Writing for the Washington Post‘s “The Root” blog, Howard University Professor Keith Harrison takes on President Obama, rapper Jay-Z and guns:

I thought it odd … that as the president and his family made their way to his public swearing-in on Jan. 21 that not far behind the Obamas were singer Beyonce and her husband Jay-Z, the former Brooklyn drug dealer-turned­successful, legitimate businessman.

… It is not just that the president stood [at the Inauguration] with an artist who has glorified the use of handguns. Their pairing at such an historic event also desensitizes our young people to how life really works: they need to know that if you live in a world that gets “bloody” and “messy” you are not likely to end up hanging out with the president of the United States.

Full article here.