Newspaper Page Text
The Panther
Mav 2. 1994 P21
Rapper Attacks Black Genocide
By Malcolm Abram
Contributing Writer
With a firey-rapid delivery and a tongue twisting
style, remeniscent of the Last Poets, New York poet
Reg E. Gaines holds nothing back on his debut release
“Please Don’t Take My Air Jordans.”
In a mere 48 minutes, Gaines addresses and attacks
most of the problems facing blacks in the 90’s.
On “Loaded .45” Gaines rallies against black celebri
ties who use their star status to sell malt liqour to then-
own people just to make money. Over a slow, funky
“Cali style” hip-hop beat, Gaines verbally “rips” into
stars like Ice Cube and Billy Dee Williams. He even
suggests that they be lined up against a wall and forced
to “guzzle Colt .45 until their heads explode.”
On the powerful cut “Great Expectations, ” Gaines
assumes the persona of a man who brutally rapes a
woman because she is wearing “whore clothes.”
Through this graphic monologue, Gaines allows the listener to enter the twisted mind of someone who
thinks that because a woman is dressedscantily he has the right to violate her.
Although the poems directed at the black community are the most potent, Gaines also has some serious
things to say to America at large. For The Lady In Green Who Shi-s In The Harbor is a commentary con
trasting the high ideals behind the symbol of Lady Liberty and the much harsher reality of inequality and
injustice in this country.
Through 17 tracks, with musical accompaniment that ranges from reggae and jazz to blues and hip hop,
Gaines exposes the ugly side of black life that is invading this country.
Buy this album if you’re ready for the truth.
Reg E. Gaines lashes out on the i
plaguing the Black Community.
CAU Student Signs Record Deal
By, Warren Woodberry, Jr.
Staff Writer
4.0 a rising R&B group
are about to hit the music
scene with vibes like no
other.
Jason Sylvain, Tony
Hightower, Ronald Jackson
and Tammy Crumbely, who
make up “4.0”, recently
signed a record deal with
Atlanta performing artist
Peebles.
Sylvain, a CAU student,
said that his group’s style
has two images, blended
into one. He said that many
popular groups have a prep
py vibe, or a hard vibe, and
that 4.0 has combined the
two to create what Sylvain
calls "music soul", but most
people consider it to be
R&B.
Sylavain said two years
ago when Peebles held an
audition here in Atlanta
looking for a new act to sign
on her record label, Savvy,
he and his group performed
. He added that the music
producer liked 4.0 because
of their unusual style; but,
she thought they were too
young for what she was
looking for.
She suggested that they
work with a production
company, Organized Noise,
to gain more musical experi
ence. Sylvain said he and
his group eventually gained
the experience they needed
by working with hot local
acts like rap group Outkast.
Sylvain said he now feels
that 4.0 is ready to do their
own thing.
The group expects to
release its' first single in
June, but is uncertain which
song it will be. Sylvain said
that 4.0 has already made
plans to perform at CAU, or
perhaps host a radio show
on WCLK.
Book Review
By Lisa Flanagan
Contributing Writing
Racism and discrimination are two
words often used to describe race
relations between blacks and whites
in America; but, a very prevalent, yet
rarely talked about aspect of preju
dice is a color line that separates
many people of color.
The book, The Color Complex:
The Politics of Skin Color Among
African Americans discusses the
skin-tone dilemma between light
skinned/dark skinned and good
hair/bad hair issues that plague the
black community.
The book defines the color com
plex as a psychological fixation
about color and physical features that
leads blacks to discriminate against
each other.
It traces the beginnings of race
mixing in the United States when, in
1619, the first blacks arrived in
Jamestown, Virginia. White colonial
leaders fearing love or sex between
the races, passed anti-race mixing
laws in 1622. But this did not stop
sexual relationships between blacks,
whites and Native Americans.
As slavery began to spread, so did
the interracial relationships. Forced
sexual relations of white slave mas
ters with their African slaves pro
duced offspring who were referred to
as mulattoes, a light-skinned black
person.
They attained the status of a sepa
rate colored class and those who were
“proper acting” could apply to the
government to gain legal status as a
white person. This caused a perma
nent rift between people of color.
During the Harlem Renaissance in
the 1920’s social clubs, like Jack and
Jill, The Links and many churches,
schools, sororities, fraternities, busi
nesses and even neighborhoods were
partial to fair-skinned blacks.
To acquire membership into cer
tain church congregations during this
period black families would have to
take a comb test or a paper bag test.
A fine tooth comb was hun« on a
door near the front entrance ana if the
hair could not pull through with ease,
entrance was denied. If the skin of a
person was darker than a brown paper
bag they were told to take their busi
ness elsewhere.
This very fascinating book breaks
down history and exposes the root of
our own color complexes.
According to the author, it exists
in almost every aspect of black life:
media images, the work force, and
social groups.
The authors, Kathy Russell, Midge
Wilson and Ronald Hall urge the
reader to face up to the problem and
stop pretending that it does not exist.
Alcohol
continued from page 15 ■
A 1986 study commissioned by
the federal Bureau of Alcohol,
Tobacco and Firearms surveyed and
found a “strongly positive” relation
ship between exposure to alcohol ads
and a tendency to drinking.
“I think ads do play a major role
in the alcohol problem on campuses,
especially in the black community,”
said Damon Lombard, a psycholo-
gy/premed major at Morehouse. He
said he noticed an increased amount
of alcohol ads in lower income black
community. Lombard cited
advertisements as the major contrib
utor to the problem, “It’s totally sub
liminal. You turn on the t.v. and it’s
there. You see billboards with it.
Then you go out and see other people
drinking. It’s no surprise that so
many college students drink.
Everything is geared toward drink
ing,” he said.
He noted the myth that African-
Americans tend to hang in front of
liquor stores, “They say that so many
black people only hang on the street
corner in front of the liquor store.
But, there are more liquor stores in
the black community. If you go to a
ritzy area like Buckhead there are
more businesses and few liquor
stores,” Lombard said.
Possible links between advertising
and alcohol consumption have been
rejected by the Federal Trade
Commission and the health depart
ment.
Advertising’s impact was also dis
missed in a 1990 Roper poll that
asked youths where they got their
ideas about drinking alcoholic bever
ages. Seventy percent named their
schoolmates and friends, 48 percent
said their parents, 12 percent said
seeing people drink on television
programs and a mere 8 percent said
advertising.
Hearon, of the substance abuse
center, believes with events like
Freaknic and spring break, college
students are more compelled to drink
to fit in. She said with alcohol
advertisements urging students to
drink to “be more macho or cool”
college students are receiving mixed
messages.
In response to the rapidly growing
problem, in 1992, former U.S.
Surgeon General Antonia Novello
indicted the alcoholic beverage
industry for its $2 billion annual
advertising effort for sending a
“mixed message” to the nation’s
youth. Novello’s move carried the
campaign into a complicated legal
mine field that raised issues of adver
tisers’ rights to free speech.
Gender Factors
However, statistics do reveal that
gender is a significant factor when
studying alcohol consumption.
Men still drink more than women.
Six percent of male and 1 percent of
female students exceeded the prob
lem drinking threshold on the
Michigan Alcoholism,Screening
Test.
The portion of college women
who said they drink has remained
steady at 34 percent, compared with
51 percent among men, according to
an annual survey by the University
of Michigan, some college officials
said the statistics mask the concern
of more college women drinking
more.
There is a rising concern for more
women drinking excessively, with
academic, social and health conse-.
quences. The Harvard study
revealed that many women now
binge-drink as well.
The Consequences
Alcohol consumption, misuse, and
its consequences have been estimat
ed to cost our society $86 billion
each year-$26 billion more than the
cost of Desert Storm, the health
department said.
Medical care costs are estimated at
$10.5 billion and account for 10.7
percent of total alcohol abuse costs
in 1990. The value of reduced or lost
productivity due to illnesses totals
$36.6 billion, that’s 37 percent of the
total.
According to a July 1992 edition of
Jama magazine, almost half of all
traffic crashes involve alcohol. In
1990, alcohol-related crashes left
22,084 people dead- one third of
them were innocent victims.
However, fatalities are just one
aspect of drunk driving’s impact on
public health. Alcohol-related traffic
crashes in 1990 also left 1.19 million
-people injured, including 43,140
people with permanent partial dis
abilities and 4,092 with permanent
total disabilities, according to the
article.
The National Highway Traffic
Safety Administration estimates that
at the current rate, an estimated 40
percent of all people can
expect to be involved in an alcohol-
related traffic crash some time during
there lives.
One college student said she was
forced to deal with the realistic
effects of drunk driving. “Last year,
my friend Kenyon was killed by a
drunk driver. He was only a senior
in high school. That made me ‘face
the music.’ Since then I’ve been
more careful about driving while
under the influence,” said Katrena
Holmes, a junior psychology major
at Albany State College.
Slight Decreases
At the end of the tunnel there is
some light. There appears to be a
small but significant downward trend
in the use of drugs among college
students, researchers said.
For example, in 1980, 81, percent
of the college student population had
drunk alcohol in the last 30 days. By
1985, it was down to 80.3 percent.
When measured in 1990, it had
declined to 74.5 percent.
This trend reflects a similar pattern
of a small, national reduction in the
consumption of alcoholic beverages.
According to reports by the
Centers For Disease Control,
between 1982 and 1990, total traffic
fatalities increased from 43,945 to
44,529. However, the percentage of
these crashes that involved alcohol
declined from 57 percent to 49 per
cent.
Even with these improvements,
more than 2,800 young people
between the ages of 15 and 20 years
died in 1989 in alcohol-related crash
es.