Jason Koski/University Photography

Ben Ortiz, assistant curator of the Cornell Hip Hop Collection, leads a panel on community-police relations in the context of the language and history of hip-hop music, Feb. 20 at Ithaca's Southside Community Center in Ithaca.

Michael Brown, Eric Garner and Tamir Rice lived hundreds of miles apart, yet their deaths were tragically alike: All three were unarmed African-American men killed by the police. Their deaths, among others, have sparked a national dialogue on modern racism and the fraught relationship between law enforcement and minority communities.

That relationship was viewed through the lens of hip-hop music at a panel discussion Feb. 20, “WOOP WOOP! That’s the Sound of da Police!” at the Southside Community Center in Ithaca. The panel, a mix of local hip-hop artists, educators and law enforcement officers, was moderated by Ben Ortiz, assistant curator of the Cornell Hip Hop Collection and member of the community center’s board of directors.

The panelists discussed their personal relationships with the music and with the police. Binghamton University professor Jennifer Stoever said that she grew up in Los Angeles, “where constant and violent policing was the norm.” Imani Hall, president of the Ground Up Crew at Ithaca College, said “I understand the fear of the police officer,” then told an anecdote about his father being pulled over, and turning on the overhead light in the car so the officer could see him.

The police officers on the panel expressed the conflict they felt between their jobs and their identities as people of color. “It’s a deep, deep feeling, listening to this [discussion] and being on the side of law enforcement,” said Ithaca Police Department officer Jack Bradley Nelson. “I understand a lot of [the anger toward police] – but just because I understand, doesn’t mean I agree with everything.”

After Nelson told the audience to warn their young male relatives to be careful, and advised that those dealing with police should “cooperate and do whatever is necessary … so that the situation doesn’t get any worse,” many of the other panelists questioned the idea of putting the responsibility on civilians. Sean Eversley Bradwell of the Ithaca College Center for the Study of Culture, Race and Ethnicity challenged the “politics of respectability” – the notion that discrimination would end if a minority group only behaved differently.

 The role hip-hop plays in the relationship between minority communities and the police also was discussed. Although all of the panelists had deep connections with the art form, they recognized its limitations. Local rapper Bravo Blane said that in contrast to artists like Biggie Smalls and Tupac Shakur, modern hip-hop is “more metaphorical” and harder to relate to.

“I don’t buy that hip-hop is necessarily a progressive force,” said Cornell graduate student Dexter Thomas, a producer, DJ and expert on Japanese hip-hop. A song can be meaningful, he suggested, but it can also simply be expressing strong emotions in reaction to discrimination. “I think a song dissing the cops is the easiest thing you can do,” he added.

Cornell Police officer Andrew Navarro, a former IPD officer, said that the relationship could be bettered by community policing.

“The thing that strikes me lyrically is the concept of fear – fear that turns to anger,” Navarro said, referring to the music played at the panel. “One of the best ways to reduce fear is to do what we’re doing tonight: engagement.”

Cornell graduate student Enongo Lumumba-Kasongo, aka rapper/producer Sammus, lamented the “overwhelming prevalence of male voices” in the songs played and in the discussion about police relations. “There are these stories of women being killed … What is my relationship with the police?” she asked.

Although it was ultimately agreed that police training in interpersonal skills was needed to help reduce tensions, the panel recognized that there were many problems facing these communities. “The police are only the most visible part of the equation,” Thomas said.

The panel discussion was presented by the Cornell Hip Hop Collection, the Southside Community Center and the Cornell Coalition of Pan African Scholars.

Sascha Hernández ’17 is a writer intern for the Cornell Chronicle.