The Root.com Remembers Lynching And The Rappers Who Died Too Soon But Never Calls Out The High Percentage Of Them Murdered

• Without Sanctuary: Mementos of Lynching
• In the decades after the Civil War, segregationists practiced a uniquely American form of terrorism against black citizens. A wrenching exhibit in London reminds us that such executions were often treated as celebrations. Warning: These images are disturbing!

• Slideshow: Rappers who were gone too soon

In my constant quest to define the formula that defines the multiplier that defines the greater value of a Black man murdered at the hands of a White man over one that was not valued because he died at the hands of a Black - I make note of two recent presentations on "The Root.com" that talked about "Black Death" but were used for very different purposes.

The Legacy Of Lynching In America
In the spirit of "Never, Never Never Forget" the image of a Black corpse hanging from a noose or a body charred as a White mob stands in festive observation is able to jolt today's Black people who have gotten a bit too comfortable - back into their racially defensive posture.

One must understand the constant cycling of this brutal pictures and the function that they play in the agenda of the "Racism Chaser".

In the back drop of the constant flow of blood from Black victims in the context of the modern day urban murder that appears every day in various large metropolitan areas - none of these murders can ever EQUAL to assault made upon the Black community at the hands of the White lynch mob.  These lynchings were done at the hand of a SUPERIOR force.

The very same forces within the Black community who make the case that the media portrays Black people in a negative light and thus are skeptical of the unbalanced portrayal of Blacks as criminals are also the same people who seek to define the terms of the systematic oppression suffered by Black people - the stripping away of our culture over time which now have some of us acting out violently against one another as we don't like what we see in our eyes.   For others their lack of respect from society is taken out against a fellow Black man who has disrespected them and, unlike the armed police man - there is little consequence for striking back at a fellow "inferior Black", thus the violence in the streets.

This is what we are told to believe.

The purpose of the lynching series that are trotted out ever so often is to put forth the message "YOU did this to US.   We are never going to let you forget how you have molested us when you had the absolute rule of law and used it so brutally.   Don't look to the Black urban street thug as the epitome of savagery -  open up the family photo albums of the "Pic-Nics" around which your ancestors have gathered.

 The Death Of The Hip Hop Star

1. Tupaq - Murdered
2. Biggie - Murdered
3. Big L - Murdered
4. Big Pun - Heart Attack
5. Jam Master Jay - Murdered
6. Lisa "Left Eye" Lopes - Auto Accident
7. Freaky Tah - Murdred
8. Ol' Dirty Bastard - Drug Overdose
9. Proof - Murdered 
10. J. Dilla - Died of A Blood Ailment
11. Pimp C - Overdose
12. Guru - Cancer
13. Nate Dogg - Heart Attack / Stroke
14. M-Bone - Murdered
15. Easy E - AIDS
    
     7 out of 15 Murdered

Enumerate the mode of death of nearly any other "profession" other than a police officer or solider at war time and you will not find the high rate of MURDER as is present in the genre of music and lifestyle known as "Hip Hop".  (More accurately the subset that I call "Hip Hop Voice Of The Street Pirate".)

Every Tuesday a new album is released in this genre of music.  Upon these albums one can hear tales about DEATH or THREATS OF DEATH recorded with nary a protest rising up from the communities that suffer most from these vectors of assault upon it.

I learned what a "chopper" is from listening to this genre of music as several of its lyricists talked about the assault weapon that they have in their car.

I am in support of the right to own a weapon and using it for defensive purposes.  These songs detailed the use of this gun for offensive purposes or for the purposes of settling a score in which their ego was "dissed". 

With "Life Imitating Art Imitating Life" as the central truism of "Hip Hop Voice Of The Street Pirate" the unacceptably high rate of murders that transpire around this lifestyle is exceptional as it also too often expresses itself with physical brutality which will one day appear in the lyrics of some future artist who is seeking to promote his own "Street Cred".

We all agree that the racist Jim Crow South produced a CULTURE which lead to "dead Black people". 
The ticket to protecting the rights of Black people who were the disproportionately made the victims was the erection of a system by which laws were enforced and punishment doled out to make the point clear that when THOUGHT turns into ACTIONS - those who act out will be prosecuted as they have violated the law.

As we make note of the dead bodies that are produced by the culture of "Street Piracy" there is not a similar drive to make use of the law to punish the deed.  The countervailing interests of:

• The deflation of the "Prison Industrial Complex"
• The right to free speech even if it is "Offensive Speech"
• The avoidance of the image of the Black male as a criminal

In the effort to fight the battles against the external forces behind these "assaults" to Black people - the conditions of benign neglect has been particularly deadly to our people.

It is again clear why the "Lynching Pictures" are periodically cycled for our attention.
The question that is before us that must be asked is "Why is there no similar intention to curtail the accouterments of the culture within which so many Black people are ground up within?"