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Cot Damn, Here We Go Again: New York Daily News & Author Thomas Chatterton Williams Blame Hip Hop For Corrupting America's Youth. Who's Really To Blame?
Whenever something happens it's normal to look for the cause or try to find something to blame for it.
The problem is it's usually not as simple as one issue creating the problem.
Now author Thomas Chatterton Williams wants to blame hip hip for the downfall of America's youth, all because a prep school kid named Afrika Owes got involved in some gang activity.
I couldn't disagree with Williams more. Check out his article for the New York Daily News and judge for yourself.
Save our kids: How hip hop corrupts young lives like Afrika Owes'
Afrika Owes was a 17 year old with everything going for her. A precocious child growing up in Harlem, her talents were not deferred but frequently rewarded: She attended basketball camps, sang in the choir at Abyssinian Baptist Church, won a poetry contest and even earned a scholarship to the elite Deerfield Academy in Massachusetts. A savvy and ambitious student, she had her sights set on either NYU or Columbia for college, or perhaps the University of Pennsylvania if things didn't work out in New York. She had options, and she knew it.
Despite all that, Owes made headlines last weekend not for her intellectual achievements but for something else entirely - her unwavering loyalty to a nihilistic street culture that is devouring young blacks. Owes was arrested for running drugs and guns on behalf of her incarcerated boyfriend, Jaquan Layne, a member of the "137th Street Crew," a violent street gang that sold crack not too far from the Abyssinian Church.
Afrika seems to have been many things: She was "real," she was "cool," she was "down" and most likely she was a victim - but sadly she was not unpredictable. Though I don't know this teenager specifically, I know a good deal about the culture that has shaped her generation and mine, telling us repeatedly that black authenticity is inextricably linked to street credibility. Allow me to extrapolate.
I can imagine a 12-year-old Afrika, just as she's becoming aware of boys, singing along in her bedroom to a seemingly innocuous song like Destiny's Child's "Soldier":
I need a soldier
That ain't scared to stand up for me
Known to carry big things
If you know what I mean
If his status ain't hood
I ain't checkin' for him
Betta be street if he lookin' at me
I need a soldier
That ain't scared to stand up for me
Gotta get dough
And he betta be street
I can imagine that young girl realizing that the college-bound boys at her school aren't nearly as appealing as a young turk like Layne.
Fast forward five years, and I can imagine Owes taking the subway down to the New York Public Library on 42nd Street to hear the famous black professor from Princeton, Cornel West, live in conversation with the rapper Jay-Z. Perhaps she has recently read in Rolling Stone that Jay-Z is one of the President's favorite artists; perhaps that was something she already knew.
I can imagine Afrika listening as West asks Jay-Z, the ex-crack dealer made good millions of times over, to expound upon the similarities between, of all things, "the hustler and the freedom fighter." I can hear the applause as Jay-Z responds, "the difference is the level of maturity." I can envision the pretty girl with a bright future leaving the talk persuaded that maybe, just maybe, there is something noble about the crack dealer's calling.
I can see her back home in her bedroom, on the phone with her boyfriend at Rikers, assuring him that she will stay true to the cause.
These are only my imaginings. Maybe it wasn't like that at all. Maybe Afrika is simply a bad kid, nothing more or less. The fact remains, though, that the youth culture she has grown up in valorizes the kind of man she fell in love with while rationalizing the disastrous decisions she made to prove herself to him. At the same time, the very public leaders who are in the strongest position to refute this folly more often than not make careers out of contorting themselves to justify it.
I have known several Afrika Owes in my life. During the second semester of my senior year at Georgetown, one of my classmates, the product of a posh New England boarding school and a star tennis player, was expelled just weeks before graduation. As my friends and I scratched our heads trying to figure out what infraction he possibly could have committed - cheating on an exam? driving drunk? - details of a different sort soon emerged. It turned out that our talented classmate led a dual existence. Even as he burned the midnight oil in the library and ate with us in the cafeteria, he never stopped being a soldier. He toted a handgun and sold drugs for a D.C. crew. One evening, he burst into the dorm room of a student who owed him money, gun in hand, looking to collect the debt.
Responding to the question, "Who gives us our values?" Albert Camus answered with a question: "Don't you believe we are all responsible for the absence of values?" As another Black History Month draws to a close, we must face one of the great tragedies of our time: After so many obstacles have been overcome, our limitations are being chosen deliberately.
It is at our own peril that we fail to realize that ideas matter, that what we put inside our heads matters and that the values we choose to live by make all the difference in the world.
Williams is author of "Losing My Cool: How a Father's Love and 15,000 Books Beat Hip-Hop Culture."
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Comment
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Comment by Perfect Gentleman on March 5, 2011 at 10:52pm -
I really don't feel like it but I'mma go ahead and hit da club cause some people wanna kick it wit me. I sent you a friend request so we can exchange gamer tags on the low so don't be alarmed I don't have any bad intentions towards you. I'd just rather talk to you like a man while I'm murking you because it's funner that way. Make sure you have a 360 headset, add me and we'll kick it when I get back. But if you're scared to talk to me via mic I understand that too.
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Comment by Perfect Gentleman on March 5, 2011 at 10:28pm
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Boy you're trying to measure worth by success??? This is the internet so of course I believe that your not lying. Either way I don't give a f*** about your financial situation TOM! Real men don't go around expressing how much they make to feel better about themselves. Money is not even the issue here idiot but since you can't shake the ground that I stand on you go the lying "I got more money than you route" all while you have no idea how much I make. Pac was da man but no I don't follow him in the sense that you've ASSUMED. I just know what he tried to do for my people and I commend him for that. In conclusion, I don't come here to argue with people (Internet Wanna be's) so I'm not going to continue wasting my time talking to you about your stupidity. Add me on xbox live and we can kick it there playa. We can handle this on Black Ops Free For All. We can clash on Fight Night, MW2, MW1, GTA 4 or even Madden 11 if you're too soft for fighting games. By the way I have no insecurities about my manhood so I'm ok wit GAY JOKING YOU Flamer Flame!!!! Hurry up and reply and I'll give you my gamer tag cause I'm itching to beat up on ya tonite.
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Comment by Perfect Gentleman on March 5, 2011 at 7:27pm
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Awwww is your pu#@y still hurting you f*****? Did I bang you too hard? I'mma beat it up everytime you open yo hole gay boy. Pac was more than an artist and THE TRUTH IS IF YOU'D OF TALKED SOME OF YOUR ANTI PAC SHI# WHILE HE WAS ALIVE YOU'D BE THE ONE DEAD!!!
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Comment by Perfect Gentleman on March 4, 2011 at 7:12am
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CS Boy I admonish and acknowledge positive truths about the people who ACTUALLY TRIED TO HELP MY PEOPLE but all you're doing in focusing on whatever dirt you can point out like fake people who quote particular bible passages at particular times to prove their own points for their own glory. Pac was a black leader aside from everything you can conjure. If you can't accept the truth of it then I wipe the dirt from my sandals and move on. I've done my research and I'm done teaching this lesson for today because you're like a female that you have to explain things to in minute detail (Not minute as in 60 seconds of time but mi'nute pronounced like MY-NOOT). Look it up!!! Get your own knowledge and maybe then you'll stop hatin' on the efforts of those who REALLY try to help. AND JUST HOW MANY PEOPLE HAVE YOU TRIED TO HELP Tom??????????????????????????????????????????
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Comment by Trill-O-Gee aka Mr.Rackistan on March 1, 2011 at 7:02pm -
We can't say Pac was a rapist come on....A b*tch will always be a b*tch. When you get money, you attract hood rats. A hood rat will do whatever they can to fu*k a real man's life up. Let's not treat all these women like they're innocent...You always hear stories about groupies and the tactics they like to use on men. Don't hate a dead man either, especially one that died at a young age. Pac was learning how to be a better man, hell, ALL MEN aspire to be a better man. Pac was finding his way and was in the process of switching labels, every man walks their own path, you choose yours and Pac chose his, by the time Pac tried to turn his around, it was too late. He made a mistake and wasn't given the chance to learn from it. That's life sometimes, that's why I live everyday like it's my last day...
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Comment by Trill-O-Gee aka Mr.Rackistan on March 1, 2011 at 3:16pm
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Ok CS....We all know Pac lost some cool points for them pics lmao...But in my opinion?
Them shiznits ain't got nothing on Kobe's "Pure Whitie" pics...
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Comment by BEANZ on March 1, 2011 at 2:36pm -
I BET IF WE GREW UP IN WHITE OR SUBURB AMERIKA WE WOULDNT LISTEN TO SO MUCH HIPHOP BUT SEE HIPHOP TAKES ALOT OF PEOPLE OUT THE HOOD AND 70 % OF NUKKAS FROM THE HOOD WANT TO RAP SO U MAKE SENSE OF IT !!!!!AINT NOBODY WANT TO BE IN THE HOOD ALL THERE LIVES BECAUSE OF HIPHOP ITS THE CORRUPT WORLD AND SURROUNDINGS THAT MAKE US WHO WE ARE !!!! I AM A PRODUCT OF AMERIKA !!!
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Comment by Trill-O-Gee aka Mr.Rackistan on March 1, 2011 at 1:10pm
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I don't follow nobody anymore, a grown man is supposed to lead, but life is a learning process, and you learn by learning from other people. I ain't no Muslim, but Farrakhan does speak about unity amongst Black people, something that's been lacking due to people trying to expose one another for NOT being real instead of encouraging one another to do better. Every Ni**a/Black man ain't from a hood environment homie, that's ignorant as f***, and you real quick to call somebody a "Tom", stop acting like a b**** taking pics with your shirt off trying to sell sex to a woman without substance. You'll never have a REAL BLACK woman with a ignorant a** thought process like that. Trying to expose instead of appreciate. I thank God that my mama was a Former Black Panther and she taught me the importance of listening/thinking before speaking, and the importance of education and EDUCATING YOURSELF. Too many folks trying to DEPEND on a educated Black man instead of LEARNING from him. I can't save the hood, but I can save myself and set a example for other Black youth that want to save themselves also. You can't save the whole hood when some people DON'T WANT TO BE SAVED. You can't depend on one man to SAVE you anyway unless that man is yourself. Set a positive example(Like Martin Luther King and Malcom X did) to live by, and you WILL earn respect and eventually followers, and watch your followers grow into leaders...Pac was a leader, so he will have followers, but, in ANY case, we should inspire to be a leader like HE was...So what I don't Idolize him(even though I was a follower of his), I WILL NEVER IDOLIZE NO MAN!!! I would RATHER LEARN FROM THEM AND WHAT THEY TAUGHT so I can become a LEADER.
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Comment by WaTcHOuT on March 1, 2011 at 1:01pm -
Hip hop does corrupt the spanish and black youth just like rock n roll corrupts the white youth doing hardcore drugs. Hip hop usto be art now it's way too commercial, just check out how many youngin's in school rockin' fake ice or portraiyin the same s*** the see in hiphop videos.... I think hiphop is dooming us minorities forreal foreal
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Comment by Perfect Gentleman on March 1, 2011 at 11:31am
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You following Farrakhan you idiot??? All of us n***** products of da hood but what part have u played on affecting da hood for good as compared to N***** Dat Fell In Love Wit da Struggle like Martin Luther, Malcolm, Pac ANd mysefl TOM?
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