I took a step back yesterday in an attempt to see the trees in the forest of this latest cacophony of racial conflict. What I see is troublesome because the problem is not only about race, but also about the broader balkanization of America. The reason? I see more and more people ‘playing to their base’ in pursuit of money and cultural power. 

Numerous hip-hop and urban music artists have ‘sold out’ their black culture and the important legacy of early rap music to pander to the tastes of a predominately …