Civil Rights vs. Hip-Hop

In the case of civil rights vs. hip-hop, two generations separated by a deep chasm of disrespect and with seemingly not much more in common than their ethnicity, the jury is still out on just how wide the gap is separating the two groups and just how that gap can be closed.
As one observer noted: "The generation of the '60s was killed fighting for civil rights; today's generation is killing itself."

The NAACP, SCLC and other traditional civil rights groups have made efforts to reach out to young African-Americans. Still, the general look, feel and "bling-bling" attitude of hip-hop is a major turn off to a generation with vivid images of segregation, mass marches, beatings and lynchings and other reminders of "the struggle" permanently ingrained in their minds.

They see the latest incarnation of young Blackness, with rap music as its tattooed, violent, misogynistic messenger, as apolitical and unappreciative of who and what has gone before them.

In return, the hip-hoppers look them squarely in the eye and dis them as out of step and uninformed.

It's not a healthy relationship. And the gap becomes all too apparent in the context of Black History Month.

…"We're looking at a general Black population that's torn," she said. "You have the people who are still stuck in the 60s, still looking for a revolution of some sort and still talking that same rhetoric and thinking with that same mindset.

"And you have another set of people who just don't even deal with any of that; let's make the money, get the house, the big car, they aren't interested.

"Neither group is looking forward. We need to analyze the past, the good and the bad, and we need to move forward from whichever way you're approaching."