This is About the Black Ghettoes of the USA
I’m writing this in the wake of
the murder of Chicago rapper, Joseph Coleman aka Lil Jo Jo. I’m not
going to go into the details of his murder, nor the circumstances
surrounding it too much. I will say that there is an important
intersection between youth (gang related) violence and the
hyper-masculine values set that contemporary rap music underscores. As a
Hip-Hop educator who works primarily with crime-affected youth, these
are things I think about often. However, what I see in both the
mainstream and independent media fail to analyze this problem from a
socio-political perspective. It seems that they would paint the rash of
violence of recent years among youth as a sudden, inexplicable
phenomenon. I have a problem with that.
The streets of Chicago are on
fire right now. In the summer of 2012, murders rose 60% from the
previous year. Over Memorial Day weekend, 40 people were shot. I
remember hearing that 9 people were killed over Labor Day weekend in
Chicago. The vast majority of these shootings are youth-on-youth. Two
questions jump into my mind; why are we killing each other and where are
they guns coming from?
Why Are We Killing Each Other?
In neighborhoods plagued by
violence, it’s clear that people are wanting for conflict resolution
skills. I remember growing up in Brownsville, Brooklyn and being taught
by my peer group that if someone spoke to you disrespectfully, the
proper response was to punch that person in the mouth. It isn’t hard to
see how this same train of thought can escalate to gun violence,
especially when life isn’t valued. Young people are seemingly
desensitized to death, and consumed with their own immediate material
satisfaction. Major factors in this are bloody video games, gun-fueled
action movies, and hedonistic American dreams that are sold through
television and music. We’re taught that life is generally invaluable,
and that if anyone’s life has value, it is strictly our own.
“Those in the community who defy
authority and ‘break the law’ seem to enjoy the good life and have
everything in the way of material possessions. On the other hand, people
who work hard and struggle and suffer much are the victims of greed and
indifference, losers. This insane reversal of values presses heavily on
the Black community. These causes originate from outside and are
imposed by a system that ruthlessly seeks its own rewards, no matter
what the cost in wrecked human lives.”
- Huey P. Newton Revolutionary Suicide
We are living in a unique time.
The crack era ushered in access to riches in ways unimagined to
impoverished people in the USA. This introduced a generation gap.
Teenagers could become the breadwinners of their families, sometimes
losing respect for the adults who struggled to make ends meet. The
millions of dollars in street money also brought in higher-powered
weaponry. But this is the picture of the 80’s and 90’s. What’s happened
in the last 20 years to produce a generation of children that are armed
to kill and ready to die? My gut tells me that the corporate hijacking
of Hip Hop music has a lot to do with it. I am convinced that there is
an agenda to keep the masses poor and downtrodden, and racism is a
primary weapon to this end. There is a subplot to oppress Black &
Brown people (the Original Indigenous People of the Earth),
specifically. Arts are universal languages. They convey messages of
intellectual and emotional qualities beyond light speed. It only makes
sense that the elite would take control of an art form that was born to
liberate the people.
I hear rappers talking about
popping pills, sipping lean and murdering their enemies (or having
“shooters” do it). These messages come down non-stop over rhythms that
are hypnotic and undeniable. I almost found myself singing along to
these songs more than a few times. I was definitely bouncing to the
beats. I believe it is KRS-ONE who talks about Hip-Hop music containing
an automatic affirmative via the head nod. Furthermore, there’s
something in this music that feels energetic and warlike. These are
things that are embedded in the animalistic parts of the human psyche,
and reinforced by the machismo that US imperialism was built on. What’s
more “American” than standing with your soldiers, taking what you want,
and getting rid of anyone that stands in between you and wealth? That’s
what Manifest Destiny is all about. This is the backdrop to the worship
of the Almighty Dollar.
People want power. Truly, the
power to determine one’s own life is a baseline desire, maybe a need.
However, we’re largely taught that real power is power over others. We
don’t yet know how to (or even see a need to) dismantle the power
structure; we only want to occupy its positions. We have neither a true
concept of community, nor the resources to build it. For instance,
cities cannot function or thrive without food sources. Many
neighborhoods in Black ghettoes are food deserts. We don’t eat right, so
how can we think right? Furthermore, our schools are poor, and don’t
relate to our collective circumstance. We don’t have the proper fuel.
Those of us who are more right-minded have to compete with the mass
medias reinforcement of shallow, individualistic mentalities that
solidify large-scale hopelessness.
There’s also a perversion of what
(Black) Power means. I hear a lot of people use Malcolm’s phrase, “Any
Means Necessary” as a justification for being a terrorist to one’s own
community. This is nonsense. In the instances he used this phrase, he
spoke of respect, freedom, justice, equality, freedom and human rights.
He wasn’t talking about mere survival, and he certainly wasn’t talking
about individual success without regard for others. Unfortunately, our
people are caught up in pursuing the American Dream. To quote Method Man
and the Notorious B.I.G., “fuck the world, don’t ask me for shit, ‘cuz
everything you get you got to work hard for it.” That’s how this society
makes us think.
The devaluation of Black life is
paramount here. Even the word Black connotes degradation. The Black is
Beautiful movement has pretty much come and gone. The assaults of White
Supremacy are non-stop. TV, movies, magazines, literature, history
textbooks, advertising et c. constantly remind us that to be Black is
the worst of the worst. Black has become a synonym for “ghetto,” which
has been incorrectly redefined as impoverished by one’s own fault for
being lazy, stupid, dirty and unworthy. Still, I write from a
self-affirmed ghetto perspective because I know what the ghetto is. It
is a prison. It is where undesirables are economically quarantined. It
is what the USA wants to sweep under the rug. There is far more to
Blackness than the ghetto, but until there are no more Black ghettoes in
the USA, I have to fight.
I work with youth who are in
alternative sentencing programs, who are homeless, and who have
incarcerated parents. I am in close contact with some of the most
vulnerable youth in New York City and they are almost exclusively Black
and Latino (identities that frequently overlap). We already know that
there are cavernous gaps in education and employment along racial lines.
All of these factors negatively impact self-worth in communities of
color. So if the world-at-large tells you you’re worthless, and the
environment you live in offers little to no opportunity to counter that
assessment, you embrace it. Combine that with socio-economic factors
that often leave a child to fend for him/herself, and this condition is
exacerbated. Black boys and girls do not get to live as children. The
boys are viewed as menaces and the girls are objectified. All of our
children are sexualized prematurely. This easily leads to them being
characterized as thugs, whores and misfits, deserving of mass
incarceration. Quite naturally, this mischaracterization sticks through
adulthood. The problem is, we believe that this is who we are, and we
don’t actually like it. We want it to stop. We are collectively
suicidal. This frustration is built up in the ghetto and does not know
how to effectively strike out against the oppressive system, so the
anger and disappointment are aimed inwardly.
Where Are the Guns Coming From?
My guess is the CIA… like the
Columbian cocaine that flooded the hood during the Iran-Contra Affair.
If you watch the music videos coming out of Chicago, you’ll see that the
young people who are gang affiliated are being supplied with an arsenal
of weaponry that is flat out scary. Furthermore, this is overseen by
older people who do not cherish the youth, and choose to exploit them.
So where the guns are coming from is not that important to me. The
answer I’m searching for is how to keep our children from turning those
guns against themselves. Fratricide is a sickness. I’m only detailing
the problems, so that the solutions can be put together effectively.
Peace.
1 comment:
Great read, swift is a good brotha, seen first hand how he reps for the black & brown youth.
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