McGruder and Bro. Dr. West

[blackwatch06]

They were on a panel at the Tavis Smiley Youth Leadership Conference this morning in Washington D.C. Talking about Black Youth and the media images. The forum aired on C-Span this morning. Aaron McGruder cited some very interesting points, including the fact that Black America can no longer use the moral conscience angle in the sruggle for civil rights as we did in the 50's and 60's. We no longer have the moral capital to call for the nation to consider it's harsh treatment of African Americans due to the fact that the images we see of african americans is not that of well meaning, law abiding citizens who are discriminated against needlessly. Now the image is that of the urban gangsta who'd rather "hustle" than work hard and "P.I.M.P." than plan a positive frame of action. So at this point, white America, even the well meaning ones, simply doesn't care about the plight of blacks, who are nothing more than "pimps and hustlas" now.

Bro. Dr. Cornell West noted in a response to a question about whether the images of blacks in the media changed since the days of Bro. Dr. King that "no, the images haven't changed." He continued on "it is the institutions in the black community that have weakened and proven to not be able to meet the need of instilling positive self images in young people." By instiutions, he meant the family, church, apprenticeship programs, and general mentoring community relationships that help define purpose for black people. He also noted that since the institutions have weakened, young people adopt the white supremacist notions of what it means to be black, and these notions are inherently and purposefully destructive.

Question for us GCers, can we afford to continue to argue for black rap artists' rights to free speech and talk about issues of artistry and self expression (which in my opinion mask the true issues of greed and materialism) as we see the detrimental effects that these images have on young black people's development of self identity and purpose? I am not claiming that rap music is to blame for all of our community's ills, but rap is performed and created by black people (for the most part) though not promoted, mass produced and legally owned by us. If black people didn't rap about "Skee skee" 'twerkin' "and "P.I.M.P." then we wouldn't see these images in the media (there wouldn't be anything for white record label execs to promote and exploit). Considering Bro. Dr. West's contention that our institutions are weaker now, I think that we should be doing all that we can to help save our youth, which are our future. If that means advocating for more responsible messages in our music, then I don't see the problem with that. Aaron McGruder had a very interesting point this morning as well, he noted that rap music hasn't been really creative for a very long time. He noted "We've been gangsta rapping for 13 years, it's time for a new perspective. It ain't creative anymore". I tend to agree.
Blackwatch!!!!!!

[Steeltrap]

It's good that Mr. McGruder mentioned that we can't use the moral conscience angle anymore. We haven't been able to use it for YEARS and I don't see that changing. IMO, this goes back to the 1980s, at the beginning of the crack era.

ETA: I mainly listen to straightahead jazz (talking Miles Davis/Coltrane, etc.), so I don't feel qualified to truly address the hip-hop/censorship argument.

[Senusret I]

Having met McGruder after the comic strip dropped, but before he gained his notoriety, I just want to start out by saying this brother keeps it real and has always kept it real, and for that I respect him.

To answer my Brother's question....we, who are role models for the youth, must take an active role in helping young people to discern truth from fiction, fact from fantasy, and harmful images in music from productive images in music. We have to do it because parents are not.

I will vigorously defend a rap artist's right to free speech because as a writer, I would not want the black community coming together to decide that what I write is not appropriate or someway degrades the moral values in the community. As a child, I read a lot and listened to a lot of different kinds of music. Honestly, I read and listened to material with explicit sexual content (Prince, Madonna, and random Jackie Collins novels that my mom had).....but I didn't turn into a mysoginist or pervert just because I was exposed to the material. I had a parent who taught me how to read critically at an early age....anyway, I am rambling, and it's time to bring this puppy home...

When I have children, I intend to listen to music with them.....I won't keep music from them, but I will give them lessons about its history. I will teach them about hip-hop, gangsta rap, Tupac, and C. Delores Tucker.

Because the fact of the matter is that we are not hip-hop artists...and even if we were, a single rapper can't change the status quo. What we can do is take charge of what we DO have control of, and that is our own children and the children who's lives we affect,

[enlightenment06]

Censorship right now won't help us at all. What we're lacking is a unified cultural base that extends beyond hip-hop. Once we gain some knowledge of self then we can start telling artists to tone down their lyrics.

[OthelloStreet]

Originally posted by Senusret I
[B]Having met McGruder after the comic strip dropped, but before he gained his notoriety, I just want to start out by saying this brother keeps it real and has always kept it real, and for that I respect him.

That's the deal my friend, that's partially why I am a fan of his work because like BERNIE MAC, he says a lot of the things people are scared to say and he is unapologetic for it.

Originally posted by Senusret I


I will vigorously defend a rap artist's right to free speech because as a writer, I would not want the black community coming together to decide that what I write is not appropriate or someway degrades the moral values in the community. As a child, I read a lot and listened to a lot of different kinds of music. Honestly, I read and listened to material with explicit sexual content (Prince, Madonna, and random Jackie Collins novels that my mom had).....but I didn't turn into a mysoginist or pervert just because I was exposed to the material. I had a parent who taught me how to read critically at an early age....anyway, I am rambling, and it's time to bring this puppy home...

And this is where HOME-TRAINING comes in. I see that Senusret I's parents and mine fell from the same tree because anytime I brought home work by Snoop Doggy Dogg, Dr. Dre, DJ Quick, Ice Cube or any "gangsta rap"/West Coast artist, I could talk to them about what I was listening to and they didn't prevent me from listening to these artists. My parents took the time to SHOW & TELL (most parents just tell and don't show) me right from wrong so I knew that when ever these artist were saying "questionable" stuff, I could decipher what I was supposed to get out of it.

Now as a hip-hop artist who writes a good deal of pulp fiction and erotica, I, like many of my contemporaries do not feel that it is my responsibility to be mindful of creating MY material, which may not be suitable for YOUR children. YOU, the parent, need to have a TALK with your children so that they can enjoy my work if you or they so choose and take my work as entertainment and not as a guide to handle a REAL situation.

I think the real problem is that TODAY's children are way more aware, bold and inquisitive about their surroundings and what is going on with the world and TODAY’s parents can’t handle that. Because a lot of parents can’t handle the idea of having and adult conversation with their children, the children in turn seek the artist(s) creating their work and hope to use the work as a guide to handle a REAL situation. This is why we as African Americans have a lot of other problems too but I won’t go into that on this post.

So if anything, I think the talking should be between the parent and the child; with the child listening to what the parent has to say and the PARENT LISTENING TO WHAT THE CHILD HAS TO SAY. I emphasize parents listening because I do not think they are doing a good job of that either and if they did, their children wouldn’t be getting into so much trouble.

[blackwatch06]

In some of the replies, many people are restating the obvious problem that I think Bro. Cornel West stated plainly. Yes the parents are not doing a good job talking to their children about images and the "entertainment" of the rap artist. Considering this context, what should the black community advocate more for, the rap artists' rights to free speech or the community's overall well being? Using Senusret I's logic ...

"I will vigorously defend a rap artist's right to free speech because as a writer, I would not want the black community coming together to decide that what I write is not appropriate or someway degrades the moral values in the community."

then we should also find a problem with community standards for pornography . You see, there are laws against children under 18 purchasing pornography because the community feels that it would be detrimental to children to purchase pornography. One could argue that pornography is free speech and, according to Senusret I's logic, should be protected from community censorship. If parent's where doing their job as parents, then children should be able to glean the entertainment value and artistry out of porn. But the community doesn't think so, and deems it illegal for children to purchase porn, regardless of what their parents are or are not doing in the rearing of their children.


Some people may say that rap music and pornography are two different things, but I beg to differ. Both claim to be fantasy masked as reality. The subject matter in many rap songs could be (and in some instances actually is) the soundtrack to many porn movies (check Snoop Dogg, Treach, and Mystikal-all who have recently appeared in porn movies). With songs like "Coochie Don't fail me now" and "Magic Stick" in heavy rotation on the air waves, these songs don't just bring up real world issues as OthelloStreet asserts, they actually would require that parents talk to their children about subjects that some would deem unnecessary. It's one thing to hear "Black Steel in the hour of Chaos" by Public Enemy and have a conversation with your children about military drafts, it's quite another thing to talk to a 10 year old girl about how to please a man sexually with her "coochie" because she has heard that is how women get men to remain monogomous. Now, I was not necessarily calling for censorship, but what I am calling for is more responsible messages from our black rappers. If you are going to put out pornographic songs, or minstrel shows masked as "real" hip-hop, then be able to show how this "art" has at its core social critique or some type of redeemable value to the community from which it came and to which it is aimed. This is called true artistry. If the rap "artists" want to claim that what they do is "art" let's hold them to an aesthetic like other forms of art are held. The black arts aesthetic has at its core a responsibility to uplift the community through unique creativity or keen social critique. Art is a lot more than just people doing what they want to do, art is a reflection of a community's conscience. This is why communities have obscenity laws, because all speech is not protected speech (check your constitution). Like Bro. W.E.B. DuBois stated "All art is propaganda". Which means that all art has something to say and influences people.



To leave it up to the parents is like stating that the reason a person has cancer is because of cancer cells. That is obvious, but the true cure to the cancer is to figure out how to stop the cancer cells from forming. To state that rappers have the right to say these things and only will influence people if there are weak or ineffective (or ignorant) parents is like stating that even though we know that smoking can cause lung cancer, it's okay to smoke, we just have to figure out a way to keep the smoking from causing the lung cancer. While it would be nice to have your cake and eat it too, since we do not know how to keep the smoking from causing the cancer, then why continue to smoke? Are your rights as an individual to smoke more important than your will to live? Recognizing bad parenting as part of the problem and suggesting that good parenting is needed is obvious. It is also obvious that there is a dearth of good parenting in our community for a variety of reasons. My suggestion is that we take steps to do something about our condition, rather than continue to suffer from a pathology that is preventable by advocating for more responsible "art" from rap "artists".

Blackwatch!!!!!!

[Senusret I]

I think one of the fundamental problems I have with your argument, blackwatch, is that the black community as a whole will probably never advocate for anything ever again. we have evolved to a point where we believe in many different things now, and our opinions are no longer so cut and dry as the quest for civil rights. Even though there were many different paths to what we sought in the 60's (non-violent protests; rebellions) our common goal was more or less the same.

Now, there are more black people, more children, more ideas, more opinions. Is it more likely that black people will influence the rap world? Or is it more likely that we can influence our own homes?

We can control what goes into our own homes, and I support that and suggest that we do it with proper parenting and mentoring. But I cannot, and will not help to dictate what goes into someone else's home.

If urban blacks stopped supporting the pornographic rappers, I don't believe it would force them to be more responsible, because whate america still listens to them and supports them.

I still say that at the end of the day, it's on us, not the rappers. Educate who we are responsible for, and the chips will fall into place over time.

[Ideal08]

I will always be an advocate for free speech, hands down. Education is key. If you are educated, it shouldn't make a difference to what media you listen. There needs to be more conversations held about what is in songs and on TV. A mother definitely DOES need to talk to her 10 year old daughter about what's in the song. What? Is 10 too young? I guess that's relative. Because for the 10 year old sister of a 13 year old mother... conversations need to be had. Because the fact of the matter is, artists are not going to be responsible. They are gratuitous capitalists. They don't make music to make a positive impact on a child, they make music to make money. Period. You can't change that, adapt to it. That's what survival is, adaptation. We need to be able to adapt to the ills of our communities. Children need to learn how to make choices, better choices, responsible choices. If there is only one choice, then a lesson is missed. Missy rapping about using her womanly wiles to keep a man? Mothers absolutely need to talk to their daughters about such behavior. That's why so many women end up in dead-end and or abusive relationships as is. If Missy never made the song, there would STILL be a teenage girl (as well as grown women) who still thought sex was the way to keep a man. We don't TALK to our kids anymore. We let them talk to each other and the television and the radio. And then we place the blame on the MEDIUM for the effects that it has on the child. Why? We won't take responsibility and talk about it with them because the subject matter makes us uncomfortable. We don't want to discuss sex with an 8 year old. Why not? Because we don't want them to grow up? What are we waiting for to educate our children?

What we also forget is that some of what would get censored is someone's reality. You can't rap about what you don't know. So if all you know is negativity, how can you send a positive message in your music? If the only way you know how to keep a man is by using sex, how can you convey a different message in your music? And what about the people who actually buy into those messages? Should they be deprived of "art" that they appreciate because we deem it inappropriate?

Do I think rappers should be more responsible in their message? Yes. Do I think they will be? No. Do I think it's a battle worth fighting? Unfortunately not. I think we need to educate our children. I think that we need to educate our parents. I think that we need to build a strong community. I think we need to build bonds of trust with our youth and amonst each other. I think we need to build our villages back up. If our village is strong, we will raise strong, intelligent, community conscious youth; and it won't make a difference what is being played on the radio.

[blackwatch06]

It seems that the fundamental difference is in what we think is more feasible, to change the media image (the rap "artists"), or to change the social context (the state of parenting in our community). It becomes a question of which is more reasonable. I tend to fall on the side of changing the media. Here's why: to assert that changing or educating parents will in turn change the way children view the images that they see I think assumes that the reason why children are influenced by these things is because parents don't teach them differently. This goes to a question of how children are socialized and what influences children. If you talk to any parent of a teenager, you will find that the parent's influence over the social choices the teen makes is often times viewed by the child as counter to their development of self autonomy. Whether the parent is educated and dedicated, or ignorant and aloof, the most influencial voice in a teen's life is the peers and media, due to the developmental stage in the child's life (check your child psychology books). Now, this is not to say that a parent cannot take steps to pose differing ideas to the teen nor that the parent is completly powerless in this instance, but to assert that teens will be more influenced by parents if parents were educated doesn't take into consideration the cognitive and social developmental stages of teenagers. Education wouldn't hurt in this instance, but I don't think it is the cure all for this situation. besides, how many times have you heard a parent say "I don't know where my child gets these ideas from?" Other things influence children, not just parenting or the lack thereof.


This also assumes that parents make the choices that they make solely out of ignorance. Most parents in our community are in a very precarious situation. Single parenthood in our urban centers is as high as 70% by some estimates. This means that parents are either working long hours to meet the physical needs of the famiy (rendering them ineffective in teaching their children much about media imagery), or are unemployable or have developed a nihilistic (hopelessness) approach to parenting, which emplies a slew of other factors that by their very nature makes them not as suitable a parent as they would need to be in order to counteract the influences that media and other influences would have. These contexts are due in large part to poverty and discrimination, which are almost sedimentary in the U.S. In order to change the parents, you would have to transform the social conditions (poverty,racism, sexism, etc.) which would take an massive revolution of the society. One could call for spiritual enlightenment in this instance, but, without a strong social justice component in the spirituality, this becomes more of a personal development issue and leads more to contentment in the social condition, not necesarily a desire to change it.


I think some people are underestimatng the power of media here. Socialization is a very powerful force in our society. Media is a very salient force in the socialization of people. Yes, even Dr. West suggests that the image of the black youth in th media has always been negative, and that the black institutions need to be strengthened (family, church, etc.) in order to counteract these images. But the fundamental question here is how do we feasibly do this? Do we force parents to go back to school? Do we tell preachers to start preaching about these issues (assuming that they will be intelligent in their critiques and equipping members to take proactive stances in these issues)? If you think rappers will not change, try to get a parent or a preacher to change their ways of doing things.


I am not advocating for censorship, but I am advocating that the outlets that the black community controls (i.e. the content in the rap songs, the fewer and fewer black owned radio stations, the black music video directors, etc.) be held to a certain standard by the black community. Just last night, I was watching Turnstyle on BET about rappers Trina and Cash Money. They talked about how the rappers started in the rap music business. The disturbing part about this was they they talked about things like stripping, and "hustling" like they are viable career paths or experiences they "had to have". Trina says that she learned from her stripping days about confidence and focus because she knew that in order to be a "success" you had to be able to make the customers believe that you were worthy of their money. Confidence and focus are valuable traits to have, but I would hope that children learn these things in more dignified and safer ways. You don't have to be a stripper or a "hustler" to learn these things. These experiences seem to authenticate rappers in some way. If a rapper does not have some hard luck story filled with tragedy as the result of bad choices, then, on some level, they are not "real" rappers. What this does is implies to young people that real life is about tragedy and overcomming bad choices, not overcomming bad circumstances.


The issue I have with this is that they suggest that the environment you grow up in has to make you make those bad choices. Then we praise the rappers for making it out of the hood by shuckin' and jivin' on stage as testimonies to how you can profit from the oppression of millions of black people. By celebrating the pain or rapping about "what you know" to the delight of millions of white Americans, these rappers serve to help hegemonize the idea that authentic blackness is about coping with oppression (by simply making money anyway you can), rather than overcomming it (actually eliminating the vestiges of oppression from your life and society at large, including self hatred and nihilism, which becomes more pronounced when we celebrate these rappers who are simply rich victims of oppression, rathers than people who overcame it). Dr. West noted to the kids in the forum that they would have to strive for greatness (which was predicatied on the principle of serving others) rather than striving for success(which is about profit) in order to make the conditions better. This would entail considering what images in the media do to the impressionable minds of others. Profit cannot justify placing these values and ideas before our young people. Parenting is a weapon, but not our most powerful weapon. I think we can also more feasibly call for more responsible content in our rap songs and videos. I do not see why this is such an unreasonable assertion, considering my comparison to the pornography laws. This is not something unheard of. Why is it that it is okay to have a conversation with a 10 year old girl about her sexuality prompted by a rap song, but the law says that I don't have to have this type of conversation prompted by a porn video, because the 10 year old girl cannot legally see the porn video, but she can legally see and hear the rap song?


Blackwatch!!!!!!

[Senusret I]

Brother Blackwatch:

Good points.

I have two things to add.....one, one thing I CAN advocate for is restricted language on the radio. I actually remember a time when you couldn't say "ass".....they let MANY foul words slide during the daytime.

Two, when can I vote for you for General President? Is there a write-in option?

[DoggyStyle82]

Blackwatch

Never have a traditionalist like myself agree so much with a socialist like you Blackwatch.

IDEAL08, no matter how much or how well you speak to a 10year old, for the betterment of their development, some things are not age appropriate. Children, teenagers, preteens, process information much differently than adults. Being bombarded with words, images, sounds, and concepts that can only be processed through a maturated intellect as well as age appropriate life experience is harmful to children. Yes, many can overcome it and many do not show outward effects, but it is the reason why pre-teens are sexually active and 8 yr olds cuss out teachers.

[Ideal08]

Originally posted by DoggyStyle82
IDEAL08, no matter how much or how well you speak to a 10year old, for the betterment of their development, some things are not age appropriate. Children, teenagers, preteens, process information much differently than adults. Being bombarded with words, images, sounds, and concepts that can only be processed through a maturated intellect as well as age appropriate life experience is harmful to children. Yes, many can overcome it and many do not show outward effects, but it is the reason why pre-teens are sexually active and 8 yr olds cuss out teachers.

I never said I thought it was age appropriate. I said that education is the key. I simply don't believe that we should put the power of what images are shown to our children in the hands of other people. We can't control the media, period. And as far as I'm concerned, there are bigger fish to fry. Because what we do have control over is our children; what we teach them, and what we allow them to hear.

Perhaps I'm one of the many you spoke of Doggy, I don't know. Every day my mother told me that there were things that I needed to learn because one day she and my father would die. When I was little, that would scare me. But I'm glad I learned the lessons that I did. Maybe I was mature for my age, I don't know. What I do know is that I was very smart. At the age of 8, I knew all about sex. I knew what fellatio and cunnilingus were. I knew about how men treated women. My father explained to me what men wanted and how they went about getting it. We TALKED. They gave me BOOKS. They TAUGHT me how to make sound decisions. So when I heard "she swallowed it, don't matter just don't bite it," I wasn't runnin' around all confused and whatnot. When I heard about females performing oral sex on dudes at school, I was not influenced by that. Because I had been EDUCATED. I am not disputing what is age appropriate for a child and what is not. I'm advocating for education. Because I am living proof that you CAN educate a child in a way that the child can understand. I was NOT sexually active until I was grown and out of college. And I was NOT cussing out teachers. There is a way to educate children without sheltering them. We just have to be creative enough to do it, instead of waiting for someone else to change. I'm not saying that my parents let me listen to any and everything. But I do recognize that it was my parents responsibility to choose what I was and was not exposed to.

I'm also not naive to the power of the media. I believe that it has a huge effect on all of society, adults and children alike. Blackwatch, I agree with what you said on many levels, but like you said, it's about what is more feasible. I think it's more feasible to change our community and our parents than it is the media. Maybe I'm wrong, but that's what I think. I'm not putting my trust in an industry hell bent on bling bling to change. I'm simply not doing it.

As far as rappers and their experiences, this is another case where education comes into play. Maybe Trina and whoever else made those choices because they didn't know that there were other choices. Or they didn't believe it. I felt the same way about the Lil Kim special that I saw. Is this the hope that we are giving our children? But at the same time, if you don't know any better, what can you expect? Because of the self-hatred and mental slavery, people are bound to make any decision for their survival. Because what we DON'T do is teach long term survival skills. It's always about the immediate gain. If you are living on the street, you are thinking about immediate gain. I have never had that experience, so I can't say what I would or would not have done. But I know people who have had that experience personally, and have been SHOCKED by what they had to do to make it day to day. Are they proud of it? No. Does it mean that everyone in that situation has to take that way out? No. But that was what they felt like they had to do at the time. I can't knock that. Until I have walked a mile in their moccasins, I can't judge that.

Blackwatch, Your assertion is not unreasonable on any level. I just don't believe that it will work. Does that mean I think that it's not worth a try? No, not at all. That just means that I won't be spearheading that committee.

I almost feel like we are going in circles, because I don't think that we disagree fundamentally. So let me ask this. If you were to form a community committee whose mission was to challenge the rap industry's responsibility to children, how would you set it up? And would that be your mission? If not, what would your mission be? Who would you have on your committee? What would your goals be? To whom would you make your final demands, if you had any? And if you did, what would those demands be? How would you go forward with it? And after being shot down (if that were to happen), how would you persevere to keep fighting for more appropriate lyrics (or an age limit on when you can buy them)? Ultimately, what would be your goal? Better lyrics or raising the bar on the age to buy albums that have parental advisory stickers or what? And does it stop with music? What about the images in ALL other forms of media as well, including newspaper and television?

[DoggyStyle82]

IDEAL08

I'm glad that your parents tactics worked for you, but under no circumstances would I have those kinds of conversations with an 8 yr old and I am not a prude. You may have well been just as well off if that conversation had taken place at 12or 13 years of age.

You keep speaking of education. How in the world can people have more access to information at a younger age than they do now? I'm sure that what your parents taught you were taught with morals and ethics involved and not just a sterile information lesson. What children are not getting is the moral component. With 70% of our children in one parent homes and 40% in poverty, simply knowing the mechanics of sex or the dangers of drugs is not enough. Education is not a panacea. Our children are vulnerable to the images that are rammed into their undeveloped minds. Mandated Censorship is not the key but self-censorship is. Because it sells is not a good enough answers. People are making money off of sending our children to the grave.

One thing that we must not assume is that because we were raised with good parenting, that is not the norm for most of our culture at the moment. Until that happens, other measures need to be in place.

[blackwatch06]

Ideal 08,

I too think that we agree fundamentally that something has to change, I think we disagree on tactics. I think Doggeystyle82 brings up a good point about the parenting skills of most of the children that are internalizing the images from hip-hop. Most of the parents of those children are the ones that I suspect our community would have a hard time re-educating about the importance of self-censoring the content that the children are exposed to. I do agree that every parent needs to acquire skills like your parents had, to be creative enough to talk to their own children about sex, both the mechanics and I think more importantly the ethics and intimacy involved with it. But if 70% of our children are in single parent homes and 40% of them are living in poverty, what type of parenting skills and time will the parents have? Sure, it may seem more reasonable at the surface to assert that we have better access to the parents and therefore should concentrate on educating them, but if we look at actually doing the work of educating parents, I think we would see a much tougher road than advocating for more responsible lyrics, or at least limiting the access that children have to certain images.

Just this summer, as a student teacher in a summer school class, I had a parent ask me how to get his son, who was failing my government class for the 2nd time, to do his homework at home!!! Even after several suggestions, the parent just gave up and eventually his son was kicked out of the summer school class. Educatng parents about raising their own children is risky enterprise. Some parents welcome suggestions, but many parents teach their children things that are counter productive. As adults, parents are not accountable to anyone in what they may teach their children morally. So, for example, while I can easily see how it is wrong for a parent to stand by and allow her 14 year old daughter to have sex with a 29 year old man because he buys her school clothes (true story), to assert that the parent should know better, will not change the situation moreso than calling the local authorities to try and prosecute the man on statutory rape charges. In this instance the community standard helps protect the best interests of the 14 year old, over and above what the parent was or wasn't going to do about the situation. Just the same, there are ways to hold media outlets accountable through community ordinances and standards that would be in place to help protect children.

I would advocate for town ordinances to be enacted that would have similar restrictions on rap music with explicit stickers that are already in place with R-rated movies. I had an interesting encounter with a record store clerk over this very issue about 8 years ago. He sold my then 12 year old sister Tupac's Maceiveli (sp) tape. Of Course, one could say that my mother should have monitored what my sister listened too, but my mother thought that my sister couldn't buy something like that, so she trusted the store to abide by the rules that she thought applied. Is this a case of bad parenting? I don't know, but it is an example of how parents trust the community institutions to do right by our children, which I think is a reasonable expectation.
I took the tape back and asked the manager was it legal to sell the music with explicit lyrics to kids, he said yeah, and I asked him why would they make this a practice, and he said that if kids didn't buy the music, then it wouldn't sell. This is what I object to most; the targeting of kids with these images. This is what the big fuss was about last summer with the congressional hearings about the marketing of R-rated movies and certain cigarette advertising to children.


That is where I would start is with getting local ordinances on the books that would make it illegal to sell rap music with explicit stickers on them to minors. Also, limit the airplay of the songs (edited or not) to certain timeslots. It's not enough to just bleep out the explicit language if the subject matter still places images in the minds of young people who do not have the institutional supports nor the mental, moral, social, nor psychological development to adequately assess the validity of certain images and ideas. While it is true that the black community cannot control the media, in a democracy, one thing that has some power is community and the standard by which the community wishes to live by and teach its children. I think that with ordinances on the books that could limit children's access to such images, we can begin to empower parents with the tools to better teach their children about themselves and sexuality.

Blackwatch!!!!!!