Public Enemy Video Stirs Debate

A spokesman for the Southern Christian Leadership Conference founded by Martin Luther King Jr. disputed on Thursday a contention by Public Enemy leader Chuck D. that the civil rights leader was moving away from his celebrated nonviolent stance at the time of his assassination.

The issue arose Wednesday when MTV debuted the rap group’s “By the Time I Get to Arizona” video, which intersperses re-enactments of King’s 1968 slaying and scenes from the ‘60s civil rights movement with dramatizations of Public Enemy members leading an armed insurrection against Arizona state officials, who are portrayed by actors.

“The obvious thing to point out is that Dr. King was a nonviolent person,” said Mike Dejoie, director of communications for the Atlanta-based Southern Christian Leadership Conference once headed by King. Tying violence with King, he said, “just doesn’t make sense, frankly.”

Some civil rights and human rights organizations asked the music cable channel to stop showing the controversial video. However, a spokeswoman for MTV said Thursday that the channel planned to continue showing the video. In a viewer poll conducted by MTV Wednesday and Thursday morning to sample viewers’ opinions, two-thirds of nearly 10,000 callers said they support the video as a legitimate form of protest, and 60% said they believe the clip would not incite violence.

Judy McGrath, MTV’s senior vice president and creative director, said the poll was intended to “get a quick read (on viewer opinions)” and “to give people a chance to participate and be heard and to inspire a little conversation. Public Enemy is looking for discussion on the issue and we are too.”

She said that the network hoped the end result would be to “help propel Arizona along the way” toward proclaiming Jan. 20 as Martin Luther King Jr. Day. The video is designed to protest the state’s 1987 action rescinding that day as a holiday.

Danny Welch, who directs the Klan Watch project of the Southern Poverty Law Center in Montgomery, Ala., called for MTV not to air the video, even though the channel is discussing the clip’s implications before each showing.

“I don’t think any kind of disclaimer of opinion on the air is good enough,” Welch said. “You’ve got 12-year-old kids sitting there influenced by their rap heroes. MTV, as well as Public Enemy, has a responsibility.”

In a New York press conference Wednesday, Chuck D. defended the video as an honest expression of frustration.

That position was rejected by Rabbi Abraham Cooper, associate dean of the Simon Wiesenthal Center, and a longtime critic of Public Enemy’s stands on race relations, especially the group’s connection with Nation of Islam leader Louis Farrakhan.

“I’m sure we’ll hear the same old tired cliche that this reflects anger and frustration, but that’s just not good enough any more,” Cooper said Thursday. “Music is just too powerful a medium to let it hang out like this. This is in effect an attack on what Martin Luther King stood for and will support the Farrakhans of the country. I’m appalled that MTV would run it.”

Last August, shortly before the release of the album “Apocalypse 91 . . . The Enemy Strikes Black,” which includes the “Arizona” song, Chuck D. told The Times that Arizona was a “devil’s haven” and accused politicians of dragging their feet on reinstating the King holiday, which was rescinded by then-Gov. Evan Mecham.

“There’s a governor and politicians hiding behind the people not allowing this to get done,” he said. “So we’re gonna have to get something done.”

But Chris Herstam, chief of staff for current Gov. Fife Symington, said that Chuck D. is misinformed. Symington, Herstam said, is a supporter of the King holiday and is leading a campaign to have it reinstated by voters through a ballot measure that will be voted on in the November general election. The governor is scheduled to lead a Phoenix march supporting civil rights on Jan. 20.

“Gov. Symington respects free speech rights, but he deplores the video, not just for the violence, but for the misconception that it spreads regarding Arizona being a racist state,” Herstam said. “I think they’re using past unfortunate occurrences to judge the state and its future. If they wanted to make money and gather publicity, they’ve succeeded, but they’ve done nothing to improve the chances of an M.L.K. holiday being enacted in Arizona. But the governor is confident it still will be enacted.”

However, Herstam said that Symington will not call for MTV to stop airing the clip. “The governor is not going to give advice to a national cable network on what it should or should not air. They have the freedom to do whatever they want. The governor just believes the video is in bad taste.”

“By the Time I Get to Arizona” is the latest of several controversial rap songs and videos.