By BAR Executive Editor Glen Ford
"Genuine
hip hop culture is not gangsta rap, but reflects the core progressive character
of Black America."
"Our president is addicted to war," said Rev. Lennox
Yearwood, head of the Hip Hop Caucus, on the first leg of a national "Make Hip Hop, Not War" tour. "We knew
that, but we held out hope that this congress would have done an intervention.
But our congress is co-dependent. They act just like the person who is
addicted, as well."
The young minister spoke at Manhattan's West Park
Presbyterian Church, a magnificent edifice that has been condemned to death by
gentrification, just as minority communities have been condemned to a slow
death by the onrushing forces of hyper-capital. And as Black New Orleans was
sentenced to death. "Instead of building levees, Bush built bombs," said
Yearwood, who was raised in Louisiana.
The massive redistribution of America's wealth to the
rapacious "defense" sector and the most wealthy segment of the population, if
allowed to continue, will doom any hope of revitalization of the nation's inner
cities, which are rapidly being dispersed by the same forces that that will
soon raise million-dollar condominiums on the site of the West Park
Presbyterian Church in New York City. We are all facing social death.
"'Instead
of building levees, Bush built bombs,' said Yearwood."
Hip hop's massive international appeal has the potential to
create rivers of communication among the sufferers. At the heart of the culture
- the real one, not the industry-manufactured variety - is the essential
internationalism and human compassion of the African American
population-at-large, a culture that has been hijacked by huge corporations that
put forward a caricature of Black life. An array of hip hop artists have joined
with Rev. Yearwood to present the other face of Black culture and politics.
The national tour is designed to demonstrate that genuine
hip hop culture is not gangsta rap, but reflects the core progressive character
of Black America. "It's time for the streets to rise up, for us to rise up, to
say that we are not caught up in that mess," said Rev. Yearwood.
Alternative media is key, since corporate media is the enemy
- the purveyor of lies. "The revolution may not be televised, but it will be
uploaded," Yearwood told the 200 or so folks who inaugurated the tour.
"Humanity is counting on us."
There is much work to be done. In the United States,
populations are methodically segmented by the corporate media, and white
supremacy still rules even in leftist circles. "We noticed that during the
immigration rallies, they were all brown, and during the Katrina rallies, they
were mostly Black, and during the anti-war rallies, they were mostly white."
The hope is that a common language created by the Black
culture of hip hop will bridge this gap in politically effective ways, rather
than cosmetic ones. There are many performers willing to serve in this
struggle. "Articulate," a rapper, educator, Howard University alumnus and
activist from Washington, D.C. told the Manhattan crowd, "I think of myself as
an artist for the people."
"The
diversions of Black culture so effectively created by corporate America have
allowed the marginalization of our best and brightest."
These "artists for the people" exist in every community, but
must be supported by those who claim to represent Black America. The diversions
of Black culture so effectively created by corporate America have allowed the
marginalization of our best and brightest - the true cultural warriors and
heroines.
The "Make Hip Hop, Not War" movement finds only lip-service
support from the white-dominated anti-war "movement," which finds itself unable
to include the most anti-war segment of the American public: Black people. Rosa
Clemente, of Pacifica's New York radio station WBAI and a founder of the
National Hip Hop Political Convention, says, "This is why the anti-war movement
is not working. How are you going to have an anti-war movement that
marginalizes Black people?"
Probably 80 percent of African Americans would support the
ejection of George Bush from the White House. That's part of the agenda of the
tour. "On April 28, when this tour is over,
let it be impeachment day," said Rev. Yearwood.
If it were up to Black people, it would be so.
BAR Executive Editor Glen Ford can be
contacted at Glen.Ford (at) BlackAgendaReport.com.
Saladin Muhammad was the founder of Black Workers for Justice. He played a key role in developing Black revolutionary labor organizing.
This week’s featured author is Andrea Freeman. Freeman is Professor of Law at the University of Hawaii William S. Richardson School of Law. Her book is Skimmed: Breastfeeding, Race, and Injustice.
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