As the “Jena Six” rally came and went, a particular article came to my attention on MTV.com, in which rapper/actor Mos Def said the following: “Shame on everybody who’s not here.” Def fumed, “I’m f–in’ mad. I’m disappointed to always be coming to these things and it’s only one or two people [from the industry here]. If you ain’t gonna use your voice, then be quiet. I’m disappointed and ashamed.”
Well, in a way I couldn’t have agreed with him more.
It’s pathetic to know how outspoken Oprah Winfrey is about the African school she built and how rap is detrimental for the youth and yet hasn’t been vocal about the “Jena Six.”
What’s really pathetic is to know that we have so many conscious rappers like Common, whose Afro-centric rhymes led many to believe that he actually cares for his people, but ironically he hasn’t spoken on the issue or apparently hasn’t donated to the “Jena Six” Defense Fund.
It angers me to know that Russell Simmons is the first one to defend rap when people say it’s bad for the youth, and attack President Bush when things seems right but wouldn’t stand up or help six young men who are being heavily discriminated against.
When Kanye West uttered the infamous line, “George Bush doesn’t care about black people,” I, for a while, thought that maybe popular artists weren’t overly spoiled and selfish pre-Madonnas but real people like me. Maybe he is materialistic but caring. Maybe he was trying to get more people to buy his album, which was released around the same time. Whatever your opinion may be, what’s true was that Kanye didn’t money up for the six, either.
And these are the public leaders of Black America? So much for helping your brother when in need.
I could say that 50 doesn’t care about Blacks, but that’s obvious due to the fact that he has said in numerous interviews that he is not only a Bush supporter, but a fan of the Republican Party and that if he didn’t have a felony that he would in fact vote for him if he had the chance. Oh yeah, did I mention that he felt the Katrina catastrophe was an act of God? So with “Fiddy,” I really didn’t expect him to come out of pocket to help pay for their [the Jena 6] bonds.
With the estimated 20,000 people who went to Jena, you’d think some rappers and highly paid Blacks would lend a hand; but maybe they’re too caught up in their Ferraris and ten million dollar homes, or maybe pleasing the white executives who own them [yes, even Oprah is owned by white executives, but that’s for later]. With all these things, I still feel conflicted; the twenty-year-old male in me says, “So what? I’ll go with the rest of society,” but the black conscious male in me says, “Forget all them because at the end of the day, they do nothing for me nor my people.”
This situation shows that if something happens involving black injustice due to white allegiance, some blacks won’t be around. What I’m saying is, don’t count on Oprah to do a special on your mother that may have been tortured by six crazy white people.
Sure, you have people like David Banner and T.I. lending support, but it’s still a small number compared to the thousands of other multi-million dollar artists who could have ended this situation in a day.
As an African American journalist, my responsibility is to make sure my people are represented well in the media. When it comes to the wealthy or highly influential blacks of the world, it is their responsibility to be as vocal as possible about social issues as well.
Say what you will about Rev. Al Sharpton and Jesse Jackson being media hounds, at least if a blacks gets discriminated against in Alaska, they’ll be there.