CORE Applauds Oprah
Urges Others to Join in Effort Against Negative Hip-Hop Message
The clash between the Black hip-hop community and Black intelligentsia is yet again in the thick of a tete-a-tete. Mr.Roy Innis, National Chairman of the Congress of Racial Equality (CORE), applauds Oprah’s effort to discourage further popularity of the hip-hop lifestyle and persona. “I hope Oprah doesn’t feel a necessity to apologize to hip-hoppers for her policy [of discouraging their appearances from her show],” says Mr. Innis. He feels that, “people need to stand up for decency without apology.” Hip-hop glamorizes pimps and hustlers whose jail time gives them legitimacy or “street cred.” Its mainstream popularity is evident with the Academy Awards best original song win of “It’s Hard Out Here for a Pimp” from the movie Hustle & Flow.
Mr. Innis believes that the proliferation of hip-hop culture needs to be halted and replaced by a positive image of the Black American. Negative connotations of Black America spread to all corners of the world and effect the international Black community. Mr. Innis stands by his beliefs that the Black community is responsible for promoting a positive message to its youth. The Civil Rights movement has taught Black Americans that there is a need to be part of the system for change to occur. The raw power of hip-hop culture must be acknowledged and in response, it needs to be steered in a more positive direction.
Usher is a primary example of a member of popular Black culture who has gained wealth, credibility and popularity through the projection of a positive image without references to “hoes” and “bitches.” He is the 2006 recipient of the CORE annual Martin Luther King Dinner Outstanding Achievement Award.
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