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Recently, I asked my mother- in- law whether she was
going to watch Roots in celebration of the 25th anniversary of its first
showing. She said she would not and dropped hear head starring intently at
the floor. I was shocked because mamma always watched stuff dealing with
our history. She gave me that look that only mother- in- laws can give.
You know, the kind of look that pierces your soul and makes you think that
maybe, you should have kept your big mouth shut. I braced myself for a
long sermon but she only said, "You know, 25 years ago, I thought
things would get better, but they have only gotten worst," and walked
out the room. Leaving me thinking about the many ways in which my
generation had failed her.
It was not entirely our fault. I mean, we got mixed signals from
the leaders of the 60's. Did we segregate or integrate? Was it Black
Power or Green Power? Did we help build America up or did we burn it
down ? There was also no concrete definition of what "the
struggle" actually was. Was it cultural or economic, personal or
collective, academic or street? What resulted was a vaguely defined war
that was at the beck and call of the power structure that was supposed to
be "the enemy". When and why Black people protested became
controlled by the white owned media and public relations firms. I
always found it funny that a company who was the Black community's most
hated adversary, one year could become 21st century abolitionists
and proud sponsor's of Black History Month , the next. They say that
money talks but it also laughs as public relations firms have a good time
laughing at our fickleness.
For many brotha's who became frustrated with trying to decipher the Black
Empowerment user manual, becoming a "G" (gangsta) became a
viable option. Corporate America and its evil twin, the white supremacist
system was right there to capitalize off of our confusion. While we
were stalled at the crossroads of indecision, cooperate America set up
Kill 'em All Records at the corner of Sell Out Street and Liberation
Lane. The genocide of Afrikan people became big business and the
number one form of entertainment in America.
Hip Hop has become one big killing field which leaves those who enter,
mentally and spiritually dead. How can we celebrate the achievements of
Malcolm, Martin and Marcus when we allow the media to tell our young
brotha's to use the torch that these great men carried to light a blunt?
While many are familiar with the old "how many people does it take
to screw in a light bulb" joke, the question for us in 2002 is how
many black intellectuals, theologians and philosophers does it take to
defeat the Hip Hop Conspiracy to destroy Black children?
With all of our think tanks and conferences, we still have not been able to stop Holly' hood from pimpin'
our culture and using it against us. I guess having the answer and having the courage to carry out the
solution are two different subjects. We are like the preacha' who whoops, holla's and turns back flips
before a congregation that will leave the service just as broken as they were when they walked through the
door. If we are not about the business of resurrecting the spiritually and mentally dead in our community,
then all of our intellectualizing , debating and preaching is in vain.
We are not worthy to even have the names of our ancestors pass through
our lips. Malcolm X once brilliantly analyzed the image making role of the
media and how they can make your enemy your friend and your friend
your enemy. Until we, effectively, deal with the role that the media play
in our suffering, we will never reach the brotha on the corner who sees
another Black man as his sworn enemy.
This is why we are boycotting Black History Month this year and
participating in Black Resurrection Month, instead. During which we will
destroy the Hip Hop Conspiracy, once and for all. We are not looking to
engage in the usual 20 year plan for Black Liberation but we are looking
for our condition to be changed in the twinkling of an eye.
First we are asking the Black community to join us in a "Hip
Hop" Fast, where we will abstain from listening to or watching
anything that disrespects the Black community and portrays us in a
negative light during the month of February . As an admitted Hip Hop
addict for more than 20 years, if I can do without gangsta rap for 28
days, anybody can . I guarantee that at the end of the 28 days we will
find ourselves spiritually and mentally renewed.
Secondly, as rap pioneer Kool Moe D established a Hip Hop report card
in the mid 80's to rate rappers on their lyrical skills, we will set up a
report card to rate rappers in relation to their musical contributions to
the LIBERATION of Afrikan people (or lack there of). As the Source
magazine uses mics as rating symbols, we will use Black Power Fists.
Thirdly, we must collectively ask our brothers and sisters in Hip Hop
to join us in our quest to resurrect the minds of our people. We must tell
the white Pharaohs of the music industry to let our people go to be free to
serve their people through their music and influence.
Only when we take steps like this will we prove ourselves worthy to
pick up the mantle left behind by our ancestors. There will be a
resurrection of the Afrikan community and as they say in the church
"ain't nobody gonna be mad but the devil."
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