Focus on: The Hip-Hop Generation

Of interest this week: We didn't plan it this way, but a series of readings added to our site recently all seem to be focused on the question: What does the so-called "Hip-Hop Generation" stand for? How does it compare with previous generations and movements?

It starts with Black College Wire's Aariel Charbonnet reporting the Hip-Hop Generation Debated at "State of Black Union" Conference, at activist broadcaster Tavis Smiley's eighth annual "State of the Black Union" symposium on February 10 at Hampton. At the conference, the Rev. Al Sharpton said "Black youths have lost the dignity that the Blacks brought in 1607 to nearby Jamestown, Va., possessed."

Earlier, Martin Luther King Jr's daughter knocked violence and Hip-Hop culture at a commemoration of Dr. King's birthday.

As part our new edition's special section on Black Student Political Power, TBC contributor Shawn Chollette interviewed Yvonne Byone on Hip-Hop politics. Bynoe's thrust is that while trendy campaigns like P Diddy's Vote or Die may create temporary activity around elections, the potential clout of young African Americans is undercut by the a number of problems. One is the negative perception of "Hip Hop" among many people in the general population, including older Black activists that should be building coalitions with young voters as well as politicians who do not take the youth vote seriously.

Bynoe is author of books including Stand and Deliver: Political Activism, Leadership and Hip Hop Culture and The Encyclopedia of Rap and Hip Hop Culture.

Is it all just too many older folks beating up young people, and failing to appreciate that creativity and energy and expression can be found in hip hop? Or is it that today's generation of young African Americans is participating in its own continuing political marginalization through its adherence to that spirit in hip hop? Check out the articles and see what you think?