Hip-hop community responds to continuing violence in N.O.
on November 27th, 2006 at 3:48 am(2theadvocate.com) Leaders of the Hip Hop Caucus Institute of Washington, D.C., said Wednesday it is time to “stop the violence’’ that has claimed 140 lives in Orleans Parish so far this year and a record-setting 54 in adjoining Jefferson Parish, the majority of them young people.
“We will not have a 22nd century if we do not solve this. This must stop,’’ Hip Hop Caucus President Rev. Lennox Yearwood Jr. said at a news conference in front of John McDonogh Senior High School, where a sign at the entrance reads ‘Gun Free/Drug Free Zone.’
Yearwood, joined by other officials with the nonprofit Hip Hop Caucus and members of other community activist groups, said violent gun crime is a major obstacle for displaced residents wishing to return to the New Orleans area 15 months after Hurricane Katrina chased them away.
“That bridge called violence is stopping us from coming back,’’ he said.
And here comes the punchline…
Aljuwani argued that the “systemic problems’’ behind crime  a poor educational system and a lack of affordable housing and good jobs  are not being addressed. (more…)
All roads lead back to Daddy…Daddy government!
I have reached the point that conferences that address this issue are nothing more than ego-boosters for those who want to feel like they are doing something positive. Line up all the Rev’s, find a Amen section and one can be easily fooled. If the Hip hop community want to address violence in our communities, they should stop glorifying it in their own music. As far as the “systemic problems” behind the crime”, Aljuwani may want to start in the home life of these kids who are committing these crimes instead of bringing government into the equation.
