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zentronix d+h http://blogs.vibe.com/jeffchang/ politrix :: parties + bulls%!t... en Copyright 2008 Sun, 07 Sep 2008 15:58:02 -0500 http://www.sixapart.com/movabletype/ http://www.rssboard.org/rss-specification Bigger Than Hip-Hop :: A Q+A With Kevin Powell Vibe writer Kevin Powell faces off against 74 year-old, 26-year veteran Congressman Edolphus Towns for one of Brooklyn's 3 House seats in Washington D.C. It's one of the most closely watched races in the country, in no small part because of the contest's implications for generational change. There are echoes here of the Obama-McCain battle. Powell calls himself a voice for change, and has hammered at Towns for backsliding on crucial issues like free trade, and for losing touch with his community. (Towns supported Rudy Giuliani for mayor in 1997 and barely won his last primary in 2004.) Yet Towns holds a major fundraising advantage, and has said that Brooklyn voters have no time for on-the-job training for Powell. I recently had a chance to correspond with Powell on his candidacy and the meaning of the 2008 elections as he was jetting back from Obama's nomination speech in Denver. Here's what he had to say, uncut: Q: A lot of attention has been focused on the presidential race this year. But how much do so-called "down-ticket" races such as yours mean to young urban voters? A: My election is not actually a down ticket at all. It is a Democratic primary on Tuesday, September 9th in a majority Democratic city, which means that whoever wins my Congressional race, will be the next Congressperson for Brooklyn, NY's 10th Congressional district. Obviously I plan on winning. Additionally, I have been a community organizer and political activist for the past 24 years, since I was a youth and student activist back in the 1980s. It is not just young Americans of all different backgrounds who need to become more politically aware, it is all Americans. From back in the day to my campaign now, I cannot begin to tell you how many people, regardless of age and background, who do not understand electoral politics at all, be it the presidential election every four years, or local races like mine. In fact, I would argue that local races are far more important because they directly impact the day to day lives of our communities. It is local electeds who determine what kind of money and resources flow back to our communities, what kinds of businesses and industries come, or don't come, what kinds of schools we have, and so on. So part of my mission as a leader in these times is very serious political education, not just getting folks to vote for me.

We've got to cease being a nation of hype. That is, we get hyped for a political candidate because she or he is younger, hipper, hip-hop, or something like that. And that is simply not good enough.

As I sat in that Denver stadium the other day listening to Barack Obama with those other 80,000 people, naturally I was very proud. But I also thought to myself I have been a part of incredible movements before, back in the 1980s when folks like Jesse Jackson and Louis Farrakhan were moving millions of younger people. And there still has not been, for me, no single more incredible gathering than the Million Man March in 1995. But we need movement in America now, a progressive and multicultural movement of people from Generations X and Y. Young people who understand hiphop and pop culture in general, technology including the various handheld devices and social networks, the history of America and the world on at least a basic level, contemporary issues on at least a basic level, and are able to relate to a range of people, because they are culturally multilingual. My point in all of this is that this is so much bigger than me or Barack Obama. Because after I get elected and Barack Obama gets elected we are still going to have racism, sexism, classism, homophobia, religious intolerance, ignorance, poverty, a terrible healthcare system, wars everywhere, including in Iraq, a polluted environment, mediocre public schools, and so on. So younger people, of all backgrounds need to do what some of us did back in the 1980s: Jesse Jackson and his campaigns for president were the spark for our activism, for our social awareness, but then we took upon ourselves to become full-fledged leaders because we began to understand voting was just a piece of the work that needed to be done. And that is the case today, too. Young Berg, the new hip-hop artist, asked me recently when was this CHANGE Barack Obama is promising going to happen? My response was simple: When YOU become the change you want to see, when YOU make it happen, when YOU understand the leadership we are waiting for is US. That is the message we need to be putting out there very clearly to young America. Q: In many ways, your candidacy has echoes of the presidential primary and general election contests, with your theme of "new leadership" pitted against your opponent's theme of "experience". What do you think really separates young hip-hop generation leaders from a previous generation of leaders? A: I think there is an overemphasis on hip-hop, number one. Back in the 1980s there was a wave of us who were, without question, hip-hop heads. Myself, Sister Souljah, Ras Baraka, and many others who understood that just given the world we were a part of, that hip-hop had to be a part of the conversation. For example, I came up as a graf writer and b-boy and could recite any and every hip-hop lyric of that era, and certainly dressed the part. But we NEVER referred to ourselves as hip-hop leaders, or hip-hop activists, or anything of the sort. This is a very new thing, and, to me, a very tired thing, just the way back in the 1970s people felt compelled to put the word SOUL on everything.

A leader is a leader, an activist is an activist, as long as she or he is doing the work.

But I do need to say we worked very tirelessly with hip-hop artists of that time, the leading ones, like Public Enemy, like KRS-One, like LL Cool J, like Heavy D, like Ice Cube, and many others because we understood, instinctively, that, as Souljah said twenty years ago, any movement that post-Civil Rights generations have MUST be mass marketed to the people. Well, clearly hip-hop is the greatest mass marketing tool we've ever created. And obviously, now hip-hop America is multiple generations. There is no one hip-hop generation, so we need to stop saying that. I see that as I campaign every single day in Brooklyn: there are folks between the ages of 35 and nearly 50 who came of age with hip-hop, who are hip-hop heads, who know my work as a hip-hop head. Then there are the teenagers and 20-somethings, also hip-hop heads. So one of the main things that separates us from the old guard is our natural ability to relate to wide age ranges of people in our community. On top of that, we know the different ways to communicate in the 21st century, which is why my campaign does not just knock on doors and pass our flyers. We also do mad e-blasts, we have myspace, facebook, and other social network pages, we do text messaging to handheld devices, we have a mixed cd produced by DJ Reborn and hosted by DJ Drama (who I have known since he was a pre-teen, and whose parents are both old school activists), and we do nonstop parties and media that appeals to young America, be they hip-hop or not. The type of leadership I am representing is not interested solely in protest and marching and complaining of being a victim. Those days are over. I represent leadership that is about practical and proactive solutions. For example, my 9th book is just coming out. It is called The Black Male Handbook: A Blueprint for Life. Every single contributor to the book, be it BET's Jeff Johnson, the actor Hill Harper, filmmaker Byron Hurt, or scholar Jelani Cobb, is of what we call the hip-hop era. So as folks read the books of essays around spirituality, political awareness, redefining Black manhood away from sexism, violence, and misogyny, hip-hop culture vs. the hip-hop industry, mental wellness, physical health, and stopping violence against women and girls, they are getting these solutions in the language of us, of the 21st century. We are tired of leadership that is simply about reports and studies and conferences where the same people show up again and again, say the same things over and over again, and we walk with nothing practical and life-affirming to give our communities. That is what makes us different. Others talk about it. We make it happen. And that making it happen, now, is being translated into our taking over the leadership of communities once and for all. It is time, and we have no other choice. Q: What has been the most inspiring moment in your campaign so far this season? A: Every single day for the past 12 months we've been campaigning has been inspiring. I love people, all people, and I could not imagine doing anything else with my life other than being a public servant, of being an activist and advocate for the people. This is why I quit journalism many years back. I am always going to be a writer. Always, but even my writing is simply a tool to get information out to the people, to spark dialogue, which is why I write essays more than anything else now. You want an inspiring moment: last night we had a pre-Labor Day fundraiser in the heart of Fort Greene, Brooklyn. Great crowd, music being blazed by my dude DJ CEO. I addressed the crowd briefly, to thank them. I thought I was done for the night. A young man named Richard came up to me, quite serious and passionate, and said he wanted to know why I was really running for Congress, and asked if I could get back on the mic. He basically challenged me, at 1am in the morning, to talk to the people. So we turned the music off, and for the next 90 minutes, at a club, we held an impromptu townhall meeting covering issues like education, the state of young America, violence, you name it. And as always, the people asking questions and making comments realized, as I guided the dialogue and answered questions, that the solutions are right in front of us. But it is only when we realize our individual and collective power that things will change in America, and on this planet. Erica Perkins, my Campaign Manager, and I left that club like WOW. This is what this work is about. Wherever people want to think and talk, you give them that space to do their thing. And Richard, as I said to him over and over again from the stage, is a leader. That is what this is about, that is what inspires me. To get as many people as possible to know that self-empowerment and community empowerment is the route we must take. Anything less means we will forever see ourselves as powerless victims. So folks walked away from the party last night ready to do, as you better believe I steered the conversation toward DOING. Great to talk, pontificate, theorize, all of that. But we need action, now, more than ever. That is what inspires me about this campaign, about Barack's campaign: all the multitudes who are stepping up to do something. But it has to continue, as I said, beyond voting, it has to become a movement for change nationwide. ]]> http://blogs.vibe.com/jeffchang/2008/09/bigger-than-hiphop-a-q-a-with-kevin-powell/ http://blogs.vibe.com/jeffchang/2008/09/bigger-than-hiphop-a-q-a-with-kevin-powell/ Sun, 07 Sep 2008 15:58:02 -0500 Vibe.com@RNC :: Day 4: The C-Word Code Pink--sitting behind stage left near the nowhere that networks MSNBC and Al-Jazeera had been assigned to--began shouting "U.S. Out Of Iraq!" The crowd at the Xcel Center interrupted McCain's speech again with more cries of "USA!" And then it was all McCain's stage. He didn't try to match the fervor of VP nominee Sarah Palin's address the evening before. Instead he tried to portray himself as an experienced, determined fighter and above all, a break from the recent Republican past. He spoke sometimes as if he wished the Bush II administration had never happened. He pointed the finger at corruption, big government, oil companies. "We lost [people's] trust when we valued our power over our principles," he said. He received one of the biggest cheers of the night when he said, "We're going to recover the people's trust by standing up again for the values Americans admire. The party of Lincoln, Roosevelt and Reagan is going to get back to basics." But he also reached out to new constituencies, "the Latina daughter of migrant workers", urban children in failing schools. He even proposed bridge pay and job retraining for unemployed workers, a proposal that labor and Democrats began making during the Reagan/Bush I years. Still, his major domestic initiative, what he called "the most ambitious national project in decades", was an energy plan that depended most of all on new oil drilling. Wednesday night, Sarah Palin offered her own semi-pristine Alaskan North Slope wilderness as a place to start as Maryland Lt. Governor Michael Steele, the only elected African American to address the RNC, coined a new phrase: "Drill, baby, drill!" This is hardly seems the kind of domestic agenda that can reinvigorate a new Republican Party. This year, less than 2% of the Republican delegates were African American, less than 5% were Hispanic, and the count of Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders not from Hawai'i was negligible. Throughout the week, black and brown Republicans spoke about how frustrated they were to see the party going backward in time. Efforts to bring communities of color into the party, after all, had been a major initiative of Karl Rove and RNC Chair (and former Harvard Law classmate of Obama) Ken Mehlman. In 2004, 44% of Hispanics and 11% of African Americans voted for Dubya. Yet since the retirement of J.C. Watts, the Republicans have had no prominent national elected African American. Their delegate total this year is the lowest in 40 years. And although McCain has been well-respected in the Hispanic community for his stance on immigration reform, over two-thirds are expected to vote for Obama. Michael Steele--who had won the support of Russell Simmons in his failed 2006 bid for the Senate--was candid in interviews this week. The lack of outreach is a recipe for disaster. Ask the 20-year old white mayor of Muskogee, Oklahoma, John Hammons--where Hammons says, per Merle Haggard, they still fly the American flag and respect the college dean. He was 13 when 9/11 happened, and it became one of the formative events of his young life. But he calls himself not a "neoconservative" but a "new conservative", distinguishing himself from older culture-war Republicans. His generation, he says, views the nation and the world differently. He says his best friends are Vietnamese and Dominican, Buddhist and non-Christian. His town is now only 61% white. And as a young person, he too has been moved by the historic nature of Obama's candidacy, even though he's a solid McCain Republican. "We're letting go of some of those irrational fears that we have," he says. "When you do something from fear, you regret it." John McCain asked the Xcel Center crowd to stand up and fight with him. He flipped an Obama line like jiujitsu, saying, "Let me offer an advance warning to the old, big spending, do nothing, me-first country-second Warshington crowd: change is coming." But in the Grand Ole Party, it may be that change is not coming fast enough.]]> http://blogs.vibe.com/jeffchang/2008/09/vibecomrnc-day-4-the-cword/ http://blogs.vibe.com/jeffchang/2008/09/vibecomrnc-day-4-the-cword/ Fri, 05 Sep 2008 11:31:06 -0500 Vibe.com@RNC :: Day 3: Red Meat Props where they're due: Sarah Palin came in with expectations lower than a bug, and delivered like a ninja. Her mission: set herself up as the mother-next-door, then lance Barack Obama as an uptown liberal. Boom boom. She trotted out her son Track, who is about to deploy to Iraq. Her daughters (with no appearance from Bristol's baby daddy). Her part Yup'ik Eskimo husband, the world champion snow machine racer. Even her infant with Downs Syndrome. Before a crowd in which the only hand-painted signs either read "Palin Power" or "Hockey Moms 4 Palin", she retold her single hockey mom/pit bull joke. The Michigan delegation, outfitted in hockey jerseys for the occasion, went craaazy. Then she started it up. She tossed the red meat again, following the path of her warm-up, the king of the parade of the also-rans featuring Fred Thompson, Mitt Romney and Mike Huckabee--Rudy Giuliani. Giuliani suggested Obama didn't think Palin's hometown Wasilla was "cosmopolitan enough". (Obama has never said anything of the sort.) But Palin evoked old-school red-baiting: "I guess a small-town mayor is sort of like a 'community organizer', except that you have actual responsibilities." (Ain't it funny how the meaning of 'red' has changed?) Giuliani called Obama out of touch. Palin said, "In small towns, we don't quote know what to make of a candidate who lavishes praise on working people when they are listening, and then talks about how bitterly they cling to their religion and guns when those people aren't listening. We tend to prefer candidates who don't talk about us one way in Scranton and another way in San Francisco." She raised the experience issue. "Listening to him speak, it's easy to forget that this is a man who has authored two memoirs but not a single major law or reform--not even in the state senate." The partisan crowd--which even at its most alive seemed straining to fill the arena--roared like a kennel of red nose pits. They had chanted "Sarah" all night. For Obama, they chanted "Zero". Palin even dissed Obama's "Styrofoam Greek columns" and all but dismissed his supporters as brainwashed followers. "In politics," she said, "there are some candidates who use change to promote their careers. And then there are those who, like John McCain, use their careers to promote change." Palin came off like Tina Fey beyond her most Hillaryest, delivering her punch lines like a savvy fighter. All this after a week in which Republicans had set expectations so low by giving the press over to her daughter's baby troubles, that Palin could hit it off a tee and get on base. She stepped up and blasted it over the next block. And yet if this were actually a battle cypher, let it be noted Palin got through round one with a pocket full of writtens. It's hardly clear how Palin will do on October 2nd at Washington University when she is separated from her teleprompters and facing off against Joe Biden, who has years of debates under his belt. All that is certain is that the next two months will be no friendly game of baseball. http://blogs.vibe.com/jeffchang/2008/09/vibecomrnc-day-3-red-meat/ http://blogs.vibe.com/jeffchang/2008/09/vibecomrnc-day-3-red-meat/ Thu, 04 Sep 2008 00:43:30 -0500 Vibe.com@RNC :: Day 2: Once Again It's On a pattern of suppression. Convergence centers were raided, continuing a daily operation that began last Friday before the convention. The Ripple Effect concert was shut down early, before Rage Against The Machine was able to make an unannounced performance. Crowds trying to leave were barricaded. A peaceful Poor People's March turned ugly when pedestrians and protestors alike were pepper-sprayed. Even trad media cameramen and reporters were badgered by horse-riding cops. Long after the protests ended this evening, innocent bicyclists in downtown Minneapolis were still being stopped randomly by police--brought in from as far away as Philadelphia. (And we already told you how much folks love bikes in this town.) Sample line of questioning:

Are you anarchists? Uh, no sir, we're heading to The Wedge to buy some locally-grown organic lettuce.

Perhaps the most fun to be had today was at the Ron Paul rally, where the speaker list ranged from the entertaining (Jesse Ventura) to the abhorrent (Grover Norquist). Attracting over 10,000 committed libertarians and confused liberals, the day-long Rally for the Republic was like a rock show without the rock. Paul even speaks like Underdog. Ventura, in the Hulk role, announced interest in running in 4 years. Paul-Ventura, 2012? There's no need to fear. Tomorrow, Governor Sarah Palin should draw a full house for her time in the spotlight, family, future son-in-law and all. Another anti-war march is planned. Will that lettuce still be on the shelf? ]]> http://blogs.vibe.com/jeffchang/2008/09/vibecomrnc-day-2-once-again-its-on/ http://blogs.vibe.com/jeffchang/2008/09/vibecomrnc-day-2-once-again-its-on/ Wed, 03 Sep 2008 03:14:04 -0500 Vibe.com@RNC :: Day 1: Music And Teargas not to receive a convention poll bounce, even after delivering a keynote that clocked Super Bowl ratings--cell-spammed supporters with a text message asking them to give $5 to the Red Cross, and to "Please fwd." At the demonstration, one marcher had held a sign on which he drew the southern part of the U.S., added a big hurricane symbol, and inscribed "Republicans: There When It Benefits Them." By the end of this unusual day, though, the irony had become meta: Republicans seemed to be stacking benefits like chips. ]]> http://blogs.vibe.com/jeffchang/2008/09/vibecomrnc-day-1-music-and-teargas/ http://blogs.vibe.com/jeffchang/2008/09/vibecomrnc-day-1-music-and-teargas/ Tue, 02 Sep 2008 11:43:11 -0500 Vibe.com@RNC :: Day 0: Storm Clouds History could be made this week, but not the kind that Republicans were planning for. With Hurricane Gustav steaming into the Gulf Coast and likely to make landfall Monday afternoon, and the threat of flooding extending from Texas to Mississippi, the party's presidential nominee John McCain said today that the first day of the Republican Convention will be all but cancelled. "This is a time when we have to do away with our party politics and we have to act as Americans," he said. Speeches that were expected from President George W. Bush, Vice President Dick Cheney, and First Lady Laura Bush have all been scrapped. California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger had previously announced he would not be attending because the state is now over two months past its budget deadline. Instead the party will quietly conduct its internal business beginning at 3pm, roughly the time Hurricane Gustav is expected to hit land, and will adjourn at 5:30pm. God forbid Gustav should cause storm surges that might lead to the re-flooding of New Orleans, but if it does, Republicans will have difficult decisions on how to present themselves during their convention week. Earlier reports suggested that the convention could be turned into a telethon for storm victims. McCain has also been highly critical of the Bush Administration's response to Hurricane Katrina on the Gulf Coast. In fact, some argue that hurricane politics has played into McCain's hands, by removing the long shadow made by W. and Cheney. On the other hand, McCain may win support if he is able to demonstrate a deft and sympathetic hand around this unprecedented confluence of events. Whatever the case may be, McCain has sounded the right note as Gustav bears down on the Gulf Coast. Party politics are never more important than saving and restoring lives. Our prayers go out to all the residents of the Gulf Coast for safety and strength. http://blogs.vibe.com/jeffchang/2008/08/vibecomrnc-day-0-storm-clouds/ http://blogs.vibe.com/jeffchang/2008/08/vibecomrnc-day-0-storm-clouds/ Sun, 31 Aug 2008 19:58:56 -0500 Vibe.com@DNC :: Day 4: The Mirror the Minnesota delegation seemed a mirror to the future. Fifty of the 80 elected delegates were of color. The median age of that state's delegation seemed to have dropped by a decade in the last four years. As Will.I.Am prepared to take the stage with John Legend, he had his own analogy in mind. "Obama is probably the first mirror of America," he said. "The presidents that we have had before have been portraits, painted a long time ago." The massive crowd of 85,000--invited in to celebrate Obama's nomination--looked even more diverse than the one at an average Denver Broncos game. Seats in the house were certainly much more difficult to land than tickets to a Broncos game. But people were motivated. Aaron Johnson, a 37-year old animator from Ontario, California, had shown up with his family and friends in Denver without seats. But after a contact came through, he rounded up the crew to get to Mile High 7 hours before Obama took the stage. They avoided the mile-long lines that characterized the afternoon for most attendees who hadn't yet starred in a hit Hollywood movie. His seats seemed a mile high from the portico-style dais, which he couldn't see. He had all the hot summer sunshine he might have wanted, and a great view of the back of the stage. But he wouldn't have missed the moment. "We were gonna go whether we got tickets or not," he said. He looked on the bright side, "You can see the city from up above." Sitting nearby in section 538--"Upper Northeast", the ticket read--sat Mavis Brooks and her 16 year-old niece Lashay, from Chesapeake, Virginia. Mavis bought her airline tickets and hotel reservations to Denver in January, long before it seemed like her candidate was going to secure the nomination. She failed to land Virginia "community credentials", but she was determined to go anyway. And so there she was, after a lot of footwork, sitting in the heat high atop Mile High. "We had faith and we had hope, so that's what we came out here with," she said. "There's a lot of people out here just like me." +++++ Not long after Obama's speech, the celebrations began. And even the celebrations looked different. On one side of town, The Cool Kids and The Clipse--The Clipse?!!--rocked a Democrats' party. On the other, Will.I.Am's star-studded "Yes We Can" party, first-time delegate Anton Gunn marveled at how far hip-hop had come. He had screamed himself hoarse on Tuesday at a show featuring Slick Rick, UTFO, and Whodini. How could he have even imagined this night back in those Fresh Fest days? Gunn was leaving early the next morning back to South Carolina to get back to work: he's an African American candidate in a close race for a seat in the South Carolina House of Representatives. Onstage, another of his heroes, Biz Markie had stepped up to the mic as a familiar beat dropped. "O-bama, you!" the Biz sang. You got what I ne-eeed!" And the whole crowd joined right in.]]> http://blogs.vibe.com/jeffchang/2008/08/vibecomdnc-day-4-the-mirror/ http://blogs.vibe.com/jeffchang/2008/08/vibecomdnc-day-4-the-mirror/ Fri, 29 Aug 2008 13:34:07 -0500 Vibe.com@RNC :: McCain Picks Alaska Governor Sarah Palin Republican presidential nominee John McCain has tapped Alaska Governor Sarah Palin as his vice presidential nominee. Alaska has been a safely red state. In selecting Palin, the first woman governor and youngest governor elected in the 49th state, McCain seems to be addressing concerns about his own age, while staking out constituencies, like white women, that are thought to be in play. She has strong conservative credentials, favoring oil drilling in the Alaska Wildlife National Refuge and being staunchly anti-abortion. She is a member of the National Rifle Association. She has worked on ethics reform in her home state, but has also been beset by controversy that she allegedly fired a state commissioner for refusing to fire her sister's ex-husband. Stay tuned this coming week for Vibe.com's reports from St. Paul as the Republicans prepare to open their convention. http://blogs.vibe.com/jeffchang/2008/08/vibecomrnc-mccain-picks-alaska-governor-sarah-palin/ http://blogs.vibe.com/jeffchang/2008/08/vibecomrnc-mccain-picks-alaska-governor-sarah-palin/ Fri, 29 Aug 2008 10:53:43 -0500 Vibe.com@DNC :: Day 3: The Battle Of Denver The Creative Coalition, while Kanye West headlined the One Campaign/RIAA event. Rosario Dawson hosted a party for her organization, Voto Latino, as Bun B, Fat Joe, Big Boi, Jessica Alba, Ben Affleck, Jennifer Garner, Eve Longoria, and J-Lo were spotted around town. At the Manifest Hope Gallery, DJ Z-Trip entertained the party people. And in Boulder, Chuck D--fresh from his wedding party--led Public Enemy at a free show for an audience decidedly more critical of the Democrats. But the biggest and most unlikely gathering of the day started the earliest--at 11 in the morning--at the Denver Coliseum, an aged arena best known for horse shows and "Disney On Ice", five miles away from the glittering new Pepsi Center and Invesco Field where Barack Obama will give his acceptance speech tonight. There, 10,000 fans gathered to see powerful sets from Denver's biggest hip-hop crew the Flobots, a newly black-rockified The Coup, and the reunited Rage Against The Machine. This was the Tent State Music Festival. Tickets were free. The guests of honor were the Iraq Veterans Against The War. Between sets, 22-year old vet Wendy Barranco drew a cheer when she urged the audience to march with them towards downtown where Iraq Veterans Against The War hoped to deliver a letter to Senator Barack Obama calling for immediate troop withdrawal from Iraq, full health benefits for all returning veterans, and reparations for the Iraqi people. Just two years before, Barranco had been an Army combat medic based for 9 months in Tikrit, tending to wounded soldiers, Iraqi people, even insurgents. She had grown up in Echo Park and enlisted right of Belmont High School, which has one of the highest dropout rates in Los Angeles. "I wanted to see the world. I got a paid vacation to the sandbox", she said. "All I knew was my family didn't have money and so therefore I couldn't go to college." She had come into the Army in the full hoo-rah of the first months of the invasion, and was deployed with the 47th Combat Support Hospital in 2005. "I fell for the mission hook line and sinker. I was like, let's go kick some hajji ass," she said. "You had to be that way. The moment you realize you don't have a purpose you fucking lose it." In 2006, she got her papers and was able to be discharged. Half of her peers, she thinks, weren't so lucky, and had to return for a second deployment. She enrolled in Pasadena City College, eager to get on with her life. One day she wondered into a campus forum on the war where two members of Iraq Veterans Against The War were speaking. "I was so pissed off. I kept thinking why are they biting the hand that fed them for so long. What the fuck is wrong with them?" she said. "But I still felt used (by the military)." When she grabbed the mic to address the panel, she thought she'd give them a piece of her mind. Instead, it all came back. The tactics the recruiters had used to lure her in. The soldiers she'd tended to who had been blown up by IEDs. The Iraqi families and children burned over large parts of their bodies. "As I was fucking speaking, a light bulb went off," said Barranco. "Everything I was saying, they had said." That began the process that led her to the Denver Coliseum yesterday afternoon. At 3:15 pm, after closing with a rousing version of "Killing In The Name", Zack De La Rocha and the rest of Rage Against The Machine rushed out into the street to join the march. Boots Riley from the Coup and Jonny 5 of the Flobots held a banner reading "Support G.I. Resistance". Three thousand followed. At the front, 50 servicemen and servicewomen from the Marines and the Army in uniform or combat fatigues, including Barranco, marched toward downtown in formation. When they arrived at the Pepsi Center at almost 5 p.m., the crowd had swelled to between 4,000 and 6,000, according to Denver Police Lieutenant Vince Porter. The march briefly shut down parts of the downtown. They came up Speer Boulevard towards the Center, where hundreds of delegates and others credentialed for the Convention were arriving. Hundreds of riot cops met them in the streets, on horses, and on trucks, both inside the Center perimeter and out. The demonstration was diverted around the Center into a 'free speech zone', what protestors have called 'freedom cages'. Penned in from all sides, the veterans decided to march back out to the convention entrance on Speer and Market. There, convention attendees, Denver residents, and onlookers confronted the strange sight of unarmed Army and Marine soldiers in full uniform facing down riot police holding tear-gas rifles. But although tensions built, this was a different kind of protest. Marshals kept protestors to the march route for the entire five miles. There were no breakaway clashes with police, and not a single person was arrested. Marine Lance Corporal Jeff Key carefully explained on the cell phone to Denver police that they wanted a meeting with an Obama representative to deliver their letter. They were prepared to stay as long as it took, and some veterans were ready to get arrested. As the crowd grew, Army Specialist Jason Eric Hurd got on the bullhorn and addressed it. "I was that man with the baton in the uniform. I know what it feels like. I have to live with those nightmares," he said. "I want to remind everyone that these police are good people, and that they are under orders." The troops then saluted the riot police. And there they stood, the veterans and the thousands behind them, mostly silent. At about 7:30, word came back through the line. Former Texas Lt Governor Ben Barnes would accept their letter. Denver police escorted Key and former Marine Liam Madden into the convention center for a meeting with Phil Carter, the Obama campaign's staffer for veteran's affairs. In the streets, the veterans broke formation to let out a roar. Barranco, other servicemen, and many of the young activists shared some tears. For her, after 5 years of seeing the worst of humanity, it was a small victory, a ray of light. From the back of the line, protesters spontaneously began chanting "Yes we can!" and "Si Se Puede". Then the veterans snapped back to attention. Mission accomplished, they about-faced and marched back into the dusk. A few hours later, Captain Beau Biden introduced his father Senator Joe Biden who accepted the nomination for Vice President. Senator Biden also pointed out that when it comes to the timetable for withdrawal of U.S. Troops from Iraq "John McCain was wrong and Barack Obama was right." Captain Beau Biden's unit of the Delaware National Guard is scheduled to be deployed in Iraq before election day. "I don't want him going," Biden said a year ago when he learned his son would be shipped off to Iraq in 2008. "But I don't want my grandsons or granddaughters going back in 15 years. So how we leave makes a big difference." ]]> http://blogs.vibe.com/jeffchang/2008/08/vibecomdnc-day-3-the-battle-for-denver/ http://blogs.vibe.com/jeffchang/2008/08/vibecomdnc-day-3-the-battle-for-denver/ Thu, 28 Aug 2008 11:35:59 -0500 Vibe.com@DNC :: Day 2: Night Of The Hillary Voters Last night, Hillary Clinton asked of her supporters, "Were you in this campaign just for me?" And for the past two days, it has been easy to spot women here--mostly white and in their 40s or 50s, but some African Americans too--gripping Hillary placards and arguing with Obama supporters in the streets. McCain supporters have been opportunistic, running through town chanting, "Clintons for McCain". So Hillary's speech tonight was well anticipated. Most of the tens of thousands credentialed to enter the Pepsi Center came early to grab their seats. By 8 p.m., it was standing-room only. Even San Francisco Assessor Phil Ting--the co-chair of Asian Americans for Hillary Clinton, a group that helped give her part of the margin in the Super Tuesday California primary--had to find a seat in the aisle high up in the press section, so high Rita Marley would have approved. He might have been pardoned for thinking, is this what voting for experience gets you? And yet Ting--like the thousands of Hillary delegates whose votes have not yet been released, and whom the media were picking off for quotes left and right as they left the Pepsi Center--sounded a conciliatory tone. "Look, this election was historic. You had women and you had African American voters, and in order to move forward, we can't lose a single person. We have to go into November with unity," Ting said. "The Asian Americans who supported Hillary that I know are all going to vote for Barack Obama." Loretta Tuell, a Beltway lobbyist and organizer from Hillary's Native American outreach committee, also said she was getting behind Obama. But she admitted that Hillary's Tuesday speech was bittersweet. "I feel like she's done all the right things, that she's qualified to run for president," she said, still speaking in the present tense. Did Loretta think Hillary was the right person for the wrong time? She took a deep breath and said, "I don't think that her career is over. I think at this time, at this moment, it wasn't hers to take. But you can look at history and say that of many people." "It's not over for Hillary, and that's the exciting part for me," she said. But the more she talked, the more she seemed pained. "I tell you I was surprised in the beginning in how difficult it was for me to get past the energy and all the spirit you put behind a campaign." "Towards the end, [the campaign] learned their lessons but they learned them too late," she said. "As supporters you could see that if there were enough time, we could be the nominee. Being so close, it hurts." Tuell wanted Hillary to be offered the choice to decide whether or not to be vice president. She felt that Hillary had earned that respect. "People aren't anti-Biden," she said. "They're just disappointed." She felt that Obama's campaign reached out to Clinton's campaign and her supporters too slowly. "I think as a party you could never take for granted any constituency," she said. "All constituencies need to be respected and heard." She did feel that the unity efforts were accelerating. "But you don't want to feel disenfranchised from your own party and that's what folks are feeling a little bit," she said. "Words are important, but actions count. And action is what we're lacking. I think if you put your actions into words you'll get a unified party." http://blogs.vibe.com/jeffchang/2008/08/vibecomdnc-day-2-night-of-the-hillary-voters/ http://blogs.vibe.com/jeffchang/2008/08/vibecomdnc-day-2-night-of-the-hillary-voters/ Wed, 27 Aug 2008 00:52:41 -0500 Vibe.com@DNC :: Day 1: Looking Forward Alisha Thomas Morgan; 29-year old Tallahassee city commissioner Andrew Gillum; hip-hop activist and pastor Reverend Tony Lee; and businessman and motivational speaker Ephren Taylor. But the 24-year old Bakari Sellers, elected 2 years ago to the South Carolina House of Representatives, closed it down with a speech that seemed to capture the spirit of the moment--a sense, especially among young African American Democrats, that now is the time, that Barack Obama has finally legitimized the value and potency of youth. He recalled his father's story of the 1968 Orangeburg Massacre, the deadly university shooting at South Carolina State that predated Kent State. "The South Carolina motto is 'Dum Spiro Spero', 'While I breathe, I hope'," he said, linking it to an Obama quote. "In the unlikely story that is America, there has never been anything false about hope." Sellers drew Obama-esque images, linking the laid-off postindustrial worker in San Francisco to the rural teacher in Marlboro, South Carolina, to the accountant in New Orleans who has turned carpenter because no one else will rebuild. "There are those who will say that we are too young, too inexperienced, and too idealistic. They'll tell us that it's too hard. They'll tell us that you can't make people care. They'll tell us that one day when we're older we may understand," he said. "But we know better and America knows better." Just check Sasha Obama. When her dad asked her what she thought of her mother's speech, she answered, "I think she did good". She didn't stutter. Her little voice seemed rich with pride, but also a little bit of insouciance, even a little bit of sass, as if to say just give me a little bit and then you can ask me what mommy thinks of my speech. It is a good time to be young.]]> http://blogs.vibe.com/jeffchang/2008/08/vibecomdnc-day-1-looking-forward/ http://blogs.vibe.com/jeffchang/2008/08/vibecomdnc-day-1-looking-forward/ Tue, 26 Aug 2008 03:50:10 -0500 Vibe.com@DNC :: Day 0: De Colores National Black Republican Association billboards in this Highland neighborhood--where crackheads and dog owners, liquor stores and 4-star restaurants, new condo owners and working-class brown families share the streets--have been altered. This morning they read, "Martin Luther King, Jr. was a Republican". This afternoon they read, "Martin Luther King Jr. is a Obama-can." Perhaps the most unmistakeable sign that the Democrats were in town this morning--beyond the hipsters in black Run DNC tees and the masses on the 16th Street Mall flying their blue credentials--was the overwhelming presence of riot cops. Not just Denver PD, but hundreds more imported from Aurora and Lakewood. They were outside the Record Exchange spot on Colfax, pissing off the aloha-shirted owner. They were at Union Station protecting the Patron Tequila Express train car. They were roaming the streets, nine deep astride white O.J. Broncos. They were waving to the pro-war demonstrators who cheered them when they drove by. They were gone by the time the pro-war demonstrators handed their mic to a woman who sang a rendition of "God Bless America" as if she were auditioning for a 7th inning in the Bronx. And after a large gathering on the Capitol steps this morning headlined by Dead Prez and Green Party VP nominee Rosa Clemente (with presidential nominee Cynthia McKinney watching), they were chasing down a thousand protestors riding under the bizarre banner of "Recreate '68" as the marchers headed to the Pepsi Center. Protesters made holding the Democrats accountable to their two-year promise to the end the war the theme of the day. In the afternoon, a second set of marchers went through the 16th Street Mall, shut down traffic in parts of the downtown area, and resulted in some stand-offs with riot cops. But aside from traffic tie-ups and ritualized stand-offs, these were not the stunning surgical strikes that greeted the Republicans in Philadelphia in the summer of 2000, shut down the city for a day, and resulted in hundreds of arrests and not a few bashed heads. Nor were they Rage Against The Machine's Battle of Los Angeles at the Democratic Convention that year, which ended in a teargas-clouded police riot before the band even hit the stage. No, although one white R68 organizer Jill Dreier told me it was racist to ask her whether some voters didn't think Obama might represent change because he was of color--interesting definition of racism, that--the feel wasn't so much in-your-face as lazy Sunday afternoon. Shit was so chill that those 200 afternoon marchers who had set out for the Capitol finally arrived there about a half-hour after Blue Scholars and Common Market had finished their blazing set. (The performers had even started, as asked, on hip-hop time--an hour late.) Tourists and bicyclists--Denverites love bicycles--stopped to gawk at all the cute kids in their fashionable black bandanas, their orange and black flags, their blue "Riot 4 Peace" sign. Food Not Bombs even fed a few of them. Then the marchers, after a brief facedown with the cops, took off down 17th Street, leaving the frustrated old soundman to dismantle the entire speaker system with his wife. Three other groups of demonstrators marched in the other direction, to the north, gathering in Cuernavaca Park for a different rally. The Tent State gathering, assembled by organizers who broke off from R68 earlier this year, attracted 10,000 to call on the Democrats to end the war. On Wednesday, they will take over Denver Coliseum for a morning show with Rage Against The Machine, Flobots, and The Coup. And on Thursday, R68 and Tent State both expect to support a massive rally for immigration rights. There will be a lot more color to see this week, and once the Convention opens Monday night with a keynote by Michelle Obama, that color may be primarily blue. Stay tuned. ]]> http://blogs.vibe.com/jeffchang/2008/08/vibecomdnc-day-0-de-colores/ http://blogs.vibe.com/jeffchang/2008/08/vibecomdnc-day-0-de-colores/ Mon, 25 Aug 2008 02:34:25 -0500 Public Enemy's Chuck D Jumps The Broom Music icon and Public Enemy co-founder Chuck D married college professor Gaye Theresa Johnson in a small ceremony at his home in the Atlanta area yesterday. The service was officiated by Johnson's longtime family friend, Dr. Beverly Daniel Tatum, president of Spelman College. Chuck D, of course, is one of the most influential artists of our time as well as an activist and spokesperson for African American community issues. Dr. Johnson is a professor in the Department of Black Studies at the University of California at Santa Barbara and has just accepted a yearlong fellowship position at the Institute of Comparative Studies on Race and Ethnicity at Stanford University. All of us here want to send our best wishes to Chuck and Gaye! http://blogs.vibe.com/jeffchang/2008/08/public-enemys-chuck-d-jumps-the-broom/ http://blogs.vibe.com/jeffchang/2008/08/public-enemys-chuck-d-jumps-the-broom/ Sun, 24 Aug 2008 11:18:34 -0500 Vibe.com@DNC :: Obama Chooses "I mean, you got the first mainstream African-American who is articulate and bright and clean and a nice-looking guy. I mean, that's a storybook, man." Obama texted supporters early this morning. He's set to make an appearance with Biden at noon Eastern Standard Time in Illinois. Come back here to Vibe.com@DNC to follow all the latest breaking news from the Democratic National Convention. ]]> http://blogs.vibe.com/jeffchang/2008/08/vibecomdnc-obama-chooses/ http://blogs.vibe.com/jeffchang/2008/08/vibecomdnc-obama-chooses/ Sat, 23 Aug 2008 07:10:06 -0500 Hip Hop VP: A Q+A With Rosa Clemente Rosa Clemente. The 36-year old hip-hop activist took some time in Las Vegas at the National Hip-Hop Political Convention last month to talk candidly with us about her historic run, the state of hip-hop activism, the Green Party and its discontents, and how she really feels about Hillary Clinton and Obama. What follows are excerpts from a long interview. How did this nomination happen for you? Cynthia called me on July 5th. It happened very quick. I didn't hesitate because that's just my personality. But by the time I got to the convention in Chicago, it was such a whirlwind. It was so fast, the nomination, meeting hundreds of Green Party members. It wasn't 'til I got off that stage that I was like, holy shit. I'm gonna be on a ballot in 40 states. That is so surreal. In 2001, I had submitted a proposal to a foundation and it was called Hip-Hop Vote. They rejected me and they said that there was no way that a hip-hop generation--no matter how it was being defined--was going to make headway in voting. They could not see young people being so engaged in the electoral political system. And it's funny because now that's all they do. Any foundation is trying to fund young people like Generation Vote, Russell Simmons (Hip-Hop Summit Action Network), the National Hip-Hop Political Convention. How is it that you got involved with Cynthia McKinney? I came to know about Cynthia McKinney when she had the hearings on political prisoners in Congress. And then she started talking about Tupac and his files and trying to get the files from the FBI. I was in the Malcolm X Grassroots Movement and we were working on so much around political prisoners. She started bringing me out to her brain trust as part of the Congressional Black Caucus. She was involved in the State of the Black World with Ron Daniels which I was involved with. And then she brought me out to this big Tupac event in Atlanta with Chuck D. Of course when they got her out of office, she went to Cornell to teach one of those two-week things and she just got so harassed. She got death threats. This was after the September 11 hearings where she was grilling Rumsfeld, after they arrested her--whatever the capitol police did to her. I hadn't talked to her in a long time. I just know that I joined the Green Party in Brooklyn. People always say they want their officials to be held accountable. Here she is, being held accountable, because her party didn't keep to their promises in '06 when they all got in. Pelosi and Conyers and all them finally get these ranks and--no impeachment and no pullout of the war. She actually stood to their principles. She could just have stayed in the DNC. She could have stayed the incumbent and she just didn't. People have always said, 'You gotta tone it down Rosa, you're too honest. You can't always say what you say.' And I think everything I did got me to this position, because I think I am genuine and I think that a lot of cats aren't. It has come at the expense of a lot of shit. I know that. But I can't be any other way. And I think Cynthia is just, she's completely uncompromising. That is the most needed value right now in our movement. Were you prepared to understand what the politics of the Green Party itself was, particularly the racial politics of the Green Party? Because this ticket is a big departure and it seems like there's been a little bit of a backlash within the Party around Cynthia's nomination and your nomination. I feel much of that is based on some serious misinformation on who we are as a generation but also the non-ability for most progressives to particularly see women of color leading. I'm still grasping how local people feel about the Greens. I don't know I just, I'm ready to follow Cynthia in that regard. And second, I don't see hip-hop being represented any way politically at the level that it should be. So I'm going with people who are at least moving out the way for us to have space. I haven't felt uncomfortable. The young people in the Green Party--the mostly white young people--have whole different racial and class analysis. (They) were clear that they came into politics because they had gone to some hip-hop event. They had seen Dead Prez perform, they had seen Immortal Technique, they had read something on Tupac, and they said they felt no other party was paying attention to their issues. So I don't want to be like Pollyanna and say I ignore it. But the Greens are a national party, it's a national organization, and there are over a hundred Greens running for all different types of offices. They nominated me and Cynthia. The hip-hop generation has been successful in terms of bringing more folks out to the polls. Every election has been landmark numbers. But the numbers that, in terms of registration, they're mostly the college kids. How do you reach the working-class young people, the youths of color who are completely alienated, the overwhelming majority of young people who still aren't even registed to vote? That's what I'm trying to stay focused on. It's a difficult situation. You can get into the communities because you now have a name, but you might not even have the resources to get a flight there. And that's how real it is in our campaign. Even though the Green Party has been infrastructured for 25 years, they don't get matching funds. And the less we're in the media, the less people know we exist so there's no money in the coffers to do that type of campaigning which is what I want to do. I want to get to the cats that aren't even registered to vote. I don't give a fuck about turning no Barack Obama Democrat around. I'm not even trying to waste my time. It's interesting that with the new vote rising, it's defaulting to the Democrats. Who is gonna vote for John McCain? So what it essentially is, the Democrats in the back of their minds gotta be thinking we ain't even got to talk about these young people's issues. There's this fervor because of all the work we've been putting down since 2003--all these hip-hop organizations--there's the fervor to get out there and to register vote but it's essentially defaulted Democrat anyway. I think the Greens are gonna have to put in some serious infrastructure planning for the next 20 years, if we're gonna even move all the people who aren't even registered to vote to have any faith in the political system. Because that's essentially what they're saying--they're withholding their vote. So what it becomes incumbent upon me to say is: am I doing this for the Green party or am I doing it for my generation? Is that connected? If it is, how does that play out? And I'm trying to stay really focused on getting to the people that are completely dissatisfied and completely marginalized, not necessarily from joining the Green Party which would be great, but to begin to tell them that this two-party system--that has to stop now. We cannot afford another two-party election. But within hip-hop, actually, that conversation becomes very difficult. How do you mean? I think anybody running a hip-hop organization now that has a grant, they can't just drop their shit and support the Green party. I think that's the danger of the whole non-profit grant system that most of the hip-hop organizations are in. Finally you have a party that if 5% of the hip-hoppers voted would give us 5% of the electorate, and everybody's scared now? Now that it's right in front of you everybody's backing up. Well, they're going to Obama. Of course. They're either going to Obama or they're saying they're not, but they default to that. You have a voter registration drive, would you be pushing the Greens? We're not even on the ballots. You can't push us in 10 states. Most cats are not registering Republican. Default to the Democrats. That's gonna require a lot of cats in hip-hop making some real choices right now. Are you gonna back up a party that nominated not me, but nominated a hip-hop activist, a person that's been out here for 7-8 years on the forefront of hip-hop work? At this moment, cats can't say they're for me and Cynthia because they're afraid they're gonna lose their GOTV money? But on the other hand, Nader didn't have any problem raising any money. He raised millions of dollars. Has the Green party abandoned you and Cynthia? I think (when Nader ran) in 1996 and 2000, it was so much easier to have a third party, in that the media was still at least doing its job, giving equal time. Eight years after the stolen election and Bush, the media is such a farce. The fact that they will not let Nader, Bob Barr, or Cynthia in any of the debates speaks volumes. And I think that is simply because at the end of the day, the Democratic machine and the Republican machine would rather ebb and flow power than concede power together to a third, fourth, or fifth party. Has the Green Party abandoned us? I don't know. I've only been here for less than a month. I don't think the Green party is ready, I don't think the apparatus is there. Is it the Green Party apparatus? Is it will? Or is it race? I think it's the apparatus and I think it also has to do with how you fundraise in this day and age and how media is used as it relates to young people. I don't think they have a grasp of any of that. I truly believe that you have to market this. You have to brand it and there's not a brand. Nader was the brand. So when Nader in 2000 gets 2% of the vote, that's a big deal. But now 8 years later, look at how they destroyed Nader. If it wasn't for him Gore would have won, now we're the spoiler spoiler spoiler. So no longer are we the third party, the Green party is now the spoiler party. Talk about the platform. What do you think the Green Party has over the other parties? This is the only party that even has social justice as its core principle. When we say ending the war, we mean all the wars. We need to get all the military out of every country, we need to begin to deal with issues of what peace can look like, how do you sustain that. Obviously, the green party is at the forefront of pushing the environment as a core value, that was innovative then. There should be an end to imprisoning young people, an immediate stop to the death penalty, a livable wage, not a minimum wage. Impeachment for George Bush and them is critical. I think if we don't hold them accountable as a people, then anybody can do the same shit that they did. Words are words, but we can make the words into deeds. If people would even open up the platform, they would see that neither the Democrats and Republicans would even talk about young people having rights and that we should be signing some of these international treaties, like the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. The hardest part is to literally get people to open it up and want to be exposed. Do you think the Obama campaign is a false hope? A false kind of change? It's hard for me to see Obama and not feel like there's a good heart in that. So I feel like it's not false hope if he's not a pessimistic or opportunistic person. Because when I see him, sometimes it's magical. You're like, damn. But then I weigh it. Is it just because we've been under 8 years of Bush and company? When Obama comes around, first it's historical. No matter how it goes down, it's history. There's a moment when I watched him become the presumptive nominee that I have to recognize that is historic. I'm married to a black man in America. I could see if you're African American in this country and you're over 50, that is a moment of brilliance and shine. Like, this is what I fought for. This is why I fought for the vote. You respect that. And I don't agree with any of the racial shit that Fox puts out on Michelle or him just like I didn't agree with that when Hillary Clinton was running, even though I'm completely opposed to her politics. As a woman, why you talking about her ankles, her chest? She's running for president of the United States. To me, I've been very clear to people--look, I'm not hating on him because he's Barack Obama or because he's a black man, OK? I'm hating on him because his policies are wack. (laughs) They're wack and we should just say that. We understand the historical nature and then we get back to the accountability factor. That's how I see it. But if you and Cynthia get elected, that would also be historic. Wouldn't that be incredible. (laughs) That would be amazing. But it is a question that comes up. "Why even run if you don't really have a chance?" Especially amongst folks in the community who feel like, "We got an historic opportunity now. You don't want to be what Nader was to Gore for us because that's gonna devastate us so much more in so many different types of ways." How do you answer that? I mean history was made. But history can be good or bad. You know? Cynthia said that when she got to Washington DC, there's a table where people sit at, where the Democrats were and the Republicans were and they had locked the doors and everybody else was looking on the outside. And she said her goal is to get 5% of the electorate so she can pull up a chair at that table. That's what I say. I'm trying to get 5% of that electorate. I want to be at that table. I don't want to be outside. I don't want to be petitioning to get in anymore. Because I think once we're at that table and we're treated as a legitimate major party and get access to it, in the $18 million that each party gets just with taxpayer money, what we could do with that money just in spreading the platform and principles of the Green party--we would conquer this within 4 to 8 more years. I believe that. ]]> http://blogs.vibe.com/jeffchang/2008/08/hip-hop-vp-a-qa-with-rosa-clemente/ http://blogs.vibe.com/jeffchang/2008/08/hip-hop-vp-a-qa-with-rosa-clemente/ Thu, 21 Aug 2008 14:06:50 -0500