Texas to ban hip hop from textbooks
Last Friday, the Texas State Board of Education approved a measure which would leave hip hop culture out of social studies programs within their high schools – including their textbooks. The reasoning behind this decision by the board was largely due to the “offensive” nature of rap lyrics.
As a society, have we not moved passed the hatred towards rap music that was so apparent within the early 1990s? My assumption was that we have moved past the time of smashing jewel cases on the capital steps screaming about Tupac lyrics, and I must have been quite ignorant to assume that hip hop culture has become more accepted on a national level. At what point do educators and politicians realize that excluding a certain presence within the learning environment will inhibit knowledge and compassion to the kids who graduate into the real world?
Not to mention, a laundry list of well-educated rappers, writers, artists, djs, dancers, poets, and business men and women live in this world – in fact, they have driven change to the idea of what someone who listens to hip hop. I’m a firm believer that people don’t chose their culture – they ARE their culture. What the Texas Board of Education has done is eliminate the educational foundation of what hip hop culture has always aimed to create: unity, comradery, style, and a voice which may be left unheard at times. Wouldn’t a proper place for hip hop that promotes its true essence within the educational system remove the boundaries which have convinced Texan educators to remove the program?
I call bullshit.
