Charlie Pine, of Oakland Residents for Peaceful Neighborhoods, recently wrote a retort to the supposed hypocrisy demonstrated by Oakland officials in denying HBO a permit to film their series “Gentlemen of Leisure,” focusing on pimps in Oakland. He claims that despite Mayor Ron Dellums’ refusal to grant the film permit, city government doesn’t actually care about Oakland’s image and well being because they “give grants and jobs to gutter rappers and other assorted practitioners of thug culture.” He goes on to criticize the mayor, city counsel, local hip-hop artists and a prominent youth center in a rant that lacks depth and a comprehensive understanding of Oakland. What follows is a point-by-point response to the smear job and cultural crusade Pine misconstrues as informed advocacy.
On the contraire, the album is overwhelmingly positive. FAB speaks on the effects of growing up without a father in songs like “If Papa Was Home” and “Where’s My Daddy.” He thanks his mother for standing by him and raising him right in “The Mama Song,” offers thoughts about mortality in “Call Heaven” and pays tribute to those who have passed away in “U R My Angel.” In still other songs, like “Hoodlife” and “Streets of the Bay,” Mistah FAB gives honest accounts of what’s going on in Oakland’s poorer communities. It may not be all rosy, but that’s life to most in Oakland.
For Charlie Pine, Oakland is very black and white. You’re either in line with his narrow agenda or you’re part of the problem. Pine didn’t grow up in Oakland, so I won’t blame him for not understanding some basic things about the experience. Instead, I will try to give him a hand. If you grow up in the flatlands of Oakland, you experience, participate and/or know folks that have done some dirt in their lives. There is no felon/choirboy dichotomy as Pine would like to believe. FAB certainly has some songs that are less than positive and may depict a less than perfect lifestyle, but he is far from a problematic individual who should be excluded from city events. He should not be indicted, and Mayor Dellums should not be reprimanded for including him in his inaugural festivities.
Pine goes on to attack East Oakland youth center Youth UpRising’s utilization of “pimp rapper” Too $hort’s services. It is definitely true that Too $hort has quite a track record of misogynistic lyrics, but it is also true that he has evolved and is doing his best to reach out and help kids at this point in his life. By his own admission, he has realized that his music has negatively affected people in a way he is not proud of, but I commend him for admitting that and donating his time and services to Youth UpRising (YU).
Too $hort, second from right, with YU students and staff
$hort may have lived a life some disagree with, but we would remiss if we didn’t allow him to grow, evolve and change. There are many who make life changes and try to give back to their communities, $hort’s transformation should be encouraged, not dismissed as ludicrous. For the record he is not a career counselor as Pine claims, simply an individual who donates his time and energy to the center. Watch the video below to hear $hort’s thoughts on the current epidemic of violence. He will not strike you as quite the preying pimp Pine would like you to believe him to be.
Mistah FAB, second from right, at YU to promote a benefit event for victims of Hurricane Katrina
A turf dancer flips on the stage of YU’s outdoor stage during a dance battlePine goes onto diss YU for “hiring out” turf dancers for E-40’s “Tell Me When to Go” music video. Excuse me, but since when has it been a bad thing to give local aspiring dancers a chance to shine on a national stage? Some of those dancers still perform with E-40 on tour to this day. This is not exploitation, as Pine claims, it is a youth center providing youth with career opportunities. Wow, what a travesty! It may be easy for Pine to clump turf dancing, hyphy music, sideshows and violence all under the umbrella of “thug culture,” but the first two are not manifestations of thug culture. Interestingly enough, those are the two mediums that are utilized by YU. Pine’s musical tastes and dancing capabilities may differ a bit from Oakland’s youth, but that doesn’t mean he can indict these forms of self-expression as evil. One would think that a self proclaimed Oakland Resident for Peaceful Neighborhoods would prefer youth using dance and music as outlets rather than violence and drug trafficking.
Pine’s final critique is based on accusations that are completely unrelated to YU’s integrity. Daryell “Green Eyes” Barker, a former YU and Destiny Arts dance instructor, was charged with the molestation an 11 year old girl and possession of a sawed off shot gun. These actions are abominable, but it is unfair to throw him under the bus before he is convicted in a court of law. More importantly however, he was involved with Youth UpRising before the accusations, not after. Are all organizations any criminal has ever worked for to be persecuted when an employee commits a crime? That makes no sense whatsoever. Pine’s strategy at the end of his rant is to throw a bunch of scary sounding words around Youth UpRising’s name to make the organization sound as malicious and backwards as possible. This is simply not the case.
HBO’s proposed series is not necessarily a great idea and I have been disappointed with Dellums’ and the city’s leadership, but Pine’s critique is simply not valid. Are Dellums and the city council perfect? Of course not, but they are not giving “grants and jobs to gutter rappers and other assorted practitioners of thug culture,” as Pine claims. Too $hort and Mistah FAB are not “gutter rappers” and Youth UpRising is not a “practitioner of thug culture.” $hort, FAB and YU may not be perfect, but they are speaking for and to a demographic that Pine is not a part of. His lack of understanding or agreement does not invalidate their voices or tactics. Pine needs to understand, as hard as it may be for him to believe, that Youth UpRising is just as dedicated to eliminating violence as he is, if not more so.
Youth UpRising grew out of youth being disgruntled with violence in Oakland, just as Charlie Pine is. High school youth planned and assembled the project and, with help, secured the funding and real estate for the center. Many of the youth who served on the counsel, myself included, developed the programming and have worked at the center since its completion. None of us would contend that it’s perfect, but all would argue that it’s well intentioned, growing and moderately successful. Pine’s criticisms of Youth UpRising, their allies and strategies are a direct affront to the young people who have worked so hard to help address the epidemic of violence in Oakland.
Charlie Pine says he speaks for Oakland residents for peaceful neighborhoods, as though only his small cadre desire this end. In reality, most of us hate the violence that rages in Oakland’s streets, but some of us have actually built tangible and unprecedented responses to the problem. I commend Charlie Pine for starting an organization that desires peaceful neighborhoods, but smugly sniping at those working toward that vision in the killing fields of East Oakland is disrespectful and unproductive. The traditional tactics have clearly not worked in Oakland’s battle against street violence. Let us allow Youth UpRising to carry out their atypical approaches, and rather than criticizing the city, the county, rappers and residents for supporting them, let us help the cause with our own new ideas. Hopefully we can surround the problem from all angles and eradicate it, rather than shoot each other in the back like the very criminals who terrorize our streets.
