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Ralph Zuranski: Hi. This is Ralph Zuranski and I am on the phone with Jeff Wright. He is the president of Urban Ministries.
How are you doing today, Jeff?
Jeff Wright: I’m doing very well, thank you.
Ralph Zuranski: Would you be able to tell me a little bit about your company Urban Ministries Inc.?
Jeff Wright: Sure. Urban Ministries Inc. was founded by Dr. Melvin Banks in 1970. He had attended Moody Bible Institute, which is how he originally got to the Chicago area, and later he went to Wheaton College and graduated. He was actually one of the first African Americans to finish both those institutions.
Jeff Wright: While working for another Christian publishing company he got the idea that some specific, unique media targeting African American teens needed to be introduced. So in 1970 in the basement of his home he launched a magazine called InTeen and Urban Ministries Inc. was born.
Jeff Wright: that by the time the full line was complete a church could use the Urban Ministries curriculum as their Christian education or Sunday school curriculum. The product began to be introduced in many, many churches, primarily African American churches around the country.
Jeff Wright: The company went on in the 1980s to develop a Vacation Bible School course to re-introduce the use of video products. I’m talking dramatic stories in videos in Christian education and the African American church. It was upon seeing one of those videos in the mid-80s that I learned of the company.
Jeff Wright: The Guardian Line, which is the newest product line from Urban Ministries, then continues a tradition of the use of innovative media products to reach audiences with the message of the Gospel of Jesus Christ.
Jeff Wright: By teaming up with Michael Davis who was already in the comic world and bringing the many years of church ministry and Christian education product resources developed by Urban Ministries we believe that we are going to do an incredible thing to extend the Gospel into even newer audiences.
Ralph Zuranski: I was talking to you earlier and I was very impressed with your concept of how the black culture basically needs the impact on youth of all ages worldwide. Can you tell me a little bit about that?
Jeff Wright: Sure. I think that it’s fair to say today that global youth culture is rooted in urban culture. When we think about the hip hop movement, the style of dress, rap music, all of these youth cultural icons have come out and are driving the culture globally. It almost doesn’t matter what nation you go to today, whether it’s Japan or Russia or even in Latin America. Young people all look pretty urban and hip hop.
Jeff Wright: One of the reasons for that of course is that we have six giant global media companies that are propagating these cultural icons through their music and video shows and through the sale, of course, and distribution of rap and hip hop music. But most of this originates, or has originated, out of the African American community.
Jeff Wright: Now the thing that is startling, of course, is that there is just not enough African American teenagers in America to sustain that kind of a global or even national business in and of themselves and so we find that upwards of 80% of rap and hip hop music is bought by suburban white teens.
Jeff Wright: The same is true when you get out of the U.S. Many people who don’t look like African Americans are consuming and thriving and pushing forward hip hop culture.
Ralph Zuranski: Isn’t there a problem with the message that the hip hop culture is perpetuating? Isn’t it sort of life-destroying, calling women “hoes” and killing the police and just the images that are created from that particular genre?
Jeff Wright: Like so many things, something that started off good gets turned bad. In the beginning in the origins of rap and hip hop, there were political messages.
Jeff Wright: There were messages of social justice and economic justice and even the earliest rap; most people will go back to Public Enemy and Chuck D and these groups. But way before those rappers and hip hop artists, spoken word, which is a part of African historical oral tradition, had messages of social redemption.
Jeff Wright: I think of artists such as Gill Scott-Heron or even before him, the Last Poets, who did use a fair amount of what might be considered profanity in their work, were delivering socially positive messages. In fact, one acronym used for rap in the early days was Rhythm And Poetry, RAP.