THERE’S SOMETHING VERY WEIRD ABOUT THE WAY BLACK BODIES ARE COMMODIFIED. I THINK IT IS HAS TO DO SOMETHING WITH THE NOTION OF ‘COOL.’ IN MY AFRICAN-AMERICAN PHOTOGRAPHIC CULTURE CLASS WE DISCUSSED THE WAY IN WHICH THIS HAPPENS WITH BARACK OBAMA BEING DEPICTED AS THE ‘COOL,’ DOWN TO EARTH PRESIDENT WHO APPEALS TO A YOUNGER DEMOGRAPHIC. THE COTERMINOUS EVOLUTION OF MEDIA CULTURE (TUMBLR, FACEBOOK, 4CHAN, REDDIT) AND THE INTRODUCTION OF THE FIRST PRESIDENT OF COLOR MOST DEFINITELY ALLOWS US TO CLAIM OWNERSHIP OF OUR PRESIDENT IN A WAY THAT WAS NEVER PREVIOUSLY POSSIBLE;  WE CAN REPRODUCE, REPLICATE AND DISTORT IMAGES OF HIM TO FIT OUR HUMOR AND MYTHOLOGIES WITH UNPRECEDENTED RAPIDITY. OBAMA HAS THE FIRST PRESIDENTIAL FLICKR; HE WAS THE FIRST PRESIDENT TO BE PHOTOGRAPHED WITH A DIGITAL CAMERA. I THINK THIS IS COOL, BUT ULTIMATELY, I FEEL, THE WAY HIS BODY IS SO EASILY MEME-IFIED, CARTOONED, AND SATIRIZED IRKS ME. I THINK MY PROBLEM COMES MAINLY IN THAT I THINK IT’S A POINTEDLY RACIALIZED PHENOMENON. THINK OF 2-PAC AT COACHELLA, AND HOW BIZARRE AND DISRESPECTFUL IT WAS THAT LARGELY WHITE, UPPER-MIDDLE CLASS SUBURBAN KIDS GOT TO TAKE 2-PACS BODY—POST-HUMOUSLY, NO FUCKING LESS—AND RENDER IT BOTH A HOLOGRAM AND AN OBJECT D’ART, A TOKEN OF SUBURBAN FETISH. RATHER THAN A POLITICIZED ARTIST, BECAUSE HE’S ‘COOL,’ BECAUSE HIS BODY IS MADE A SYMBOL OF HIP-HOP’S MYSTIQUE, HE BECAME PROPERTY OF THIS CULTURAL INDIE NICHE, A PRODUCT OF OUR CREEPY, NOSTALGIC VENERATION FOR ANYTHING REMOTELY URBAN, INSTEAD OF AN ACTUAL PERSON. COULDN’T HAPPEN TO JOHN LENNON, ELVIS, OR KURT COBAIN. WON’T HAPPEN TO BILLY JOEL, I SWEAR. WEIRD SHIT. WEIRD SHIT.