Shalom Church seeks the positive in youth culture
By Joan Harrell
For the St. Louis American
An audience divided by generation and culture recently came together at Shalom Church (City of Peace) for the If I Ruled the World panel discussion on the relationship between hip-hop and the Civil Rights Movement.
The panelists included former mayor Freeman Bosley Jr, columnist and community organizer Jamala Rogers, CEO of C&E Investment Groups Eric Rhone, local representative of the Nation of Islam Min. Donald Muhammad, the Rev. Muriel L. Johnson and hip-hop artist Willie Moore, aka Pretty Willie.
Enoch Hammond Oglesby, professor of theology and history at Eden Theological Seminary, served as moderator.
“There’s an African proverb which says spiders’ webs united can tie up a lion,” Oglesby said. “As I look out on this beautiful rainbow of God’s people, I can tell we are united on this night.”
Hip-hop is viewed by many of the civil rights era as a giant step backwards, so the panelists searched for any positive messages in hip-hop culture.
“When it started out it was a lot more positive, more upbeat, but it shifted to the angry black male venting frustration,” Bosley said.
“I think they know what they are saying is wrong, but it sells.”
“It started as a counter-cultural piece, typical of an oppressed people trying to find a way of expressing themselves. That part of it we should nurture,” Rogers said.
“The part that is negative, we need to put it in perspective and be critical of those artists. The older generation needs to be more discriminatory about lumping all of them together.”
“I look at hip-hop as a continuation of our culture that actually started back in Africa, a cultural expression that can be positive,” Muhammad said.
“It went negative because our culture is always interacted upon by external forces all about the almighty dollar. We have to turn this whole thing around, and all our rappers will be given positive messages.”
“Snoop Dogg lives in a gated community, and his kids go to a private school, being educated and tutored, but the image that we see is him smoking weed and pimping,” said Rhone, who manages the careers of Cedric The Entertainer.
“When you look at the prodigies of hip-hop, we have created a lot of multi-millionaires running Fortune 500 companies like JayZ and actually leading the youth of the world.”
“I know a lot of young black entrepreneurs who are really doing some big things, and this is a positive message to let our kids shoot for more,” said Pretty Willie, who signed his first deal at age 12.
“Hip-hop is a raw critique of our society. Hip-hop keeps it real and calls it what it is,” Johnson said.
“Hip-hop might just be the correct prophet to the black church for such a time as this. For those of us who have older parts, we sometimes don’t want to hear the hard things that we have brought into society. Hip-hop exposes us and brings attention that brings us together.”
Shalom Church (City of Peace) is located at 5491 N. Highway 67, the Rev. Freddy James Clark, pastor. For more information call (314) 653-2325 or email mr.shalom@att.net.
