iTunes Sells White Power Music

Apple has come under heat lately for allowing virulently anti-gay and anti-immigrant apps free reign on its iTunes network, something that is surprising because, as fellow blogger Prerna Lal points out, the company rejected a pro-single-payer healthcare app last year because it was "politically charged." Recently, Apple listened to the thousands of change.org petitioners who spoke out against the anti-gay, anti-choice app, and removed the offensive program.

But as blog Imagine2050 points out, Apple has another problem — the company has failed to take a stand against white power music. The largest online purveyor of digital tunes, it has become a platform of choice for white supremacists, neo-nazis, and skinheads looking to promote hate-filled music. If you are looking for a song with lyrics like “Have they got the white man on the run?/Multi-racial society is a mess/We ain’t ‘gonna take much more of this/What do need?/White power!” (and much, much worse) iTunes is the place to go. After all, other large music platforms like MySpace work with civil rights organizations to help weed out hate music for immediate removal.

The history of white nationalists using music as a tool to recruit youth has long been documented. White nationalist groups aim to infiltrate youth subcultures (such as the punk scene of the '70s and '80s) and target angry young people who are homeless, abused, come from broken homes, or are otherwise deemed susceptible. Music is one of their most useful tools.

Furthermore, there are organized movements explicitly based around indoctrinating children using hate music. Skinhead Bryant Cecchini’s "Project Schoolyard" program, which runs under the motto, "Remember, we don't just entertain racist kids, we create them," seeks to recruit young children into the white nationalist movement gradually through the distribution of music.

Apple understands its power as a large disseminator of music. In fact, it has banned homophobic music from its iTunes store previously. Therefore, it is perplexing that the company allows itself to operate as a recruiting station for a network of racists. Tell Apple that just as it removed homophobic music in the past, it needs to work with civil rights groups to identify and remove all white power music from iTunes.

Photo Credit: Robert Thivierge

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