Taking gangsta to school

Taking gangsta to school Palm Beach Post Editorial

Wednesday, November 09, 2005

"I have three words to describe gangsta rap," said C. DeLores Tucker a decade ago. "It is obscene. It is obscene. It is obscene." The industry has agreed, all the way to the bank, with the civil rights veteran who died recently at age 78. But the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., with whom Ms. Tucker marched, wouldn't recognize the "protest" in the vile, misogynistic lyrics and videos whose apologists � namely, its profiteers � say offers comment on racism, drugs and violence.

Even before Bill Cosby began saying that somebody's gotta say these things, Ms. Tucker was among the most outspoken. The former Pennsylvania secretary of state and chairwoman of the National Political Congress of Black Women was of the old school, of Rosa Parks and others who were not confused about right or wrong and which not to stand for. She didn't blame the victims of the hardly disguised pornography marketed to and emulated by youths who confuse bling with being king and sexuality with real power. Nor did she blame the First Amendment, political correctness or artistic freedom. She knew the real exploiters were the profit centers that use explicit-lyric warnings as advertising. So she bought Time Warner stock and targeted the BETs and MTVs.

Rapper's 50 Cent's mega-selling, sexual delights-promoting CD seemingly is designed to ensure that another Ms. Tucker or Ms. Parks won't emerge. Community groups' opposition, however, has brought down 21 of the billboards that show him holding a gun in one hand and a microphone in the other to promote Get Rich or Die Tryin', his movie opening today.

"The message could be 'rob to get rich,' " said Bilal Qayyum, a leader of the antiviolence group Men United for a Better Philadelphia. "It's a very offensive message that is part of a mind-set that says you can solve problems with violence." Ms. Tucker leaves the country this question: Where do we draw the line?