Obama, Jay-Z, and curbing the culture of violence
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BY DAWUD WALID
A Pew Research report shows that American gun homicide rates dropped 49 percent in 2010 from their 1993 peak.
Though the black homicide rate also declined, blacks still constitute fifty-five percent of homicide victims though only making up 13 percent of the population. Blacks, like other ethnic groups, are the primary killers of one another.
As I believe that there should be mandatory background checks for the sale of all firearms, even by private owners, and that there should be a ban on citizens having 75-100 round ammo drums, I also know that most murders are not due to assault weapons. I also know that we cannot legislate ourselves out of murdering each other.
First Lady Michelle Obama, a gun control advocate, recently urged black youth to seek education instead of desiring to be “a baller or a rapper.” This was good advice given that the grossly materialistic and misogynistic culture of hip hop fuels the culture of violence in the black community. Ironically, the president and First Lady are cozy with Jay-Z, who became a multi-millionaire rapping about toting guns, selling dope and exaggerating the importance of materialism.
Legislation cannot fix the epidemic of murder within Black America – only a cultural shift can. There is too much acceptance of anti-social behaviors, which glorify violence. Much of this has been pushed by the black entertainers though they are not alone in disseminating filth.
There needs to be a call to sanity in the black community away from the culture of death. If the First Family disassociated itself from this culture instead of palling around with a gangsta rapper, it would be a great start.
