Category Archives: american history

Fifteen Years Later During Sweeps/Black History Month, CNN Discovers Excesses In HipHop :)

Posted on by drumsintheglobalvillage

 

The usual CNN simplicity. I’m glad that Zahn was open enough, at least, to include voices like Roland Martin, Chuck D, Michael Eric Dyson, Tim Wise, Keith Boykin, Byron Hurt, etc.

I don’t think it’s nitpicking to say that it would have been better if the author-talking-head roster had included some bonifide hiphop feminists.

It also could have included a comment from Paul Porter (although Roland, to his credit, kept trying to go in that direction), but perhaps that would have cut too close to home. (Perhaps folks like Paul have to write books and/or produce documentaries to get in the national-broadcast guest booker “mix.” Sad reality.)

The show’s online if you missed it—AND WANT TO PAY FOR IT. Hmmm…….. CNN’s not exploiting Blaxploitation during Black History Month, is it?  🙂

A Black Documentary Filmmaker Says "Thanks"

Posted on by drumsintheglobalvillage

 

Just got this from Akila Worksongs. Did you see it last night? It was on too late for me.

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Dear Supporters of Hip-Hop: Beyond Beats and Rhymes,

Thank you so much for helping to make the national broadcast of Hip-Hop: Beyond Beats and Rhymes such a monumental success last night. Words cannot express my deep gratitude to ALL who watched it on Independent Lens on PBS. The success of the film and its impact on audiences has met my greatest expectations and audacious goals. I know that I could not have accomplished any of these goals without great, brilliant, and talented people on my team. I am humbled by your faith in me and your commitment to my vision.

Let me take a moment to thank God for the courage it took to make this film. I prayed incessantly throughout this project, and God answered my prayers. I must acknowledge that.

I want to send a heartfelt thank you to EVERYONE who supported Hip-Hop: Beyond Beats and Rhymes over the past six years. It’s been a long journey, and I thank you all for coming along for the ride. Thank you to the contributors to the “Friend of a Friend $1 Email Campaign” back in 2000. Your financial support was vital to the launch of this production. Look out for a “Friend of a Friend Email Campaign Part II” in the coming days.

To everyone who granted me an interview for Beyond Beats and Rhymes, thank you so much for your honesty, your bravery, and your intelligence. My only regret is that I could not include everyone I interviewed in the film. To all of the people who made the final cut, thank you, thank you, thank you for being a part of this extraordinary documentary.

Congratulations to Sabrina Schmidt Gordon. You poured your heart and soul into editing this film, and did a masterful job. Your talent and brilliance is evident and shines through in this piece. You have earned the right to make your own film. Go for it, Sabrina!

To Stanley Nelson—you are the man. Thank you for being my executive producer. It is an honor to know you, and to have your ear as my advisor. Your patience, honesty, and commitment to me throughout this endeavor were priceless. To Bill Winters, my director of photography, you are great. Thanks for holding me down and capturing such incredible footage. To my small but powerful production crew, thank you for your dedication, and for helping me get the job done.

To Richard Lapchick, thank you for giving me an opportunity to use my status as an athlete to help create social change. To Jackson Katz, creator and founder of the Mentors in Violence Prevention Program, thank you for radically changing my world view. And to all of the men who are working to redefine masculinity, and are supporting women in the effort to end men’s violence against women, much respect. This is cutting edge, groundbreaking work. Thank you also to the women who have fought for years to be heard and respected, and for showing men the way.

To the gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgendered community, thank you for teaching me about the complex reality of your daily lives. To gays and lesbians of color who endure both racism and homophobia, continue to show the straight community of color how it all intersects.

To the brilliant folks at NBPC, ITVS, The Ford Foundation, The Corporation for Public Broadcasting, Firelight Media, Independent Lens, and AKILA WORKSONGS Public Relations, I sincerely appreciate your confidence in me, and your support. Thank you to Lisa Davis and the lawyers at Frankfurt, Kurnit, Klein & Selz for vetting my film; to the Center for Social Media, thanks for all of your groundbreaking work around the issue of Fair Use, and for educating me; to Kevin MacRae at Lordly and Dame, thank you for believing in me; to The Media Education Foundation, thanks for your presence in the culture and for creating such powerful media; to Third World Newsreel, thanks for getting me back into the game; to the Black Documentary Collective, I appreciate your support and promise to be more active; to Kounterattack Design, thank you for creativity; to Final Frame Post Production, thanks for the color correction; and thank you, RP Video, for making my dubs.

Also, a special thank you to all of the film festivals, colleges, universities, grassroots, community-based organizations, and high schools across the country that facilitated or sponsored a screening of Hip-Hop: Beyond Beats and Rhymes. Another special thank you to all the journalists and media outlets (print, radio, television, and Internet) that covered the project and wrote smart reviews. It is quite an achievement for a documentary film with a social and political message to get both grassroots and mainstream coverage.

And thanks to all of the people who blogged, forwarded, emailed, or created a buzz through word-of-mouth. We created our own machine! Thanks to all the individuals and friends who sent good vibes for the film’s success.

And finally, a very BIG THANK YOU to my beautiful wife, Kenya, and my family: members of the Hurt-Waller, Hogan and Crumel families… thank you for all of your love and support.

This film project has been a blessing to me and has helped me grow immeasurably – both personally and professionally. I didn’t go through this project, I grew through this project. I have learned ample lessons to apply to my next film.

There are so many people connected to this project, I am certain to have forgotten to mention someone. If I have mistakenly overlooked any person or organization, please forgive me. Just know that if you have contributed to this project in any way, I very much appreciate you.

Lastly, I will make some exciting announcements in the next few days. Please stay tuned to this email address for more information. In the meantime, here’s to realizing a more healthy vision of manhood in the world.

Sincerely,

B. Hurt
Producer/Director, Beyond Beats and Rhymes
God Bless the Child Productions, Inc.

bhurt@optonline.net     

A Journalistic Truth, Now 40 Years Away From Newark And Detroit

Posted on by drumsintheglobalvillage

“WORD ON JOURNALISM–Friday, Feb. 16, 2007

On journalistic activism:

I’m an activist, and I’ll tell you why. If every citizen had to go through what we went through as reporters, going out and covering poor people, black people, murders, strikes, all that Dickensian underside of American life, they would become biased toward activism.”
    –John Chancellor, TV newsman, 1996 (1927-1996)

* * * * *
TODAY’S WORD ON JOURNALISM is a free “service” sent to the 1,500 or so misguided  subscribers around the planet. If you have recovered, send “unsubscribe.” Or if you want to afflict someone else, send me the email address and watch the fun begin. (Disclaimer: I just quote ’em; I don’t necessarily endorse ’em. In theory, all contain at least a kernel of insight.) Responses and rebuttals welcome.

* * * * *
Ted Pease, Professor of Interesting Stuff
Utah State University

“Words are sacred. They deserve respect. If you get the right ones in the right order, you can nudge the world a little.” –Tom Stoppard, playwright
 

Independent Audio/Video You Should Check Out (Tenth In A Long-Running Series)

Posted on by drumsintheglobalvillage

 

Plenty going on in the world of VOXUNION MEDIA.

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Jazz & Justice

Mondays 1-3p EST

WPFW 89.3 FM / wpfw.org

February 5, 2007

February 6, 2007 marks the 62nd birthday of Robert Nesta Marley. We dedicated this show to his memory and legacy by welcoming Suzette Gardner and Dr. Michelle Stephens. Both women shared their knowledge and perspective as scholars, journalists and Jamaicans expanding the commonly-held views of Marley. We dispelled some myths, conjured others and, of course, played his music. Download parts 1 and 2 below and visit voxunion.com for stream/download options and much more.

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VOXUNION MEDIA
January 29. 2007
Jazz & Justice

This week we welcomed Glen Ford and Bruce Dixon of BlackAgendaReport.com for a discussion of race, politics and Black “Leadership.” Is Barak Obama the most “dangerous” man in the nation? Where are Russell Simmons and Oprah Winfrey leading us? These topics, including a portion of an interview done last year with Elaine Brown on mass incarceration and political prisoners, and much more were covered as were some questions and comments about race-based talk being “divisive.” We also welcomed Chrystal Williams of the University of Maryland to talk with us about her upcoming Black Music Week events. To this we added the music of Curtis Mayfield, Hasan Salaam, Freestyle Fellowship, James Brown, Ken Boothe, Syl Johnson and Ghostface.

Here’s Parts One and Two.

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VOXUNION MEDIA
National Conference on Media Reform
January 12-14, 2007
While in Memphis, TN for the National Conference on Media Reform convened by Free Press, we thought it important to get a mic in front of many of those not included as keynote speakers representing ideas not included as central to the gathering. So here are what some of that sounded like.

Some of the voices heard include representatives from the following organizations: The Freedom Archives; Pro-ject Pro:Project; CounterSpin; Youth Media Council; Center for Community Change; Block Report Radio/Prisoner of Conscience Committee; See Jane; R.E.A.C.Hip-Hop; Martha’s Table Teen Project; LinkTV, Third World Majority and the Main Street Project.

Click here to download the interviews and/or visit voxunion.com for the stream/download options and much more.

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VOXUNION MEDIA
Jazz & Justice
WPFW 89.3 FM (wpfw.org)
Mondays 1-3p
February 12, 2007
This week we were joined by the mayor of DC hip-hop Head-Roc and Suncere Ali Shakur for a discussion of our visit to New Orleans. Suncere has been in New Orleans since the breaking of the levees and talked about his experience as a member of Common Ground, the politics of organizing and concerns over white paternalism and Black inactivity. The show featured music from Jay-Z, Head-Roc, Nina Simone, Lil’ Wayne, Mos Def and the Rebirth Jazz Band. Download parts 1 and 2 and visit voxunion.com for streaming options and much more.

VOXUNION MEDIA
Jazz & Justice
Mondays (1-3p EST)
WPFW 89.3 FM Washington, DC
February 19, 2007

Malcolm X was assassinated on February 21, 1965.  This week was the first of our two-week long tribute to the man whose life continues to  impact the world.  Listen to clips of his speeches and interviews, plus music from Miriam Makeba, John Coltrane, Gil Scott-Heron, Amina & Amiri Baraka, Sonny Fortune, DJ Spinna, Head-Roc, Immortal Technique, Juel Ortiz and more.  Part two of this tribute takes place next week during our pledge drive. Please consider pledging during the show (Monday 1-3p EST) to help support community radio and Jazz & Justice.  To download the show, click here to stream/download Parts One and here for Part Two. For much more audio/video/print, visit voxunion.com.

Did You Know………..

Posted on by drumsintheglobalvillage

 Stokely Speaks: From Black Power to Pan-Africanism

…..that “Stokely Speaks” has just been republished?

Got this email from TheBlackList.

I added the sentence about finding the group of the Web because the organization’s website was not yet ready at the time of the email.

————— 

 

“Stokely Speaks” Is Republished! 

We hope this email finds you in the best of health and spirits.

Permit us a moment of your time to inform you that, on February 1, 2007, Lawrence Hill Publishers, an imprint of Chicago Review Press, officially launched the republication of “Stokely Speaks: From Black Power Back To Pan-Africanism.”

As you are perhaps aware, “Stokely Speaks” was originally published by Random House in 1971. It demonstrates and summarizes, through 15 of Kwame Ture’s speeches, his ideological and organizational history, growth and development from 1965 to 1971. It serves, to some extent, as a history of the People and his generation, and their movements and organizations, especially the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee and Black Panther Party, two organizations that Kwame worked for and helped build, during those six seminal years. It also serves as a record of some of his contributions and impact.

Mumia Abu-Jamal has written the New Foreword to “Stokely Speaks.” His honesty and integrity, humility and dignity is extremely refreshing and expected. His mind and pen are razor sharp and free, even though his body remains chained behind prison walls. Kwame’s family, co-workers and supporters will be forever grateful to him, and to Pam Afrika who introduced us to him, for making their contribution towards our 35-year effort to republish this classic. Bob Brown has written the Preface to the 2007 Edition.

We launch, through this email, a worldwide campaign to make “Stokely Speaks” required reading in high schools, colleges, workplaces, churches, mosques, temples, synagogues, prisons, discussion/study groups, and meetings in every corner of Africa, the African Diaspora and the World.

We hope that you will write and publish a review, (please forward us a copy), promote “Stokley Speaks” on talk radio and by word-of-mouth, organize discussion/study groups and meetings, books launch parties, etc.

We also hope that you will help us find translators and publishers in Traditional African and other languages.

Surely you will agree, even if you disagree with Kwame, that this is a worthwhile effort!

Permit us also to inform you that the All-African People’s Revolutionary Party, which is based in Conakry, Guinea, takes the occasion of the republication of “Stokely Speaks” to launch a two-year and worldwide ideological offensive, recruitment and networking drive and campaign.

The A-APRP (GC) will, with your moral, material and financial help,

(1) Introduce Kwame Ture, and his work, study and struggle, to a new generation of progressive and revolutionary students and youth;

(2) Revitalize existing members and supporters of the A-APRP (GC), and recruit new ones; and

(3) Renew old alliances, and build new ones, with progressive and revolutionary forces, movements, organizations and governments in every
corner of Africa, the African Diaspora, and the World.

TO PARAPHRASE KWAME TURE, WE WILL ORGANIZE, ORGANIZE, ORGANIZE, RECRUIT, RECRUIT, RECRUIT, AND BUILD THE A-APRP(GC), LIKE YOU HAVE NEVER SEEN BEFORE!

We hope that you will help us continue and expand Kwame’s and our almost five decades of work, study and struggle, by “any and all means necessary,” and by any and all means that you can.

You can help by inviting Bob Brown, and other A-APRP(GC) organizers, to your country, city, community, campus, workplace, church, mosque, temple, synagogue, prison, discussion/study group, or meeting. The theme of Bob’s  presentation is “From Black Power Back To Pan-Africanism.” Bob will offer information that you have never heard before, and a perspective that you will regret not having heard first hand. He will speak, directly, honestly and militantly, to a new generation of progressive and revolutionary students and youth in every corner of Africa, the African Diaspora, and the World. He will call them to service and action, and offer them a mass, revolutionary, Pan-African and International  program of work, study and struggle.

Who knows? We might find dozens, perhaps hundreds or thousands, of new Kwame Ture’s among our daughters and sons, grand- daughters and grand sons, poised and ready to make their contribution to, and impact on Africa and the World. All they need is your and our encouragement, enablement, and empowerment!

For more information on how you can:

(1) Make a DONATION towards continuing and expanding Kwame’s and our Work, Study and Struggle,

(2) INVITE A-APRP (GC) Organizers, speakers and cultural artists to your country, city, community, campus, workplace, church, mosque, temple, synagogue, or prison,

(3) Become a MEMBER of the A-APRP (GC),

(4) Become a SUPPORTER of the A-APRP (GC),

(5) Renew or build an ALLIANCE with the A-APRP (GC),

please contact the A-ARP (GC) by finding us on the Web.

Thank you in advance for any and all assistance that you might give!