Can Performing Artists and Athletes Have More Influence in Stopping Urban Viol

Song lyrics: Do people really listen? Composers  create lyrics that effect the thoughts, feelings and actions of the people who listen. Can today's performing artists create music and lyrics that counteract today's climate of racial hate and violence? Can they produce songs that encourage people to love?  Can our athletes, admired as heroes across lines of races, culture and ethnicity, have a greater impact by investing in the development of the communities from whence they came?  Should all American children be required to visit cultural institutions such as the ,DuSable Museum of African American History, in order to understand the historical roots of fear and hatred, to enable them to choose to create a different society, based on higher moral principles of mutual respect, fairness, justice, and equality? Can our artists reflect in their songs a new movement toward a loving, compassionate society?