WARNING: GRAPHIC VIDEO - Black mortician blames violence on hip hop and organ theft

[FrodosPet]

I'm not sure what to think about this. It is easy to say "You are a racist chump" to someone like Tucker Carlson or Glenn Beck saying these things. But this guy deals with dead bodies and devastated families day in and day out. Even if he is wrong, I believe it comes from a place of caring.

WARNING: GRAPHIC VIDEO

As a supporter of free speech, I am appalled by the idea of blaming personal actions on music and art. But I feel like I cannot offer a rebuttal because I am white and this is about the African American experience.

All I can do is come here and seek some better-informed opinions to help me develop my own.

[Supersedeas]

1. Then why post this at all

[FrodosPet]

3. Are you upset that I am opening this forum up to African American voices?

I don't completely agree with what he is saying. But it is gaining some traction on FB among older African Americans.

This video, talking about the ongoing massacre of young black men in America needs to be heard and discussed. In both primarily AA venues, and in primarily white venues such as Democratic Underground.

I hope posting it leads to some worthwhile discussion. But alas, I can see from the first reaction, it is going to vanish quickly.

[TeeYiYi]

2. Wtf...

...I wonder how much he was paid to make a video defending Donald Sterling...?

TYY

[BronxBoy]

6. He wasn't defending Sterling...

As much as he was trying exhort some sort of tangible action to reduce the carnage he sees

[TeeYiYi]

9. I'm not convinced...

If this wasn't somehow about Sterling, he wouldn't have mentioned the guy's name so many times. I could be wrong, but it sure sounded like a mixed message to me.

TYY

[BronxBoy]

12. Not to me

He probably sees 50 or 100 corpses a year. Young men taken down in the prime of life. He's right.

[TeeYiYi]

15. I agree...

...that's he's correct about the senseless deaths of too many young black males. I also agree that, as a mortician, he's in a position to confront wealthy black celebrities and chastise them for not doing more to help the black community.

If he'd only mentioned the Sterling name once, I'd agree that it was a fair point of contention. Since he brought it up repeatedly, I felt like he diluted the point of his message.

TYY

[BronxBoy]

16. If I had to do that job every day

I would probably say some passionate and some stupid shill

I don't think he's a shill for Sterling. I think he's just a very frustrated Black man who had seen far too much young death.

I don't know why he has a big problem with Magic....,,,Little Wayne I can see.

[TeeYiYi]

17. Especially if...

...the bodies are showing up for burial with organs missing. That's the message he needs to focus on. That, and the hip hop connection...

TYY

[BronxBoy]

19. That's the part mystified me

Is this a problem in the Black community or any community for hat matter?

Not being facetious, the only time I've heard of this was in relation to a case down here in Georgia that a lot of folks felt was covered up

[BronxBoy]

4. I'm Black

And this wasn't offensive. He lost me a bit on the conspiracy theory shit buy he's right. We are probably killing more of our own than the klan is right now

He's got to deal with all that carnage every day. I'll cut him some slack

[TeeYiYi]

7. Did you find it a little odd...

...how many times he came to the defense of Donald Sterling?...

TYY

Edited to add: I just saw your post 6.

[Supersedeas]

23. that and so much more

[TeeYiYi]

24. The last 30 seconds of the video...

...or more, were dedicated to advertising his services as a mortician. Transparent self-promotion.

TYY

[AverageJoe90]

5. I'm appalled as well. Hip hop is still a genre with lots of cultural value.....

After all, when it first started in the Bronx and Kingston(Jamaica, of course) in the late '60s it was originally largely about social empowerment & activism. That still holds true today. However, though, I disagree with you on just one thing:

But I feel like I cannot offer a rebuttal because I am white.....

Well, I'm white myself. And I *gladly* offer a rebuttal to this person's rather screwy opinion.....because honestly, I don't care about someone's ethnicity when I call them out for stupidity(of course, I'm not saying you do, either, don't get me wrong on this).

[BronxBoy]

8. Gangster rap was nothing about

Social empowerment. I'm not saying certain music is at the core of our issues but it it would be foolish to totally ignore it

[JaneyVee]

13. Of course it was.

[BronxBoy]

14. Ok

When I saw or heard my son or young Black nephews or cousins talking about not snitching or hoes or wearing their pants down around their ass, I gave them the scoop real quick. I'm not saying that the music is at the heart of all of our issues but it's laughable to say it has NO negative effects

[JaneyVee]

20. But African Americans aren't the only

Ones that listen to rap.

[BronxBoy]

22. But our young men are the ones

Dying at astonishing rates. Like I said, you cannot place all the ills of the black community at the feet of rap. But you damn sure can't say it comes to this conversation with clean hands

[FrodosPet]

18. What's wrong with "Like a Lollipop, Lollipop"?

One song he pointed out specifically was the song "Lollipop" by Lil' Wayne.

I don't see any shooting or other violence here. One could make an argument that it is misogynistic, but I do not see where it promotes violence, it is just escapist fantasy. Surrounded by luxury and beautiful women. Many a young man's dream: black, white, Asian, whatever.

[undeterred]

10. That was powerful.

[JaneyVee]

11. He needs to get out more often...

People ARE outraged about those events. People generally focus on the outrage of the day but it doesn't mean they condone it because they're not shouting about it 24/7. Also, I have a hard time blaming someone for a murder they didn't commit, blame the murderer, not the musician.

[Supersedeas]

25. perspective, yes