From time to time, I get the urge to briefly comment on a wide variety of issues, so here goes:
Giving rappers the keys to the city. Jackson Mayor Tony Yarber and Hinds County Sheriff Tyrone Lewis recently feted hip-hop rapper Clifford “T.I.” Harris. They gave this convicted felon the “keys to the city” and allowed him to speak in our schools. Let’s hope they didn’t give him the keys to the city vault.
I am well aware that some people will defend rap as art. Let’s just hope life doesn’t imitate art in this case. Rap and hip-hop are full of violence, hate, loathing, killing, degraded sex, cruelty to women, cop killing, brain destroying drugs and the like.
There is no reason, under any circumstance, to trot these rappers before young impressionable students and present them as role models.
I am reminded of the words of Jesus in Matthew 18:6: “If anyone causes one of these little ones — those who believe in me — to stumble, it would be better for them to have a large millstone hung around their neck and to be drowned in the depths of the sea.”
As a sinner, I’m not going to judge Mr. Harris. No doubt he has much redemption in his soul. But I can and will judge his music.
Young people will always be attracted by the scandalous and the outrageous. That is their nature. But as mature adults, it is our obligation to help them gain perspective and teach them right from wrong. I’m sure there are redeeming aspects to any musical genre, but rap and hip-hop are mired in violence.
Gov. Phil Bryant’s Energy Summit. Haven’t we learned our lesson about government planning with the Kemper power plant? Isn’t a six billion dollar disaster enough? Why is the government getting mixed up in the energy business? Leave that to the energy companies. Leave that to the free enterprise system. Leave that to the customers.
Invariably, these types of conferences pave the way for crony capitalism and sweetheart deals for the mega corporations while small business, which does the heavy lifting in our state, picks up the tab. Give it a rest.
If the government wants to do something about energy, how about dismantling the monopoly held by the power companies? How about deregulating electricity just like the airline, telephone and television industries have been deregulated.
Can anybody imagine paying $150 a month for a landline? That’s what my bill used to be when Bell South had a monopoly.
See any solar panels around our sunny state? Not many at all. There is a reason for that. Mississippi is one of five states that restrict homeowners from connecting their solar panels to the grid. How about addressing that at the energy conference?
Heard much about Ralph Weems? This 32-year-old Marine and Iraq veteran was in critical condition after being beaten by a gang of African Americans in West Point last month.
The national media has been ever so silent about this incredible racial incident. Weems was in the West Point Waffle House when some tense words were exchanged with a group of African Americans.
One witness said the African Americans were upset about the death of 18-year-old Michael Brown of Ferguson, Mo.
Weems left the Waffle House to go to the Huddle House, but he was attacked and beaten severely by a group of 20 in the parking lot. Weems was near death and was in an induced coma for weeks. He is now beginning rehab.
It is the double standard that is so outrageous about this incident. The Michael Brown incident becomes a national cause celebre, while Weems goes virtually unnoticed. Racism is racism. Violence is violence. It is no less evil when it is white on black than black on white.
Holding innocent people down and forcibly drawing their blood. Does that sound like something that would happen in a freedom-loving country? Incredible as it may seem, the Mississippi Highway Patrol, in blatant defiance of state law, is forcibly sticking needles into people stopped in roadblocks who refuse to blow into breathalyzers.
Let’s forget for a moment that breathalyzers can be notoriously inaccurate. Let’s forget that police rarely administer the breathalyzers properly. Let’s ignore for a moment that these people had done nothing wrong other than driving down a street that was chosen for a roadblock.
What about the Fifth Amendment of the U.S. Constitution, which is part of our Bill of Rights? No person “shall be compelled in any criminal case to be a witness against himself, nor be deprived of life, liberty or property without due process of law.”
Truly, what is our country coming to when our leaders can allow the police to ignore state law and our U.S. Constitution simultaneously?
A third of the states in our country have declared road blocks unconstitutional entirely. Rather than stopping on the side of the road and harassing innocent drivers, wouldn’t it be better to have our police out driving around on the lookout for drunk, reckless drivers swerving down the street?
You can help your community
Quality, in-depth journalism is essential to a healthy community. The Dispatch brings you the most complete reporting and insightful commentary in the Golden Triangle, but we need your help to continue our efforts. In the past week, our reporters have posted 32 articles to cdispatch.com. Please consider subscribing to our website for only $2.30 per week to help support local journalism and our community.