"How we stop the Black Panthers? .....Ronald Reagan cooked up the answer" - Kanye West
Bill Bennett, Young Jeezy and the Politics of Genocide
by Min. Paul Scott
Rollin' through my 'hood, yesterday I stumbled on a NPR radio program discussing Bill Bennett's comments about how the abortion of Black babies would lower the crime rate. As my heart began to race, I grabbed my cell phone to alert the Brothers that our worst fears had been realized and that "the man" was really planning to kill us all. Just as I was trying to tell the comrade on the other end to grab every Black man that he sees and have them meet us at 8PM at our secret headquarters in the back of Soul City Seafood Restaurant and Juice Bar , my voice was drowned out by the Brotha with the snowman T-shirt in the car next to me bumpin' Young Jeezy's Thug Motivation 101......
Bennett's comments just help to confirm rumors of genocidal plots to destroy Black people that have been discussed in barber shops and book stores for years. I remember building with a Brotha on the subject one day for hours until old man Johnson interrupted the conversation and started babblin' about how his Cousin Leroy died from a heart attack back in '72 when the government sent infrared rays through his TV set during the Big Money Grip episode of Sanford and Son.
The historical reality of genocide cannot be ignored. After all, the west wasn't won by diplomacy but by the genocide of the indigenous people of this country. For Afrikan people, the threat of genocide has been present since the end of slavery. With the so called Emancipation Proclamation, the problem of what to do with the thousands of suddenly unemployed "slaves" caused many plantation owners and politicians many a sleepless night. There are also tales of medical experiments being performed on Black men in the 1900's that still send shock waves through the bones of Brotha's, even today. Try asking the average Black man over 60 about going for his annual physical and watch him mumble something about the Tuskeegee Experiment and march out of the room cussin' like a sailor.
Towards the end of the initial Black Power Movement, the introduction of large quantities of heroin into the Black community is credited with transforming Bro. Raheem Mustafa, Black Revolutionary into Jimmy the Junkie from down the block.
With Reaganomics came crack. For some it was the road to the riches but to others it was a path to destruction. As times got tight, once close nit Black communities began to turn on each other. You were either the predator or the prey. However, tired of the death and destruction in the hood, Hip hop artists got together and did a massive anti-crack marketing campaign. Almost spontaneously, "Crack Kills" and other subliminal messages started showing up in music videos on Rap City and Yo' MTV Raps. It was not uncommon for an MC to end his set with an impromptu redemption of "Leave them Drugs Alone." Hip Hop's biggest and brightest got together and established a code that if they couldn't keep crack out of the Black community, at least they could keep it out of Hip Hop.
But in 2005 with the success of Young Jeezy and Boys in the Hood: Crack is Back! While it was not unusual for a rapper to spin tales of rap sells from his distant past, Young Jeezy, the Snowman (Get it? Get it ? Jeezy the Snowman.) talks about it in real time. Not only is his 18 track CD solely about sellin' rock or " trappin'" , he has a nation of black boys walking around with snow man T-shirts yellin' "Trap or Die."
The question should be, with the recent trend for Hip Hop to again become political and the threat that the recent happenings in New Orleans will make even the most stuff shirt conservative , Barry Manilow listening Brotha go out and get an Afro pick, what is behind the recent influx of crack music back in the game.
This question makes the recent comments coming from right wing politicians talking about how the drowning of hundreds of Black folks was the wrath of God and Bill Bennett saying that abortion of Black babies will prevent someone from breaking into your crib while you're on that Disney World vacation even more disturbing.
For years we have heard Brotha's slangin' crack on the block parrot the familiar phrase "we don't own the planes, trains and ships that bring drugs into the Black community' and Brotha's in Hip Hop saying they are just reflecting what's goin' on in the streets. Unfortunately, these statements often remain eternal rhetoric and are never viewed within context of the global condition of Afrikan people. While most people would automatically assume that politics of Right Wing Conservatives and Trap Rappers are in opposition could the two entities actually be in cahoots?
While we are quick to check the politics of another Brother or Sister, we never question the political ideologies of the Jimmy Iovines, Lyle Cohen's, Steve Gotlieb' s and others who are really responsible for the state of Hip Hop. We never question their ultimate vision for the future of Black people. While it is easy to pretend that all of the problems facing the Black community; the gun sales, liquor stores on every corner, unemployment, the prison industrial complex, etc are accidental, what if there really is an effort to remove Afrikan people from the face of the planet? Could it be that Bill Bennett's words reflect a larger master plan of both prebirth and post birth "abortions." Within this context, is the conspiracy theory that levees could be blown up to drown undesirable Black folks in New Orleans , really that far fetched?
I wonder if the Boys in tha Hood who sell crack in the hood and on wax have ever thought about their role in the genocide of Afrikan people. Have we ever taken the time to slip them a book or CD by one of our scholars or expert researchers on the subject? ? Maybe they're unaware.
Maybe, the reason that we are still headed down the road of destruction over 15 years after the Stop the Violence Movement recorded "Self Destruction" is because the destruction is not originating from ourselves.
Are we commiting Genocide Black People?
Forum Home
