http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gMgccsq1IyM
Inspired by whats been going down with the Oscar Grant trial, we flipped the last speech from Dr Martin Luther King..’I’ve been to the Mountain Top’ and mashed it up with BOB‘s ‘Nothing on You’ .. We juxtaposed it with footage from the early Oscar Grant rallies from Jan 2009 and Black Panthers rallies from 1968 held in the here in Oakland.. The dancers depicted in the video are from Detroit.. we met them during Allied Media Conference… Enjoy
No Independence Day! In Unity & Struggle, Till We Are All Free
by DJ Kuttin’ Kandi
This is for….
Oscar Grant, Sean Bell, Ousmane Zongo, Amadou Diallo, Abner Louima,
Rodney King, the San Jose Custodio family, Fong Lee, Kuanchung Kao,
Anthony Baez, Joe Joshua….
The people who I mentioned above are only just a few of the thousands who have been beaten, tortured, harassed, murdered or all of the above by police officers in this country. There are countless many others of whom I have failed to mention, for sadly, I do not know them. They are graffiti artists who run the tracks and jump yards from the cops who beat them till their blue, women who are groped and raped by cops when they are pulled over, women behind prisoner walls who sleep unsafely in fear that they will be sexually abused by a guard, LGBTQ people who are constantly targeted, harassed and wrongfully arrested daily by hundreds of homophobic Officer Richard Fiorito’s in this country. They are our youth, and they are our people of color who are racially profiled every day. They all have names and they all have faces. They are family, they have homes, and they are part of our communities. And they have been stripped of their lives, their freedom, their liberty and their rights.
Sadly, all this mistreatment and killings have exposed not only the injustices and oppression in which we live in, but they have exposed the racist White Supremacy that embodies this country. They are in our everyday lives, embedded in the very systems that are supposed to protect and serve us, the people. They exist amongst our streets, in our schools, near our homes, infiltrating our parties, roaming in their cars, checking out our street corners, just waiting to look for any person of color to mess up or provoking us to retaliate.
As we wait for today’s closing arguments, deliberations and a verdict on the trial of what many of us are calling the Execution of Oscar Grant, I am remembering Sean Bell. I am remembering May 2008, sitting down reading a news article of hundreds of people in New York City protesting after all three officers were acquitted on all counts of charges of manslaughter, reckless endangerment and assault on the shooting and killing of Sean Bell. I remembered how the tears rolled down my face. I remembered feeling hopeless and helpless, and wishing I was back home in New York City. There I was, still a newbie San Diegan, still learning about the west coast life, 3000 miles away from New York City working at UC San Diego in a white, upper-class town called La Jolla, Ca. My lips couldn’t move but inside my head was screaming “Doesn’t anyone know what had just happened?” They had just let three police officers walk away free from murdering a young man with a 51 bullets-shooting!! Does not anyone care?
Of course there were many people that did care, many of whom were out there rallying, protesting, crying and hoping for change. But then there were also some that didn’t care. Then there were some that didn’t even know. Just as they didn’t know about Amadou Diallo who was shot and killed, with a total of 41 rounds by 4 police officers or they never heard about how Abner Louima was assaulted, brutalized and forcibly sodomized by New York police officers with a the handle of a bathroom plunger in 1997. Or they never learned about Fred Hampton, of the Black Panther Party, who was killed as he was asleep in bed by the Chicago Police department. Or they forgot about little 13-year old Timothy L. Wilson from Kansas City who was shot dead after a brief chase for driving his friend’s pick-up truck. LaTanya Haggerty in Chicago, Mario Paz in California, Aquan Salmon in Connecticut, Stanton Crew in New Jersey, Donta Dawson in Philadelphia, Pedro Oregon from Texas – all wrongfully shot and/or killed by police officers, some and/or maybe all of whose stories may not be known to most of us.
The mainstream media is also an institutionalized racist system much like the police system and the prison industry complex, and is often in cahoots with other fascists like the government; is not going to cover all of these police brutality stories in the truest details and form. The mass media play an important role in politics and policymaking, while journalists are key players in ongoing struggles of numerous socials groups to specify problems and form how we define those problems.
In the book The Politics of Force: Media and the Construction of Police Brutality, author Regina G. Lawrence reveals how the media, does not offer additional perspectives of particularly three cases of those who had been killed by police officers. She reports, “The news offered socially constructed public definitions of these vents, which drew upon official and, sometimes, nonofficial voices. With different degrees of success, police attempted to control those definitions by providing reporters with narratives that defended their use of physical force.” (Lawrence 3). She also brings to light how there be different realities for different people and “how the news simultaneously confers and denies power to different groups’ perspectives on reality.” This also raises the question which she asked, “What kind of ‘realities’ are represented in news coverage of policy issues? And whose realities are they?” (Lawrence 5).
In the preface of her book, Lawrence also makes known that the general public is not aware of the institutionalized racism that exists with the police department. She states, “It is tough to get the general public thinking about police brutality as a serious public problem. It is tougher still to persuade the public that the roots of that alleged problem lie not in the occasional bad behavior or poor judgment of individual police officers but in entire institutionalized systems of police training, management, and culture; in a criminal-justice system that discourages prosecutors from pursuing police misconduct vigorously; in a political system that responds more readily to police than to the residents of inner-city and minority communities; or in a racist political culture that fears crime and values tough policing more than it values due process for all its citizens. “ (Lawrence XII).
My question is, if the media plays a major role in being the “official dominance” and if “journalists rely heavily on institutionally position officials for the raw materials of news” as Lawrence exposes; then what do we do to change what the general public thinks is “reality”, especially if the “reality” and problems of those who are marginalized are ignored by those institutionally position officials?
As I am looking to find ways to answer that question, I am also struck with sadness because the news are depicting activists as if we are wanting to cause riots in the streets. Speaking from my own perspective as an activist and community organizer, I choose not to engage in violent measures when justice is not served for the people. However, I believe self-defense is a right, and I will exercise that right, as I am sure others will too.
Hip-Hop Activist and journalist Davey D, recently been taking us back to footages at previous Oscar Grant rallies, showing us Mandingo Hayes who was accused of being a police informant and a former pimp and in the clips. Hayes was one of the key people who were influencing folks to leave the rally and head to the BART Headquarters, and shut down the station, while it was far from CAPE (Coalition Against Police Executions) organizers agenda. Also, more recently Quebec police admitted going undercover at the Montebello protests disguising themselves as demonstrators. And just now, within the hour, Davey D exposes a new LRAD weapon and questions if the Oakland police could possibly be itching to use it for expected riots.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ooWr-RhovPg
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TbLU9tdDwxo
So, if media are making activists appear to be intolerable, vicious people then how can we as activists gain the trust of the general public to be able to educate the “reality” that needs to be told?
Also, what the news fails to show and highlight to the general public are the many different faces that are at the Oscar Grant protests. Various faces, people of color are supporting, rallying, voicing, sharing and being allies to one another. This is happening because there is an understanding of the solidarity needed. That this is bigger than just the indictment of Officer Mehserle… that this is about fighting institutionalized racism and White Supremacy. All of us, people of color including white people are affected by White Supremacy.
The killings of people of color by police officers are a symbolic representation of what is happening across this country and around the world. They are connected to what’s happening in Arizona and Texas. They are connected to what happened in New Orleans, to the BP Oil Spill and to what are happening in Haiti now (Check Davey D’s site for Immortal Technique’s latest piece on his trip to Haiti) .
Last week, a friend posted on Facebook an article on how 4 Filipino nurses are claiming the Bon Secours Health System fired them for speaking Tagalog at work. They had recently filed a discrimination complaint before the US Equal Empoyment Opportunity Commission. The hospital policy states; that since English is the primary language of their customers it must be the exclusive language spoken and written by all employees while on duty in the emergency department. But none of the nurses recall speaking in Tagalog in front or while providing patient care in the Emergency Department and that they only spoke their native language during breaks at their Nurses Station.
Upon reading this article, I was immediately upset. I was upset for the obvious reasons, at least to me, that people could get fired for speaking their own language. Quite honestly, in my opinion, I’m saddened that such a hospital policy should even exist. Have we forgotten that we live in a country that according to the last 2008 census, 55.8 million of the US population speaks a variety of foreign languages? Perhaps, instead of making English a primary language, we should be learning to speak various languages? Aside from knowing that the English language has become the primary language pretty much all over the world due to imperialism and colonialism, this policy is another way to “whiten-out” people of color, forcing people to assimilate into this country and it’s elitist standards. While I value learning and educating ourselves to speak the white man’s language, while I understand that there can be a majority of people that speak English in an office or work setting, I still find it insulting that a policy preventing people to speak their own native language in their workplace highly racist.
Not only was I able to link these arrests as a connection to racism, I immediately linked this to what’s going on in Arizona and the SB1070 Bill, along with Texas’s Board of Education’s conservative winning vote of 9-5 back in early May to change Texas’s history curriculum to amend the teaching of the civil rights movement, slavery and America’s relationship with United Nations. I find it abominable that such a thing can even happen, and I am boggled as to how come more people aren’t enraged about how this came to pass. And if people are enraged, the news aren’t covering it, nor are they covering the thousands that caravanned to Arizona from San Diego to LA and all over to protest the SB1070-legalizing-racial-profiling Bill. But bringing it back to the subject at hand, the arrests of the 4 Filipino nurses for speaking their native language are strongly connected to how Arizona is wiping out Ethnic Studies and firing teachers who have “accents”.
There is a trickle down effect happening in this country, our world is globally dying, the earth is speaking to us to not just clean-up oil spills… there’s earthquakes, levee’s breaking, floods happening and storms coming. There is a calling… and it’s telling us that they are coming for all of us. While we continue to embrace and value our differences, and while we must continue to recognize the need for each community to express their individual needs, issues and concerns. We also need to understand that we are all struggling. And that these aren’t specifically just Black issues, or just Brown issues, these are all of our issues. And we must resist them together. More than ever, there is a need for us to recognize how these issues are all connected. And how we need to continue to be there for one another, we need to continue to stand up together, rise up together… And again, I say continue, because I know there are so many of you already doing so.
As an organizer myself, I have an understanding that we all have different political ideologies. I understand that we are all not going to agree. I know, everyone has different ways of organizing. For me, personally, I consider myself a Hip-Hop Activist, so I always find ways to utilize Hip-Hop to be that vehicle to bring voice for our people. But even 2009’s Green Party Vice-Presidential Candidate Rosa Clemente has voiced expressed having to call for a Hip-Hop radical front to separate it from other claimed Hip-Hop political agendas. This means, we may have to do some calling out on folks if we need to… and rightfully so, we should. We don’t need anyone in the movement with hidden agendas. But overall, we’re going to need to continue to be allies. And if we don’t know how to we’re going to need to learn how to be allies to each other. At the Social Justice Summer Institute at UCSD, I was given this great read on how to be an ally Aspiring Social Justice Ally Identity Development: a Conceptual Model (Edwards, K.E.) (2006) NASPA Journal Vol. 43. No. 4 Women’s Center (look it up in google scholar).
Either way, we’re going to need to continue to – in the words of Godfather of Hip-Hop Afrika Bambaataa’s words – “Organize, Organize, Organize!”
We have a lot of work ahead of us.
Many activists around the world have been working tirelessly fighting all of these injustices for years on. So many people who never wanted to be activists, who never thought they would even be one finding themselves turning into activists. Realizing they have no choice but to resist and fight back against a system that wants to keep them silent, they become activists without even putting the label on themselves. This is the reality in which many are living in…. And the reality is, at the rate of the way this world is going; this will be the reality for all of us.
And it might come down to things we haven’t even begun to imagine. It might have to come down to putting everything we have at risk in order to truly live free. We may have to rethink the ways in which we are living and the ways in which we are even trying to educate ourselves. Many of us have families, and need to come home to them. But some of us have certain privileges, in where we’re able to put ourselves out on the front lines. And although, I too, have family, a partner who loves me and would like to see me come home; I am one of those people who can, and more than likely at the end of the day, if it means to… I will be right on the front lines. And if the revolution goes down like that where I need to defend myself, then yes, by any means necessary, I will exercise my right of the 2nd amendment.
But for years many have been trying prevent this from happening… trying to prevent it having to come down to that…
But the truth is many of us are distracted. I admit, I too, get distracted. Not necessarily with the “dumbening effect” (a popular word my husband coined for television’s reality tv shows) of reality tv, but with the fact that it’s just way too stressful to even just live. We got bills to pay, we have to work, we have to go to school and we got health. There’s so much to take care of that it almost seems like we can’t ever make it to a meeting to organize or to educate. This economy is taking a toll on all of us, and it’s wearing us down to the point where sometimes we don’t have energy, or we’re too sick to show up to a planning meeting. I know I was almost about 8 months off of organizing from going through deep depression. I had to take care of me before I went back in and I’m still not doing nearly as much as I can be doing. And if it’s not that, some of us are getting PTSD from the stress to organize, the arguments, the divides… It’s just too much to bear. While many of us are dealing with all of the above, there are also many of us that rather be distracted with fake entertainment.
But the truth is, we can’t spend all day long, being tuned into questions if Chris Brown was genuinely crying or not… At some point, we have to turn off BET, MTV, Glenn Beck, Fox News, stop going on our tourist vacations and we are going to have to turn our heads, wake up, and realize the realities of the world. At some point, we are all going to have to contribute, organize… At some point, something has got to give. At some point, we’re going to have to start listening, stop the divides and come together….
During this 4th of July weekend are we thinking of fireworks and BBQ or making sure killer cop Johannes Mehersele goes to jail for murdering Oscar Grant?
It’s ironic, that as we wait for the verdict of Johannes Mehserle, the officer who executed Oscar Grant, we are a few days shy of it being Independence Day.
I can count how many facebook status’s I read of people getting ready for the weekend barbecues, beachfests and picnics. How nice! I can’t judge, (sighs) I wish I could do the same – I could if I wanted to – San Diego has the beautiful weather to be able to do so.
But in the midst of all that beach campfire I can’t help but ask –
Independence Day for who? We still have troops out in war.
Independence Day for who? There was no justice for Amadou, Sean Bell…
And Mumia is still behind bars for a crime he did not commit, and Assata still deemed as a “terrorist”, and they still haven’t shut off that oil. And on and on and on and on…..
We can’t go back to “business as usual”….
Because when is… enough is enough? How many more killings? How many more deaths? How many more wars till we realize…. We are not truly free till we are all free.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j4sYnogXxFY
Below is an excerpt of my poem “I Write” in which I wrote in 1999 about the police brutality of Amadou Diallo and Abner Louima…. I am sharing it with all of you in dedication to Oscar Grant and all those who have suffered from police brutality.
smear it spray it
write it
starting at the Supreme Court
41 times
“I will find his justice”
“I will find his justice”
because his justice was not served
yet he served every man
that wrote the constitution
they write
all men shall be created equal
yet he is still serving his master
morning, noon and night
serving his master’s meals
picking his cotton
picking his apple trees
working the field
serving his children
while his master
is raping his wife
right in front of his eyes
only difference today
is his master WRITES him a check
WRITES out his life contract
WRITE his story on the
front cover of a magazine
for the music HE writes
for the video he shoots
with the ice
that his brother in
Africa and India died for
with a little girl glued to the screen
learning how to be a whore
writing him out
bleeding him out
no where to run
no way out
showing you the money
making you believe
your master cares
by selling you out
enslaving him till he goes platinum
till he wins the grammy
till he gets drugged up
till he gets locked up
till she gets knocked up
this is how tupac and biggie
got shot up
im sorry
this is how it goes
but this is how
the system is all fucked up
41 times
41 times
it happened more than just 41 times
and all he ever asked
for was his freedom?
but when New York’s finest
did not protect and serve
he still served his master
following the system
believing in the system
believe in the system
how can I believe in the system
when the system does not believe in me?
oh but as they thrust their way
into his bottom
into the crevices of his buttocks
they were plunging
plunging
plunging their way
into his mind
into his mind
for he will not forget
he will not forget
so he doesn’t stop there
no he doesn’t stop there
he cant stop
he wont stop
because it don’t stop
till we get the popo off the block
then they make their laws
one, two, three
strikes your out
and expect us to follow
and try to win our votes
because it is then that we count?
we count
as victims of
global bureaucratic depravation
clintons libidinous prevarication
guiliani’s fucked up regimentation
bush and his administration
all over this nation
all over this nation
we’re countless
we’re countless
with their broken window theories
with their quality of life initiative
with their preemptive laws
with their proposition 21’s
and this is how they won
and this is how they won
this is how they won
Return to Davey D’s Hip Hop Corner
Dear Oakland leaders,
The Oakland Police Department has recently acquired a new crowd control device, known as an “LRAD” or Long Range Acoustic Device. An Alameda County procurement report, linked below, as well as the following KPIX news report, confirm this fact.http://cbs5.com/video/?id=66965@kpix.dayport.com.
The LRAD is a very dangerous device that can cause permanent hearing loss. The Canadian Civil Liberties Union recently obtained an injunction against LRAD deployment in Toronto, Canada, after police threatened its use during the recent G-20 summit. See attached petition for some of the details.
The CCLU stated in paragraph 1 of its petition:
“Long Range Acoustic Devices are largely untested, “sub-lethal” devices capable of causing extreme pain and permanent hearing loss. Due to their weapon-like qualities, they are commonly referred to as “sonic cannons.” Originally developed for use on the high seas, and subsequently used in war zones in Iraq and Afghanistan, sonic cannons recently have been deployed in urban settings to disperse crowds and force compliance through pain and comfort.”
The CCLU provided numerous affidavits from medical professionals in obtaining an injunction against LRAD use, including an audiologist who confirmed that exposure to the intense noise generated by an LRAD can “cause damage to the cochlea of the inner ear which may not show up until years later. Disruption to the delicate mechanics of the inner ear can sometimes improve within a few hours or days, but most often there is not a complete recovery and there is permanent hearing loss.” See attached “Factum of the Moving Parties,” at par. 32.
OPD should not use such a dangerous and little-understood device on Oakland civilians. This device appears unfit for any use at all, much less against local residents exercising their First Amendment rights of expression and association.
All City Council members and members of the Mayor’s Office must demand that OPD discard any plans to utilize the LRAD.
Michael Siegel, Esq.
Siegel & Yee
(510) 839-1200 x207
michaeljwsiegel@gmail.com
LRAD Procurement link: http://www.scribd.com/doc/33832988
Canadian Civil Liberties Union petition, re: LRAD injunction:http://www.scribd.com/doc/33833004
Dr Marc Lamont Hill
“Liquor make you tell the truth.”
My Aunt Sarah used to tell me this whenever someone in the family would try to apologize for getting drunk and hurting someone’s feelings. Her point was that, despite our attempts to “blame it on the alcohol,” the state of inebriation doesn’t prompt us to say things we don’t really mean. Instead, spirits simply remove the inhibitions that suppress our innermost thoughts and feelings. As a result, we should not put much stock in the subsequent apology, which has more to due with embarrassment than remorse.
This has certainly proved to be the case for Mel Gibson.
In 2006, an intoxicated Gibson was pulled over for speeding on a Malibu highway. As the police attempted to take him into custody, Gibson went on a lengthy and vicious anti-Semitic tirade, blaming the Jews for everything from global warfare to Bobby Brown leaving New Edition. Fully aware that such moves are a severe occupational hazard, a sobered up Gibson quickly issued a public statement in which he expressed regret and shame for his antics. More importantly, he expressed disbelief at the anti-Semitic venom of his own comments, assuring the public that his drunken rant was not reflective of his true beliefs. To underscore his point, Gibson quickly checked into a rehabilitation center, sparking a new celebrity trend of using rehab as means of wedging space between their hate-speech and their individual character.
Soon after the incident, Jewish leaders like Abraham Foxman of the Anti-Defamation League, made it clear that they were unwilling to accept Gibson’s apology. Simply put, they didn’t believe him.
The mother wit of my Aunt Sarah aside, there were multiple reasons to believe that Gibson was less than contrite. Despite numerous attempts, Gibson failed to unequivocally reject his father’s claims that the Holocaust never happened, instead choosing to sidestep the question with fancy rhetorical footwork. Also, The Passion of the Christ, Gibson’s record-breaking film, placed exclusive blame on the Jews for the death of Jesus at the expense of Roman accountability. Additionally, Gibson had made a career of uttering equally vicious public statements against other groups, such as women and the LGBT community. Surely, all of these issues weighed into the ADL’s decision to reject Gibson’s dubious apology.
Now, in the wake of Gibson’s most recent outbursts, they have been proven right.
According to several published reports, Gibson has been caught on tape and e-mail making equally offensive comments during an argument with his ex-girlfriend Oksana Grigorieva. In the midst of an intense argument over custody of their 8-month-old child, Gibson repeatedly called Grigorieva a “b—-,” “c—,” and “whore,” promised to burn down her home, and threatened to sodomize her. Gibson warned his ex that her appearance would get her “raped by a pack of niggers.”
Apparently, they didn’t cover racism and misogyny during his last trip to “hate rehab.”
continue reading here: http://theloop21.com/society/mel-gibson-save-your-apology
I recently arrived home from Haiti.
While I was there I worked in a few aspects of the relief effort including a solidarity mission to aid the Earthquake survivors. In addition to all of this Myself, Cormega and Styles P participated in a show to support Haitian Hip Hop and rebuild the community. I would like to thank Arms Around Haiti and Hip Hop for Haiti for inviting me to be a part of this movement. While I was there I saw both devastation and rebuilding efforts. I also broke bread with people who had lost their entire family. Literally, everyone but them was deceased. Then there were those whose grief centered around losing a mother, father, brother, sister, son, or daughter as a direct result of what happened. It should make everyone reading this feel blessed to have anyone in his or her life. Think about that… Now think about it some more.
I saw so many different things as I walked through the slums and rode around Port-Au-Prince (as well as the area surrounding it.) I met mayors, townspeople, and the Arms around Haiti (Sobs staff) introduced me to several visionary Haitians with good ideas to rebuild the country that I am seriously considering investing my time into.
But one of the most powerful experiences came to me when I was holding this little baby girl who couldn’t have been more than a year old. She was crying because she was hungry, thirsty and tired. I picked her up and she hugged onto me with the newfound control her young muscles had recently provided her. She was one of the many orphans that I met while I was there, and as I held her I wondered what the future would hold for this little precious life. Her father would never hold her again and rock her back and forth to sleep while whispering stories to her. She might find good hearted and righteous people to one day adopt her, but her father, the man who created her would never tell her that he loved her or that she was special, save for the length of a dream or a subconscious memory. So I told her in French that I loved her, that she was beautiful and that she was special to me. I gave her all my water and her young face was immediately full of focus and comfort. After a few minutes of holding her, she fell into slumber. I gave her back to her to a 11-year old girl who had also lost her parents and was acting like a surrogate mother to most of the younger children.
Then I looked at my hands, they seemed like such strong hands before I went to Haiti. Strong like my will that is made of iron, and my resolve, which I consider unbreakable. But the strength of this young adolescent Matriarch and her newfound responsibility served as God’s gentle reminder and it humbled greatly as I realized what she carried on her shoulders. I am a Revolutionary but rather than just going to places around the world to bring people freedom, I seem to find it among them.
I felt great sadness leaving this place but I also felt anger at the things I saw. So I began to detail a few observations about Haiti and Revolutionary action associated with it in general. I wrote these things as I saw them or felt them but I waited until I was home for a few days so as to not elicit an emotional response but rather one of logic and understanding concerning the various things I saw.
The Spirit of Toussaint is Alive:
Francois-Dominique Toussaint
– Although the people have suffered here immensely, I still see their spirit still very strong, unbroken and defiant. Even though the sun floods the day with sweltering heat, the vast majority of people are working in some capacity. Many have their own small business or hustle and they take great pride in what they do. They find no shame in their work, however menial because, as it was told to me they felt blessed to have anyone to provide for. In the camps when dusk settles in, children play soccer with pieces of garbage tied up or maybe an old volleyball. They are survivalists as their history has taught them to be. The tent cities are home to usually 2 or 3 families per tent. Perhaps it is their past dealings with dictators sponsored by this nation, or by years of civil strife and a long Revolutionary history but they have become so resilient, so much so that they now serve as a personal inspiration to me of what mankind/original man can overcome.
All about the Benjamin’s, Mon Cheri:
Foreign Aid. That is a deceptive phrase. Many times the countries who, pledge money to a disaster-ridden nation are not giving that country money at all. They are really pledging the money to their corporation to rebuild the country at an inflated price set by the global conglomerate. It changes the very nature of what that means. Imagine if your house burnt down and I told the news and every local media outlet I was going to “donate” $100,000 to rebuild it. This is the catch the job really costs $20,000 to do. Yes, from the Capitalist pro business point of view I am providing a service that I deserve to be compensated for. But the characterization of what I am doing is purposefully altered so as to disguise the real motivation for “aiding” you. I’m not condemning the idea of foreign aid on a whole although there are aspects of it that create dependency and de facto vassals. But the system by which some of this “aid” is raised and distributed sometimes has little to do with anything resembling a humanitarian effort.
Let’s recap. I give you money, which you’re essentially giving back to me plus interest for doing something at twice the cost. I don’t give you fish anymore. That was Imperialism. This is Neo Liberalism, we teach you to fish, and collect 75% of the profit…forever. This system is actually the one that seems rational to first world powers now and is still implemented today all over the planet. Corporate Non Government Organizations (NGO’s) raise billions of dollars just to spend a fraction of that on the people who are actually affected and suffering. Then as if overpaying themselves wasn’t enough they act like they really did something. This system gives a bad name to real non-profit NGO’s and people that are selflessly doing something out of the kindness of their hearts. The Foreign Aid field is infested with corporate socialites and poverty pimps who troll around the mud with us dark people so you have something to talk about at your bourgeois industry parties. And where is the money going?
Waiting in Vain:
Haitian Camp
There is about 12 Billion dollars of Aid, waiting to be distributed, (conveniently earning interest for someone by the way) and since world agencies (take your pick) do not trust the shell of government left in Haiti, the situation has spiraled into a game of tit for tat in some instances. Corruption is not relegated to the surviving members of a fractured government. The customs area has thousands of pieces of clothing and non-perishable food that is simply sitting in store-rooms because customs is sometimes demanding $8,000 (US) to allow it into the country. You read it right, $8,000 American dollars to let a few boxes of supplies collected by people like you into the country. There are organizations such as the one I was there with, and Wyclef’s ‘Yele’ that use their longstanding connections with local power players and government officials to navigate around these bureaucracies, but it made me wonder how many good hearted people’s donations were just sitting there in some hangar collecting mold and dust. The supplies I handed out, the stuff I brought myself to give to people, the houses we put people in seemed like a good first step but now I wish more than anything to return and really make an impact having studied the situation. (* I remember after the Earthquake happened the mainstream media did a few stories criticizing smaller Aid Organizations on the ground and encourage people to direct their donation to the Major ones. Now I wonder if it was to promote efficiency or was it to safeguard their corporate partners monopoly?)
Children’s Story:
In Haiti, child trafficking is still going on, because it’s a lucrative business. It hasn’t stopped just because the news has stopped covering it, this right here is still happening. (http://www.cnn.com/2010/WORLD/americas/01/27/haiti.earthquake.orphans/index.html http://gvnet.com/humantrafficking/Haiti.htm ) I have even heard rumors about aid workers trading food for sex with little girls and boys. I’m not repeating these charges to try and substantiate them in any way. Because I hope they’re a lie, or at worst an exaggeration of an isolated incident. Far be it for me to try and pass innuendo off as fact but when you hear something like that from dozens of people from different walks of life, it makes you think. The reality after the Earthquake was that many of these children were (and still are) stolen and shipped out immediately or taken over to the Dominican Republic whose government is also very corrupt and sold to every corner of the world. Sad to think that the nation that showed the world that a successful slave revolution was possible has it’s sons and daughters sold into slavery in 2010.
The Almighty UN:
When I was young I thought the UN was a powerful entity, like the Super friends from Saturday morning cartoons. I was fed the idea that they provided a solution to arguing nations and would be helpful in taking the side of the underdog, the oppressed and colonized. But as I grew I realized it was just a way of making it look like America and Britain were not acting alone and it rewarded participants who conscripted their troops there. They are a Right Wing punching bag but really that’s duplicitous because they have been used to justify our actions in Afghanistan and Iraq. As if it is full of equal partners who are committed to the mission. Truth is the UN peacekeepers are full of many soldiers who would otherwise be getting paid $100 a week to be a soldier in their own country. The UN security-council resolutions have no teeth without the US’s approval, and sometimes they go to a country (like Haiti) and get a paycheck for doing very little. As I keep having interactions with them, my opinion just keeps on worsening. I by no means had any of those young teenage illusions about them going into this trip, but this is my observation. There is no salvation for the 3rd world in this entity. Truthfully, the UN are a war (with a real country) away from being as much of a part of history as the Hanseatic League. As we speak. They act as the de-facto military rulers of Haiti, with the US leaning over them looking at possible candidates. I think in all honesty they want a Haitian Karzai of their very own so perhaps their weakness is deceptive on purpose and they are just the arm of a face that has not revealed itself yet. “Le temps est un grand maître, dit-on, le malheur est qu’il tue ses élèves.”
Jesus’s Power Broker:
–
Haiti is flooded with Christian missionaries. There were 40 of them on the plane with me headed to Port-Au-Prince. In case you don’t know what a missionary is kids, it’s not just a sexual position. (Although plenty of people have been fucked over the years.) It means someone who goes to other countries and tells people that their religion or native custom is savage and full of useless ceremonies to God’s & spirits that don’t exist. And while I know some of these people mean well, their very existence and purpose is in complete contradiction to what their religion actually teaches. Some are working to build schools and help out with social programs, but always with the agenda to prosthletize and solidify their religious control over the area. So no matter what their intentions are, they look like their peddling Jesus on a fishing pole with foreign aid wrapped in Bible paper on a hook. In the past they were dispatched to countries to make them as Christian as possible in a direct effort to bring them into the colonial power’s sphere of influence. You see Imperial powers could not win by military force, and so conversion directly aided in our subjugation and apparently still aids in our placation. As long as we let other people define God for us we will not only be the physical but also the spiritual prisoner of our oppressors vision.
Mission Impossible:
– Spain, Portugal, England, France and Italy, etc… did this “missionary work” all over Africa, Asia and Latin America. Many of you people reading this who are of the aforementioned faith have them to thank, not divine intervention for what you believe. I am not in any way shape or form trying to detract from the individuals who really have the message of Jesus Christ in their hearts. I honestly believe if we lived our lives by the teachings of Christ this world would be a better place. But there are too many frauds making money off of Yeshua these days. The crazy thing is, that as many Muslim and Jewish charities that are working in Haiti, I haven’t witnessed any effort by them to convert people to Judaism or Islam. What is it about this faith that we hold so dear in America that makes us so insecure about what other people believe in? You’re going to have to stop using the excuse you want to “save people” and just admit that you don’t feel comfortable around someone until they believe in what you believe, spiritually. What gives us the moral authority to go around the world and tell the indigenous people of every continent that their religion is a farce and the only real truth was compiled in Constantinople in 325 AD? Isn’t the most “Christian” thing in the world to give charity to the poor and suffering without asking for anything in return? (Least of all, the culmination of all their beliefs.)
Blood Roots:
As I walked through the tent cities full of families waiting for water and cooking whatever they could find for their collective I happened upon a long road. It led me through the scorching slums of the outer area of Port-Au-Prince. While I was walking these two young brothers who ere dressed in red asked me if I was a Blood. I looked at them both and I responded that I wasn’t and one of them then raised his eyebrow, “you Crip then?” He asked with a heavy Creole accent. I said that I was neither and I was more like a Black Panther. After all OG Black Panthers and people from the Indigenous movements have taught me a libraries worth of knowledge. The younger one asked me what a Black panther was. I searched my surrounding for an analogy and there just happened to be a small tree near by. So I walked them over to it. The tree had two branches littered with a few leaves. Holding one branch I said, “this one is the blood” and pointing to the other one I said, “this one is the Crip” and then putting his hand on the trunk close to the roots, I said “this one is the Black Panther”. “Ne de la Revolution” which means Born out of Revolution in my humble French. The young kid smiled at me and asked me more about the Black Panthers. I stood there speaking to him for a little while and then we saluted one another and went our separate ways. Although Haiti is twice as hood as any place in the US, they are such a young country full of children who must become adults before their time. If they are to succeed, someone must educate them to the fact that what people call Black history is in fact world history. I would be honored to be a part of that someday. Don’t worry I won’t NGO them for hundreds of G’s either. I’d settle for a room and some coffee in the morning.
La Revolucion de Latino America:
For those of us who are studying Latin American Revolution, Haiti is the prequel, the seemingly invincible power of France being challenged and overcome. The Napoleonic wars gave America a chance to breathe away from the eyes of Europe long enough to affirm itself. France’s assault on Spain weakened the European states enough for us to take the moment that we cherish as our time for ‘Revolucion’. The story of our Revolution doesn’t begin in the 1950’s but in the Indigenous revolts of the conquest era and the early 1800’s when a small island of enslaved Africans showed the world that it was possible. Estudiantes Latinos, estudia esta Revolucion, sus lecciones son unas de las mas importantes para apprender. Tienen te todo, de raza, de classe, de corrupcion, y por supuesto del sacrificio necessario para obtener la libertad.
In parting:
I learned something very reassuring about myself in Haiti, something I am proud to acknowledge and leave my people on a good note with. When I meet someone who is a better activist, or Revolutionary, (I’ll be happy to make that distinction later) when I see someone whose actions achieve more than mine, or who has a more complete perspective I become inspired. I don’t get bitter or jealous and think about trying to “out-revolutionary” them. That’s so pointless and yet it is something that I see sometimes in the movement, people who think that because another doesn’t adhere to the same ideology or the same faith that we must bring them down. I am a Revolutionary and I need no one’s permission to be. We were successful at breaking ground in Haiti, but my mission there is by no means complete, I wish to plan further actions with my friends at Arms Around Haiti and the staff at SOBS. I would like to thank Jube, Mario, Cormega, StylesP, Herbie, Clef, Yele, Arms Around Haiti, Parrish, BC, and my Haitian Soldiers there for making this trip possible I look forward to returning soon.
“Le travail éloigne de nous trois grands maux: l’ennui, le vice et le besoin.”
Peace & Respect,
Immortal Technique
Immortal Technique has arrived back into the US after being in Haiti for a few days to assist hands on in the relief efforts and for a show to support Haitian Hip Hop. Below is a letter from Immortal Technique describing his experience and views on the current situation. I’ve attached 2 photos that you may use. Please contact me immediately if you need any further information. Thank you.
Here’s a cool reminder of what we need to be thinking about when the verdict drops..Its from the good folks over at Youth Uprising.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i5sNMaJkVvc&feature=player_embedded
Return to Davey D’s Hip Hop Corner
Today (July 1 2010) closing arguments began in the Oscar Grant trial. Its been a long time coming and a remarkable feat that we even got this far. The community spent a good 18 months organizing, struggling and resolving important issues around this case.
It was remarkable that folks came together in spite having different approaches and takes on how to go about doing things. There were church goers, militant folks, older, younger etc. Lots of conversations, tense moments, but collective action at the end of the day…
Below are several videos that show what took place the day of the first rally for Oscar Grant at Fruitvale Bart on Jan 7th 2009. It’s important to understand the full backdrop. First, people were still on a high that we had elected our first Black President Barack Obama. Many were excitedly gearing up to the inauguration. There was alot of hope and anticipation that a new day was coming…
For folks in Oakland, the murder of Oscar Grant at the hands of white officers including one (Tony Pirone) who called him a bitch ass nigger moments before he was shot, was a huge wake up call that we were not in a post racial society and on many levels it would be business as usual. The fact that Grant’s murder took place in front of hundreds of people, many who recorded this on cell phones spoke volumes. It was brazen. It was unthinkable and it was taken as symbolic of the resentment and anger many percieved white folks having because of us having a Black President. That was the talk early on in january of 2009.
Second thing to keep in mind.. 7 days had gone by and there had not been an announcement , press conference or any public statement from Mayor Ron Dellums or the District Attorney Tom Orloff about what many had started calling an execution. BART had a spokesperson speak to this, but no one from their board that oversaw the agency had come forth. In the meantime, residents were seeing this video being played over and over again which each day a new and clearer video surfacing.
This thing about the videos was important because one of the most troubling aspects of the shooting were BART police jumping on trains snatching people’s cell phones saying they were needed for evidence. To this day there’s no telling what was kept, erased altered etc..Again many were upset about the police taking cell phones which recorded this murder and there was no action taken agaisnt the police.
January 7th 2009 was the date of Oscar Grant’s funeral. That morning, close to 100 clergy, activists and elected officials in Oakland’s Black community came to the steps of the Alameda County courthouse and held a press conference to announce their intention to secure a meeting with District Attormey Tom Orloff who up to that point had dismissed their requests both invidually and collectively. Peep the videos as they speak for themselves and provide a sense of what was going on at that time. All this went down before the riots/ rebellion that would take place later that evening..
This video shows a few of the many remarks that took place on the courthouse steps prior to the 100 Black Leaders entering the building to see District Attorney Tom Orloff.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4Dlwf3osfeU
This video shows what went down once people crowded into the lobby and asked to see the district Attorney. Keep in mind, folks including elected officials had been trying to meet with Orloff a day or two after Grant got shot. On the 7th day they said enough is enough and folks headed on down to his office.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OEVcllimLHE
After an hour of haggling District Attorney Tom Orloff finally agreed to meet with the group but would not allow press into the meeting. He also said No recordings. For the first 15 minutes he was pretty dismissive of people’s concerns.. I pulled out my camera when he told one of the elders that he had no intention to go out and inform the community why he had not pressed charges. He said that job was on us as community leaders. I pulled out my camera at that point.http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=biU2Eza9p50
Below is a video of the start of the rally at Fruitvale BART on Jan 7th 2009. It was the same day that 100 Black Leaders were initially rebuffed by Thomas Orloff the DA who even after finally meeting did not offer to press charges on Johannes Mehserle the officer who killed Oscar Grant…
The rally at Fruivale BART took place later that afternoon and was put together by a newly formed group called CAPE Coalition against Police Executions..It was also the day of Oscar Grant’s funeral and many people were returning from there to the rally. Folks were very emotional.
What you’re seeing are excerpts from that rally… At the end of the video you see one of the more visible, outspoken and militant figures during many of Oscar Grant protests. His name is Mandingo Hayes he’s an activist who was later accused of being a police informant and a former pimp after a February 8 2003 Oakland Tribune article surfaced. It’s a claim he has denied. You can see that article both online or in this California Commission on the Fair Administration of Justice PDF on pg 13 where they have a report about how police informants are being used.
In the clip he is shown encouraging folks to leave the rally and go down to BART headquarters. His push was in direct conflict with what CAPE organizers wanted.. The back story to this was Hayes and his people were already at Fruitvale BART when rally organizers arrived. He had set up camp, was standing on top of the turnstyles and had pretty much shut down the station.. He wasn’t feeling the ‘peace and prayer’ vibe the organizers were putting out and let it be known. He kept calling for folks to take action..
Rally organizers tried to work out a compromise as they wanted to keep things more peaceful..
Eventually Hayes got back on the mic and made his call for folks to leave.. He and a crowd of about 50-100 people broke off and went downtown .. the rest is history.. It was the precurosr to what many call the Oakland Rebellion..
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=phvA-2E1-yM
We continue looking back in the days after Oscar Grant’s death. This is more footage from the Rally at Fruitvale, just before the the riots/rebellions that took place in downtown that evening… Here you hear you see and hear controversial figure Mandingo Hayes hyping the crowd talking about he’s ready for action.. We also speak with rapper Deuce Eclipse.
Got word yesterday that legendary graf writer and emcees Rammellzee passed away… Not sure why or how, but for Hip Hop folks it was the second death in two weeks. People in the Bay Area are still mourning the death of pioneering B-Boy Mr Fantastic aka Melvin.. of the Royal Rockers He died of a sudden heart attack at age 41 in the arms of his oldest daughter His wake was yesterday as we got word of Rammellzee passing..
Longtime B-Boy Bas-1 sent this out about Mr Fantastik
Melvin McCullough aka Mr.Fantastik of Berkeley, CA whom was head of the crew ROYAL ROCKERS passed away Saturday June 12th.
He was a hiphop icon and pioneer here in the bay area of northern california. Partner’s with the Incredible Rubberman Damon Frost and definitely influenced the early bay area hiphop scene especially through dance (mainly poppin or wutever u wanna call the robitic dance movement that includes waving tuting and slides). Please find it in your hearts as another fellow dancer of our culture has fallen and the family needs assistance in arrangements.
please send donations via paypal to:
mrcm9@sbcglobal.net
We also lost Gary Shider aka Starchile a couple of weeks ago. He was a long time fixture in George Clinton‘s Parliament/ Funkadelic. Shider was the brother who wore the diapers who got down on the guitar. He was recently inducted into the hall of fame.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=27oJkTiEp34&feature=related
As for Rammellzee here’s what was written about him in wikipedia
Rammellzee (or RAMMΣLLZΣΣ, pronounced “Ram: Ell: Zee”, born 1960 in Far Rockaway, Queens, New York), was a graffiti writer, performance artist, rap/hip-hop musician and sculptor from New York. His death was announced on 29th June 2010.
Rammellzee’s graffiti and art work are based on his theory of Gothic Futurism, which describes the battle between letters and their symbolic warfare against any standardizations enforced by the rules of the alphabet; his treatise, “Iconic Panzerisms”, details an anarchic plan by which to revise the role and deployment of language in society. Rammellzee is often identified as an artist apart of the Afrofuturism canon; Afrofuturism is identified discourse concerned with revisioning racial identity through the tropes of science fiction and fantasy narrative or aesthetics.
He was also instrumental as one of the original hip hop artists from the New York area who introduced specific vocal styles which date back to the early 1980s.[citation needed] His influence can still be heard in contemporary artists such as The Beastie Boys and Cypress Hill. His song “Beat Bop” was featured in the film Style Wars.
Discovered by a larger audience through the 1982 cult movie Wild Style by Charlie Ahearn, his fame in graffiti circles was established when he painted New York subway trains with Dondi, OU3, and Ink 76, and doctor Revolt. Rammellzee was also a member of the Death Comet Crew, with Stewart Albright and Michael Diekmann. In 1988, he and his band Gettovetts recorded the album “Missionaries Moving.” In 2003, Rammellzee performed at the Knitting Factory in New York with the newly reformed Death Comet Crew; subsequently, Troubleman Unlimited re-released recordings made by DCC between 1982 and 1984; additionally, their single for “Exterior St.” was featured on the compilation, Anti-NY, with contemporaries, Ike Yard, Sexual Harassment, and Vivian Goldmann, among others. In 2004, he released his debut album Bi-Conicals of the Rammellzee, produced by Gomma Records. Rammellzee also performed at Knitting Factory with guitarist Buckethead several times.
His artistic work has been shown in art galleries throughout the US and Europe. Currently, Rammellzee’s Letter Racers, and other Noise includes artistic works by individuals mostly identified with their musical contributions.
In a recent interview, he stated that his name is derived from “RAM” plus “‘M’ for ‘Magnitude’, ‘Sigma’ (Σ) the first summation operator, first ‘L’ – ‘longitude’, second ‘L’ – ‘latitude’, ‘Z’ – ‘z-bar’, Σ, Σ – ‘summation’.” He now performs in self-designed masks and costumes of different characters, which, as he states, represent the “mathematical equation” that is Rammellzee. On the basis of his “Gothic Futurism” approach, he sometimes describes his current artistic work as the logical extension into a new phase which he calls “Ikonoklast Panzerism.”
Rammellzee makes a cameo appearance near the end of Jim Jarmusch‘s 1984 film Stranger Than Paradise.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PPnmyLaNvvw&feature=player_embedded
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lz24D-UyZwE&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CFFMzSRhmP8&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lElss5eCR2s&feature=related
Good Bye Mr Fantastik, Gary Shider and Rammellzee May you all rest in power..
May peace be onto to their families..
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Breaking News Update Wed June 30 2010:
As the historic Oscar Grant trial comes to a close in Los Angeles we wanted to share a crucial update as to what is going on in the trial. For those who are unaware, for the first time in the history of the state of California, a police officer (Johannes Mehserle) was brought to trail and charged with murder after shooting and killing someone while on duty.
An unarmed, completely subdued Grant was shot in the back as he lay face down on New Year’s morning ’09 in front of hundreds of people on a BART subway station in Oakland. Mehserle claims he thought he reached for his taser instead of his gun. It’s a story the community wasn’t and has never brought especially when it was revealed that Mehserle was heard shouting “I thought he had a gun’.
If he had a gun, then why reach for your taser?
The community became even more enraged when it was discovered that moments before Grant was killed, Mehserle’s partner Tony Pirone who was recently fired had called Grant a ‘bitch ass nigger’ before he was shot.
The community was even more enraged when it was discovered that Mehserle just six weeks earlier in an unprovoked attacked had severely beaten a 41-year-old Black man named Kenneth Carrethers after he was overheard complaining about how inefficient the police were at stopping crime…
We caught up with Minister of Information-JR who is the associate editor of the SF Bayview and heads up the Block Report Radio. He’s been down in LA covering the trial even after he and several other Black men under 40 were kicked out of court for a variety of un-related reasons. In our podcast JR explains why this has been going on in what many are saying is a highly biased court.
Expert witness Greg Meyers said there was no excessive use of force during the Rodney King trail. Of course he is defending Johannes Mehserle
In this interview JR talks about some of the ‘expert’ witness that have come forward in defense of Mehserle including a former LA police captain Greg Meyer who claimed that Grant when shot was resisting arrest. It’s an outlandish conclusion considering Grant was shown completely restrained with the larger Mehserle sitting on his back. however one should not be surprised, considering it was Meyer who sat on the witness stand during the Rodney King trail and claimed there was no excessive use of force. I guess the estimated 30 thousand dollars paid to Meyer didn’t hurt when giving his testimony.
We also spoke to JR about the media blackout on the case especially in the LA area and offer up some reasons why this is happening.
In the latest update another expert witness is claiming that Mehserle was so stressed out that he became temporarily blind which is why he shot Grant. What’s taking place at this trial is unbelievable.
Today June 30th the judge will be meeting with lawyers to discuss what the options are for jurors. Mehserle’s high-priced lawyer Michael Rain is pushing for an all or nothing ruling. In short either convict him of murder or acquit him. The prosecutor wants the jury to have options so Mehserle doesn’t walk.
Sadly the judge on the trial Robert Perry has history of siding with the police as was evidence during the infamous Rampart Scandal in LA when he let the cops off the hook.
Also as we speak Oakland police have been planting seeds of fear in the community by warning people of impending riots. Last night KRON 4 reported that as much as 21 thousand national guards are on alert and ready to move in on Oakland. All off vacationing officers have been called back into the city with police as far away as Oregon ready to join in.
Why Are Police Beating Our Kids-What Should We be Doing?
In pt 2 of our podcast we sat down with community activist and former Seattle mayoral candidate Wyking Allah and Paradise Gray of X-Clan and One Hood out in Pittsburgh to talk about the recent rash of police brutality incidents where children as young as 7 have been the victims.
Wyking does an excellent job putting things in historical context and offering solid solution for communities to follow. He noted that much of what he suggested were key tenets on his platform for mayor.
Paradise Gray updates us on two key cases in Pittsburgh. One involves the beatings that took place last fall when officers stormed the University of Pittsburgh campaus looking for anarchists. Unsuspecting students were tear-gased, beaten and arrested. There was major investigation with the police being found in the wrong.. The other incident involves honor student Jordan Miles who was beaten and had his dread locks ripped out his head by a rogue group of martial art expert police dubbed the ‘Jump Out Boys‘.
Gray also speaks about the incident of Pamela Lawton who had a police officer stick his gun in the face of her crying 7 year old after she was pulled over for a traffic violation.
Like Wyking, Paradise lays out a number of solutions for us and our communities to follow.
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