My hometown of Rochester, NY has made national headlines several times in the last few years.
Rochester is ranked the third poorest city in the country, with a child poverty rate of 46 percent.
That's more than double the national average of 20 percent.
Rochester is also the 5th most watched city in the U.S.
Watched as in surveillance.
As in Big Brother.
In fact, Rochester has so many police surveillance cameras, that it takes George Orwell's "1984" novel to a whole new level.
Rochester is also the murder capital of New York State.
Which is why it's not surprising that last Wednesday, Rochester once again made national news headlines.
And once again, it wasn't for anything positive.
Not at all.
You see, there was a basketball game at a Boys and Girls Club, and after the game was over, a group of black youths were hanging out on a street corner when a car pulled up and at least one suspect opened fire, shooting a total of seven youths, killing three, two of whom died at the scene.
The sounds of gunshots and cries for help brought everyone out.
Neighborhood residents ran off their porches and out of their homes, rushing to the scene.
Some folks pulled their cars over on the side of the road, as sirens filled the warm night air.
As large crowds of onlookers gathered, police officers shined their black metal Maglight flashlights on the blood soaked pavement looking for shell casings, as other officers unfolded rolls of yellow crime scene tape, tying it to street sign posts, to cordone off the scene of the massacre.
Family members and friends of drive-by shooting victims.
Corporate-run mainstream news media trucks raised their satellite towers high in the sky, as a few female reporters did their make up and brushed their hair, preparing for their live shots.
And then came the hypocrites.
And boy were there a lot of them.
Like the ex-pimps and hustlers turned preachers, pastors, and reverends screaming "Stop the violence!"
You know, the ones who have found a new and improved way to pimp and hustle.
Church.
The same ones who drive shiny Cadillacs with the "CLERGY" vanity license plate in their Caddy's rear window, wedged in between the brake light and the glass.
Yep.
These are the same preachers who NEVER leave their pulpits.
The same individuals who NEVER walk the inner city neighborhoods.
The same preachers, pastors, and reverends who NEVER care about how the youth are doing out here in these streets.
The same ones who have NEVER given a damn about the youths.
Except when those news cameras are rolling.
Then all of a sudden they care.
About their 15 minutes of fame.
Then it's back to pimping and hustling their congregations.
And then came the politicians.
They were also screaming something about "Stop the violence!"
Like Rochester, NY City Councilman Adam McFadden, who once posted on Facebook that he would bring violence to someonep's front door, simply because the taxpayer publicly criticized hm on social media.
ROCHESTER, NY CITY COUNCILMAN ADAM MCFADDEN
But at least Adam McFadden showed his face, which is more than can be said about Rochester's own David Gantt, a slumlord and New York State Assemblyman, who is also Rochester, NY Mayor Lovely Warren's mentor and former boss.
Gantt has been M.I.A. and hasn't uttered a peep about the massacre of the black youths.
But that's politicians for you.
M.I.A. NEW YORK STATE ASSEMBLYMAN DAVID GANTT
And speaking of Rochester, NY Mayor Lovely Warren, the walking train wreck since being elected in 2014, was somewhere in the city, also screaming something about "Stop the violence!"
This coming from a woman who after being elected Mayor, defended her husband, Timothy Granison, after it was revealed that Granison was a key player in one of the biggest armed robberies in Rochester, NY history.
Nearly $1 Million.
A robbery so violent, that one of Mayor Lovely Warren's husband's partners in crime put a loaded gun to a jewelry store employee's head, and threatened the terrified woman, yelling that he would shoot her if she didn't run the jewels.
ROCHESTER, NY MAYOR LOVELY WARREN
Yep.
The hypocrites were out in full force.
Even Rochester's WHAM 1180 AM Radio show host Bob Lonsberry, who for years has spewed his racist and divisive poison over Rochester's airwaves, and who has made thousands of dollars with his "FUBO" (FUCK YOU BARACK OBAMA) line of t-shirts, was at the scene of the of the drive-by shooting, screaming something about "Stop the violence!", during a live remote for his radio show the very next day.
BOB LONSBERRY WEARING HIS "FUBO" (FUCK YOU BARACK OBAMA) HAT
But perhaps the biggest hypocrites are Rochester's "Black owned" 103.9 WDKX Radio station.
For years I've called the station out for putting profit and ratings over the quality of life of minorities, especially African-Americans, in Rochester, NY.
After all, 103.9 WDKX, which was founded in 1974, by Andrew Langston, and is now owned by his son Andre Marcel, has, for more than 40 years touted themselves about being "Black owned" and caring about Rochester's black community.
Immediately after the shooting that left three black youths dead, and four more injured, 103.9 WDKX jumped on the "Stop the Violence!" bandwagon.
But the fact is that WDKX profits off of glorifying mysogynysm and violence.
Black on black violence.
Take, for example, a song on heavy play rotation on WDKX, by New Jersey rapper Fetty Wap.
The song "My Way" is an example what is wrong with the black community.
No respect for human life.
And no respect for women.
In "My Way", which is on WDKX's Top 50 play list, and which played several times on the same night as the drive-by massacre, referring to what he would do to another man, Fetty Wap raps, "All headshots if you think you could take my bitch... swear when I shoot I won't miss."
But wait, there's more.
Fetty Wap continues, "If he disrespects, two shots, and I won't blink, I never really cared what the fuck these niggas think."
In another song "679", which WDKX is pushing to young impressionable black minds, Fetty Wap continues his violent filled genocide rhetoric.
Once again referring to another man, Fetty Wap raps, "He playing Batman, Fetty's gon' rob him, I got a Glock in my 'rari (Ferarri), 17 shots, no 38"
To clarify, he's basically saying that he's going to rob another man, with his Glock, which holds 17 shots, and is better than a .38.
FETTY WAP
WDKX 103.9 is also spinning Rich Homie Quan's hit "Flex", where he, well, you see for yourself.
In "Flex", Rich Homie Quan makes it pretty clear what he, a black man, thinks of women.
"Give that ho some x, she gone wanna sex every nigga on the set."
Quan is referring to drugging a female by giving her the drug Ecstacy, and once she's drugged, she will have sex with everyone on the set.
Then there's the aptly named "No Role Modelz", by rapper and producer J. Cole, which, yep, you guessed it, is also on heavy play rotation by WDKX 103.9.
In 'No Role Modelz", J. Cole, with lyrics such as "I get my bitch pregnant I'ma be a better you", "One time for my LA hoes", and "Before I started calling bitches bitches so heavily," J. Cole makes it more than clear what he thinks about women.
They're nothing more than a "Bitch."
This is the sort of poison that Rochester's "Black owned" 103.9 WDKX is pushing to young black listeners.
Which is why I was disgusted to see the station tweet the following comments on their Twitter account:
"Do you think that homes have failed their children? Text the Frontline (585) 678-1039 with your opinion."
Or this one below: "Let's check ourselves and then our households in order to move forward."
And this tweet below: "Our thoughts and prayers are with the friends and families of those lost last night due to violence."
By the way, WDKX is named after Douglass, as in the father of the Civil Rights movement, Frederick Douglass, who is buried in Rochester's Mount Hope Cemetery, King, as in Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., and X, as in Malcolm X.
The station, its owner Andre Marcel, and anyone who works for them are hypocrites.
Of course, you WILL NOT see anyone in Rochester, NY, especially NO BLACK PREACHER OR REVEREND call out the "Black owned station.
You WILL NOT see Rochester, NY Mayor Lovely Warren who has been a regular first on WDKX's "Water Cooler" morning show segment, call out the "Black owned" station.
You WILL NOT see Rochester, NY City Councilman Adam McFadden, who is also a regular guest on WDKX's "Water Cooler" show, calling out the "Black owned" station.
You WILL NOT see Rochester, NY Police Chief Michael Ciminelli, who is also a regular guest on WDKX's "Water Cooler" show, call out the "Black owned" station.
You WILL NOT even see a racist radio show host like Bob Lonsberry, or any other media personality call out the "Black owned" station.
In fact, as you can see in the photo below, Rochester, NY Police Chief Michael Ciminelli is too busy posing for photos at the scene of the drive-by shooting that claimed three lives.
ROCHESTER, NY POLICE CHIEF MICHAEL CIMINELLI AND INVESTIGATOR FRANK CAMP POSE FOR PHOTOS
AT SCENE OF DRIVE-BY MASSACRE
In closing, let me be clear about something.
I LOVE HIP HOP!
REAL HIP HOP.
I was raised on REAL HIP HOP.
I will never forget the first Hip Hop song I ever heard.
Sugar Hill Gang's "Rappers Delight".
I was hooked.
But I'm from a different time.
A time when rap music had a social message,
A time when Public Enemy's "Fight the Power!", and KRS One's "Sound of Da Police" was a wake up call to inner city youths such as myself.
A time when rap music, REAL rap music had such a potential to bring about much needed change.
And empowerment.
But then something happened.
Hip Hop sold out.
And songs about mysogynysm and black genocide took over.
And stations like Rochester's 103.9 WDKX, who put profits and ratings over lives, became the number one purveyors of the mysogynysm.
And of the black genocide.
I wonder what Frederick Douglass, Martin Luther King Jr., or Malcolm or X would say.
Note: I reached out to WDKX, and the following DJ's for comment...
DJ Sight, DJ Reign, DJ Bacspin, DJ Jazzy T, and DJ Mr. Atu.
All declined comment.
FETTY WAP
ROCHESTER, NY POLICE DEPARTMENT TWEET ANNOUNCING CHIEF MICHAEL CIMINELLI ON WDKX WATERCOOLER RADIO SHOW
REAL HIP HOP!
ME IN 1987, POSING IN FRONT OF MY SALT N PEPA POSTER.
WHEN HIP HOP WAS PURE!
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