NBA great, Charles Barkley sat down for an interview with Campbell Brown on CNN October 27, 2008 to talk politics and whether racism will once again divide us. Charles pointed out that race will be a factor in the November 4th elections. As he puts it, people will not tell pollsters that they will vote based on race. He further stated that some white people will vote for Obama on personal economic issues in the polling booth, totally disregarding race but they will not confess this to their friends.

Barkley said that racist people (black and white) are idiots. He also said that black people have to stop killing each other and get educated. He talked about the deteriorating public school system as the main culprit in the war against youth crime in our inner cities. Barkley announced his intention to run for Governor of Alabama in 2014 and that his main focus will be on education. He said that the lack of education leads people to commit crime.

As if to prove Charles Barkley right, today it was reported that an even greater tragedy has been added to Jennifer Hudson's new reality - the shooting death of her nephew who it seems was the only eyewitness to the killing of her mother and brother.

Rappers like NAS, Common and Jair Dynast have used rap music lyrics to highlight injustices in our society. Obama a fan of rap music himself said today, take responsibility as citizens more seriously. To this, I would add education through music and popular culture by helping to spread hope to fans and lovers of hip hop music.