Faith in Action

Farajii Muhammad and I host a new segment on The Larry Young Morning Show every Friday at 9:30AM called “We Got Next!” This morning we had Dr. Eric Durham on as our guest to talk about the issue of paying students for good grades - and no we’re not talking about grandpa breaking Jr. off for an “A” - we’re talking about corporations and government getting in the act to incentivize good grades with cold, hard, cash.

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.

so much was going on in the world! I must admit that sometimes my fingertips itched for a keyboard to broadcast my thoughts and questions, but I resisted. Now, however, I can let loose! Here are a few stories that caught my eye while I was away.

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.

Kucinich delivers a powerful speech at the Democratic National Convention. Not his best, in my estimation, but a great presentation nonetheless.

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!”

“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:

Grassroots Democracy

Social Justice

Ecological Wisdom

Non-violence

Decentralization

Community-based Economics

Feminism

Diversity

Responsibility

Future Focus

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.

To all the Dad’s out there, a special note of appreciation to you for the many ways in which you show love, support, and caring for you children and broader community.

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.”

ACTION ALERT!
Proctor & Gamble wants to hear from you!
April 2008

Great News!

As a result of the Parent Television Council’s “Rap on Rap” study, (in collaboration with the Enough is Enough Campaign) Proctor & Gamble would like to know whether you as a consumer would like them to change their advertising during music video programs on BET and MTV that glorify violence, drug use, drug dealing, contains sexually explicit theme, and portray men of color as pimps, gangsters, and thugs. P&G has set up a toll-free number to record your input.

Proctor & Gamble Contact Information

Please call (800) 331-3774.

Then, press 1 for “English”. You will then be prompted as follows:

“Thank you for calling P&G. If you are calling about our advertising on BET & MTV, please press 1.”

(press “1″ here)

The message will then say,

“We appreciate your taking the time out of your day to share your thoughts with us. For your convenience, we’ve set up this quick and easy way for you to register your opinion. If you would like us to change our advertising on BET & MTV, please press 1. If you would like us to continue our current advertising on BET, please press 2.”

(Press “1″ here)

You will then hear - “Your opinion has been counted and is being shared with the appropriate people in our company. For more information on our company, please visit us at www.pg.com. Thank you.”

END OF RECORDING!

If you are concerned about the issue of corporations sponsoring and marketing adult-themed content to children and youth, and content that glorifies drug use, degrades women, and glorifies a criminal lifestyle, call this the toll-free number above.

Also, share with ALL of your friends, co-workers, and family members who are concerned about this issue as well by clicking “Email This” at the top and send this email to those in your address book. Let’s make a change. Let your voice be heard.

You may also fax the Consumer Relations department at Proctor & Gamble at (513) 983-2881.

Once you do it, post a quick comment below sharing your experience calling the number and why you decided to support. Thank you!

A really creative portrayal of Barack Obama’s message to the United States of America.

This from Pastor Delman Coates from the Enough is Enough Campaign:

I have received reliable assurances that the Samuel DeWitt Proctor Conference has not and will not receive any financial contributions or sponsorships for its annual conference. I would like to thank all those who have worked to bring about a resolution to this matter, particularly those who have expressed concerns about the appearance that black clergy are divided in this campaign against offensive and misogynistic lyrical content in the entertainment industry. I am confident that at this year’s Samuel DeWitt Proctor Conference this issue will be further addressed…..

While those of us who are passionate about the exploitation of black people in the popular culture are combating this issue on a variety of fronts, it is my sincere hope that we will remain focused on the real issue, and this is, the corporations that produce, sponsor, and distribute lyrical and visual content that degrades black women, glorifies violence and criminal activity, and negatively stereotypes black men as pimps, gangsters, and thugs.

Peace and Blessings,

Rev. Delman Coates, Ph.D., Organizer
Enough Is Enough Campaign for Corporate Responsibility in Entertainment
www.enoughisenoughcampaign.com

He was quoted in corporate media today concerning the now infamous “Baggy-pants Resolution” introduced by Baltimore City Councilwoman Helen Holton.

The Revolutionary MC said:

“If you’re trying to address deeper issues, why not go and address those deeper issues?” said Ezekiel Jackson, 27, a community organizer from West Baltimore.”

Check out the rest of the article.