HIP HOP ACTIVISM BUDS BEAUTIFULLY

Harry Belafonte stated to me in an interview that entertainers have
the responsibility to speak out on issues concerning the community. He
also said that entertainers are so often used to take people's minds
off real issues and that entertainers who do not act are part of the
problem. In a recent Wall Street Journal article entitled, "Mean
Street Theater," written by John McWhorter, he called social and
political contributions to the community made by rapper's "sideline
donations." About the recently slain rap artist Camoflauge, McWhorter
writes, "Despite his searingly profane, violent lyrics, [he] was
regularly invited to speak at Savannah high schools." This article
could have been more appropriately titled, "Mean Muggin' Hip Hop."

There's more. The article went on to run off other artists, i.e.
Tupac, Biggie, and Jam Master Jay as products of the genre. Never mind
the failings of law enforcement who have yet to find the killers of
any of these men. But, they could find any small-time hustlers in the
hood and lock them up for years and years for a nonviolent offense,
i.e. drug possession.

This brings me to the most appealing part of the piece. While the
author gave credit to Russell Simmons' Hip Hop Action Network for
setting a goal to register millions of hip hop voters for the 2004
elections, he asked a poignant question. "What does the organization
want the hip-hop generation to vote for?" If for nothing else, his
article should have been printed for this query.

It is true that Hip Hop has to have a political issue or issues to
mobilize around. And we got issues; no doubt about that. Well, Russell
Simmons, P Diddy, Jay Z and many other hip hoppers are right on point
in their effort to address what should be the number one issue to
focus hip hop activism - fighting against the failed war on drugs.
These celebrities are doing exactly what Mr. Belafonte says is
expected of them.

This is a perfect issue for hip hop activism because the lives
affected the greatest are in the same communities that Hip Hop most
represents. In addition, the unchecked drug war is now devastating
lives in white communities as well. But what makes this an even
greater issue for the hip hop generation is the fact that it is The
Issue of our time.

No other cause has as many moving parts as the issues associated with
the failed drug war. First, the war on drugs has created a prison
population that should be an embarrassment to any rational person. I
do not know any African-American that does not have a personal
connection to someone in jail for a drug crime. Most of the over two
million people in jail are non-violent, low-level drug offenders who
would be better in treatment, therapy, job training and/or on a job
than in jail. But instead, the war on drugs has delivered young bodies
to jails that are used to support the heartbreaking reality of the
prison industrial complex.

Second, our babies are in foster care in high numbers because their
parents have been given long sentences, usually for minor use or
possession charges. In Washington, DC, an estimated 70% of the
children who are in foster care are there directly or indirectly due
to drug addiction. There are no studies that show prison as being
better than treatment for a parent.

Finally, aside from the other civil and human rights problems related
to the war on drugs, i.e. a person losing the right to vote or a
person being denied financial aid for college, there is the matter of
racism. The fallout from the drug war has been more devastating than
the KKK lynchings of the 1920s. Young people are racially targeted,
set up, captured, convicted, sentenced and jailed at a staggering rate.

A 2000 Human Rights Watch report confirms that in Wisconsin a black
man is 53 times more likely to go to prison on a drug charge than a
white man. This rate is reported to be the second highest in the
country and more than 4 times the national average. Only Illinois
ranked higher - there, a black man is 57 times more likely to go to
prison on a drug charge.

In New York, 94% of the people sentenced under the Rockefeller drug
laws are from Black and Latino communities. That's right, 94 percent.
Debra Small, who works for Drug Policy Alliance, says that the
Rockefeller drug laws are the granddaddy of the federal mandatory
sentencing laws. A low-level drug offender can be sentenced to 15
years to life if convicted.

I recently met a victim of the Rockefeller drug laws named Anthony
Papa who is the painter of "15 Years to Life: Self Portrait".
Anthony, spent twelve years in a maximum-security prison for passing
an envelope containing 4 ounces of cocaine. When asked about this
law, he says, "The millions of dollars being spent to house
non-violent persons can be used to feed the hungry, put shoes on
children's feet and spent on education."

Russell Simmons' Hip Hop Action Network has decided to work with
Mothers of the New York Disappeared and other activists, celebrities
and organizations to change these laws. A victory in New York could
have a domino affect among other states that have adopted similar drug
policies. Further, this may be the catalyst to make drug policy reform
front and center in the 2004 elections.

Hip Hop is coming into political maturity and can work to change some
of the realities that are reported so vividly in rap lyrics. It is so
fascinating how music has always been a part of social action in the
black community. During slavery, coded songs were used to take persons
to freedom. In the civil rights movement, marchers sang songs like,
"Ain't Gonna Let Nobody Turn Me Round." Now, there is an entire genre
that is budding into full political awareness. How beautiful. And, it
does not look like a mere "sideline donation" to me.