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Subscribe] FinalCall.com News - Refer This Page Entertainment News Panelists say 'Silence the Violence' in our communities CHICAGO (FinalCall.com) - Nationally recognized actresses, athletes, local activists assembled at Harold Washington Cultural Center on the south side of Chicago to make a clarion call to “Silence the Violence” among the youth in our communities. Several hundred enthusiastic students packed the auditorium to hear from Atlantic recording artist T.I., Fox News anchor Robin Robinson, actor and comedian Michael Colyar, entrepreneur, community activist and former high ranking member of the Gangster Disciples Noonie “G” Ward, actress and fitness trainer A.J. Johnson, NBA star Quentin Richardson, Pastor Phil Jackson of The House Covenant Church also known as “The House” on Chicago’s west side, and hip hop recording artist Shawnna. The panel was moderated by 107.5 WCGI’s Tony Sculfield and simulcast live on the station for the entire 2-hours of the session. “You all are beautiful people but you are your own worst enemy,” said Mr. Ward. “If you take time and think, everything you do is a thought before you do it. Before you go and shoot somebody, before you do something wrong, it is a thought,” he added. Alluding to his recent run-ins with federal law enforcement officials, T.I. told the crowd that he has grown and matured and the mistakes of the past will not be repeated. “I think there were a lot of necessary adjustments that needed to be made,” said the platinum selling rapper. Many people were around that didn’t necessarily need to be around, and my behavior—I was really running wild. I had to develop a lot of patience and really just assume another responsibility,” said the rapper, actor and father of six. “I have been blessed to make it this far through so many different adverse situations. I have done things before you all knew I was even T.I. that could have gotten me under the jail. I just pray to God for even allowing me to be before you today a free man, a living man,” said T.I. as the crowd took it all in. In one testy exchange during the panel discussion, Fox News anchor Robin Robinson, raised the subject of street credibility to the audience and to T.I. challenging the idea that some rappers and those who emulate them a real history of criminal behavior makes them authentic tough guys and establishes their credentials in ‘the hood.’ “I have to be the devils advocate here, trouble also makes money. This thing we talk about ‘street cred’ and rappers who have the real rap sheet are the ones that you all follow. That is crazy! So don’t you think that by being good now you are afraid that it might hurt your career, because people like to listen to the real thugs, rapping real thug stuff,” said Ms. Robinson. T.I. shot back “I don’t need no ‘street cred’ to sell no records! What I have done, I’ve done and I’m not proud of everything but at the same time a lot of that which you consider ‘street cred’ gave me the moral standards and principles that it takes for me to be the same man I am today,” Ms. Robinson replied, “Well that’s the kind of ‘street cred’ we are trying to work on not the ‘street cred’ that counts the number of altercations you’ve been in or the number of times you have been arrested or gone to jail.” “Unfortunately, this is what it took for me to learn what I know today and I am trying to make sure that they learn it without going through all of this. I am not in no way glorifying or trying to brag on nothing, I am just telling the absolute truth and that’s what they respect. They respect the truth,” said T.I. Chicago native and NBA basketball star Quentin Richardson shared a personal experience about having two of his brothers killed. He also talked about the real feelings of revenge and thoughts of retaliation that came up when violence hit close to home. “They were trying to steal his truck. It was just a senseless situation just over a vehicle,” said the guard for New York Knicks. “When you see it right in your neighborhood, something like that is just unfortunate. To see it’s your own people that are trying to steal and it’s difficult to take. If I didn’t know any better and have my sister there to talk to me, I might have tried to go and retaliate but I had people around keeping me grounded and telling me the right things to do. I had a chance to be pulled away from the situation and got an opportunity to make the right decisions,” said Mr. Richardson. The conversation then turned to negative messages and images in hip-hop and in response to a question from an audience member, T.I., again defended hip-hop placing much of the responsibility on the consumers. “Rappers do rap about positive things. You have people like Common and Kanye, now the question is why don’t you guys support these positive rappers as you support the gangster rappers? That’s the question! It’s out there, go to the record store and buy it and quit bootlegging,” said T.I. “Any business, I don’t care if you are selling music, haircuts, cutting grass, selling clothes—any business is supply and demand. As long as there is a demand for this gangster rap music that demand will be supplied. If you create a different demand then there will be a different supply. It is up to you guys as the consumer,” he added. T.I. then asked a question, “I just want to know why is everybody waiting on a rapper to save the world? We are here to entertain. Can we also accept responsibility for our own actions as individuals and not use T.I., Young Jeezy, Lil’ Wayne, 50 Cent and the rest of us as an excuse?” Jessica Williams, a student engagement specialist at Manley High School in Chicago said this kind of honest dialogue is needed to reduce the levels of violence among youth. She also said more mentors are needed in the community. “Some of the main problems I see is students not being able to identify with somebody in their school or within their neighborhoods. They are turning to negative means of development,” said Ms. Williams. “They are looking up to the wrong individuals and they are doing negative things within their community because they do not have outlets for a positive expression readily available to them.” Related story: Rapper T.I. has an important message for the youth (FCN, 07-14-2008)
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