Brother Salim Kujitawala: HIP HOP & THE REPARATIONS MOVEMENT
Sunday, December 5, 2004 at 02:54PM
TheSpook
By Brother Salim Kujitawala
Since its beginning, Hip Hop culture has always played a role in major
issues that have affected the Black community here in America. In
the early 1980's Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five produced the
song, "The Message." It spoke about poverty, unemployment and
social injustice. In 1989 Hip Hop artists such as MC Lyte, Heavy
D, Public Enemy and KRS1founded "The Stop the Violence Movement." That
movement went on to produce the Hip Hop classic "Self-Destruction",
which addressed the issue of Black on Black crime. A few years later
artists on the west coast produced "We're all in the Same Gang.", which
also spoke about crime in the Black community. In more recent
times the Hip Hop community has been involved in producing songs for
"September 11th" and in encouraging more young people to get involved
politically by voting. Now it is time for the Hip Hop community
to get involved in the Reparations Movement.
The Reparations Movement is an important issue that the Hip Hop
community should address for a couple of reasons. The Hip Hop
community is trying to mobilize young Black People to register to vote
and it has done a great job. However it is not just enough to
register to vote. One must now what one is voting for. Therefore
if the Hip Hop community is going to move more young Black People to
vote, it must also educate them on the issues. The only political issue
that relevant to Black People today is the issue of reparations.
Reparations covers issues such as education, health care, taxes and
land.
An issue that Reparations also addresses that should be of particular
importance to the Hip Hop community is police brutality and the prison
system, because so many people of the Hip Hop generation are affected
by it. Police departments in cities such as N.Y. and Miami have
or are forming "Hip Hop Squads", to monitor Hip Hop artists. With
the majority of Hip Hop artists are Black, Latino and/or poor people;
this can be considered a form of "Racial and Economic Profiling."
A Rave which is attended by predominately white people, is known for
its heavy drugs use, however it does not have an entire police squad
dedicated to it.
Hip Hop artists must realize that they have the power to influence
people, in particular young people, and can do it world wide. Hip
Hop artists have captured the ears, hearts and minds of people such as
Bill Cosby, Bill O'Reilly and even the United States Senate. Whether
the medium is music, movie, video magazine or clothing line everyone
wants to experience Hip Hop. With this type of impact, Hip Hop
can help to advance the Reparations Movement ten fold.
Hip Hop artists have a responsibility to produce music that is a
balance to the overabundance of party and sexually suggestive songs
that are already made. If Snoop can have people "dropping it like its
hot" or if Nelly can have our sisters "dropping down and getting their
eagle on" then they can drop a few tracks about reparations.
For more information on how to get involved in the Reparations
Movement, one can contact: The National Black United Front (NBUF) 12817
South Ashland Calumet Park, Illinois 60827 Phone: (708) 389-9929 Fax:
(708) 389-9819 E-Mail: nbufchi@allways.net or visit the website
nbufront.org. FORWARD EVER.