The Obamas want credit for
bringing American culture to the White House. When they decided to
celebrate poetry at the White House on May 10, it was really not a
surprise they would try to make it socially "relevant" by inviting a
rap music "artist" to unload some rhymes.
The rapper goes by the name
"Common" (real name: Lonnie Rashid Lynn Jr.). He is celebrated by many
on the left as a "socially conscious" street poet. But that's not the
way it was seen by cops in New Jersey. ABC reporter Jake Tapper blogged
that Dave Jones, president of the New Jersey State Trooper Fraternal
Association, was contacted by the White House about trooper objections.
Obama officials claimed they had never heard of Joanne Chesimard (who
renamed herself Assata Shakur), a woman Common celebrated in "song."
Who is Chesimard? "She's a
domestic terrorist who wrapped her criminality and her abhorrent
anti-social behavior in a cause to try to disguise her disgust for
America in this make-believe 1960s radicalism," Jones explained. "In
1973, she executed Trooper Werner Foerster with his own gun after he
was already shot and didn't represent a threat to anyone. And after she
shot him, she kicked him in the head to the point that hours later,
after he was picked up, his brain was still part of the remnants on her
shoe."
Common wrote "A Song for
Assata," claiming this "queen of the Black Liberation Army" was
innocent: "Assata had been convicted of a murder she couldna done,"
Common rapped. "Medical evidence shown she couldna shot the gun ... I
wonder what would happen if that woulda been me/All of this s- so we
could be free."
The song also features Cee Lo
Green singing, "I'm thinkin' of Assata, yeah/Listen to my love, Assata,
yeah / We're molded from the same mud, Assata / We share the same
blood, Assata, yeah ... Your power and pride, so beautiful / May God
bless your soul."
That's sick. In 1977, Chesimard
was found guilty of first-degree murder, assault and battery of a
police officer, assault with a dangerous weapon, assault with intent to
kill, illegal possession of a weapon and armed robbery, and was
sentenced to life in prison. In November 1979, she escaped from prison
and made her way to her revolutionary paradise in Cuba. Since May 2,
2005, the FBI has classified her as a "domestic terrorist" and offered
a $1 million reward for assistance in her capture.
Her "revolutionary" actions are now being celebrated at the Obama White House.
Common
is also a champion of another convicted cop-killer, Mumia Abu-Jamal,
also a radical cause celebre. In a Def Poetry Jam rhyming session,
Common declared, "We all children of Allah, keep on. Fliers say 'Free
Mumia' on my freezer."
The Daily Caller was first on
this controversy, with a video of a 2007 Def Poetry appearance where
Common hinted at violence against President Bush.
"With that happening, why they
messing with Saddam?/Burn a Bush cuz for peace he no push no
button/Killing over oil and grease, no weapons of destruction/How can
we follow a leader when this a corrupt one?"
How can "Burn a Bush" not be
seen as a call for violence? If Bush had invited a celebrity who
supported violence against another president or politician, wouldn't
that have been a controversy? Wouldn't the networks have screamed? But
only ABC's Tapper has covered it on TV. CBS and NBC are missing.
I for one don't believe the
Obama White House's denial. They could have done five minutes of
research on Common's musical affinity for convicted cop-killers before
extending this poetry honor.
This controversy underlines a
real weakness in the president's criticism of violent rap lyrics.
During the 2008 campaign, Obama signaled his fandom and support for
gangsta rapper Jay-Z, telling an interviewer his "American Gangster"
album was "tight." In Rolling Stone, Obama lauded violence-threatening
rapper Ludacris as one of several "great talents and great
businessmen." He conceded he was "troubled sometimes by the misogyny
and materialism" in rap lyrics and added, "It would be nice if I could
have my daughters listen to their music without me worrying they were
getting bad images of themselves."
But not so troubled that he'd
refuse entry to cop-killer-celebrating "poets." That "gee, it would be
nice" patter doesn't match what White House spokesman Jay Carney
claimed, that Obama's "spoken very forcefully against violent and
misogynist lyrics."
Everyone from record companies
to record buyers should be condemned for enabling "music" that
glamorizes killing police officers. It's ridiculous and offensive that
a black multi-millionaire like Common can still pretend America and the
police officers who protect Americans of all colors are racist. It's
even more offensive that this man would be honored as a poet at the
People's House.
