Crime and Society: Black Lives Matter

Anger and sadness are the prevailing emotions that fill my bosom when I think of what is occurring around the nation between Police and Black men. Without mentioning any particular incident, this information is nothing new. It is only outraging people because the episodes have been caught on video as of late. Police have been murdering Blacks in America and getting away with it for decades.

What do we do about it as a nation? We shake our heads at the injustice and move on to the next show on our phones and tablets. Police abuse towards minorities, people of color, is what Black Lives Matter brought to the forefront of awareness in America. That is not enough. We have the result of a problem that occurs all over the nation. What the effect is to the question is that Black bodies showing up not on lynching trees, but in police cars and sidewalks. What is the cause of this?

It is celebrated in American media. We make fun of the good guy who follows all the rules and find a way to turn him or her into a bad guy. Look what DC did to the story of Superman! DC made him just as dark and angsty as Batman! It did try to fix it in the Justice League second movie, but I don't know. That's another story.

Firstly, I start with my heroes, officers of the law. To the upstanding majority of officers of the law, I salute you. You risk your lives every day at each interaction with potential criminals. I honor your role in society and pray for your safety. Godspeed!

To the minority of you people who have badges and bring dishonor to the occupation, my contempt is palpable. You break the laws of the land while appearing to enforce them all due to a shield or badge.

It is the small segment of law enforcement that blights society and kills Black people because of racism. Of course, there are mistakes made by good officers, but the minority of psychologically challenged officers who perpetuate discord and confusion for good cops are the criminal element that makes the police departments look bad, please find another line of employment.

Black people, we need to stop blaming other people for what is going on in our communities. I agree with BLMN in one important respect: Black lives DO matter. Black people need to stop blaming outsiders for what occurs in our communities. Why are police so willing to shoot a Black person, in custody, unarmed, and cuffed? Fear? Anger? Racism?

It does not matter the reason why because it is wrong, right?

Yes and no! It matters why cops do it AND it is wrong. Officers of the law have NO right to shoot an unarmed person. Whatever happened to tasers?

Look at Black culture. What is being promoted in the Black community? Sex, violence, selfishness, greed, arrogance, hate, and envy in the traditionally Black media are sowing seeds of destruction. Young men are growing up thinking that it is a weakness to show compassion towards another person.

The father figures in their lives teach hatred and illegal activity. I know it happens in other communities, but other communities do not have the same history as the Black Americans. No other group was dismantled as people and remade in the image of its captors so thoroughly that they have to search DNA to find out what connection it has to Africa or any place. It is fine to focus on the group that is on fire right now, the Black people of America.

There are videos featuring Black teen boys running around towns attacking people for laughs by trying to knock them out with one punch. It is not about race but laughs. There are Black teen boys and men attacking police officers and beating them up with crowds of onlookers cheering the entire time.

F*** the po-lice, right?

That is a popular song from an iconic rap artist from the 1990's. This is before all of the brouhahas came to the attention of the world about the execution of Black men by racist and frightened police officers. What are our Black communities telling the rising generation by not decrying that practice with venom?

The Evil of Hip-Hop

Oh, you don't agree? Listen to some of the music. Gangsta Rap music. Need I say more? The entire Hip-Hop culture is a stain on society and it is destroying every life it touches whether Black or non-Black. The messages that come out of Hip-Hop are not only about dancing to music with a nice beat as some would assume, as it should be.

Listening to artists who are trying to put a good spin on this music form is saddening because so few are doing so! Hip-hop comes from a culture of people who have been disheartened for many reasons and use music to cope with the issues of life, to tell their stories. Some people take the artistic approach to Hip-hop and try to show how it conveys a struggle to carve out a nitch in society. It is artistic. However, the people who participate in the acts of barbarism due to Hip-hop, of which Gangsta Rap is an outgrowth, are not thinking in artistic terms. Violence makes money. Sex makes money.

At one time, Jazz was the artistic treasure of the Black community, which is where hip-hop had its beginnings I would bet without doing any research. What happened? Time and outside influences spurred by racism changed the cultural movement. The Black community was targeted and warred against by outside forces to thwart its rise, and those forces are succeeding to hurt many people.

Hip-hop would be fine if it was all about having fun. What Hip-hop, specifically the Gangsta Rap culture teaches is, besides great dancing, violence, promiscuity, disrespect, and arrogance. Not all Black people listen to Gangsta Rap music, but enough listen to it for it to have a cultural impact on the group thanks to the media. Within the umbrella of Hip-hop culture falls R&B and Gangsta Rap. These are not the only forms of music that help destroy society. Many forms of Rock do their fair share of damage.

I understand it sounds like I am harkening back to the days when these music forms started impacting mainstream, or White culture in America, which happens to be American Culture. These music forms meant change and inclusion when they first became popular. Today, they mean destruction and exclusion. Racism, classism, sexism, and homophobia were beneficiaries of the Hip-hop/Rock movements. The good that these movements did to relax the public mind against those things is sensational. Now, the movement is relaxing the youth too much.

Stop the criminal behavior--the same criminal behavior that makes police afraid of Black men who attack officers and citizens at random and fill the prisons because of it. The same crimes paint all Black men bad because of the behavior of those out of control few Black men. Black Americans need to promote a culture that does not produce angry people. Families are the answer, the ones with married parents in the home, a mom, and dad. It is NOT fair that the media portrays Black Americans more often as animalistic people. It is what it is, though. It will only change with time and learning by all willing people. Tomorrow does not have to be. Tomorrow can be what today's people change it into.