Re: the post “Race and the ‘Important Conversation’,” I just saw this report on the local Baton Rouge news:

Another video featuring the street life in Baton Rouge surfaced on the internet over the weekend. It claims to portray life in “Gardere.”

“This is a Glock,” a man in the video said. “I got 30 in this (expletive). I ain’t playing.”

The video shows several people flashing high-powered weapons.

“This here is a littly bitty (expletive). It’s a special-made Desert Eagle for (expletives).”

People who live in Gardere called the video disturbing.

“It’s scary, really scary and very frightening,” a Gardere resident said.

The video is similar to “Thuggin it and Lovin it.” That video was released nearly three years ago and claimed to showcase the streets of Baton Rouge. It showed people flashing guns, waving what appeared to be drugs and showing off cash. Law enforcement tracked down people in the video, but no arrests were made for the creation of it.

Below, the original “Thuggin It and Lovin It” video. The new clip shown on the news tonight is the same thing. According to the residents of this area interviewed by the news tonight — all of them black — these thug life videos accurately represent the culture of violence and menace that prevails in their neighborhood. They were complaining about it. It’s not a fantasy.

This stuff has to be part of the Important Conversation about race in America. Why is this stuff so valorized in black popular culture? I know white suburban kids listen to this stuff too. I think that’s wrong, of course; whatever your race, it’s depraved to take pleasure in this garbage. This is not a suburban white-boy fantasy; this is real life for the black people of that neighborhood who have to endure this stuff. What is it about black culture that generates, embraces and encourages this, though? What is it about white culture that embraces it? It’s poison.