Posted by Min. Paul Scott Min. Paul Scott As I took that long , walk from the back of the church As I walked past a sea of young people , all with For the last few years, the topic of the condition of So when I look at our current condition and those who Those of us in the struggle must channel our anger and So through it all we will keep on trying. We will
on 6/13/2003, 10:21 pm
205.188.208.10
2 Live and Die 4 Hip Hop:
A Hip Hop Eulogy
I recently attended a funeral for a young brotha who
was murdered. Ill spare you the gory details but I
will say that not even a dog should go out like that.
Although, I was cool with the family, all I knew about
the brotha was what was read during his brief eulogy;
21 years old/left behind a couple of kids/had dreams
of being a freestyle rap artist. No, the brotha wasnt
killed as a result of a freestyle battle gone bad but
if Hip Hop is indeed the music of the streets, this
scenario is blasting through the pavement of too many
hoods across the country.
to the casket to pay my respects , I was feeling a
thousand emotions. I was angry that another potential
black leader was gone and ashamed that with all the
Black history books that I had read in my life, I
could not find a solution within those pages to stop
our young people from killing each other. As I
approached the casket, I could only look at the
brothas shoes, too ashamed to look in his face. By
the time I reached the awkward part of greeting the
family, who were quietly sobbing on the front row,
including a the daughter who seemed oblivious to the
fact that daddy wouldnt be coming home anymore, my
mixed pot of emotions had gelled into a deep guilt. As
I passed the family, all I could get out was a barely
audible Im sorry. But for me, it was more than
just something you say at funerals. It was a solemn
confession that no matter what I had done over the
years in the name of stopping the violence/saving
Black people/keepin hope alive or the other hundred
catch phrases that activists use, if young brothas
in my city are still being murdered, I had not done
nearly enough.
faces of sadness and confusion, I wanted to do an
about face, bum rush the pulpit and turn the funeral
into an impromptu rally where we all made a vow that
this would never happen again. But the thought of
this is not the time or place coupled with the fear
of being accused of exploiting a sad situation to make
a political statement kept me heading out the door
past a congregation of people all trying to
rationalize ways to justify their own inaction
.
Black men has not been on the agenda of mainstream
America. Not since the Rodney King Rebellion era, when
white America was faced with the fear of an army of
angry young Black men storming City Hall and setting
up an Afrikan nation in exile at the corner of Main
Street and Martin Luther King Blvd have the airwaves
been filled with conversations about how to save the
lives of young Black men. But since the media has
done a good job of de-politicizing Black people, for
most white folks, the Black man in 2003 is only a
threat to other Black men. And while white America
has moved on to bigger and better things, like saving
the ozone layer, so have the minds of Black folks, who
are so dependent on the white media that they will not
even take an umbrella outside in a hurricane unless
the white man tells them that it is really raining.
For many black folks the issue has been replaced by
conversations about wars, Star Search and the latest
Ja Rule vs. 50 cent drama.
help to perpetuate it, my guilt and frustration turn
into righteous rage! I get mad. I am mad at you white
America for stripping my ancestors of their culture
and turning the descendents of Kings and Queens into
thugs and gangtsas. I am mad at you Hip Hop magazines
who promote beefs between Black men by putting
rappers on their covers like a Hip Hop/Wild Wild West
Wanted Dead or Alive Poster and not expecting the
same thing that happened in the mid nineties to Biggie
and Pac to happen again. I am mad at you Hip Hop
artists who could undo our psychological damage
overnight if you wanted to but instead you brag about
doing fly bys in your private jets while little
black children are dying from drive bys because you
have made them believe that dying for something is
nothing and dying for nothing is something
.
frustration into a quest to find a solution to the
problems facing Afrikan people. We must have an
unconditional, undying love that keeps us trying to
reach those who dont want to be reached, teach those
who dont want to be taught and FREE those who dont
want to be FREE.
never stop and we still got love for ya till the last
casket drops.
Min. Paul Scott represents the Messianic Afrikan
Nation. He can be reached at minpaulscott@yahoo.com
Website: http://members.blackplanet.com/THE-MYD
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