From: mjcarpen@gn.ecn.purdue.edu (Michael J. Carpenter)
Newsgroups: soc.culture.african.american
Subject: Re: Anti-Gang Ad Controversy #2: Letter to the Editor
Date: 17 Aug 92 05:18:57 GMT
Organization: Purdue University Engineering Computer Network

In article <k#9m-9p.barnhart@netcom.com> barnhart@netcom.com writes:
>Letters to the Editor
>Evanston Review / August 13, 1992
 
>However, your proposed advertising campaign strategy using images of
>the Ku Klux Klan and Nazis/Skinheads to deter gang violence in the
>African-American community is not acceptable for the following 
>reasons:
>
>*	The campaign skews historical truth by not addressing the
>	attempted destruction that the KKK aggressively engaged in
>	against the African-American community.

Yet, some rappers do PRECISELY this. Check Public Enemy's latest album, not
to mention most any other rap artist who decries anyone who engages in
activity which is harmful to Black people. I see NOTHING wrong in showing
the perversity of gang activity and equating it with the KKK or any other
hate group so long as they, as a whole, are in the business of making
death and destruction of self and others a part of business.

What happened to "By Any Means Necessary"?

>
>*	By associating the atrocities committed by the Nazis/Skinheads
>	and the KKK against African-Americans with black-on-black offenses,
>	systematically feeds into mainstream America's stereotypes, that
>	all black males are either gang members, criminals, or at least
>	suspects.

Perhaps this is what folx will think; but, if the youth are detracted from the
message that a gang member "ain't a brother", then the atrocities commited by
the gang members who engage in killing their own will continue.

>*	The ad message implies that there is an equal connection with the
>	purposes of these groups.

Ideology versus reality.
>
>*	The long-term impact of such an ad provides for the transference
>	of responsibility for the brutal treatment of African-Americans
>	historically.

>*	It is disturbing that this process did not include in its conceptual
>	phase a psychodynamic appraisal by a learned committee from the
>	black community.
>
>The creators of the ad campaign are advocating overlooking the negatives;
>however, an advertising campaign strategy to devalue the existence of all
>gangs, in particular black gangs, should be a balanced advertising campaign
>that includes the contributions made by hard-working African-Americans in
>this great country.
 ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

<rolling on the floor> It amazes me that youths are being lost on a daily
basis and we find time to find the good in this country. 

>Constant negative advertising and media reporting of minorities, encourages
>white Americans to cling to inaccurate stereotypes.  Moreover, if Evanston's
>Human Relations Commission were to sanction a negative, unflattering,
>stereotypical portrayal of other nonminority groups in any context -- it
>would create an outcry that would shake the walls of the Civic Building.

True; but White people think all kinds of crazy shit anyway. Changing their
minds is sorta like Reagan's trickle-down theory of economics. I'm for
more direct action to persuade the youth to consider other options, and to
support opportunities by creating/implementing solutions developed by the Black
community itself. White people, on the whole, don't even enter this picture
so much as they need to stay the f*ck out of the picture by removing the
barriers to solutions imposed by institutional and social biases.

>We need an advertising campaign that is balanced -- one that promulgates
>hope, opportunity, optimism; rather than violence, hopelessness, and
>despair.

True. A little sunshine always make a day brighter. BUT, I'm not into
all that media hype thay makes Life look like the Brady Bunch. 
>
>Consolidated Committee of Concerned Black Men is ready to meet with you
>to expeditiously resolve this ad campaign debacle.

The debacle is that kids are dying in the streets; not whether some do-gooders
may have been a bit zealous in their approach and ruffled a few political
feathers.