DJ Kuttin Kandi: Why Fat Beats Matter to Hip Hop

WHY FAT BEATS MATTERS TO HIP-HOP

by DJ Kuttin Kandi

Fat Beats recently announced that they will be closing their legendary Fat Beats Record store in Los Angeles and New York City in early September (New York: Sept 4, Los Angeles: September 18th). Upon hearing this sad news many things came to mind, but first my emotions got the best of me. My heart stopped breathing and I felt as though I was going to choke. It was like the world suddenly ended. I felt like I lost a best friend and a big part of my identity. That’s simply because Fat Beats was truly like a best friend to me. But even more so, Fat Beats had much to do with my identity. Like many Hip-Hop heads I pride myself in stating the words of KRS One – “I AM Hip-Hop”. And like many true Hip-Hop heads know, Fat Beats IS Hip-Hop and Hip-Hop IS Fat Beats. So, it’s only natural when a Hip-Hop head like myself hears the news that the world famous Hip-Hop store is closing they know that it’s like losing a big chunk of Hip-Hop. Suddenly the words of “I AM Hip-Hop” can’t seem to ring true anymore when Fat Beats closes.

For those that are just now learning of what Fat Beats are I am saddened that you are just learning about Fat Beats now and that you won’t be witnessing the Fat Beats that many of us once knew and loved to heart. I will do the best that I can to give honor to the store that paved the way for all of us.

Fat Beats is a place for which many of us call “underground Hip-Hop” or “real Hip-Hop”. As much as many of us don’t like to divide Hip-Hop, the truth is the mainstream music industry creates those rifts where independent Hip-Hop just don’t get the opportunity to have mainstream airplay. The co-optation of Hip-Hop culture of big corporations many of which are record labels and etc. controlling and monopolizing mainstream airwaves, many of whom don’t know a lot about Hip-Hop history or culture, play a huge factor as to why many independent artists are never heard. So, many of those great legends in Hip-Hop and dope Hip-Hop top-notch-ill-lyricist who can actually rhyme, you might not ever get a chance to know about unless you went to Fat Beats or were part of that “underground Hip-Hop” scene in which Fat Beats played a huge role.

Before I even get into how Fat Beats played a huge role in Hip-Hop, let me start how it played a huge role in my life. Memories of Fat Beats are starting to play like a needle to the groove as I reminisce my earlier days in the scene. The year was 1995, and DJ Roli Rho and I walked throughout the Greenwich Village of New York City, looking for the record store we had heard about from other friends. The original store was located in a basement and if you were a regular passerby you probably would never notice it was there unless you were intentionally looking for the spot. The minute Roli and I walked in we were mesmerized. We knew we walked into a paradise of not just records, but pure, original, organic, and true Hip-Hop. That was the day we also met Joe Abajian aka DJ Jab, the owner of Fat Beats. When we left Fat Beats that day, Roli and I, like little kids who found a secret stash of candy, swore to each other to keep the place secret and to only show people who were worthy. I know, right? What the heck? Lol, why so secret? Well, quite honestly, we knew we found something so valuable. We knew it was a treasure we felt we had to keep safe. We had to protect Hip-Hop.  Eventually, we couldn’t be that selfish.  We knew we had to share it amongst folks and deepen the knowledge for others who were looking for really good music.

It was from that point on that my world changed. Through Fat Beats, I’ve met some of my greatest friends as well as some of my idols, inspirations and mentors. Fat Beats introduced me to a whole world of true Hip-Hop. They’ve introduced me to my crew the 5th Platoon. I probably would have never met my all-female-crew Anomolies had it not been for Fat Beats. So many moments, so many memories, so many people.  People we all grew up together with in this culture Hip-Hop we loved so much… Arsonists, Non-Phixion, Stronghold, Percee P i’ll never forget you chillin there!  I mean, i can’t name everybody, but we all were there.  Visitors all over the world, comin through to the tiny spot that moved to upstairs ave of america’s.  We moved on up!  Fat Beats was the place to be, the place to go to find out all the underground Hip-hop events. It was the place where I met Gangstar, and had it not been for that moment of truth time Guru (rest in peace) and I might not have been longtime friends. Fat Beats had seen me grow as a DJ, has helped me to become a DJ. They sold my mixtapes.  Then when I proved my skills, Fat Beats invited me on stage to perform with legends. One of them being in 1995, our very first Fifth Platoon show for Fat Beats Anniversary and for GrandMaster Roc Raida’s (rest in peace) birthday. That was the day I also made my debut. Fat Beats developed my name – Kuttin Kandi – could not have existed without Fat Beats. And right now, as I am 3000 miles away from Fat Beats NY, our 5th Platoon signed picture still hangs on their ceiling till Fat Beats closes.

Memories, so many of them. And I am sure it is not just me reminiscing….

Long before twitter, facebook, and blogging ever existed – people relied on fliers, word of mouth and real contact with people. Fat Beats was the place to find out all the upcoming Hip-Hop events, where’s the next open mic spot, who’s the next artist. You had to go to Fat Beats because there was going to be an MC Battle, a record release, a DJ Battle. You had to go to Fat Beats because they were going to tell you the newest artist. You knew they were going to be the first to play the artist before they blew up. You were going to see cats outside of Fat Beats selling you their CDs. There were going to be lines outside of Fat Beats. Tickets to the hottest Hip-Hop event were going to be sold at Fat Beats. They promoted our events. They pushed and moved our careers. They’ve seen us come up and make it. And they kept the buzz going. But most of all Fat Beats kept true to keeping vinyl alive. Even as I’m sure vinyl sales went down over the years and the rent on avenue on the america’s were going up, Fat Beats still kept trying to go on.  I’m surprised it stood ground for this long, but then again I’m not that surprised because they knew how important the music and the culture was to all of us. And because Hip-Hop knew how important Fat Beats was to keeping true Hip-Hop alive.

So what does this mean for Hip-Hop?  Well, the good news is that Fat Beats will still continue on with their website, retail and their wholesale distribution. Of course, on our ends will need to continue supporting Fat Beats. But while it’s a good thing that Fat Beats will continue online and etc, I am still saddened. Having a space for Hip-Hop heads to gravitate to is so important for the culture. Sure, I know we’ve got our open mic spots and other little spots.  And i know we’ll survive this just as we survived when the Stretch and Bobbito show ended.  Even recently good long-time friend dope ill battle MC Sara Kana from Grind Time reminded me and told me that, “We Are this Underground Hip-Hop”.

But this is big, at least this is big for me… having a record store may not be the full representation of Hip-Hop but it definitely plays a huge role in bringing us together.

Let’s bring this to the perspective of community.

Starbucks, and other coffee spots, a fairly known place, has been labeled a “third space”. “Third Space”, is a popularized coined term created by urban sociologist, Ray Oldenburg which is used to label spaces created by businesses that create an “anchor of community” to have conversation, dialogue and discussion. While I often enjoy a good latte once in a blue, hanging out starbucks will never be my “place to be” nor are folks from my community really chillin there. I don’t consider the “third space” of starbucks a place where I find a sense of community. And again, it’s not my community. Nor do I want it ever to be my community.

Fat Beats is that third space for me, and for many of us, particularly for us, people-of-color (and our allies) who love real Hip-Hop.  Fat Beats is that independent store we love to support, because they support independent Hip-Hop artists. They support people-of-color. They support our communities. They support our history, our culture, our passion, our friends, our music. And I am sad, that we lost this third space. Where and when will we have that space again?  A space where we can be truly who we are… where we can get down.. listen to what we love… and not conform to the mainstream status quo. Where will we have that space for us again?

While I love the fact that the internet has opened up doors, bridged some divides, and actually helps independent artists, it has also closed a few doors for us.

Again, don’t get me wrong, I still support newer technology. Serato has made things easier in my life, at the same time there is still a loss. Everything is so accessible to us now. We no longer have to dig in the crates and search for a record. It’s just with a stroke of a key that we can get that joint. You don’t even need to memorize the color of the label no more, because you just enter the title and the song comes up. Record shopping created relationships and friendships. Crate diggers know this, especially all of you who are true classic collectors. And I’m sure you all still do this in whatever record store still remains in your city. But losing Fat Beats is a sign for us to find ways to stay connected. It’s a sign for us to not lose ourselves completely to technology. We are losing human connection. While we connect with people, more than we can imagine, via the internet… we are still losing the human touch. We need to walk out the door, go to a record store, meet that lifelong friend who knows exactly how you feel when you put the needle to the groove. Listen to the music together at the record store. Nod your head. Bboy, Bgirl… cut it up… because it connects you to Hip-Hop. Hip-Hop connects you to your community. This is what Fat Beats taught us throughout the years.

Thank you for believing in me and thank you for supporting me all of these years.  Thank you Joe and for all the staff throughout the years (DJ Boo, Lalena, Max Glazer, and so many others), especially the legendary DJ Eclipse for holding it down all these years.  You will never be forgotten!

Thank you Fat Beats for a lifetime of memories, music, love, hope, independence, vinyl and true Hip-Hop.

With love,

DJ Kuttin Kandi

5th Platoon, Anomolies, Guerrilla Words, R.E.A.C.Hip-Hop

DJ, Poet, Writer, Activist

For more articles and videos on Fat Beats read here:

http://www.audibletreats.com/pr/fatbeats_pr6.html

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pm30LXs2DNc

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Hip Hop Group Native Guns Re-Unite & Release Brand New song About Oscar Grant

Hip-Hop Revolutionaries Brings it Again!
Bambu & Kiwi Reunite as Native Guns Showing Solidarity for Oscar Grant

On my last blog essay, I expressed my thoughts on the trial of Officer Mehserle for the Execution of Oscar Grant. I also wrote the need for solidarity amongst all of our communities. Well, as though it was almost an answer to what I was looking for – Hip-Hop MC’s, Bambu & Kiwi along with DJ Phatrick have reunited as their original duo group Native Guns to release their latest song, “Handcuffs”.

I remember when Native Guns broke up, I literally cried. I cried not only because they were dear friends of mine who I cared about tremendously but also I cried because of what they represented to many of us. Native Guns was not just an important voice of the Hip-Hop community but specifically the Filipino-American community. Native Guns are Filipino-American’s who are Hip-Hop MC’s amongst many others (so many to mention), who speak conscious political rhymes and voice the historical and present injustices against Filipino people. Native Guns, as many Hip-Hop MC’s, are community organizers and often make connections of our struggles to the struggles of other communities. It’s been four years since Native Guns released a song/album but here they are bringing it again, with that same connectedness and using their wise organizing skills by utilizing Hip-Hop to inspire the masses. The lyrics are witty, intelligently woven together and the beat got that ill hip-hop funky baseline and drumbeat (produced by Six Fingers). Together, they are showing that the solidarity lies amongst all of us.

Click HERE to download new Native Guns Son on Oscar Grant

The song couldn’t have come at a better time, at a time when it seems like folks are looking for something of inspiration to uplift and give hope. It’s coming at a time when many around us are trying to find ways to express our feelings but need to see positive ways of expressing those feelings. It’s also coming at the perfect time to show the media that we’re not just angry activists, but we’re activists that have a long history in this movement and we have a right to be angry.

Kiwi opens it up bringing his lyrical skills and dope flow, expressing the very views of not just activists but thousands of people who are tired of what is going on in their communities:

“fire on the streets/i can feel the smoke and the heat
the whole city on lock/got no where to eat
A shot heard around town/so the people won’t sleep
another brother taken down/by the fuckin police
We’re sick of just yelling/No Justice! No Peace!”

My last essay, also spoke about all issues being connected to what’s happening in Arizona to other issues around the world. Native Guns also make the same connections with Bambu’s line, “To the pig from Oakland/to a life getting stolen/from a pig in Gaza/To the pig who killed Ayana” and “It’s Arizona to Watts/Philippines to Iraq” and Kiwi’s lines “same bullets, same tank, used on the West Bank.”

Just when you think the verses were truth with fire, the hook itself spoke the truth and inspires me to want to walk with the masses the day the verdict goes down:

(Handcuffs) we are not afraid we are mad
(Native Guns) Take it to the streets just like that
(Handcuffs) Its bigger than the block we on
(Native Guns) All power to the masses homes
(Handcuffs) bottom to the top school up
(Native Guns) linkin all for that money/getting cut up
(Handcuffs) Meet me at the Fruitvale BART
(Native Guns) Shake the system/Rip the setup apart
(Handcuffs)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yP3W4LnX92g&feature=player_embedded


Bambu, also sharply makes a strong point with lines like “the issues are bigger than one murderous cop”, which brings it to the point that the issues are big, that we are dealing with a large entity, a system that is connected to other systems which Kiwi illustrates, “less money for city college or healthcare/more people unemployed no welfare/the same people on all the streets trying to get theirs/politicians, corporations like (handcuffs) hell yeah/”

The song is fire, speaks truth to power and I am proud to know that my brothers Native Guns came together for such an important song. Thank you, thank you, thank you and bless you.

Download the song here: http://24kmilky.com/7203/native-guns-handcuffs
(i’m also posting it on my wall so you can hear it before downloading if you wish) But please Post it everywhere And Let this be a call-to-action for all of our communities to come together. Express yourselves with a song, a beat, a dance and organize with our communities, come out when the verdict goes down, express yourself!

All I know is, we got to be together…

Peace, love, and unity
Kuttin Kandi

p.s. to read my last essay on Oscar Grant go here: http://www.facebook.com/notes/kuttin-kandi/no-independence-day-in-unity-struggle-till-we-are-all-free-for-oscar-grant/409911133373

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No Independence Day! In Unity & Struggle, Till We Are All Free-(This is For Oscar Grant)

No Independence Day! In Unity & Struggle, Till We Are All Free

by DJ Kuttin’  Kandi

This is for….

Oscar Grant, Sean Bell, Ousmane Zongo, Amadou Diallo, Abner Louima,
Rodney King, the San Jose Custodio family, Fong Lee, Kuanchung Kao,
Anthony Baez, Joe Joshua….

The people who I mentioned above are only just a few of the thousands who have been beaten, tortured, harassed, murdered or all of the above by police officers in this country. There are countless many others of whom I have failed to mention, for sadly, I do not know them. They are graffiti artists who run the tracks and jump yards from the cops who beat them till their blue, women who are groped and raped by cops when they are pulled over, women behind prisoner walls who sleep unsafely in fear that they will be sexually abused by a guard, LGBTQ people who are constantly targeted, harassed and wrongfully arrested daily by hundreds of homophobic Officer Richard Fiorito’s in this country. They are our youth, and they are our people of color who are racially profiled every day. They all have names and they all have faces. They are family, they have homes, and they are part of our communities. And they have been stripped of their lives, their freedom, their liberty and their rights.

Sadly, all this mistreatment and killings have exposed not only the injustices and oppression in which we live in, but they have exposed the racist White Supremacy that embodies this country. They are in our everyday lives, embedded in the very systems that are supposed to protect and serve us, the people. They exist amongst our streets, in our schools, near our homes, infiltrating our parties, roaming in their cars, checking out our street corners, just waiting to look for any person of color to mess up or provoking us to retaliate.

As we wait for today’s closing arguments, deliberations and a verdict on the trial of what many of us are calling the Execution of Oscar Grant, I am remembering Sean Bell. I am remembering May 2008, sitting down reading a news article of hundreds of people in New York City protesting after all three officers were acquitted on all counts of charges of manslaughter, reckless endangerment and assault on the shooting and killing of Sean Bell. I remembered how the tears rolled down my face. I remembered feeling hopeless and helpless, and wishing I was back home in New York City. There I was, still a newbie San Diegan, still learning about the west coast life, 3000 miles away from New York City working at UC San Diego in a white, upper-class town called La Jolla, Ca. My lips couldn’t move but inside my head was screaming “Doesn’t anyone know what had just happened?” They had just let three police officers walk away free from murdering a young man with a 51 bullets-shooting!! Does not anyone care?

Of course there were many people that did care, many of whom were out there rallying, protesting, crying and hoping for change. But then there were also some that didn’t care. Then there were some that didn’t even know. Just as they didn’t know about Amadou Diallo who was shot and killed, with a total of 41 rounds by 4 police officers or they never heard about how Abner Louima was assaulted, brutalized and forcibly sodomized by New York police officers with a the handle of a bathroom plunger in 1997. Or they never learned about Fred Hampton, of the Black Panther Party, who was killed as he was asleep in bed by the Chicago Police department. Or they forgot about little 13-year old Timothy L. Wilson from Kansas City who was shot dead after a brief chase for driving his friend’s pick-up truck. LaTanya Haggerty in Chicago, Mario Paz in California, Aquan Salmon in Connecticut, Stanton Crew in New Jersey, Donta Dawson in Philadelphia, Pedro Oregon from Texas – all wrongfully shot and/or killed by police officers, some and/or maybe all of whose stories may not be known to most of us.

The mainstream media is also an institutionalized racist system much like the police system and the prison industry complex, and is often in cahoots with other fascists like the government; is not going to cover all of these police brutality stories in the truest details and form. The mass media play an important role in politics and policymaking, while journalists are key players in ongoing struggles of numerous socials groups to specify problems and form how we define those problems.

In the book The Politics of Force: Media and the Construction of Police Brutality, author Regina G. Lawrence reveals how the media, does not offer additional perspectives of particularly three cases of those who had been killed by police officers. She reports, “The news offered socially constructed public definitions of these vents, which drew upon official and, sometimes, nonofficial voices. With different degrees of success, police attempted to control those definitions by providing reporters with narratives that defended their use of physical force.” (Lawrence 3). She also brings to light how there be different realities for different people and “how the news simultaneously confers and denies power to different groups’ perspectives on reality.” This also raises the question which she asked, “What kind of ‘realities’ are represented in news coverage of policy issues? And whose realities are they?” (Lawrence 5).

In the preface of her book, Lawrence also makes known that the general public is not aware of the institutionalized racism that exists with the police department. She states, “It is tough to get the general public thinking about police brutality as a serious public problem. It is tougher still to persuade the public that the roots of that alleged problem lie not in the occasional bad behavior or poor judgment of individual police officers but in entire institutionalized systems of police training, management, and culture; in a criminal-justice system that discourages prosecutors from pursuing police misconduct vigorously; in a political system that responds more readily to police than to the residents of inner-city and minority communities; or in a racist political culture that fears crime and values tough policing more than it values due process for all its citizens. “ (Lawrence XII).

My question is, if the media plays a major role in being the “official dominance” and if “journalists rely heavily on institutionally position officials for the raw materials of news” as Lawrence exposes; then what do we do to change what the general public thinks is “reality”, especially if the “reality” and problems of those who are marginalized are ignored by those institutionally position officials?

As I am looking to find ways to answer that question, I am also struck with sadness because the news are depicting activists as if we are wanting to cause riots in the streets. Speaking from my own perspective as an activist and community organizer, I choose not to engage in violent measures when justice is not served for the people. However, I believe self-defense is a right, and I will exercise that right, as I am sure others will too.

Hip-Hop Activist and journalist Davey D, recently been taking us back to footages at previous Oscar Grant rallies, showing us Mandingo Hayes who was accused of being a police informant and a former pimp and in the clips. Hayes was one of the key people who were influencing folks to leave the rally and head to the BART Headquarters, and shut down the station, while it was far from CAPE (Coalition Against Police Executions) organizers agenda. Also, more recently Quebec police admitted going undercover at the Montebello protests disguising themselves as demonstrators. And just now, within the hour, Davey D exposes a new LRAD weapon and questions if the Oakland police could possibly be itching to use it for expected riots.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ooWr-RhovPg

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TbLU9tdDwxo

 So, if media are making activists appear to be intolerable, vicious people then how can we as activists gain the trust of the general public to be able to educate the “reality” that needs to be told?

Also, what the news fails to show and highlight to the general public are the many different faces that are at the Oscar Grant protests. Various faces, people of color are supporting, rallying, voicing, sharing and being allies to one another. This is happening because there is an understanding of the solidarity needed. That this is bigger than just the indictment of Officer Mehserle… that this is about fighting institutionalized racism and White Supremacy. All of us, people of color including white people are affected by White Supremacy.

The killings of people of color by police officers are a symbolic representation of what is happening across this country and around the world. They are connected to what’s happening in Arizona and Texas. They are connected to what happened in New Orleans, to the BP Oil Spill and to what are happening in Haiti now (Check Davey D’s site for Immortal Technique’s latest piece on his trip to Haiti) .

Last week, a friend posted on Facebook an article on how 4 Filipino nurses are claiming the Bon Secours Health System fired them for speaking Tagalog at work. They had recently filed a discrimination complaint before the US Equal Empoyment Opportunity Commission. The hospital policy states; that since English is the primary language of their customers it must be the exclusive language spoken and written by all employees while on duty in the emergency department. But none of the nurses recall speaking in Tagalog in front or while providing patient care in the Emergency Department and that they only spoke their native language during breaks at their Nurses Station.

Upon reading this article, I was immediately upset. I was upset for the obvious reasons, at least to me, that people could get fired for speaking their own language. Quite honestly, in my opinion, I’m saddened that such a hospital policy should even exist. Have we forgotten that we live in a country that according to the last 2008 census, 55.8 million of the US population speaks a variety of foreign languages? Perhaps, instead of making English a primary language, we should be learning to speak various languages? Aside from knowing that the English language has become the primary language pretty much all over the world due to imperialism and colonialism, this policy is another way to “whiten-out” people of color, forcing people to assimilate into this country and it’s elitist standards. While I value learning and educating ourselves to speak the white man’s language, while I understand that there can be a majority of people that speak English in an office or work setting, I still find it insulting that a policy preventing people to speak their own native language in their workplace highly racist.

Not only was I able to link these arrests as a connection to racism, I immediately linked this to what’s going on in Arizona and the SB1070 Bill, along with Texas’s Board of Education’s conservative winning vote of 9-5 back in early May to change Texas’s history curriculum to amend the teaching of the civil rights movement, slavery and America’s relationship with United Nations. I find it abominable that such a thing can even happen, and I am boggled as to how come more people aren’t enraged about how this came to pass. And if people are enraged, the news aren’t covering it, nor are they covering the thousands that caravanned to Arizona from San Diego to LA and all over to protest the SB1070-legalizing-racial-profiling Bill. But bringing it back to the subject at hand, the arrests of the 4 Filipino nurses for speaking their native language are strongly connected to how Arizona is wiping out Ethnic Studies and firing teachers who have “accents”.

There is a trickle down effect happening in this country, our world is globally dying, the earth is speaking to us to not just clean-up oil spills… there’s earthquakes, levee’s breaking, floods happening and storms coming. There is a calling… and it’s telling us that they are coming for all of us. While we continue to embrace and value our differences, and while we must continue to recognize the need for each community to express their individual needs, issues and concerns. We also need to understand that we are all struggling. And that these aren’t specifically just Black issues, or just Brown issues, these are all of our issues. And we must resist them together. More than ever, there is a need for us to recognize how these issues are all connected. And how we need to continue to be there for one another, we need to continue to stand up together, rise up together… And again, I say continue, because I know there are so many of you already doing so.

As an organizer myself, I have an understanding that we all have different political ideologies. I understand that we are all not going to agree. I know, everyone has different ways of organizing. For me, personally, I consider myself a Hip-Hop Activist, so I always find ways to utilize Hip-Hop to be that vehicle to bring voice for our people. But even 2009’s Green Party Vice-Presidential Candidate Rosa Clemente has voiced expressed having to call for a Hip-Hop radical front to separate it from other claimed Hip-Hop political agendas. This means, we may have to do some calling out on folks if we need to… and rightfully so, we should. We don’t need anyone in the movement with hidden agendas. But overall, we’re going to need to continue to be allies. And if we don’t know how to we’re going to need to learn how to be allies to each other. At the Social Justice Summer Institute at UCSD, I was given this great read on how to be an ally Aspiring Social Justice Ally Identity Development: a Conceptual Model (Edwards, K.E.) (2006) NASPA Journal Vol. 43. No. 4 Women’s Center (look it up in google scholar).

Either way, we’re going to need to continue to – in the words of Godfather of Hip-Hop Afrika Bambaataa’s words – “Organize, Organize, Organize!”

We have a lot of work ahead of us.

Many activists around the world have been working tirelessly fighting all of these injustices for years on. So many people who never wanted to be activists, who never thought they would even be one finding themselves turning into activists. Realizing they have no choice but to resist and fight back against a system that wants to keep them silent, they become activists without even putting the label on themselves. This is the reality in which many are living in…. And the reality is, at the rate of the way this world is going; this will be the reality for all of us.

And it might come down to things we haven’t even begun to imagine. It might have to come down to putting everything we have at risk in order to truly live free. We may have to rethink the ways in which we are living and the ways in which we are even trying to educate ourselves. Many of us have families, and need to come home to them. But some of us have certain privileges, in where we’re able to put ourselves out on the front lines. And although, I too, have family, a partner who loves me and would like to see me come home; I am one of those people who can, and more than likely at the end of the day, if it means to… I will be right on the front lines. And if the revolution goes down like that where I need to defend myself, then yes, by any means necessary, I will exercise my right of the 2nd amendment.

But for years many have been trying prevent this from happening… trying to prevent it having to come down to that…

But the truth is many of us are distracted. I admit, I too, get distracted. Not necessarily with the “dumbening effect” (a popular word my husband coined for television’s reality tv shows) of reality tv, but with the fact that it’s just way too stressful to even just live. We got bills to pay, we have to work, we have to go to school and we got health. There’s so much to take care of that it almost seems like we can’t ever make it to a meeting to organize or to educate. This economy is taking a toll on all of us, and it’s wearing us down to the point where sometimes we don’t have energy, or we’re too sick to show up to a planning meeting. I know I was almost about 8 months off of organizing from going through deep depression. I had to take care of me before I went back in and I’m still not doing nearly as much as I can be doing. And if it’s not that, some of us are getting PTSD from the stress to organize, the arguments, the divides… It’s just too much to bear. While many of us are dealing with all of the above, there are also many of us that rather be distracted with fake entertainment.

But the truth is, we can’t spend all day long, being tuned into questions if Chris Brown was genuinely crying or not… At some point, we have to turn off BET, MTV, Glenn Beck, Fox News, stop going on our tourist vacations and we are going to have to turn our heads, wake up, and realize the realities of the world. At some point, we are all going to have to contribute, organize… At some point, something has got to give. At some point, we’re going to have to start listening, stop the divides and come together….

During this 4th of July weekend are we thinking of fireworks and BBQ or making sure killer cop Johannes Mehersele goes to jail for murdering Oscar Grant?

It’s ironic, that as we wait for the verdict of Johannes Mehserle, the officer who executed Oscar Grant, we are a few days shy of it being Independence Day.

I can count how many facebook status’s I read of people getting ready for the weekend barbecues, beachfests and picnics. How nice! I can’t judge, (sighs) I wish I could do the same – I could if I wanted to – San Diego has the beautiful weather to be able to do so.

But in the midst of all that beach campfire I can’t help but ask –

Independence Day for who? We still have troops out in war.
Independence Day for who? There was no justice for Amadou, Sean Bell…
And Mumia is still behind bars for a crime he did not commit, and Assata still deemed as a “terrorist”, and they still haven’t shut off that oil. And on and on and on and on…..

We can’t go back to “business as usual”….

Because when is… enough is enough? How many more killings? How many more deaths? How many more wars till we realize…. We are not truly free till we are all free.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j4sYnogXxFY

Below is an excerpt of my poem “I Write” in which I wrote in 1999 about the police brutality of Amadou Diallo and Abner Louima…. I am sharing it with all of you in dedication to Oscar Grant and all those who have suffered from police brutality.

smear it spray it
write it
starting at the Supreme Court
41 times
“I will find his justice”
“I will find his justice”
because his justice was not served
yet he served every man
that wrote the constitution
they write
all men shall be created equal
yet he is still serving his master
morning, noon and night
serving his master’s meals
picking his cotton
picking his apple trees
working the field
serving his children
while his master
is raping his wife
right in front of his eyes

only difference today
is his master WRITES him a check
WRITES out his life contract
WRITE his story on the
front cover of a magazine
for the music HE writes
for the video he shoots
with the ice
that his brother in
Africa and India died for
with a little girl glued to the screen
learning how to be a whore
writing him out
bleeding him out
no where to run
no way out
showing you the money
making you believe
your master cares
by selling you out
enslaving him till he goes platinum
till he wins the grammy
till he gets drugged up
till he gets locked up
till she gets knocked up
this is how tupac and biggie
got shot up
im sorry
this is how it goes
but this is how
the system is all fucked up

41 times
41 times
it happened more than just 41 times

and all he ever asked
for was his freedom?
but when New York’s finest
did not protect and serve
he still served his master
following the system
believing in the system
believe in the system

how can I believe in the system
when the system does not believe in me?

oh but as they thrust their way
into his bottom
into the crevices of his buttocks
they were plunging
plunging
plunging their way
into his mind
into his mind
for he will not forget
he will not forget
so he doesn’t stop there
no he doesn’t stop there
he cant stop
he wont stop
because it don’t stop
till we get the popo off the block

then they make their laws
one, two, three
strikes your out
and expect us to follow
and try to win our votes
because it is then that we count?
we count
as victims of
global bureaucratic depravation
clintons libidinous prevarication
guiliani’s fucked up regimentation
bush and his administration
all over this nation
all over this nation
we’re countless
we’re countless
with their broken window theories
with their quality of life initiative
with their preemptive laws
with their proposition 21’s
and this is how they won
and this is how they won
this is how they won

Return to Davey D’s Hip Hop Corner

An Open Letter, A Call to Action to Our Hip-Hop Community: Put us Women on that Line-Up & Stop the Disrespect!

Big shout out to DJ Kuttin Kandi for always speaking up and reminding all of us our responsibility. What makes this letter so important is that as much as we in Hip Hop like to smash on the troubling aspects of mainstream and corporate backed Hip Hop,our so called progressiveness and ‘us keeping it real’ stop at the front door when it comes to women. Something is seriously amiss, we can turn on the BET awards as much as we like to criticize, and see MC Lyte, Queen Latifah, Nicki Minaj and others hosting and performing and not see a cadre of women artists on the line up for a popular ‘alternative’ outlet like Rock the Bells we all have to take a pause and ask ourselves some hard questions. Why and how is this happening?

And for the record, RTB is not the only one, its just the most visible, but we can take a look at dozens of so called underground spots all over the country and see a lack of women rocking the house.  The offerings get even more sparse when you listen to an underground mix show or club spot and ‘hardly hear any women in a nice 2 hour set. How are we allowing this to happen? We pride ourselves on crate digging and can’t find some women spitting nice flows?

People like to say women don’t draw. Well someone didn’t give that memo to artists like Invincible who put together an all woman showcase during SxSW this past spring. She had everyone from Psalm One to Tiye Phoenix. It was held a good mile away from the other showcases and yet people found their way to the venue and it was packed to the hilt..

Again shout out to Kuttin Kandi for this article…

-Davey D-

AN OPEN LETTER, A CALL-TO-ACTION TO OUR HIP-HOP COMMUNITY: PUT US, WOMEN ON THAT LINE-UP & STOP THE DISRESPECT!

A BIG THANK YOU TO MY SISTER IN THE MOVEMENT – ROSA CLEMENTE WHO IS MY INSPIRATION TO WRITE THIS PIECE… I LOVE YOU SISTER!

Dear Hip-Hop Community

I come to you openly as a long-time Hip-Hop DJ, Hip-Hop Poet, Hip-Hop lover, fan and etc… I come to you as someone who appreciates all of you whole-heartedly, for all that you do for Hip-Hop, for all that you do for keeping Hip-Hop going, living and breathing. I come to you for giving so much to Hip-Hop, for providing all of us with such dope Hip-Hop beats, rhythm’s and dance. I come to you for all that we have been through with Hip-Hop. I come to you because I know Hip-Hop is a space for me to be honest, a space for me to challenge others and myself.

But I also come to you as a woman in Hip-Hop, a community organizer, a Hip-Hop feminist and activist who is tired; tired of the industry that can be so cold in leaving women out of the picture all of the time. And sadly, when we are in the picture, we’re often pictured in misogynistic, sexist videos and pictures. I am tired of seeing these images over and over again. I am also tired of not having enough alternatives of these sexist music. And even when there are these so-called “alternative” spaces, it’s just as sexist too. That’s right, I’m not just talking about “mainstream” Hip-Hop, I’m also talking about that “alternative” what has often been labeled “underground Hip-Hop”, “real Hip-Hop” too. However, let me be clear that I also say “industry” because it is not Hip-Hop culture that treats women this way. Sadly, it is our own people in this industry that is doing this to our women, and each other.

So, if these alternative spaces are created to give us other kinds of outlets for other kinds of Hip-Hop we prefer which is supposingly more ethical, more “moral”, more conscious and more “Hip-Hop”; and if these supposed more ethical, more “conscious” Hip-Hop are also just as sexist and misogynistic, then where do we go from here?

During the USSF forum in Detroit, Invincible managed to bring an all-star line up of dope female artists who are in point including Miz Korona and Monica Blair

I am specifically tired of seeing this 1 year after year show, one that will remain nameless (ahem, few coming up this August), where there is an all-star-line-up and all of them are men with 1 solo female act. This show is widely considered the “real Hip-Hop” deal. I mean really, a huge line-up of about 20 something men and maybe 1 or 2 women on the bill!? And maybe a few other women who some of the artists bring along as a surprise guest but don’t even make it on the flier or even heard or seen unless you were there? Seriously? HIP-HOP, IS THIS WHERE WE’RE AT? I can name tons of female artists, and not just “developing artists”, but dope long-time women veterans who can spit dope game and cut it up on the tablez who need to be in that supposed “all-star-line-up.” They have paid their dues by paving the way, setting their own mark, making their own records, winning battles… do they not deserve to be on that bill?

For nearly 15 years, in the industry, I have witnessed women being treated unfairly and unjustly. Whether it be through watching the way music videos depicted women as only sex objects or whether it was behind the scenes with record labels giving horrible deals and men back stages overstepping boundaries, I’ve witnessed it all. If you know me well enough, you would know that this is not the first time I’ve spoken about this. And this is not the first time that I’m tired of it all. However, I decided to make a “I AM TIRED OF HOW WOMEN ARE BEING TREATED IN HIP-HOP LIST” that I hope all of you can help add and pass on:

So, here is just a few of what I am tired of: (this is a growing list – women and allies, pls feel free to add to this list)

• I am tired of going to a show where a sound engineer would not value my expertise because they didn’t deem me as “expert” enough to know what I am talking about.

• I am tired of being the only woman headline on a bill.

• I am tired of not seeing myself or other women headline on a bill.

• I am tired of feeling uncomfortable and intimidated because I’m the only woman backstage.

• I am tired of seeing music videos of women being objectified.

• I am tired of seeing men groping women backstage.

• I am tired of seeing men grope women on stage.

• I am tired of men calling women a “b*tch” or a “h*e” when they feel threatened by her ability to know what she is doing and doing it good.

• I am tired of women being pigeonholed into stereotyped categories within Hip-Hop.

• I am tired of seeing “female battles” within Hip-Hop when women can compete and win against men.

• I am tired of women being seen as a “rarity” in the field that they tokenize a “female” artist and put any woman on doesn’t matter if she has no skill as long as she looks “good”.

• I am tired of women getting offered only “collabos” on songs but not getting offered deals.

• I am tired of the deals women are offered and how it’s often less than what a male artist would receive.

• I am tired of the “token female DJ night”. Come on now, give a woman a regular night spinning with other men too!

• I am tired of being bumped to either first or last or at a really horrible time slot last minute because someone with more “credibility” (more than likely a male) needed to go on because he has a last minute conflict on his schedule.

• I am tired of how male artists are typically offered more money then women artists and then how others use an excuse like “because he is more known”, but ideally a woman would be “more known” had female artists were given the same equal treatments of publicity, marketing and deals. DUH!

• I’m tired of women getting pushed off a bill or a track when someone with more “credibility” (more than likely a male) comes along.

• I am tired of not feeling safe enough to talk about my own gender identity, my sexual orientation and being free to be who I truly am.

• I am tired of seeing how Asian women, Black Women, Latina Women, Queer Women, and women of color as a whole are treated and perceived in Hip-Hop because of their race, class and gender.

• I am tired that people think it’s just mainstream Hip-Hop, when “underground” Hip-Hop disrespect women and LGBTQ folks too.

• I am tired that this music industry is also a size/ist and lookism industry that as a woman I have to have a certain sex appeal and size to get offers, deals and etc..

• I am tired when none of our supposed male allies within Hip-Hop don’t check other men on their privileges.

• I am tired of men not recognizing that they are the only ones on the line-up and not sayin or doing anything about it.

• I am tired of not feeling safe enough to check anyone.

• I’m tired of the women who are buying into the patriarchal thinking and get competitive with other women and enjoy being the “only female”.

• I am tired of being one of those women who once bought into the patriarchal thinking and being competitive with other women for that 1 gig or spot in the bill.

• I am tired of people not knowing that there are dope women Hip-Hop artists and Hip-Hop activists all over the world.

• I am tired of being scared right now, as we speak, writing this open letter, knowing that at any show I could be and more than likely will be threatened and/or attacked if I call out anyone on this article.

Eternia just did a nice remake of 'Live at the Barbeque' featuring all women including Rah Digga, Jean Grae, Tiye Phoenix and Lady of Rage

I am tired of being the token female artist in a Hip-Hop male lineup. This music industry has led me to behave in such a way where I would buy into the “only female-in-the-click” syndrome. While I respect the crews I have been part of in my past, it is today, and now more than ever that I recognize how important it is that we make room for more women to be included. This music industry makes no room for more women to enter the doors, that it creates a dynamic for women to compete against each other, for that 1 gig, that 1 offer, that 1 deal, that 1 spotlight. Because it only comes so often, because the chance is only once in a lifetime, us women, jump for it… because it is our only opportunity. We’re all jumping for the scraps they are offering us… and I am tired of falling for it.

I am so tired of hearing other women complaining and still it is the same. This is the not the first letter or article that has been written. Other women have been writing this for years. This is nothing new. I’ve just been lucky that within these past 15 years, I’ve been able to create my own alternatives to help keep my own sanity amongst a music industry that can make anyone lose their mind. I’ve been able to join female crews and build my own network of friends who would support me and other women. I’ve been able to find folks who have helped me out over the years during the most challenging times by providing me outlets and spaces to speak my peace and express my art. These spaces were safe that gave me a place to be real with myself, to know that I can be whoever I am. I am thankful for these spaces within Hip-Hop. I am thankful for these Hip-Hop folks that help make these spaces happen. These Hip-Hop folks are women, male allies and other allies in our communities.

However, there comes a time, where we need to stand up to the spaces and the people that don’t make help create these spaces either. There comes a time to stand up to the people that create elitist spaces, not making room for others to speak, share and be part of it. Especially, when these spaces claim to be Hip-Hop and make no room for women to be part of it. There comes a time where we as women have a right to claim these spaces, because women have been part of Hip-Hop since day one.

It would be great to see the VH1 Hip Hop Honors pay tribute to the pioneering women of this culture, like the all female crew Mercedes Ladies who have long been overlooked...

But like I am in other times that I speak up against something I am not right with, I am in fear of the repercussions. I am in fear of being attacked. I am fear of the literal physical attack that can happen when speaking out. I am also in fear that people will think that I am trying to be about me. Because it’s not about me. This isn’t about me trying to get a gig. Sorry, that’s not on my agenda. I’m not someone bitter that I didn’t get an opportunity to get my shine on. This is about my sisters, this is about us having a voice, about us having talent too. This is about the shine for all of us. This is for all my sisters out there who are practicing everyday. This is for the movement that Barbara, Eve, Lady Pink, Mercedes Ladies, Lady B, Sweet Tee, Queen Latifah, MC Lyte, Sista Souljah, Wanda Dee, Jazzy Joyce, Roxanne Shante, Pebblee Poo, started long before me, so that we can be put on too. This for all of them who are still doing it today. And this is about women today, who are doing their thing. I have witnessed Queen Godis, Mystic, Medusa, Anomolies, Abeer, Maria Isa, Eternia, Jean Grae, Bahamadia, Miki Vale, Apani B Fly, Bless Roxwell, Sara Kana, DJ Killa Jewel, Tyra from Saigon, DJ Shortee, DJ Chela, Pam the Funktress to the La Femme Deadly Venoms… and this list goes on and on and on and on and on. Too many to name. And I’m sad that I can’t list them all. Because we are out there and we exist. And it is for this reason that I must speak. I have learned from Audre Lorde – “your silence will not save you.”

So, come on, male promoters – you know who you are. I highly suggest to all the men within Hip-Hop to read male privilege check-list and etc. I suggest if you don’t know, you google it and educate yourself. I also suggest our male allies in Hip-Hop to stand up with us. It is not enough that you acknowledge that this goes on within Hip-Hop. If you know it does, then let a promoter know they should even out the line-up. Refer other women artists. Invite female artists on your showset to get some shine. BUT don’t tokenize us either! Also, check your male friends backstage who mistreat women. Invite us to your practice sessions, but don’t make us feel uncomfortable by making us look like rare creatures or putting us up on some pedastal or treating us like trophies or prized possessions. Don’t intimidate us by your male chauvinisms, machoisms and egotisms. But don’t think we’re gentle and demure either. Don’t victimize us or romanticize some notion that you’re going to save us. Because at the end of the day, we been always fighting our own battles. With or Without you, we have done it, made it, claimed it and taken it. We’re strong, we got a mind of our own and we got skillz. We don’t fit into any label or category because we are all shapes and sizes. We are like Hip-Hop, fluid in what what say, think, do, feel, wear, and etc… We are anything and everything we imagine ourselves to be, so don’t package us into what you envision us to be. We have our own visions and dreams.

As far as for us, women, I don’t think I really need to tell you much. You already know what we are coming into because you feel it and you are experiencing it. However, I will just say for the sake of saying – We, women, we need to just continue to come together. I say continue, because we are a movement been happening. We have been coming together long before my crew Anomolies and long before Mercedes Ladies. We have been standing together, rising up together, teaching each other, learning from one another and we need to continue to do so because we are standing at a time where we are at the crossroads. The world is going chaotic and the earth is speaking to us to stay united. And if we women hold up half the sky, we’re going to have to continue keeping it balanced by staying at peace amongst each other, loving one another and being in unity with one another. We need to acknowledge our differences, value them, and talk about our intersections. We need to talk about the things that are complexed and come out with our own plan of actions. We need to support those who are speaking out for us, voicing themselves at the risk of losing everything. We need to help each other in our crafts to progress, we need to create spaces for more women, transgender and non-conforming genders to be included, we need to check each other in our perpetuation of patriarchal-thinkings and check the men that do it to us.

So, as I close this open letter…. I close it with saying in the words of my friend’s Dead Prez’s words “It’s Bigger than Hip-Hop…”, because we all know that this is all bigger than Hip-Hop. And I’m not just talking about the genre of music, for we all know that sexism exists everywhere. However, I am saying that this is bigger than Hip-Hop, because this is not just about women being in the picture. It’s about respect. And like Hip-Hop, being about gaining respect, we too, be it a woman Hip-Hop head or not, that’s all we want too. Respect.

with love, peace and respect
DJ Kuttin Kandi

p.s. also a big shout out to DJ MarkLuv for your allyship in writing this piece as well!

An Open Commentary To Adam Coralla’s & Teri Hatcher Comedians Who Like to Poke Fun at My Filipino People….

 

I am not much of a fan of boxing. Occassionally, I’ll sit beside my partner Rob at home to support his love for boxing and UFC. But most of the time, I am eagerly waiting for the fights to end so I can change the channel or I am either sitting there cringing at the sight of blood or bickering about the politics of these brutal sports that often pin people of color against each other while waving money and all sorts of other material things at them as though they were animals. I haven’t even begun to mention the loads of gender stereotypes this sport just breeds. But to be quite honest, I really don’t know much about the politics of sports but I see what I see – almost every sport have treated their players as though they can be bought and sold. And yes they are often bought and sold. Whether it’s to matches, traded to different teams or that Arrid Extra Dry commercial – they are bought, traded and sold. Sadly, it is often at the expense of their own lives and well-being.

However, even knowing all this, and as contradicting as this may sound – I still somehow have some sort of respect for boxing and UFC. And it’s not because of the excitement by the techniques of left hooks and uppercuts. To be honest the punches gives me too much awful memories of my own days of experiencing violence growing up. The respect that I give to this sport and the kind of “understanding” that i have when I see people go crazy over the bloody sports is because of what it means to our communities – people of color communities. It becomes more than just a sport, or a match for money or a match for the title when boxers from our communities like Muhammad Ali, Erik Morales and Manny Pacquao fight in the ring.

 
As a Filipina-American growing up in America, long before ABDC and the Jabbowockeez existed, i hardly ever saw any Filipino (a)’s on television. If I did, it was often stereotypes of a Filipina as a maid or a prostitute or a mail order bride. Or you’d often just hear derogatory names, terms all in bad context whenever the Philippines or Filipino’s were ever mentioned. Often times you’d just see Filipino’s acting in other Asian roles as Chinese or Japanese when you knew they were Filipino. Or you would know that Lou Diamond Phillips, Nia Peeples, Nicole Scherzinger were all born of Filipino blood but you hardly heard them ever talk about it on television or interviews, or if at all. My point is, I never really did see my brown skin on television. And if they were on television, it was almost as if they were ashamed to even admit they were Filipino because the industry limited them into characters that were anything else but themselves. Characters that often deem and oppress our Filipino people.

So, when someone like Manny Pacquiao steps out onto the ring – he becomes so much more than just a fighter. He becomes our hero. A hero that represents the thousands upon thousands of Filipino’s in the States and in the Philippines that have been waiting for someone to represent them more than just on TV but to win a championship that proves so much more than “boxing”, but a championship of surviving. While I don’t know what Manny Pacquiao’s political views are, I do know that he is no different than what Muhammad Ali, Tommie Smith and John Carlos meant to the black community. Manny Pacquao knows what his celebrity status means for his Filipino people, which is why he makes the efforts that he does to give back to our Filipino people. Unlike what comedian Adam Carolla recently stated about the Philippines being “nothing but “Manny Pacquiao and sex stores”, Pacquiao knows that the Philippines is more than just that… which is why he fights so diligently, swiftly, quickly and passionately. And he does this for us.

I am not trying to romanticize Pacquiao, or place him up on a pedastal because although i respect that many of our people view him as our hero I personally don’t view him as an icon. I view him as another brother from our homeland doing what he needs to do to survive, doing what he can do for as long as he can for his people. Just like the rest of us should be doing. Especially now more than ever, because of racist, sexist, ignorant comedians like Adam Carolla who think it’s funny to poke fun at the expense of third world countries like the Philippines.

Adam Carolla

Someone like Adam Carolla wouldn’t understand why Manny Pacquiao means so much to us, simply because everyday he can look at television and see people with the color of his skin not having to resort to boxing to make a name for themselves. Carolla wouldn’t know that the Philippines is so much more than just sex stores because people with the color of his white skin purchase more than 5,000 Filipina mail order brides yearly into the United States. Adam Carolla wouldn’t know the beautiful islands of our country because it is rare to see when imperialist countries all over the world suck all our resources dry. Of course, Adam Carolla would find this all funny, because he has the luxury to never live this life. He has the luxury to never have to walk down daily the slums of the Philippines looking for food to feed his children. He never has to sell his body and be used as a commodity as does the 150,000 young Filipina women who are trafficked into prostitution in Japan.

But there are so many privileged Adam Carolla’s and Desperate Housewives Teri Hatcher Comedians in the world, aren’t there…? So many comedians who think they can get their ticket into fame with racist and sexist jokes. To me it’s just another way for the white supremacist to tear us down – take one of our known shining heroes like Manny Pacquiao and take one of largest known thing our country struggles with like sex-trafficking and prostitution — and blast it upon the rest of the world by making fun of it….. Yeah, just another way of tearing us down.

But what people like Adam Carolla doesn’t know is that we are all Manny Pacquiao’s as we are all our mothers and our sisters and our daughters trying to survive from sex-trafficking. And my people are strong, we are survivors… and we have fought a million wars for thousands of years. We have fought being invisible, we have fought racism, sexism, homophobia, colonialism, imperialism, and all kind of isms and oppressions….. we have done more than just boxed.. and wrestled. we have nursed, we have doctored, danced, sung, beatboxed, break’d, tagged… and DJ’d our way through —- we have held our fists in the air…. letting you all know that we exist… that we are no longer invisible… and that it’s going to take a lot more than just the petty ignorant jokes to take us down. Because we’re here… we’ve been arrived… and we will survive you. We always have.

Below is a note good friend Kevin Nadal, PhD sent earlier requesting everyone to sign a petition against Adam Carolla. It also includes a link of his derogatory, racist jokes.. – pls take the time to read and sign.

Thank you for your time
DJ Kuttin Kandi

============================================
Dear Kababayan, Friends, and Allies,

Radio host and comedian Adam Carolla has recently made several
disparaging remarks about Manny Pacquiao and Filipinos. He has
insinuated that Filipinos “pray to chicken bones” and that the
Philippines is nothing but “Manny Pacquiao and sex stores.”

Hear more about his hate here:
(Warning: This is vulgar and may not be suitable for children).
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aOSqFWwdtAE&feature=player_embedded

As a community, we must stand up again and let it be known that we
will not allow such hateful words to be made about our community.
These messages of hate help to promote the negative stereotypes about
Filipinos and Filipino Americans and we must put an end to it.

Please read and sign the petition at
http://www.petitiononline.com/FilAmAC/petition.html

And please forward this to your colleagues, family, and friends.

Sincerely,

Kevin Nadal, PhD

I AM RAISING A CALL TO ACTION AGAINST CBS CORPORATION TOMORROW,
TUESDAY, APRIL 6, 2010 AT EXACTLY 9:00 AM EST (12:00 pm PST)
These are the numbers in which you should call:
CBS Corporation
CBS Headquarters51 W. 52nd StreetNew York, NY 10019-6188
212-975-4321

complaint line: 212- 975-5005
Investor Relations
51 W. 52nd StreetNew York, NY 10019investorrelations@cbs.com1-877-227-0787

ALSO PLEASE FILE A COMPLAINT TO THE FCC AGAINST ADAM CAROLLA’S SHOW on
KACE through IndustryEars.com

————————————————————————————-