Ok...
excel10k said:
Brother, I will be delighted to answer your questions. I do, however, ask that in return, you please go back to my post that you responded to and answer the questions therein. For the record, I don't believe you directly addressed a single question within my post. If you did, accept my apology in advance, but please show me.
With that being said, No, I have not seen Tupac speak or present his positive message at a college or university. But, please consider this....neither has 95% of the "at risk" kids who only hear his message glorifying the "Thug Life"....you know the one that you end up face down in a puddle of blood, the one that you end up incarcerated, engaging in homosexual sex, contracting HIV/AIDS, then being released to bring that stuff back into your community....YES, 95% of his fan club only hears the message that normalizes the "Thug Life". I really can't imagine what he would say at a college that was positive unless he completely denounced the lifestyle he sang about. I consider it hypocritical of him to promote the "Thug Life", yet try to be "Positive" on college campuses....didn't he realize that 6,300 black men per year die at the hands of other black men living the "Thug Life"??? If he didn't, he sure does now. The amazing part to me is that while we have internal promoters of this lifestyle, we somehow manage to twist the blame for this back to whites.
As an educator, you see first hand the apathy our students have toward academic excellence. I know of nothing within hip hop that encourages academic excellence. I have an aunt who has been an educator for just under 35 years. She is in a county that is nearly 75% black. over 75% of the fauculty is black as well as over 75% of the students. EVEN IN THIS SETTING there is a 40% academic performance gap between black students and white students.
Don't get me wrong, I used to LOVE rap music until I got saved. But God showed me just how distructive this stuff really was. I didn't make the change within myself, but I cannot stand the stuff. I realize the people who produce it are very talented people...I know they can use that talent to uplift rather than destroy. BUT YOU KNOW WHAT, they know they can as well...but it doesn't sell as well. 70% of all rap music sold is purchased by white people......so, who are they selling out to....white people. They are selling a lifestyle that normalizes racist terms, glorifies drugs, murder, and immoral sex, to a white constituatcy who have fathers at home who will beat the daylights out of them and cut them out of their will if THEY try to act out this stuff.....and they are also selling this lifestyle to a black constituatcy that 70% of them do not have a father involved in their life nor any positive role model that tells them "I don't care what Tupac said, we don't shoot our fellow brother" These rappers are the true sell outs...they are sell us out for that 70% white buying dollar.
Sometimes, I declare ,I believe the KKK must be financing the Rap industry.
Mo' Money, Mo problems is only true if you have a lot of drama in your life. The closer you are to Christ, the less drama you will have in your life. I don't know how to say this in a diplomatic way, but Biggie and Tupac died a fools death. How can they be role models??? they are just another statistic...another dead black man on the street in a puddle of their own blood. They were very talented brothers who had potential to be so much more. Is this what we want to promote as positive role models??? Live the life that takes you to a bloody end, face down in your own blood, on the street like a dog??
As far as your IRS issues, if you don't have one already, start a business...any business....expense all that stuff away.....stay legit so that WHEN you are audited, you are covered...but the stuff most people by that are not tax deductable can be legitimately deducted from your income when you are a business owner. Even a home based business owner can reap tremendous tax benefits....just keep it legit...remember, no drama.
On Clarence and Condi....I don't necessarily agree with all of their politics, but I do agree with much of it. that being said, rather than defend them as a whole person, I would prefer you to present specific issues you have with them that makes them spinmasters and tricksters. I would be delighted to respond to your points, issues, or questions on them. If I don't agree with them on a subject, I will say so, If I do agree with them, I will say so as well...and defend the position.
What is the "ward con-ner lie"??? I don't know who or what that is? Sorry
OK, brother.....you made me work....I googled ward conner...and ward connerly came up....considering he seems to be involved in anti-affirmative actions work, I suppose that is what you are talking about. Prior to now, I didn't know the man. Never heard of him.
I did not do an indept study on his position, but one thing jumped out at me....there was an article that indicated that he said "God bless the KKK" or something to that effect and that he has an all out assault on Affirmative Actions. First of all, NO, I don't want God to bless the KKK, exterminate them yes...bless them....not even close.
Next, Affirmative Actions...No, I am not a firm believer in affirmative actions...would I actively work to take them down...no, I wouldn't. Do I believe they are still needful, yes, in some areas. Do I want them to always exist...no, I would love to see them phased away as black self-sufficiency phased in. A brief insight into my experience that give me this view.
I personally have worked with litterally thousands of whites over the years. To my knowledge, I have never gained as a result of affirmative actions. It is possible, but I didn't know about it if it occured. My college education was through the military and was available (at cost) to any member of the military...My promotions were earned on merit, my career enhancements and progression was based on my being competitive. I personally don't want anything that I didn't earn on merit...especially if someone else did not get it so that I could have it, simply because I am darker than them. That is just the way I feel. I am confident that I can compete with whites AND in a case where I am discriminated against, I wouldn't want to be there any way....That is just the way I feel....But, I can say that in my life any time I have been hindered has been mostly a result of me hindering myself. ...so long story short....I personally don't want anything to do with affirmative actions, but I ain't mad atcha if you want them"
Since you are a "Christ" who has been "saved" and made in in the us "military" on your own "merit" I aint mad atcha either.
But im not gonna take an a-historical perspective either.
For one, I benefitted from affirmative action and went directly to college from high school at a time when a lot of white athletes who were not regularly admissible qualified under "special action" programs as did white women who were "underrepresented in the college/university system...
And at that time...the mid 70s, right after the vietnam war, the us military branches recruited "minorities" into officer training rograms under affirmative action guidelines, which were in effect in every public and governmental institution [rior to the Bakke case in 1977. In fact, I was recruited into an officer program with the us army but decided to go directly to college instead.
Hmm...im not one to bash the hip hop community and say there has been no contribution to the positive education of black people when I know people such as Lisa Williamson (sista souljah) who started the national african youth student alliance, of which i was a member, and some of us established camps for inner city kids, community service and tutoring programs...in addition to networking with organizations such as the new african people's organization from which Tupac was a youth member of the new african scouts and his godbrother Yakhisizwe engaged in martial arts training.
Some of my "comrades" continued my own community service work and still operate a saturday school in compton's wilmington arms project and some continue to work with unity one and other gang intervention programs.
as far as who "rap music" is sold to i said nothing about "rap" as a musical genre but "hip hop" which is a culture, of which "rap" is a later development. Like stanly crouch, you seem to have it twisted and i have heard these arguments from long before c. delores tucker.
yet, i can wage the same arguments of every single musical "genre" and black cinema as far as negative imagery, and the glorified "thug life" which hip hop has unfortunately been scapegoated as if drug addiction, glorification of violence, sexual perversion have not been common themes from the beginning in jass, blues, rock, reggae and rock and roll...
Hm....look at "jelly roll" morton, the man who claims to have founded "jass" (and im spelling it the way he did)....the name "jelly roll" speaks for itself.
What about Muddy Waters who sang "Ima a back door man".
What about the heroin addiction of miles davis, eric dolphy, john coltrane and many others
And we knw that the rockers theme is sex,violence and rock n' roll.
What about reggae and rampant marijuana use or Rick james singing about "Mary Jane"...or Prince advocating bi-sexuality...
no disrespect, but i dont expect a military man to ADMIT there is a king alfred plan and expect you to write it off as conspiracy theory...
and as far as that achievement gap is converned...ever heard of "seperate and unequal"...in fact...thats what affirmative action programs sought to address..the lack of PARITY....
I know folks such as myself who were admitted to college under affirmative action who also would have been regularly admissible but applied under AA guidelines because it qualified us for higher limits of financial aid...
for me this meant fellowships and state scholarships, and in graduate school a fellowship sponsored by the student relations office due to my community service work..and if i showed you today my college transcripts my home residence was in Compton...which used to also be serviced by university outreach programs which eventually were eliminated thanks to people such as ward connerly when he was a uc regent....
who by the way tried to block student protest against apartheid south africa...
so....personally...im not trying to twist anything back to white people...as most folks who have interacted with me know....i do accept responsibility for even my own weakness and shortcomings...
but i aint gonna never put the blame on hip hop....no way....i KNOW its positive impact considering the contributions of KRS-One, Queen latifah, Chuck d, dead prez, immortal technique, project blowed, freestyle fellowship, mc lyte and many others who are not given the credit they deserve...
i was raised in a jazz community with deep roots in the central avenue scene of los angeles and early be-bop and "avante garde"....but i recognize how jazz...which once was considered a potentially revolutionary genre became watered down and while you speak to white buying hip hop what about jazz and the blues??
whites dominate those genres and rock, which started with lil richard, jesse belvin, chuck berry, laverne baker, et al is now considered "white boy music".
as far as the achievement gap is concerned i wont totally dismiss educational in-equality or act as it doesnt exist because it does....
but this is the issue which led me to retire from the public school system...too many people --black and white-- talking about the problem of the achievement gap and playing lip service to it but....
if black MEN are not hired in the schools and the few who are teaching do not recieve support from black parents for their hard work then what is to be expected?
i recieved specialized training in a college board program to specifically address the achievement gap but whenever i spoke of or tried to work towards SOLUTIONS i got shot down---by black and white--CO-WORKERS and parents who were in denial and simply wanted to blame teachers for their kids failure...
kinda hard to make any impact when everyone aspires to be the next Omarion (one of my former students)...
by the way...again..you can blame tupac for being "violent" and "hypocritical" fro speaking about the very same realities which existed before he was born and continue after his death...
while them same white folks continue to glorify rambo, john wayne, michael corleone, tony soprano, scarface, the terminator, george bush, ronald reagan, each of who killed more people, real or imaginary, than tupac ever dreamed or fantasized about!
