2013 Daily News | Hip-Hop and Politics

We Remember Hurricane Katrina, Kanye Bashing George Bush & White Vigilantes

August 29, 2013 By mrDaveyd

We should never forget what took place 8 years ago in the city of New Orleans. In the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina the levees broke and massive flooding engulfed the city. What took place in the aftermath was something that should never be erased from our collective memories.

What we’re talking about is the mass displacement of tens of thousands of people who still have not been able to return to New Orleans. Many saw the lack of response and oversights as deliberate with an end goal of removing a population of people deemed undesirable.

In the aftermath of Katrina we saw vigilantes running around shooting and killing Black folks. Some of it was deep hatred they already held. A lot of it was from exaggerated reports of violence, looting and mayhem in the Superdome where many sought refuge.
We now know that former New Orleans police chief Eddie Compass was the person behind the heightened reports. He did so to get more help, but it resulted in anger and resentment and later physical harm being directed at Black people trying to escape the flood waters. This includes unprovoked attacks in the Algiers section of New Orleans as well as on the Gretna Bridge and the later the Danziger Bridge.

In the aftermath of Katrina we saw a rash of police shootings amounting to over 10 deaths. This led to federal investigations with a number of officers eventually convicted.. Below is a small sampling of audio highlighting what went down in New Orleans.

Kanye West

First we have the Kanye West vs George Bush audio mix which captures the mood of the day and lays out the challenges people were facing.. It features everyone from Juvenile to Master P to former Mayor Ray Nagin to Geraldo Rivera. speaking to what was blowing up all around them. It also features Kanye West and his famous outburst to then President George Bush. Years later Bush would say it was the low point of his presidency and Kanye sadly apologized.

We also included heart wrenching testimony from the Hurricane Katrina Tribunals which took place the following year..Here you hear former Black Panther Malik Raheim and others talk about the terror of white vigilantes hunting Black people to keep them out of their neighborhoods as they sought dry ground. What took place in New Orleans was a type of neighborhood watch where everyone Black is suspicious and should be shot before questioned. This may have been the model followed by George Zimmerman years later.

Kanye West vs George Bush

Part One of testimony given on behalf of Katrina victims by an eyewitness who worked to save lives in New Orleans, former Black Panther Malik Raheim. Includes a mix of music by Kanye West, Gil Scott-Heron, and reporting from the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina.

Hard Knock Radio_Katrina Tribunal pt1

Part Two of Malik Raheim‘s searing testimony about the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, white vigilantes, and the lack of emergency response to the victims.

Hard Knock Radio_Katrina Tribunal pt2

We continue with testimony from the Hurricane Katrina Tribunals, and updates on local events.

Hard Knock Radio Katrina Tribunal pt3

Filed Under: 2013 Daily News Tagged With: George Bush, kanye West, Katrina, Malik Raheim, New Orleans

Should the US Intervene in Syria’s Civil War?

August 29, 2013 By mrDaveyd

Now that we done finished celebrating Dr King 50th anniversary of the I Have a Dream Speech and the great March on Washington, now its back to business…Many who attended this weekends festivities are now saying, ‘Lets put all that talk about peace and love to the wayside and get ready to do War with Syria’.. Pay close attention to the folks cheer leading the effort and the justification given to jump into what is now emerging to be a Civil War…

As for the use of Chemical weapons.. That’s terrible and we should figure out a way to stop them from being used..For many sending in cruise missiles is not the way to go. It sounds like another excuse for endless war and another way for those who operate within the military industrial complex to pad their pockets. Destabilization in the Middle East is good for business.

It’s also interesting to note that folks are upset about chemical warfare in Syria while ignoring what many feel is chemical warfare here at home.. Death by chemical misuse come in many forms. It’s the gassing we’ve seen in Syria where death is immediate and horrific as we have on TV.

Other times it shows up in GMO foods, radiation and oil leakage which compromises our water and fish supplies. It shows up in the pollutants caused by multinational corporations that are allowed to be spilled into our air and water. It shows up in the form of fracking. It shows up in the form of big businesses that often break laws, hide their wrong doings on top of spending billions of dollars in lobbying funds to resist laws and regulations compelling them to be clean.. The end result is millions die prematurely from compromised respiratory systems, heart disease, cancer etc..

And so as we jet off to Syria to stop them from using gas on their own people, we remain silent or in deep denial about the chemicals used on us.. Consider this.. There is little difference in a king or military being oppressive towards its people and a corporation being oppressive towards its people. It’s all a matter of perspective.

In the clip below I like what Ed Husain has to say about this situation

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9KGz0bpOIYo

Here’s a recent statement from the AROC Arab Resource Organizing Center

STAND WITH THE PEOPLE OF THE ARAB WORLD

STAND AGAINST US WARS FOR EMPIRE!

Once again, the Arab people, like the indigenous peoples of the Americas, Africa, and Asia before them, find themselves at the receiving end of US imperialism and ravages of US wars.

The US is preparing to strike Syria at any moment as reports are circulating of the US Sixth Fleet carrying a total of 300 cruise missiles and positioned off the Syrian and Lebanese coasts. This comes on the heels of graphic footage surfacing of another heinous crime committed in Syria’s brutal civil war, where civilians were filmed suffocating and dying as a result of suspected use of chemical agents. The scene is on the outskirts of Damascus and the massacre occurred on the evening UN weapons inspectors arrived in Syria to investigate the possible use of Sarin-like nerve agent or Chlorine gas in the Aleppo area back in May 2013. Even according to some US admissions, the Syrian armed militias orchestrated the attacks in May. It is known that the Syrian regime had decisively scored military victories in Mid Syria and would therefore stand to suffer the most damage if it were to deploy non-conventional weapons on the day UN inspectors arrive in Syria. And yet the US chose to level unsubstantiated allegations against the Syrian regime that it used chemical weapons and mobilized its forces for a military strike, even prior to the UN commencing its investigation.

Ultimately, we know that both the Syrian regime and the US-funded militias are guilty of attacks against civilians. The Syrian civil war is being fought at the expense of Syrian families, workers, political activists, and the long legacy of Syrian cultural production. It is still the people of Syria that possess the vision for a Syria free of autocracy and US imperialist interests, free of sectarianism and political repression, and their vision is the only true moral compass.

Syrian cultural and political activists have long been demonstrating their steadfastness against political repression and their commitment to self-determination. Time and time again they have denounced the destruction and devastation of the social and material fabric of Syria. These are the voices absent from dominant narratives plastered across TV screens, radio broadcasts and newsstands. Their messages remain draped across walls and buildings throughout Syrian towns and villages uplifting voices for change, dignity and liberation.

OBAMA AND THE LEGACY OF US IMPERIALISM

The Obama administration is anything but a passive observer in the deepening of sectarianism and destruction in Syria. For the divisions in Syria and the Arab World only serve to secure US interests as defined by an elite who only stands to profit from war and weaponry. Have we forgotten the infamous “White Powder” scene, where Collin Powell was oddly shaking a vial of biological agent at the UN Security Council as he applied pressure on the voting members to sanction US colonization of Iraq? It was then done under the pretext of preemptive strikes to eliminate the non-existent Iraqi weapons of mass destruction. Today, Obama perpetuates the same policies of the Bush Administration in deepening the sectarian division, arming and training one group to fight another and exporting the war from Iraq to Syria and to the region as a whole.

The US, along with its client monarchies who brutally rule Bahrain, Saudi Arabia, and Jordan, have reacted to the wave of anti-autocratic uprisings by expanding the Iraq conflict. Today, Iraq bears witness to over 700,000 dead as a result of the US blockade and more than 1 million murdered during the US occupation of Iraq. Today, car bombs and sectarian conflict continue to engulf the country. Obama is clearly perpetuating Bush’s policies by continuing the destabilization of Yemen, Sudan, Somalia, Libya, Lebanon and now Syria, all of whom are entrenched in a spiraling civil war that directly implicate the US militarily or politically.

THE BANKRUPTCY OF US MORALITY

On August 26, Secretary of State John Kerry stated that morality compels the US to act and attack Syria. We are left to ask, how would killing more Syrians with 300 cruise missiles decrease the bloodshed? While all atrocities are heinous and must be condemned, let us examine the moral standing of the US. Less than 10 days prior to the surfacing of the Syrian footage, US-funded Egyptian military were shooting unarmed civilians mobilizing throughout the streets. More than 1000 people were murdered in cold blood and Obama is yet to cut aid to Egypt in the hope of maintaining leverage over a continued peace treaty with Israel. In 2009, Israel was using phosphorous bombs on a besieged civilian population in Gaza, killing over 1,200 people and injuring approximately 10,000. Had it been about moral compulsion, we would have seen cruise missiles rain on the Knesset in Tel Aviv. In fact, Israel continues to bomb, kill, displace and steal Arab land on a daily basis while Obama’s policy is to increase financial and military support for Israel by billions of dollars. And let us not forget the US use of depleted uranium in Iraq. Iraqis continue to suffer from devastating mortality and birth defect rates as the ramifications of US war crimes and use of nuclear agents are inherited from one generation to the next. The contemporary record speaks for itself and we need not go back in history to mention the use of Agent Orange in Vietnam, the two Hydrogen Bombs dropped on Japan and the purposeful deployment of small pox to wipe out whole indigenous American nations.

The US allies itself with monarchies and military dictatorships that are growing increasingly worried by the wave of Arab uprisings and is attempting, in unsubtle ways, to divert the people’s energy into sectarian conflict along a Sunni-Shia divide. It is well documented that the US-funded Syrian rebels are linked to Al Qaeda, the same group the Obama administration uses as a pretext to maintain the march of death in Afghanistan. It is these same groups, with US training and funding, that are planting car bombs in the heart of Lebanon in an attempt to trigger another sectarian war and creating an internal quagmire, allowing for Israel to strike both Hezbollah and Iran in the future.

SELF-DETERMINATION NOT US IMPERIALISM

Join us in condemning in the strongest possible terms Obama’s complicity in these bloody wars and crimes against humanity. Join us in calling for an end to this madness, and end to the perpetual strengthening of theocratic, monarchical and Zionist regimes.

How many wars must be fought and how many people must die before the US ruling industries are forced to cede to the calls for freedom? Exactly fifty years ago-today, Martin Luther King called for ending US imperialist wars in Vietnam and the Indo-China regions. Today, and under the pretext of morality, Barak Obama is planning to expand the Syrian conflict by bombing Syria and in reaction to a massacre of Syrian civilians.

We stand in support of the self-determination of the Syrian people and as such, oppose all attacks on Syria! As Libya and Iraq have so sadly taught us, there is no bigger loss than the loss of sovereignty to empire.

We condemn any US involvement in the attacks on Syria!

We demand an end to US military, political and financial support of Israel, Arab dictatorships and repressive regimes!

Join us in the streets at protests planned across the US to stand against any attack on Syria!

No to war. No to occupation. No to US-Israeli hegemony in the Arab World.

SUPPORT THE ARAB PEOPLE’S REVOLUTION FOR SELF-DETERMINATION!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TXjEWrhkb6g

Filed Under: 2013 Daily News Tagged With: Chemical weapons, Ed Husain, Syria, war

Khan: MLK Would Not Dance to the Drumbeat of War

August 28, 2013 By mrDaveyd

Freelance Journalist Nida Khan

On Wednesday, President Obama, former Presidents Clinton and Carter, and many others will honor the 50th anniversary of the legendary March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom. They will pay homage to the preeminent civil rights leader of our time, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., and reflect upon his character and sacrifices for the greater good of humanity. But in the midst of the commemoration, one central foundation to King’s teachings will likely be ignored: his intense opposition to war. As the rhetoric against Syria gains momentum this week, perhaps everyone should pause to remember what King would say and do were he here with us today. Chances are, he’d be the first one protesting

“There are those who are seeking to equate dissent with disloyalty,” stated King in 1967 during a sermon about why he was against the Vietnam War. “It’s a dark day in our nation when high-level authorities will seek to use every method to silence dissent. But something is happening, and people are not going to be silenced. The truth must be told…”

People often discuss King’s use of nonviolence and peaceful tactics against the plague of social injustice in the country. But what’s often left out of the conversation is his intense condemnation of war. This speech, and others against the war were pivotal moments where he focused heavily on his own personal convictions, as well as the attacks against him for advocating such ideas.

“Oh the press was so noble in its applause and so noble in its praise when I was saying be nonviolent towards Bull Connor,” he said. “There’s something strangely inconsistent about a nation and a press that will praise you when you say be nonviolent towards Jim Clark but will curse and damn you when you say be nonviolent towards little brown Vietnamese children. There’s something wrong with that press.”

Extrapolate that very idea to today, and the same can be said of anyone who speaks out against our many current wars and international activities. Instantly labeled anti-American, or unpatriotic, a person objecting to military conflict is either ignored or ostracized. The overwhelming majority of our press fails to provide balanced, accurate reporting even when such intense constructs as war are on the table. Instead, the media has been relegated to serving as extensions of the government rather than a check on power. In effect, it is often busy selling us war much the way it did in the run up to Iraq.

There was a time not long ago when newscasters like Keith Olbermann would question and hold authority accountable. Now, regardless of left-leaning or right-leaning, news outlets are repeating the same talking points and reporters are too busy vying for a seat in the press corp rather than doing their jobs. Access often trumps accuracy. And both sides are basically playing the same game.

Did Assad use chemical weapons? Perhaps. Or did rebels use chemical weapons? Perhaps. Or was it another entity? Perhaps still. The point is, we don’t know definitively what has transpired in the region, so why should we be so certain that some sort of military response is required? If we truly care about the humanitarian crisis and the countless Syrian refugees, why not send money, food and aid? How does dropping bombs or implementing missile strikes – whereby more innocents will undoubtedly be killed – resolve the issue? The truth is, it won’t. And the unfortunate reality is that not many will object.

“It is estimated that we spend $500,000 to kill each enemy soldier, while we spend only $53 dollars for each person classified as poor, and much of that $53 dollars goes for salaries to people that are not poor,” said King during that same sermon a year before his assassination. “So I was increasingly compelled to see the war as an enemy of the poor and attack it as such.”

Today, the overall cost of our overseas engagements is in the trillions, meanwhile programs for the poor are continually being trimmed and eliminated. Millions of Americans are unemployed, on food stamps and in desperate need of work, yet we are busy funding more and more conflicts. How about we utilize those resources towards job programs, education, affordable housing, small business investment and more? Or why don’t we just start with the basic concept of making sure that nobody in the country goes to bed hungry at night?

Much as was the case in ’60s, it is the poor, the impoverished and the ones with few options that are the first to go to war and feel its repercussions. Very rarely is it the children of the wealthy, or the sons and daughters of Congressional members and Presidents signing off on war with the stroke of a pen.

Some will argue that our potential involvement in Syria won’t include boots on the ground. Well what of the aching feet of the men, women and children of Syria who will suffer from the consequences of what we do? Nobody in their right mind would condone the use of chemical weapons by a government or by a group/individual. But without substantial proof given to the American people that the Assad regime did in fact commit this atrocity, how can we, in good faith, co-sign military action when we don’t even know who or what precisely is being targeted?

The Bush Administration utilized the press to sell us on the notion of ‘weapons of mass destruction’ or WMDs. What resulted was not only the invasion of a sovereign nation, but the devastation and slaughter of countless civilians, and the destabilization of a society that is still reeling from the effects of a war waged 10 years ago. In July of this year alone, the Iraqi death toll surpassed 1,000 – the highest death toll in years – and over 2,000 were injured. Yet rarely, if ever, was there a mention in our 24/7 news cycle. With relentless bombings and instability continuing and exacerbating today in Iraq, it’s almost as if we’ve washed our hands clean of any involvement. That in itself is a tragedy.

Now when the rhetoric against the Assad regime and Syria is eerily parallel to that prior to the Iraq war, wouldn’t it make sense to wait, and to ask our leaders for actual information and proof? Are we ready to allow our government and the governments of our allies to commit such drastic action under our names yet again? Or do we remain silent once more, and thereby complicit?

On this anniversary of the March on Washington, let’s keep in mind King’s other march: the anti-war demonstration of 1967. If this noble man were alive today, he’d probably be the first to reiterate his own statement from decades ago: “It is time for people of conscience to call upon America to come back home. Come home, America.”

written by Nida Khan

Follow her on twitter at @NidaKhanNY

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1UDBziEsn0Y

Filed Under: 2013 Daily News

Today Pres Obama Speaks He’ll Deliver a Good Speech-But Will He Deliver Good Policy in Honor of Dr King?

August 28, 2013 By mrDaveyd

Today on the 50th anniversary of the historic March on Washington President Obama will give a speech in the very spot where Martin Luther King spoke and at the exact time..

Many will applaud and get excited because of the symbolism.. We have a Black president.. Who would’ve thought that possible 50 years ago? Make no mistake, President Obama will deliver a speech for the ages.. When hasn’t he delivered on that end? And many will come away feeling good for the moment..

However a man with his position and power has to deliver more than a good speech.. He has to deliver good policy. A man in his position and with his power has to 100% stand for good policy that is aligned with the policies the man who he is attempting to symbolize pushed for..

King in ’63 was addressing poverty..not the Middle class. He was addressing poverty and he was addressing the brutality being leveled on the masses of Black people. He and fellow organized agreed to tone it down so as to not leave folks with the impression they were ‘too militant’.

They went out of their way to look and act ‘respectable‘ so folks would be more accepting and look less threatening. In short they dotted ‘I’s and crossed ‘T’s.. and even though King was not an elected official, and the congressional deck was stacked even harsher than it is today, important legislation was passed.. The Civil Rights Act and the Voting Rights Act.. What will Obama deliver today beside a good speech? With less odds and more power what will he stand for?

What issues will Obama give voice to? For example, today marks the anniversary of Hurricane Katrina and there are still tens of thousands of people scattered around the country who have not been able to return home 8 years later..What will he say about a gentrified New Orleans that has been unaffordable for those displaced?

What will he say about those who are still losing homes to massive foreclosures especially as his Housing Department is going after cities like Richmond, California for using Eminent Domain to save the homes of Black and Brown families?

Today is the anniversary of Emmet Till being killed in 1955.. In ’63 2 months prior to the March, Medger Evers was killed. Both were victims to vigilante justice That is still occurring with with renewed vigor as we speak both by racist, wannabe Stand Your Ground advocates like George Zimmerman and Michael Dunn who killed Trayvon Martin and Jordan Davis..

Today we have vigilante cops who running rampant doing stop and frisk and killing Black folks at a rate of once every 28 hours.. How will Obama address that? What resources will he direct to ending that? Will he ask his Black Attorney General to investigate and prosecute or will he justify the praise he has given to individuals like NYPD Commissioner Raymond Kelly who are riding hard for stop and frisk policies even as fellow Black police officers have spoken out against them?

We know that 50+ years ago inmates inside Georgia prisons broke their legs and shackles to bring attention to the dire conditions they were enduring? Today marks the 52 day of prison hunger strike in Cali, where inmates are bringing attention to dire conditions they are enduring? A federal judge recently said they can be force fed like the prisoners in Gitmo..That amounts to torture.. What will Obama say to this?

He’s a politician and can’t keep it 100% some will say?? If that’s the case then why is he speaking in the place of a man who gave his life for his principles..?? Has Obama sold his soul? Have we sold our souls cheering for politicians, policies and politics that were being protested at the Great March on Washington 50 years ago?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=smEqnnklfYs

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=5esY2KeDx4E

Here’s some context to that speech and March 50 years ago.. —> http://bit.ly/156ZWoa

Filed Under: 2013 Daily News

50 Years Later: The Critical Backstory to Martin Luther King’s I Have a Dream Speech

August 24, 2013 By mrDaveyd

HKR Aug 24 2013: Today in Washington DC tens of thousands of folks will converge upon the nation’s capitol in front of the Lincoln Memorial to commemorate the 50th anniversary of historic March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom. The actual anniversary is August 28th, but alot of activity will go down today since the 28th falls on a weekday. There will also be a march on the actual day as well.. That’s when President Obama will speak

Dozens of people spoke on that historic day 50 years ago, but what is most remembered is Dr Martin Luther King’s iconic ‘I Have A Dream‘ speech. It’s become a defining moment for the Civil Rights Movement and 50 years later its still highlighted as a major theme for us and many other people to circle around.

There are far too many conferences, rallies and political gatherings to name off where the theme has been some variation of MLK’s Dream… A few years ago in Memphis, Tennessee there was a Dream Reborn Conference which was supposed to signify the mantle of the Civil Rights Movement being handed off to a younger generation. There have been a number of Conferences that have focused on ‘Is the Dream Still Alive’..

Our guest, veteran journalist, historian and author Gary Younge, who has just penned a book called ‘The Speech‘, pointed out the irony to all this is that Dr King had no intention of using the phrase I Have a Dream when he took to the podium that afternoon. In fact he was told by some of his closest aides who had heard a variation of that theme the week before, not to use it because it was kind of corny.

King was also told several times that he only had 5 minutes to speak. If that’s not enough, King was the last speaker to what was along day and as he took the stage, many in the crowd had already started to leave.. The main emphasis on King’s speech was on economic injustice with he key points raised around a bounced check that America had given Black people. He contrast the conditions of the day with the Emancipation Proclamation which had occurred 100 years earlier.

It is obvious today that America has defaulted on this promissory note insofar as her citizens of color are concerned. Instead of honoring this sacred obligation, America has given the Negro people a bad check, a check that has come back marked ‘insufficient funds.’

Author Gary Younge

Younge notes that King literally freestyles the I Have a Dream portion of his speech after his good friend, singer Mahalia Jackson who was standing behind him, did a call and response thing where she shouts ‘Tell em about the Dream Martin‘. That’s when King switched up.

In our interview Younge provides us with an array of political gems and the critical political backdrop of 1963 which leads up to the march and the speech. For example, he notes that the murder of Medger Evers in June of that year was weighing heavily on many people’s minds and served as a catalyst.

He notes that President John F Kennedy and his brother Attorney General Bobby Kennedy felt that Black folks were pushing too fast for their agenda. There was concern about how militant this march might become and thus great pressure was applied to tone things down.

Many do not know the federal government fearing there would be some who took to the stage and call for militant action, had a secret kill switch. If anything inflammatory was said, they could remotely turn off the mic and replace it with song from Mahalia Jackson.

Many do not know that Malcolm X who was highly critical of the organizers leading up to the event was actually in DC that day and had communicated to organizers he was there if needed. Malcolm felt that the essence of the march was going to be compromised. In fact the day that Medger Evers was assassinated, Malcolm debated march organizers James Farmer of CORE, Wyatt T Walker of SCLC along with Ebony Magazine editor Allan Morrison

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vSdDPjourgY

Many also don’t know that women weren’t allowed to speak that day which underscored a major flaw in the Civil Rights Movement.

Bayard Rustin who was a communist and gay and a chief organizer of the March on Washington was pushed to the background

Bayard Rustin was a communist and gay and a chief organizer of the March on Washington was pushed to the background

At the beginning of the march, the press rolled up on the actual organizer and chief strategist of the march Bayard Rustin and started badgering him about the number of people who were expected to show up. The press was hell-bent on shrinking the numbers.. Sounds familiar?

The Press as well government leaders were concerned there would be violence at the March on Washington in ’63. Nope, there was no ratchet rap music. There weren’t people wearing sagging pants or hoodies. There wasn’t folks running around yelling ‘Thug life’ yet the police, national guard etc were all preparing for Black violence. This was in 1963.. Sounds familiar?

Many forget that no politician spoke that day. President Obama will speak at the March on the 28th, which raises a number of issues including how his policies are direct opposition to what King was fighting for.

As many have pointed out 50 years ago all the main organizers were under surveillance by the federal government via Cointel-Pro. Today president Obama presides over a government that is literally spying on everybody at the march. Author/ scholar Jelani Cobb lays this irony out in his excellent essay; Obama, Surveillance and the Legacy of the March on Washington.

Also when King finished his speech, most folks including himself thought it was just ok.. Many did not see King hitting a home run out the park. In fact there were some who were critical, saying that King was Dreaming vs fighting for specific rights.. Younge explains in great detail how and why that speech was elevated to the status it has today, as one of the greatest speeches ever delivered..

Check out our interview below with Gary Younge and get the full behind the scenes story of Martin Luther King’s ‘Greatest Speech’.

Click the link below to download or listen to the HKR Intv

hard knock radio_08-23-2013

As you listen to the interview we encourage folks to peep the text and listen to the actual interview..

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=smEqnnklfYs

“I HAVE A DREAM” SPEECH The Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr August 28, 1963

“I am happy to join with you today in what will go down in history as the greatest demonstration for freedom in the history of our nation.

Five score years ago, a great American, in whose symbolic shadow we stand today, signed the Emancipation Proclamation. This momentous decree came as a great beacon light of hope to millions of Negro slaves who had been seared in the flames of withering injustice. It came as a joyous daybreak to end the long night of their captivity.

The Negro still is not free.

But 100 years later, the Negro still is not free. One hundred years later, the life of the Negro is still sadly crippled by the manacles of segregation and the chains of discrimination. One hundred years later, the Negro lives on a lonely island of poverty in the midst of a vast ocean of material prosperity. One hundred years later, the Negro is still languished in the corners of American society and finds himself an exile in his own land. And so we’ve come here today to dramatize a shameful condition.

In a sense we’ve come to our nation’s capital to cash a check. When the architects of our republic wrote the magnificent words of the Constitution and the Declaration of Independence, they were signing a promissory note to which every American was to fall heir. This note was a promise that all men – yes, black men as well as white men – would be guaranteed the unalienable rights of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.

It is obvious today that America has defaulted on this promissory note insofar as her citizens of color are concerned. Instead of honoring this sacred obligation, America has given the Negro people a bad check, a check that has come back marked ‘insufficient funds.’

But we refuse to believe that the bank of justice is bankrupt. We refuse to believe that there are insufficient funds in the great vaults of opportunity of this nation.

Time to rise from the dark valley of segregation.

And so we’ve come to cash this check, a check that will give us upon demand the riches of freedom and security of justice. We have also come to his hallowed spot to remind America of the fierce urgency of now. This is no time to engage in the luxury of cooling off or to take the tranquilizing drug of gradualism.

Now is the time to make real the promises of democracy. Now is the time to rise from the dark and desolate valley of segregation to the sunlit path of racial justice. Now is the time to lift our nation from the quicksands of racial injustice to the solid rock of brotherhood. Now is the time to make justice a reality for all of God’s children.

It would be fatal for the nation to overlook the urgency of the moment. This sweltering summer of the Negro’s legitimate discontent will not pass until there is an invigorating autumn of freedom and equality.

Nineteen sixty-three is not an end but a beginning.

Those who hoped that the Negro needed to blow off steam and will now be content will have a rude awakening if the nation returns to business as usual. There will be neither rest nor tranquility in America until the Negro is granted his citizenship rights. The whirlwinds of revolt will continue to shake the foundations of our nation until the bright day of justice emerges.

Let us not drink from the cup of bitterness and hatred

But there is something that I must say to my people who stand on the warm threshold which leads into the palace of justice. In the process of gaining our rightful place we must not be guilty of wrongful deeds. Let us not seek to satisfy our thirst for freedom by drinking from the cup of bitterness and hatred. We must forever conduct our struggle on the high plane of dignity and discipline.

We must not allow our creative protest to degenerate into physical violence. Again and again we must rise to the majestic heights of meeting physical force with soul force. The marvelous new militancy which has engulfed the Negro community must not lead us to a distrust of all white people, for many of our white brothers, as evidenced by their presence here today, have come to realize that their destiny is tied up with our destiny. And they have come to realize that their freedom is inextricably bound to our freedom.

We cannot walk alone.

We cannot walk alone. And as we walk, we must make the pledge that we shall always march ahead. We cannot turn back.

There are those who are asking the devotees of civil rights, ‘When will you be satisfied?’

We can never be satisfied as long as the Negro is the victim of the unspeakable horrors of police brutality.

We can never be satisfied as long as our bodies, heavy with the fatigue of travel, cannot gain lodging in the motels of the highways and the hotels of the cities.

We cannot be satisfied as long as the Negro’s basic mobility is from a smaller ghetto to a larger one. We can never be satisfied as long as our children are stripped of their selfhood and robbed of their dignity by signs stating “for whites only.”

We cannot be satisfied as long as a Negro in Mississippi cannot vote and a Negro in New York believes he has nothing for which to vote. No, no we are not satisfied and we will not be satisfied until justice rolls down like waters and righteousness like a mighty stream.

Let us not wallow in the valley of despair

I am not unmindful that some of you have come here out of great trials and tribulations. Some of you have come fresh from narrow jail cells. Some of you have come from areas where your quest for freedom left you battered by storms of persecution and staggered by the winds of police brutality.

You have been the veterans of creative suffering. Continue to work with the faith that unearned suffering is redemptive.

Go back to Mississippi, go back to Alabama, go back to South Carolina, go back to Georgia, go back to Louisiana, go back to the slums and ghettos of our northern cities, knowing that somehow this situation can and will be changed.

Let us not wallow in the valley of despair. I say to you today my friends – so even though we face the difficulties of today and tomorrow, I still have a dream. It is a dream deeply rooted in the American dream.

We hold these truths to be self-evident

I have a dream that one day this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed: ‘We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal.’

I have a dream that one day on the red hills of Georgia the sons of former slaves and the sons of former slave owners will be able to sit down together at the table of brotherhood.

I have a dream that one day even the state of Mississippi, a state sweltering with the heat of injustice, sweltering with the heat of oppression, will be transformed into an oasis of freedom and justice.

I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character.

I have a dream today.

I have a dream that one day down in Alabama, with its vicious racists, with its governor having his lips dripping with the words of interposition and nullification – one day right there in Alabama little black boys and black girls will be able to join hands with little white boys and white girls as sisters and brothers.

I have a dream today.

I have a dream that one day every valley shall be exalted, and every hill and mountain shall be made low, the rough places will be made plain, and the crooked places will be made straight, and the glory of the Lord shall be revealed and all flesh shall see it together.

This is our hope

This is our hope. This is the faith that I go back to the South with. With this faith we will be able to hew out of the mountain of despair a stone of hope. With this faith we will be able to transform the jangling discords of our nation into a beautiful symphony of brotherhood. With this faith we will be able to work together, to pray together, to struggle together, to go to jail together, to stand up for freedom together, knowing that we will be free one day.

This will be the day, this will be the day when all of God’s children will be able to sing with new meaning ‘My country ’tis of thee, sweet land of liberty, of thee I sing. Land where my father’s died, land of the Pilgrim’s pride, from every mountainside, let freedom ring!’

And if America is to be a great nation, this must become true. And so let freedom ring from the prodigious hilltops of New Hampshire. Let freedom ring from the mighty mountains of New York. Let freedom ring from the heightening Alleghenies of Pennsylvania.

Let freedom ring

Let freedom ring from the snow-capped Rockies of Colorado. Let freedom ring from the curvaceous slopes of California.

But not only that; let freedom ring from Stone Mountain of Georgia.

Let freedom ring from Lookout Mountain of Tennessee.

Let freedom ring from every hill and molehill of Mississippi – from every mountainside.

Let freedom ring. And when this happens, and when we allow freedom ring – when we let it ring from every village and every hamlet, from every state and every city, we will be able to speed up that day when all of God’s children – black men and white men, Jews and Gentiles, Protestants and Catholics – will be able to join hands and sing in the words of the old Negro spiritual: “Free at last! Free at last!

Thank God Almighty, we are free at last!”

I’ve posted this clip before and will do so again.. This is the famous Civil Rights Roundtable that took place the morning of the March on Washington. It features actors Harry Belafonte, Sidney Poitier, Marlon Brando and Charleston Heston along with writer James Baldwin.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mdIHBod9nT4

Filed Under: 2013 Daily News Tagged With: Bayard Rustin, Civil Rights Movement, Gary Younge, hard Knock radio, I have a dream, March on Washington, Martin Luther King

Why Hip Hop Will Always Love the Oakland Raiders

August 23, 2013 By mrDaveyd

So I was going thru my massive archives of cassette tapes and I came across this old song.. I think folks who sport the Silver and Black will enjoy it.. Its’ a song myself and Renel from Kiss FM here in the Bay Area did back in our Morning Zoo Days on KMEL….

If I recall correctly September 29th 1991 we sure did put an ass whupping on our friends from across the Bay.. I was at that game and lemme tell you in the words of Ice Cube.. It was a Good Day.. In fact I’m willing to bet that victory is what inspired Cube to write that hit song It Was a Good Day.. And yes I do like Kapernick and I’m a Vernon Davis fan. I also have come to get along and have lots of Niner friends since so many have been gentrified outta San Francisco..Y’all make good neighbors.. but make no mistake, if I need to I can go back in the lab and cut another song highlighting the virtues of my beloved Raiders.. Enjoy

Davey D-Renel-Beat the Niners public enemy

Filed Under: 2013 Daily News

3 Dope Songs from Public Enemy’s Landmark Album Muse Sick-N-Hour Mess Age

August 23, 2013 By mrDaveyd

August 23 2013: 19 years ago today Public Enemy released their fifth album Muse Sick-N-Hour Mess Age..For the most part the album did pretty well, but not as well sales wise as previous PE albums. Personally it was one my favorite joints and too me their most political. For the group it was a turning point as some prominent music critics unfairly bashed the group for not being ‘street enough‘ because they didn’t have a a gangsta sound and that they were too old..

At that time Warren G and the G Funk Era was in full swing and if you weren’t doing that you were rocking a pair tims and a hoodie and doing videos standing in a sewer to reflect how hardcore you were.

Younger heads who were just getting into Hip Hop were getting attached to artists like Nas, Hobo Junction, Organized Konfusion and Outkast who all dropped debut albums that year.

The music had moved away from political messages to one of making CREAM ala Wu-Tang who dropped their debut album the year before or being Gucci Down to your socks ala Biggie who dropped his debut album ‘Ready to Die‘ that year..

PE was caught in the middle but stuck to their guns and their message which I think has stood the test of time..
Below are 3 songs that stood out for me on that album..

Public Enemy So Watcha Gonna Do Now?..

Long before we even thought of Barack Obama or a Black president, PE does a song that depicts one . Its re-enactment of what befell President John F Kennedy in Dallas back in 1963 except in this song PE gives it a different twist at the end. The lyrics themselves speaks out about gangsterism..I wish they had shown the video more back when this track came out..

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RhKqsIe283c

Public Enemy Ain’tNutting ButterSong

I love how Public Enemy took a traditional patriotic song and flipped it on its air with a Jimmy Hendrix type vibe. The lyrics are searing as they go in on the contractions of America, the flag and what she says she stands for vs what she actually does with people of darker hues.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-3G3tpB5sdY

Public Enemy Godd Complexx

I really appreciated this song when it came out and played it all the time.. They did a cover to the Last Poets controversial spoken word piece the White Man’s Got a God Complex. Here Flavor Flav does the duties and sticks to the words of the original song while riding a funky beat..

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KyBlV1CV8fM

I figured I’d let folks peep the original joint from the Last Poets in case you never heard it before today..

Last Poets The White Man’s Got a God Complex

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6zLGE1oLm8A

Def Jeff God Complex

As much as I like the God Complex song by PE, I gotta note they weren’t the first to flip the song.. A few years earlier LA based rapper Def Jeff who was on Delicious Vinyl reworked the song. Here he skillfully sampled the Last Poets while simultaneously riding over the beat to Gil Scott Heron‘s classic jam ‘The Revolution Will Not Be Televised’.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dfOmXmiNtAM

Public Enemy ‘Thin Line Between Law and Rape..

This has got to be the most chilling song on the album as Chuck D talks about the horrific legacy of slavery and colonization where our our sisters, land and resources were routinely raped raped. Chuck wrote the following:

“It’s A Thin Line Between Law and Rape deals with the fact that the image of rape and crime has been thrust upon Black symbols here in America and throughout the world. America and the Western world have raped entire races of people of their name, God, religion, culture, and language, have raped continents of their resources and progeny, and have raped our women, which is the main reason Black people are so many different shades today. The laws of America allowed it, so I titled the song It’s A Thin Line Between Law and Rape.”

They employ reggae vocals of Colin Rochester who does a haunting hook at the end. He lived around the group In Roosevelt, Long Island. He appear edon Terminator X‘s solo album. Chuck noted that Colin was deported back to Jamaica shortly after the album was released.

Filed Under: 2013 Daily News, 3 Dope songs Tagged With: 3 Dope Songs, Def Jeff, Godd Complexx, Last Poets, Muse Sick-N-Hour Mess Age., Public Enemy

Rupert Murdoch Unleashes a Vicious Media Attack on Black Folks Over Stop & Frisk

August 23, 2013 By mrDaveyd

Rupert Murdoch

For some this headline and accompanying picture will come as no surprise. What can you expect from the New York Post? It’s always been a trash newspaper designed to prod people and get them upset, angry and fearful. Maybe Australian born Rupert Murdoch who owns the paper did this because of the recent killing in Duncan, Oklahoma of the Australian baseball player..

Perhaps this was his way of striking back to what he perceives as a racially charged wrong doing.. Or maybe he never stopped to realize that the longer you use media outlets to plant seeds of discord which he and his Fox media empire do everyday at every moment, that you will eventually have to face a dumbed down uncaring, angry at the world public..

Instead of fostering dialogue Murdoch seeks to end it and get people to be at odds with one another. He wants his publications to be the modern-day versions of Birth of a Nation film maker DW Griffith, whose destructive work of stereotyping and dehumanizing of Black people led to the rise of the Ku Klux Klan who were heroes in this movie, mass lynchings of Black people all over the country and eventually race riots.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R4v_yRFf4-Y

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9t-7SVbLjBw

The layout including the picture of Madonna and her grill are quite deliberate and designed to ratch up more fear of the ‘Black male menace‘ who according to Murdoch, the New York City council sided with when they voted to hold NYPD accountable for Stop and Frisk. Expect a massive campaign from Murdoch and folks in the media who think like him to sensationalize and highlight every wrong doing by anyone Black to the point, that people will be begging to reverse yesterday’s vote against Stop and Frisk. Character assassination, negative, dehumanizing media depictions have impacted killed more people than guns ever have or will..

We should also remind folks, with a big mayoral election right around the corner, this is also Murdoch’s attempt to sway voters, by getting them to vote for candidates who will continue support fascist policing policies

On a side note, this week Al Jazerra America just launched and for many who are seeing it it has been a welcome change from the news we normally see here in the states. People like the news stories and the ethnic diversity shown on air. They also like the fact that the people being highlighted are not cheerleaders and paid pundits for particular political parties.

The campaign against AJAM is that they are run by Muslims who are gonna try and covert everyone to Islam and call for Jihad. Xenophobic backwards thinking people are upset that a foreign company is running the media. Sadly those same folks seem to forget that Murdoch is a foreigner and so is his Fox Media empire. But I guess if your white and foreign then its ok..

And yes, for those who are wondering, I’m well aware in many parts of the world that state run Al Jazerra is just as problematic for some the same way Fox is. But how they squelch dissent in their homeland of Qatar is of little concern to the xenophobic folks objecting to them here in the US..

Filed Under: 2013 Daily News Tagged With: media justice, New York Post, Racism, rupert Murdoch, Stop and Frisk

NY Mayor Michael Bloomberg Takes Issue w/ Kendrick Lamar’s ‘King of NY’ Remarks

August 22, 2013 By mrDaveyd

It’s hard to say for sure what Kendrick Lamar really intended when he dropped his wicked verse on Big Sean‘s Outta Control, but weeks later all sorts of folks continue to get into the act.. There are thus far over 30 responses with luminaries such as basketball coaching legend Phil Jackson weighing after being name checked.

Over the past couple of weeks there have been heated discussions both on radio and all across the internet about whether or not Kendrick’s verse even warrants all this attention..

As was noted in previous posts on the subject, the most controversial line in that verse was Kendrick claiming to be ‘The King of New York”. That rubbed many the wrong way and has been the motivation for many of the responses to the West Coast based emcee.

One thing about New York City, is folks do not like anyone who is not from there disparaging the city. Folks may recall back in the days when Death Row Records was in full swing, Snoop Dogg along with the Dogg Pound decided to do video to their song New York, New York. They depicted Snoop and others knocking down buildings or sitting on top of them. Not only did a set off a firestorm including a immediate song and video response from Mobb Deep, but when word got out they were filming, angry New Yorkers showed up and started shooting.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vsfzAvOrjrc

With respect to Kendrick Lamar, he has been feeling a lot of heat from proud New Yorkers. For him things just got real when New York’ ‘s billionaire Mayor Michael Bloomberg issued a response. He too wasn’t appreciative of what Kendrick had to say and let it be known. He reminded Lamar as well as fellow New Yorkers, how the city is run and who is really in control in spite of the Outta Control verse.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PkDN33oed9M

Filed Under: 2013 Daily News Tagged With: Jasiri X, Kendrick Lamar, Michael Bloomberg, Outta control

Hard Knock Radio: The Plight of Florida’s Other Slain Unarmed Teen, Jordan Davis

August 22, 2013 By mrDaveyd

Jordan Davis

HKR August 15 2013: Today on Hard Knock Radio Anita Johnson sits down with John M. Phillips the attorney for the Jordan Davis family. For those who don’t recall last year Florida had two 17-year-old Black teens who were killed by racist individuals using Stand Your Ground Laws. We all know about the murder of Trayvon Martin and how he was profiled, followed and killed by George Zimmerman but not too many know about Jordan Davis.

Several months after the Trayvon slaying in November 2012, a white man named Michael Dunn saw some Black teenagers in a car and felt he they were playing their music too loud. He confronted them, according to him, words were exchanged. Dunn said he felt threatened and thus emptied his gun into the car containing 6-8 unarmed teenagers. When the gun smoke cleared 17-year-old Jordan Davis laid dead.

We discuss the particulars of the case, what steps are being taken to bring about justice and how they compare to the Trayvon case.

Later in the show we hear a commentary from political prisoner Mumia Abu Jamal and a riveting speech from Michelle Alexander the author of the book ‘The New Jim Crow‘.

Click the link below to download or listen to the HKR Intv

Hard Knock Radio_August 15 2013

Filed Under: 2013 Daily News, Hard Knock Radio Intv Tagged With: Anita Johnson, Florida, hard Knock radio, John M Phllips, Jordan Davis, Michael Dunn, Michelle Alexander, stand Your Ground, Trayvon Martin

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