Hooray - Imus has been fired. What does it mean though if we allow the ignorance among our own to be continually promoted through today's rap culture?

Right about now, I think we should start a campaign for record labels, television programs, etc. to "drop" every rapper or singer that uses terms rooted from the same racism as the comments Imus made.

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Dear Mr./Mrs.J
You are missing the nucleus of the issue, and that is: Why are rap stars always used as a scapegoat? Today, rap is not just embraced in America but it is also embraced in many other countries such as Brazil, Venezuela, even Korea. The rap epidemic is a global phenomenon and we must embrace it. But I would have to agree that the degradation of our women especially black women in rap music has gone too far. We should not be astonished, surprised or become emotive by comments IMUS made and trust me he says many worse things in private setting. We live in a raciest society so deal with it, and learn how to cope with it, because if you don't it will certainly eat you alive. A new slavery has began in American it is called incarceration of 30% of black man and yet Imus is blaming the few who have no option other than entertainment industry to make a living. No body has the nerve to talk about Rap in positive image maybe because white people are tired of seeing Jay-z and 50 cent on the cover of Fortune Magazine. I have a bachelors and finishing up my masters and I am somewhat scared of the future. The job market or this capitalistic machine run by the white elite is dependent on the exclusion of minorities especially black men. As for the so called white liberals read “Letter from Birmingham Jail” by Dr. Martin Luther King. Today, black men are perceived to be pathological, sadistic animals and no one is talking about it.

Each one Teach One

If a person or group is oppressed after generations they start to oppress each other and believe that they originated these feelings and beliefs.

A hand full of corporations own most radio, TV and newspapers. They determine what gets on the air. We must ask ourselves why do they put out certain messages? Who are these people that own? What are there motives/ agenda?

Rap/ Hip Hop is a spectrum of styles and topics until you turn on the radio. Why and who benefits?

I agree with J. We have to be careful though that when these kinds of racist messages are censored that political messages aren't as well or our "freedom of speech" isn't erased.

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I don’t think my argument was based on the premise of right or wrong, but rather on the notion that we are missing the nucleus of the issue: When some white people make derogatory comments pertinent to black people they tend infer to rap music as some demonic entity that possessed their conscious. Thus, the argument becomes; they say it in rap music why am I forbidden to say it. Well, as slaves once used the drum as a weapon today the young generation is using words to defy the racist, fascistic and apartheid of American capitalistic society. I love rap music and I think rap music is an entertainment. The reality is that if a Black or minority rapper committed half of the act enunciated in his/he rap song(s) they would be in sing-sing barding hair for the rest of their life. But let us be certain that elements of urban destitution are a reality that exists in American society.
Racism is well and alive and it is going to remain in our culture until black people unite and stand as One. Unity does not mean marginalizing or degrading other human beings, but rather unity means agape love; the love we once had for each other. Free your minds and pick up a book, the Miss Education of the Negro by Carter G. Woodson, is a good start.

This World investigates the rise of discrimination in America's deep south as six black youths are charged with an alleged attack on a white student, which could see them jailed for up to 50 years.


Three rope nooses hanging from a tree in the courtyard of a school in a small Southern town in Louisiana have sparked fears of a new kind of "stealth" racism spreading through America's deep south.

Although this sinister episode happened last August, the repercussions have been extensive and today the town of Jena finds itself facing the unwelcome glare of national and international publicity.

Jena has a mixed community, 85% white, 12% black.

The bad old days of the "Mississippi Burning" 60s, civil liberties and race riots, lynchings, the KKK and police with billy clubs beating up blacks might have ended.

But in the year that the first serious black candidate for the White House, Barak Obama, is helping unite the races in the north, the developments in the tiny town of Jena are disturbing.

Nooses in the playground

It all began at Jena High School last summer when a black student, Kenneth Purvis, asked the school's principal whether he was permitted to sit under the shade of the school courtyard tree, a place traditionally reserved for white students only. He was told he could sit where he liked.


Tom Mangold interviewed primary witnesses in Jena
The following morning, when the students arrived at school, they found three nooses dangling from the tree.

Most whites in Jena dismissed it as a tasteless prank, but the minority black community identified the gesture as something far more vicious.

"It meant the KKK, it meant '******s we're going to kill you, we're gonna hang you 'til you die'," said Caseptla Bailey, one of the black community leaders.

Old racial fault lines in Jena began to fracture the town. It was made worse when - despite the school head recommending the noose-hangers be expelled - the board overruled him and the three white student perpetrators merely received a slap on the wrist.

Troubled community


Billy Doughty, the local barber, has never cut a black man's hair. But he does not think there is a racism problem in Jena.


Caseptla Bailey with a picture of her son Robert, one of the 'Jena Six'
Caseptla Bailey who is 56 and a former Air Force officer, has a degree in business management, but she cannot get a job as a bank teller. She lives in an area called Ward 10, which is where the majority of blacks live in trailers or wooden shacks. She says no whites live there at all.

"We want to live better, we want better housing." she says. "The Church says we should all be brothers and sisters in Christ".

Yet Sunday morning is perhaps one of the most segregated times in all of America. In the white neighbourhood, Pastor Dominick DiCarlo has only one black member of the Church, out of 450 resident members.

Race-related fights

As racial tension grew last autumn and winter, there were race-related fights between teenagers in town. On 4 December, racial tension boiled over once more at the school when a white student, Justin Barker, was attacked by a small group of black students.

He fell to the ground and hit his head on the concrete, suffering bruising and concussion.

He was treated at the local hospital and released, and that same evening felt able to put in an appearance at a school function.

District Attorney Reed Walters, to the astonishment of the black community, has upgraded the charges of Mr Barker's alleged attackers to conspiracy to commit second degree murder and attempted second degree murder. If convicted they could be 50 before they leave prison.

Mr Walters has refused to give an on-the-record interview to the BBC about his decision on the charges.


Mr Barker has since been charged with possessing a firearm in an arms-free zone (the school grounds).

The six black students will face a hearing next month. One of them is Caseptla Bailey's son Robert, who originally had his bail set at an unaffordable $138,000 (£69,495).

She had to hire a private lawyer who managed to get Robert's bail reduced to $84,000 (£42,285) so that her family could meet it.

Michelle Jones' brother Carwyn is one of the boys charged. She is adamant that he will not get a fair trial in Jena.

"If he's tried here, the jury will pick who they want. I have no doubt that they will convict those boys of attempted second degree murder."

When they do eventually file into court, many observers believe it is the town of Jena which will really be on trial


The information was obtained from BBC.COM
Each one teach one....the struggle continues.