NASHVILLE, Tenn. -- A cousin of the late
Emmett Till wonders if
Lil Wayne
understands just how damaging it was when he rapped a vulgar reference
to the black U.S. teen whose death in 1955 became a significant moment
in the civil rights movement.
Airickca Gordon-Taylor says Till's family would like an apology from
Lil Wayne for the brief but disturbing lyric on Future's "Karate Chop"
remix. But more than that, she'd like the platinum-selling New Orleans
rapper to understand how his comparison of a sex act to the 14-year-old
Chicago native's torture death in Mississippi is hurtful to the black
community.
"It was a heinous murder," Gordon-Taylor said in a phone interview
Thursday from Chicago. "He was brutally beaten and tortured, and he was
shot, wrapped in barbed wire and tossed in the
Tallahatchie River. The
images that we're fortunate to have (of his open casket) that 'Jet'
published, they demonstrate the ugliness of racism. So to compare a
woman's anatomy - the gateway of life - to the ugly face of death, it
just destroyed me. And then I had to call the elders in my family and
explain to them before they heard it from some another source."
The Future remix with Weezy guesting was leaked on the internet over
the weekend. Epic Records said Wednesday it regretted the unauthorized
remix version and that it was employing "great efforts" to pull it down.
The brief reference - just seven words - will be stricken from the song
when it's officially released later.
The rapper made a crude reference to rough sex and used an obscenity.
He indicated he wanted to do as much damage as had been done to Till.
Gordon-Taylor says Epic Chairman and CEO
LA Reid personally reached out
to her on a conference call Wednesday evening that included the
Rev. Jesse Jackson
to explain and apologize. Jackson said in a phone interview Thursday
that Reid said on the call that Future and Lil Wayne were cooperative.
"Once he got the point he realized this was beyond the zone and he
immediately pulled it," Jackson said. "And he talked with both artists,
who agreed."
Weezy has made no comment, nor has he addressed the issue on his
Twitter account. Gordon-Taylor says there's been no attempt to apologize
so far.
Till was in Mississippi visiting family when he was killed for
allegedly flirting with a white woman. He was beaten, had his eyes
gouged out and was shot in the head before his assailants tied a cotton
gin fan to his body with barbed wire and tossed his body into the
Tallahatchie River. Two white men, including the woman's husband, were
acquitted of the killing by an all-white jury.
Till's body was recovered and returned to Chicago where his mother,
Mamie Till, insisted on having an open casket at his funeral. The
pictures of his battered body helped push civil rights into the cultural
conversation in the U.S. Bob Dylan even wrote a song about it: "
The
Death of Emmett Till."
Gordon-Taylor, founding director of the
Mamie Till Mobley Memorial
Foundation, said Lil Wayne's lyric was devastating to her family. Simeon
Wright, Till's cousin who shared a bed with his relative the night he
was taken by the killers, heard the lyric for the first time Wednesday
night.
"And he said the Ku Klux Klan would be very proud of Lil Wayne,"
Gordon-Taylor said. "And as tough a man as he is, I could see the hurt
and the anger in his eyes. It just demonstrates to our family just how
lost are our youth."
Both Gordon-Taylor and Jackson believe the 30-year-old rapper could
help with that problem if he chose. Jackson has met Wayne, whose real
name is
Dwayne Carter, before and said, "I respect his art."
Jackson says the issue of a negative portrayal of the black community
comes up from time to time, citing The Rolling Stones' "Some Girls," for
instance: "We just felt they could make their point without grossly
insulting people."
Music also has the power to uplift, he noted. Harry Belafonte opened
eyes to conditions in Africa and the Caribbean, for instance.
Marvin
Gaye's "What's Going On" helped
Americans see the war in Vietnam in a
new light. And
Stevie Wonder's "Happy Birthday" helped clear the way for
a national holiday honoring
Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.
"We want artists who have considerable power to use their power to
uplift and redirect," Jackson said. "It's not a matter of free speech,
it's also speech that matters. ... These artists have culturally
transforming power. Either they hurt or they help."
