The American culture is one that is shaped by fear. It controls intolerance, elections, legislature and consumption. This fear that is such a key element of American society is illogical. These fears often stem from ignorance and paranoia, while logical fears are overlooked. Read more...

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Youth Radio’s Shaw Killip discusses athletes and guns on an episode of his show “Necessary Roughness.”

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Still debating whether or not to get a Blackberry?

Well, you might want to consider the following: Not only is the Blackberry still one of the leading smart phones, it’s also bullet proof.

An Ohio woman found that out when her boyfriend’s handgun when off and shot her in the leg. Luckily for her, she had her Blackberry in her pocket and it stopped the bullet. The boyfriend is now facing felony charges.

(via Switched) 

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There are lots rappers that we can listen to on the radio in this generation. Let’s be real though, some artists are very ignorant. Gucci Mane, Oj Da Juice Man, Plies, Rick Ross, Lil’ Wayne, and many others can be put in this category. What makes a rapper ignorant is the stuff they say that is just not acceptable. Some of the things that they rap about are getting money illegally, having different females every night, killing people, and a lot of negative stuff that shouldn’t be promoted and showed to young people. Don’t get me wrong, most artists have good rhyming patterns, good flow, and good songs, but most show crime as a positive thing. Rappers claim to rap about there life style and how they make money, but hearing the same thing can get boring. There are rappers who never lived the life they claim to have lived in their lyrics. The rapper Rick Ross rap about drug trafficking and killing people, but he has never lived this life. He was a security guard in a prison; this is far from being a drug dealer.  Read more...

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WASHINGTON D.C./NEW MEXICO-- I must admit, when I first stepped onto Howard University’s campus I was unsure of what to expect. I was in a huge, brand new city – one so different from my home in New Mexico. Would the adjustment be too much to handle? Would I get along with my classmates? Would I find people who cared about the same social issues as I did?

As part of KUNM’s Youth Radio Collective, I learned to look around the community I lived in to find problems young people were facing. Howard University, a Historically Black University (HBCU) in Washington, DC, has had a long and difficult history with the community that surrounds it. I worried that I would no longer have a connection to the area in which I lived.

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Today is Silence the Violence Day, a day for people to reflect on different ways to prevent violence in their surrounding areas. As genius as it is, the “Silence the Violence” movement I’ve seen grow in Oakland, CA is somewhat a joke.

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By: Erin Bilir

At 12:08 on the day of the Columbine shooting, I was sitting in a playground sandbox playing with my Barbie dolls, not at all aware that five minutes away shooters Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold were committing suicide.
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The phrases I constantly heard this weekend were “murder” murder-suicide” “shooting” “mass-murder”. All I could think was that's maniacal! Read more...

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By Raquel Walker, Youth Radio Atlanta

(Aired on WABE FM on December 20, 2008)

Before I was born, my father was murdered by a person with a gun. After my father died, my mother never wanted to replace him. Fifteen years later, my mother was the victim of an accidental gun shooting. Both these incidents left me and my mother forever scarred. Having two loved ones become victims of gun violence leaves me with nothing but bad feelings about guns.
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