Gun violence in Chicago has been in the national spotlight over the past year, with 506 murders in 2012, an increase of 17 percent over the previous year. So far this January, there have been 42 homicides and 157 shootings, according to Chicago police. We have already seen over 200 homicides&shooting in Chicago and we are only one month into 2013!
I posted this on my FB page earlier this month and was even more convinced today after hearing about 15 year old Hadiya Pendleton an honor student who had just performed at President Obama's inaugural with her high school band being shot dead on a playground here in Chicago.
A gang banger jumped a fence ran up to the girl and her friends, opened fire for no reason, and shot her in the back she was dead within an hour. http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-201_162-57566690/teen-girl-who-performed-at-obama-inauguration-killed-in-chicago-shooting/
Music and Media has played a major role in the glamorization of violence, guns, and gang activity. It is a business that glorifies bad character and has a disregard for young lives
We need to have a culture where we are mutually accountable for how music and media shape culture. Parents, Radio Program Directors, Record Companies, Artists and Listeners should have more then a voice in what we allow to shape our culture but a mind in it, a thought deeper then "Who cares it doesn't effect me" or "Oh well what can I do" or" I will look out only for myself." MLK said, "Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere."
Let me give you a close to home example of how immorality in music and media all tie together: A 17-year-old gangster rapper from Chicago, signed a $3 million dollar recording contract with Interscope Records last year after spending two months under house arrest for pointing a gun at a police officer. He is also under speculation for the death of Chicago teen who challenged him online and ended up dead. His biggest audience youth and young adults. You may have heard this rappers biggest hit, “I Don’t Like,” a great song, mostly due to the powerful beat constructed by his producer but one of the catchiest parts is rapper chanting “bang bang” in the background—a sound that has become all too common in Chicago, CHICAGO HAS SEEN over 530 youth killed over past 4 years due to homicides a tragic number that is reflective of guns and gang violence. -Chicago Tribune. More young people are killed in Chicago than any other American city. You can't protect your kid from a stray bullet, in some communities they fly through windows, in parks while children swing, and out of cars to sidewalks where kids jump rope.
This is not a blog based on my opinion, there are hard cold facts to this watch what
ABC NEWS has to say: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4MGHU_BOHPw&feature=youtu.be
Music shapes culture and this Chicago rapper has and is shaping the tragedy's we see today and we see his tense words are more then a song. "It's just his freedom of speech" some may say, but can we really sit still and not speak out? We need to fight to hold the record company and their social deviant artists accountable when the music they produce, write, and release perpetuates, encourages and fuels the death of the innocent young? Homicide victims in the city outnumber troops killed in Afghanistan.-The Chicago Reporter. America seeks to protect the innocent but if there is no accountability there is corruption.
Regardless of what an artists musical ability, they should not be rewarded millions of dollars for perpetuating a culture that continues to erode culture and steal life from the young and innocent.
