The Bridge: The Conspiracy Theory
By
Darryl James
Fifty
Cents may think it's cool to keep flashing his ghetto badge of honor--being
shot nine times-but if the chickens come home to roost on his fantasies
of ghetto glory, the result may be the end of his life.
Sadly,
the snuffing of his life would garner media headlines, but as in other
murderous acts against young Black men and women, his death would
more than likely go unresolved.
What is it about the rap music game that seems to marry it to violence?
And what is it about the death of young Black men that gets America
so aroused, yet unconcerned?
In
this nation, the death of young Black men is not seen as horrific
or even unusual. It is seen as a regular occurrence and too many people
are becoming numb to it.
Tupac
Shakur was shot and killed in 1996. Christopher Wallace aka "Biggie
Smalls" was shot and killed in 1997.
We
all know that.
What
we don't all know is who committed either murder, or why.
If
Elvis had not eaten and drank himself to death, but had been murdered
instead, would his death still be a mystery?
I
think not.
Then
why are the deaths of two of rap music's brightest stars mysteries?
Call
me a conspiracy theorist, call me a race-based reactionary, but I
believe that in this nation, Black lives are viewed as less valuable
than white lives.
There is a bigger picture here. Young Black men are in crisis and
their lives are valued at something less than the price of a CD.
How did we get to this point? We can blame racism, we can blame classism,
and certainly, we can point a finger at institutionalized preferential
treatment of whites over Blacks. However, the real ugly raw answer
is that Blacks must also share the blame.
An entire generation has been abandoned by the middle and upper class
Blacks who benefited from Affirmative Action, set-asides, corporate
window dressing and educational benefits won in the sixties as a result
of marches, sit-ins, etc., or from simply being Black in a time when
that would get you so much community support that you could sell almost
anything and get votes for almost any office.
Blacks ascended corporate ladders and made millions of dollars as
professional athletes, musicians, singers, etc., and almost immediately
"loaded up the truck and moved to Beverly...Hills that is."
Yes, Blacks abandoned the community by the droves. White flight from
urban areas nearly became a joke as Black families began "moving
on up" like the Jeffersons and made every human effort to get
away...from low-income Blacks.
Communities disintegrated as urban communities emptied of role models
for success. Factory jobs became a thing of the past as factories
largely moved to foreign countries where labor could be had for cheaper.
Even Black mom and pop businesses left the hood as immigrants moved
in, employing their own. Low-income Blacks who were left behind had
to struggle to make it on fewer job opportunities and dwindling government
assistance, and while some made it up and out, some continued to spiral
downward.
As the economy worsened, Blacks once again became the boogeymen, serving
as scapegoats for all of the country's ills. The following fallacies
became fodder for political campaigns: "Whites would fare better
in the working world if not for Affirmative Action." "They
would have more educational opportunities as well." "Welfare
would not be such a burden on the nation if not for those Welfare
dependent Blacks."
The real-life solution to the fallacious problems? An attack on government
assistance in every way possible and a move away from goals of parity
in the workplace.
The result: dwindling job opportunities and dwindling government assistance.
Some hood denizens ran on the newest fast track for success--the drug
game. The drug game brought it's own evils that were even more insidious
than racism. It demanded a devaluation of human life and territorial
violence.
It also became fodder for the tales from the hood over beats popularized
among young whites in the late eighties. Platinum status was regularly
reached in Rap music when white youth began to embrace the "ghetto
lifestyle" that has become a staple in the music.
The
stories of the ghetto lifestyle were plentiful, because by the 1980's,
the times they were a' changin'.
Two generations ago, parents slaved two blue collar jobs or went to
night school to improve their earning ability and saved, saved saved...for
their children.
The subsequent generation enjoyed better opportunities and increased
earning power, and saved, saved, saved...for bigger cars and houses
for themselves.
Today's youth have virtually been tossed in an ocean of sharks with
bloody meat drawers and no life preservers. The only hope most of
them see outside of the drug game is in professional athletics, or
music.
In the music, they bring the raw, ugly reality to rhyme. We may not
like it, but these stories are largely based on reality. The problem
is drawing the line. But who can make that decision?
The
failure of successful Blacks to reach back in society has merged with
the void of training and development by successful Blacks in the music
industry to create the situation in which Tupac and Biggie could rise
and metamorphose from shooting stars to stars who were shot.
I refuse to blame their deaths on some non-existent "East v.
West" rivalry. That simply does not exist.
I refuse to lay the blame entirely on the doorstep of racism. That's
only part of the problem, and we always point to the white man.
The Motown of the eighties did it's best to ignore rap music. While
the reasoning may have been that the content was too harsh, this industry
giant could have developed artists of it's own early on who would
have followed a more positive program, and the best and brightest
artists would have flourishing, long term careers.
But rap music was left to it's own.
Just like young Black men.
Let's not pretend that today's youth are failing because they choose
to. Youth often fail because of the lack of viable alternatives.
Our youth are in trouble because many in our own community are on
the same program as society at large. They would rather worry about
other things than work with a group of people who they don't understand
anyway.
The National Urban League, The NAACP, the Black fraternities and sororities
and the religious institutions that used to be symbols of hope and
bastions of change are now shadows of their former selves, concerned
more with the older leadership than the youth who need to be lead.
The police, who are supposed to serve and protect, do just that-they
serve and protect those who have from those who have not, and too
many young Blacks have not.
Politicians follow the same program, serving those who have, while
paying lip service to those who have not in order to garner their
votes.
There has to be a major upheaval in the way young Black men are viewed
in this nation. There is a popular sentiment that we are the enemy.
And there is a movement against the enemy in politics, in the workplace,
and especially in the media, which fuels public opinion. That movement
is given fuel when Fifty Cents ignominiously decided to use his standing
as a victim of violence as a badge of honor.
It has to stop.
And I believe that the beginning of the end lies in identifying the
real boogeymen.
It's not some imagined coastal conflict.
It's not as simple as recognizing rap music as a violent art form.
It's precisely that young Black men are in crisis. They are being
shot and killed every day. But they don't all make the ten o'clock
news, because they don't all make platinum rap albums.
Was there a huge difference between the deaths of Tupac and Tyrone
from Cleveland? How about between the Notorious B.I.G. and Keith from
Compton?
Who is really notorious? If we continue to pretend that the lives
of young Black men are expendable--we are.
The media vultures could say that there was an aura of street violence
that followed both Pac and Biggie, because they both rhymed about
it and claimed the lifestyle. But is this a real reason, or is it
a real excuse to tacitly ignore the deaths of young Blacks?
There
is no conspiracy of East coast rappers plotting to kill West coast
rappers or vice versa.
There is no mysterious shooter on some grassy knoll, there is only
violence in our inner cities.
The lives of young Black men are as valuable as any other human being's
life.
So, Fifty Cents can "keep it real," until reality keeps
he and other young Blacks in the midst of violence, but at some point,
it all has to end.
Fifty Cents, you and I are a part of the real conspiracy.
