Historically, Hip Hop and police has not been a perfect match. All that changed recently in Arizona , and the local Black community is outraged.
Sgt. Chuck Schoville (who is white) is shown pulling over two Black motorists on Tempe StreetBeat (a local police television show) for littering at the Arizona Mills Mall in late August.
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After a brief exchange for with the men, Schoville tells the two that they can get out of the littering ticket “if the two of you just do a little rap about — what do you want to do a rap about? Littering? About the dangers of littering.”
Both men complied.
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“The dangers of littering, you will get a ticket. If you ain’t wit’ it, you better be experienced,” one man raps into the camera while the other says, “Yo,
I just got pulled over ’cause I threw my trash out the window when they
rolled over. They got behind me and pulled me over.”
I just got pulled over ’cause I threw my trash out the window when they
rolled over. They got behind me and pulled me over.”
In a more disturbing segment of the clip, Schoville says to the men, “You know why you say I’m right? Because I got a gun and badge. I’m always right. That’s the way it works, right?”
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All three men laugh at the comment.
Rev. Jarret Maupin of the National Action Network is anything but smiles over the incident and recently issued a statement.
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“It’s important for police officers to realize that all black people do not speak hip hop,”Maupin says. “We’re
not all rappers and thugs and gang bangers. We speak the English
language and we’re entitled to the same amount of respect.”
not all rappers and thugs and gang bangers. We speak the English
language and we’re entitled to the same amount of respect.”
Future production ofTempe StreetBeat is suspended.
