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!!!!!!