I’m forced to admit I’m not a modern music fan. When I hear someone mention rap or hip–hop I get a mental picture of a car slung very low to the ground with windows that flex outward and inward, keeping time with the punishing bass-cacophony taking place inside the vehicle.
If I want to experience steel mill level noise intensity, I would just as soon visit a steel mill. Watching molten metal poured would be more interesting than observing coins vibrate inside a rap–playing car’s ashtray.
So it was with more than a little surprise I found myself in complete agreement with a hip–hop (singer? shouter? artist?) star that was the big attraction at a gang summit held in South Los Angeles.
The Los Angeles Times covered the event and reported The Game — real name Jayceon Terrell Taylor — told the gang bangers, former gang bangers, and interested neighborhood attendees in no uncertain terms that “the sad truth that no one wants to face is, before we can get our lives to matter to anyone else . . . We have to show that our lives matter to us!”
Exactly. The number of blacks killed by law enforcement is miniscule compared to the incredible number of blacks killed by other blacks.
Taylor was joined by a gang-intervention worker from Watts named Michael “Big Mike” Cummings who may not be famous, but is still very wise. Watts complained that he is “sick and tired of losing our babies [and the] only thing that needs to be divided by colors is our laundry.”
The event was not confined to black gangs. The invitation went out to Hispanic gangs too, from Los Angeles and surrounding areas. The event’s formal name was “Time To Unite: United Hoods Plus Gangs Nation.” Taylor went to the heart of the matter when he told the crowd, “Your life should mean more to you. Your life should mean more to you than what you’re showing.”
I certainly hope the crowd took the message to heart. This isn’t the first gang summit to urge peace among the warring factions and I fear it won’t be the last. Reducing the death toll from violence in the minority community is not an effort that comes from the top down.
Law enforcement can only keep a lid on the pot. Putting out the fire will require the community as a whole to decide that violence is not the solution to the problem. The solution will require standing up and putting pressure — legal and moral — on the rogue elements in the community.
Michael Reagan, the eldest son of President Reagan, is a Newsmax TV analyst. A syndicated columnist and author, he chairs The Reagan Legacy Foundation. Michael is an in-demand speaker with Premiere speaker’s bureau. Read more reports from Michael Reagan — Go Here Now.