Becoming Black: Rap and Hip-Hop, Race, Gender, Identity, and the Politics of ESL Learning

One of the most interesting things in this article was the discussion centering around the students "acceptance" into the black culture as prominently seen in the US. Ibrahim goes on to say that "continental African youths find themselves in a racially conscious society that, wittingly or unwittingly and through fused social mechanisms such as racisms and representations, asks them to racially fit somewhere." Therefore, whether consciously or  unconsciously, I tend to think of it as both, these Africans needed a culture to be a part of. Because, so much, White society gives increasingly negative aspects to African peoples or African cultures. The African kids can not relate to the marginalization of White values, and therefore turned to "blackness" as represented on TV; (MTV, hip hop, clothing, etc. etc.) This exposure was something not critiqued by White society as negative, the Africans became exposed to it and saw it as something positive that they could be a part of. That is why they became marginalized into "blackness" as seen in the USA.
Another note is the end of the article when it discusses how this sort of thing can be incorporated into the classroom. I agree with Ibrahim by saying that we need to borrow from cultural studies to couple with teaching ESL. I believe that there needs to be some sort of basis of understanding between the various cultures and realities that second language learners come from in order to teach effectively. And this leads me to the question of; how many teachers actually do this in regards to teaching ESL? How many people actually take into account the others culture and their language when teaching English to them?