Con or Conspiracy:
Are
They Really Out to Get Us?
TRUTH
Minista Paul Scott
“Them
Alphabet Boys got us under surveillance”
Soul
Survivor-Young Jeezy
The
National Council of Black Leaders recently held a public forum called “The
Conspiracy to Destroy the ‘Hood. “ When the first speaker, Dr. Afrika Shabazz
revealed tons of information exposing a genocidal plot against African
Americans, the panelists just rolled their eyes and snickered in disbelief.
However, when Leroy Johnson complained that somebody had sent his voter
registration card to the wrong address, they became outraged and demanded an
immediate federal investigation into voter suppression...
Although,
most people won’t admit it. We all believe in conspiracies. This world is too
jacked up to be an accident.
Americans
have long grappled with alleged conspiracies from who shot Abe Lincoln to
whether or not Elvis Presley is still alive and working at the Wal-Mart in
Memphis. The most interesting conspiracy theories, however, have centered around
the ‘hood , whether it be a secret sterilization formula put in fried chicken or
clothing companies secretly owned by the KKK as Dr. Patricia A. Turner examined
in her work, Heard
it Through the Grapevine.
First
there’s the vote conspiracy.
A
few years back activists sounded the alarm that the meter was about to run out
on the African American right to vote unless somebody did something real quick.
(I’m still not sure what that something was supposed to be?) This year the panic
term is “voter suppression,” as there is ,supposedly, some master plan to stop
Black people people from voting.
Newsflash!
With our jacked up priorities ,no secret plot is needed to keep folks from the
polls. If Jay Z decides to hold a free concert in Madison Square Garden on
November 6, you can kiss 80,000 votes goodbye, automatically.
Then
there’s the infamous, “movie ticket conspiracy, “ whereby movie producers warn
Black folks to keep an eye on their ticket stubs so the box office rating points
will go to “Soul Plane Part 2” instead of the new Michael Moore
documentary.
While
these types of conspiracies are taken very seriously by some people, the more
serious ones that deal with Black survival are written off as paranoid
ramblings.
During
the early 90’s researchers such as Steve Cokley Zears Miles and Keidi Obi Awadu
spent countless hours on Black college campuses and in bookstores sharing
information on topics from “The New World Order “ to “Why AIDS is so prevalent
in the Black community.”
Also,
“The Conspiracy to Destroy Black Boys” was tackled by such master teachers as
Dr. Jawanza Kunjufu and Dr. Asa Hilliard who painstakingly tried to convince
Black parents that the reason why Lil Tyrone couldn't read wasn’t because he was
dumb but because of a western mis- educational system
However,
by the mid 90’s, the heyday of these lectures had passed as African American
owned bookstores struggled to keep the lights on and Black college kids had more
important things on their minds, like who was gonna perform at the homecoming
show.
However,
interest picked back up after 9/11/01 courtesy of videos like Loose Change that
questioned the government's official report of the attack on the Twin Towers.
Even rappers like Jadakiss began to ask why.
More
recently, there has been an interest in Hip Hop conspiracies, whether it be the
death of a famous rapper , government persecution or a secret organization
within Hip Hop with a diabolical plan to brainwash the masses.
Although
the murders of rappers Tupac Shakur and the Notorious BIG happened over 15 years
ago, Hip Hop fans are still discussing conspiracy theories as though they
happened yesterday. As Dead Prez once said on “Bigger Than Hip Hop,”
“Who
shot Biggie Smalls/ if we don’t get them then they’ll get us
all.”
It
is also strange how so many rappers , especially the ones who make politically
conscious music like Nas and Lauren Hill wind up owing Uncle Sam millions of
dollars.
This
mystery is not limited to Hip Hop, as it has been alleged that the Feds have,
historically, targeted Black entertainers.
James
Brown wrote in his memoir, I
Feel Good, “All
of us who were Black and in the public eye were under intense surveillance,
harassed by the IRS and subjected to all forms of underhanded
activities.”
Although
Red Fox was not known for overt political activism, according to Pat Thomas in
his book , Listen
Whitey,
he funneled some of his Sanford
and Son
money to the Black Panther Party during the 70’s. Also, In his book “Black and
Blue’, Michael Seth Starr wrote that the comedian alleged that the IRS targeted
him “because of his skin color.”
It
has long been rumored that the Feds keep a close watch on Hip Hop artists for
criminal and /or political activities but recently, it was revealed that they
also keep an eye on the fans. According to recent news reports the white rap
group, Insane Clown Posse is threatening to sue the FBI for labeling their fans
(The Juggalos) as a gang.
This
is nothing new to the boyz in the ‘hood, as states such as North Carolina have a
GangNet database where they keep information about children suspected of gang
affiliation.
Perhaps
the most popular Hip Hop conspiracy now is the idea that there is a secret
nefarious club in Hip Hop in which admittance can only be gained through a
secret initiation.
Whether
this is true or not is debatable, But what is not debatable is that it seems
that participating in the genocide of the Black community by either sellin’
crack or shootin’ somebody seems to be a prerequisite for getting a record
deal.
Of
all the Hip Hop conspiracies, the least believable,is the “somebody hacked my
Twitter account” conspiracy that artists like Chief Keef (or their PR people)
use when they get called out for tweetin’ somethin’ wreckless.
Maybe
conspiracies are true. Maybe they ain’t.
However, the best way to counter any plots
against us is to not focus on what “they” are doing to us but what “we” are
doing to ourselves.
For
instance, if there is a conspiracy to use 16 year old rappers to promote Black
on Black violence, the counter attack would be to use the anniversary of the
death of Tupac Shakur (September 13) to demand an end to murder
music.
Most
importantly, conspiracies can only survive when the masses of the people are
kept in a state of ignorance.
So
the ultimate solution is what The Wu Tang Clan suggested on C.R.E.A.M.
”to
teach the truth to the young Black youth.”
TRUTH
Minista Paul Scott’s weekly column is This
Ain’t Hip Hop,
a column for intelligent Hip Hop headz. He can be reached at info@nowarningshotsfired.com
His website is NoWarningShotsFired.com Follow on Twitter
@truthminista