A Rap Flap Amid Anti-Semitism Charges

A reaction to Steve Hochman’s July 16 article about Public Enemy, the rap group that announced it was disbanding after a group member created a controversy by saying in an interview, “The Jews are wicked. We can prove that”:

We have almost completed a decade filled with hatred, violence and racial contempt, as witnessed by several alarming incidents. Among them are the Al Campanis blunder on national TV; the emergence of Louis Farrakhan; the resurgence of white supremacist movements; the escalation of gang warfare.

Now there is anti-Semitic sentiment from Public Enemy and what appears to be a racially motivated movie by Spike Lee (“Do the Right Thing”), which I consider incendiary.

What has become of the ‘60s movement that included a cause for civil rights? And what about the ‘70s, which saw a push for equality in many areas?

Apparently we have not come far. Or maybe we have just come full circle, back around again to a time of prejudice as we head into the ‘90s. In any case, I am saddened by the attacks on people in regard to the color of their skin, the colors of their clothes or the way they pray to God.

JEREMY M. SMITH

El Segundo