Hip-Hop: For The Love Of Guns

 By Chuck Creekmur, CEO of AllHipHop.com

Let me tell you a little story about me.

Many moons ago, as a teenager, I had this fascination with guns. Now, before you get to thinking. I wasn’t a gun-toting kid from the streets. I had a vivid imagination. I used to draw comic books and most of my characters in high school carried firearms – all kinds. I had books on guns to make the drawings as realistic as possible. The characters used them too and the images in my cartoons reflected the movies of the time. Blood and body parts everywhere.

Then, something happened in my real life. … Continue Reading

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The Editor

Murder to Excellence: Will Youth get the Necessary Investment to Turn Their Communities Around?

Read the entire story at GlobalGrind:

This past weekend a flash mob made up of dozens of Black youth attacked attendees leaving the Wisconsin State Fair. The violence was random, the punishment was swift and many of the victims were white.

While no one was hurt badly, the incident made national headlines during a busy news weekend that was dominated by the S&P downgrade of the federal government.

Locally, the event incited elected officials and conservative talking heads to rekindle old stereotypes and fan the flames of racial discontent that often permeate segregated communities.

But while the alarming homicide rates in places like Chicago and Philadelphia may shock us and the random acts of mob thuggery like the ones experienced last weekend may scare us, there are also thousands of youth out there trying to change the conversation using creativity, music, art and the Internet.

Read the rest at GlobalGrind.

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Biko Baker

From Hood Flicks to Documentaries

We have come a long way since Menace II Society. In 2011, the harsh reality that was shocking to certain portions of the American public 20 years ago is now common knowledge for all. Indeed, we have come a long way, but what I want to know is what direction are we headed in?

It is appalling to consider the depth of the variance between the haves and the have-nots in this nation. Just by listening to how people describe their environment, a lot can be gathered of the mentality of its inhabitants. For instance, to have a conversation with a person that has grown up in the hood, they might describe their neighborhood by saying how many people might not make it there. On the flip side, if I were to talk to some of our wealthiest citizens, I could image them describing their residence as a place from which I may never want to leave.

[TRAILER]: The Interrupters Documentary inside…

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Kwesi Low

7 year old girl shot by Detroit Police

Saw this heartbreaking story on Global Grind:

Seven-year-old Aiyana Jones was asleep on the living room sofa in her family’s apartment when Detroit police busted in with their guns blazing. They were looking for a homicide suspect who lived on the second floor of the house. Aiyana’s father, 25-year-old Charles Jones, told the press that he had just gone to bed early Sunday after covering his daughter with her favorite Disney princess blanket when he heard a flash grenade followed by a gunshot. When he rushed into the living room, he said, police forced him to lie on the ground, with his face in his daughter’s blood.

Sometimes I shake my head at the weird power of the Internet to take a personal nightmare like this…an event that this little girl’s family will certainly not ever get over…and open it up for the world to see.

However, Global Grind took the steps to create a Facebook page (intensely titled She Has a Name: Aiyana Jones) to honor this fallen child and I hope that is a positive step that will provide some support and love to Aiyana’s family. I am very sorry for their loss.

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Sam Patton

Chicago Youth Stay Home From School to Stay Safe

Yesterday, in an act of protest, students living in Chicago‘s Gardens neighborhood who attend Fenger High (the high school that slain teenager Darrion Alberts atteneded) stayed home from school.   With the support of their parents, the teenagers are protesting conditions by staying home and boycotting the violence they have to face to get an education. More after the jump.

… Continue Reading

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The Editor