18 year-old aspiring rapper Cameron D'Ambrosio, aka "Cammy Dee" is being held without bail on a felony charge of Communicating a Terrorist Threat. The charge could keep him in the slammer for the next 20 years.According to Joe Solomon, local Chief of Police in the Boston suburb of Methuen, “He posted a threat in the form of rap where he mentioned the White House, the Boston Marathon bombing, and said ‘everybody you will see what I am going to do, kill people.”
What the teen actually said was, "Ya’ll want me to [expletive] kill somebody?” and “[expletive] a Boston bombing wait till you see the [expletive] I do. I’m a be famous rapping, and beat every murder charge that comes across me!" according to he Boston Globe
Asking a question is the opposite of making a statement. He never said he was going to kill people. He asked if "y'all" wanted him to, he didn't say he would or planned to. He then warns "wait tll you see" what he is going to do, and suggests he is going to make an impression bigger than the Boston bombing, but in the very next sentence tell us he is going to "be famous rapping" along with beating some murder charges, like any rapper with so-called street-cred must do.
Art and lyrics can often be interpreted a number of ways, but rather than interpreting these lyrics as a threat of terrorism, they could actually be interpreted as just the opposite. "F*** a Boston bombing" sounds like a rejection of that sort of violence, and that he prefers to make his impression by being a famous rapper, even if he has to beat a few false charges of murder along the way.
However one chooses to interpret it though, it hardly seems reasonable to see these lyrics as anything more than teenage angst, metaphor, and more importantly, Constitutionally protected free speech. After all, the Chief of police even tells us himself...
“I do want to make clear he did not make a specific threat against the school or any particular individuals..."
...but then goes on to state his own opinion as fact, that the teen threatened "to kill a bunch of people" when he did not actually do so. Granted, it could be interpreted that way perhaps. Then again, this might be a little more direct...
How I Could Just Kill A Man - Cypress Hill
Okay, so Cammy Dee mentions the White House, and the Boston Bombing. He also says "F--- Obama and F--- the government," according to reports. The freedom of speech is there, if for no other reason, but to protect our right as citizens to express dissatisfaction with the government if they come to be servants of opression and tyranny, and to keep government acting honestly in the interest of the people who they are meant to represent.
"In those wretched countries where a man cannot call his tongue his own, he can scarce call anything his own. Whoever would overthrow the liberty of a nation must begin by subduing the freeness of speech... Without Freedom of Thought there can be no such Thing as Wisdom; and no such Thing as Public Liberty, without Freedom of Speech." -Benjamin Franklin
Besides, it's hardly as if Cammy Dee is the first rapper to bash the government or a President. Check out this jam, also on YouTube:
Bin Laden Didn't Blow Up The Projects - Immortal Technique (feat. Mos Def)
Nevertheless, the mainstream media have jumped on this case to demonize the teen rapper for his free expression. One might expect that the press, even more than any group in America, would be keen to defend the freedom of speech. After all, this liberty is the very basis of their existence, in theory anyway. Corporate news sources and their subsidiaries have been quick to demonize this young man over his rap metaphors, while spinning propaganda to make freedom appear to be the work of villains.
Corporate media and propagandists have an arsenal of manipulation techniques to mold the thoughts of their viewers. The tricks are usually so subtle that the average person doesn't even notice, after all, that really is the point when it comes to brainwashing. Have a look at this one minor example.
The media printed: "(Expletive) a boston bominb wait till u see the (expletive) I do, I’ma be famous"
The actual line is: "(Expletive) a boston bominb wait till u see the (expletive) I do, I’ma be famous rapping"
One simple word changes the entire meaning of what you read in a headline. Another example of leaving things out to make you think a certain way, is when the media reported that many of the pictures Cammy Dee posted on Facebook were so terrible that they couldn't show them on TV. They did describe the pictures though, reporting that they included hings like a "wanted dead or alive" poster of himself, obscenity, and satanic imagery.
Well, we are not afraid to show those pictures here. After all, this is why people choose underground media sources like this one. We the underfunded independent media broadcasting from basements, public libraries, and Barnes & Noble cafes are not afraid of controversy. We will go out on a limb here now, and show you this disturbing imagery.
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| "Outlaw" |
Another media source reported that the teen's Facebook page showed he has "unusual interest in gangs, violence and a criminal lifestyle."
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| "Satan Rulez" |
Unusual? Maybe someone missed the last quarter-century or they just forgot that before Ice-T was a TV detective, he was the Original Gangster of free speech, that DMX got the white bitches sayin's it a black thang, and that Wu-Tang Clan Ain't Nuthin' Ta F Wit'. White kids from the suburbs have been emulating rap culture since Ice Cube was Jackin' For Beats and Cypress Hill effed up his good day.
It could be said that perhaps people should not be emulating rap-music culture. Some might argue that it has been morally destructive to the fabric of our society. But it is never popular ideas that need to be protected, and rap music has been there to remind us of that. Even if it serves no other purpose than to offend, it still cries out "we are free to say what we please."
Have we come to the point where morality can be put on trial? Let's not forget here too, that ideas like speaking against the King were once considered a crime, that it was once immoral for a black and whites to have physical relations, and that even elevator Jazz was once considered to be the devil's music.
It's also possible that this young guy might have been having a problem, and used his rap lyrics as a veiled cry for help, or at least an expression of a seething anger festering inside of him. It certainly appears as if he has reason to be angry, very angry. There are a lot of things going wrong in our society, a lot of things that are wrong with our government too. People should be angry. Angry at things like seeing a teenager facing more time in prison than he has spent on this Earth, for the "crime" of expressing himself. Rather than sending him to face a life-ruining felony, perhaps justice and morality would have been better served if a police officer put the young man in contact with a mental health counselor, rather than putting him through an ordeal like this. An ordeal that is sure to have a permanent impact on his life, and which is sure to have a strong influence in defining the old man this young man turns out to be.
This is also a defining point for America, for our society, for the liberty prescribed by the Founding Fathers of this nation. Or perhaps another defining point, would more accurately describe it, as the assaults against our Constitution seem relentless now, particularly against free speech.
Check out this article on internet censorship:
Book Burning In the Digital Age... and so it begins
And learn about a man who risked 21 years in prison to report the news:
Freedom of Speech Now A Felony In America
To show your support for Cameron D'Ambrosio visit:
Center for Rights
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