Who knows if I can still kick it, but I used to back on the school bus. In fact, a little known Black History Fact about me was that I was the Battle Rap Champ among my peers. Punch lines for days. Those days are gone, but my love for Hip Hop remains (After all, I am an 80′s baby!)

Which is why I’m anticipating the fruit of the Bmore Mixtape Project – a competition organized by Baltimore activists, scholars, and concerned citizens to use the mixtape to spread the word about important social issues. I can really see this taking off in Baltimore. We have some of the greatest artists anywhere and soon more of the city and world will know that.

Contestants are charged to rap or produce poetry around specific themes. This year the theme is the School To Prison Pipeline.

Shout out to Dr. Lester Spence for the idea and check out his book, Stare in the Darkness: The Limits of Hip Hop and Black Politics.

Now all I need is a bangin’ track and time to get my flow together. Hey – if Dr. Cornel West can spit; you know I got to dust off my mic.

Anybody want to collab with a Pastor on a track? {straight face}

Last night I was on a very impressive international conference call with more than 700 others to talk about how everyday people can stand in solidarity with our Haitian sisters and brothers. The call was hosted by the Hip Hop Caucus and moderated by its CEO, Rev. Lennox Yearwood.

The call featured a number of well-known individuals like Congresswoman Barabara Lee, Ron Daniels, MC Lyte, David Banner, Nicole Lee (TransAfrica Forum), and Omarosa.

Each brought passionate and also strategic perspective to the situation in Haiti and provided some ideas on how to mobilize in solidarity with Haiti even when the cameras leave. (Which we know is soon to happen.)

I was thankful to see yet another example of how my generation is harnessing the power of technology for social change and advocacy. While on the international conference call, Rev. Yearwood was taking questions from the more than 700 listeners via his twitter page. They’ve also set up a website called Hip Hop Help Haiti where people can log in, create profiles, and organize so that we’re ready to run this marathon of solidarity. There was talk on the call as well about putting a “skills bank” on the site so that we can be strategic in short and long-term planning.

Apart from the ecumenical prayer offered at the end by Rev. Yearwood; I was especially thankful to hear David Banner say that they don’t have all the answers. He spoke about how the best ideas are born in community and that “we the people” with our collective imagination can, with God’s help, successfully engage this disaster.

For those wanting to connect with this effort and/or hear the recording from last night’s conference call please visit Hip Hop Help Haiti.

Everyday Justice: The Global Impact Of Our Daily Choices

I’m a bit of a policy wonk so I tend to engage at times in wonk-speak and unknowingly at the time communicate “over the heads” of some that I’m attempting to mobilize on an issue. Thus, only those who pour over legislation, watch C-Span, check in on British Parliament debates for fun, or browse the Library of Congress know what I’m talking about.

It’s NOT been my experience that those who seem to “miss it” don’t have the intellectual capacity to understand what I’m saying or the moral sensibilities to support. It more so points to my failure to communicate in such a way that is passionate – yes, but also clear and digestible. I’m always good on the passion side of that equation, but on the being clear part and showing how people’s daily lives are impacted by whatever issue I’m talking about, I tend to have a low batting average. I struggle with this and am trying to do better. In the past, I would get my kicks off of “being prophetic” (whatever that means) so it didn’t matter the reaction of those listening. I was just going after the shock value. I was big, bad, and Black enough to say whatever I wanted to say…in the name of Jesus of course. But thank God for growth! Now I realize not only how narcissistic that approach was, but how counterproductive it was as well. I get the sense that many people over the years in which I’ve been blessed to have audience eventually walked away from me with the question in mind: “Why should I care?”

Enter Everyday Justice.

Julie Clawson (Blog: One Hand Clapping) brings it home – no really…all the way home to our daily decisions. Every purchase. Every deposit. Every outfit. Every meal. Every gas fill up. Julie shows how it impacts some part of the world and its inhabitants. She gives face, voice, and description to those that are hidden from consumers for the sake of convenient ignorance. As she says, “Living justly means understanding the impact of our decisions.” And that impact is most deeply felt in human terms over purely economic or statistical ones.

The movie, Blood Diamonds, really helped me to visualize this and Kanye West’s “Diamonds from Sierra Leone” music video provided my soul the soundtrack for this issue. I think it was courageous of Kanye to engage the Hip Hop community of the issue of conflict diamonds and it will require the same courage of the general public to become more conscientious consumers.

For people of Faith, it is our duty to make sure our daily consumption habits match our professed Faith values. When we read the words of the prophets in the Jewish Bible (Christian’s Old Testament) their passion for justice and “right-ness” toward workers, youth, widows, and immigrants is evident. Julie raises Isaiah 58: 9-12 (but you just have to read from verse 6 through 12!) as an example, but believe me the writings of the Old Testament prophets and the teachings of Jesus are replete with calls for righteousness in community.

It’s easier today to be a conscientious consumer. While this ethic was reserved for the experts in the not too distant past, technology and the 25-lane information highway make this a much more palatable way of life. Not only does Julie provide websites, movies, and books that underscore her book’s core message; but you can even do a simple google search today and find out if a store that you frequent is dealing unjustly with its workers or supporting child labor in sweatshops. You can find out if that diamond ring on your finger cost an Angolese girl her hands. Or if the tires on your car are helping to pollute the environment in Liberia.

The U.S. Department of Labor recently released a list of goods produced by child labor or forced labor (slavery). You can go nation by nation to see if something that you have on the shelf in your kitchen is helping to keep children in slavery. (Check out this CNN online article about Child Laborers along the Pakistan-Afghanistan border) Corpwatch is another great site where you can get the scoop on whether or not a company is dealing unjustly either with its workers, its surrounding community, or the environment. I just found another site as well that provides a great service. It’s called Good Guide and it helps consumers to find safe, healthy, and green products. What’s really cool about them is that they created an iphone application that’s free to download and allows iphone users to scan barcodes while you shop and get an instant report on the ethical or unethical nature of the product you’re considering purchasing.

With all of these resources at our fingertips; it is, in my estimation, imperative that all of us become advocates for justice both in our local community and around the world. The well-worn quote from Dr. Martin L. King, Jr. is that “injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.” And there is great injustice in the world and we all can do something about it. As Julie Clawson’s former Youth Pastor told her: “Every decision has a pricetag.” And starting today – just a few days before the official start of holiday spending on Black Friday – might we enter the malls and department stores not just trying to find the biggest bargain, but also determined to build bridges that allow justice to blossom around the world – with every swipe of the credit card.

I highly recommend this book!

Dr. Eric Durham

This concept has been a buzz as of late after Harvard Professor, Roland Fryer, championed the practice on CNN’s Black in America series.

I checked out Dr. Durham (who is a “Hip Hop Scholar” by the way) blog and found an interesting post about Barack Obama and the political process. I had a slightly different angle than he on the topic he raised. Here’s my comment:

Dr. Durham! Great piece, man. I am definitely feeling you on the issue of sharpening and intensifying the political message, however, my concern is that it (i.e. the political banter) will just pan out to have been words after the election dust settles.

At the risk of sounding fatalistic, I am experiencing a growing sense that both mainstream political parties are two sides of the same coin and if not the same coin then at least two nearly identical ones.

You mentioned that you voted for Nader in a past presidential election, so I presume that you are well aware of the dissonance between what the mainstream corporate politicians say and what they ultimately end up doing. The Power Structure has long proven that it can tolerate “hopeful” words of revolution devoid of any intent to act upon them.

It is that reality that has prompted me to not just vote for who has the best chance of winning or not just vote for the lesser of two evils (or the evil of two lessers depending on who you ask). I’d rather vote my principles and if that means voting for a third party candidate then so be it. Don’t the American people lose out in every national election because they don’t vote their values – rather they vote the values imposed upon them by the fourth branch of the government – mainstream media.

The argument of the “average person” as you so eloquently laid out, better aligns with the values of non-corporatized political parties and if all of us vote our true values then we shouldn’t be surprised if our aspirations lead us to a political platform and a candidate that is not sponsored by Northrop Grumman, Lockheed Martin, or Walmart.

Check out his post.

First, thanks for everyone who voted for me in the 2008 Black Weblog Awards. Faith in Action was a finalist in the running for best Faith-based site of the year, but we came up short. A blog called Gospel Fab won the People’s Award and The Infidel Guy Show won the Judges Award. (I must have gotten it wrong about this “Faith-based” Category. Gospel Fab is a gospel concert promotion site and The Infidel Guy Show is run by a self-described atheist. Not knocking the winning sites for what they do, but I thought that the category was supposed to recognize those who talked about…oh…I don’t know – their Faith maybe?) Again, thanks for everyone who voted for FIA and a special thanks to Chip for nominating this site. Click here for the full list of winners.

Now what in the world is going on in Detroit!?

This whole situation is a crying shame. The “Hip Hop Mayor” is going to jail. I remember reading a very inspiring article about Kilpatrick in Dr. Jeremiah Wright’s Trumpet Magazine a few years ago. It’s sad to see the Brotha fall like this. Who knew sitting mayors could get thrown in the slammer. Something in me wonders if this is an ominous foreshadowing of events for Baltimore.

Did anybody catch the Republican National Convention? I must admit, I loved it! Not for the talking heads who spewed venom into a highly amplified microphone broadcast across the world, but I loved the RNC and the DNC for that matter for the everyday citizens who interrupted the regularly scheduled puppet show to decry what is happening in this country. Live TV is great for so many reasons and The Uprising would not be hid from the focus of the government’s media glare. I saw “9-11 Truthers” disrupting “political” conversations, protestors giving riot police fits, and journalists like Amy Goodman getting arrested while trying to report what was going on outside the propaganda convention halls. Even the “ground noise and static” that was John McCain’s speech fell victim to the courageous expression of Code Pink and Iraq Veterans Against The War. Check out this vid of Iraq War Vet, Adam Kokesh, at the RNC Convention.

By the way, you’ll remember my admonition not to sleep on the Green Party, but keep your eyes open as well for the “Ron Paul Movement“.

Paul has attracted a very dedicated following which gathered in Minnesota to hold its own convention called the Campaign for Liberty after the Republican National Convention wouldn’t allow him to speak. Ron Paul’s convention brought together some 10,000 people! The “Ron Paul Movement” does a fantastic job of breaking through the mainstream blackout on their candidate. Ron Paul gets more coverage on mainstream media than any other grassroots or third party candidate and that’s largely due to the demands of his followers. They flood the mailboxes and clog the phone lines of mainstream press until Paul is invited as a guest. This political machine is very organized and strategic. In addition, I must admit that after watching Paul’s convention on the greatest show on television – CSPAN – I may have been baptized a bit into the Ron Paul pool. If there was ever a modern republican that I agreed with on some major policy issues, then Ron Paul is that republican. In a move to strike against the establishment, Paul will have a major press conference today encouraging his followers and all others disenchanted with the two-party political system in this country to vote for a third party candidate. Cynthia McKinney, Ralph Nader, and Bob Barr are among the candidates invited to the press conference. I’ll post the vid as soon as I have it.

But what I’m really intrigued by is the revolutionary energy outside of the Democratic National Convention. Beyond the whitewashed theatrical production taking place on center stage every night, is a mass of people who are fed up with this oligarchical society and the fourth branch of its government – the media. Check out these clips of protests happening outside the building. (Note: there is some harsh language in some of the clips. If you don’t want to hear it – don’t click “play”)

FOX NEWS REPORTER GETS JACKED UP!

DEAD PREZ PUTS TRUTH TO MUSIC AT DNC!

POLICE SLAM CODEPINK PROTESTER!

IF THIS IS GOING ON OUTSIDE OF THE DNC, CAN YOU IMAGINE THE CARNAGE THAT WILL UNFOLD OUTSIDE OF THE REPUBLICAN NATIONAL CONVENTION!?!

Big ups to Nas for his role in helping to challenge Fox News on the racist and wrong-headed propaganda that they continually present to the American public as “fair and balanced news.” Recently, Nas joined Color of Change in delivering more than 600,000 petitions to Fox News decrying the depiction of the Obama’s fist jab as some sort of terrorist symbol and calling Michelle Obama, Barack’s “baby mamma.” (Shout out to Nas as well for his latest album self-entitled, NAS, where he devotes a song to Fox “News” entitled “Sly Fox“.)

In the video above, Nas calls Fox News a propaganda machine – not a news network. A statement that many have believed to be true for a long time, but now we can know for sure that it’s true. Why? Because on Hardball with Chris Matthews last Friday, former Press Secretary of the White House, Scott McCllelan, admitted that the White House sends Fox News talking points for their nightly commentators and political pundits – you know Bill O’Reilly and the crew. I couldn’t believe what I was watching! (So much for the First Amendment’s attempt to create a separate checks and balances organism with a Free Press.) I know that most of you understand the gravity of this collusive alliance between media and government. You do understand that you must question everything that comes through the one eyed devil box don’t you? I believe Fox “News” is only the tip of the iceberg.

Finally, some proof that mainstream media works as the 4th Branch of the American Government controlling what the masses think…and as Dr. Carter G. Woodson so eloquently put it in his seminal work, The Mis-Education of the Negro – if you can control what a person thinks you don’t have to tell them to go here or there, you don’t have to tell them to go to the backdoor – they will automatically go and if there is no backdoor they will cut one out for their own benefit.

Now I’m just waiting for some disgruntled former employee of Black Entertainment Television to let it be known once and for all that “Black Evil Television” purposely broadcasts movies like “Baby Boy” and “Soul Plane” on a regular basis to instill, protect, and maintain a “ghetto mentality” in the minds of African people. Even the youth are catching on to the madness of that very evil network.

“Power to the People!”

The crowd swayed and chanted in a thunderous roar pumping clinched fists in the air as if they were literally striking out at the oligarchical american government and its fascist functionaries that provide safe haven for racism, economic exploitation, discrimination, and ultimately an oppressive existence.

No, this crowd of dedicated change agents weren’t members of the Black Panthers. They weren’t members of the American Indian Movement. They weren’t Weathermen.

They were members of the Green Party – some would say they are the descendants of all of those forenamed revolutionary groups. The Green Party is founded on 10 key values:

The Green Party Convention was Saturday, July 12, 2008 in Chicago. I just happened to flip it on TV (Thank God for CSPAN) as I was on my way out the door. An hour and a half later, I hadn’t left the house yet, but I had watched the entire convention. It was really inspiring. I got a sense that I was watching the beginning of a movement. It had all the right ingredients: small, dedicated crowd of supporters, little notice from “mainstream”, progressive agenda that most people could identify with in some way.

And at the center of it all were two awe-inspiring women: Cynthia McKinney – the Green Party nominee for President of the United States, and Rosa Clemente, Afro-Buricua, Community Organizer and Hip Hop Activist for Vice President. (You’ve gotta read Clemente’s powerful piece, “Russell Simmons, you are not Hip Hop!“)

Barack Obama may have the momentum that inspires Black people, but Cynthia McKinney and Rosa Clemente have the message that will uplift us. Obama as President will provide an infinite amount of symbolism to the Black community, McKinney as President will render infinite amounts of substantive policy shifts that will create a new type of country which will help usher in a new kind of world.

As I’ve shared many many times before on this blog, mainstream media works in cooperation with the government to control what you think so chances are most of you have never heard of former Congresswoman Cynthia McKinney (D-GA) and if you have it’s because of how Big Brother sensationalized an incident at Capital Hill involving her hair. An incident that was blown up about a year after she grilled then Defense Secretary, Donald Rumsfeld, over 11 trillion dollars that went missing at the Pentagon, DynCorp’s slave trade, and the 9/11 wargames. (Note: There are always consequences for challenging Empire. She was soon out of office.)

Since “they” are working to keep you blind to it, I urge you to work to open your eyes to this Party and these two fascinating women. Talk to your children about the Green Party. As the two mainstream political parties are now controlled by corporate interest; it is incumbent upon the people to search out alternative political choices – or as Clemente said – the Green Party isn’t the alternative, it’s the imperative.

This does raise an issue though that I’d love your feedback on particularly as it relates to Black voters. What should Black voters do? Vote for symbol and help a Black man become the first African American President of the United States? OR Vote for substance and support a political party whose nominees most likely don’t stand a chance of winning (in the traditional sense) in this presidential election cycle? (Glen Ford, Executive Director of the Black Agenda Report chose the latter of those two options saying that McKinney deserves the Black Vote, Obama does not.)

Whatever happens – don’t sleep on the Green Party. They are not going quietly into the night. I sense that this is only the beginning.

Here’s a note from Democratic Presidential Candidate, Sen. Barack Obama on Fatherhood.

And for the old school hip hop heads out there like me, here’s a flashback to Ed O.G. and the Bulldogs with their classic message, “Be a Father to Your Child.”