet sees the error of his ways and halfway apologize like Van Winkle…

Thank you for reading.

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