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Hip Hop’s reaction to the disappointing verdict reveals sentiments of sorrow for our Nation.

In 2006 I turned 18 on November 25th and was greeted, much to my chagrin, with the news that Sean Bell was murdered by the New York City Police Department. Fast-forward 8 years, and once again I’m confronted with my own mortality as a Black man with a jury finding insufficient evidence to charge Ferguson, Missouri officer Darren Wilson with a crime for murdering unarmed Black teenager Michael Brown. Words cannot express the harrowing sorrow I feel for Black and Brown people of the world and for Michael Brown’s family and loved ones. Amazingly enough, Hip-Hop’s response to the travesty of the American justice system was compassionate and poignant. Atlanta, Georgia MC and part time political mouthpiece for Hip-Hop in the media had this to say about it:

 

 

“If this police officer is not arrested what immediately may happen is some rioting,” Killer Mike says to CNN. “There will be tears and pain and agony and burning, and I hope it’s not that, but what really happens if this police officer isn’t arrested is all of our rights are continually thrown out of the window. I’m afraid for all Americans, I’m not just afraid for Black Americans today.”

 

 

I too am afraid! I’m afraid that no justice will ever come to the Brown family. I’m afraid that the only resolution is revolution. I’m afraid that in two weeks from now Mike Brown will be just another name whose only lasting legacy is reduced down to a sparingly used hashtag. I’m afraid that when Beyoncé drops her new single, there will be more fanfare over it than outrage for the verdict. I’m afraid that on November 25, 20?? I will again have to write and interrogate the justice system in America and mourn another Black or Brown life stolen by the culture of execution and genocide practiced by the police departments of the United States. R.I.P. Mike Brown gone and hopefully never forgotten!