“I fear for my kids when I drop them off at school. Our schools aren’t safe and our kids aren’t safe,” rapper writes following Public Enemy’s gun control song “March Madness”
Flavor Flav has penned an op-ed urging lawmakers to pass a total ban on firearms: “No civilian needs to possess semi-automatic weapons.”
On the heels of Public Enemy’s latest single “March Madness” — “a powerful rebuke against crooked politicians and the ongoing crisis of gun violence,” the group said in a statement — the Rock Hall-inducted hype man wrote in his emotional Newsweek op-ed, “We are marching ourselves into madness, both in the crazy and angry senses of the word. We are caught in an epidemic of gun violence with no sign we can stop or change course.”
“I fear for my kids when I drop them off at school. Our schools aren’t safe and our kids aren’t safe. This is because gun protection laws are weak. Guns are falling into the hands of the wrong people. I would know. I went to jail because of guns. I ended up on Rikers Island. So I am speaking from first-hand experience,” Flav wrote.
“Fear and power are two of the biggest emotions that drive us. America is being built on fear. You have people who are scared. And these people are fighting for gun rights to protect themselves. They wouldn’t have to protect themselves if all guns were banned. Fear is a powerful, short-term motivator. We need to flip it so it can break through to be a positive and valuable resource. Let our fear of losing our children be more powerful than our fear of our next-door neighbor.”
“March Madness,” released on Juneteenth, opens with a teacher calling 911 to report a school shooting. “To us, March Madness is not about the left or the right or politics—it’s about the need to unify, as human beings, to say what is right and what is wrong. Stop putting a price tag on the heads of our children,” Flav wrote.
Trending Stories
“I hope this song, ‘March Madness,’ reignites the conversation. I hope this song sparks change. I hope this anthem gives a voice to those who feel powerless against a system of power and greed. I hope we can come together to create a wall of unity with peace and togetherness that is so strong, no one can divide and tear us down.”
The rapper concluded the op-ed, “As my partner, Chuck D, says: ‘I would rather live in peace than rest in peace.’ I hope the same for my children and all children.”
