Enough is Enough

I am glad that there are black people, other than myself, that are outraged by the negative images and language in rap videos. For a long time I defended hip hop because I come from an affluent black family, I understood it was not reality, I separated my self from the "other" black people and didn't take the words seriously. The Don Imus comments were a big deal because I feel it made members of the black community look around and say "this is a problem and we need to do something about it". I realized that even though there are different values, levels of education, political beliefs and levels of income among black people in the US, we are all lumped into one group. To everyone else we are all the same. That bothers me so I gave it up (unless it was positive and free of the N-word). I don't agree with censorship but something needs to be done. Rap holds a lot of power. I just wish it would be used to uplift minority groups instead of tearing them down. I don't believe rap/hip hop alone causes sexual behavior among teens because it didn't for me. I feel parenting, environment, morals, social influence and other issues factor into the ultimate decision to be sexually active. But, I think it would be foolish of me to say it doesn't contribute.