As a mentor to many African American students at Northern Illinois University, I would like to take this time to publicly mentor my brother Patrick Battle. Patrick is a young man who has plans to someday be a journalist. He is also the young man who wrote the article “Apollo show makes mockery of hip-hop.”

First of all, it is good to see that you acknowledge that leaving the event was an error. It is good to see you apologize to performers for not viewing their acts while purporting to review the event as a journalist. You start your second paragraph with the line “from what I’m told;” which indicates you didn’t bear witness to the high points of the show. But, Brother Patrick, your biggest mistake may have come in offering a review in spite of not seeing the show.

Now, I have to tell you that I’m a pastor and a father and a grandfather, so I am not even trying to be in tune with what young people today see as entertainment. It pains my ears to hear some of today’s lyrics or to see some of the attire that leaves little to the imagination.

I’m sure that in all of their years of reviewing movies, Siskel and Ebert came across a few movies that may have started off bad, slow, offensive, ignorant, profane, etc. But without viewing the entire show their reviews would be meaningless. You have not only cheated yourself by leaving but you have cheated the readers you serve.

Your review should have ended after the first two paragraphs. That would have been fair. What you went on to do with the rest of your review is vent some deeper personal issues. As a mentor I would say you have some maturing to do. There are more productive ways to deal with your displeasure and embarrassment.

You also spoke of loving your heritage and hip-hop as if the show had desecrated both. I too love my heritage (I may be lukewarm on hip-hop). Having said that, I was proud of the conduct, talent level and diversity of the production. Don’t get me wrong, I am a 45 year-old minister with other things I would rather like to see young people doing on a Wednesday night (Bible study, for instance). But this was one of the more positive events I’ve seen on campus.

It was an honor to work with the BMI brothers. They displayed good presence and poise with their suits and ties. The worked hard to make the event a success. I am sorry Brother Patrick was offended so much so that he left the show. I would encourage him to work through some of those issues. You can talk to me anytime. Oh yeah, you talked about going to church, I can help you with that, too.

God Bless,
Jerry Wright
Director, Student Support Services

Editor’s Note: “Apollo show makes mockery of hip-hop” was actually an opinion column, not a review at all. Patrick Battle was identified as a columnist at the top of the piece and did not purport to have been offering a review of the event at any point in his column.

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