Dear Editor,
My letter relates to a SN report on 21/04/08 captioned ‘Gunfire at Bounty Killa Show’. I strongly believe that Bounty Killa and the DJ have no respect for Guyana and Guyanese by inciting lyrics and comments that can cause hate crimes and further criminal activities in a very sensitive environment (Guyana) that had experienced two massacres.
The utterance of “batty man fi dead” is an explicit hate message that incites murder of gay persons based on one’s personal intolerance, prejudices and hate. In addition, the utterance of the DJ calling “bad men from Buxton and Agricola to represent” the Five Star General [Bounty Killa] that was about to perform further reinforced the stigma that these villages produce and harbour criminal elements. They messages by these personalities were very irresponsible.
Music, like words, has a very powerful impact on the human mind and the authorities need to ensure that public venues are not used as an outlet to propagate hate, prejudices and criminality. This was clearly displayed when some in the crowd at the Ignition Show ‘ignited’ their guns that had the crowd fleeing for safety. If Bounty Killa wants to preach genocide against the gay community with his lyrics and the DJ wants another massacre against innocent human beings let them do it in hell. Guyana has no space for hate since Guyanese strive for peace in a country that has endured enough pain and suffering. Such messages also contribute to a climate of fear that residents of these communities and Guyanese generally have to endure for it now seems to be acceptable and fashionable to utter words that discriminate and incite fear, hate and violence. These personalities need to be responsible leaders and responsible role models to youths who fancy them and who relish their music that is encrypted with hate language.
All music promoters, managers and companies that support and endorse shows of this kind need to be sanctioned too for their efforts serve to provide a forum for some artistes to advocate violent content. These messages serve as a call to arms and can result in grave crimes.
Yours faithfully,
Andrew Grant
