Response to Grimm's "Is Hip-Hop Dead" Blog

I'm glad you noted that we have to teach the kids. Actually, that's where it all stems from. Our kids are out there every single day, struggling with ethnic and sexuality identity issues and it's as if there is no one there to help. They don't know if or where they fit in as Black youth in America. So many of them want to be more than the stats we all hear about, but they really don't believe they can be or know how to be. They're psyche is all fucked up. This lack of faith and self-worth is more damaging and common than people in our community realize. Our kids that are exceling academically and socially are heavily outnumbered by those that are ignorant and lack adequate resources. Our kids are fighting against images that beat them in the head w/ the ideas that they are hoes, thugs, baby mamas and daddies, violent, lazy and hopeless. That's why they all "wanna sell bricks and bang", or do whatever it takes to hang w/ the dude that's "making it rain." They spend more time w/ media images than they do w/ family members, especially parents.In school, they are misunderstood by teachers and administrators who are not properly trained to be multiculturally competent. They treat our kids as if they are those ignorant, lazy hoes and thugs who will never amount to anything and don't deserve a fair chance. The number of Black youth that are in Special Education classes in US public schools disproportionately outweigh the number of white kids classified in Special Ed. This directly correlates to the population of Blacks that significantly outnumber whites in our jail system as kids w/ academic problems usually become adults w/ legal problems. Schools and jails are just two segments of the systemic US that seem to work against Blacks, especially our males. We can not rely on schools or jails to raise or rehabilitate our youth, we must become overly involved in our kids lives ourselves. "Our kids" meaning ALL our youth.

Speaking of knowing your history, they don't know it...at all! They definitely do not learn it in school and there is no one to teach it to them b/c their parents don't. Do you teach yours? In the state of GA, all kids have to pass a series of tests in core subjects (Engligh, Math, Science, Social Studies and Writing) to graduate high school. Even if they complete all courses required to graduate, they will NOT get a diploma until they pass all parts. There are kids that remain in limbo, working at Wendy's, waiting to pass this test b/c although they are "done" w/ high school, they can not move on to college just yet. Guess which kids mostly make up this group??? If you said Black, you got it! Even though they are highly outnumbered by whites in GA schools.Every Black person has a role and hip-hop artists have the role of raising the consciousness of our youth to these issues that impactour community as a whole. Although these artists sit on BET forums and say it's the parent's responsibility, they know parents are working two and three jobs, stressed out, depressed, sick, tired and many drunk, high or incarcerated. According to them, they survived the struggle too, right? But no one wants to be accountable, especially our men. Black men need to step up and be leaders and providers, raising healthy families instead of multiplying broken families. Our "dads" are absent even we need them as the head teacher of the household. We all have the responsibility to teach the kids something. What will you teach and to whom???