opinion
Democrats, led by Rep. Jamaal Bowman (N.Y.), unveiled the Congressional Hip-Hop and Justice Task Force outside the Capitol last week.
A report from The Hill notes that the task force “will use hip-hop's messages to build a more equitable society to help lead initiatives to address economic equity, affordable housing, and racial justice imperatives.”
“Hip-hop has always been about ending poverty in America, and fully funding our public schools. It's always been about justice reform and police reform,” Bowman told the outlet.
“It was always about affordable housing and dealing with the issue of threats of violence,” he added.
With few other pressing issues, Democrats led by band member Jamaal Bowman created the “Congressional Hip-Hop Task Force” to use hip-hop to address racial inequality. pic.twitter.com/Y5WcFU5Wwm
– Ian Miles Cheung (@Stillgray) February 14, 2024
RELATED: Senate Democrats celebrate 50 years of hip-hop while America burns
With all other problems resolved, Democrats turn to the hip-hop task force
Democrats turning into a hip-hop staff feels like a move that has all the feels of a Steve Buscemi “How're you doing with your fellow kids” moment.
In fact, America does not send its best people to represent them in Congress.
Aside from Bowman, who recently intentionally set off a fire alarm to disrupt a vote in Congress, the task force will be led by Democratic Reps. Hank Johnson (GA), Delia Ramirez (IL), and Andre Carson (IN).
Johnson, of course, was the man whose intellectual background included telling a witness for the House Armed Services Committee that he was concerned that Guam might capsize if there were too many people on it.
This is the video Trump Jr. is referring to in which Democratic Rep. Hank Johnson believes Guam will “flip and flip” if there are too many people on the island. pic.twitter.com/69tUluRKF1 https://t.co/Lx9I37KPWB
– Ryan Saavedra (@RealSaavedra) December 13, 2019
As part of the task force, Bowman says Congress will “do hip-hop on the hill once a month” instead of once a year.
“We just want to take this up and make it more consistent, make it more intentional, and use the power of this kind of economy as a multi-billion-dollar global economy to move lawmakers in terms of helping them understand what's happening in most of our marginalized communities,” Bowman said.
RELATED: Barack Obama slams the hip-hop community, explains what it means to be a real man
Just last summer, Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) took a moment to celebrate the passage of a resolution marking the 50th anniversary of hip-hop.
Schumer joined Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-LA) in passing a resolution commemorating the anniversary of the day DJ Kool Herc discovered he could make scratching sounds using records on a turntable.
In a preview of what you might see at “Hip-Hop on the Hill” rallies, Schumer took center stage in 2021 when he was asked by then-Bronx Borough President Ruben Diaz Jr. if he “got some bars.”
Schumer responded with this effort: “I got the bars, I got the board, I got the music, we got it all!”
Chuck Schumer and Robin Diaz Jr. rap. pic.twitter.com/qsrPwiog3p
– Bill “The Worst Communications Man in History” Neidhardt (@BNeidhardt) August 16, 2021
word.
Aside from the underlying silliness of the band's work, using a genre that's decades in the making Celebration Inequality between artists and their fans as a means of fighting Inequality is absolutely ridiculous.
Former President Barack Obama has been highly critical of the hip-hop community and their portrayal of men in the past.
“We live in a culture where our worth is measured by how much money we have and how famous we are,” Obama once said.
Barack Obama: If you're confident in your sexuality, you don't need eight women around you https://t.co/ViK8wLGZOH pic.twitter.com/cRcERxZKTd
– Newsweek (@Newsweek) February 20, 2019
“If you were really confident about your financial situation, you probably wouldn't wear an 8-pound chain around your neck,” Obama continued. “If you're very confident about your sexuality, you don't have to have eight women around you working out.”
The hip-hop community has long glorified transgressions in their music videos, whether it's about money or women. They tend to place a high value on the former, while constantly undervaluing the latter.
Bowman was formally censured in the US House of Representatives in December over his fire alarm stunts, and some Democrats even joined the vote.
A New York lawmaker conspicuously pulled a fire alarm next to an emergency door in the Cannon House office building in late September as House members prepared to vote on a spending bill.
He initially claimed he was “urgently” trying to get to the vote and set off the alarm thinking it would open the door, but a video was released. after Bowman took a plea deal in which he pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor count of causing a false fire alarm and clearly showed he lied.
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