Silence Is Golden

Rapper and former member of the Atlanta-based group Migos lost his life in a shooting incident in Houston. He was 28 years old. Takeoff, along with the Migos, influenced a large portion of a lot of what today’s rap sounds like.

But this post is not about that. Unfortunately, senseless violence leads to various opinions rooted in some form of victim blaming. There have been mentions of the situation Takeoff and Quavo were in—gambling at an outing. There, of course, has been blaming on hip hop and rap music in general, stating how violent lyrics somehow begets violent behavior. Speculation runs rampant in such a bad way with this (and several topics, to be honest) that the discourse can overshadow the condolences, if we’re not careful—and we are hardly ever careful in discourse.

I know, the grumbling “hot take” type opinions are often highlighted but can be the minority opinion in a lot of cases. One squeaky wheel does not mean an entire vehicle is busted. With that said, there does seem to be a constantly growing outcry of shortsighted opinion that rushes past feelings in the name of the blame game. And it’s that shortsightedness in opinion where a timeless adage needs to replace the haste to speak.

Silence is golden.

Not even 24 hours passed before unfounded speculation and harmful discourse with misplaced blame began to grow and be shared. Sure, most people that I saw on social media were simply saddened and sending condolences and grieving the loss of a young life. But those squeaky wheels were so loud so quickly.

Before we even begin to think about the causes for senseless violence, nothing take precedence of acknowledging that the violence is senseless without assuming it’s the victim’s fault

Rappers seem to be losing their lives at a higher rate than ever before. That matters more than the causes why, especially when gun violence is at the root. Senseless violence–no matter the environment, situation, problem or scalation to a problem—is still senseless. Adding one’s speculative opinion on why “the victim shouldn’t have been there does nothing to help the conversation towards ending said violence.

So, if there is another violent act—and unfortunately, these kinds of acts happen more frequently here in the United States—the best response to expressing condolences for lives lost.

Rest in peace Takeoff.