[madprof98]

It is the content of their character not the color of their skin. Yes, the top selling noise is filth from two black guys, their character not their color. . . . I just say that trashy character is because of trashy character. Being black doesn't excuse it; and being black doesn't cause it. (Same for white.)

Yes and no. I retired after 25 years teaching in an inner-city community college. The worst problems from high school never graduated, of course, so we never saw them--except, alas, in the neighborhood. But the behavior described here was not unlike that of the younger college students, and the problem was clearly racial. No, not "color" racial, but "culture" racial. The vile noise that passes for music among most younger African-Americans is (in their view) an expression of this so-called culture. In my judgment, it is a truly evil set of behaviors fostered in a subset of society without adequate guidance from adults, especially adult males. The only possible hope for inner-city kids (and their more affluent admirers in suburbia) is to eradicate every trace of it.

[VietVet]

If only this stupid idea that being a thug was acceptable ( or even model) behavior were confined to one race, or even one class within a race, but alas, I see evidence of it almost everywhere.

VietVet

[Riverman94610]

And did you know that 60%of"gangsta rap"is bought by white kids in the suburbs who get some kind of vicarious thrill out of this perversion of the "black experience"?
I have taught full and part time in schools such as the author describes and I have seen the same type of desrtuctive language and behavior.it is truly shameful and often horrifying.
Yet,to the author's credit,he mentions a number of his students by name who do NOT choose the road to perdition and are steadfast in their desire to succeed.As Joe Marshall of Omega Boy's Club has said,"sometimes a real man must stand alone" and for blacks to"collaborate in their own oppression"is the ultimate tragedy.
I sub now and mostly in the hard core ghetto schools.My "rap"basically goes like this-"I am not here to make you comfortable.I am here to provoke and challenge you,to teach you HOW to think,not WHAT to think.Street language is for THE STREET.This is an academic setting and it is not appropriate in my room.You latecomers(it is common for kids to wander into class fifteen and twenty minutes late),let me tell you something.You try that at Pac Bell or the Post Office you won't have a job for very long.Oh,you think thats funny?Well,son,the joke will soon be on you!"
Then I do a little positive reinforcement-"I'm here for YOU,ok?Anyone want to know how to get into college or find a summer job?I'll be here for a while after school if you want to drop on by.But if you're not serious DO NOT waste my time."
One thing I have noticed that racial animosity has greatly DECREASED since the early Seventies when it was quite common to hear black kids say things like"I don't have to listen to no WHITE man"or"White folks stink",etc.I have taught over fifty days so far this year and not ONCE has a negative comment been made about my ethnicity.
I think that is cause for true hope combined with the fact that it is rare outside hard core racist circles to hear"nigger",an epithet that was very commonly used in my 1950's all white California suburb.
Riverman