"GANGSTA" themed parties

As I was looking through online news articles on MSN.com I came across an article of interest. I thought it would be appealing to our class considering its main focus is on the freedom of expression. Across the country there have been an increased popularity of "gangsta" theme parties on many college campuses. This has raised attention to many African American and white students who are offended by these events particularly thrown by students. African American students argued that these parties are insulting and perpetuate stereotypes. What adds insult to injury is the fact that many of these parties are held around the time of Martin Luther King Jr. Day and a holiday to honor slain civil rights leaders.

Experts say that those who do portray these stereotypes are not consciously aware of how their actions affect others considering much of this behavior is shown on TV through hip-hop music videos (BET, MTV) and some movies. Some of the behaviors people found offensive included a white male student wearing blackface and a white female student who put padding in her pants to make her rear-end appear bigger.
Link to article for further details.

The striking thing about this article is here is an example of how social injustice issues of race is still prevalent today. Once again the influence of the media (MTV) provided a negative portrayal of African Americans. Particularly the examples of young women who added padded articles to their rear-ends and men wearing machine guns as part of their attire is not what hip-hop is all about let alone African American culture. I agree with the experts opinions that people don't realize that their actions affect other people. We live in a generation where kids and adults think it's okay to act this way because it's showed on television, but what we don't realize is the fact that though it's harmless fun to us understand that the U.S. past history includes the ridicule and approval to kill African Americans (Civil Rights era).

But there is another side to this also. What makes this issue a double-edged sword is that some influential African Americans, particularly rappers, continue to play out these stereotypes. In many of rap songs the constant repetition of derogatory phrases to describe women and the portrayal of "bling" is referred to to exemplify success. However since the time of the Civil Rights Movement, African Americans stay in the political realm to fight for their rights and to gain respect from others and refrained from detrimental behavior. And we've come to an understanding that in order to make more money in the industry people have to do some shady things even if it means damaging your integrity. Don't get me wrong, I'm most definitely not insisting people shouldn't listen to hip-hop and have a good time, but people who deliberately act out certain stereotypes lose the idea, think its funny, and believe they're not hurting anyone.