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Friday, November 28, 2014

Looking For Some Good White People (Memories Of A Black Girl)

Written by Azizi Powell

I wrote these two comments as part of a discussion thread on an astrology forum in which some of the comments were about the non-indictment of Darren Wilson for shooting to death the unarmed Black teenager Michael Brown, Jr.

http://starlightnews.com/wordpress/2014/11/israels-angry-mood/#comments

Comment #1: Azizi, November 27, 2014 at 10:19 pm
...When I was in my teens (in the mid 1960s), I went through a time when I was desperately looking for some good White people. By “good White people” I meant White people who weren’t prejudiced against Black people and other People of Color. Of course, it shouldn’t have been that difficult to think of examples of good White people, since there were White people who helped with the Underground Railroad, and there were men such as Michael Schwerner and Andrew Goodman who were killed along with James Chaney because they were trying registering Black people in the South. President Obama just posthumously awarded these two White men and one Black men a medal of freedom.

But I only knew a few White people who I was sure weren’t prejudiced. I’ve known more since my teen years, but it still helps a lot to read comments on this blog from non-Black people who “get” how AWFUL the continuous murder of Black males and the lack of lawful redress and accountability is. And because this issue affects us all, it’s good to see White people joining in peaceful no justice no peace & Black lifes matter/All life matters marches throughout the USA and elsewhere.

Here’s a link to a post that I wrote about a part of Darren Wilson’s testimony to that Grand Jury:
http://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2014/11/what-did-darren-wilson-mean-when-he.html What Did Darren Wilson Mean When He Said That Michael Brown Jr Was Like Hulk Hogan?
-snip-
Although the wrestler Huck Hogan is White, his ring name “Hulk”, comes from the comic book character “the Hulk”. And Wilson’s comment that he thought that Michael Brown Jr was “bulking up to run through the bullets” is very similar to Hulk Hogan’s term “hulking up”.

In my opinion, when Darren Wilson’s referring to Michael Brown Jr as “it” and a demon, and saying that Michael Brown Jr reminded him of Hulk Hogan, he raised centuries old stereotypes of Black males as devil, animals, buck, and brutes...

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Thanks again.

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Comment #2: Azizi, November 28, 2014 at 8:35 am
"Thank you Anne’s Aunt, Lorrie U, and shoalsister for responding to my comment, and sharing your personal stories.

My search for “some good White people” was so that I wouldn’t believe that all White people were bad (i.e. not only racist but also evil). I may have started that search after realizing that I wasn’t told the whole story about “how the West was won” and instead learned that scalping was started by some White folks and other White folks gave Indians blankets with smallpox or some other disease. My search for “good White people” really became critical when I was 14 years old in 1963 and 3 Black girls my age and a Black girl 11 years old were killed when racists bombed their church. [Read the story how the police didn’t pass on tips and at first the FBI under J. Edgar Hoover refused the case saying that winning it was remote:
http://www.nydailynews.com/news/justice-story/justice-story-birmingham-church-bombing-article-1.1441568
-snip-
It took 37 years to bring to justice those KKK members who planted that dynamite under that Baptist church

My three sisters and I attended a Baptist church every Sunday – so I could really relate to those girls who were killed.

I recall that in 1964 my pastor, a woman active in the church, and I were part of a weekend integration project in the Newark, New Jersey area. We lived in Atlantic City. The purpose of that project was to provide opportunities for Black people and White people to talk to each other and share everyday experiences – Black people staying with White families overnight, and (at least presumably, White people staying with Black families. Also, Black and White people attending sessions together and Black people attending a White church, and White people attending a Black church for their Sunday morning service.

During the drive to that weekend project I recall my pastor and the church woman sharing their memories about growing up in the South. I particularly remember both of them saying that they had played with White children until a certain age, and then those children refused to play with them anymore, and began treating them badly. (My experience was different than theirs. I didn’t have any White playmates, and didn’t go to school with any non-Black people until junior high school (around 12 years old).

I also remember my pastor’s and the church woman’s concern about whether it would be safe for us to sleep overnight at a White family’s house. And I recall them saying something like we would leave or we could leave if things got bad. The woman and I stayed in one home, and the pastor in another home. I recall sleeping in a pull out bed and eating some food that I wasn’t familiar with, and didn’t really like.

But I particularly remember being in a gym with a few White teenagers and casually talking about our experiences growing up (This was when the adults were in another room, presumably doing the same thing.) I also remember attending the church service at a White church. I admit that I liked the music in my church better, but I preferred the way the minister preached. I even remember that the sermon was built around the Edwin Markham poem:
“He drew a circle that shut me out —
Heretic, rebel, a thing to flout.
But Love and I had the wit to win:
We drew a circle that took him in.”
-snip-
That poem was written in 1913, and I first heard it in 1964. I remember that date because the next year I enrolled in a college in a city that was right next door to Newark, New Jersey.) In retrospect, that experience with that integration project, may have been the reason why I chose that college and not another one that I had been accepted to...

But decades later part of the problem between people of different races, ethnicities etc is that we usually don’t share experiences, and don’t really talk to each other in anything but surface, proscribed manners.

In a small but still meaningful way, exchanges like these on this forum help to bridge those communication/experiences gaps.

-end of comment-

ADDENDUM
I don't want to give the impression that after my teen years I stopped looking for some good White people (people who aren't prejudiced against Black people and other People of Color.) I'm STILL looking, and I've certainly found some.

And some White people who grew up not knowing any Black people are probably searching for some good Black people. But I think that for them "good Black people" are likely to be those that don't act like the negative stereotypes that they have consciously and/or unconsciously been taught. In my opinion, the difference between that and my search (and probably other Black people's searches) is that we're not trying to refute stereotypes of White people. We're trying to find examples of White people who don't kill people and discriminate against people, and shun people and otherwise mistreat people just because of their race.

But personal racism is only a part of the disease that threatens to destroy the United States [and other nations]. Both the root cause and the manifestation of that disease is institutional (systemic) racism such as that found in Fergurson, Missouri and throughout much of the United States.

I'm not going to repost the comments from the bloggers that I named in my second comment. However, I definitely believe that those comments are worth reading.

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Thursday, November 27, 2014

What Did Darren Wilson Mean When He Said That Michael Brown Jr Was Like Hulk Hogan?

Edited by Azizi Powell

This post includes an excerpt from an article about the Grand Jury testimony of Darren Wilson, the White Ferguson, Missouri police officer who shot and killed unarmed Black teenager Mchael Brown, Jr on August 9, 2014 as well as further comments about that excerpt.

From http://www.theroot.com/articles/culture/2014/11/the_demonization_of_michael_brown.html

How Darren Wilson Demonized Michael Brown

For Michael Brown, the stereotypes that Darren Wilson believed proved to be deadly. By: Sophia A. Nelson, Posted: Nov. 25 2014 6:00 PM
"Stereotypes are dangerous. And for Michael Brown, they proved to be deadly.

"Of all that we heard Monday night about the St. Louis County grand jury’s decision not to indict Ferguson, Mo., police Officer Darren Wilson for shooting and killing Brown, what kept me awake for hours after the announcement was made was Wilson’s testimony.

Testimony in which Wilson said that Brown “had the most intense, aggressive face. The only way I can describe it, it looks like a demon; that’s how angry he looked.”

It was rife with imagery that dates back hundreds of years as it relates to how white men often perceive black men. His use of vivid language, describing Brown like “Hulk Hogan” while describing himself, in comparison, like a small child holding on for dear life, is troubling. This is the power and danger of racial “stereotypes.” "

Read a December 6, 2014 Update below from a blog post about "Giantg Negroes".

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INFORMATION ABOUT HULK HOGAN
From http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hulk_Hogan
"Terry Gene Bollea[6] (born August 11, 1953), better known by his ring name Hulk Hogan, is an American professional wrestler, actor, television personality, entrepreneur, and musician currently signed with WWE.

Hogan enjoyed mainstream popularity in the 1980s and 1990s as the all-American character Hulk Hogan in the World Wrestling Federation (WWF, now WWE), and as "Hollywood" Hulk Hogan, the villainous nWo leader, in World Championship Wrestling (WCW). A regular pay-per-view headliner in both organizations, Hogan closed the respective premier annual events of the WWF and WCW, WrestleMania and Starrcade, on multiple occasions. He was inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame in 2005. He was signed with Total Nonstop Action Wrestling (TNA) from 2009 until 2013, where he was the on-screen General Manager.[7] IGN described Hogan as "the most recognized wrestling star worldwide and the most popular wrestler of the '80s".[8]

...Hogan frequently referred to his fans as "Hulkamaniacs" in his interviews and introduced his three "demandments": training, saying prayers, and eating vitamins. Eventually, a fourth demandment (believing in oneself) was added during his feud with Earthquake in 1990. Hogan's ring gear developed a characteristic yellow-and-red color scheme; his ring entrances involved him ritualistically ripping his shirt off his body, flexing, and listening for audience cheers in an exaggerated manner. The majority of Hogan's matches during this time involved him wrestling heels who had been booked as unstoppable monsters, using a format which became near-routine: Hogan would deliver steady offense, but eventually lose momentum, seemingly nearing defeat. Then after being hit with his opponents finishing move he would then experience a sudden second wind, fighting back while "feeding" off the energy of the audience, becoming impervious to attack—a process described as "Hulking up". His signature maneuvers—pointing at the opponent (which would later be accompanied by a loud "YOU!" from the audience), shaking his finger to scold him, three punches, an Irish Whip, the big boot and running leg drop—would follow and ensure him a victory. That finishing sequence would occasionally change depending on the storyline and opponent; for instance, with "Giant" wrestlers, the sequence might involve a body slam."
-snip-
Italics added by me to highlight those words.

Note that Hulk Hogan is a White American.

-snip-
HULKING UP AND DARREN WILSON'S USE OF THE TERM "BULKING UP"
The Hulk Hogan term "Hulking up" is quite similar to the term "bulking up" that Darren Wilson used in his Grand Jury testimony:
"As he is coming towards me, I tell, keep telling him to get on the ground. He doesn't. I shoot a series of shots. I don't know how many I shot. ... It looked like he was almost bulking up to run through the shots, like it was making him mad that I'm shooting at him." http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2014/11/26/infographic-darren-wilson-recounts-shooting-michael-brown/19538013/

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THE INCREDIBLE HULK
The name "Hulk Hogan and the terms "Hulking up" and "bulking up" probably have their origin in the comic book character "The Hulk" (also known as "The Incredible Hulk".
From http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hulk_(comics)
"The Hulk (Bruce Banner) is a fictional superhero that appears in comic books published by Marvel Comics. The character was created by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby, and first appeared in The Incredible Hulk #1 (May 1962). Throughout his comic book appearances, the Hulk is portrayed as a large green humanoid that possesses near limitless superhuman strength and great invulnerability, attributes that grow more potent the angrier he becomes. Hulk is the alter ego of Bruce Banner, a socially withdrawn and emotionally reserved physicist who physically transforms into the Hulk under emotional stress and other specific circumstances at will or against it; these involuntary transformations lead to many complications in Banner's life. When transformed, the Hulk often acts as a disassociated personality separate from Banner. Over the decades of Hulk stories, the Hulk has been represented with several personalities based on Hulk and Banner's fractured psyche, ranging from mindless savage to brilliant warrior"...
-snip-
Notice that the fictitious charcter Hulk is very big and is the color green.

http://thinkprogress.org/justice/2014/11/26/3597380/in-the-eyes-of-their-killers-trayvon-martin-and-mike-brown-were-the-same-person/ also focuses on Darren Wilson's description of Michael Brown Jr. as Hulk Hogan:
"Throughout his testimony, Wilson repeatedly referenced Brown’s size, calling him “really big,” “obviously bigger than I was,” and saying he felt “like a five-year-old holding onto Hulk Hogan,” though the two men were about the same height.

Later, describing the moment right after he first fired the first bullet, he said Brown “looked up at me and had the most intense aggressive face. The only way I can describe it, it looks like a demon.” In other places, he describes Brown in animalistic terms (“he made like a grunting, like aggravated sound”) and supernatural ones (“it looked like he was almost bulking up to run through the shots”).

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THE STEREOTYPE OF BLACK MALES AS BUCK/BRUTE
Describing the Hulk in animalistic terms and as a mindless savage reminds me of the stereotype of Black males as "buck" and "brute":
From http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_Buckhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_Buck
"According to popular stereotypes during the post-Reconstruction era, "Black Buck" was a black man (usually muscular or tall) who defies white will and is largely destructive to American society. He is usually hot-tempered, excessively violent, unintelligent, and sexually attracted to white women.[1] Most often, any attempt to restrain, reprimand, or re-educate the individual will fail, necessitating the individual's immediate execution (usually by lynching)."...
-snip-
From http://www.ferris.edu/jimcrow/brute/http://www.ferris.edu/jimcrow/brute/
"The brute caricature portrays black men as innately savage, animalistic, destructive, and criminal -- deserving punishment, maybe death. This brute is a fiend, a sociopath, an anti-social menace. Black brutes are depicted as hideous, terrifying predators who target helpless victims, especially white women. Charles H. Smith (1893), writing in the 1890s, claimed, "A bad negro is the most horrible creature upon the earth, the most brutal and merciless"(p. 181). Clifton R. Breckinridge (1900), a contemporary of Smith's, said of the black race, "when it produces a brute, he is the worst and most insatiate brute that exists in human form" (p. 174)...

During the Radical Reconstruction period (1867-1877), many white writers argued that without slavery -- which supposedly suppressed their animalistic tendencies -- blacks were reverting to criminal savagery. The belief that the newly-emancipated blacks were a "black peril" continued into the early 1900s. Writers like the novelist Thomas Nelson Page (1904) lamented that the slavery-era "good old darkies" had been replaced by the "new issue" (blacks born after slavery) whom he described as "lazy, thriftless, intemperate, insolent, dishonest, and without the most rudimentary elements of morality" (pp. 80, 163). Page, who helped popularize the images of cheerful and devoted Mammies and Sambos in his early books, became one of the first writers to introduce a literary black brute. In 1898 he published Red Rock, a Reconstruction novel, with the heinous figure of Moses, a loathsome and sinister black politician. Moses tried to rape a white woman: "He gave a snarl of rage and sprang at her like a wild beast" (pp. 356-358). He was later lynched for "a terrible crime."...

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DARREN WILSON'S DESCRIPTION OF MICHAEL BROWN, JR AS A DEMON AND THE DEPICTION OF THE DEVIL AS A BLACK MAN
Stereotyping Black males as brutes and savages goes far back to the early days of Christianity, and even earlier than that. I posted this inforrmation on the history of depicting the devil as a Black man in the discussion thread "Folklore: The Devil The Color Black" that I started in 2009 on the Mudcat folk music forum http://mudcat.org/thread.cfm?threadid=123578
:
"Here's a link to an article about Christianity & the depiction of the devil as the color black and as a Black person: http://www.secularhumanism.org/library/aah/sierichs_12_4.htm
"The Christian Origin of Racism: That Old Black Devil"
Part I by William Sierichs, Jr.

Here are some excerpts from that article:
"Christians had equated the color black with evil as early as the second century. In Satan—The Early Christian Tradition, historian Jeffrey Burton Russell said the second-century Epistle of Barnabas portrayed a war between God and Satan, with clear choices. One could follow a path to heaven, while a "road of darkness, under the power of 'the Black One,' leads to ruin. The equation of evil, darkness, and blackness, a source of later racial stereotypes, occurs here for the first time in Christian literature. The immediate sources of Barnabas' use of the terms 'black' and 'blackness' are Jewish, Ebonite, and Greek. Behind these is the Mazdaist idea of the darkness of Ahriman, and behind Ahriman is the worldwide, almost universal, use of blackness as a symbol of evil." Russell added that the Devil's dark color represented his lack of goodness and light, and did not have a racial connection—he might be black but have European features.

Some Christians from an early period, however, did depict Satan and his demons as African or in a context that linked black skin to Satan. An influential 4th-century biography said Satan repeatedly tempted the monk St. Anthony, who was living in the Egyptian desert, and once "he appeared to Anthony like a black boy, taking a visible shape in accordance with the colour of his mind. . . . ."

In a 7th-century biography of clergy in Merida, Spain, a man had a vision in which he saw "some hideous and terrifying Ethiopians, giants, most vile to behold in their darkness, so that from their restless gaze and jet-black faces he was given to understand as he saw them clearly that they were beyond doubt servants of hell." A similar linkage of the Devil to Africans also appeared in the "Passion of St. Perpetua and St. Felicity."
-snip-
It seems to me that the depiction of the Hulk was influenced by the much earlier depictions of the Black buck/Black brute and those depictions were influenced by the even earlier ideas about the devil as a Black man.

In that same Mudcat discusson thread I shared information about the German children's game of tag that is called "Whose afraid of the Black man?" Although Darren Wilson probable never heard of that game, it certainly seems to me that his words and actions that fateful night when he killed the unarmed 18 year old Black teenager Michael Brown, Jr-who was both tall and big- were very much influenced by the stereotypes of the Black male as brute, buck, Hulk, and the devil. That Darren Wilson also referred to Michael Brown, Jr as "it" and "demon" serve as further proof of my conclusions.

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UPDATE: December 6, 2014
From http://undercoverblackman.blogspot.com/2007/07/attack-of-giant-negroes.html Tuesday, July 10, 2007 "Attack of the GIANT NEGROES!!" as quoted in http://www.vox.com/2014/11/25/7283327/michael-brown-racist-stereotypes ..."In 2007, a fascinating post from blogger Undercover Black Man spread through what was then quaintly known as "the blogosphere." The post highlighted newspapers' — particularly the New York Times' — obsession with "giant negroes," superhuman in strength and impervious to normal law enforcement methods, who terrorized police and civilians. From the turn of the 20th century until the 1930s, terrifying tales of "giant negroes" popped up regularly.
Here's a sample of how this played out in the Times:
• The September 24, 1900, edition included a double whammy: back-to-back stories about criminally insane negroes of "gigantic build," headlined "Giant Negro Attacks Police" and "Big Negro Spreads Terror."
• In 1897, the paper exclaimed, "Giant negro disables 4 policemen in fight." He was eventually felled by a baton blow to the head."...

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Tuesday, November 25, 2014

I Don't Do Nobody Nothin (African American Prison Work Song)

Edited by Azizi Powell

This post showcases a prison work song entitled "I Don't Do Nobody Nothin".

The content of this post is presented for folkloric, cultural, and aesthetic purposes.

All copyrights remain with their owner.

Thanks to the unknown composer and singer of this song for putting into words what is felt when people are unjustly treated because of their race, ethnicity, religion, nationality, gender orientation, and/or other things that some people wrongfully consider reasons for injustice.

Thanks also to the publisher of this sound file on YouTube.

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SHOWCASE SOUND FILE - I don't do nobody nothin



RosieKeepinthepromis, Uploaded on May 5, 2009

***update*** I've turned off the comments for this video. I never thought I'd have to do that since I mainly just post historical music recording on this account. However, for some reason, this particular video drew ridiculous, and some racist, bickering in the comments. I just got tired of getting notices of comments on this video from the flame war back and forth. I hope to turn the comments back on in the future. Until then, maybe a time out will give certain people a chance to grow up, or at the very least to get a life.

This is a historical recording, and I feel it is important to our (everyone's) musical history. The reason why I post these on youtube is to make them easily accessible to everyone, particularly to people who might not have ever encountered it otherwise (from what I can tell, surfing youtube is a much more popular past time that surfing the Library of Congress website). Even if you don't enjoy this kind of music, or this song in particular, I hope that you will at least acknowledge that these kind of recordings are important from a historical standpoint.


This is a recording I got from the Library of Congress AFC 1939/001 2671b1. It is a recording of Rev. Nathaniel Hawkins, a.k.a. C.W. "Preacher" Smith and some other unidentified singers. Recorded in 1939 in Arkansas at the Cummins State Farm by John and Ruby Lomax.
Photo is also from Library of Congress call number LOT 7414-E, no. N137, may have been taken at Cummins State Farm 1934.

and here's the lyrics (roughly), if you hear something different, let me know!

Refrain: I don't do nobody nothin', Jesus
But they hates me just the same (repeat these two lines,) Oh, well, well, it's among that Christian family
That They cause my heart to pain
The sinner he don't know nothin' 'bout me oh lord
He don't carry my name;

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-snip-
"State farm" is a referent for a state prison.

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Sunday, November 23, 2014

The Cultural Need For The "Happy To Be Nappy" Slogan

Edited by Azizi Powell

This post explores the cultural ramifications of the African American slogan "Happy to be Nappy". This post includes excerpt from books and online articles, examples of African American children's hair insult rhymes, and videos about the "happy to be nappy" slogan.

This post is presented for cultural purposes.

All copyrights remain with their owners.

Thanks to all those who are quoted in this post.

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GENERAL OVERVIEW
"Happy to be nappy" is an African American slogan that promotes acceptance and appreciation of the natural hair texture of many but not all African Americans and other people with Black African ancestry. That slogan, which is also given as "I'm happy to be nappy", has been used as the title of books, articles, and DVDs, and has been featured on t-shirts and other products.

I've not been able to identify who came up with the "happy to be nappy" slogan. Nor have I been able to determine the earliest documented date that it was used. However, author and activist bell hooks, indicated that that slogan predates her 1999 children's book Happy to Be Nappy (Jump at the Sun) which popularized that slogan. In that passage from her 2003 book Rock My Soul: Black People and Self-Esteem, bell hooks explains why that slogan was created:
...”When the issue of self-esteem was raised in relation to black people, it just assumed that racism was the primary factor creating low self-esteem. Consequently, when black public figures, most of whom were male at that time, began to address the issue of self-esteem, they focused on the impact of racism as a force that crippled our self-esteem.

Militant antiracist political struggles placed the issue of self-esteem for black people on the agenda. And it took the form of primarily discussing the need for positive images. The slogan “black is beautiful” was popularized in an effort to undo the negative racist iconography and representations of blackness that had been an accepted norm in visual culture. Natural hairstyles were offered to counter the negative stereotype that one could only be beautiful if one’s hair was straight and not kinky. “Happy to be nappy” was also a popular slogan among militant black liberation groups."
Source: Rock My Soul: Black People and Self-Esteem, bell hooks, [Google Books], page 2.
-snip-
A video of bell hooks' Happy To Be Nappy book is showcased as video example #1 below.

I'm not sure which "militant black liberation groups" used that saying or when. For what it's worth, from 1967-1969 I was a member of the Black cultural nationalist group, Committee For Unified Newark (CFUN). Members of that organization which was headed by Amiri Baraka for some of that time and subsequently chanted a number of slogans such as "It's nation time!" and "We are an African people. And while almost all the women and men in that group wore afros, I don't recall ever hearing or reading the slogan "happy to be nappy".

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SOME ATTITUDES AMONG BLACK PEOPLE ABOUT OUR NATURAL HAIR
Numerous online articles and blog posts have been written about Black people's attitudes about our hair. In a 2012 artice entitled "Nappy Hair – The Other “N” Word?" Dianne Shaddock wrote
"There’s more than one derogatory n-word in the English language. While “nappy” may not be quite as inflammatory as the other word, it still conjures up pain for too many African Americans...

Consider yourself fortunate if you grew up with a loving adult telling you that your natural hair was beautiful, and that kinky hair was to be admired. Unfortunately, too many black girls and boys have heard the term “nappy” in a different light; it’s hurled as an insult. As a result, it’s practically considered a fighting word for many.

When it comes out of the mouths of non-black people, it’s even worse. Don Imus called an entire women’s basketball team “nappy headed” and was swiftly fired from his radio show. An elementary school teacher read the book Nappy Hair to her class as a way to teach pride to her mostly minority students. A controversy ensued and the teacher ended up having to transfer to another school due to the negative publicity."
Source: http://www.naturalhaircarenews.com/2012/08/04/nappy-hair-the-other-n-word-happy-to-be-nappy/
-snip-
Click http://www.carolivia.org/nappyhair/ for information about Carolivia Herron's 1998 book Nappy Hair.

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Here's a link for "Young Black Nappy"'s Facebook page uhttps://www.facebook.com/youngblacknappy

"Young Black Nappy shared a link [about a photography exhibition about Black hair:
November 16, 2014.
“I’m talking about how difficult is it to be a woman of color and be accepted as beautiful in terms of our hair... It’s less about a divisive body of work, where I’m criticizing hair that’s a certain way. It’s more or less about embracing that hair comes in all textures and curl patterns and can be worn in any way. Black hair is a multiplicity of things.” - Artist Nakeya Brown via For Harriet

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EXAMPLES OF CONTEMPORARY AFRICAN AMERICAN CHILDREN'S HAIR INSULT RHYMES
Note: I've been collecting examples of African American playground rhymes since 1985. I've found very few references to hair in those rhymes. Excluding the "bald head" references* in "Yo mama, yo daddy, yo bald headed granny" and in "Fudge Fudge Call The Judge" rhymes, and the mention of a baby with a curl in the latter rhymes, and excluding the mention of a girl with "strawberry curls" in the "My Boyfriend's Name Is" rhymes, I've only come across three examples of Black children's rhymes that mention hair. And those examples can clearly be considered taunting (insult) rhymes. Here are those examples:

*Read my comment after Example #2 about hair length preferences in the United States.

Example #1:
My husband actually taught my daughter's a song that he remembered as a child in the late 60s/early 70s.

Hey you, over there, with the nappy nappy hair.
My back is achin' my pants too tight, my bootie shakin' from the left to right
M' Gowa, Black Power, yo' mama needs a shower.
Destroy, little boys, soul sister number nine, sock it to me one more time.
Mmm! Mmm! Mmm!
-GUEST,Shamiere, http://mudcat.org/thread.cfm?threadid=4300 "Children's Street Songs", March 24, 2004
-snip-
The verse "My back is achin' my pants too tight, my bootie shakin' from the left to right" is found in the now relatively widely known cheer or hand clap rhyme "Bang Bang Choo Choo Train".

"'Gowa" is a folk processed form of the word "Ungawa". That line and the next one are found in a number of African American children's rhymes. But they may be best known now because of their inclusion in the movie Big's version of the rhyme "Down Down Baby".

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Example #2:
All: Gaaaytors
Gaaaytors

Directions:
Clap two times and and then stomp four times. Repeat this entire sequence two more times.

This cheer starts with the group facing forward. The first time the word "Gaaaytors" [an elongated form of the word "Gators"] is said, the group turns to their right while clapping two times and stomping four times. The second time, the group turns to the back. The third time the group turns to their left. And the fourth time the group turns to face the front again.

While the group is facing the front the first soloist says a two line rhyming verse. Neither the group nor the soloist steps during that recitation.

Soloist: Gator’s aint wid it
So Homewood betta quit it

[Return to the "Gators “chorus” and begin doing the step moves again. Ideally, the next soloist would chant another verse with the same pattern and with the same theme. The chorus is always chanted after each verse.

Here are three other verses that the contributor of this cheer chanted for me:

Homewood betta chill out
cause I’ll put their tracks out [tracks= hair weaves]

Homewood betta chill out
before Sha’ona come and lay ‘em out
Or
Homewood betta laugh and cheer
But they can’t really got no hair

{Sha’ona said she learned this from hearing the cheerleaders do this in 2006]
-Sha'ona (African American girl, Fort Pitt Elementary School, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, collected by Azizi Powell, 2007
-snip-
This is an example of a confrontational (insult) foot stomping cheer that is chanted by the cheerleaders associated with that children's community based football team. "Foot stomping cheers" is my term for these cheers to distinguish them from mainstream cheerleader cheers.

The Garfield Gators" is the name of children's football teams which are based in the Garfield neighborhood of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. That neighborhood is predominately Black. One of the Gators' arch rivals -in football and otherwise -is "Homewood", a nereby Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania neighborhood that is also predominately Black.

Notice that it's considered an insult to say that a girl has no hair. The hair preference in the United States for females is
not just for straight or moderately curly hair, but also for long straight or moderately curly hair. That aesthetic preference results in the billon dollar hair industry for hair weaves and wigs. And, given the strong preference for and strong desire for long hair, I believe that references to "baldheaded granny" and "bald headed baby" in playground rhymes are meant to be insults and not just statements of facts. For example, here's an example that was posted to http://www.inthe00s.com/archive/inthe80s/smf/1109960765.shtml "Those clapping songs" on 03/04/05 by bratzdan78:

"hot shot baby
chicken and gravy
here comes a lady
with a bald head baby
*point to other person* THATS YOU"

****
Example #3:
bald-head scallywag, ain't got no hair in da back
gelled up weaved up, yo hair is messed up.
perm and relaxer, you betta ask her
twist and turn, it's gonna burn.
-no name given, http://forum.blackhairmedia.com/how-many-of-you-can-recallold-school-chants_topic270052_page2.html "How many of you can recall...Old School Chants", Jul 15 2010
-snip-
"Perm [permanent] and relaxer" refers to ways to straighten tightly curled [nappy, kinky] hair using chemical products. Often those products burn.

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SHOWCASE VIDEOS
These three videos were produced to counteract negative socialization about Black people's hair and help Black females in particular, but also Black males' accept and celebrate our hair. These examples are given in no particular order.

Example #1:Happy to Be Nappy

.

Scott Nagatani, Published on Aug 17, 2014

This video is a children's book, Happy to Be Nappy, set to music.
-snip-
This is the bell hooks book that is mentioned earlier in this post. Chris Raschka is the book's illustrator.

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Example #2: Happy to be Nappy / Sankofa Kids



Sankofa Kids, Published on Jun 4, 2012

Happy to be Nappy by Aset Brathwaite

www.sankofakids.com [no longer accessible]
-snip-
Here's that poem/affirmation as given in the sub-titles from this video:

They twist, join together and sometimes do what they want to do.

They’re not dreadful so don’t call them DREADS.

Of course they are long and grow really fast

When my mommy ties them up they always last.

I don’t need a comb or brush just catus never grease or moose* [

I love my natural hair and that’s what I choose.

What’s that?

Ohhhhhhh they are tight curls some call them naps.

I’m so amazed my hair can do that.

It’s cool to be free and to be ME!

I AM SO HAPPY TO BE NAPPY
-snip-
*moose = mouse
From http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hair_mousse
..."Hair mousse adds volume to hair and often provides both conditioning and hold, without any clumps or build-up. It is a hairstyling product which works by using synthetic resins to coat the hairs, and assist the hair in taking shape [3]. Hair mousse is purple while in the can and turns an off-white color upon coming in contact with the air."
-snip-
My guess is that the reference in this affirmation to "catus" means a type of natural oil from catus plants.

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Example #3: Happy To Be Nappy! Natural Hairstyles



JahGydes, Uploaded on Oct 24, 2008

celebration of black hair, sistahs don't be ashamed of your hair, be happy to be nappy! one love

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RELATED LINKS
Other self-esteem videos:
I really love my hair – Sesame Street 2010
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=enpFde5rgmw

I Love My Beautiful Brown Skin by Sankofa Kids
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-oNshv4WgQo

and

I Love My Beautiful Brown Skin by Sankofa Kids [not the same video as given above]
ttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SdpbihtpEjs
-snip-
Pancocojams posts about the rhymes and cheers that are mentioned in this post can be found by putting that title in the internal search engine or by clicking the "children's rhymes and cheers"
tag below.

Also, click http://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2013/02/good-hair-bad-hair-black-attitudes.html for a pancocojams post about
'Good Hair & Bad Hair (Black Attitudes About Our Hair)"
****
Thanks for visiting pancocojams.

Visitor comments are welcome.

Thursday, November 20, 2014

Early Examples Of The Children's Rhyme "What's Your Name Puddin Tane"

Edited by Azizi Powell

Latest Update- August 24, 2022

This pancocojams post presents information about and examples of the rhyme "Puddin Tane" (or similarly sounding words). 

This post is presented for folkloric and recreational purposes.

All copyrights remain with their owners.

Thanks to all those who are quoted in this post.

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COMMENTS ABOUT THE RHYME "PUDDIN TANE"
These comments are presented in chronological order according to their posting date online, with the oldest comments given first.

COMMENT #1:
From: http://listserv.linguistlist.org/cgi-bin/wa?A2=ind0110A&L=ads-l&P=R5702 [link no longer working]
Subject: Pudding tame
From: "Douglas G. Wilson"
Reply-To: American Dialect Society
Date: October 4, 2001
"Of course in researching the history of "poontang" I came upon remarks to the effect that this word seems to be reflected in a children's rhyme (still current, I think) along the lines of
What's your name?
Pudding tame.
[Ask me again and I'll tell you the same.]

In fact "pudding tame" and variants (pudding/puddin' [and] tame/tane/tang) are used today with the sense "I won't tell you my name" (e.g., often as a 'handle' or pen-name on the Internet, = "Anonymous"). The expression was used in the "X-files" TV program in 1999.

The rhyme appeared in the US by 1895, when it was cited in "Dialect Notes". Already we're out of the "poontang" milieu, I think; but in case there's any doubt, I find quoted from 1861 a version supposedly from ca. 1825 (apparently from Sussex?):
What's yer naüm?
Pudding and taüm.

Back a little further (ca. 1590), I find reason to believe there was approximately:
[What is your name?]
Pudding of Thame.

Now at least the expression has some surface sense, maybe. Thame is a place-name -- in particular a town in Oxfordshire, I believe. So "pudding of Thame" might have been the name of a food, perhaps similar (or at least analogous) to Oxford sausage, say. Still the expression is meaningless in the context, and I wonder whether

(1) it might even earlier have been something else ("pudding at home"? "Pudding Tom"? "pudding time"?) which maintained the rhyme in some early or regional pronunciation, and whether
(2) there is some recognizable double-entendre or other joke here in16th-century (or earlier) English.

Any ideas?
-- Doug Wilson
-snip-
This is the complete post from that site. It was referenced in a discussion of the word "poontang" by the "take my word for it" website http://www.takeourword.com/pt.html "The Etymology of Slang Sexual Terms." That take my word for it page included a hyperlink [that is now broken] to the comment that's given above along with this statement: "He [linguist Doug Wilson ] concludes that the two [poontang and Puddin Tane] are not related, and he gives some good evidence."
-snip-
I've re-formatted this post to make it easier to read

Update: August 24, 2022
Here's the complete reprint about "pudding of Thames" from  https://listserv.linguistlist.org/pipermail/ads-l/2001-October/017775.html
"Pudding tame

Douglas G. Wilson douglas at NB.NET

Fri Oct 5 04:20:26 UTC 2001

Previous message (by thread): Pudding tame

"According to Iona and Peter Opie _Lore and Language of Schoolchildren_ (the

best UK study, albeit published in 1950s, of such material), who quote therhyme as 'US' and specifically 'Maryland' my earlier suggested link todialect 'pudding time' is wrong. They trace the term to Sussex and add -

 " 'Pudding and Tame' seems to preserve the name of the fiend or devil, 'Pudding-of-Tame', listed in Samuel Harsnet's Popish Impostures, 1603."

I saw 2-3 US instances from different states from ca. 1900. I think this rhyme must have come from England, though; the resemblance to "Pudding of Thame" [this is how it is printed in Harsnett's book, at least in the 1603 edition which I reviewed] is too strong to be coincidence IMHO.

I think "pudding time" is apt. It is probably old enough (1546, OED), it was not narrowly limited in dialect AFAIK, and it makes a good-enough joke, the sense presumably "No need for my name, just call out 'pudding time' [i.e., 'time to eat'] and I'll appear." Cf. the 20th-century [and probably earlier?] joke: "You can call me anything, as long as you don't call me late for dinner." However, I would like the rhyme to be maintained. Was "time" pronounced to rhyme or nearly rhyme with "name" in ca.-1500 England, perhaps? Or could it be regional? Can we do without the rhyme?

If one reads only Opie's footnote (above), one might think that the expression in question was perhaps a conventional ca.-1600 epithet for Satan, like "Old Scratch" maybe. But this is not the case at all: rather,
in Harsnett's book (seemingly a skeptical and sarcastic review of some contemporary 'exorcisms'), multiple devils during exorcism identify themselves with various whimsical names (some recognizable from slang, contemporary songs, etc.) (some of the names were later used by Shakespeare in "King Lear"), and this one was recognized from/as an already existing joke, which I suspect was simply the same rhyme still known today.
- Doug Wilson
-snip-
Here's a tweet (with a reply) that mentions the devil "Pudding of Thame"
from 
https://twitter.com/holland_tom/status/811209249409921024?lang=en

Tom Holland

@holland_tom

Lusty Dick, Hob, Pudding of Thame, Haberdicut, Cocobatto, Delicate, Cornercap, Motubizanto, Lusty Jolly Jenkin - names of Jacobean demons

8:58 AM · Dec 20, 2016·Twitter for iPhone

**
Jessie Childs

@childs_jessie

Dec 20, 2016

Replying to

@holland_tom

Not forgetting Flibbertigibbet! Many originally Elizabethan - from the 1585-6 exorcisms."
-snip-
Pancocojams Editor's Note:
Given this information about the name of the Jacobean devil (demon), my position is that the name "Puddin Tane" derived from "Pudding Of Thame" [the river Thames in England] and later "Puddin Tame". 

****
COMMENT #2:
From http://mudcat.org/thread.cfm?threadid=94034 Origins: Down by the Banks of the Hanky Panky, posted by Jim Dixon, April 11, 2009
The quote from McDougal* reminds me of a parallel smart-alecky reply:
"What's your name?" – "Puddentain. [However you spell it.] Ask me again, I'll tell you the same."
I learned that from a "Little Rascals/Our Gang" comedy that was shown on TV when I was a kid in the 1950s. (Who said it? Stymie?)

– but it goes back at least to –

From The Beulah Spa (a play) by Charles Dance (London: John Miller, 1833):
MAG. ... What is her name?

HEC. Pudding and tame—if you ask me again I shall tell you the same.
-snip-
*The words "the quote from McDougal" refer to a blogger's comment that is unrelated to this subject.

****
COMMENT #3:
From http://mudcat.org/thread.cfm?threadid=104417 "Folklore: Puddin Tane & Other Rhyming Sayings" [hereafter known as Mudcat: Puddin Tane]
- posted by Lighter, September 16, 2007
Alice Kane was born in 1908 and grew up in Ulster. Her book, Songs and Sayings of an Ulster Childhood, written with Edith Fowke, includes the following:

"What's your name?" - Mary Jane.
"Where do you live?" - Down the lane.

Her mother knew,

"What's your name?" - Curds and cream' (pronounced crame)
"What they call you?" - Pudgy dolly.

I suppose "call ye" sort of rhymes with "dolly."
-snip-
“Uster” is a province in the northern part of Ireland.

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COMMENT #4:
From Mudcat: Puddin Tane, posted by kytrad*, September 15, 2007
Well I'm older than all of you, and our KY mountain village was quite isolated until just after the turn of the last century, early 1900s, thereabouts. We had never heard the word 'poontang,' but we did have the rhyme under discussion. Here's how it goes:

What's your name?
Puddin & Tame
Where d'you live?
Up the lane
Where d'you go?
Go to school
What d'you sit on?
Sit on a stool
What d'you look like?
Look like a fool!

There may have been one or two other rhymes in there- can't remember it all just now. It was said only for the fun of the rhyming, and sometimes for tricking someone into saying, "look like a fool," when all the gang would laugh at the joke.
-snip-
*”kytrad” is the Mudcat forum screen name for the acclaimed American folk singer Jean Ritchie

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COMMENT #5:
From Mudcat: Puddin Tane, posted by Azizi, September 1, 2007

The following examples are from this resource: Western Folklore, Vol. 13, No. 2/3 (1954), pp. 190-198 - "Children's Taunts, Teases, and Disrespectful Sayings from Southern California," by Ray B. Browne.

{h/t to Joe Offer for pointing out this article in his post on Mudcat's "Depression Era Children's song" thread}

[Note: the numbers ascribed to these examples by the article's author]
27a.
What's your name?
Pudd'n Tame.
Ask me again
And I'll tell you the same.

27b.
What's your name?
Pudd'n Tame.
Where do you live?
Down the lane.
Ask me again
And I'll tell you the same.

[footnotes: from California, also from Alabama, ca. 1935; cf. Musick, 432; for one version same, and one: "What's your name / John Brown / ask me again / and I'll knock you down."]

27c
What's your name?
President Monroe
Ask me again
And you still won't know.

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COMMENT #6: From Mudcat: Puddin Tane - These words were first posted by Snuffy and the ending rhyme was added by Bryn Pugh who indicated that he remembered that entire rhyme from 1949

What's your name?
Mary Jane
Where d'you live?
Down the grid
What house?
Mickey Mouse
What number?
Cucumber
What street?
Pig's feet
What shop
Lollipop

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COMMENT #7
From Mudcat: Puddin Tane, Azizi Powell, remembrances from my childhood [Atlantic City, New Jersey,in the 1950s]
What’s your name?
Puddin Tane
Ask me again and I’ll tell you the same. [mid to late 1950s?]

[also]

What’s the word?
Thunderbird. [early to mid 1960s?]
-snip-
"Thunderbird" was (is?) a brand name for a cheap bottle of drinking alcohol.

****
[Note: The last three commenters don't include any dates in their remembrances of these rhymes.]

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COMMENT #8: From Mudcat: Puddin Tane, posted by Guest, Young Buchan, October 7, 2007
As children in Suffolk, if someone asked 'What's your name?' we always eplied Puddeny Crane, from a rhyme which I always assumed was widespread, but may not have been, since I tried googling various bits of it and didn't get a huge response:
What's your name? Puddeny Crane
Where do you live? Down the lane
What do you keep? A little shop
What do you sell? Candy floss [or sometime lollipops]
-snip-
I think this blogger means Suffolk, UK.

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COMMENT #9: From Mudcat: Puddin Tane, posted by Guest Schuyer, October 11, 2010
I remember this from a song my sibling, friends, and I sang when we was in a kid. It went:

What's your name?
Puddin' Tane.
Where do you live?
Down the lane.
What's your phone number?
Cucumber.
What'd you eat?
Pigs feet.
What'd you drink?
A bottle of ink.

I believe there was also a part after saying "A bottle of ink" where we said "to make you stink" or something like that

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COMMENT #10: From Mudcat-Puddin Tane , posted by Guest Patience, September 7, 2011

When I was a child, my Dad would teach me to say:

What's your name? Puddin' Tane.
Where do you live? Down the lane.
What's your number? Cucumber.
What do you eat? Bread and meat.

Hence, my Dad and one of the next door neighbors always used to call me "Puddin'".

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COMMENT #11: [Added August 24, 2022]
From: https://blindpigandtheacorn.com/whats-your-name-puddin-tame/ Sept..19, 2018 [Applachia]
..."Here are some other folks’ memories of the saying.

 

Judy Imanse:  My mother, who died last year, was 98 years old. She used to recite this when I was little, I’m close to 77, and I believe it came from her mother. My grandmother’s family moved to Indiana from North Carolina. What’s your name? Puddintane. Where do you live? down the lane. What do you do? teach school. How many students? 22. What do they sit on? little stools. ‘What do they look like? little fools!

Quinn: What’s your name? PuddinTane! Where do you live? In a sieve! What’s your number? Cucumber! I learned it as a rhyme for jumping rope and clapping games and such. Really answering like that would have been very fresh…and probably not something I’d have tried a second time!

Bob Adcock: Down in “wiregrass country” it was common. Also, the esteemed Barney Fife used it in an Andy Griffith episode!

Bill Danner: It is from “The King of Boyville” by William Allen White, which is part of “The Court of Boyville” written in 1899. It is in response to an inquiry to the main character Piggy Pennington inquiring as to his name and the answer got the smaller new boy soundly thrashed. Well worth the read – good 1899 slang."...

[comments with numbers aded for referencing purposes only] 

#1. NANCY BIGGS, March 30, 2021 at 8:50 pm
"Hadn’t thought about Puddin Tane for a very long time. Used to recite it in north-central West Virginia ( Harrison County) as a child 1935-45. Various question/answer rhymes followed the initial question. If I recall one child asked the question, other child had to answer with a rhyme answer or get pinched.”…

**
2. JOHN ADSMS, May 17, 2021 at 7:45 pm
"My Mom used both of your sayings. She lived for a short time with my older brother in Ducktown Tennessee. Pudnin’ Tain was like a nursery rhyme, she asked the questions and I answered. “What’s your name?” Pudnin’ Tain. Where do you live? Down the lane. What’s your phone number? Rotten cucumber. Mom said that “A whistling woman and a cackling hen came to the same bad end.!”

**
3. 
B. RUTH, September 19, 2018 at 11:15 am
..."We said it as “Puddin’-tain” ask me again and I’ll tell you again! Also made up several following sentences with rhyming words…

Loved all these comments…

We used this little ditty for jumping rope too….and sometimes as a clapping rhyme…"

**
4. AARON PATTERSON, March 25, 2019 at 6:18 am
"Pudding ‘n tain was a record by the Alley Cats back in 1963. Phil Spector productions ! Listen on you-tube. Cute song. I was in 10th grade and remember it well."
-snip-
Pancocojams Editor's Note: 
Here's a link to a sound file of the record "Puddin' N Tain" by The Alley Cats":  
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tZrhYsW8leQ

**
5. ANN APPLEGARTH, September 19, 2018 at 8:25 am
"We said that, except we said Puddintane with an n. If you asked a boy his name, he said, “John Brown. Ask me again and I’ll knock you down.” My mother said, “My name is Mayro sayro elizabeth jane eda beda ri-si katherbine payne.”

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Thanks for visiting pancocojams.

Visitor comments are welcome.

An Overview Of Foot Stomping Cheers (Part II -Types Of Cheers With Examples)

Edited by Azizi Powell

[Latest update: November 22, 2024

This is Part II of a two part pancocojams series on foot stomping cheers.

This pancocojams post provides examples of foot stomping cheers from four different categories of those cheers.

Click http://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2013/05/an-overview-of-foot-stomping-cheers.html for Part I of this post. Part I provides a general overview of the textual structure and performance of foot stomping cheers. Part I also includes my theories about the sources of this children's recreational activity.

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The content of this post is presented for folkloric, cultural, entertainment, and aesthetic purposes.

All copyrights remain with their owners.
Thanks to the unknown composer/s of these cheers. Thanks also to all those who are quoted in this post, the performers who are featured in these videos, and the publishers of these videos on YouTube.

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PANCOCOJAMS EDITOR'S NOTE
"Foot stomping cheers" are a sub-set of cheerleading cheers. These cheers originated and were first performed among African American girls/pre-teen females in the early to mid-1970s to around 2009 as an informal recreational activity in which two or more girls role played being actual cheerleaders.  

I directly collected examples of foot stomping cheers and hand clap rhymes from mostly African American girls in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania and some of its surrounding communities from the mid 1980s to 2009. I also collected examples of these recreational cheers and rhymes from the internet (including my cocojams.com website that was online from January 2000 to October 2014) and from other sources. It appears to me that for a number of reasons since 2009 or thereabouts, foot stomping cheers are no longer being composed or performed. However, modified versions of a few foot stomping cheers still live on as softball chants. A good example of this is the "Rock The Boat" softball chant.

That said, 
from the online examples that I have come across, it also appears to me that these softball chants are usually performed without the consecutive solo performance style and the choreographed syncopated, percussive foot stomping/hand clapping routines that are both essential characteristics of foot cheers.   

I coined the term "foot stomping cheers" in 2000 to distinguish examples of that category of cheers from other cheerleader cheers. However, it appears from my direct collection of these examples and from my online collection that people (including the girls who performed them) usually referred to these compositions as "cheers" and -less often- as "chants", "steps", or "cyphers".

"Foot stomping cheers" are formulaic compositions which have a modified call & response structure that I refer to as "group/consecutive soloist". What "group/consecutive soloist" means is that the group voice is the first voice that is heard in those cheers. A designated soloist responds to the rest of the group's words and those voices alternate until that rendition ends (usually with the soloist's voice or the soloist & the rest of the group's voice). However, the cheer immediately begins again with the next designated soloist and this pattern continues until every member of the group has had a turn as the soloist.

Foot stomping cheers are chanted while their performers execute choreographed, syncopated, percussive movement routines that are very similar to African American originated Greek lettered fraternity & sorority stepping (steppin). 

Most foot stomping cheers use this beat pattern: "stomp clap/ stomp stomp/ clap". Another commonly used beat pattern for foot stomping cheers is "stomp stomp clap/ stomp stomp clap." Those two standard beat patterns appear to be used for all foot stomping cheers. Moderate tempo 4/4 beats created by those foot stomps alternate with the chanters'(individual) hand claps, body pats (especially thigh pats), and less frequently, finger snaps. Because these 4/4 beats are omnipresent in R&B, Hip-Hop, Rock, Gospel, and other forms of music, foot stomping cheer routines are much more a part of African American cultural aesthetics than White American cultural aesthetics.

The well known 1977 record "We Will Rock You" by Queen is a very familiar Rock song that could serve as an example of the type of beat that is used for foot stomping routines - (recognizing, of course, that foot stomping chants aren't meant to be performed to recorded music).

It should be noted that the textual structure (the words) and the movement activities for foot stomping cheers is different from the type of cheers that are now (in the 2000s) called "foot stomps" or "stomps". Click http://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2014/11/how-stomp-cheers-differ-from-foot.html "How Stomp Cheers Differ From Foot Stomping Cheers".

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PART II: CATEGORIES OF FOOT STOMPING CHEERS
I've identified four main categories of foot stomping cheers:

1. Introductory cheers

2, Confrontational (bragging/insult) cheers

3. Other types of bragging cheers

and

4. Dance style cheers


A foot stomping cheer may be a combination of two or more of these categories.

****
INFORMATION AND EXAMPLES OF THESE CATEGORIES:

INTRODUCTORY CHEERS

These cheers serve the purpose of introducing members of the group -one at a time- to their imaginary audience. In these cheers girls state their name and/or their nickname, and may also state other personal information such as their favorite color, what they want to be when they grow up, their astrological (sun) sign, their boyfriend's name etc.

Two example of an introductory foot stomping cheer:
Group: Hey, Shaquala!
Soloist #1: Yo! *
Group: Innn-TRO-duce yourself.
Soloist #1: No way.
Group: Innn-TRO-duce yourself.
Soloist #1: Okay.
My name is Shaquala.
Group: Hey! Hey!
Soloist #1:They call me Quala.
Group: Hey! Hey!
Soloist #1: My sign is Aries
Group: Hey! Hey!
Soloist #1: I like to dance
Group: Hey! Hey!
Soloist #1: I wanna be a dancer for the rest of my life.
-T.M.P.; Pittsburgh, PA mid. 1980s; transcribed from audio tape by Azizi Powell, 1997
-snip-
*"Yo" was changed to "What" when that vernacular word became outdated.

Notice that there are no confrontational (threatening) or insult lines in this example.

Click https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MWG4AX09mqQ
for a video example of "Introduce Yourself" (prom scene) from the 2006 American cheerleader movie Bring It On: All Or Nothing (Note that the performance movements of this cheer have been significantly modified.)

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CONFRONTATIONAL (BRAGGING/INSULT) FOOT STOMPING CHEERS
These cheers focus on the chanters confronting (saying threatening words to) an unnamed opponent or opponents. The chanter brags about herself, and also may insult (dis) that opponent

Two examples of confrontational foot stomping cheers:
Example #1: HULA HULA
Hula hula
Now who thinks they bad
Hula hula
Now who thinks they bad
I think I’m bad
‘Cause Acie my name
And toys is my game
Take a sip of my potion
And dance in slow motion
Uh-huh
She thinks she bad
Baby baby don’t make me mad
Un-huh
She thinks she cool
Baby baby don’t act a fool
Uh-huh
She think she sweet
Sweetest person you ever meet
Uh-huh
She thinks she fine
Baby baby I’ll blow your mind
-Barbara Michels and Bettye White, Editors: Apple On A Stick, The Folklore of Black Children (Putnam Juvenile; First Edition November 11, 1983)
-snip-
"Bad" here means "very good".

****
Example #2: CALL REPUTATION (also known as "Razzle Dazzle")
my name is yonnqa
i'm number one
my reputation has just begun
so if you see me
step a side
cause i don't take no jive
oh think she cool
correction baby
i no i'm cool
i no karate
i no kunfu
you miss with me
i co it on you*
rasasol o dazzo o ox2 **
-yaya, cocojams.com, 2/23/2007
-snip-
*"co" here is probably a typo for "do"
**"ox2" probably means "repeat two times.
-snip-
"Shabooya Roll Call" is another example of a confrontational foot stomping cheer. Here's a video of that cheer from the 2006 Bring It On: All Or Nothing:

Shabooya!! (Dance On Duh Table)



iluzyoo, 
Apr 2, 2011


movie: Bring it on all or nothing [August 2006]
-snip-
The 
textual structure of "Shabooya Roll Call" fits the foot stomping cheer pattern. However, the movements that the girls perform while chanting aren't synchronized foot stomps combined with hand claps.  

An earlier version of "Shabooya Roll Call" is included in Spike Lee's 1996 movie Get On The Bus. However, that cheer is best known from the 2006 cheerleader movie series Bring It On: All Or Nothing. The words to that version of "Shabooya Roll Call" and other information/examples of that cheer are found in 
http://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2012/01/right-rhyming-pattern-for-shabooya-roll.html for a pancocojams post on Shabooya Roll Call. 
-snip-
The cheer entitled "U.G.L.Y" that was in that same Bring It On movie and was also in the 1986 movie Wildcats doesn't have a call & response structure. Instead, it is said in unison. Therefore, "U.G.L.Y"it's not a foot stomping cheer. Click http://cocojams2.blogspot.com/2014/11/childrens-taunting-rhymes-m-z.html for the words to that cheer.

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OTHER TYPES OF BRAGGING FOOT STOMPING CHEERS
In some examples in this category, the chanters brag about their group (their athletic team or school). In other examples the chanters brag about their boyfriend/s. These cheers have less insult content then confrontational foot stomping cheers.

Two examples of other bragging foot stomping cheers:
Example #1: L-O-V-E

All: L-O-V-E. [clap- not spoken]
L-O-V-E. [clap
L-O-V.
L-O-V.
L-O-V-E.[clap]

Soloist #1: Well, Kayla’s my name. [clap]
And love is my game.[clap]
I got this boy on my mind [clap].
And Lord knows he’s fine. [clap]
He calls me his girl. [clap]
His number 1 girl.[clap]
I don’t know his sign, [clap]
But Taurus is mine. [clap]

All: L-O-V-E. [clap]
L-O-V-E. [clap]
L-O-V. 
L-O-V. 
L-O-V-E. [clap]

Soloist #2: Tamika's my name. [clap]
And love is my game. [clap]
I got this boy on my mind. [clap]
And Lord knows he’s fine. [clap]
I got his name on my shirt. [clap]
And don't call it dirt.[clap]
Don’t you worry bout my lover. [clap]
Cause there is no other. [clap]

All: L-O-V-E. [clap]
L-O-V-E. [clap]
L-O-V. 
L-O-V. 
L-O-V-E. [clap]


(Return to beginning and repeat with a new soloist. That soloist repeats the same verses or similar verses. This pattern continues until everyone in the group has had one turn as the soloist with this cheer.)
-Tazi M. Powell (African American female; remembrance of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania in the mid 1980s; performed by African American girls ages around 8-12 years old.

(Note from Azizi Powell - I transcribed this cheer in February 1996 from my daughter's "re-enactment of that cheer at my request. However, I had observed her and some of her girl friends perform this cheer in the 1980s.

Here are my general statements about the performance of the "L.O.V.E" foot stomping cheer:  

The girls stood in a circle. The order of soloist was determined by who was the fastest to yell out "first", "second", "third" etc. One way that girls used to know when it was their turn was to remember who they came after.

Each soloist remained standing where she was for her solo part. (She didn't move into the center of the circle.). When it was the soloist's turn, the rest of the girls continued doing the same movement routine, but were silent while the soloist chanted. 

The beat is continual, like a metronome. The object was to remain "on beat" throughout the entire cheer without any interruptions. (The cheer immediately begins with the next soloist and continues until everyone has a turn as the soloist.) If anyone goes "off -beat" -by messing up the foot stomping routine or forgetting what to say or otherwise messing up the flow of the chant- the cheer stops and has to begin all over again. Usually girls who didn't know a particular cheer would sit out that cheer until they were confident that they really knew it. One way that girls gained respect and status regardless of their age or what grade they were in school was being "really good at" doing cheers. 
-snip-

During most foot stomping cheers that I observed, girls stood facing forward in a horizontal line or in a half circle so that their movements could be seen. When it was their turn as soloist. the girl moved up from her spot in the line. When her soloist turn ended, the girl moved back to her spot while she was still facing forward.
-snip-
Here's what my daughter shared with me about how she and her friends performed this cheer*.

The movement routine for "L.O.V.E" differs from the other foot stomping cheers that my daughter and her friends showed me. My daughter wrote down these performance instructions for me on October 28, 2018:

1.Right leg stomp forward - for the letter "L"

2. Jump open with both legs - "O"

3. Jump close with both legs -"V"

4. Right leg stomp forward" - "E"

Then clap your hands one time. 

Continue this pattern for the entire cheer.

****
Example #2: FLY GIRL

All: Fly girl
Fly girl
Fly girl One
Fly girl Two
Pump it up Teresa
See what you do.
Soloist #1:(Oh) my name is Teresa
and I’m a fly girl
It takes a lot of men
to rock my world.
‘cause I can fly like a butterfly
sting like a bee
and that’s way they call me
Sexy
-Tazi M. Powell, (African American female, memories of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania in the mid 1980s (audio-tape made in late 1980s and transcribed in 1996)
-snip-
"Fly Girl" means an attractive, hip female (one who is up to date with the latest urban culture fashions, lingo, dances etc)

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DANCE STYLE FOOT STOMPING CHEERS
These cheers provide opportunities for the group and its individual members to show off their dance (and/or stepping) moves. These cheers often mention one or more (then) popular dances. Dance style foot stomping cheers are much less confrontational than cheers in that other category. While dance style foot stomping cheers may include some bragging words, they
usually include little or no insults. Consequently, the cheer performers (stompers/steppers) ddn't act surly or as aggressive as they play act during the chanting of confrontational foot stomping cheers. Many of dance style cheers can be immediately recognizable by the "Hey (person's name) Show me" lines that begin those cheers.

***
Two examples of a dance style foot stomping cheer:

Example #1: GET DOWN
Group (including the first soloist) - I saida D. O. W. N.
And that's the way we get down.
D. O. W. N.
And that's the way we get down."
Group (excluding the first soloist) - Hey, Shayla
Shayla - What?
Group- Hey, Shayla
Shayla - What?
Group - Show me how you get down.
Shayla - No way.
Group- Show me how you get down.
Shayla - Okay.
[Shayla does a hip swinging dance while saying]
I saida D. O. W. N.
And that's the way
And that's the way
And that's the way I get down.
[Group does dance with Shayla and says]
Group - She saida D. O. W. N.
And that's the way
And that's the way
And that's the way she gets down.
-T.M.P, mid 1980s, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania; collected by Azizi Powell
-snip-
This foot stomping cheer starts again from the beginning with the next soloist who says the same soloist lines but traditionally isn't supposed to repeat the same foot stomping/dance routine. This pattern continues until every member has had one turn as soloist.

****
Example #2: MOVE GIRL
You betta move
girl you betta move.
[say both lines(3x)]
Now drop it low
Drop it low.
Drop it low
Drop it low
-Shaw High School [transcription of the video given below]
-snip-
* Thanks to tknight51, lauren patton, and PrincessAmandaTVfor adding comments to this video's comment thread which indicated that the girls were saying "drop it low".
-snip-
Notice that the soloist's name isn't called. And, unlike most other foot stomping cheers, the soloist doesn't speak, but does her own dance while the others chant. "Now drop it low" means to dance down [close] to the ground, and then comee back up.

****
Here are two video examples of dance style foot stomping cheers:
Example #1: Shaw Cheerleaders "Move Girl"



Brandon Thurman, Uploaded on Jan 9, 2011

Shaw High School Cheerleaders Before the game hype
-snip-
The words to this cheer are given above.

**
Example #2: Dailey Tigers "Rock Steady"



daileytigers, Published on Nov 17, 2012

Cheerleaders
-snip-
Unlike the "standard" structure for foot stomping cheers, this cheer begins with a soloist's voice.
-snip-
Click http://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2013/05/rock-steady-childrens-cheer-examples.html for a pancocojams post on the "Rock Steady" cheer.

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This concludes Part II of this post on foot stomping cheers.

Thanks for visiting pancocojams.

Visitor comments are welcome.

Wednesday, November 19, 2014

How Stomp Cheers Differ From Foot Stomping Cheers

Edited by Azizi Powell

Revised- October 26, 2018

This post provides information and examples of children's foot stomping cheers and foot stomps.

The content of this post is presented for historical, cultural, and recreational purposes.

All copyrights remain with their owners.

Thanks to all those who are quoted in this post.

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DESCRIPTION OF FOOT STOMPING CHEERS
"Foot stomping cheers" is the term that I coined in 2000 for a relatively new category of children's recreational play that involves chanting and choreographed foot and hand clapping movements.

Foot stomping cheers "traditionally" have a signature group call & consecutive soloist response structure. "Group call" means that the entire group (or the group minus the first soloist) is heard first. "Consecutive soloist"' means that in that cheer is immediately repeated from the beginning so that every member of the squad can an opportunity to be the soloist. Each soloist's performance is the same length. Some foot stomping cheers have several group calls followed by brief responses by the soloist before the soloist has a somewhat longer verbal and/or movement response. Other foot stomping cheers have one or two group calls followed by the soloist's verbal and/or movement response.

Another signature feature of the textual style of foot stomping cheers is that the cheer is supposed to be repeated in its entirety (sometimes with soloist text changes and sometimes not) until every group member has one turn as the soloist.

Traditionally, foot stomping cheers are chanted while the group performs a synchronized, percussive routine in which individual hand claps (chanters clapping their own hands and sometimes substitutes hand claps for body pats) alternates with bass sounding foot stomps. Once this foot stomping routine begins, it is supposed to continue throughout the routine. However, toward the end of most examples of foot stomping cheers that I've found, the soloist chants a verse or line. That soloist's portion serves as a "call" and the group has a responsive line or lines during that call. While the rest of the group watches, the soloist usually performs a dance step or steps, and/or pantomime movements, and/or gymnastic movements during this portion of the cheer.

In some cheers that I've found, the cheer ends with the entire group-including the soloist- performing the same exact movements that the soloist performed. The cheer then immediately begins from the beginning with the next soloist and that pattern continues until every member of the group has had a turn as the soloist (hence the term "consecutive soloists). Each soloist turn is exactly the same length. In some cheers, the words and movements are exactly the same with each soloist, except for personal information such as the soloist's name or nickname and the soloist's astrological sun sign. In other cheers, the words for the soloist portions can change within a seemingly small memorized, formulaic set of verses that have the same theme and the same rhythmical pattern.

It appears to me that one difference between "old school" foot stomping cheers, and those types of cheers that are performed since at least the 1990s (which I call "neo-foot stomping cheers") is that- instead of being informally performed by children or pre-teens pretending to be cheerleaders- these cheers (or modified versions of these cheers) are performed by actual (children's and teenage) cheerleaders either during the warm up to a game, or during "cheer offs" (cheer competitions), or as part of the cheerleading squad's cheer performances during actual athletic competitions.

It also appears to me that the post 1990s new forms of foot stomping cheer performances have much less foot stomping or no foot stomping at all- particularly when these cheers are performed by squads that are majority White. Instead of actual syncopated, choreographed foot stomping routines, nowadays performances of modified or actual foot stomping cheers (particularly with squads which are majority White) feature much more pantomiming of actions, such as "turn around" and "touch the ground". Also, it appears to me that these new foot stomping cheer performances by majority non-Black squads appears to feature little to no dance moves, and more actual standing, jumping up and down, and shaking pompoms. Furthermore, all individual members of the squad may not have a turn as the soloist. Instead, the squad is divided into sub-sets (such as school grade levels, or two or more line formations) that have their own "soloists time". Also, instead of individual soloist, or sub-sets of the squad, the entire squad might recite these neo-foot stomping cheers.

Click http://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2016/09/foot-stomping-cheers-alphabetical-list.html for Part I of a five part series of text (word only) examples of foot stomping cheers.

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GENERAL DESCRIPTIONS OF FOOT STOMPS (STOMPS)
The term "stomp cheers" ("stomps") appears to have been coined in the early 2000s as a referent for certain types of cheers and chants that are performed by children and teenagers (usually females), ages 5-18 years old, who are members of athletic teams' cheer squads. Most stomp cheer videos on YouTube feature White American female teenagers.

I believe that stomp cheers are an adaptation of - if not appropriation of- African American originated foot stomping cheers that are often combined with the African American orginated cheer/chant performance styles of stepping, and, less often, stomp and shake cheerleading. But then again, instead of an appropriation, stomp cheers could be considered a folk processed form of that performance art or performance art forms.

STOMP CHEER THEMES
Stomp cheers may focus on introduction. However, unlike foot stomping cheer, the introduction often is of the cheer squad itself and not its individual members.

The words to stomp cheers may also provide an opportunity for the squad to dance as a group or as individuals. Some stomp cheers are confrontational, but usually not as much as foot some foot stomping cheers. And the bragging that occurs in stomp cheers is often bragging about the athletic team, or the school, and not the individual members.

Stomp cheers also focus on the actual game (for instance calling for more offense or defense.) And those cheers also directly address the crowd (for instance, asking the crowd to repeat a line in a chant.) Since foot stomping cheers usually have no audience, they don't include any references to an audience.

Some stomp cheers repeat themselves with a new soloist after one rendition of that cheer. However, unlike foot stomping cheers, every member of the cheerleading squad may not get a turn as the soloist for that cheer, or they may not get an equal turn (a turn for the same amount of time.)

DIFFERENCES I'VE NOTICED IN THE "ATTITUDE" IN THE PERFORMANCES OF STOMP CHEERS AND THE PERFORMANCES OF AFRICAN AMERICAN ORIGINATED CHEER/CHANT MOVEMENT ARTS
In my opinion, the main difference between the chanting that's done in stomp cheers and the chanting that is done in three African American originated movement arts-foot stomping cheers; historically Black Greek letter fraternity/sorority stepping, and stomp and shake cheerleading is whether or not those performers convey "attitude".

In most of the stomp cheer videos I've seen, when they are chanting confrontational/bragging cheers, the (usually White) stomp cheerleaders in those videos don't have the super-confident, aggressive, "don't mess with me 'cause we come to battle" demeanor (dramatized or otherwise) that is integral to those cheers.

Furthermore, the foot stomping movements often seem too mechanical to me. By "mechanical" I mean that not only are the stomps and other movements in the stomp routine not crisp (tight, sharp, on point), but it often seems as though the cheerleaders are performing the movements machine like, from memory, without any spirit or energy.

Here's an observation that I included in a 2013 pancocojams post on foot stomping cheers:
Drama (role playing) is supposed to be an important part of chanting insult/bragging foot stomping cheers. These cheer performances fail if the stompers/chanters don't have "attitude" (i.e. How they say the cheer (intonation), their facial expressions, their moves and body gestures are supposed to support and reinforce the word of the cheer. For instance, in confrontational (insult, bragging) cheers the girls are pretending to have disdain for and aggressive stance toward their (imaginary, unnamed) opponent. http://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2013/05/an-overview-of-foot-stomping-cheers.html An Overview Of Foot Stomping Cheers (Part I- Characteristic & Sources).

I believe that this observation also applies to the performance of historically Black Greek letter fraternity/sorority stepping chants and to the performance of stomp and shake cheers.

STOMP CHEER PERFORMANCE MOVES
Many but not all stomp cheers include the word "stomp" and a brief stomp clap routine. However, the beat pattern of stomp cheers may differ from that of foot stomping cheers. And in some stomp cheers the same beat pattern isn't done in a metronone manner throughout the entire cheer as is the case with foot stomping cheers.

PERFORMING OTHER TEAMS'/SQUAD'S CHEERS
Apart from whether stepping performances in mainstream cheerleading are done well, I think that stomp cheer squads aren't aware that it's considered socially incorrect (bad form) to perform, even in a modified manner, the distinctive signature step moves and/or chants/cheers that are associated with a particular historically Black Greek fraternity/sorority or a stomp and cheer cheerleading team.

With regard to historically Black Greek letter fraternities & sororities, those moves/chants are only supposed to be performed by members of those particular organizations.

With regard to university stomp and shake cheer squads, the protocol appears to be that those cheers with their signature movements are supposed to only be performed by high school or middle school squads who were taught them by members of that particular university's cheer squad who composed and choreographed those cheers.

However, since YouTube showcases videos of historically Black Greek letter fraternity and sorority step teams' ping and historically Black colleges and universities stomp and shake cheerleading squads, it's very easy to learn other organizations' and cheer squads' steps and cheers. Therefore, particularly in the case of stomp and shake cheers, certain cheers have become very popular.

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TEXT (WORD) EXAMPLES OF SOME STOMP CHEERS

Example #1:
Cheerleaders: Hey Cherokees!
Crowd: Hey What!
Cheerleaders: Let me see you get down! Let me see you shake it!
Crowd: No way!
Cheerleaders: Jump shake your booty! Jump! Jump! Shake your booty!
Cheerleaders: Hey Cherokees!
Crowd: Hey What!
Cheerleaders: Let me see you get down! Let me see you shake it!
Crowd: Okay!
Cheerleaders: Jump shake your booty! Jump! Jump! Shake your booty!
Cherokees! We wanna see you stomp (stomp) and shake it! (repeat)
-SEXYTAYLOR17, http://cheerleading.about.com/od/collectionofcheers/l/blcheer3.htm
-snip-
Click http://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2013/05/an-overview-of-foot-stomping-movement.html for an example of "Get Down".

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Example #2:
Irish fans in the stands,
let me hear you clap your hands.
(clap clap clap clap clap clap clap clap clap clap clap)
Now that you've got the beat, let me hear you stomp your feet
(stomp stomp stomp stomp stomp stomp stomp stomp stomp stomp stomp)
Now that you've got the groove, let me see your body move
Ahuga ahah Ahuga (clap clap)
-SEXYTAYLOR17, http://cheerleading.about.com/od/collectionofcheers/l/blcheer3.htm

-snip-
"Irish" is probably part of the team name or part of the name of the high school.

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Example #3:
You may be good at Football
You may be good at Track
But when it comes to Wrestling
You better watch your Back
Cadets Attack!
(Stomp, Clap, Stomp Stomp, Clap, Stomp Stomp, Clap Clap, Stomp Stomp, Clap)
Repeat Once
Repeat Cheer and Stomp and Clap
-no name given, http://cheerleading.about.com/od/cheerschantsyells/a/cheers100.htm

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Example #4:
The one i learned when i was in 5th grade was (out mascot was an eagle so we replaced girls with eagles):

Bang bang choo choo train
Come on Eagles do your thing
Peanut better reese cup
Mess with us, see whats up
To the front to the back to the front back side side
Let me see your butterfly
And shake and shake your funky little hips
Now i want you and you too cheer with me too
-Amanda,cocojams.com, June 21, 2012

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VIDEO EXAMPLES OF STOMP CHEERS
These examples are presented in no particular order.

Example #1: Stomp Cheer



kmt122181, Uploaded on Jul 14, 2008

Stomp Cheer
-anip-
The narrator says "You have to remember that the most difficult thing about this cheer is keeping the beat". The neat pattern these girls are using for this routine as superimposed on the screen is
"stomp x stomp stomp x stomp stomp xx stomp stomp x" ["x" = clap]
-snip-
There are two standard beat patterns for foot stomping cheers. Those patterns remind consistent throughout almost all cheers. They are either "stomp x stomp stomp x" or "stomp stomp x stomp stomp x">
-snip-
I think that if these girls had raised their feet higher off the ground, they would have gotten a deeper bass tone. That bass is what steppers doing foot stomping cheers want to achieve.

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Example #2: Reno Cheerleading Stomp



Anne Goodman. Published on Mar 25, 2013
2011 RHS
-snip-
The switching movements that this cheer squad does before they begin their routine reminds me of the switching, preening movements that are a signature feature of the historically Black Greek letter sorority Alpha Kappa Alpha. Click https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cpvlfWVYX6s

That type of female preening isn't at all a part of stomp and shake cheerleading. That switching movements also doesn't occur as a prelude to foot stomping cheers - although girls often shake their hips during
their solo portion of those cheers. Also,
for a video of those same movements by those sorors.

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Example #3: Sikeston Cheer 2014 Stomp



T&Cs Dad, Published on Apr 11, 2014
-snip-
Click for another stomp vide of this cheer squad. Both videos really remind me of the signature, distinctive step style of Omega Psi Phi Fraternity, Inc. The chant in the video that is embedded in this post also is a lot like (same tune as) a Que (Omega Psi Phi) chant that is well known to those who are familiar with historically Black Greek letter fraternities.

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Example #4: Cheer Squad Stomp During Pep Rally



Shelly Tan,Uploaded on Aug 10, 2010

The 09-10 JV and Freshman Cheerleaders doing a stomp for the Bird Bowl Pep Rally! :)

i had a blast with these girls, some of my bestest friends EVER.
-snip-
I think that this cheer squad didn't convey the attitude and spirit that I believe is an integral part of foot stomping cheer performances, or that I think should be an integral part of stomp cheer performances. Also, a cheer squads performance would make the audieence be attentive. The cheerleaders don't have to tell the crowd to be quiet. Actually, in the case of stomp and shake cheerleaders, or historically Black fraternity or sorority step teams, the cheer squad wants to raise the enthusiasm of the crowd (pump them up). They don't want the crowd to be quiet.

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RELATED LINK
http://cocojams2.blogspot.com/2014/11/the-african-american-sources-of-bring.html The African American Sources Of Bring It On (2000 & 2006) Movies Cheers

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Thanks to all those who are quoted in this post and who are featured in these videos. Thanks also to those who published these videos on YouTube.

The content of this post is presented for folkloric and recreational purposes.

Thanks for visiting pancocojams.

Visitor comments are welcome.