UK Hip Hop artists embark on a ‘Guns Amnesty’ tour as 29% of children aged 11-16 admit to carrying a weapon London, UK: Award-winning UK Hip Hop pioneers, GreenJade, joined forces with urban youth charity XLP to embark on a Londonwide tour of schools from 26th June, educating children about the dangers of carrying knives and firearms. Research has revealed that 29% of children aged 11-16 admit to carrying a weapon. XLP has partnered with hip hop quartet GreenJade to create the ‘Gunz Down’ tour – a series of edu-tainment performances aiming to combat the violent social climate on the streets of Britain. The tour has received support from police and Members of Parliament, including Bridget Prentice, MP. The show incorporates music, drama and film to hammer home the importance of making positive decisions that could save a life and prevent Britain’s youth from descending into ‘American-style’ gun culture. The aim is to get people to stop and think, instead of just reacting, because within that split second a life can be saved. To support the Gunz Down tour, GreenJade also released their first mainstream single "Gunz Down" on Monday 19th June. The CD includes the stunning animated video and documentary of the Gunz Down tour. Proceeds from the sale of the single will go to XLP and Mothers Against Guns. Steve Bullock, Mayor of Lewisham, states: "XLP has a great track record and I know the ‘Gunz Down’ initiative will change lives for the better" - a sentiment shared by Bridget Prentice, MP, who comments: "Gunz Down is a terrific, powerful way to show young people why guns are a no-no." Wizdom, spokesman for GreenJade, states: "the Gunz Down tour was created to target 11-14 year olds, the ages when children are highly susceptible to negative influence. By the time they are 15,many youth are already carrying weapons.We, as hip hop artists, have a duty to educate and speak to them through a medium they will listen to." The first tour week commenced on 26/06/06 with the second week scheduled for 09/10/06, and further tours in January and March 07. The tour will also be hitting the Caribbean in late October. In 2003, Her Majesty the Queen accepted a recommendation from the Home Secretary that XLP should receive the Queen’s Golden Jubilee Award for voluntary service by groups in the community. "We aim to affect the minds of 11-14 year olds to encourage them to make courageous life choices concerning crime and violence, choices that will enable them to avoid becoming 18 year old prisoners." How do you communicate with these kids,many of whom are victims themselves? Through their music, through drama, through film, and by people they can relate to and aspire to be like. XLP and GreenJade: relate to these kids and provide inspirational role models The aim of the program is to achieve real transformation of hearts and minds concerning issues of violence, crime and weapons. Our hope is that by combining exposure of the dark reality of making bad choices, we can inform the youth and young people that there are good life choices and that it’s worth being courageous. We intend to empower young people to choose and give them access to materials that will help them and inspire them to assess their potential actions. Get them to stop and think before they act. Wrong choices lead to more wrong choices which will eventually lead you to be defined by those choices. Choose violence and murder and you will be defined as a violent murderer. Right choices allow you a freedom to choose your path through life, to explore opportunities and relationships, to aspire to be like your heroes. Your choices are crucial to understanding who you are. Our aim is to "cultivate another choice." "Patrick and his team have always managed to get the right balance between promoting the Christian faith and what is acceptable in the world today." - Visit www.GunzDown.com or www.xlp.org.uk |
