Rap and Race: The Reaction

Contrary to what your article suggests, it is not only conservatives who are outraged by Time Warner and Sony’s preference of profits over social responsibility in marketing their gaggle of hate-rap “artists.”

Having spent much of the ‘60s and ‘70s as a draft counselor, and having gotten my skull creased in civil rights demonstrations, I’ve had a few caveats with government inequities over the years. However, whenever anyone advocates the murder of any human being, whenever anyone espouses racism against any group, then it is the duty of all people from all shades of the political spectrum to voice their disapproval loudly.

Certainly our First Amendment rights must be defended, but with those rights comes a responsibility that both Time Warner and Sony choose to ignore. My ‘60s sensibility tells me that corporations tend to react only when their profits are affected, so consequently, I choose to exercise my rights by boycotting the purchase of Sony products and the use of Time’s HBO cable service and refusing to buy such Time Warner publications as Time, Life and People.

Should these companies persist in selling hate and racism I will extend my personal boycott to include any firm that participates in this obscenity by advertising in their magazines.

PAT FERRIS

Los Angeles