Can't Stop, Won't Stop, Chapter 13

Follow for Now: The Question of Post-Civil Rights Black Leadership
by: Keira Gaudette, Jaimie Hoppert, Kayla Pelok

The 80s ended. Campus organizations (Black Student Leadership Network and United People of Color) were forming. Afrocentricity came about as an intellectual program that decentered Eurocentric educational biases. Self-esteem and self-actualization were important. Jesse Jackson was running for president again. The campaign was based on hope and believing. Controversy grew and he was called an Anti-Semitic. Jackson came in second to Dukakis. There was a search for who could be leaders. Rappers put politics into their music and were leaders. Philadelphia declared Public Enemy Day. Stop the Violence Movement, a media event to show rappers were responsible, began in response to several incidents at concerts.

Spike Lee’s film Do the Right Thing showed the generational rage and confusion at the time and provoked questions of using violence as a means to protest but he offered no solutions which angered many media and politicians. From PE’s “Fight the Power” video, Chuck from PE became the new black power fighter/leader/icon of the time, even though he did not want that responsibility. Public Enemy’s members had conflicts with each other and the group began to unravel with Griff becoming the instigator for much of PE’s problems with the media. His comments were turning the media and public to think of PE as anti-semitic and not just pro-black.

Spike Lee was preparing to release Do the Right Things with “Fight the Power” as the lead-in single. Movie distributors questioned Lee over Public Enemy’s involvement. Public Enemy was in crisis. Griff’s statements had hit the newscasts and Hank and Bill were convinced something needed to be done. Some believed Griff sabotaged the group. They wanted to keep the group together, so Griff was forced out. This didn’t resolve the issues. Public Enemy collapsed. Bensonhurst occurred and the rise and fall of black power was still occurring. This staged a controversial comeback for Public Enemy. Their tract created revival in black communities. Whether the white race agreed or not, it was going to be a hip-hop world now.