Olympian Thinking meets Hip Hop. From Beijing to Oakland, CA

Thanks and big ups to DLabrie of Hip Hop Congress for sharing this video and press release.

PRESS RELEASE by the Worldwide Hip Hop Congress & Olympian “Marilyn King”

EXCERPT: On the heels of the 2008 Beijing Olympics, there’s more going on than just sports and protesting. Two Pentathlon, Olympian, Marilyn King is utilizing this historic moment to deliver the message that everyone can ‘live Olympic.’ “We are going to deliver to young people the tools they need to make their individual and collective dreams come true.” A framework called Olympian Thinking focuses on the three factors present when ordinary people do extraordinary things. Marilyn says every Olympian and all successful people align the power that comes from Passion, the art and science of Vision and a commitment to daily Action.

Holding true to this concept, Marilyn is teaming with worldwide 501(c) 3 non-profit Hip Hop Congress which houses its national office in San Jose, California. The Hip Hop Congress provides the Hip Hop Generation and the Post Hip Hop Generation with the tools, resources and opportunities to make social, economic and political change on a local, regional and national level.

To check out DLabrie's song and video on YouTube:

"Yes I Can" Song by DLabrie & Am/Fm of Wasaname An Nem

Transcending from the Bottom Up

Transcending from the Bottom Up is a non-profit organization in the Los Angeles area. Its purpose is to educate, empower and encourage inner city youth of America. Please visit the website for more information and support community based organizations like this!

Link: http://www.tftbu.org/

Jamaica Jamaica!

My family is from Jamaica so I must take a minute to big up the Jamaica track team for an extraordinary showing at this year's Olympics! In honor of their record performances, here is a nice tribute to the athletes, as well as the spirit of Jamaica. Click title link to visit YouTube page directly for more information.


Song Title: Jamaica We Love (Pearl Riddim)
Artist: Danglin
Produced by: Rebel Soulz

WARGAMES - The Fall of Empire

This is a difficult post to start because of its grave nature. I've been talking for a while now about how the Bush administration possibly brought about the acceleration of U.S. empire's demise...That is not going to be an easy historical transition but one that is inevitable because natural law always wins...but unfortunately those that will suffer the most are always the ones most vulnerable (i.e. the poor, people of color, youth, etc.). That is why grassroots community service is critical to our community's survival in these challenging times.

The Clinton era reflected the politics of containment (see J.Chang's Can't Stop Won't Stop), where much of the policies were to maintain the status quo power structure and world order. While policies adversely affected oppressed communities, and particularly youth of color, they mainly served to maintain status quo. If the majority of U.S. workers felt relatively comfortable, complacency with the status quo could remain high. In hindsight that is why the 90s look like times of few global crises and relative peace and prosperity.

But with the inauguration of the Bush administration, the politics of containment turned to a politics of fear, neo-conservatism, preemptive war, and the expansion of the military industrial complex. This alternet.org article gives an excellent analysis of this political strategy, as well as its shortcomings, specifically its miscalculation of the U.S. military power in the 21st century.

The Long War: How Many Iraqs and Afghanistans Lie Ahead?

By Andrew Bacevich, Tomdispatch.com. Posted August 14, 2008.

The Pentagonization of the United States shows no sign of slowing down.

EXCERPT:

On the illusions of victory and the many miscalculations of the Bush administration when it came to the nature of American military power, no one in recent years has been more incisive than Andrew Bacevich, who experienced an earlier version of the Long War firsthand in Vietnam. His new book, The Limits of Power: The End of American Exceptionalism, has just been published. Short, sharp, to the point, it should be the book of the election season, if only anyone in power, or who might come to power, were listening.


So the Bush administration sold U.S. workers out for corporate interests (fascism) and by trying to expand its military industrial complex exposed its greatest weakness - unless you are ready to blow up the whole world, military power in the 21st century only creates a constant state of war, death, destruction and despair. There is no power in might and no winners in war.

It reminds me of that classic 80s movie Wargames (which I watched more than a few times in my youth...lol).


WarGames: Global Thermonuclear War







Since the 80s, globalization has opened up the world... While the world economy still depends on the U.S. economy, U.S. workers have now officially joined the race to the bottom and we will likely see serious decreases to their standard of living while we probably will see continued increases in places like China and India. Natural law proves correct once again: the sun does rise in (on) the east and set in (on) the west. Some recent news symbolizes the shift from west to east. With China basking in its role as the host of the 2008 Olympic games, and the opening ceremonies feeling like a re-coming out party, a new cold war starts basically the same day. Some interesting timing to say the least.

This latest Russian crisis (conflict with Georgia) is the Iraq strategy coming home to roost. Not sure why the president of Georgia did not see this coming. Russia has been hinting at rebuilding power, they know the U.S. can't stop them (bogged down in Iraq/Afghanistan/economic downspin), and Georgia should have known that too. The arguments of territorial integrity and national sovereignty can be laughed at in Moscow since the Iraq invasion did not follow that theory. Georgia challenging Russian backed areas within their borders was just the excuse Russia needed to start the process. And what is probably most interesting is the silence of China on the Russia/Georgia conflict. You would think that at the least, they would be somewhat ticked at the timing given it was their time to be center stage (because of the Olympics). And in all matters recently (brought to the UN Security Council for example) China and Russia have often been allies on the same side of any debate. I guess there is a new power bloc to pay attention to now.

So what we are now left with in mainstream media is a mixture of stories that symbolize the end of the Bush era as well as the U.S. 's position as the world's #1 superpower. We see Russia moving forward in Georgia and Bush, Sec. Rice, Sec. Gates, and McCain invoking cold war rhetoric but with one major difference - no chance of any U.S./Russia armed conflict. We also are seeing images from the Olympics, probably the most symbolic effort of international cooperation (albeit marred in corruption, exploitation and cheating). The U.S. is not far behind China in the medals count, but it is interesting to note that while China's medals are mostly gold symbolizing quality (22/35), the U.S. only has 10 gold medals (10/34) and mostly bronze medals. So it's quality over quantity, and for China, it actually is both.

Finally the politics of fear is what really fueled a lot of the other Bush devastating policies. And while it seemed most people had finally smelled the coffee of manipulation, this election is going to reveal if the politics of fear may still hold the same power it did to elect Bush for a second term. Given the difficulties of the economy, the ongoing unpopular wars, and the poor approval rating of the current administration, a generic democrat beats a generic republican handedly. So why is the Obama v. McCain race so tight? Why does McCain still have a good chance to win? The politics of fear will dominate the rest of this campaign and although no one will ever admit it, the major factor will not be about Obama's experience; it will be about his race. The language will be coded but the politics of fear will be a test of white supremacy's saliency. If Obama loses, that will be the reason why without a doubt. This topic has been poorly covered in the media thus far, but here are a couple recent articles worth reading about the importance of race to this important race:

Op-Ed Columnist

Racism and the Race

By CHARLES M. BLOW

Published: August 8, 2008



"The Elephant in the Room: Obama, the Left, and the Race Question."

by Malik Miah

This became another long post. I guess I could have split it up but instead of posting two or three new posts I just put it all here (lol). The analysis is long but the message is simple, and best said in this Bob Marley video:

Bob Marley War



That until the basic human rights are equally
Guaranteed to all, without regard to race
Dis a war

That until that day
The dream of lasting peace, world citizenship
Rule of international morality
Will remain in but a fleeting illusion
To be persued, but never attained
Now everywhere is war, war

RIP Soul Men - Bernie Mac and Isaac Hayes

I have a number of updates to add to the blog but this is the first I need to do. I was out of town a while and have been very busy since, but want to show love and respect to two soul men our community lost last week: Bernie Mac and Isaac Hayes. I enjoyed both men's artistry as I know many others did. They will be greatly missed. Please leave any tributes you'd like to them in comments. And if you have not already, please see the blog archive for my reflection titled Death and Life. It is a timely read for this occasion.

The Look Of love - Isaac Hayes




Bernie Mac - King of Comedy

Join the Urban Teacher Network! A Hip Hop Congress Education Initiative

Hip Hop Congress is a non profit organization that incorporates Hip Hop to inspire young people to get involved in cultural creativity, social action and civic service. The Urban Teacher Network (UTN) will be a major project of Hip Hop Congress' Education Initiative. Its purpose is to reach out directly to those that work and mentor our youth. We want to support their efforts, build networks, share curriculum ideas and resources, and organize ways to better serve our communities needs.


Teachers have many tough issues to deal with while trying to educate and elevate today's youth in this oppressive structure. The truth is the school system in many ways maintains the status quo structure of injustice and inequality. Teachers and even many administrators work hard to change that but often find themselves penalized for thinking outside of the box and being more relevant to their students' lives.


The UTN hopes to organize and support teachers who dedicate their lives to literally saving our future. The UTN is also interested in educating and mentoring our youth in more creative and relevant ways to most effectively serve their needs. To that end, we are promoting an urban arts education curriculum to bring to schools, correctional facilities, group homes, and after school programs. We also plan to organize UTN events for teachers and students outside of the classroom in less restrictive spaces to learn, live and grow through experiences in community based outings.


More information including data form can be found at the following Google docs link:

http://docs.google.com/Doc?id=ds5grvn_0d58tnxfr&invite=9cfmh8




Please send completed data forms to UTN@hiphopcongress.com.



Please contact us if you have any other questions and we will reach out to you promptly!

Support Hip Hop Education!

This is a message from a friend and comrade in the mission to promote hip hop education. Please visit his iReport and spread the word!

Peace,

Please visit my page on CNN's IReport site and leave a
comment:

http://www.ireport.com/docs/DOC-48464


Rep for Hip Hop Culture!


Sebastien

Racism 101 Must See Video

I saw this video earlier today. Looks like this was a "payback killing" by a police officer for the Jena protest. All need to be aware of this.

Click the following to access the sent link:

CNN: Racism blamed in taser death

I definitely saw this coming. I wrote an essay last year titled The Fire this Time. In that essay, I analyzed what I saw as a "re-focus" on race and race-related news stories...I argued that the refocus probably started with Katrina, and no doubt will continue to intensify through this presidential election. While racism is still very much alive and well and much of it is structural that will not be changed by good intentions and colorblind ideology, this presidential campaign has also been a bold reminder that overt racism has not gone anywhere either. Just this week I've read commentaries that compare Obama to Hitler and then there are these two crazy pictures:












As Dome said in a comment below, America ain't ready (at least a large portion of it).

Also, as I've said before, I hope my progressive brothers and sisters will be very careful when joining the Obama bashing bandwagon. Amiri Baraka has written a good piece that I hope all will read. Davey D has it posted on his blog:

The Parade of Anti-Obama Rascals

In a previous post I listed a number of reasons I hope Obama wins. I should have added one more: white supremacists and ideologues like Hannity, O'Reilly and Limbaugh will be beside themselves...lol. Now, that's progress...and change I can believe in :-)