Robert "Yummy" Sandifer

I mean when it comes to this boy i start to feel really bad, because i can't even try to imagine how he must have been feeling. Even though he was in these different situations, i don't think that would cause him to do all of this bad stuff with his life. Then again he could've been bottling it up so much to the point where he just turned to what he knew best which, i guess, was being in a gang. Him ,along with his friends, were probably just careless about the world so they went around doing bad stuff. I mean reading about this story has really helped me to appreciate everything in life, even the miniature things.
The fact that he shot someone, even if it was on accident, really got me. My whole thing was, why was he attempting to shoot someone in the first place?He was an 11 year old boy that shouldn't know about anything more than family, and fun but instead he knew about gangs and violence. Thats definitely not what he should know about, is it?
All Im saying is that in Philadelphia we really don't have that many problems, i mean we have problems but they haven't really escalated to that point yet and i hope that they never do. As far as Yummy, even though i don't know him, i feel a certain level of disappointment and worry. I'm disappointed at the fact that he is only eleven and that kind of means that anyone can be involved in this type of activity. The reason that I'm filled with worry is because of the fact that I have 3 sisters in Georgia and they are kind of  gullible and i would hate to get a call that anything like that happened to them, so i just think that our elder need to come together and teach us how to control our feelings.

Gangster Rap and Violence

I think that Nas really doesn't know what he's talking about, for him to make that comment and say that he's not going to apologize for any of his lyrics in the song "shot em' up" is very ignorant because he has lyrics that are influencing the children who listen to it in a very strong way. I don't think that he really understands that he cant just make a song and expect everyone to know that its something he grew up with, and that he doesn't mean any harm by it. On the other hand I do agree with what he says about what children are suffering from these days, and i am glad that he actually feels for his family, and doesn't just feel like hes just another one of those boys that gets killed in a ghetto neighborhood.

As far as Lupe, he makes a very good point. When he says that hip hp has a huge part to play in it, he is correct. Sometimes I wonder, when rappers write music, do they actually think about what they're saying and who their main listeners are?,or do they just wake up one morning and say "I'm going to rap about drugs", or "I'm going to rap about sex". I truly think that they need to just sit down and think about if they have children, and say would i want my child to listen to this all day. If their answer is yes, then we as a people have an issue. If you wouldn't want your child listening to this then say something, if you don't care then explain why you don't and help me to understand why you think that boys selling drugs or teenagers having sex is appropriate for young adults to listen to.

Defining Beauty

PART I

After watching that shocking video, i am appauled. I cant beleive what the society is teaching our young, black, children. They are pretty much teaching us that self hatred is ok, which is messed up in so many ways. They make it seem like african american hair is unfunctional in any type of way, which is rediculous because we can probably do so much more with our hair than any other race can. What they dont understand though, is that their is so much beauty of black hair.

The only thing that i do agree with that they discused in that movie is getting perms. Even though we have beautiful hair, some of it is difficult to handle, and getting perms is the only way they may be able to deal with their hair. Some of the other things that I noticed about the video is that when the little children talk about how getting perms is ok, they also say that it realy hurts. You can realy see the pain in their faces when they talk about getting perms.

As far as the several children picking which doll that they think is better looking and who they think is nicer,prettier, and uglier, I cannot help but remember when that little girl looked so confused when she was asked which doll is just plain better. It realy made me histerical because I know how it feels to be called ugly and her saying that the black doll is ugly, makes me think that they probably think that they are ugly themselves.

That video taught me so much about how i should appreciate everything i have because, they clearly dont love themselves.

PART II

Well when it comes to Sammy Sosa, I dont even know what to say, i just realy wish that african americans can se the true beaty in themselves, and just make do with what they have instead of always changing their natural features. I say that they should just leave it alone, obviously our words aren't doin much justice, so we should just let them change when they want to. I feel the same way about Micheal Jackson, he didn't feel comfortable with the way that he looked so he felt the need to change it. Thats all I realy need to say on that topic right now.