Did hip hop make the world more violent?

People from the elder generation claims that hip hop music and videos changed the world in a awful way. Statements like : The music of today degrade women and more killings occurred after the style of music. Another accusation about hip hop is drugs are more rampant in the community. For some reason we as adults seem to forget that these things happened before the new generation of music began. During the civil rights movement there were many women that marched but none held the helm of leadership. Those women was just as strong as men in those days. In those days men thought that women should be seen not heard. In the seventies 25 year old women played as 16 year old girls on commercials to sale to the public and I remind you that they were not wearing clothes that covered up most of their nakedness. There were songs in the seventies that talked about sexual behavior in code. Now days the radio stations just bleep out the curse words. Drugs were sold and made long before hip hop arrived on the scene. Remember the song Cocaine by the super group Cream. The front man for that group was Eric Clapton. One of the biggest funk bands in the World during the seventies (Parliament Funkadelic) ritual was smoking weed. If some people can not comprehend on these theories do not forget the Doobie Brothers. The definition of a Doobie is marijuana. With violence, gangs was started in the seventies. They were already established long before hip hop emerged. The wars ,before the new generation, erupted the birth of murder. Hip hop did not grow drugs, manufacture guns or hypnotize men to degrade women. In other words, they did not start the fire.

Bigger or Smaller

Is the world getting smaller or bigger? It seems that the world is getting smaller with the technology that we have at hand. If we are so close than why is global warming becoming such a big problem? The second Bush Administration claims that the problem did not exist. Well, not until the last years of little Georges' presidency. In the past scientist informed Ronald Reagan that global warming would become a problem if the United States did not cut back on pollution. Reagan and his cronies tried to debauch the theory and claimed that global warming was a phantom of ones imagination. Now the problem has become very hazardous. The earth climate is in a difficult situation. The polar caps is melting at an alarming rate and the east and the west coast will probably flood in the next fifty years. The polar bears rely on the polar caps for food in these scenarios. Without the North poles the bears will die of hungry. In this case the bears will become extinct. Not only the bears will become extinct but we will have to look at the human race. At this rate we probably would not become extinct but a great deal of us will die from the elements of the weather. The movie The Day After Tomorrow tells the story of global warming. It will not happen in that time sequence but it was compressed in a twenty year spand.

Stay at Post

The other day I was taking my children to school and something caught my eye at the corner of Ingram and Barton in West Memphis, Arkansas. A police officer was working as a crossing guard and he was leading some children across the street. One car to the right of me kept going and turned to the left. The children was on the other side of the street when this happened. Although I think the driver on the other side should have stayed at the stop until the children crossed the street, the police officer actions made me very upset. When the driver was in the middle of the street the police officer pointed at the driver and started to say something to the driver. The driver kept going, ignoring the police officer. I remind you that I totally agree with the officer at that point but what happened next made my blood boil. The officer ran away from the children and jumped in his squad car. He left his post to chase down the driver. I understand that the driver was in the wrong but what about the children that had to cross the street on their own. I watched the children cross the street safely and took my children to school. I turned around drove back to the area where the incident happened. The police officer still was not at his post. Children had to cross the street on their own. To the police officers of West Memphis, Arkansas children are worth more than a ticket. Call back up in these type of situations.

Daunte Farrow Case

Everyone in the mid south have heard of this terrible tragedy in West Memphis, Arkansas. If not then maybe you did not watch TV in a while. A West Memphis police officer shot and killed a 12 year old child. The police officer (Sammis) claimed the child had a toy gun. The officer thought the toy gun was real. Farrow, the child was running with another young boy and the officer asked him to stop. The other stopped but Farrow did not hear him in time. When Farrow turned around the officer shot him twice, once in the leg the other in the chest. There was another officer at the scene, he did not shoot. In the report the police's claimed that they did not fear for their lives. Another thing that sounds very strange is the toy gun that Farrow somehow had in his possession did not have any fingerprints on it. Sammis was acquitted of all charges by the state and federal. A trail was never set for his actions. The black counsel members are seeking for a trail date but the other three (white) voted against it. The police told the news that those counsel members (who was looking for justice) were nothing but trouble makers, criminals, child molesters, and rapist. The police officer who shot the child did not have a clean record as the Police Chief claimed. How could a child have a toy with him and there was not fingerprints found on the toy gun. It mystifies me that the local news have over looked that fact.

Corrupt System

The town that I reside in has created an awful fiasco, that would make Boss Hog from the original Dukes of Hazard cringe. Every income tax season the police department give out tickets the way Saint Nick disperse presents before Christmas. They seem to believe that this is the only time the city can make money. The problem is most of the citizens are innocent. This was a problem before the Daunte Farrow case. I wonder where was the NAACP was at that time. Of course no one sees the them during the Daunte Farrow case but that is another story. The police department always leaves a paper trail in these sitations. For instance. I recieved a speeding ticket last year. The police officer claimed I was going 45 mph in a 30 mph zone. He even wrote the area and time on the ticket. The problem is the ticket shows that I was going 45mph in a 45mph zone. In that area the speed limit is 45mph. A mile behind me the speed limit is 30. I presented my case and even had the audience on my side. I brought pictures to court and guess what! I still lost the case. I asked the judge why. His comment " I just believe the officer". The officer wrote on the ticket where he clocked me going 45mph. Since he wrote the incident on the ticket, it showed that in that area the speed limit was 45mph. In other words he left a paper trail. I still have the ticket. So how could I lose in court. I had to pay 180 dollars that day.

Ricky Boatwright

Ricky Boatwright (November 24, 1969) was born Ricky Darnell Boatwright, in West Memphis, Arkansas. My mother was a high school graduate of Parkdale, Arkansas and my father only had an eighth grade education. He was raised in England, Arkansas. One might say that Ricky was raised in a big family. He is the youngest of five brothers on his mother side. His father had early children from a previous marriage and other encounters of other women. At the age of 11 Ricky's parents split. The father moved out because of his infidelity. His father wanted Ricky's mother to ask him back but she was tired of his actions and never did. Although this incident happened Ricky still became sort of close to his father. He was never close with either of his parents. Lillian (Ricky's mother) did raise the family but she did have some problems with her sister. In other words my aunt did not want Lillians children to become more successful than hers. Ricky began his school at Wonder Elementary and went to Wonder Junior High. He made many friends but for some reason he made enemies also. Mostly because some students became jealous of him. Ricky did not try to chase any of his peers girlfriends. They just thought that was the reason some girls spoke so highly of him. At first it was very hard in school but even with problems he still had a good times. The good weighed out the bad. Of course Ricky also had some girls that despised him. That goes with the territory. Ricky say his very first football game at the age of 3. He still remembers that game. It was the Steelers versus the Oakland Raiders. The Steelers was behind and seconds was counting down. On the last play of the game Terry Bradshaw passed the ball to Lynn Swan and Jack Tatum hit the ball out of Lynn's hands but the ball flew into Franco Harris hands and he ran to a game winning touchdown. This is how he fell in love with football. Both teams became his favorite. Ricky played little league football in the fifth grade. Instead of playing offense he became a defensive star. Hence the nickname Bam-Bam Boatwright. That pleasure did not last long because in high school Ricky did not like the coach's attitude. The coach did not let the best players play on the field. In the 11th grade he quit football. Something did happen during the ninth grade year. In french class Ricky wanted to ask this beautiful girl out. She turned around looked right in his eyes and said "I am not interested in you". It seems funny now because the same girl that told me those words married me ten years later. Ricky and Anji have been married for 12 years and have two daughters. Ricky was very happy she turned him down at that age because he was very immature. They would have never stayed together. During the years without his wifes' love, Ricky did have some problems finding a career. He went through many jobs and all of them was horrible. From working on the Mississippi river, Panchoes, Southland Greyhound Park, Family Dollar and 3D screenwriting just to name a view Ricky decided that labor jobs did not appeal to his career. Later on he finally fell in love with movie production. He was on his forklift one day at work after working over seventy hours that week, he looked up to the ceiling and asked the Lord "I want to find someway to go to college". Later that week he got sick and fired from his job. Some people would wonder how could that help him go to college. Well after he was fired from his job, his wife decided to go back to school. She woke him up and asked him if he wanted to go to Memphis and gather all the information (tax forms) so she could start school. He told her why not and they both started college. After entering the collegiate status, there were many trails and tribulation. His family was flooded out twice and he also lost jobs because of racism. The fight for education went on. Without his wife's' and family love he would never graduated. Now he has a general education associate degree and a proficiency certificate in media broadcasting. Ricky have many more obstacles to climb before he receives his bachelors degree in film production and a minor in Spanish. Last semester anything that went wrong did go wrong. His children caught strep and he lost yet another job. He got so far behind, Ricky almost gave up. With the help of Mr. Craig Leake, Mrs. Kris Markman, Ms. Sarah Brown and other awesome students Ricky would not have been in the position to graduate this fall. Sometimes a few kind words and the push from others can carry a person a long way. Ricky also have to thank Ms. Roxy Ghee for her encouraging words.