Wednesday
Sep302009
Dear Russell Simmons & Nas -Teens Who Killed Derrion Albert not "Young Warriors" They're "URBAN TERRORISTS"
Wednesday, September 30, 2009 at 8:01AM The Blogmother "Dear Young Warriors fighting the wrong wars! Killing each other is definitely played out. Being hurt from the lost of a love one was never cool.You have the ability and mindpower to change they way we are looked at. Look who's watching us young warriors, look who's throwing us in jail constantly, look at the ignorance in the world. Look at the racist dogs who love to see us down. Loving to bury us in the ground or in jail where we continue this worthless war on one another. Incredibly STUPID Washed-Up Rapper NAS on Global Slime
Leave it to the chief defender of the Hip Hop Industrial Complex to try to wash his hands clean with the blood of young Black children. This ranks up there with Russell Simmons trying to "empower" Black women by using Global Slime to publish a letter from a White woman telling Black women "B*tch Get Your Own Man!"
Now he's back at it publishing this nonsensical letter from Nas directed at teens in Chicago who are slaughtering each other. Sandra Rose outright refused to publish this "open letter". Her reasoning:
A few of you emailed me today asking me to post some random letter written by the rapper Nas whose entire career is based on gimmicks and sensationalism.
Here’s a man (and I use the term loosely) whose violent lyrics helped contribute to the environment that bred the wild children who opened up another child’s head with sticks and laughed while doing it.
And now that his rap career is just about washed up, his sorry azz writes a letter Sandra Rose
I didn't get to read this "open letter" until I got home and I couldn't get past the first paragraph where NAS refers to those who are slaughtering innocent men women and children as "Young Warriors." Doesn't that about sum up the CANCER that is the Hip Hop Industrial Complex? Trying to make the dishonorable , honorable. The immoral, laudable. The inhumane, human.
Let's call these people what they are URBAN TERRORISTS! Their war is against US- innocent Black civilians trying to make our way in the world the best way we know now. Russel Simmons is like the UBL of Urban Terrorists. He's their "spiritual leader" and he and the HIC are funding a jihad on innocent Black civilians. If they want to be warriors go sign up for the Army, Navy, Airforce or the Marines. Go do something, anything other than terrorize kids trying to go to school.
Take time out today to draft your own "open letter" to the innocent civilians that are being hunted down and slaughtered by Nas' "young warriors."
Then when you get through with your letter, I want you to email it to the editorial board of every newspaper in Chicago and your home town too.
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Reader Comments (91)
The letter was addressed to those type of teens not us, he kinda had to speak to them in their language. If you call them an urban terrorist they will most likely start to tune you out immediately. I think he was trying to tell those kids to focus all that negative energy to something positive and to fight for some that will help the community and not each other.
I agree with blkchik. Further, I want to give them the benefit of the doubt and say that the letter was not even addressed to the perpetrators themselves, but to their peers who have yet to actually descend into this sort of thing - black youth on the edge who can still be pulled back, not the ones who've already fallen.
Lawd have mercy, y'all cannot be this dense. This is like an ARMS dealer telling warring nations to stop fighting while continuing to sell weapons.
Keep finding reasons to make excuses for the HIC. They aren't warriors. Continuing to give them the impression that they are doing anything other than destroying their communities and preying on innocent civilians is just another way to justify inappropriate behavior.
We ALWAYS find a reason to justify wrongdoing. If White southerners caught busses to Chicago to chase Black kids as they tried to get to and from school, we wouldn't be spouting prattle about saving them from themselves, we'd be asking for the national guard.
Idiots, the both of you.
Nas is trying to tell those kids that they do have power, we all have power but it should be used for good. He calls them warriors b/c all black folks are warriors by virtue of all we been through in this country and we are still here. He is telling them they have the power but it must be done for good. The Panthers were young people but they used their energy to help the community.
I don't know if you know many young urban black men and how they process things but sometimes you gotta speak to them like that.
We can't only reach out to the good kids b/c they are still gonna be stuck in the neighborhood and the schools with that bad element, so both sides need reaching out to. Good kids should have to live their teen years stuck at home.
I meant shouldn't
Nas, HAS NO MORAL AUTHORITY TO MAKE ANY PUBLIC COMMENT ON DERRION'S DEATH - UNLESS IT COMES AS A HEARTFELT APOLOGY.
He's a hypocrite; and those who support that open letter are fools for doing so. It appears that many people have been hit in the head with wooden planks and the good sense the Lord gave them was knocked out.
What war are these kids fighting if people want to deem them as warriors? They are a cancer to society and if we plan to survive, segregating ourselves from those who mean us harm is necessary. Some people just can't be helped and reaching out to them is doing more harm than good. It wastes precious time and resources on people that are permanently damaged.
Nas's attempt to legitimize the MURDER of Derrion Albert smacks of stupidity and culpability. He should spend more time trying to figure out how he intends to make TIMELY child support payments of 45K per month to Kelis AND should resolve to FATHER his child so that his son doesn't end up like Eugene Riley, Eric Carson, Salvonus Shannon, and Eugene Bailey.
His letter is disgusting.
Holy Jesus... am I hearing support for this crappy excuse for a letter on WAOD? Is there NOTHING that violent criminals can do that will withdraw our support if the criminal is black and male?
Were KKK members who lynched black men 'young warriors'? Are the police officers (black and white) who shoot down innocent black men 'young warriors'? Why does PookieandEm get a pass?
gem2001, stay classy.
SMH
I want NOTHING to do with making any excuses, etc. to wash the blood off of Nas and Russell Simmons hands. It's obvious that they don't care about any of us outside the money that we can put in their pockets. They actively encourage the madness!
I'm going to mention this topic at work today (i work at an afterschool program). The kids are 7-9 but they know whats going on in the streets and the earlier they can be caught before entering the madness, the better.
Nas didn't write that letter in support of the defendants but he did it to reach out to those kids who are on that path. Run away from them fine, but there are still a lot of folks who are stuck living in a neighborhoods and schools with them. Should they lock themselves into their homes and not go to school until their family has enough money to move?
For the last 2 days I have been a mess... on my way to work I herd the last of an upset Rickey Smiley speaking about a 16 year old who was beaten & what were the police going to do now? Im my mind I was thinking WTH...please don't tell me the cops have killed another child...I was wrong..I logged on to facebook only to see a friend who works with teens against gang violence has posted the blurred version of the beating death of this young boy...Darrion Albert, 16...I watched in horror thankful almost that the news had blurred so much of it..because what I saw was enough to almost tear my heart out.
Darrion Albert, 16...was beaten unconscience and for what..don't say wrong place wrong time...he was in the right place at the right time..he was going home, after school. I have not had a scence of peace in my soul for 48hrs now. I cannot work on my wedding plans, I cant get into facebook, I can barely concentrate at work or even imagine what I am about to type to anyone who will read this.
Gangs? wow I read in one article how "had Darrion Albert, 16 been affiliated with one of the 2 gangs he would of at least had someone there who had his back", "since he did not he was first beaten by one gang than when he tried to get up the other gang finished him off"...finished him off?
I KNOW THE PARENTS OF THE MONSTERS WHO BEAT THIS HONOR STUDENT DARRION ALBERT, 16 DID NOT EXPECT/WANT/CONDONE/COULD IMAGINE...that there children could do something so horrible or could they?
I am in no way MOTHER OF THE YEAR but I have raised my children to give respect to not just adults/there elders but to there peers. You can be walking down the street and not knowing what the person walking towards you has just gone though and say one thing to them & all hell can break loose...our children are an image of us.
I have no sympathy for the cowards who took this child's life so horribly I have disgust & anger...I have taught my children that HATE is a serious feeling, if you say you hate someone you better have a damn good reason for it...I hate a few people right now..the sorry ass little bastards who beat this child to death Darrion Albert, 16 & the cowards who took Tahleeks (FREAKY TAH'S)life.
I HATE THEM...& I WONT EVER GET OVER IT!
Now onto my other disgust with the Death of Darrion Albert, 16..immediately after opening the story online, the next story was about our President flying to WHEREVER to vie for the 2016 OLYMPICS? ARE YOU FRIGGIN KIDDING ME...how his wife wasn't taking no for an answer...OBAMA'S WTF? ARE YOU THINKING? HEALTHCARE? IRAC? IRAN?...HE GOT ALL HOT & BOTHERED BY THE BLACK SCHOLOR WHO WAS ARRESTED FOR BREAKING IN HIS OWN HOUSE...EVEN HAD BEERS WITH THEM...CHUCKIN & JIVIN...HE EVEN PUT KNAYE ON BLAST CALLED HIM A JACK ASS, FOR DISSING THE COUNTRY GIRL AT THE MTV AWARDS...
DARRION ALBERT 16, WAS BRUTALLY & SAVAGELY BEATEN TO DEATH IN HIS & HIS WIFES HOMETOWN SEPT 25, 2009...AS OF TODAY SEPT 29TH 2009...I HAVE NOT ONE GOOGLE ALERT OF HIS SYMPATHY & PLAN OF ACTION FOR HIS STATES BAD ASS KIDS..JUST LETS HAVE THE WORLD COME GET FUCKED UP IN 2016...FUCK OUTTA HERE...
I WILL NOT EVER RE-POST THE VIDEO OF DARRION ALBERT,16 BEING MURDERED ON THIS PAGE...I DESPISE GANGS...YOU HAVE ANY PROBLEMS WITH THAT OR ANYTHING I HAVE POSTED...HIT ME BACK...I'M SO READY TO CHEW YOUR HEAD OFF RIGHT NOW.
MY HEART ACHES FOR THIS YOUNG MAN & HIS FAMILY...& I PRAY TO GOD THAT YOU YOUNG PEOPLE LEARN FROM THIS...THAT B.S. YOU ALL ARE DOING CLAIMING YOUR SECT..DO NOT COME TO MY WEB SITE..I HAVE NO NEED FOR THAT GARBAGE HERE...ANY FLAGS OR GANG SIGNS WILL BE DELETED TONIGHT...
BE SAFE BE BLESSED THINK OF DARRION ALBERT, 16...
QUEEN JOSEPHINE
LBFAMILY
No, you are not mistaken. we have an incursion of appologists and obfuscationist terrorist sympathizers inour midst. They'll make excuses al the ay up to the point that these warriors walk up to them and kill them.
You're right, if the Klan was doing thi mess, we wouldn't be calling the warriors.
Complete and utter foolishness.
Nobody wants to have standards or acountability. just excuses for bad behavior.
@scipio stay gone ;)
BLKChik,
No, they should lock up the little bastards and bastardettes TERRORIZING the community. NAS wrote that letter to the DEFENDANTS. Read the first line.
Again, the letter makes no sesne because there is no war being fought, no racially orchestrated conspiracy to kill black people and boys in particular, and absolutely NO REASON for him to write that letter unless it was an apology for years of him being trifling.
Define and describe the war that these little bastards were fighting.
These children are in no way shape of form warriors, they are terrorist. What war are they fighting, the war to see who gets a life sentence first? Nas, Russell Simmons, Jay Z, and a host of other plagues on black culture have help feed the urban myth of you gotta do what you gotta do to make and damn everybody else. The whole current black entertainment culture thrives on the notion of get sex, money, and fame by any means necessary. They treat women as sex objects, just look at their wives and girlfriends. How many of them actually dated and married these women because of their intellect? They help nuture the idea of exploiting the community to make a dime with their selling of liquor and overpriced clothes.
Where is this great racial war and why aren't they busting white honor students upside the head? No, they are committing genocide, pure and simple.
Like I said before he wrote the letter in as a way to appeal to them and not us. Those dudes are locked up they are on video tape, there are on their way to jail. He wrote that to appeal to the dozens of other kids who were in the same gang as the defendants.
Thats not the language we use but what they use. I have also heard them refer to their crews as a "movement", it sounds silly to you and me but thats how they speak.
Gina,
Thank you for calling those thugs what they are, URBAN TERRORISTS. These savages split an innocent young man's head open, killing him and they (and other gang members) are called warriors? Some are giving Nas the benefit of the doubt?! What the heck is wrong with some black people? Why do we seem to be the only race of people who can witness horrors commited by "our own" and make lame excuses or even respect those who commit savage attacks?
As far as I am concerned, they are in no way shape or form warriors but terrorists. It is time that these thugs are treated like the terrorists they are.
C'mon, I didn't even say anything bad or disrespectful. If you really want to do the echo chamber thing, I guess you have a point. I can't blame you, some of my favorite blogs and message boards are echo chambers by design, and there's nothing wrong with that.
@blkchk: That may be how they speak but that doesn't mean we have to use their warped vernacular to speak with them. Their idea that they are warriors or a movement needs to be broken down, not confirmed by referrring to them as such. It would have been better to say "Dear urban terrorists who for some warped twsted reason believe you are warriors. Stop. Killing. People. You are a plaque and affliction to our race and deserve to be locked away until you are no longer a danger to others."
I meant plague, not plaque although plaque's bad too.
@Scipio: this isn't an echo chamber but what has lead you to believe that gem has a high tolerance for apologists/foolishness re: murdered children? Pick your audience.
It's sad, but the "young warriors" are at war with our own people, our own community. If that's a "warrior" then it's definitely the very wrong kind.
BTW, please forgive my ignorance, but was it Nas or Nelly that did the "song/video", "Tip Drill" a few years back and the students at Spelman protested against it? :(
Nelly did that video.
@scipio if by echo chamber you mean I will not say amen to ideology that is destroying Black people then echo away. Go on over to Global Slime with your brethren. Around here, we don't have problem drawing lines, having standards, and calling the enemy the enemy. Like I said, stay gone. I'm not trying to hear your apologizing and obfuscation for these terrorists.
@RevMamaAfrica: That was Nelly (another plague on black folks)
How do you guys speak to kids like them? What response do you get?
Nas' letter exposes yet again the preposterous and deadly "hug a thug" mindset, and NO ONE with an iota of sense should have any parts of it! This is the work of an enabler/apologist, thereby justifying the actions and thoughts of urban terrorists (aw heck, let's just knight them the horsemen of the ghettocalyspe).
Oh, trust me, if a plasma tv, say, is thought to be had, then surely segregating oneself from these homocidal/suicidal/genocidal maniacs wouldn't be impossible!
@blkchik you need to pick up a couple of history books. NEVER in the history of the world have you defeated violent tyranny with "talking" to violent tyrants. You defeat them, decapitate their leadership and let their supporters know that they will meet the same fate if they do not get in line.
"ghettocalyspe" - new word alert.
Blkchk,
I've taught HS for a number of years and many of my students were gang members. Contrary to popular belief, they are not so far out in left field that you have to speak to them in some coded language in order to get them to understand that their lifestyle is wrong. THEY ALREADY KNOW IT. The problem is, they tend not to realize the harm they are causing innocent people or that they are making blacks look bad. They tend to only think of themselves. Otherwise, they act just like normal teens WHILE IN SCHOOL. That's been my experience.
I didn't say amen to anything. I said that I don't think the letter was directed to the actual perpetrators - the individulas who actually killed this child. Maybe I'm wrong, maybe I'm right. But either way I didn't comment on the substance of the letter. And I got called an idiot for that.
I like your zeal and passion on issues (you too Faith, wherever ye may be) and I often agree with you on points, both major and minor. But sometimes I don't.
blkchik, part of the reason they aren't trying to hear you is because there's a larger issue here that continually isn't addressed when it comes to our youth. I totally understand the point you're attempting to make, but Nas, regardless of where his heart may be, is completely out of line. But he isn't the only one.
Whenever something like this happens, the people that are positioned to be widely seen and heard never put their foot down. They are so worried about being popular, selling records, and being everyone's "friend" that they won't BE A MAN and stand up and say "We've had enough."
Someone that is capable of murder does not deserve to be coddled. They don't need to be talked to like babies. So yes, it DOES sound like excuse-making because Nas is coming across as sympathetic instead of angry.
And he adds insult to injury by referring to this war, which is really the sort of straw man logic that people use when their initial point isn't compelling enough to stand on its own, i.e., Let's solve the matter by comparing it to something mythical.
A long time ago, I might've been inclined to side with Nas' approach, but I'm getting older and things have NOT gotten any better. We need to stop being friends and enablers to these kids.
nOva,
"Someone that is capable of murder does not deserve to be coddled. They don’t need to be talked to like babies. So yes, it DOES sound like excuse-making because Nas is coming across as sympathetic instead of angry."
This is actually a cogent, reasonable response and it makes alot of sense. I agree with what you've said here.
You defeat them, decapitate their leadership and let their supporters know that they will meet the same fate if they do not get in line
How would you go about doing that? Many of them usually know the fate of that lifestyle it's death or in jail but the continue to participate in it. I have seen the cops lock of dozens of folks at a time, even their leadership. But it always folk willing to pop up and take their place.
Wait, these dudes are/were fighting a war? Was that the war on human decency, the war on peace and quiet, the war on ethics, the war on intellect, the war on racial pride, the war on home training, the war on civility; or the war on self? I need to know, if only because this atrocity took place in my neck of the woods...
My bad, folks: Nas' broken Ebonics may have affected my ability to spell ghettocalypse.
Yeah, the talking phase (although plain English usually works) has passed; gotta cut 'em off at the knees with a side of start snitching yesterday.
blckchik - you sound like one of those adults who are scared of todays youth and instead of teching them how to behave you simly stay quiet and tolerate them until you log on to your favourite online forum where you can take out your anger and frustration.
Fear is what has made these kids run wild because no one tells them what they are doing is wrong and speaking to them in "their language" hasn't worked so far. Trying to be "down" and be "the cool teacher" hasn't helped before, it's time to start speaking to them the adult way, i hate to say this but back in the days children used to respect adults, things really were better in "the olden days".
people defending these savages is what digusts me the most because they are so blind and numb to what they are seeing they don't even react the way a normal person would (shock,disgust,anger).
I wish a known black female in the entertainment industry would say something about "hiphop" and how it's disgusting and sexist, someone who wouldn't fear being named in a rap song saying how she is a "hoe" and a "sell out" for stating her opinion.
How refreshing would that be!?
The only way that this savagery is going to stop is when the community stops it. These kids are not warriors. They are savages. A warrior protects his community and his people, not preys on them. A savage is basically a cannibal. He devours his own species... and thats what these kids are doing.The black community has to face the fact that there is a savage pathology that is rampant in our community and its not going to get better because these kids are having babies. If the parent is inhumane what are they going to implant in their child? Back in the 90's a city on the east coast put together a workable anti crime plan that worked temporarily. Everyone was patting themselves on the back but a criminologist named James Foxx cautioned people that there was a bunch of kids who at that time were toddlers and spending a lot of time watching tv unsupervised and basically brought up in a negative environment. He called them super predators and said that in about 12 years these kids would cause a huge spike in crime. Nobody wanted to hear it. It is my belief that that is where we are now. I also believe that if this keeps up at some point we will be seen as a national security threat. The danger is that when a less sympathetic administration gets in the whitehouse and thats inevitable, they may not discriminate between the good guys and the bad guys. So we the average black man and woman are caught between a rock and a hard place. We have a potentially repressive government response on one hand and criminal terrorists on the other hand complicated by acute apathy and fear on the part of the community. We better find a way to deal with this situation because if a post Obama government does it, they won't be sending social workers into the community, they'll be sending in real deal warriors and more innocent people will pay the price.
@ QueenJosephine...
I hear you and I wonder the same thing...where's the statement from the POTUS condemning the actions of those hoodlums??
If nothing else, this gets to the HEART of most black people's concerns...OUR CHILDREN! We know that this is not Sasha or Malia's reality, but ONE child being murdered while walking to or from school is TOO MANY..yet Derrion is not the first, and we know he will not be the last.
As you said, this happened in HIS STATE... plus there's no white people in this equation that the Pres needs to worry about offending or alienating...so what's the problem? APATHY?
Oh and I grew up in South Ozone w the LB fam too...and they never caught the person who killed Raymond (that's what he was called him when I knew him...)??? S
Scared of todays youth? I ain't that old. These kids aren't much different from my generation. You just can't down kids and berate them without lifting them up also. That didn't work with any generation. People rarely respond to lectures . After you call kids a knuckle head you must remind them that they can do better. Those kids act like they have high self esteem when its in fact the opposite. If you lecture and don't try to inspire at the same time they defenses will remain up.
These kids have serious issues and you think chatising them like they sat on your car is gonna do something to all of sudden make them stop.
Why is Nas the only one speaking out though, at least he is saying something and doing things to actually reach the youth while others in Hip Hop remain silent. Even the President has remained silent on the issue while trying to bring the Olympics to Chicago. Nas is a rapper/poet and I think you are reading the letter literally.
blkchick,
Umm MURDEROUS, WANTON RAGE isn't a "knucklehead" behavior. It's a sociopathic one and cannot be changed no matter how you may try to build up the person exhibiting the behavior. Cut them off. Stop trying. Focus your efforts on those who need and want your help.
Chastising isn't what I'm talking about. Those boys guilty of killing Derrion should have been locked away EONS ago. It's harsh, but it's real.
blkchk I understand about the language but the whole idea of NAS telling them to chill while still promoting the gang bank lifestyle is hypocritical. I might have bought the "young warrior" bit if he followed it up by admitting his part in creating this misguided use of power and renouncing it from this day forward and vowing to make only positive or political rap about the race struggle he eludes to. But he didn't so this means nothing.
Why not elaborate on how they can be "young warriors" for knowledge or spirituality or peace. Without some example to counteract the negative examples he has already set his words are pretty much like an adult saying do as I say not as I do or better yet like the comment that said it is like an arms dealer telling the warring nations to stop fighting while still selling the weapons.
Maybe he meant well but that is part of the problem too many people mean well but don't do anything to take responsibility for their part in this mess or to try and really set some standards for these kids to live by.
NAS and his sort have done a lot to set the negative code of the street in stone by drumming it into these kid's IPODS, etc. for a couple of decades now. All while making deals with the racists he eludes to (the often white entertainment executives who have no problem marketing black disfunction) to get a few crumbs (his money is crumbs compared to what the companies make) from the masters table. So really I see him as more of the sell-out who is marketing his own people's misery only to chide them later for acting on what he espouses.
That should have been gang bang. Sorry for that and other typos.
I only help kids who at least act like they want to do better. Boys and young men usually only follow other men and are quick to tell you how you don't understand where they are coming from, which I kind of don't. Thats why I stay in my lane with non criminal kids.
But if men like Nas know how to relate to them, I will not knock them b/c I sure don't know how to get them to change. Many of the community outreach workers are folks who have shared the same background as those they are trying to reach.
Just because Nas is a criminal turned rapper DOESN'T give him the credentials to relate to little criminals. You are rright about personal experience framing the way a person approaches at risk youth, but this isn't one of those cases.
Has Nas murdered an innocent bystander by bludgeoning them to death with a 2X4? If he hasn't then that would disqualify him from relating to any of the murderers.
Again, I think its worth repeating that kids who murder are DANGEROUS sociopaths.
Also if the community outreach workers with similar backgrounds were effective, there would be no crime. However, that isn't the case. Some people are beyond our help and cutting them loose is necessary and health.
JustSaying,
If the POTUS did make a statement condemning the murder, do you actually think that would change anything? Chicago's black on black youth killing reputation preceded Obama. Look up Robert Yummy Sandifer.
It's not the POTUS' responsibility, not CPD's responsibility, or even the City of Chicago. Trifling sorry parents with a penchant for being fertile are to blame. Chicago should have rid itself of this problem in the past 20 years that it has been at a fever pitch.
Striker & Bee - on point
This incident is sickening and heartbreaking, just heartbreaking, and for a person like NAS to come out with that unsolicited, self serving statement he came out with just puts salt in the wound.
What should you say to these "warriors?" The truth. That they are urban terrorists and their terrorism will no longer be tolerated.
Instead of writing a letter to the murderers a letter should have been written to the students who are doing right, and trying to succeed in school, like Derrion. The letter should say that we are sorry that we allowed this to happen to you Derrion. We will never let this happen to you again, Derrion. We will protect you by any means necessary, even if we responsible adults of the community have to line up with our weapons and escort and guard you to and from school, or even if we have to create alternative schools away from the ill raised savages that kill our innocent children. This is what we should say. This is the promise we should make to the Derrion Alberts of our communities. And when we say this the "warriors" will hear it, and understand what it means.
Two GENERAL questions (don't read into more than what is there):
1) Can gang members be reformed, rehabilitated, or otherwise? Once an "urban terrorist", always an urban terrorist?
2) Some of these perpretrators (over the years) have grown up in two parent households with involved parents. Are these parents still considered trifling because their children were determined to commit crime & violence?
@ BLKSeaGoat:
"Trifling sorry parents with a penchant for being fertile are to blame. Chicago should have rid itself of this problem in the past 20 years that it has been at a fever pitch"
In what ways was Chicago to rid themselves of "this" problem?
TT,
I should have been more clear. The problem to which I am referring is black on black youth killings. Chicago became a national poster child for child killings when the murder of Robert "Yummy" Sandifer made the cover of TIME Magazine.
However, I also think that public welfare programs should pay for terminations of unwanted pregnancies (regardless of income) and that people receiving welfare should be limited to the number of children they can have. I won't answer anymore questions if they have nothing to do with this topic.
@ Bee, good point, perhaps Nas meant, but said it all the wrong way. There is no single reason for all this violence, but dammit, this violent, sexist, "-itches and bling" kind of hip hop contributes to this violent mess, along with a lack of consistent, responsible parents and other adults to guide, set an example for the youth. WTH, some of them are just imitating what they see "responsible" adults do in their neighborhood. :(