Letters to the Editor

OneUnited and Charles St. AME

I believe the Banner did a fine job at reporting the facts (“The clock is ticking,” Bay State Banner, March 8, 2012).

Both institutions are great institutions in our community, but one is a church and the line where the separation between church and state seemed to have been crossed a little too much.

The bank is not a church, and I don’t believe the bank wants to own any property, they simply want to be...a BANK. I love both, and I believe right now, all the money owed should come from the community that’s crying, not the bank.

Quadeer Shakur
Via email

Hip Hop is not to blame

This article (“Historical rift between hip hop and the Black Church,” Bay State Banner, March 22, 2012) definitely addresses why the youth have been pushing away from the Black Church, but I feel it does not speak of the hip hop culture in the right manner.

Music consists of many different genres and hip hop is one of them. After recognizing hip hop as a genre, you should then look at the variety of artists that fall under the genre of hip hop: 50 Cent, Common, Jay Z, Lupe Fiasco, Pharrell Williams, Lil’ Wayne, T-Pain, Consequence and many others.

Each artist has its own particular style. Once we start to see that hip hop itself is a culture derived of many different styles of music, how can we say that the hip hop culture would have never happened if the Black Church didn’t have its shortcomings in the mid-1900s?

Hip hop is a genre of music that seems like it would have come about regardless. The people do need to come together as one, regardless of our believes and I beliefs, that certain styles within the hip hop culture have the power to make this type of movement happen.

Consider the fact that these particular styles of hip hop are not biased like the Church and many of its views, so it seems only obvious that they would have a higher rate of succession at stirring up such a movement.

Nikki Jones
Via email

+ Add Comment

Mar 29 16:51pm by G. Djata Bumpus [71.192.34.225]

Genuine art serves as a bridge between the listener/viewer and reality through the artist's work (although an artist can use imaginary/not real visualizations to make a point too).

Moreover, as Dr. Maulana Karenga wrote well over 40 years ago, and I still agree with him, African American art, particularly, must be "functional". In other words, he pointed out that a picture of a bowl of fruit may have some aesthetic merit, yet it means nothing. Instead, what we consider expressing artistically, whether through song lyrics, poetic verse, or any other form of literally or visual art, should be both informative and inspiring - not just pretty.

Finally, inasmuch as art, to me, makes one truthfully reflect upon the conditions in which many of us find ourselves and, therefore, brings ideas about how we can improve the aforesaid circumstances, most of today's hip-hop fails miserably.