Dr. Boyce: BET Has Become The New KKK

I just spent the week in New Orleans, the powerbase for one of the most talented, powerful and destructive forces in the history of music: Lil Wayne. I’ve admittedly bopped my head to the tunes of Lil Wayne in the past, feeling the same guilt that any man might feel if he were to enjoy a crack pipe or shot of heroine, knowing how these drugs destroy families, individuals and communities. In other words, I consider myself to be a Hip-Hop insider, and I simply hate the idea of being labeled as a hater. But as a father and Black man who has seen too much death and devastation in my family and so many others, I had to say that “enough is enough,” leading me to candidly discuss my decision to walk away from certain styles of Hip-Hop music.
BET, the media company that targets Black consumers, but is ultimately controlled by a predominantly white organization called Viacom, is not exactly on the same page when it comes to their assessment of Lil Wayne or any other artist (i.e. R. Kelly) who can be directly linked to the holocaust occurring within Black America today. Given that models of profit maximization rarely call for any assessment of the negative externalities that result from unethical corporate behavior, the executive committee for the BET Awards made the interesting decision to give the greatest number of award nominations to Lil Wayne, the man who said that he would (among other things) love to turn a woman out, murder her and send her dead body back to her boyfriend. Oh yea, he also said that he would kill little babies, have sex with every girl in the world, carry a gun on his hip and “leave a ni**a’s brains on the street.”
It might be almost feasible to overlook the “kill little babies comment” were it not for the innocent three-year old boy who was shot in the head by a 21-year old Black male in my hometown just a couple of weeks ago – these atrocities are all too common in quite a few neighborhoods across America. Also, the music might be considered simple entertainment were it not for the fact that millions of Black youth who had their history stolen during slavery actually look to Hip-Hop music to tell them how to dress, talk, think, act and live. There is no high school speaker more popular than a Hip-Hop star.
The Ku Klux Klan has been regularly criticized for encouraging violence against African Americans and terrorizing our community. But the truth is that the Klan doesn’t have much power anymore, and their thirst for African American blood seems to have waned a bit. At the same time, Lil Wayne and artists like him have made a habit of encouraging Black men to shoot one another, to abuse or murder women, to consume suicidal amounts of drugs and alcohol and to engage in irresponsible, deadly sexual behavior.
As a result, Black men are the most likely to die of gun violence, mass incarceration continues to decimate Black families, drug addiction and possession ruins Black lives in droves, and HIV is the leading killer of Black women. So, the truth is that Lil Wayne-like artists and the corporate armies producing this weaponized genocide have killed more Black people than the KKK ever could. So, by accelerating, financing and supporting the “Lil Wayne gospel” to a community that is already dying, BET has effectively positioned itself as a new and improved version of the KKK.
It’s one thing if BET reports on the activities of Lil Wayne or even has him as a guest on their network; we all know that celebrities increase ratings, and as a Business School Professor, I understand the need to pay the bills. But by publicly rewarding his behavior, they are encouraging every record company executive and Lil Wayne wannabe to go to the lab and manufacture more musical poison. As a result, there is some 10-year old boy putting down his textbook to watch the BET Awards, and effectively attending the Lil Wayne School of Black Male behavior. Years later, when this boy shoots another Black man in the face, infects one of his many “hoes” with HIV, ends up in a prison cell, dies from a drug overdose or beats his girlfriend to death, we will be able to link his behavior directly to his formative years, when we cashed in this child’s future for higher shareholder returns at Viacom.
Perhaps a day will come when those of us who know destructive music when we hear it – will actually have the discipline to draw lines and seek accountability – rather than look the other way. It’s not as if you can argue that Lil Wayne is actually GOOD for Black America, and it’s small-minded to justify a man’s reckless behavior just because he’s wealthy.
Charles Manson is considered one of the most vicious killers in history, yet he never actually murdered a soul. He has been in prison for 40 years because he convinced others to commit murder, controlling their minds through comfortable words and charisma. If Manson had been given the platform supplied by BET and the rest of corporate America and a license to share his rhetoric without restraint, he could have caused the deaths of millions more. So, by publicly rewarding and applauding the words of Lil Wayne, BET is giving his beloved message a level of power and penetration that is fit for a king – most interesting is that Wayne’s endorsement of killing women and children is far more vicious than anything Manson ever said.
So, the next time we turn to the KKK, Tea Partiers or the Republicans as the greatest enemies of Black people, we might want to take a look in the mirror. By cheering for those who recite lyrics that encourage us to kill our babies, we are effectively sleeping with and protecting the enemy.
Dr. Boyce Watkins is a Professor at Syracuse University and founder of the Your Black World Coalition.  To have Dr. Boyce commentary delivered to your email,please click here.
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Norman Vincent Peale

Believe in yourself! Have faith in your abilities! Without a humble but reasonable confidence in your own powers you cannot be successful or happy.
Norman Vincent Peale

Ella Wheeler Wilcox

Always continue the climb. It is possible for you to do whatever you choose, if you first get to know who you are and are willing to work with a power that is greater than ourselves to do it.
Ella Wheeler Wilcox

Ella Wheeler Wilcox

Always continue the climb. It is possible for you to do whatever you choose, if you first get to know who you are and are willing to work with a power that is greater than ourselves to do it.
Ella Wheeler Wilcox

Marcel Proust

We don't receive wisdom; we must discover it for ourselves after a journey that no one can take for us or spare us.
Marcel Proust

Marcel Proust

Let us be grateful to people who make us happy, they are the charming gardeners who make our souls blossom.
Marcel Proust

Marcel Proust

It is not because other people are dead that our affection for them grows faint, it is because we ourselves are dying.
Marcel Proust

Marcel Proust

It is in moments of illness that we are compelled to recognize that we live not alone but chained to a creature of a different kingdom, whole worlds apart, who has no knowledge of us and by whom it is impossible to make ourselves understood: our body.
Marcel Proust

Marcel Proust

Happiness is beneficial for the body, but it is grief that develops the powers of the mind.
Marcel Proust

C. S. Lewis

Part of every misery is, so to speak, the misery's shadow or reflection: the fact that you don't merely suffer but have to keep on thinking about the fact that you suffer. I not only live each endless day in grief, but live each day thinking about living each day in grief.
C. S. Lewis

C. S. Lewis

Let's pray that the human race never escapes from Earth to spread its iniquity elsewhere.
C. S. Lewis

Rainer Maria Rilke Quote

For one human being to love another; that is perhaps the most difficult of all our tasks, the ultimate, the last test and proof, the work for which all other work is but preparation.

Marcel Proust Quote

The voyage of discovery is not in seeking new landscapes but in having new eyes.

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Mobs in India attack Jehovah’s Witnesses with impunity

Mobs in India attack Jehovah’s Witnesses with impunity

BANGALORE, India—Incidents of mob attacks against Jehovah’s Witnesses have been reported with increasing frequency in some states in India. The attackers gather in gangs of 20 to 50 individuals to intimidate small groups of Witnesses engaging in the peaceful Christian ministry that they are well-known for. Some of the mobs threaten to murder and rape the Witnesses.
On March 26, 2011, in the southern state of Karnataka, a group of four Witnesses (three adult females and one adult male) had just finished enjoying several friendly conversations with people in a village near the town of Madikeri, when they were approached by a man who inquired about the purpose of their visit. The man began placing cell phone calls to individuals belonging to the groups Bajrang Dal (a militant Hindu organization) and Jagran Vedike. This led to a mob of 50 people surrounding the Witnesses, threatening the three women with rape, and attempting to tie the man to a tree, douse him with kerosene, and burn him alive. After several minutes of abuse, the police arrived and brought the Witnesses to the station for questioning. All four Witnesses were arrested and ordered to spend four days in jail before being released on bail. On April 1, 2011, a member of the Witnesses’ human rights legal staff, along with three of his associates (one of the associates being a non-Witness), traveled to the village where the mob activity occurred to obtain firsthand information. However, the four were ambushed by a mob on their way back. The Witnesses in the group were verbally abused, beaten with belts and sticks, stripped of their clothing, and then forced to walk in a half-naked state along a public road. The non-Witness was not assaulted. Thereafter, the mob called a few local television stations to come and film the incident. The Witnesses were then taken to the police station where they were criminally charged, based on the fabricated statements of the mob. They were released from jail six days later. A similar incident occurred on the same day in the state capital of Bangalore. Two Jehovah’s Witnesses were speaking to a man on the topic of raising children in today’s challenging society. Although the man was initially friendly toward the Witnesses, they noticed the man making a phone call urging a friend to come to his apartment while the Witnesses were still there. The Witnesses also observed that the friend, upon arrival at the apartment, began calling several others. Sensing what was happening, the two Witnesses tried to leave peacefully, but were prevented from doing so by a growing mob. The mob began beating the two Witnesses along with two other Witnesses who were also present in the area. Finally, the attackers dragged the four Witnesses to the police station and contacted a local news station. One of the attackers inside the police station tore his own shirt, and then went outside claiming that the Witnesses had assaulted him and tore his shirt when he refused to convert. The man was interviewed by a reporter and his fabricated statement was later publicized in the local news coverage of the incident. All four Witnesses spent one night in jail and were released the following day on a cash bail of 10,000 INR ($226 US) each.
Criminal complaints have been filed in all three incidents, requesting the police to investigate and prosecute the violent actions of those responsible for the mob attacks. These attacks are a clear violation of constitutional rights protecting freedom of religion in India.

Contacts:
Belgium: European Association of Jehovah’s Christian Witnesses, tel. +32 2 782 0015; mobile +32 475 58 10 36
Britain: European Association of Jehovah’s Christian Witnesses, tel. +44 208 906 2211
United States: J. R. Brown, tel. +1 718 560 5600

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