T.I. in recent days is set to be featured in the upcoming movie 'American Gangsta' starring Denzel Washington. He's been playing prominent roles in these last few award shows. He was recently featured on the Hip Hop vs. America panels put on by BET where he represented his viewpoints quite eloquently. Behind the scenes, T.I. played a big role in the relief efforts for Hurricane Katrina, where he provided money and manpower from his construction company. People who know T.I. have long spoke about him being a cat that has some keen political awareness which wasn't always reflected in his music, but as he was starting to become more situated in this music industry, the word was that we were going to start hearing T.I. step up and speak out more to address key issues.
This arrest was no doubt not only a big set back for him, but for Hip Hop in general. With T.I. being one of the best and brightest as far what the mainstream presents, his arrest will fuel further speculation and attacks on Hip Hop and its audience. His arrest gets couched in the same vein and used as fodder when we hear people launch attacks and try and be dismissive of the questionable circumstances around Jena 6 defendants like Mychael Bell who was sent back to jail for previous probation violation, the same week T.I. was arrested.
His arrest like it or not overshadows the outrageous hate filled on air commentary from Fox News anchor John Gibson who blamed Hip Hop and Black people for the recent school shooting at an alternative high school in Cleveland, Ohio. Initially he thought the alternative school was one for delinquents and had no idea that it was a school for academically gifted youth. He saw Black faces and just assumed. Next he naturally assumed the shooter was Black and instead of showing some sort of contrition when he discovered the shooter was a white boy who listened to Marilyn Manson, he still tired to blame it on Hip Hop by making rascist comments like 'the minute I heard the kid shot himself I knew it wasn't your classic hip hop shooting, because they don't kill themselves. They shoot and walk away'.
You can hear this madness here.
The T.I. arrest no doubt solidifies his position. Before Gibson could seriously be taken to task for his slanderous remarks, we got bombarded with news of the T.I. arrest.
T.I.'s arrest along with the off color behavior widely reported about other rap stars including recent scenarios involving Foxy Brown and Sean 'Diddy' Combs sadly helps fortify a climate in which paints all of us in a bad light. In other words gone are the days where we could look and say 'We are Young Gifted and Black'. Instead we get seen as 'Thugged out and Criminal'. No I'm not blaming T.I. for all our ills, but like it or not him being in the limelight and being dragged off that perch impacts us all.
We caught up with long time activist and lawyer Troy Nkrumah of the National Hip Hop Political Convention. Here's his astute breakdown of what is going on with T.I.
Although it is still premature to jump out with accusations of COINTELPRO, or in this case RAPINTELPRO, there are a few things that we must keep in perspective regarding this incident with Clifford Harris also known as the rapper/actor/entrepreneur T.I.
Having read the Affidavit, the testimonies and reports seem to adequately meet the standards for Probable Cause which in a case like this is required to begin an investigation. That's if everything in the report is accurate, which there is no way for us to tell at this point until we hear Harris' side of the story. Nonetheless, there are a few things to keep in mind before we rush to judgement on either side.
1. The Affidavit cites that there is a Confidential Witness (CW) or what we might call a "Snitch", or what the powers that be might call a "Whistle Blower", and some other law enforcement agencies call a Confidential Informant (C.I.). Please note that these are all the same things, however the later 3 terms seem to have more negative connotations applied to them. The C.I. was once accepted by most law enforcement agencies but in an attempt to move away from the dozens and dozens of improper use of "informants" around the country, several law enforcement agencies are starting to use the term "witness."
Witness is a legal term. It is being prematurely used at this point because T.I.'s Body Guard was being used as an Informant/Snitch and not as a witness. A witness to a crime is someone who; see's, hears, or in some other manner has perceived an event first hand. Having participated directly or indirectly in a crime takes you out of being a witness to it and makes you a party or co-conspirator to that crime, or if you are working for or with law enforcement agencies in the crime then you are working as an "agent" or "informant/snitch".It is important to understand these terms because they are used to help convict individuals in the court of public opinion before they even make it to the criminal court.
2. The affidavit states that the Body Guard (or CW) has been working for Harris since July of this year. Personally I find that a little odd and out of the ordinary for someone of Harris' stature, someone who could build a diverse portfolio of business interests such as he has, to allow someone that's only been in his organization 2-3 months, to begin doing dirt for him like this. That's just odd. It is either a sign of Harris' ignorance and stupidity, or something a little more sinister on the part of the Feds. But we have to wait for more info before we can make that call.
3. Why is it that Harris was comfortable allowing the Body Guard to bring the prior weapons to his house, but then he was so quick to go pick these weapons up. It is hard to believe that Harris was actually going to get several large bags of weapons and put them in his car, then drive to the BET awards, or his Studio or his Home 15 miles away, and then back for the awards. Where ever he was going next, it just does not seem logical that he would carry this amount of weapons around with him all day. But again maybe he was that stupid.
4. A lot of people will say, "this is nothing like COINTELPRO" because the ATF are about regulating the sale of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms. Well let me remind you, that although the FBI orchestrated the Counter Intelligence Program (COINTELPRO), they didn't directly arrest or have shootouts with the Black Panther Members or other movement organizers in the 60's and 70's. They left that work up to other agencies to carry out. Also, the ATF's history is also a bit dirty with the Waco, Texas debacle back in the 90's.
5. Also, let us not forget how earlier this year a report came out from the NYPD about surveillance on various Non-political hip hop artists and RnB artists during the Republican National Convention back in 2004. This is part of what we call Rapintelpro. Many popular artists are being followed, reported on and tracked for "political" reasons. That report sited the influence these artists would have if they started becoming political and started speaking on political issues. We are talking about people like, Jay Z, P-Diddy, Alicia Keys, just to name a few that were spied upon by the Rap Police. Another report came out of Miami a few years back showing the surveillance of other popular rappers.
6. Lastly, keep in mind that to date there are over 150 Political Prisoners/Prisoners of War still being held in the United States. I am not referring to people held around the issue of 9/11 or the Wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. but rather individuals who were targeted by COINTELPRO in the 60's and 70's. The SF8 is a group that has been re-arrested on some trumped up COINTELPRO inspired charges.This is not to say that TI was on the same level of any of these freedom fighters that are now locked behind bars, but it is to point out that the government has a long history of setting up Black people and letting the setup go on and on for years before they have enough to take the persons life a way. Yes they use it on people that are threats to the status quo.. but which multi selling rapper is not a potential threat to the status quo?
All of these facts and others need to be kept in mind before we write TI off as another ignorant street rapper who was up to no good. Yes he might not be the brightest person to walk into something like this.. however, until we get all the facts, lets not accept the full truth of the incident based on the Feds Affidavit or the news reports. Those of you who are old enough will remember that a lot of folks thought Joan Chesimard aka Asaata Shakur was guilty after reading a few news reports and police accounts of the shootout. If you don't know who Joan Chesimard is, well then you might be just as susceptible as TI was if an agent comes to you with some bright idea's. Know your history or be destined to repeat it.
Be sure to check out the affidavit that describes the events leading up to T.I's arrest over at Davey D's myspace page by
clicking here.