Stop Snitching: 60 Minutes’ Assassination of Hip Hop Culture

Hip Hop in the Crosshairs

“This is what I mean an anti-nigger machine!” -Chuck D. (Public Enemy)

OK. I’ve finally been moved to respond to the “Stop Snitching” segment that appeared on 60 minutes recently. I was avoiding it until now because this would make the third post in a row that I’ve had to defend hip-hop to one degree or another. But, after five full days, the story continues to stick in my craw.

If you saw the segment, you might be moved to believe that an entire generation of young, black inner-city inhabitants is being led down the path of self-destruction, Pied piper-style, by rappers like Busta Rhymes and Cam’ron. Apparently, the programmers at 60 Minutes would like you to buy into the idea that fans of hip hop are being encouraged to not cooperate with the police if they witness a crime being committed. Regarding this particular illusion, allow me to employ a recently resurrected reference to the infamous 1978 mass murder/suicide in Jonestown, Guyana: “Don’t drink the Kool-Aid.” I won’t bore you with detailing the numerous problems with the piece. I would, however, like to make a few quick points.

“Justice,” as it were, is metered out quite differently on rough the urban streets of this country than it is in the state-sponsored criminal justice system. Quite a few of the young men who refuse to cooperate with police with regard to crimes like assault and homicide, even if they or their loved ones have been victimized, do so because they intend to directly exact revenge. Actually, I’m surprised that media darling Anderson Cooper didn’t take this salacious little detail into account. Imagine what kind of legs this story would have had if he’d introduced the idea that vigilantism is the law of the land in the ghettoes of the US.

Of all the cultural observers, sociologists, community advocates or thoughtful MCs 60 Minutes could have interviewed about this “phenomenon” they chose Cam’ron. Consider that for a moment. They chose Cam’ron, an inventor of ridiculous self-celebratory nursery rhymes, to explain the somewhat complicated issue of black distrust of the law enforcement machine. Next week I’m fully expecting to turn on 60 minutes and see an interview with Lil’ Kim about her thoughts on the disintegration of the black family.

Black folks and other minorities have been taught, by experience, to be wary of police. How much investigative journalism would it have taken to uncover this elusive detail? This should have been the predominant issue of the segment but it wasn’t even given a cursory examination.

Thankfully, I have access to a brother in the know, Dr. Lorenzo Boyd, a criminal justice professor at the University of Texas and an expert on community policing. He was gracious enough to arm me with a number of important facts regarding the relationship between those who police the nation’s inner cities and those who live in them. Here’s a few:

1. Although Blacks comprise roughly 14% of America’s population, Blacks constitute over 60% of all police arrests.
2. Race is one of the strongest predictors of attitudes towards the police
3. Black citizens in general tend to have less confidence in the police than Whites and are often skeptical of the police’s willingness or ability to protect them
4. In a 1998 Department of Justice Report, 67% of White respondents reported that they felt that the police treated all races fairly, while only 30% of Blacks felt that way
5. Public opinion polls have shown that overall Blacks tend to have a more negative view of the police than Whites, and Whites were more likely to support the use of deadly force by police than were Blacks.
6. Police brutality is a major source of dissatisfaction with police among both urban residents and racial minorities
7. Fatal shootings by police are more frequent in areas that have a large number of racial or economic underclass.
8. The 1992 St. Clair Commission report (examining Boston's police department) showed that race still plays a central role in the use of excessive force. The report found that during the period studied, 50 percent of complainants in the sample group were Black, while 26 percent of Boston's population was Black.
9. The Christopher Commission: “Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD) officers frequently treat minorities differently from Whites, more often using disrespectful and abusive language, employing unnecessarily intrusive practices such as the `prone-out,' and engaging in use of excessive force when dealing with minorities" (1991).
10. According to the 1991 Christopher Commission Report on the Los Angeles Police Department, racial bias within the LAPD is not confined to the officer’s treatment of minority citizens, but it is also reflected in the conduct of officers towards their minority colleagues.
11. Minority officers are still too often subjected to racial slurs, discrimination within the police department. More than 80% of the minority officers in the Los Angeles Police Department are concentrated in “entry-level police officer ranks.”
12. The Christopher Commission cites a survey of which 650 officers responded. It states that approximately one-quarter of the officers responding agreed that “racial bias” (prejudice) on the part of officers towards minority citizens contributes to negative relations with the public (Christopher 1991).
13. The police are more likely to use full law enforcement authority (i.e., arrest) in communities that have higher percentages of minorities (Jackson and Boyd 2005).
14. African Americans 3x more likely than whites to experience threatened or actual force and are Hispanics more likely than whites, but less likely than African Americans, to experience either.
15. Police seen as unresponsive to complaints against them.
16. Racial & ethnic minorities often accuse police of failing to investigate, “covering up.”
17. Most people who believe they are a victim of police misconduct do not report it.

Lest you accuse me of being a complete pessimist, I end this with a glimmer of hope. I hope that maybe, one day, the powers that be at 60 Minutes will decide that, instead of attempts at broad cultural character assassination, they’ll dig just a little deeper into the roots of issues having to deal with black America. But until then, I’ll light a candle for Ed Bradley, continue to curse the day that Andy Rooney was born and resign myself to watching America’s Funniest Home Videos.

Getting THERE

The man single-handedly responsible for the loss of 337 steps...

In 2000, comedian Chris Rock performed an extremely amusing, memorable skit called “Progress Report” on his brilliant, now-defunct 30 minute HBO variety program, The Chris Rock Show. In it, Rock tracked the social progress of black America through a series of highly publicized African-American triumphs and blunders. Rock mentions that we always hear black people lament the idea that “so-and-so set us two steps back” while other, more optimistic black folks claim that, “we’re almost THERE.” Fortunately, Rock has access to a chart provided by the fictitious American Black Progress Association so viewers can see for themselves just how far we have to go to get “THERE.” For example, according to Rock, “General Colin Powell speaking at the Republican Convention marched us twelve steps ahead.” But we can’t celebrate just yet because, “Mike Tyson speaking in public set us twenty-four steps back!”

Funny stuff. Comedy like this, as well as his infamous Bring The Pain riff on Black Folks versus “Niggers,” tapped into black middle class anxiety about how we are viewed by white America. It also skillfully reflects how much African-Americans obsess and fret over perceived black misbehavior. Unfortunately, Chris Rock’s humor regarding this issue rings true. If I had a dollar for every time I’ve heard a black person say of the ill-considered actions of another black person, ‘They make me ashamed to be black,’ or ‘They’re setting us back,’ I’d be ri…well, I’d have a few hundred dollars.

Try as I might, I just can’t seem to convince some of my people just how absurd a sentiment this is. Apart from being divorced from history (after all, how much do we have to accomplish before we’re “accepted”) it’s also an overblown reaction to our own self-consciousness. Try to imagine a scenario in which white Americans as a collective murmur under their breaths that David Koresh, John Wayne Gacy, Steve Bartman or Anna Nicole Smith have set them back. Or imagine a world in which whites still feel a sense of communal guilt over what their ancestors did to Native Americans. You can’t, can you? Yet, here we stand, seven years into the new millennium, willing to condemn our entire race because of a few, relatively insignificant, yet widely and regularly reported black guffaws.

This is not just wrong. It is symptomatic of the divisive self-disdain that permeates the entire culture of middle and upper-middle class black America. When columnist Jason Whitlock suggested moving the NBA All-Star Game overseas, “David Stern seriously needs to consider moving the event out of the country for the next couple of years in hopes that young, hip-hop hoodlums would find another event to terrorize. Taking the game to Canada won't do it. The game needs to be moved overseas, someplace where the Bloods and Crips and hookers and hoes can't get to it without a passport and plane ticket,” he explained, in no uncertain terms, that he, and people of his ilk, have no use for poor blacks (I guess Jason hasn’t been to any European football games in which black players are subjected to “monkey calls” and bananas being thrown at them by racist – though decidedly non-hip-hop – whites). Unfortunately, this sentiment seems to be at the center of the current push to sanitize hip-hop lyrics.

Honestly, part of me wants this new Delores Tucker-inspired movement to succeed. After that, when the social, behavioral ills that are borne out of poverty continue to plague black communities, hip-hop can’t be used as a convenient scapegoat. Maybe then, at long last, those of us black folks who dream of getting THERE will realize that we all have to do our part to bring the rest of those “niggers” with us.

Whitlock The Enabler

Time to wake up, Jason.



Jason Whitlock is wrong. Again.

In an article published Wednesday, April 11, Jason Whitlock, columnist for the Kansas City Star and former talking head for ESPN, uses the recent Don Imus uproar as an excuse to launch a scorched Earth attack against hip hop, Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton and gangsterism run amock. Whitlock offers his thanks to Don Imus who, unwittingly, "..extended Black History Month to April, and we can once again wallow in victimhood, protest like it’s 1965 and delude ourselves into believing that fixing your hatred is more necessary than eradicating our self-hatred."

Where to begin?

First, Whitlock erroniously dismisses Don Imus as "irrelevant". This is a man who has been in radio (and more recently, television) for over 30 years, has been named one of the 25 greatest talk radio hosts of all time, regularly invites nationally recognized politicians to his show, and has a daily listening audience of tens of millions of Americans. If Imus is irrelevant what is Whitlock?

Second, he cynically accuses Vivian Stringer and Rutgers of holding a press conference in order to recruit players. Never mind the fact that every major news provider in the country has been requesting comments/responses/interviews from and with the Rutgers team since Imus' comments became a national story. Never mind that ANY organization in the country would have scheduled a news conference to deal with the furor (e.g. Duke rape case). Also, never mind the fact that if Rutgers wants to reverse this situation and use it to their advantage it's their prerogative. They didn't bring this attention to themselves.

Third, what does hip hop have to do with Don Imus? Tell me something. Did hip hop precede the slave trade, chattel slavery in the US, the purposeful, systemic destruction of the black family, the complete obliteration of our former culture, the three-fifths of a man decision, lynching, race wars, Jim Crow, Plessy v. Ferguson, economic lockout, poll taxes, literacy tests, The Little Rock Nine, the KKK, Emmit Till, Medgar Evers, the assassinations of King and X, white flight, the myth of the "welfare queen", underfunded public schools, predatory lending, land rent schemes, rent-to-own stores, etc., etc., etc.? As usual, Whitlock latches on to anything having to do with race and uses it to bludgeon hip hop. Hip hop is and has always been a genre fueled by poverty and inequality. Does Whitlock know how hip hop began? Hip hop (think beatboxing, mcing, djing, etc.) started during the late '70s and exploded during the Reagan era (not coincidentally when Reagan began to cypher money from inner city school music programs). Prior to that, young black kids were learning to play i-n-s-t-r-u-m-e-n-t-s in school. If you can recall, Jazz used to be our rebel music - and the blues prior to that. Black kids rap because that's the only form of musical expression we were left with. And guess what? Many (NOT MOST, NOT ALL!) people who grew up in poverty tend to act ignorantly and to say ignorant things. The same is true of poor whites, Latinos, etc. Believe me, there are tons of black folks, including myself, who have a problem with the direction mainstream hip hop has taken over the course of the last decade or so. Nas, the MCs MC, even went so far as to title his latest album, "Hip Hop Is Dead". But to me, to loathe hip hop as much as Whitlock does is to loathe poor blacks. Or, as Whitlock's ideological twin, Bill Cosby, put it, "the lower economic people."

Fourth, Whitlock is wrong about Dave Chappelle. Dave Chappelle TURNED DOWN fifty million dollars because of misgivings he had about the racial direction his show was taking. I've favorably compared Chappelle's change of heart to Richard Pryor's, when Pryor visited Africa and decided to jettison the term 'nigger' from his public vocabulary. For Whitlock to actually compare politically insignificant black comedians to an influential white pundit with a history of prominent, public race-baiting is just misguided and regrettable.

Fifth, Imus only offered a public apology because of the uproar and his fear of losing corporate sponsorship - not out of any sense of genuine remorse. Imus has a track record of ugly racialized comments. This is the same guy who admitted to hiring staff specifically to make "nigger jokes." Plus, his apology was hollow. It was basically one of those, "I'm sorry for what happened" apologies. Not, "I'm sorry for the ignorant shit that I said." Who can be blamed for not accepting that?

Don't get me wrong. I agree that we have bigger fish to fry than Don Imus. Certainly drug usage, pre-marital pregnancy, single motherhood, lack of education, AIDS and other STDs, self-hatred, glorification of gansterism, misogyny, coonery, et cetera are greater issues. But these things are - like it or not - problems that have arisen and grown worse as a result of lack (or perceived lack) of economic opportunity and the brain drain that was created when our "talented tenth" integrated into the dominant culture and left the black working and lower classes behind. The black upper to middle class certainly has a lot more responsibility for this than the likes of Tupac Shakur.

The Senseless Death of a Good Stereotype

Nice going, Asshole!

Yesterday, John Allen Muhammad, the wack job who tricked out a Buick and convinced a kid to join him while he drove around D.C. and shot people, was found guilty of six counts of first-degree murder in the state of Maryland. A few months ago, he was sentenced to death in Virginia. I’ll be honest with you. Normally, I’m not a proponent of the death penalty. But in this case, I’m happy to make an exception.

At the time of Muhammad’s killing spree, my wife and I were living in Alexandria, VA, a suburb of Washington, D.C. I really can’t convey to those who weren’t there what it felt like to think that you might be in the crosshairs of a psycho. It seemed like every other day another sniper murder would be reported on the news. People discussed the killings and joked nervously about drawing straws to see who would go pick up lunch. Not many individuals were willing to stop and chat with one another outside. And EVERYBODY was avoiding white vans (initially thought to be the vehicle of the snipers) like the plague. It was surreal. Technically, considering the size of the area, the chances that you would be the next victim were miniscule. But it was a lottery that not many wanted to play and even fewer wanted to win.

When I revisit this period I feel angry that this madman literally terrorized an entire region of the country and murdered over a dozen people. I’m angry that every time I went to get gas I quickly attached the pump to my tank and jumped my ass back in the car. I’m angry that dude had grown folks walking zig zag from the parking lot to the front door of the grocery store, looking like they escaped from an asylum. I’m angry that most outdoor activities in the region were cancelled because we were blanketed in fear and confusion. But I’m pissed even more because he destroyed one of the only stereotypical assumptions that worked in black folks’ favor. Namely: We Ain’t Serial Killers. Until this cat messed it up for us, randomly killing folks for kicks fell squarely into the realm of Crazy White Folks. John Wayne Gacy. Jeffrey Dahmer. The Green River Killer. All white. All crazy.

Not that we don’t have our own murderous foibles. Blowing somebody’s brains out because they scuffed up your Jordans isn’t exactly noble. It’s just that, generally, if a black person wants to kill you, you actually had to do some shit to him. Or, at least, he has to think you did something to him - whether the slight was real or imagined is immaterial.

Undoubtedly, we’ve got a few positive stereotypes left. Black men are thought to possess larger than average sexual equipment. We also, apparently, can dance and sing and we’re superior athletes. But the W.A.S.K. stereotype wasn’t bogged down by any negative connotations or tied to any racist marginalization whatsoever. Too bad Muhammad’s death won’t bring W.A.S.K. back to life.

Calling Out Cosby

“It only took me forty years to learn the Black Power Salute.”

He's at it again.

Bill Cosby, the former pudding pop pusher and current purveyor of black morality, is engaging in a series of national, public discussions that he's entitled, "A Call Out With Cosby."

As many of you recall, a couple of years ago Cosby made headlines when he made disparaging comments about "the lower economic and lower middle economic people" who, according to him, were not, "holding their end in this deal." Of course, by "this deal" Cosby was referring to the successes of the Civil Rights movement. I'm not sure what role Cosby played in helping open up American institutions to blacks and others throughout the Civil Rights era (I've read that he essentially absconded). What I do know is that, often, those individuals who were alive during that time, and wanted or had absolutely nothing to do with sit-ins, freedom rides, marches, voter registration drives, integrating 'whites only' dining establishments, etc., will be the first to take credit for their impact. "We paid The Price," they will contend. It reminds me of when white folks attempt to take credit for the abolition of slavery by arguing that, 'We fought and died in the Civil War,' or when men pat themselves on the back for the passage and implementation of women's suffrage. That they either had nothing to do with it, or were in direct opposition to the struggle for equal rights doesn't really register with them.

Regarding the comments that Cosby made two years ago, I have repeatedly argued several points. Namely:

• Although every single black person I know, including myself, has, at one time or another, expressed frustration with black people in general, what Cosby did was much different. When I complain about “these Negroes” I do it while bellyaching among friends. Within that context, I've also made general complaints about every group of people on the face of the Earth. Of the major differences between Bill Cosby and me two of the most important are these: 1) I'm not a well liked, highly regarded and influential public figure and 2) I was venting to a group of friends. To make the kind of incendiary, sweeping, stereotypical comments that Bill Cosby made - in front of a national audience – is simply not intelligent.
• The only thing he did was spout white supremist arguments in blackface. I've heard his line of reasoning repeated ad nauseum by enemies of black people: Rush Limbaugh, David Horowitz, Pat Buchanan, David Duke, etc. Whenever any of these people publicly identify what they see as a shortcoming specific to black people they are roundly and loudly criticized by the black community, and rightly so. Whenever a black person does it (and WE do it far too often) it's given a free pass.
• I've heard people say that it doesn't matter what we say or do because whites will believe whatever they want about us. Cosby himself made it. This, frankly, is complete bullshit. Sure, white supremacists will continue to promote the idea that blacks and other non-whites are inferior. But they are a part of a fringe movement whose goal is to convince "normal" uncommitted whites of that, and affect radical social change. Cosby just provided them with more ammunition. Further, that bankrupt notion doesn't give him or any other black person the right to publicly smear an entire segment of the population. Cosby made himself a hypocrite. To make blanket, public statements accusing blacks of generally lacking personal responsibility is the HEIGHT of irresponsibility.
• Ills that are endemic to society as a whole (or that are class, not race, based) are often portrayed as unique to black people. Poor people, across racial lines, have higher rates of incarceration, teenage pregnancy, drug abuse, dropping out of high school, alcoholism, domestic violence, etc., than those higher up the socioeconomic ladder. Cosby should have acknowledged that.
• When people argue that, at the very least, Cosby's rant precipitated a much needed discussion in the black community, I respond that this discussion has been occurring at all levels of black life for many years now. What exactly did Cosby contribute? "These people are going around stealing Coca-Cola. People getting shot in the back of the head over a piece of pound cake, and then we run out and we are outraged saying, 'The cops shouldn't have shot him.' What the hell was doing with the pound cake in his hand?" This kind of ignorant, high-handed, ridiculously simplistic assessment of the very real problem of police brutality isn't helping anything. Moreover, people can't be guilted into making good decisions. To quote Justine Felix, an author and activist in San Antonio, "People don't exist in a vacuum. They are the products or their environment. If you want to change the way folks behave then you need to change the conditions that give rise to that behavior. Criticizing people for their personal behavior on an individual basis might make sense because on an individual basis it might actually work and result in positive change." But lambasting an amorphous section of the population is foolish and regrettable.
  

Cosby's latest target is church leaders. He has a problem, "with churches who allow drug dealers to set up two blocks away." So do I. But I have a greater problem with church leaders who continue to bilk their congregations but don't offer them any job training or placement programs, college scholarships, first time home buying seminars, career counseling, classes on debt prevention, sex education or anything else that might help them escape poverty.

Of course, Cosby isn't all bad. He's a brilliant entertainer who, with The Cosby Show, somehow managed to give the black family one of it's only positive television representations in history. An even larger saving grace is that he's got the decency to put his money where his big mouth is. But it would be nice if he could teach that mouth of his to deliver better informed more thoughtful criticisms.

"The Muslims Are Coming! The Muslims Are Coming!"

The pic that launched a thousand protests

I generally don’t enjoy receiving chain emails. Particularly when I consider their content: usually some insipid joke, unsubstantiated urban legend, ‘pass-it-on-or-else’ banality or fruitless attempt to get me to smile for no apparent reason. At best, they’re tedious and annoying. At worst, they reflect – intentionally or inadvertently – the bigotry of the sender. Consider the shittily-reasoned composition that found its way into my inbox most recently. Bluntly entitled, “Can Muslims Be Good Americans?” it makes the case that (hold your breath!) no, Muslims cannot, in fact, be good Americans.

First, a bit about the dupe who sent it: white, male, unmarried, poorly-educated, locked into a job with no hope of upward-mobility, decidedly right-leaning and angry. Let’s call him Ed. Now you’re probably thinking, ‘I would be angry too if I weren’t educated and I worked a dead-end job.’ But those aren’t the reasons Ed is angry. Ed’s angry because he’s convinced that this country’s values and mores are under constant assault from Muslims, terrorists, liberals, flag-burners, feminists, atheists, Hollywood, homosexuals, Democrats, environmentalists, the ACLU, PETA, Jesse Jackson, Michael Moore, high taxes, teachers’ unions, leftist college professors, etc. Ironically, it NEVER occurs to him that none of these perceived threats has had any remarkable impact on HIS life whatsoever. He’s one of the millions of people in the world who exerts considerable mental, emotional and political energy defending a system that grinds him, and folks just like him, into dust.

Now let’s move on to the email. I won’t bore you with the details. Suffice it to say that someone who’s not even particularly clever could change a few lines and transform it into an anti-Christian screed. For example, in response to the question, “Can A Devout Muslim Be a Good American?”

• Anti-Muslim Email: Spiritually, no, because when we declare "one nation under God," the Christian's God is loving and kind, while Allah is NEVER referred to as our heavenly father, nor is he ever called love in the Quran's 99 excellent names.
• Anti-Christian Version: Spiritually, no, because when we declare “one nation under God,” Allah has 99 excellent names and the Christian God’s name is jealous. "For thou shalt worship no other god: for the Lord, whose name is Jealous, is a jealous God." (Exodus 34:14)

So when red-blooded Americans like Ed engage in brainless proselytizing by-way-of Islam-bashing like this, it always makes me wonder if those people who trash the Quran have ever read the Bible.

It Could Be Worse, You Could Still Be In Africa

Every now and then - well, with increasing regularity it seems - white social conservatives will let you know EXACTLY what they think of you. Such was the case when the mentally and physically decrepit Adele Ferguson wrote a piece that questioned the intelligence of her "black brothers and sisters" for remaining loyal to the Democratic Party. I strongly encourage you to read it but, if you're pressed for time, I'll sum it up for you..

a) You Negroes need to stop acting like victims and take some responsibility for yourselves.

b) Black folks can learn a thing or two from Ronald Reagan - great white race prophet that he was.

c) SLAVERY was God's way of dragging black savages from the continent of Africa to the divine shores of America (think Phyllis Wheatley).

d) Slavery was the equivalent of indentured servitude.

e) If the white ancestors of indentured servants managed to 'get over it,' you Negroes should be able to do the same.

f) The reason why blacks don't get respect from others is because they don't give it.

g) You Negroes ought to be ashamed of yourselves for the way you "dissed" (this is her word, not mine) George W. Bush at the funeral of Coretta Scott King.

h) The very same Negroes who disrespected Dubya at the funeral treated Clinton like the King of Harlem.

i) Blacks claim that they value education but this obviously isn't the case because they eschew vouchers and charter schools.

j) Teachers' Unions are an impediment to black progress because they also eschew vouchers and charter schools.

k) Black students lag behind white students academically because of incompetent teachers.

l) You Negroes need to get yourselves a Cesar Chavez, ironically enough, to challenge the teachers' unions. If one cannot be produced, then you should make collective effort to dismantle them.

m) Basically, you Negroes are dumb.

Unlike many black folks, I'm not angered by these neo-con guffaws. I find them illuminating. Under the guise of offering advice to misguided Negroes, white conservatives often reveal themselves to be the ignorant racists that many of them are.

One more thing, Ms. Ferguson can be reached at P.O. Box 69, Hansville, WA 98340. If ever you self-victimized, former savages get it together, perhaps you can write her to let her know how appreciative you are for her guidance.

Your Worst Fear To The Rescue

I love irony. Particularly when it strikes at the heart of what we assume to be true regarding race. When many people envision young African-American men they may think of the criminally-inclined, indifferent, basketball-playing stereotypes pictured above. Black men, particularly when in groups of two or more, are generally viewed as dangerous even by other blacks.

My friend John emailed me a clip from the Today Show that I needed to share. The title of the segment is "Stranger Danger: Would Anyone Help Your Child?" In it, "Security Specialist" Bill Stanton tests the general publics' reaction to a possible child abduction. Unfortunately, most of the people who witnessed this 'kidnapping' kept right on walking. Not terribly surprising. Finally, however, two gentlemen did stop and take action. Guess what they looked like.