More Russel Simmons news, as he appeared on Anderson Cooper 360 last night, along with a very intelligent man, Geoffrey Canada (the two appeared separately). The segment was on the growing trend, or movement, primarily within the American black community called "Stop Snitching." I'd heard of this a year or so ago on local news. It's funny how news like this takes so long to travel, isn't it?
As a white man who grew up as a minority amongst African-Americans (it's true, I went to an elementary school which was formerly a segregated black school and was among only 13 white kids in the graduating [8th grade] class), many of the problems plaguing the American black community have been apparent to me for some time now.
It may be a case of being on the outside looking in, but I don't think so; I think a lot of black Americans are aware of what is going on in their own community and just choose to look the other way. Mr. Canada succinctly and unflinchingly said as much last night in an eloquent and very passionate interview in which he explained the obvious: this whole "Stop Snitching" campaign is a business ploy -- nothing more, nothing less -- run by large corporations, recording artists, and other money makers, and the African-American community is buying into it, hook, line, and sinker.
Most of these rappers don't fight their way through gang-infested streets to make it home after a gig; they take a limo back to their mansion in a gated community, far away from the inner-city sprawl. Even those who do choose to stay in/around the communities where they grew up or got their start no longer occupy apartments in run-down tenement buildings; they own homes and studios and have paid for major renovations for their quarters. What they profess to believe and be involved in is simply not accurate. Of course, young people listening to their music and watching their videos don't completely grasp this and it very well does have an effect on them.
While Russel Simmons tries to play both sides of the fence and keep everybody happy, Geoffrey Canada is actually doing and saying things that matter. Simmons is the best weapon against this tripe because his unwillingness to take a definitive stand on either side of the issue proves that these people will say what they need to say when they need to say it, so long as there's a paycheck behind it. That's really the bottom-line message in all of the rap/gangsta culture anyway, isn't it? Get rich or die trying; I'm gonna get mines.
Problem is, the people pushing this message "done got theirs;" they're already rich. And, regardless of what you think or want to believe, if being a good Christian or remaining abstinent until marriage or holding down a full-time job even if it only pays minimum wage were to become a popular message/movement tomorrow, these same "gangsta rappers" would be rapping about that stuff by the day after tomorrow.
Russel Simmons can say what he wants about these people being "artists," just like people like Russel Simmons can insist that mangled English and urban slang is Ebonics and deserves to be treated as a language in its own right, but none of that stuff is the truth. These self-professed "leaders" of the black community are sending the wrong message to the people they lead and guys like Geoffrey Canada know this and are finally sounding the alarm.
But is it too late?
As a white man who grew up as a minority amongst African-Americans (it's true, I went to an elementary school which was formerly a segregated black school and was among only 13 white kids in the graduating [8th grade] class), many of the problems plaguing the American black community have been apparent to me for some time now.
It may be a case of being on the outside looking in, but I don't think so; I think a lot of black Americans are aware of what is going on in their own community and just choose to look the other way. Mr. Canada succinctly and unflinchingly said as much last night in an eloquent and very passionate interview in which he explained the obvious: this whole "Stop Snitching" campaign is a business ploy -- nothing more, nothing less -- run by large corporations, recording artists, and other money makers, and the African-American community is buying into it, hook, line, and sinker.
Most of these rappers don't fight their way through gang-infested streets to make it home after a gig; they take a limo back to their mansion in a gated community, far away from the inner-city sprawl. Even those who do choose to stay in/around the communities where they grew up or got their start no longer occupy apartments in run-down tenement buildings; they own homes and studios and have paid for major renovations for their quarters. What they profess to believe and be involved in is simply not accurate. Of course, young people listening to their music and watching their videos don't completely grasp this and it very well does have an effect on them.
While Russel Simmons tries to play both sides of the fence and keep everybody happy, Geoffrey Canada is actually doing and saying things that matter. Simmons is the best weapon against this tripe because his unwillingness to take a definitive stand on either side of the issue proves that these people will say what they need to say when they need to say it, so long as there's a paycheck behind it. That's really the bottom-line message in all of the rap/gangsta culture anyway, isn't it? Get rich or die trying; I'm gonna get mines.
Problem is, the people pushing this message "done got theirs;" they're already rich. And, regardless of what you think or want to believe, if being a good Christian or remaining abstinent until marriage or holding down a full-time job even if it only pays minimum wage were to become a popular message/movement tomorrow, these same "gangsta rappers" would be rapping about that stuff by the day after tomorrow.
Russel Simmons can say what he wants about these people being "artists," just like people like Russel Simmons can insist that mangled English and urban slang is Ebonics and deserves to be treated as a language in its own right, but none of that stuff is the truth. These self-professed "leaders" of the black community are sending the wrong message to the people they lead and guys like Geoffrey Canada know this and are finally sounding the alarm.
But is it too late?
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