Children’s Advocate Chides Musicians for Vulgar Lyrics

Children’s Advocate, Mary Clarke, has appealed to musicians to send positive messages through their music, noting that the “explicit and vulgar” lyrics in some songs were negatively impacting the youth.
“I am concerned about some of the popular lyrics of today sending wrong messages to children; messages of violence using the gun, messages of early sexual initiation, messages of illicit relationships, messages that can only corrupt the minds of the young”, she stated, as she addressed the launch of the Nyammins and Jammins food festival in Montego Bay yesterday (Sept. 21).
Speaking against the background of a United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) report entitled: ‘Voices of the children in Latin America and the Caribbean’, which showed that young people in the region looked to singers, musicians and sports idols for guidance, Mrs. Clarke questioned, “what are we teaching our young people with vulgar and explicit lyrics?”
“I am moved, and I am angry with some of the lyrics that are going out to our young persons today,” she added.
“Let us follow our national hero Marcus Mosiah Garvey, his messages were messages of love, upliftment and empowerment”, the Children’s Advocate said, noting that reggae icon Bob Marley also “taught us one love”.
The media, Mrs. Clarke said, also had a responsibility in the process. “That which you play, that which you say, that which you report on, will influence the minds of the young”, she stated.