Dr. Boyce: Emmett Till’s Family is Rightfully Angry at Lil Wayne’s Blatant Disrespect

by | Feb 13, 2013 | News | 6 comments

Over 50 years later, we now have black rappers who think it’s OK to compare this 15-year old boy’s face to a v@gina.  I doubt that Dr. King would consider this to be progress.

When a rapper says he’s gonna “pop a pill” then “beat that p*ssy like Emmett Till,” that’s when we know that he might have gone just a little bit too far.  But that’s just what happened this week, and the Till family isn’t happy.

Lil Wayne and Future, two very talented hip-hop artists, have decided to push the envelope of disrespect by releasing a song called “Karate Chop.”  In the song, Lil Wayne takes the liberty of turning the mutilated face of Emmett Till into a weary s*x organ, ridiculing the agony experienced by this young man many years ago.   The matter is made is even sadder by the fact that Till’s legacy was trampled by Lil Wayne, Future and Universal Records right in the middle of Black History Month.

Dr. Boyce: Emmett Till’s Family is Rightfully Angry at Lil Wayne’s Blatant Disrespect

emmett2I spoke this week with Airickca Gordon Taylor, spokesperson for the Till family and as you can imagine, the family is outraged.

“I just couldn’t understand how he could compare the gateway to life to the brutality and punishment of death,” said Gordon Taylor.

For those of us who aren’t familiar with the legacy of Emmett Till (apparently, Lil Wayne already is), Till was a 15-year old boy who was beaten beyond recognition and murdered for whistling at a white woman.  Till’s mother, Mamie Till Mobley, made the courageous decision to insist that her son be buried with an open casket so that the country could see how ugly the brutality of racial violence can become.  Mamie’s sacrifice sparked international outrage and served as part of the fuel which created the foundation for the civil rights movement.

Rev. Jesse Jackson and his associate, Bishop Tavis Grant of the Rainbow/Push Coalition have spoken up on the matter, and I’ve promised to give them my support.  So far, neither Lil Wayne nor Future has responded to the family’s call for them to stop the release of the song,  which is an astonishing show of arrogance from both of their camps.  I wonder if any of the people signing off on the song even realized that it’s now black history month?  I doubt they celebrate this sort of thing in the offices of Universal Records, since it’s easier to exploit an artist who is both ignorant an uneducated: The scariest thing in the world can be a conscientious, courageous and intelligent black man, hence the decision to mass promote black male anti-intellectualism.

Hip-hop music is one of the most powerful and persuasive art forms in the history of the world, and it is now being used to enslave the minds of young black people so that they might become food for the prison industrial complex.  Lil Wayne’s reference to Till is just the latest effort to dumb down black America with messages that are nothing short of disgustingly toxic.  Don’t believe me?  Go analyze any one of a million songs you’ll hear on the radio today:  Not one song promotes a positive lifestyle, and within 60 seconds, you’ll surely hear a reference to at least one of the following – drug use, alcoholism, violence, or s*xual irresponsibility.   Also, have you ever noticed that commercialized (corporate-funded) hip-hop is the ONLY genre of music where nearly all of the messages are nearly the same?  Maybe this isn’t a coincidence.

Many potential black male father figures have been extracted from our community and sent to the concentration camps of the prison industrial complex, given dozens of years in prison for sometimes minor offenses.  All the while, their sons grow up without fathers, and are taught by music on the radio how to get high and drunk every day, to kill other black men, and to disrespect the black women who raised them (case-in-point:  Lil Wayne’s song, “Always strapped,” reminds black men to keep their guns with them when they go to the club on Friday nights.  He’ll never be telling black kids to go to the library).  Lil Wayne’s music is a reflection of this reality, as a man who is as brilliant as the great Malcolm X has been convinced to use his powers for evil rather than good.  I would ask Wayne to say something positive to his people, but the fact is that in his mind, we are NOT his people.

Keep Reading: http://www.blackbluedog.com/2013/02/news/dr-boyce-emmett-tills-family-is-rightfully-angry-at-lil-waynes-blatant-disrespect/

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6 Comments

  1. Bnae Dmon

    Bro. Steve Cokely warned us of this brazen boule. Maybe the fraternity has wordss for their lil wayne.

    Reply
  2. Yolanda McLean

    Lil Wayne is a walking disease.. He’s on sooo many drugs that he doesn’t even know who HE IS.

    Reply
  3. Yolanda McLean

    Lil Wayne is a walking disease.. He’s on sooo many drugs that he doesn’t even know who HE IS .

    Reply
  4. Andre Martin

    We have an industry/generation of uneducated rappers that promotes the usage of drugs and the degrading of our women. Let’s not misconstrue Hip Hop with Modern Day Rap. There’s oftimes an intellectual message given in Hip Hop music.. We should band modern day rap, until they find something intelligent to speak on.. Amagine our Black Leaders taking the podium or the pulpit to give an uneducated speach.. A Wise Man can play the roll of a fool, but a fool can’t play Wise…

    Reply
  5. Nell's Place

    David Mills wrote about stuff like this almost two decades ago.

    Reply
  6. Patricia Anduha

    I defintely believe Lil Wayne was wrong for making that Emmit Till reference. Granted Lil Wayne will never admit he was wrong but I imagine deep in his heart he knows he was wrong but said it anyway without true remorse or empathy for the family.

    Reply

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