Before there was Madea w/ Tyler Perry, There was Geraldine w/ Flip Wilson-How Many of Y’all Remember?

October 27, 2009 By mrDaveyd

flipwilsonsammydavis I like Tyler Perry and his character Madea. He/ she does have her funny moments.. However, before there was Madea there was Geraldine played by comedian Flip Wilson. A lot of folks have forgotten about Flip.. he was eons ahead of his time..Geraldine was before Jamie Foxx, Martin Lawrence, Eddie Murphy and any other comedian that has made a mark playing a woman.

I loved the way his character Geraldine would talk about fictional boyfriend ‘Killer’.. I also loved the way Geraldine would interact with the guests..

Below is a classic clip where Geraldine engages heavyweight champ Muhammad Ali. We must not forget our history..

Another classic skit is Flip Wilson engaging the Jackson 5

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Filed Under: 2009-Daily Hip Hop News, Davey D-Words to Ponder Blog, Life style articles Tagged With: Geraldine, Madea, Muhammad Ali, Tyler Perry

Goldman Sachs is Giving Away 23 Billion In Bonuses…Where’s All the Tea Party Protestors? Why are they so Silent?

October 20, 2009 By mrDaveyd

DaveyD-Raider So last night I’m sitting here watching the news and I hear this crazy report about how all these companies that we helped bail out, first under former President George Bush and then later under President Obama, are on pace to make huge profits and give out record bonuses to their management teams. Note I said management, not your average Joe Schmoe worker who pushes papers or pushes a mop. While most of us can barely pay car fare to go to work (tolls are rising to 5 bucks here in the Bay Area), Goldman Sach’s management will be receiving a whooping 23 BILLION dollars in bonuses. 23 Billion dollars…I want everyone to sit there and think about that for a minute.

Think about that as I did and wonder why all these people I know who never paid a bill late in their lives suddenly had their line of credit decreased. My boy’s business had to let a few people go because one of the banks we helped bail out suddenly couldn’t give him and his business credit in spite of his stellar record and A credit rating..This scenario is playing out all over the country.

Meanwhile back at the Wall Street ranch-23 billion dollars for Goldman Sachs? 23 billion for a company that was failing and needed us to come to the rescue?

I suppose I shouldn’t be surprised. The cynical folks that I tend to come across day in and day out have predicted this for months. They’ve said all along its not the President or the people who have final say so in this country, it’s the people who control the financial institutions..23 Billion dollars in bonus–keep repeating this to yourself as you find yourself putting in extra hours and avoiding taking vacations for fear of losing your own meager paying job.

23 Billion dollars-I’m sitting here listening to this crap and looking at a medical bill for 1400 bucks I have no way of paying anytime soon. I couldn’t afford it when I got severely sick a couple of months ago and had no choice but to visit an emergency room. My ‘great’ insurance-(privately owned and not government run) wouldn’t cover me for an emergency out of state. It was on me they told me. But hey thats another story. The point is I couldn’t afford to pay it in August and I can’t afford to pay it now. I needed a stimulus package and couldn’t get it. My job needed one-None was given. I needed some credit mine was cut. Thank you Wells Fargo. Meanwhile back at the Wall Street ranch- Goldman Sachs management are getting 23 Billion dollars..

Where are all the Tea Party protestors? Why aren't they in front of Goldman Sachs?

I guess the thing that really eats at me most was hearing about Goldman Sachs and thinking about all these ‘orchestrated’ Tea Party gatherings. I say orchestrated because when you went you heard the a lot of talk about greed and corruption and tax dollars being wasted. You saw all sorts of posters with demonic pictures of President Obama denouncing him. And I’ll be honest, if Goldman Sachs are his people and he has people from that firm all up in his inner circle and administration, some hard hitting criticism is due. You’ll get no defense from me about Obama and his relationship to Goldman Sachs… With that being said, based upon the supposed outrage and call to action to get this country back on track as underlined by the Tea Party folks, my question is ‘Where art thou?’ When’s the next Tea Party?

Where’s the tea party thats gonna be kicked off in front of Goldman Sachs Headquarters on 85 Broad Street in Lower Manhattan? Since its been said that President Obama really doesn’t run the country and he’s controlled by rich, powerful wall street bankers, where are all my shotgun carrying, ultra patriotic Tea Party folks now? Where’s the September 12th Protestors? Remember them? Didn’t they show up with “millions’) in front of the white house’? (Note: It really wasn’t millions it was more like ten thousand, but we’ll say millions to make them happy…Please keep in mind it would be real expensive for those drug industry marketing firms that were organizing the September 12th Protest along with the Townhalls and Tea Party gatherings to hire millions to come out to a protest-but lets not digress). Obviously we don’t see these people confronting the ‘real beast’ and the real criminals…

Memo to Glenn Beck: Goldman Sach's CEO Lloyd Craig Blankfein has done more harm to us than Van Jones ever did or could

So as I was saying where’s Sean Hannity? Lou Dobbs? Rush Limbaugh? Has anyone seen them? Are they directing their viewers and listeners to show and protest? Are they getting the tens of thousands of ‘honest, poor, hard working citizens who carried posters with Obama looking like Adolph Hitler to show up in front of Goldman Sach’s headquarters carrying Hitler-isque pictures of CEO Lloyd Craig Blankfein? Do their listeners even know who he is? Where’s the Fox News ambush team to jump in the face of a bonus receiving Goldman Sach’s manager demanding they give back tax payer money? Isn’t Goldman Sachs who we should be confronting? Where’s the outrage?

Are there any ‘Joker-like pictures of David A. Viniar the Chief Financial Officer of Goldman Sachs being posted around town? Weren’t well known conspiracy pundits like Alex Jones (The Obama Deception) just two months ago offering 50 thousand dollars to people who could post up Obama the Joker flyers? Is he offering anything similar for us to confront the ‘evil folks’ at Goldman Sachs who pull the economic purse strings not just for Obama but for many of us as well?

Where’s Glenn Beck‘s hunt for wrongdoers of this magnitude? Where’s the weeks worth of expose to take down those who are really doing ‘treasonous’ and treacherous things that harm the working class America? Does anyone think that Glenn Beck targets like; Van Jones, Mark Lloyd or Yosi Sergent are the ones disrupting American life or is it the dip shits giving out billions of dollars in bonuses to their management teams after we bailed them out? Will any of those billions be stimulating your economy anytime soon? 23 billion dollars in bonuses folks..23 Billion.

The Tea party protesters and their contradictory ways aren’t the only ones we need to take to task. Let’s talk about your everyday run in the mill hoodlum. Lets make sure he has his priorities straight.

Memo to Thugs: Stop robbing poor people in the hood-try Wall Street

Memo to Wannabe Gangstas & Thugs: Stop robbing people in the hood. You wanna rob somebody? Find a one of these Goldman Sachs bonus baby cats. You wanna show how gangster you are? Post up on 85 Broad street or 30 Hudson street in Jersey City . If not in New York there’s a Goldman Sachs in a city near you. Whatever you do stop robbing and terrorizing poor folks in the community who can barely afford a pot to piss in and bring the drama to the folks who have more money than our entire community combined.

When these Wall Street barons get their bonus checks tell them to ‘Ante up’. Tell them to ‘run’ their loot and don’t feel bad. After all, that’s what these bankers did to us. Late last year they strong armed tax payers and told the American people they better give them stimulus money or the economy would tank.

If folks recall, when Congress took their initial vote on giving a bailout the answer was ‘Hell Naw’. That’s when these Wall Street crooks ran around and threatened to destroy the economy. Film maker Michael Moore outlines this in his movie ‘Capitalism a Love Story’ The end result was Congress reversed its vote and we wound up giving away trillions. We gave away all that money and the economy is still tanking for far too many of us…

23 Billion.. do you know how many people can have their basic needs met with that money? It’ll be interesting to see how millionaire broadcasters in the media suddenly get quiet and won’t cajole the people into action. Expect more balloonboy coverage and beauty Queen breast plant stories. This is what they are talking about today on local TV news stations in NY home to Goldman Sachs this morning as I write this.. Expect outlandish excuses used to defend the bonuses received by these Goldman Sach numbskulls-23 Billion

Something to ponder..

-Davey D-

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Filed Under: 2009-Daily Hip Hop News, Davey D-Words to Ponder Blog, Political articles Tagged With: 85 Broad street, Bailout, David A. Viniar, Glenn Beck, Goldman Sachs, Goldman Sachs is Giving Away 23 Billion In Bonuses...Where's All the Tea Party Protestors? Why are they so Silent?, Lloyd Craig Blankfein, Memo to Thugs & Gangstas: Stop Robbing the Hood-Try Wall Street, Memo to Thugs & Gangstas: Stop Robbing the Hood-Where's All the Tea Party Protestors?, Tea Part protests, Wall street bailout

Roman Polanski and the Contradictions in Us All

September 29, 2009 By mrDaveyd

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DaveyD-leather-225 Everyone is talking about the arrest of ‘famed’ director Roman Polanski as he entered Switzerland the other day to attend an award show where he was being honored. He was arrested for being a fugitive on the run from the United States and is likely to be sent back to face charges for drugging and raping a 13-year-old girl 30 years ago. Polanski is best known for directing films like ‘Chinatown’ and ‘Rosemary’s Baby’. After he fled the country, he continued to shine by directing films like The Pianist which won him a couple of Academy Awards, the Ninth Gate and Tess to name a few.

Personally I shed no tears for Polanski. The crime he committed was heinous crime where there is no forgiveness. As far as I’m concerned our government along with the rich and powerful in Hollywood gave Polanski a pass. He was given a wink and a nod when he fled to France. People somehow found a way to humanize him and make him a sympathetic figure of sorts by noting how his beloved wife Sharon Tate was killed by Charles Manson. Hence him raping a 13 year old was somehow a result of that trauma.

For me, its hard not to look at Polanski supposedly escaping the US Justice system while that same justice system managed to track down and persecute Black Panthers and others who were part of the freedom struggle, all over the world. It didn’t matter if any of those figures had experienced personal tragedies like seeing a loved one shot and killed by police. It didn’t matter that they themselves had been traumatized by oppression. At the time Polanski committed this rape, Panthers were being mercilessly hunted down by the FBI via their destructive cointel-pro program which among other things instructed agents to run all sorts psychological mind games on their BP targets.

Over the years we’ve seen local prosecutors be granted all sorts of resources to go after these freedom fighters 30 years after the fact even though the crimes they were accused of were highly disputable and in many instances dubious. Perhaps government officials should’ve spent time and energy offering million dollar bounties for his return the way they did Asaata Shakur. Perhaps time should’ve been spent securing Congressional proclamations of condemnation or making his extradition to the US a precondition to a normalized or improved relationship between us and France. We seem to have no problem insisting on such things at tax payer expense when it came to seeking out Black and Brown folks fighting against injustice heaped upon our communities.

Roman Polanski

What I find most disturbing is that after all these years what may have triggered Polanski’s arrest was him criticizing and accusing the LA District attorney’s office of gross misconduct. From the way it sounds, it appears that all it took to go after and finally get a seemingly untouchable Polanski arrested was a bruised ego. For 30 years the US Justice system could not grab hold of Polanski because he was hiding out in the south of France or the Swiss Alps. Suddenly he raises his voice against the state and they found a way to get him. Swiss Alps be damned.

This saga spells out a couple of things. Lesson #1– speak out against the state rightly or wrongly, and it is likely to hit back. There are lots of freedom fighters languishing in jails as political prisoners who clearly understand this lesson.

Lesson #2-, which I hope did not go over everybody’s head, is understanding the full scope and wide breadth of discretion that prosecutors seem to have when it comes to tackling crime. From what I can tell, there are no new laws in Switzerland that just sprung up allowing Polanski to finally be arrested. They were always in place, but for some reason even though Polanski had been to Zurich numerous times and even had a nice home over there, our government, in particular the LA district attorney just didn’t seem to have the political will or wherewithal to bring Polanski, a man who raped a 13-year-old to justice. That speaks volumes.

Y’all should marinate on that for a while. While you do that, ask yourself why the Pookies and Ray Rays of our community are doing 10 year bids after vigoriously being persecuted for non-violent crimes and drug addictions and white collar criminals who pillage and plunder you into taking substances are still free except for handful. Think about that while our prosecutors can’t find ways to bring brutalizing cops to justice but will suspend your license and issue an arrest warrant that they will hungrily pursue for unpaid tickets.

Yes, we know there are double standards, but we should not dismiss them and say ‘Oh well that’s how they be’ or ‘Oh well that’s how they do us-what else is knew?‘. My point here is that we should be well aware that there is lots of latitude and hence this should embolden us to fight even harder for people’s freedoms and to fight even harder to bring those who egregiously wronged us to justice. It should be more than obvious that no prosecutor’s hands are tied when it comes to doing what they feel needs to be done.

With that being said, we should also look at the contradictions within Hollywood. Here’s a town that is infamous for social persecutions and ostracization of ‘wrong doers’ and people who stepped on the wrong toes. Everyone knows that there are simply certain buttons you don’t push and certain people you don’t piss off least you suffer serious social and economic consequences. Hollywood is small town and stepping on toes is easy to do with dire consequences, unless you’re Roman Polanski who raped a 13-year-old..Now, call someone a pejorative name like ‘Faggot’ as did actor Isiah Washington and you can find yourself banished with your peers loudly condemning you. Not only will they condemn, many might not even work with you.

Unless your name is Mel Gibson and you are titan in your own right, you best not even think about saying or doing anything that is deemed anti-Semitic. You are likely to not be receiving any Academy Awards. You are likely not to be praised and forget about getting funding for your next film.

When you are a Polanski, you can get your esteemed colleagues coming to your aid petitioning the Swiss government and even Secretary of State Hillary Clinton for your immediate release. You can have your fellow colleagues likes actress Debra Winger go before the world and declare your persecution and date with justice is a Philistine-like act.

When your a Polanski you can be spared a Bill O’reilly like tirade or a Glenn Beck tea party inspired witch hunt. Be Van Jones and curse at a Republican and its gloves our off and the pressure won’t let up until you leave town. Be Roman Polanski and we won’t have deep investigations trying to connect the dots..

Woody Allen

And lets not get it twisted, Polanski not the only one who has done wrong or has raised serious questions in this regard. We still show love and admiration for film director Woody Allen, even though he was accused by his former partner Mia Farrow of molesting her seven year old daughter and as we all know he eventually wound up marrying his ‘step daughter’ Soon-Yi Previn. Allen is still admired and held up as being a pillar in the film industry.

I was tempted to ask the rhetorical question would any of us work for a director who raped a 13-year-old girl? Would any of us work for someone who was accused of molestation and married his step daughter? I was gonna ask that until I remembered many of us would have no qualms in embracing Polanski and Allen. We would embrace them the same way we embrace accused molester R. Kelly. You remember him, the guy who sings those dope songs like ‘Still I can Fly’ and ‘Step in the Name of Love’ ? You remember R.Kelly the guy who somehow beat the charges levied against him, but there was no denying it was him in an underground widely watched x-rated video getting kinky and peeing on an underage girl? But hell if we can love Elvis Presley who was with Priscilla at 14 and Jerry Lee Lewis who was with his cousin when she was 13, I guess why trip off Polanski, Allen and R Kelly right? Our tolerance of such actions and activities says a lot about us as a society…At the very least it says we talk a good game about loving our children, but at the end of the day we do very little to protect them, especially if there’s money to be made.

Aaaah yes..ya gotta love the contradictions in us all….

Something to ponder

-Davey D-

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Filed Under: 2009-Daily Hip Hop News, Davey D-Words to Ponder Blog, Southern Shift Tagged With: Bill O'reilly, Child Molestation, Cild Molestation, Davey D hip Hop news-Roman Polanski, Glenn Beck, R.Kelly, Roman Polanski and the Contradictions in Us All, Woody Allen

Should Rap Artists Have a Morality Clause in Their Contracts?

August 25, 2009 By mrDaveyd

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This is an interesting concept (having a morality clause) that has obviously grown out of the frustration that many feel when they hear about a high paid recording artists acting out in public or is accused of committing a crime. The most recent incident being a stash of drugs found in the home of Jadakiss who at press time was not arrested or wanted by police. While a morality clause may have some effect in the NFL or NBA it is likely not to work in the music arena for a number of reasons.

First, the NFL and NBA are institutions that long ago had the foresight to see that having a good image could be profitable. As a result they’ve worked hard to control their public image by taking a number of steps ranging from disallowing TV networks to use their name or likeness to imposing dress codes on players when appearing in public. Their theory is that the league is bigger and more important then one individual player.

This has never been the cased with the music industry. Here we’re talking about an institution that has never been shy about flirting with unsavory elements in our society, either as performers or as behind the scenes executives and employees. Such associations have added to the lore and often cited ethos -sex, drugs and rock-n-roll. In other words, the music industry has thrived off of having a bad boy rebellious image. Sadly much of that drama filled image is crafted and planned out with the same precision and calculation as the NFL and NBA seek to move away from trouble.

Second point, professional sports leagues have a small number of people who get paid lots of money with very few entry points for one to rebound if they blow their opportunity. Hence its easier to police a sports league compared to the music business which has a lot more entry points. In the NFL or NBA players can barred or suspended. There is no music industry that you can bar one from. You might restrict airplay or stop someone from performing at a concert , but they can always go and do things on the indy tip and record or perform somewhere else. Putting the word banned or suspended next to their name will probably result in an artist enjoying more notoriety thus increasing their popularity.

The NFL and NBA is one big institution that controls all aspects of its business. It controls TV, radio, magazines etc. the Music Bizis a made up of a bunch of individual parts that have symbiotic relationships to one another. Its by choice we all work hand in hand, but we don’t have to especially if we have economic interests at stake. For example, if Interscope records decides to suspend 50 Cent, that has little bearing on what I do as a radio programmer. I may still play his music, show his video or highlight him in magazine. In addition, oftentimes its members of an artists’ entourage that kick up dust and cause drama hitting, Who do you suspend there?

Third point, The Music Industry has built its business around shady behavior. Controversy and beef are major selling points. Artists going to jail and having brushes with the law have far too often enhanced their attraction and validated them or their record labels who seem to be determined to garner ‘street cred’. In short bad behavior is rewarded.

Here’s a couple ofexamples. A few years ago Jay-Z stabbed record executive Lance Un Rivera after it was revealed that he was bootlegging Jigga’s music. Was Jay-Z suspended? Did he stop receiving airplay? Did MTV/BET tell him he was no longer welcome at their award shows? Hell naw. The incident made him seem more ‘real’ in the eyes of fans and sadly in the eyes of radio and video executives who often live vicariously through these artists. Some of these folks felt they themselves got street cred from playing or being in good with Jay-Z and his Roc-A-Fella Fam.

Now imagine if any of us stabbed a collegue? It would be a wrap unless we were former Vice President Dick Cheney who shot his boy in the face during a hunting trip-but lets not digress. My point here is Jay-Z was seen as a hero, not by young impressionable children, but by grown ass men and women in their 30s, 40s, 50s and 60s who work in the music industry who make decisions to present or not present music and images to millions all over the world.

Another example involves The Game and his entourage a couple of years ago. They came to a Washington DC radio station WYKS to do an interview and wound up and beating down a popular DJ named X-Zulu. According to the story, they were angry when the DJ made what they felt was an off the cuff remark. (according to reports he said the blue tooth headset one of Game’s people was wearing made them look like a Klingon from Star Trek fame).

Radio One which owns WYKS was at first furious with Game and ceased playing his records. However, other stations around the country continued to play him without hesitation. Game later went back into the studio and recorded a new verse to his popular song ‘Hate it or Love It’ where he actually bragged about the incident which sent the deejay to the hospital. Many radio executives had no problem playing that song on their airwaves including Radio One. In fact WYKS eventually resumed playing Game.

The grumblings around the industry was that lots of money was put forth to make sure Game’s music was played and put in heavy rotation. When the station ceased playing his songs, the money (payola) was asked to be returned. Rather then do that the station opted to, play his music. Oh well, so much for morality clauses. If anything maybe its the executive in this industry that need morality clauses..

What I find fascinating about this is that record labels when needed can and do exert control over their artists. They control where artists can do interviews on major radio stations, what concerts they perform at and what magazine’s they grant interviews. This control is all tied into the type of promotion and managing of image that the labels feel they need to have in order to ensure a successful promotion of an album. If an artist doesn’t comply, the label doesn’t promote their record. Over the years I’ve seen labels shut down concerts, have station visits stopped and letters from their lawyers demanding we stop playing a record. Rarely have I seen them push to have us shut things down because an artist did something wrong to the community. I have seen this happen when record executives themselves got beaten up… Like I said a morality clause needs to be imposed upon record executives

something to ponder

-Davey D-

Goodell Effect not always good for NFL but may be good for rap music artist

by Ooh Papi

http://www.playahata.com/?p=7068

Roger S.”The Hammer” Goodell is the Commissioner of the National Football League (NFL), he was chosen to succeed the retiring Paul Tagliabue in 2006. He is nicknamed “the hammer” because he has been very tough on most NFL players.

Most think he has been to tough at times in fact Terrell Owens said that NFL commissioner Roger Goodell has been unfair to suspended quarterback Michael Vick and that the union and more players need to speak out. In an interview with ESPN’s George Smith, Owens said he was surprised more players haven’t spoken up in support of Vick and that, “the commissioner needs to go sit in jail for 23 months” to see what it’s like to sit behind bars.”I think it’s unfortunate,” Owens said. “I think the way the commissioner has handled it, I think it’s unfair to Michael Vick. I think he’s done the time for what he’s done. I don’t think it’s really fair for him to be suspended four more games. That’s almost like kicking a dead horse in the ground.”

Remy Ma sghould've had a morality clause in her recording contract

However his reputation for toughness has impressed many. In fact, his style may be making its way over to the Warner Music Group and other music labels. Attorney Lauren Raysor’s called a press conference today and asked record labels to put a“Goodell effect” into rappers contracts. For those who don’t know Raysor is the attorney who helped put Bronx rapper Remy Ma behind bars for shooting her client Makeda Barnes-Joseph.

Raysor propositioned that labels put a “morality clause” in their artists’ contracts, providing monetary incentive for artists to not engage in violent or criminal acts. She compared the music industry to the NFL, which enforces codes of conduct stricter than ever since the Republican raised Goodell took over.

Raysor made it clear she wasn’t trying to run amok on free speech / 1st Amendment rights or destroy gangsta rap lyrics and emphasized “It is your outside behavior we are talking about; we’re not talking about what you write.”

What Raysor wants to see become a contractual matter to prevent violence in hip hop is a contractual agreement from artist that will govern acts of contempt, scorn or ridicule that will tend to shock, insult or offend the community, or ridicule public morality or decency, or prejudice the company, producer, and others in the public or in the industry in general

Raysor is looking to meet with label execs in an effort put the morals clause into effect and if this dialogue is picked up in the blogosphere then it will surely be an anecdotal mark in the timeline of rap music’s evolution.

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Filed Under: 2009-Daily Hip Hop News, Davey D-Words to Ponder Blog, Southern Shift Tagged With: 50 Cent, davey D Hip Hop News-morality clause, Game, Goodell effect, Goodell Effect not always good for NFL but may be good for rap music artist, Jay-Z, Playahata.com-Goodell effect, Should Rap Artists Have a Morality Clause in Their Contracts?, something to ponder-hip hop morality clause

Did White People Build This Country? A False Assertion Gets Corrected

July 22, 2009 By mrDaveyd

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daveyd-raider2 The challenge we have with today’s news media is that far too often it is driven by ‘expert’ punditry. We see this all the time where people holding lofty titles like ‘Professor’, ‘journalist’ and ‘doctor’ are invited onto shows as pundits and are assumed to be the definitive expert in the topics being discussed. As a result anything they say is taken as fact and hence gets repeated and passed along to others as gospel.

Far too often people holding other perspectives that are widely shared by members of particular communities are excluded from these discussions which leaves folks who do not fully understand or critically think about media matters to assume the following;

1-There are no other perspectives to consider but those of the pundit

2-When other perspectives are presented they are ‘alternative’ at best and on the fringe and out of sync at worse.

3-If a person who looks or says he/she is a member of that marginalized or often excluded community does appear on a mainstream news show what they say is given addition weight and taken as the predominant view of the community.

Over the years I’ve heard these types of handpicked leaders say outrageous things on behalf of the community ranging from ‘we are against immigration reform’ to ‘racism and discrimination has ended and we no longer need to talk about such matters’. We’ve heard age old myths that have long been proven wrong like ‘The majority of Black people are in jail as opposed to college or the majority of Brown people in this country are here illegally. We’ve heard conservative women come on shows and say things like; fighting for equal rights to pay is not needed at this time.woman should stay home and take care of family. I am still hearing handpicked Black pundits pushing outdated assertions like; Black people from the hood don’t do well in school because they are afraid of appearing to ‘act white’ . Can we please require this myth which first emerged in the late 80s when during an interview with film maker Spike Lee?

We can take these misperception closer to home-with false assertions like; President Obama is a Muslim or President Obama is a socialist.

This continued misrepresentation of communites has spawned the media reform and media justice movements that has pushed for major changes and overhaul of systems in place that routinely assualt people who do not have a seat at the table where they can speak to the masses and provide a counter or more balanced view.

Rachel Maddow Corrects False Assertions made by Pat Buchanan

In the clip below we will show you haw this works and one of the rare times someone in mainstream media returned to the airwaves to correct what was uttered, widely heard and subsequently listened to and believed. This centers around the debate that took place the other day between conservative pundit Pat Buchanan who appeared on the Rachel Maddow Show and made the outrageous assertion that this country was built by 100% white people. He said that the Civil war, World War I and II were fought by all white people and basically rewrote American history. This was a conversation between two white people and Buchanan’s remarks went unchallenged and uncorrected until yesterday when Rachael Maddow came on her show and spent 10 minutes correcting the assertions made by Buchanan.

As I said this rarely happens. As you listen to this keep in mind how many people were left believing what Buchanan said was fact. Hopefully we all learn to think about what is presented on the news more critically. Check out the clip below.

-Davey D-

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Filed Under: 2009-Daily Hip Hop News, Davey D-Words to Ponder Blog, Essential videos to peep, Political articles, Southern Shift Tagged With: Davey D Hip Hop news-Race relations, Did White People Build This Country? A False Assertion Gets Corrected, Pat Buchanan, Rachel Maddow-Corrects Pat Buchanan

This is what Oakland Needs Right About Now…

July 20, 2009 By mrDaveyd

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Y'all better get your Michael Vick jersey's today

With today’s announcement that former Atlanta Falcon’s quarterback Michael Vick is off probation and free to pursue to do as he sees fit, I along with many others are looking to see if he’ll be allowed to come back to the NFL. If he does there is only one city that he can host him, treat him right and celebrate him even if PETA shows up with a million people.

That’s right folks Michael Vick is a Raider. We knew that when he first stepped foot on the field, but the conspiracy the NFL has launched against the Silver & Black made it almost impossible for him to come home to the Silver and Black. But now the world is watching and lets keep it real.. Vick has a commitment to excellence. He would put Oakland which is already a bustling city center stage.. and he could take us down the road to win a Superbowl..As for PETA protests.. forget about it. a PETA protest in Oakland will only add to our notorious image which will be good for sales. Plus knowing how cats get out here, they might purposely stage dog fights during tailgate parties just to make their point. Oakland doesn’t take orders who shiver in fear from PETA unlike other cities.

Mistah Fab Oakland’s freestyle King could do a Freestyle for him.

MC Hammer who has a reality show popping off right now could work Vick into one of the episodes.

He could get a motorcycle and ride with the Eastbay Dragons thus enhancing his outlaw image and getting even more love from Tha Town

If a motocycle ain’t his thing he could hook up with the Scraper Bike Kids and ride with them.. and get extra props.

DJ Sake 1 or DJ Russell gatewood who are both die-hard Raider fan inspite being from ‘The Sco (San Francisco) could spin at the big Welcome to Oakland Big Dog Party-hosted by E-40 another diehard raider fan..It could take place at the new nighhtclub Town Hall

With Vick coming to the Oakland could be a good benefit for Los Angeles. Vick would be such a huge draw. His presence would be felt throughout the Bay like a California earthquake . He would have so many fans that the rival SF 49ers who have been wanting to move out of San Francisco , would not have alot of folks attending their games and thus could move to LA which is without a team.. Its would be a Win Win for everyone.

The best reason for Vick coming to Oakland would mean that he gurantees that the SuckBurgh Steelers will not win a 7th Superbowl

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Filed Under: 2009-Daily Hip Hop News, Davey D-Words to Ponder Blog Tagged With: Michael Vick comes to oakland, NFL dream, This is what Oakland Needs Right About Now...

White Cops In Philly Refer to Black Kids As Ghetto Monkeys-Black Cop Set to Sue

July 18, 2009 By mrDaveyd

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daveyd-raider2 As you read the article below please keep in mind several things which make this story even more disturbing. First, Philadelphia currently has a Black Mayor, Michael A Nutter and had another mayor John F Street, a community activist and organizer who served for 8 years. This means that the website Domelights used by white Philly Cops to post up racist rantings about the people and the communities they a re supposed to serve was launched and has existed un-challenged on the watch of two African Americans leading the City of Brotherly Love. How is this possible?

For the past 8 years, Philadelphia has had two Black Police Commissioners, Sylvester Johnson and the Charles Ramseywho is highly decorated and currently oversees the department. How is racism this blatant amongst white officers tolerated on their watch? Do these men not have power or do these men not have backbone to stand up and shut things down? How was Johnson and now Ramsey able to lead officers who feel comfortable enough to embrace and exude the type of unconscionable racism described in the article? Their inability to have a zero tolerance policy put in place and acted upon when such egregious behavior occurs is a stark reminder that even though we have Black faces in high places it don’t mean a damn thing for the everyday Black person on the streets of Philly and throughout this country.

Professor and Fox news Commentator Marc Lamont Hill came across out of control cops on the Temple University campus in Philadelphia just last week. They were making several young men drop their pants in a public place while they laughed and cracked jokes.

As I’m reading this story, I can’t help but think about two things. First, is a situation which took place just last week around Temple University in Philly when Professor and Fox News Commentator Marc Lamont Hill came upon some out of control officers who thought it would be funny to harass several young Black men passing through the campus by having them drop their pants in public while being detained.

Hill tweeted about the incident and described how he stood watching the officers when he himself got confronted. The officers wanted him to leave the scene. They said he was ‘hovering ‘when Hill was actually observing which he has a right to do as tax paying citizen. Perhaps the only thing that kept him from being made to drop his pants was that he let it be known he was a professor on the campus where the young men were being jammed up.

Hill tweeted about how angry he was because after the cops let the boys go they started laughing and cracking jokes about the incident. What made this more outrageous was they did this in front of Professor Hill- The message seemingly conveyed by these callous cops was; It don’t matter who the hell you are, we’ll do what we want. One has to wonder if these cops went home wrote about the incident and shared a good laugh with other white cops on the racist website Domelights.

The second thing that comes to mind, is the plight of political prisoner Mumia Abu Jamal. Year after year when his case comes up, the Philadelphia police union Fraternal order of Police #5 leads the charge to block any attempt to free him. Mumia has long talked about the insidious racism and brutality of the Philly police. The things he’s reported on prior to going to jail over 20 years ago and throughout his stay on death row have been met with skepticism, rebuke and disbelief by mainstream pundits who simply feel the police can do no wrong. Perhaps these pundits need to look at the daily, pervasive racist commentary on Domelights from these White officers serving a city with a majority population of people of color and has Black leadership which is more than unnerving. One can then ask how much worse and in your face were these racist attitudes under white leadership, especially when Mumia was free and having to deal with well known racist Police Commissioners like Frank Rizzo. One can only imagine it was even worse.

Lastly one has to ask, how is such conduct tolerated by the Fraternal Order of Police. You go to their website and you see they are alerting their members to upcoming contract hearings on July 24th. I didn’t see anything telling their officers to fall back and set a good example for other officers by not tolearting racism. The FOP want a new contract when they have pretty much remained silent and not reined in their members? Pay attentions folks and lets see how this plays out.

When will President Obama aggressively address these increasing issues of police terror and the racism that is pervasive throughout many departments?

In closing I will say this.. yesterday we had a huge debate on my website and facebook pages about whether or not President Obama was doing enough to address racial issues that are impacting Black folks daily. Many felt like he was on the case. Others felt like he was falling short. One of the main sticking points in our debate were these increasing incidents of police terror that are happening from Oakland to Mississippi to Houston to Trenton, NJ with Wise Intelligent to Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania with Hip Hop pioneer and X-Clan member Paradise Gray. It was not lost on me that earlier this week President Obama went out of his way to offer prayer and praise to officers who were shot and seriously injured in the line of duty while chasing down suspects in Jersey City, New Jersey. He offered prayer and praise to slain officers in Pittsburgh a couple of months ago and he offered prayer and praise to the 4 officers slain in Oakland back in March. These things he should do.

At the same time, when is our President going to put out of control police on notice and offer solace to people brutalized by renegade cops? When is he going to instruct his Attorney General Eric Holder to draft a plan of action to hold police accountable and make sure that there will be zero tolerance for abuse and racist behavior as demonstrated by the white officers on Philly’s police force.

President Obama gave lots of money in his stimulus package for police-Perhaps he needs to take some of that money bback and treat the polce the way he treated the car companies. Let them know they don’t get any money until they start doing right by the American people.

Something to Ponder…

-Davey D-

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Cops claim police message board “infested with racist, white supremacist” remarks

Boards reference swim club incident, calls black kids “ghetto monkey faces”

One post describes “no car insurance driving, bad weave wearing” black women

Lawsuit seeks for site to be taken down or have cops stop posting during work

Black Philadelphia police sue over message board, say it’s racist

http://www.cnn.com/2009/CRIME/07/17/police.racism.lawsuit/index.html

Domelights is a privately run website used by police in Philadelphia where they routinely post up racist rantings including one where they referred to Black kids discriminated at a Philly country club as Ghetto Monekeys

(CNN) — A group of black Philadelphia police officers filed a federal lawsuit Thursday against their department, alleging an online forum geared toward city police is “infested with racist, white supremacist and anti-African-American content.”

The suit alleges white officers post on and moderate the privately operated site, Domelights.com, both on and off the job.

Domelights’ users “often joke about the racially offensive commentary on the site … or will mention them in front of black police officers,” thus creating “a racially hostile work environment,” according to lawyers for the all-black Guardian Civic League, the lead plaintiff in the suit.

A look at the site’s forums Friday for racist comments found several possibilities.

Reads one: “In urban areas, it seems [African-Americans] living on welfare in paid for housing is ingrained in their culture as well as fighting. … Kids, along with adults can’t speak proper English or spell at a 3rd grade level, but they can sing among “theyselves” the lyrics to a rap song.”

Said another Domelights user of an African-American woman: “She is a classic example of that exact non tax paying, no car insurance driving, bad weave wearing, all the whitey’s are racist black women.”

The site’s tagline is “the voice of the good guys.”

Don’t Miss

Read the lawsuit (PDF) Warning: Contents may offend some readers

“Every time African-Americans do or say something in our city, we get this backlash of cops who think they’re anonymous on this Web site — just racist, nasty, hurtful things about what we do,” said Rochelle Bilal, the president of the Guardian Civic League and a 23-year veteran of the force.

The league’s attorney said other black officers echo Bilal’s statement.

“We’ve heard the same story over and over again, which is that [African-American officers] witness in the workplace Domelights being used and discussed [in a racial manner],” said Brian Mildenberg, whose firm is also representing a Philadelphia day camp that recently gained national attention when its mostly black campers were turned away from a swim club.

He said it was “a gift from the heavens in a way that the two things happened at once.”

While Mildenberg and Bilal said they had been monitoring the 10-year-old Web site for years, the pool incident did seem to play into the timing of the lawsuit.

“When they said something about our pretty, brown, young, innocent children and called them monkeys because they wanted to go swimming, that was enough,” Bilal said.

She may have been referring to this comment posted on Domelights: “Maybe the people who work for a living didn’t want to swim with a bunch of ghetto monkey faces.”

The lawsuit also highlights comments made on Domelights by the site’s founder and administrator, a sergeant in the Philadelphiapolice force who goes by the online handle “McQ.”

A statement from McQ that Mildenberg described as “racially abusive commentary” reads, “Blacks and other minorities frequently don’t have the resources that white people have. Consequently, blacks may not be able to keep their vehicles inspected, registered, and roadworthy.”

McQ is also listed as a defendant in the lawsuit. Asked why McQ bears responsibility for the racist remarks of his site’s anonymous commenters, Mildenberg said it was because “he started it.”

The person known as McQ did not respond to a request for comment, but posted a message on the site citing the lawsuit. McQ wrote that the suit may cause the Web site to be suspended, but added his statement was not an admission of wrongdoing.

“I categorically deny any wrongdoing on my part,” the message reads. “I did not make racist posts. I did not maintain the Web site on city time.”

Ideally, Mildenberg said, his clients would like to see the site shut down. Failing that, they want Philadelphia police officers to be prohibited from posting comments on the site, particularly during working hours.

The plaintiffs in the class-action suit also are seeking unspecified financial damages available under the Civil Rights Act for Philadelphia’s 2,300 African-American police officers, according to Mildenberg.

Shelley Smith, Philadelphia’s city solicitor, said. “The lawsuit is about a private Web site. It’s not a police department Web site. It’s not operated or overseen by the police department. The allegations against the city and police department are misplaced.”

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Filed Under: 2009-Daily Hip Hop News, Davey D-Words to Ponder Blog, Political articles, Southern Shift Tagged With: Black Cops Sue White Cops, black Guardian Civic League, Black Philadelphia police sue over message board, Cops claim police message board "infested with racist, Davey D Hip Hop news Police terror in Philly, Domelights, Marc Lamont Hill, Mumia abu jamal, Philadelphia Police, say it's racist, Shelley Smith, temple University, white supremacist" remarks

BET Missed the Mark Last Night w/ Their Michael Jackson Tribute

June 29, 2009 By mrDaveyd

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daveyd-raider2 Over the past week many of us have sat in seething anger as news show after news show and pundit after pundit have been granted large platforms and an abundance of air time to come and trash Michael Jackson. I’m not talking about raising a couple of controversial issues here and there, but some of the folks who have been dragged out the sewer with the express purpose of going all out not to just to smash on MJ, but to do so in such away that it would hurt us. It was like some diabolical mind sat in a room and said ‘Here’s how you can really totally demoralize Black folks-take their biggest icon and treat him like shit while the body is still warm’ Watching the coverage of Michael Jackson on many of these mainstream news outlets has me wondering if MJ did something personal to some of them. Simply put, OJ Simpson got and gets better treatment.

Now if it was just a Michael thing most of us wouldn’t care. Most of us would keep it moving and call it a day, but MJ’s music was the soundtrack for so many people around the world and for a variety of generations from the late 60s up to the 90s and beyond. Jackson’s videos, music, concerts all had deep meaning-and because of that we hoped that the criticism would be toned down and the hatred would be put away for another day.

I’m old enough to remember when Beatles’s legend John Lennon was shot and I don’t recall such hatred and long winded conversations about his drug use or anything like that. Right wing nutcases who found him to be this anti-war subversive figure dialed down their rhetoric and Lennon was allowed to be seen as this popular worldwide icon who impacted the lives of a generation of Baby Boomers. People understood with the passing of Lennon was the passing of an important era for millions of people and so his memory was treated with respect and dignity.

When the King of Rock, Elvis Presely died the world was allowed to remember him as a handsome icon who touched lives all around the world, not as a overweight substance abuser who's life was filled with controversy

When Elvis Presley the King of Rock died, even though he was a drug abuser and about 300 pounds over weight at the time of his death, the tributes paid to him were stupendous. He was seen as royalty and people rightfully recognized that his persona and music meant a lot to a grieving nation. People dialed back the critiques. The Elvis who symbolized an era and exemplified several generations of music lovers was much bigger then the Elvis who one could trash all day and so space to properly grieve was created.

No such respect has been given to Michael Joseph Jackson. And too be honest in today’s climate of ‘gotcha’ media one shouldn’t be surprised. We shouldn’t be shocked but for many the hurt is there and damage done. Its hard to avoid. There are many commentators and pundits who I will never respect again because they went there and gave no room for a nation to grieve and reflect on the meaning of man who meant so much to so so many over the past 3 decades. As I said earlier, these folks seemed to be a part of a much larger game plan where psychological warfare is at play.

Enter BET-Black Entertainment Television.

Last night (Sunday June 28th) , all eyes turned to the Viacom owned music TV network as many of us perhaps naively hoped that those running the ship would use their platforms and immense reach to correct the wrongs we saw within the mainstream. After all, Michael Jackson helped put Viacom (MTV) on the map. I just knew CEO Sumner Redstone would see to it that one of his properties which has become the worldwide symbol for pop culture and music would ‘do this right’. All of wondered what sort of surprise Viacom/ BET would put forth.

Leading up to last night’s event the rumors were circulating. We heard Chris Brown was going to do a tribute with Usher as part of his comeback. We heard Justin Timberlake was coming in to do a special routine. We heard Beyonce had changed her routine around. We heard some of the Jacksons themselves were going to be there. (We later saw father Joe Jackson and sister Janet Jackson who left us in tears when she finally took the stage) The word was BET was gonna deliver and deliver big and deliver like only BET can.

It would've been nice to have seen an iconic figure like Motown Records founder Berry Gordy on hand at the BET Awards last night to share some thoughts about Michael Jackson. If not in person why not via satellite?

We already knew BET was scheduled to pay tribute to the O Jays and so one figured they were already in the zone. Perhaps the O Jays themselves would set the tone having known MJ and coming from that important era in our history where music and social causes all merged together. Who better then the O Jays to say a few words and put a grieving nation at ease. We figured some icons from the Motown era would be on hand last night to say a few words-Diana Ross, Barry Gordy, Quincy Jones, Gladys Knight, Stevie Wonder, Harry Belafonte, Smokey Robinson etc would maybe come on board-not to perform, but to offer up their own insights and share in the tribute/ celebration for Michael Jackson. And if they couldn’t show up in person because everything was so sudden and so last minute then Viacom with its worldwide reach and set ups in every country on planet Earth could’ve sent a camera crew to Timbuktu if needed and get some insightful words from the aforementioned and beyond.

We thought every record industry executive from Clive Davis to Tommy Motolato the people who run the Grammies to Bono from U2 on down would’ve been on hand to say a few words and talk about how Michael Jackson saved their industry. We thought we would’ve heard more about the charities he so generously gave to over the years so folks would better understand that he was more than the white glove and moon walk.

We thought maybe BET would have a correspondent on hand in Gary, Indiana where MJ was from to give us a historical perspective of what that city meant, why they did a song called ‘Going Back to Indiana’, and how people are fairing there today. We thought maybe the Mayor of Gary, Rudy Clay who is an outspoken gentleman who we had on our radio show during the primaries could speak to the issue. Or perhaps BET could’ve gotten former Mayor Richard Hatcher to come out and stand alongside the current Mayor of Philadelphia, Mississippi James Young who was honored last night and together they could’ve loaned some context to the Civil Rights struggle past and present and where Michael Jackson and his ability to transcend race sat within it.. Imagine if something like that went down last night.

With the whole world watching the BET Awards to see how Black folks would cover the passing of 'one of our own', it would've been ideal to have heard a poem or words of wisdom from Maya Angelou

We figured our best and brightest commentators would be on hand. Tavis Smiley, Michael Eric Dyson, Bill Cosby, Tom Joyner, Maya Angelou, Alice Walker, Julianne Malveux. We figured there would be some of our best would be on hand to stand tall and proud and let the entire world which was watching to see how we do. They could’ve set the record straight and established BET and Black America as the ‘go to place if you wanted to grieve, celebrate and talk in earnest about Michael Jackson.

We figured there’d be pictures, vintage footage and a somber moment of silence for Michael Jackson. Did we have a moment of silence last night- I may have missed it? All I know is we wanted more for our ‘King’. This was our true king when it came to pop culture and music. As I mentioned so many of us were grieving, so many of us felt like we were being assaulted, so we really looked to BET- Black Entertainment Television to rise to the occasion in ways we had never imagined.

Look, I been a part of big productions on numerous occasions and I know the hard work that goes into them. Award shows are not put together overnight, the really good ones are being planned hours after the current one ends. Stephen Hill the man behind the scenes at BET was probably up to his ears putting together last night’s show as originally planned and believe me when you have a production like that you simply can’t change course midstream. It’s not easy. To the degree that he was able to carry that additional load as was acknowledged by BET President Debra Lee, he deserves his props.

With that being said we can’t forget that BET is part of Viacom..It’s the giant among giants. Debra Lee’s boss is Sumner Redstone and at their disposal they have more resources then most countries both 3rd World and Industrialized. Viacom has positioned itself to be the number one when it comes to Music Television-This is what they do. This is how they make their billions. So quite naturally we expected alot more.

Michael Jackson was not some beefing rapper from the streets who got shot over some petty nonsense. He wasn’t having a war of words with 50 Cent, Rick Ross, Suge Knight or some other artist. He wasn’t some Johnny come lately who had one or two hit songs and that’s it. He was Michael Jackson-worldwide icon and when he died in spite of controversary or what me and you may have thought about him, the music world needed to stop. All the stops needed to be pulled out.

When John Lennon died the world stopped. It came to a halt. I was in school and we suspended our lessons to talk about John Lennon. When Elvis died the world stopped. All hands were on deck. People cancelled whatever they were doing and they flew to where ever they needed to go to to pay homage. When 2Pac and Notorious BIG died the music world stopped. We suspended our programming on the radio station for two days as family friends and whoever flew in to honor them.

I recall a day after Biggie died our radio station owned by Evergreen/AM-FM and later Clear Channel did a a special simulcast with Emmisowned Hot 97 in New York City. We had on air personalities like Sway and the Breakfast Club and damn near our entire staff on one end and the Hot 97 crew on the other. Right there while we were on the air coast to coast grieving over Biggie, the folks from Hot 97 worked it out to do a nationwide program honoring Biggie and to bring attention to stoppingthe violence. Everything was pushed full steam ahead. Two days later a nationwide co-ordinated broadcast took place.

I usually like Lil Wayne, but last night the profanity laced routine he and up and coming superstar Drake did was totally inappropriate for a show that said it was paying tribute to Michael Jackson. The pair needed to fall back on that one

My point in referencing that scenario is that with the death of Michael Jackson and all eyes on the BET Awards show owned by the biggest music network in the world and one of the biggest media companies in the world, this should’ve damn well expanded beyond BET. The call should’ve went out; ‘Stop what your doing-All hands on deck… the King of Pop died and proper tributes must be paid. If the show goes over an hour so be it. If Lil Wayne and Drake can’t change up at the last minute and use their incredible talents to do something more fitting versuses the profanity laced bs routine they did last night about wanting to screw every girl in the world and have what appeared to be 12 year old girls on stage-then its time for them to fall the hell back. Save that nonsense for another date and time. Alicia Keyes kept mentioning the spirit in the room was enthralling and that everyone was feeling Michael’s presence. It was hard to tell on TV. We wanted more than a shout out to MJ after each song was sung. We wanted more, needed more, expected more from a network so powerful.

We understand people didn’t have time to prepare and hone things to perfection. We understand that that it was last minute, but the rule of thumb in show business has always been when in over your head keep it simple. Where was the film montage like they did for the O Jays? To be honest that was all that was really needed. Imagine if we were treated to a 15 minute film montage and then Janet came out to speak followed by Jamie Foxx andNeyo singing? That would’ve been butter- pure butter. Imagine if this was done with a nice set up away from the regularly scheduled routines which at times seemed mediocre and totally in approapraite if MJ was being honored?

If extra money was needed to get Stevie Wonder on via satellite from Milwaukee where him and John Legend where doing a concert last night then extra money needed to be spent. If Quincy Jones was in another part of the world then a camera crew needed to find him and put him on on so he could speak eloquently to the moment at hand. If the BET staff was overwhelmed as was mentioned numerous times throughout last nights broadcast then the rest of the Viacom team needed to be brought on to do the extra lifting. If they can spend time and money flying actor Sasha Cohen aka Bruno from a harness during an award show to land on Eminem to shove his balls into the rapper’s face and garner world wide attention they could’ve harnesses some meaningful tribute to uplift us. It was what the world that needed. We needed them to them to step up and be counted.

Tyrese teamed up w/ Johnny Gill & Trey Songz and killed it during their OJay Tribute, Tyrese lost me when he did this corny skit of from the movie Baby Boy which went on way too long and became a bit painful to watch.

Tyrese teamed up w/ Johnny Gill & Trey Lorenze and killed it during their OJay Tribute, Tyrese lost me when he did this corny skit of from the movie Baby Boy which went on way too long and became a bit painful to watch.

In closing I will tip my hat to the tribute that Johnny Gill, Tyrese and Trey Songz did for the O Jays that was an example of us really shining. Those guys should form a group and maybe try to see about doing something similar for MJ in the future. That’s was how a tribute should be done. Neyowas on fire and I’m sure with more time can do MJ justice and Jamie Foxx although he was over the top with plugging his concert was good. I liked the opening act with New Edition and while I understand they didn’t have the singing down to perfection they got busy on the dance routine-I wanted to see them do more in that vein.

A Few things to Ponder….

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Filed Under: 2009-Daily Hip Hop News, Davey D-Words to Ponder Blog, Political articles, Southern Shift Tagged With: BET Awards 2009, BET Missed the Mark Last Night w/ Their Michael Tribute, Michael Jackson, Review of BET Awards 2009 davey d hip hop news, Tyrese BET Awards

A Message to Hip Hop-We Need to Do More than Just Wear Green

June 20, 2009 By mrDaveyd

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A Message to Hip Hop-We Need to Do More than Just Wear Green

by Davey D

daveyd-raider2 Here’s a message to the Iranian Youth…Hip Hop is with you. We understand that what is going on in Iran is not about what America wants. We understand that this is not about the dictates of those who have a particular foreign policy agenda to push that at the end of the day may be calling for Iran to be destabilized.

Hip Hop is with you above and beyond a rap song, a dope video or meaningless swagger. Hip Hop is with you beyond a slogan or a shout out. Hip Hop is with you beyond the ignorance of some of our artists who wanna brag about having ‘Arab Money’. Hip Hop is with you by honoring the 5th Element-Knowledge. Hip Hop is with you in solidarity and hoping to uplift our collective humanity.

We understand that what we’re seeing in Iran is a student movement, a women’s movement and other reform movements that have been simmering in Iran for some time. We can trace some of this back to 1999 when we here in the US were watching our own Presidential elections between George Bush and Al Gore which was tossed into dissarray while students in Tehran University were out in the streets of Iran getting killed and student organizers were being snatched off the streets never to be seen again. A few years ago I met students who had been jailed and beaten up by the Iranian government for protesting. They had a lot of heart. They were at a conference on censorship in Beirut in spite of knowing that their speaking out could get them serious trouble again.

What were seeing our people who feel that there should be more personal freedoms, where women don’t have to cover up, be searched and beaten on the streets. What we’re seeing are folks who want to have more then just state run press. Part of the fights that students were dealing with in ’99 was the shutting down of a newspaper. Most of us don’t even blink an eye when our own newspapers and radio stations are hijacked. What we’re seeing don’t want to adhere to long standing traditions and they’re challenging long standing traditions which has been inspired by the Western education and understanding that many have received outside the country and from understanding the world is much smaller place.

Before CNN started talking about Iran, many of us ignored or didn't even know about the student & woman's movements in Iran. We spent more time focused on the drama between 50 Cent & Rick Ross.From this day forward we've got to do better...

Sadly most of us never pay attention to foreign affairs unless it shows up on CNN. Hence when there were no lights cameras and action and Iranians were demanding certain changes most of us were concerning ourselves with 50 Cent vs. Rick Ross. Most of us were talking about Chris Brown vs. Rihanna. Do folks know any of the movement leaders? Do we know the name of any of the student organizations? Do any of know about the jail time that many have endured to speak out? Is this really about them backing the opposition candidate Mir Hussein Moussavi or is about stepping to President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and the Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei? How many of us know the role the president plays in relationship between the Supreme leader?

Let’s use this opportunity to embrace Hip Hop’s 5th element and do the knowledge. Part of that knowledge means for us to start listening closely and resist framing the story so it fits our own limited parameters. When we say things like most of the people marching are middle-class what exactly does that mean? Is it the same thing as middle class here in the US? Are the people marching Muslim or Christian? Are they westernized or traditional? Is Iran a modernized country or does it fall into a stereotype where it’s underdeveloped with folks riding camels through a desert? Folks better think again and note that in many regards we here in the US may actually be behind.

I said this in my last essay-Are the Protests in Iran Real or a CIA backed Exercise? this is much bigger than the two leaders. They happen to be stepping stones and stops along the way to something much larger and much more deeply felt. How about this folks… if we’re gonna wear Green in solidarity with the Iranian people and their struggle, how about stepping our personal game up? If we’re gonna wear Green and say we want change how about committing ourselves to stay up on foreign news long after CNN stops covering this? How about making Iran, Darfur, Congo and Haiti which just experienced a horrific blood bath two days ago between funeral marchers and UN Peacekeepers, be a topics we tweet about and comment on via Facebook? Can we make a promise amongst ourselves to educate ourselves each day on a variety of foreign issues?

If we can’t do this at the very least take down our Green avatars and stop bullshitting ourselves and disrespecting the people who are out on those streets not just in Iran but all over the world really risking getting their heads cracked. There’s no excuse for Iranian people to know more about President Obama’s policies then we do and they live in Iran. If we’re gonna wear Green, let’s not do this part time. Let’s not be casual trendy observers. This struggle in Iran is not going to be over and neatly wrap up at a particular time and date like a television show. It’s gonna be on going.

If we're gonna wear Green to show solidarity, how about taking it a step further & educating ourselves on US Foreign policy-For example, what's the real motivation behind Senator John McCain and the GOP in condemning Iranian leaders? Is it really to support the student & women's movement or to merely use them?

If we want change in Iran let that change be right here at home. If we want to wear Green lets take a closer look at the rhetoric being pushed by our Republican minority in the Senate and in Congress. President Obama is taking a measured tone saying let’s not become the topic at hand be seen as meddlers while Senator John McCain and others are basically saying ‘Fuck that.. We gonna jump right on in there and start smashing because they have an agenda that they’re trying to push that has very little to do with the student movements’. The GOP will use those movements and temporary align themselves, but it’s not about making sure students a free from any oppression. Are they helping, hurting or leading us in another direction?

If we’re wearing Green, we need to be asking ourselves what’s’ up with our own government and its foreign policy-not just in Iran but throughout the entire Middle East. Maybe if more of us wearing Green committed ourselves to do the knowledge, Iran wouldn’t be in this predicament because we would be electing leaders who have a deeper, more holistic approach toward the Middle East -starting with us not green lighting everything Israel does. Yes, folks at the end of the day let’s deal with the 800 pound gorilla in the room much of what we are seeing is connected to US/ Israeli foreign policy…

That’s a few things to ponder…

-Davey D-

It's cool to wear Green in solidarity but ideally we should show solidarity by being as bold as those students on the streets by fearlessly challenging and asking our own government some hard questions especially around the issue of foreign policy

PS..As I’m writing this I’m watching TV and noting that the big networks are claiming they can’t cover the events in Tehran because of a news media blackout imposed by the Iranian government…Its kind of funny hearing this, because we seem to always have our own media blackout here in the US. Of course those blackouts are imposed by the news directors and owners of these big networks-but let’s not digress. My question is what happened to all those expensive spy satellites that are supposed to be able to see the head of pin from thousands of miles away? What’s up with Google Earth? There’s no excuse for us not to be able to see whats going on? Why aren’t we using all this technology we brag about having?

Below is a video that my homie Paradise of X-Clan tunred me onto it’s by Weapons X

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Filed Under: 2009-Daily Hip Hop News, Davey D-Words to Ponder Blog, Political articles, Southern Shift Tagged With: 5th Element-Knowledge, A Few Things to Ponder- Hip Hop needs to do more than Just wear Green, A Message to Hip Hop-We Need to Do More than Just Wear Green, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, Iran demonstrations, Iranian Uprising, Mir Hussein Moussavi, President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, Tehran University, Weapons x Iran video

Police Terror Strike Again Black EMT worker brutalize By Police while transporting patient to Hospital

June 18, 2009 By mrDaveyd

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Remember earlier this week we posted articles telling u about the influx of white supremacists entering into the military? Remember how we also talked about how the increase in police terrorism was no accident, but related to something bigger? We noted that many of the thse domestic terrorists were joining police departments.

Take a look at the video below and ask yourself how and why do white officers pull over an ambulance that is enroute to the hospital? Ask yourself why the white driver is spoken to while the Black EMT worker is arrested and choked?

Next time your favorite morning disc jockey wants to do a goofy game like battle of the sexes, ask him to chill on that for a minute and talk about these types of incidents.

Next time your favorite rapper wants to talk about some petty beef-ask him to chill and direct his beef toward out of control police.

Next time someone wants to brag about how he’s got the biggest chain in the world, ask him to fall back and see if he can take some of that chain money and pay for the type of legal advice needed to arrest these type of officers and throw them under the jail. Ask them to help fund a campaign with that chain money to run someone for office who can shut this down…

A few things to ponder..

-Davey D-

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The threat level is Red-be on the look out for out of control renegade police officers in Oklahoma-What is needed here are good police officers to speak up and condemn this outrageous behavior?

Filed Under: 2009-Daily Hip Hop News, Davey D-Words to Ponder Blog, Essential videos to peep Tagged With: Davey D Hip Hop news, Oklahaoma Police choke EMT worker, Police brutality, Police Terror Strike Again Black EMT worker brutalize By Police while transporting patient to Hospital, police terrorism

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