PURELY COMMENTARY
Rap Bias Feeds On Ford Anti-Semitic Record
PHILIP SLOMOVITZ
Editor Emeritus
R
ap music, popularly
sensationalized, draws
increased attention as
a cause with prejudices.
Operating under the title
"Public Enemy," one group
has also caused a dispute over
an anti-Jewish approach.
While resorting to protesta-
tions, there is nevertheless the
accumulating evidence of
bigotry in continuing actions.
The prejudicial factors are so
apparent that they were dealt
with seriously in the Times
magazine item, Feb. 5. Deal-
ing, headlinewise with the
subject as "Yo! Rap Gets On
The Map," by Janice C. Simp-
son, Time presented these
developing facts:
What sets Public Enemy
apart is the militancy of its
views and the insistently
defiant manner in which it
expresses them both in and
out of its songs.
This militancy has
resulted in charges of anti-
Semitism against Public
Enemy. Jewish groups
were alarmed last spring
when Richard Griffin, then
the group's "Minister of In-
formation" and head of the
S1W squad, told the Was-
ington Times that Jews
were responsible for "the
majority of wickedness go-
ing on across the globe."
Ridenhour promptly con-
demned the statement and
said that Griffin, known as
Professor Griff, would leave
the group. A few days later
executives at Public
Enemy's record label, Def
Jam, announced that the
group would disband. In
the end, however, the group
stayed together and Griffin
stayed on, albeit in a
demoted position. Griffin, a
devoted follower of Black
Muslim leader Louis Far-
rakhan, now says he went
too far in blaming all Jews.
Less than six months
later Public Enemy releas-
ed a new single, "Welcome
to the Terrordome," on
which Ridenhom in an ap-
parent reference to the
earlier incident, says,
"Crucifixion ain't no fic-
tion;! So called chosen,
frozen./ Apology made to
whoever pleases./ Still they
got me like Jesus."
Upset by the references to
deicide and the term so-
called chosen, the Anti-
Defamation League wrote a
protest letter to CBS, the
record's distributors. The
company eventually issued
an internal memo instruc-
ting its employees to ensure
"that none of our recor-
dings promote bigotry."
But Public Enemy and its
supporters remain unapol-
ogetic. "This is Chuck's
point of view as an African
man living on this planet,"
says Harry Allen, a self-
described hip-hop activist.
"The notion of saying
things to Europeans to
make them comfortable is
not part of the game."
Despite the controversies
swirling around Public
Enemy, rap continues to
move into the mainstream,
gaining acceptance among
audiences well outside its
black constituency. Not too
many years ago, radio sta-
tions, both black and white
refused to play rap records.
And when the press wrote
about rap, it was usually to
chronicle a violent incident
at a concert.
Now hip young whites
have hijacked rap to
downtown clubs. Suburban
Teens, on the lookout for
something new, have car-
ried it out to the shopping
malls. Fashion designers
have picked up on the
baggy pants and dark
sunglasses of rap couture,
while advertising ex-
ecutives have copied its
semantic style ("Reeboks
let U.RU.," declares one ad
in fluent hip-hop).
The entire subject has
assumed such urgency that it
can not be ignored. The emi-
nent Jewish authority on mat-
ters relating to inter-faith
relations and ecumenism, Dr.
Marc Tannenbaum, took it in-
to consideration in his col-
Henry Ford
umn, "Rap and Anti-Semitism
— The Latest Degeneracy."
Prominent in leadership roles
in major movements condem-
ning racism, Dr. Tannen-
baum's views invite emphasis.
In his column he stated:
The new album from the
rap music group, Public
Enemy, with its vicious
anti-Semitic beat, should
come as a surprise to no
one. It is the latest form of
degeneracy which this
anarchic culture inevitably
must produce.
What does come as a
sickening surprise is that
Jews should be involved in
promoting and selling such
a piece of anti-Semitic
poison as "Welcome to the
Terrordome." Tragically,
there were a few Jews in
Weimar Germany who also
supported the early Nazi
movement in order to pro-
tect their fortunes and their
material assets. How self-
destructive can one be?
The band's lead singer,
Chuck Ridenhour, charm-
ingly called Chuck D, is a
disciple of Louis Far-
rakhan. His lyrics in this
album are thoroughly
stamped with Farrakhan's
anti-Semitic venom.
Music critics assert that
rap is a response to the
frantic pace of commercial
television. Whatever its
source, to me it is another
reflection of the
dehumanization, the
assault on humanness
which is so prevalent in our
society. It provides the
musical backdrop for a
culture exploding with
crack and ice, crime and
corruption, indifference to
human suffering and sheer
killing for kicks.
The venomous sources of the
rap prejudices are especially
vile in exposing Public Enemy
tasks and its leadership.
These are only the current
elements in the new contribu-
tion toward the anti-Jewish
theme. There is a source in the
rap ideology and it undeniably
Continued on Page 46
Israel Protected From Dole's Exaggerations
PHILIP SLOMOVITZ
Editor Emeritus
S
enate Minority Leader
Robert Dole stirred up
a foreign aid dispute
with his proposal that the U.S.
foreign aid program be
amended to cut the current
allocations to Israel, Egypt,
Pakistan, Turkey, and the
Phillipines; the savings to go
to East European countries.
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March 2, 1990
FRIDAY, MARCH 2, 1990
The deplorable offshoot of
such an idea is that the mo-
ment Israel is targeted it pro-
vides ammunition in the
sense of each individual
Jewish citizen of the country
representing a per capita gain
as if it were a charity grant.
The fact that the funds for
Israel in the long run are a
gain for the American
economy is ignored in pre-
judicial treatments.
Dole's views are not even
dominating in his own party,
although there appears to be
a White House and State
Department approval of his
view. A prominent
Republican, Senator Rudy
Boschwitz of Minnesota, wrote
to the New York Times disap-
proving. His Times letter,
headlined "Don't Cut Israel
and others to Aid East
Europe" includes this
disagreement with Dole:
I disagree with my col-
league and leader Senator
Bob Dole on cutting foreign
aid allocation to help
emerging democracies in
Robert Dole
Eastern Europe and else-
where (Op-Ed, Jan. 16). The
idea that aid to these na-
tions requires penalizing
our friends and allies is
neither logical, correct nor
necessary.
The foreign aid accounts
of the United States govern-
ment, while they receive
much attention, are embar-
rassingly small. From
statements on the floor of
the Senate and news
releases sent back home,
one would conclude that if
this item in the federal
budget alone could be con-
tained, the deficit would
soon be in hand.
The foreign aid budget
constitutes slightly more
than 1 percent of federal
spending. Not many years
ago, it was more than 2 per-
cent, so those who argue
for less have already been
successful.
Each of the aid recipients
Senator Dole mentions —
Egypt, Israel, Pakistan, the
Philippines and Turkey —
has seen its aid decrease in
real terms in recent years.
If the United States picks
this moment to reduce its
aid to the Middle East, this
reduction in our commit-
ment would undermine the
likelihood of progress on
peace. In the shadowy cur-
rents of Middle East
politics, a partial
withdrawal of the United
States commitment would
be seen as a victory for
those most intransigent — a
signal to increase the
pressure so that the United
States would further erode
its support to our friends
and allies.
Moreover, the threats of
terrorism, chemical war-
fare and ballistic missiles
hang over Israel, Egypt and
other friendly nations in
the Middle East, giving
them additional substan-
tive reasons for looking to
us for aid.
If Senator Dole is looking
for funds to aid the emerg-
ing democracies of Eastern
Europe, he need not go so
far afield. While technical-
ly not part of the foreign
aid account in the Federal
budget, the bulk of our
spending overseas —
perhaps as much as 90 per-
cent — is found in the
military budget. Most of
that is spent in Europe to
protect North Atlantic
Continued on Page 46