Currently. New York air waves that target the Black Community are filled with
music and comments that express only negative, violent and denigrating ideas,
creating a destructive emotional climate in the Black community. To
understand our concern, it is absolutely necessary to understand the history
and significance of music in Black culture. Our music has always been the
most dominant manifestation of what we are and feel. The music has always
been at the core of our experience in the world. From Selma to Soweto, the
music has lifted us, inspired, informed, healed and encouraged us. In his
essay, Blueprint for Negro Writing, the legendary Black writer, Richard
Wright, pointed out that Black writers of his era had turned to writing in an
effort to prove to whites that there were Blacks who were civilized, and to
this day the literature has all too often been the voice of talented,
educated Blacks, lobbying Whites for the acceptance of our race.
Our music, however, came from a different place. From Mahalia Jackson to
Marvin Gaye, from John Coltrane to James Brown, it has always been a music
profoundly directed to the psyche of Black people. Without apology, the
music spoke directly to the hearts and minds of the people whose culture and
experiences created it. It was our intellectual property. The music urged
us to "Fight The Power," it reminded us that "There Ain't No Stopping Us
Now," it taught us to "Try A Little Tenderness." The music represented our
collective consciousness, affirming our highest sense of possibilities,
pushing us beyond our contradictions to a more perfect self. The music
explained how we could "Have Sunshine on a Cloudy Day," and proclaimed before
the world that "I'm Black and I'm Proud." The music would not accept
defeat. Curtis said, "Keep On Pushing," and Stevie said "Keep on Reaching
for Higher Ground," and along the way we learned to celebrate our strengths
and our unique genius, saying to those who would attempt to break our spirit,
"I Will Survive." The key to where Black people must go has always been in
the music.
Perhaps that is why the programming policy of radio and TV stations aimed at
the Black community refuse to play the more nourishing music of KRS1, Nas,
Common, The Manhattans, Ray Goodman & Brown, Roberta Flack, Jon Lucien, Chuck
D, Heather Headly, Blue Magic, Ollie Woodson and the many more, choosing
instead to fill the air with ideas that are anti-woman, anti-life, and in a
real sense, anti-Black. We are not asking them to stop playing anything. We
will not engage in the censorship that they practice. We are urging Power
105, Hot 97, WBLS, KISS, BET & MTV, to simply include in their formats the
new music from the many artists that continue to operate in the cultural
tradition of Black art, producing music that reflects a fuller sense of Black
contemporary reality, not just the thug reality constructed for us by people
who hold Blacks in contempt.
The group Dead Prez helps us to understand this when they point out that
there is a body of music coming from Hip Hop and R&B artists"Fully dedicated
and so real that radio won't play it." They further explain that "What's on
the radio is propaganda and mind control," and they caution us that "Turning
on the radio is like putting on a blindfold, because when you are keeping it
real, you don't get rotation, unless you take over the radio station." Dead
Prez makes the point that we know how they use music to teach, and they warn
us "Not to sleep because you could become a radio freak."
We fully support the Dead Prez contention that there comes a time when we
should TURN OFF THE RADIO!
We are at a point where the community will literally have to demand respect.
We are asking you to join us on selected days and TURN OFF THE RADIO as well
as Music TV. We cannot allow only the worst ideas to freely infect our
community and destroy our young. It is necessary to confront this assault on
our spirit in the sharpest terms possible. TURN OFF THE RADIO! Let the
advertisers know that there will be days when they are wasting their money.
TURN OFF THE RADIO! Let radio owners know that the airwaves still belong to
the people.
EVERY THURSDAY TURN OFF OFFENSIVE RADIO
Sponsors
Bob Law, Chuck D, Viola Plummer, Rev. Calvin Butts, Minister Kevin Muhammad,
Brenda Watts, Rev Willard Ashley, NYC Council Member Charles Barron, Elombe
Braith, Eddie Ellis, Professor Leonard Jeffries, Ayo Harrington
Buffalo New York Supporters : James Anderson, Lorretta L. Renford, Courtland
Renford Jr., Tarren Austin-Sissoho, Jatou Sissoho, Dr. Herbert Knox, Mr. &
Mrs. Warren Miller, Mr. & Mrs. James Luchey, Ms. Evelyn Owens, Buffalo City
Council Member Brian Davis