SHORT TAKES : Rap Group Video Draws Protest
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VIRGINIA BEACH, Va. — The Rap group Public Enemy released a video with actual footage of the violence at last year’s Greekfest riots just in time for this year’s Laborfest. And city officials are not happy about it.
The video version of the song “Brothers Gonna’ Work It Out” shown on MTV last week “has grossly misrepresented what Virginia Beach is trying to do relative to Laborfest,” city spokeswoman Pam Lingle said Tuesday.
“In fact, it is a disservice to the many black people who are working so hard to make Laborfest 1990 an enjoyable experience,” she said. The festival is planned for Labor Day weekend.
The video showed staged scenes of actors portraying “redneck” state troopers and “insensitive” bureaucrats with footage of police kicking and clubbing blacks. It does not show the rioting and looting by young blacks that preceded the police action, city officials said.
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