Hip Hop

Looks like NextGenGOP's prayers have been answered. New RNC Chairman Michael Steele is finally paying attention to young voters. By the time he's done, they're going to wish he hadn't:

Newly elected Republican National Committee Chairman Michael S. Steele plans an “off the hook” public relations offensive to attract younger voters, especially blacks and Hispanics, by applying the party's principles to “urban-suburban hip-hop settings.”

I guess this means we're going to see the return of "MC Rove?"

• Read about how the economic recesssion is increasing enrollment numbers at community colleges.
• Lobbying campaigns for the 10 Ideas Contest winners has begun. Read about it on Change.org
• Listen to a podcast on Wiretap about how two young organizers balance the professional and personal.
• While I was listening to Obama's first press conference on NPR, I couldn't help but notice that he took a question from the Huffington Post. Think Progress commends Obama's recognition and respect for new media.
• Washington D.C. will soon welcome a populist caucus on Capitol Hill.
• A new poll reveals that young Utah voters overwhelmingly support Obama.
• Check out this listing for a FiveThirtyEight DC Internship. Sounds like a great opportunity.
• New America Media takes on the dispute over whether or not Democrats exploited hip hop to get Obama elected.
• Personal Democracy Forum offers up some good suggestions for how volunteering can be transformed through technology and crowdsourcing.
• Wanna know everything there is to know about how the Obama campaign won? Check out a list of essential reading on e.politics.

I'd like to welcome Rachel Krause to the FM team. Rachel is a high school student interested in progressive journalism and she'll be compiling our Quick Hits from now on. --Mike

It'd be an understatement to say its been an interesting last few weeks. Bloggers and journalists have been busy sounding off on topics, such as the inauguration, Obama's plan for young Americans, and expectations for the 44th President.

• A New York Times editorial features Obama's call for young Americans to volunteer, including his plan to increase the size of service programs. It covers just one of the many ways youth can get involved.
• Newsday takes an interesting approach to Obama's call to "put away childish things"...and he's not referring to the youth vote.
• At the New Republic's blog, The Plank, Ben Adler notes that the Democratic Party should not take youth for granted, and gives a shout out to Future Majority.
• The American Spectator asks college Republicans what they think of potential RNC chairman, Ken Blackwell. The results may surprise you.
• Hip Hop Congress argues that Obama is not the first "hip hop President", and tries to argue that voter registration organizations don't create generational movements.
• Washington Post launches a database consisting of political who's whos.

A new group Eklectyk Creative Media with Napalm Clique has produced an Obama hiphop video/mashup posted on youtube this week.

The video begins with an excerpt from Obama's "A More Perfect Union" speech, and launches into a multimedia collection of the political candidate. It has strong video-editing and lots of creativity behind it. video have truly raised the bar for independent Hip Hop artists. In this production, real Hip Hop is used as a vehicle to inspire youth to vote and become involved in national politics.

According to the release "the director of the video is at the Democratic Convention to spread the word about his project."

Some reading for your Saturday. (Updated by Mike)

• A Missouri state senate race was decided by youth volunteers.
• Russell Simmons, a famed hip-hop producer, appears on Fox News to discuss his GOTV effort.
• An excellent article delving into McCain's failure on technology policy and its connection to his poor performance among youth.
• Paul Krugman ponders our globalized economy and its understated fragility with regard to geopolitics.
• David Broder tackles the well-oiled machine that is the Obama campaign.
• The Toronto Star has an interesting column on the disappearance of fashion's connection with politics; it turns out Millennials would rather profess their opinion online and turn them into social movements -- who knew?
• MSNBC examines the volunteer efforts of China's Ba-Ling-Hou Generation, the American Millennial's counterpart; many Chinese youth have mobilized to confront the damage from the recent massive earthquake that struck a few weeks ago.
• U.S. News and World Report has a profile on the generations of the two presidential candidates; unfortunately no discussion of the impact of Millennials.
• User Generated Content at its best:

Some light summer reading.

• Did Obama lift the ban on independent expenditures to outside groups? Maybe so. The real question is, will donors listen and how much can we get done in the time that is left.
• Obama to announce VP pick via text message. - First Read
• In a changing corner of PA, a glimpse of Obama's "age problem." - Washington Post
• The Bradley Effect or the Obama Effect: what aren't the polls telling us? - Huffington Post
• Could religious youth tip the election this fall? - Fox News
• Politics Unusual: Hip Hop's Hopes for Obama. - Huffington Post
• Help Our Veterans Vote - New York Times
• A New Generation of Black Leaders Looks to Lead - Hip Hop Caucus
• Are We Neglecting the Next Generation of Activists? - The American Prospect
• Court Supports Rights of Gay Students - AlterNet
• In Virginia, 64% of the states new voters are under 35. - InRich.com
• Early history of the Creative Commons. - Lessig Blog
• Rock the Vote is finally getting ready to air their Christina Aguilera PSA. - Washington Post

The New York Times writes about the transition for some some young ex-Clinton staffers now working for Obama in Chicago.

A piece in the Flint (MI) Journal examines new social networking and media tools and their connection to an increase in youth political engagement this fall. Unfortunately, this article includes an example of the Republican strategic pessimism regarding the youth vote:

Facebook won't win any elections, said Harry Awdey, president of UM-Flint's College Republicans.

"We're trying to energize who we have out there but a lot of young people aren't going to vote," he said. "It seems like every couple of years they say it's going to be the year of the youth vote and it hasn't been yet.

"I'd like to think people are more civilly engaged but it's really that voter participation was so low that it had nowhere to go but up."

Nate Silver (of FiveThirtyEight.com fame) pens a good, if simple op-ed in the New York Post on the importance of the youth vote to Obama and why a surge in youth turnout appears likely this November.

Another piece -- this one in the Pioneer Press (MN) -- examines the paradox of a young, technology-obsessed McCain supporter supporting a 71 year old man who doesn't do email. Here's a sneak peek:

Andy Brehm is an e-mailaholic who frequently logs onto his Facebook social networking page to chat with his friends over the Web.

But the man he wants to be the nation's next president doesn't do any of those things.

Brehm, 27, a recent law school graduate, is as tech savvy as they come. John McCain, 71, the presumptive Republican nominee, once said he's never done "a Google."

...

"To be honest, I'd rather the president not spend his time e-mailing," Brehm said. "There are more important things to deal with. This country has some real serious problems that big government and higher taxes aren't going to fix."

A localized example of the surge in Democratic registrations this year: Boulder, Colorado.

Reuters speculates whether hip-hop could help or burden Barack Obama.

Bumped. This is great reporting on the conference and raises lots of question. --Mike

The big question of this conference, at least out of the personal dialogue generated amongst attendees, seems to be asking if the upcoming election will actually change anything drastic in this country. Over lunch yesterday, myself and members from GenVote and Ruckus Society spoke of this. How much of a say do we actually have in this country when the only presidents who ever have a chance of winning are Republican or Democrat? We spoke of what little difference there actually is between these two parties, and we spoke of how all of us didn’t believe in nor support the corporate agenda of both parties.

And what does this mean in the context of the Hip Hop Political Convention, in which we are encouraging young people, particularly the hip hop community, to vote in this upcoming presidential election?

At Genvote’s voter registration workshop yesterday, absolutely no one showed up. Upon first examination, this either means that everyone attending this conference is a registered voter, or that folks who are not registered were not inspired to at this convention.

After the day’s end, I came to another conclusion: this convention was poorly organized. And while I believe the zero turnout of the voter registration workshop does have something to do with a lack of interest, it was also difficult to attend workshops, as they were hours behind schedule and in different rooms then the convention’s program specified.

This convention’s speakers include Cynthia McKinney (for later today) and Rosa Clemente. Clearly, this convention supports the Green Party. While the Green Party’s beliefs definitely coincide more so with mine, and most of the individuals I spoke with at the convention, than the Democrats or Republicans, most folks seemed like they would rather vote for Obama.

Why? Well, a seemingly unusually progressive man (at least in a presidential candidate context) is running for president on the Democratic Party, and actually has a chance of winning. Moreover, he’s a man of color. And yet Cynthia, for those of you who do not know, is a black woman. The lack of hype or hope for her election that many people are expressing seems to be due to her Party – the Green Party. Individuals have been expressing little to no faith in the possibility of a Green Party presidential candidate winning in this political climate of the United States. And she is a woman of color, to boot. And so is her VP. If folks are making such a fuss over a light skinned man of color running for president, how are they are going to possibly handle two women of color (brilliant and capable as they may be) as real possible candidates?

But back to the conference –

As unorganized as this convention has been, the people the organizers brought in have been amazing. I went to two incredible workshops yesterday (and one academic workshop I was not impressed by).

After stopping by the voter registration room, in which no one showed up, I headed to Ruckus Society’s nonviolent direct action planning workshop. Both were happening at the same time. Turnout in general for this convention seemed to be pretty low, but this workshop had a couple folks attend. [An interesting side point – what does this signify when individuals would rather learn about direct action methods rather than registering to vote?] I found this workshop to be incredibly helpful, and I gained a lot of valuable insight into methods for successful direct action.

Earlier in the day, I went to that plenary I mentioned in my last blog on Hurricane Katrina. I was, as I expected, blown away by Mayaba Libenthal and Robert Horton. I never realized the extreme connections the government’s response to Hurricane Katrina has with neoliberalism. I learned so much by hearing these two individuals speak. Mayaba is a part of INCITE! Women of Color Against Violence, and both are a part of Critical Resistance.

The mediocre workshop I attended had an impressive title: “Conscious Contradictions: New Modes of Sexism, Racism and Consumption in Rap and Hip Hop”. I was very disappointed by the extremely academic and alienating language this workshop used. One attendee even rudely asked the presenters to stop saying “um” so we could actually get something done.

At night, I attended the convention’s Awards Ceremony and Social.

There were cops everywhere. Cops were driving around the resort where the social was taking place, there were a bunch of nervous cops standing outside the ballroom. I even saw a helicopter circling the hotel! When I spoke to a couple of people about the large police presence, I asked if something was going on. Yes, they all responded – we’re here. This is for us, the hip hop political convention.

Now I live in New York City, where there are aggressive police everywhere, but I was genuinely surprised by all this. The cops were behaving like some sort of criminal activity was about to go down, or was happening. They were scared of us. Maybe this has something to do with racism, and the racial composition of the convention attendees and organizers, or maybe it has to do with a fear of the hip hop community in general. Either way, it blatantly showed me how frightened people are of this community, and what a threat this community holds when it is politicized and conscious.

And so, despite its unorganized nature, this convention has been helpful in generating important dialogue about the upcoming election, hip hop, and the power of people coming together to create change. I am glad I attended, and I have been inspired by the amazing work people are doing across the country. I still have a lot of questions unanswered, but starting a conversation on these questions is undoubtedly the first step to figuring them out.

This year's convention theme is "Seizing the Time for A Better Tomorrow"

The purpose of this convention is for the political hip hop community to meet, network, and build and evolve a platform of issues that are directly effecting our communitites. We all hope to use this platform/agenda to guide our work and as a reference for engaging our community, leaders, and politicians.

Also, with the election approaching, the convention wants to strategize so that this community's voices are heard, with the hopes that their issues will be addressed.

Right now me, Eddie Rashad, and Camille Cyprian are sitting in one of the classrooms at the University of Las Vegas, waiting for the Hip Hop Political Convention to start. We got here on time, but everyone else is running late!

The plenary looks good for today - Understanding Hurricane Katrina and Gulf Coast Reconstruction Movement: Fighting Neo-Liberalism and Afrikan Ethnic Cleansing. I am excited to hear Mayaba Libenthal speak. She's from INCITE! Women of Color Against Violence and Critical Resistance.

GenVote is supposed to have a couple of trainings today - strategic campaign planning, nonviolent direct action planning, and voter registration. They might not happen as planned. People partied late last night, so things are running incredibly late.

Me and Eddie want to meet Rosa Clemente today - she will speaking today and tomorrow. I want to meet her and tell her about the CUNY Social Forum I am helping to organize.

Peace,
Maria

Apologies for not posting this weekend. I celebrated my 30th B-Day (I'm aging out of this demographic, fast) and it turned into one of those weekends. Plus a guest post I had lined up fell through. Mea culpa.

Youthy-action on the information superhighway today:

• Ben Adler notes that, appearances on SNL aside, McCain is not gaining the support of young voters. - The Politico
• Jeff Johnson has an interesting - and pessimistic - critique of the black youth vote community from 2004 and how it has left black youth out in the cold during this election cycle. - Black Politics on the Web
• On a related topic, Campus Progress has an interview with Keli Goff about her new book: Party Crashing: How the Hip Hop Generation Declared Political Independence. Keli has similar views to Jeff about the allegiances of young black voters. - Campus Progress
• Kay Steiger at Campus Progress also reviewed feminist-blogger Amanda Marcotte's new book this week. - Campus Progress
• The GAO is going to start monitoring more closely the government's management of student loan programs. - The Politico
• Here's a very interesting blog post about replicating the success of local activism/institutions in other areas. Brush up on your Alinsky. - Open Left