Part III: Lyrics and Juries
The third part of the class encompassed a range of topics more directly related to the legal aspects of rap on trial. A colleague of mine from the UW School of Law did a guest presentation on the federal rules of evidence and how those rules relate to the admissibility of rap lyrics. I also attached Alan Jackson’s “Prosecuting Local Gang Cases,” a 2004 handbook that many suggest opened the door to using lyrics as evidence.
As I prepared for my case, I came across the “Stop West Texas Gangs” website (http://www.stopwesttexasgangs.org). The website is designed to help ordinary citizens identify gang members; however, the website is based on a number of racist stereotypes about gang members. I asked students to review the website—in particular, the “Information for Parents, Educators, and Community Members,” and the videos “70 Gangs in Charlotte Schools” and “Gangs and Sportswear”—and to watch a video by Dirty Dave called “On Dat Gangsta Shit.” I asked the students to determine whether or not the people in the video were gang members based on information found in the website. This assignment requires students to evaluate a variety of different sources, all of which present as credible, in order to determine how the information can be used to target someone.
Module 7 surveyed implicit bias with respect to rap lyrics. Students were allowed to choose from three important studies about bias: Carrie Fried’s, Stuart Fischoff’s, and Helen Anderson’s. All three look at how musical taste relates to bias, and are important when considering how a jury will respond to the introduction of rap lyrics at trial. In module 8, students got to play the role of judge as they read an amicus brief submitted by the ACLU and others in the case of State of New Jersey vs. Vonte Skinner. This particular assignment exposes them to a genre of writing that they otherwise may not encounter (unless they pursue law) and invites them to consider the strengths and weaknesses of the arguments put forth in the brief. I posed the question, “if you were a judge, would this brief persuade you to exclude the lyrics or not?” The brief also refers to many of the authors and arguments that they have been exposed to up to this point in the quarter, so it serves as a kind of review and synthesis.
I was advised by several people that the prosecution likely would not cross-examine an expert witness, so I didn’t really need to prepare for that. Much to my surprise, the prosecution did cross-examine me and I was caught off guard by the line of questioning. The cross-examination took the form of a series of questions, and each was in reference to a different rap artist that had been charged with a crime and happened to rap about it:
“Are you familiar with [rapper]?”
“Did you know they were charged with [crime]?”
“Do you know the song [title], in which they rap about [crime]?”
I found it challenging to answer with anything beyond “yes” or “no” (and in most cases, I had to answer “yes”—of course I know who Snoop Dogg is…). After answering this line of questioning with respect to about two dozen different rappers, I was asked something to the effect of whether or not rap music typically imitated real life. It was hard not to agree, given the prosecution’s strategy. After consulting with a few colleagues, it seems that the best way to defuse this strategy is to quickly acknowledge the rapper’s wrong-doing and redirect the jury into some positive aspects of that rapper’s life. I invited my students to find a rapper that was convicted of a crime, and who had written a song about the crime, then to find three specific positive things that the rapper had done. The example I gave was “Although Ice-T wrote a song called ‘Cop Killer,’ it’s important to note that a) it’s a hardcore song, and not a rap song; b) he has no criminal record (and he most certainly never killed a cop); and c) he has played a police officer on Law and Order SVU for over 20 years.”
It occurred to me after the fact that this cross-examination strategy activates a confirmation bias loop re: rappers as criminals, and needs to be disrupted at some point.
The final unit in this class explored ways that hip hop in general and rap in particular could be used as a kind of therapy. I had students watch a video lecture about hip hop and arts-based practices and develop worksheets for young people that helped them to explore their identities and circumstances through music. This is another opportunity for students to play a role (here, teacher or perhaps social worker) and to write in a genre that may be less familiar to them. Another assignment asked them to read a chapter from the second part of Therapeutic Uses of Rap and Hip Hop and to respond to it.
Conclusion
In my opinion, this is one of the most satisfying classes I’ve taught, and one of the most successful. The students’ work was full of passion, anger, and great ideas. In the final reflection, I asked them to suggest some concrete anti-racist actions that they could undertake as a result of what they learned in this class. Many indicated that they had bought and began reading some of the books from the first unit; they felt empowered to have conversations with their family and friends about race; some indicated that they were not shopping at places that used prison labor and would be directing their spending to black-owned businesses. Most importantly, a number of them indicated that they would be voting—many for the first time—in the November election in order to do their part in making a change.