live blogging from busboys and poets; kickoff for Roots and Reality

live and direct... great crowd here so far... really good vibe... pam bridgewater puts on a great event... looking forward to some great performances... come out and enjoy... several great artists will be here and will really help set the atmosphere for thirty six hours of great commentrary on law, social change, hip hop, and possibilities for an exciting and more inclusive tomorrow... more to come...

nick j. sciullo

Conference (April 13): Roots and Reality II: Hip Hop, Law, and Social Justice Organizing at Washington College of Law at American University

There's a great conference being put on at the Washington College of Law at American UNiversity this month. The conference brings together great minds from law, hip-hop, organizing, and social justice. The conference can be found at http://www.wcl.american.edu/secle/founders/2011/20110413.cfm.

If you live in the DMV (District of Columbia, Maryland, Virginia metro area), you should certainly think about attending.

April 13, 2011

9:30-9:55 Registration

10:00-10:05 WCL Founders' Celebration and RRII Welcome RRII Student Planning Committee Member

10:10-10:20 Opening Address

andré douglas pond cummings

Professor of Law, West Virginia University College of Law

Editor, Evolution of Street Knowledge: Hip Hop Law Anthology

Co-Creator, HipHopLaw.com

10:25-10:45 Presentations 'All of the Lights': Life and Law in the DMV Slam! Winners *

Presenter: Dennis Williams, H.B.O. Corporate Responsibility and Slam! MC,

Skim, hip hop artist, Def Poetry Jam poet, activist and artist

10:45-11:40 Town Hall Meeting: Law(lessness) and (In)Justice in Hip Hop Music and the Hip Hop Nation

Moderator: Rosa Clemente, Hip Hop Activist, Former Candidate for Vice President (GP 08).

11:45-11:50 Performance – 'All of the Lights': Life and Law in the DMV Slam! 3rd Place Winner*

11:55-12:20 Address and Presentation

Paul Butler, Dean and Professor of Law, George Washington Law

Author, Let’s Get Free: A Hip Hop Theory of Justice

12:25-1:55 Lunch

Film Screening and Discussion

Beyond Beats and Rhymes

2:00-2:05 Performance – 'All of the Lights': Life and Law in the DMV Slam! 2nd Place Winner*

2:20-3:30 Hip Hop Legal Theory Panel: Hip Hop Nation in the Law School Classroom

Camille Nelson, Dean, Suffolk University Law School

Anthony Farley, James Campbell Matthews Distinguished Professor of Jurisprudence, Albany Law School

Nick J. Sciullo, J.D., West Virginia University College of Law, moderator and resident blogger for HipHopLaw.com

3:35-3:40 Performance 'All of the Lights' 1st Place Winner*

3:45-5:00 “On to the Next” Roundtable

Topic: Hip Hop in the Grassroots: Art, Politics Organizing and Activism

Rosa Clemente, Hip Hop Activist Former Vice Presidential Candidate (Invited)

Mazi Mutafa, Executive Director, Words Beats and Life 'All of the Lights': Life and Law in the DMV 1st place winner*

Skim, hip hop/spoken word artist, activist

Head Roc, hip hop artist, activist, advocate for DC Statehood/Green Party and DC City Paper Columnist

Part III Symposium Dinner and Keynote Address

5:10-6:30 Roots and Reality II Symposium Dinner: Social Justice Organizing and Mentoring in the Juvenile Justice System

R. Dwayne Betts, Keynote Address

National Spokesperson for Campaign for Youth

2010 Soros Justice Fellow

Cave Canem Fellow

2010 Winner of NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Literary Debut for his memoir, A Question of Freedom

Update: Wyclef Jean argues that getting shot brought much needed attention to the Haitian election

The story's here at People.com.

Wyclef makes an interesting point about his unfortunate shooting in Haiti. Would anyone in the U.S. know there was a presidential election if 1) Wyclef hadn't attempted to run, 2) Wyclef hadn't been barred from running, and/or 3) Wyclef hadn't been shot?

Does the U.S. care about the Caribbean world or is our only interest in beaches, umbrella drinks, and the postcolonial gaze?

Like it or not the U.S is not only proximally and economically tied to the Caribbean and larger Latin American world. With debate about CAFTA prominent and debate even more polarizing on the U.S.-Columbia Free Trade Agreement (not to mention the U.S.-Panama FTA), U.S. involvement in Latin American and the Caribbean will only increase. These FTA's are important to the economic relationship amongst countries in the Americas and present economic opportunity for U.S., Panamanian, and Columbian interests. As the Panama Canal expands to accommodate new Panamax ships and positions itself as global transportation and logistics hub, one would be reasonable to argue that the U.S. should move to become apart of these opportunities. The FTAs currently await ratification in Congress and there seems to be little push for that to happen. SKFTA (South Korea FTA) is also sitting around for that mater.

Read more about the Columbia and Panama FTA's here: Western Farm Press, Wall Street Journal, Chicago Tribune, Tampa Bay Tribune, and Quincy Herald-Whig.

Photo credits: Denise Truscello/WireImage/People.com

-- Nick J. Sciullo

Dr. John Carlos to Speak at the West Virginia University College of Law

Dr. John Carlos, who along with Olympic teammate Tommie Smith were criticized for protesting on the medal stand at the 1968 Mexico City Games, will discuss the evolving role of African American athletes in American culture and politics in a speech sponsored by the West Virginia University College of Law Sports and Entertainment Law Society.

Carlos will speak at noon on Thursday, March 31, 2011 at the Marlyn E. Lugar Courtroom in the WVU Law Center.

Specifically, Dr. Carlos will discuss the national platform athletes are given, as the American public has become more and more enthralled in the commercialized sports industries. He will discuss how and if African American athletes utilize this platform as he and Smith did in 1968. Carlos won the bronze medal in the 200-meter dash behind Smith and Australian Peter Norman. While receiving their medals, Smith and Carlos raised gloved fists as a silent protest of racism and economic depression among oppressed people in America. In response, International Olympic Committee president Avery Brundage banned the two men from the Olympic Village and forced them from the United States Olympic team. Carlos and Smith were embattled for years following their bold and meaningful protest.

The event is free to the public and will be webcast live at http://law.wvu.edu/carlos.

Oklahoma Anti-Immigrant Bill Uses Drug War Tactics to Buy Police Support

A bill making its way through the Oklahoma Senate promises to bring the time-tested tactics of the war on drugs to the latest round of attacks on immigrants. Senate Bill 908, introduced by Senator Ralph Shortey (R-Oklahoma City), would authorize the forfeiture of vehicles, homes, and other property used to transport undocumented people. Part of the proceeds from the sale of seized items would go to the investigating law enforcement agency and prosecutor’s office.

S.B. 908 would also require police officers to verify the immigration status of anyone they stop or arrest and would allow officers to arrest without a warrant anyone believed to be removable for having committed a crime.

The effect of a forfeiture provision is quite simple: to create a financial incentive for police departments and prosecutors to prioritize immigration policing. This, in fact, appears to be Shortey’s goal. According to an Associated Press article, Shortey said, “If you give (law enforcement) a fiscal reason why they should do it, then they're going to enforce these laws.”

Shortey wants to dangle the carrot of free money in front of cash-strapped police departments on the belief that resisting this incentive would prove daunting. Unfortunately, there is plenty of reason to believe he is probably right.

We have seen this tactic before. As Michelle Alexander brilliantly chronicles in her 2010 book The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness, President Ronald Reagan’s campaign against drugs did not gain much traction until police became financially invested. First they received free military weaponry, training, and grants. It was not until Congress allowed local law enforcement agencies to keep part of the proceeds of their drug investigations, however, that the war on drugs became a central feature of criminal policing. “Law enforcement gained a pecuniary interest not only in the forfeited property,” Alexander explains, “but in the profitability of the drug market itself.”

The war on drugs, of course, is better described as a war on people of color—and most aptly, a war on black men. Though brown faces and poor white people have been caught up in this vortex to varying degrees, it is at bottom a decades-long project of repainting the black male body as savage. Sadly, it has been all too successful.

Shortey and the Oklahoma Republicans who have given life to his proposal by sending it from the Judiciary Subcommittee to the full Appropriations Committee threaten to expand this strategy against today’s scapegoats—the immigrants whose Latina/o, Arab, and Muslim (this being the state that recently banned its courts from using Sharia law) images lay just below the surface of anti-immigrant rhetoric.

The lesson to be learned from the adoption of war on drug tactics to, in words Kevin Johnson used in his recent Chapman Law Review article “It’s the Economy, Stupid: The Hijacking of the Debate Over Immigration Reform by Monsters, Ghosts, and Goblins (or the War on Drugs, War on Terror, Narcoterrorists, Etc.),” the “war on immigrants” is, of course, that it is imperative to see these campaigns as related parts of a campaign against racialized outsiders—people whose very humanity is devalued in the name of law and order.

by César Cuauhtémoc García Hernández
Assistant Professor of Law
Capital University Law School

Hip Hop's Far Reaching Corporate Influence

On Super Bowl Sunday last month, Chrysler dropped a cool $9 million dollars for a 2-minute commercial, the longest in Super Bowl history. The commercial showed gritty, emotional everyday pictures of Detroit and Detroiters and asked, “What does a town that’s been to hell and back know about the finer things in life?” The commercial ended with Chrysler’s new tag line: “Imported from Detroit.”



The commercial set the internet ablaze. Traffic on Edmunds.com, the premier online automotive information site, spiked. Chrysler-related searches increased by 267% and 1,619% for Chrysler’s new 200, featured in the ad. Chrysler’s bold, profound commercial was ranked by many as one of the top commercials of the Super Bowl. When Sergio Marchionne, CEO of Chrysler, gave his execs a sneak-peak of the ad, many were reportedly close to tears.

Why was this commercial so memorable, moving and so successful (not to mention expensive and risky)? Aside from featuring a battered Detroit now purpotedly rising from the ashes and coming on strong, Chrysler decided to also feature an infamous Detroit native. Perhaps like the automobile industry itself, this Detroit native plateaued several years ago and seemed to fade in import and impact. But now, on a comeback himself, hip hop superstar Eminem can speak for a city and citizenry that are seeking to rise to a new found prominent place.

The irony in this interesting circle of corporate risktaking is that, as reported by Forbes magazine, Marchionne himself hesitated before deciding to make Eminem the face of his franchise in this expensive outlay of shareholder value. Marchionne admitted, “This was not an easy choice. . . . Apart from the money involved . . . and this is pretty expensive stuff, but you know, the choice of the topic, the choice of the characters in the thing were not easy choices. I had to think about this really long and hard. . . . You know, I love Eminem but . . . I also know that some of the choices of language that he has made are things that are not what I would consider to be commonly shared.” Marchionne necessarily treaded a delicate line in featuring the hip hop bad boy who is famous for hard-core lyrics and profanity, as well as bouts of homophobia and misogyny.

Eminem’s manager, Paul Rosenber, explained that the ad “started off as a request to license music but after . . . learning more about [Chysler CEO] Sergio Marchionne's vision, we realized there was a lot in common with Chrysler's story as it relates to Detroit and Eminem and his ability to overcome. We think the video we made with Chrysler is a statement about the passion of the company and the City of Detroit and we are proud to be a part of it."

Marchionne eventually overcame his reluctance to use Eminem as his spokesperson, recognizing how much the rapper has in common with the automaker. “[Eminem] represents part of America that I think is important as hell. I think it’s at the heart of what we are.” OK, not everyone likes the rapper’s music, Marchionne conceded, “but a lot of what he is, is us, you know? I mean there’s a sort of seriousness about that kid . . . which is true of [Chrysler]. The fact that we’re coming out of nowhere, right? A lot of people last year asked us, you know, are you still going to be here in 12 months?”

The fact that Eminem and his parallel story to Chrysler’s are generating national buzz and interest, despite the well-documented auto industry bailouts and bankruptcies last year, is a testament to the far-reaching influence that hip hop artists have nationally and internationally.


*** Cross Posted on the Corporate Justice Blog ***

Unionist Popular Culture and Rolls of Honour in the North of Ireland: During the First World War and Other Diverse Essays

A new book has just been released entitled, "Unionist Popular Culture and Rolls of Honour in the North of Ireland: During the First World War and Other Diverse Essays." Edited by Nannette Norris, this book examines popular culture across a broad range of topics from comics to poetry, hip-hop to cinema.

Included essays:

Preface Bruce E. Drushel

Introduction Nanette Norris

Unionist Popular Culture and Rolls of Honour in the North of Ireland during the First World War Catherine Switzer

Don’t Read Those ‘toons! French Comics, Government Censorship, and Perceptions of American Military Aviation Guillaume de Syon

A History of African American Religion in Comic Books Nicholas Yanes

Conversations with the Law: Wyclef Jean, Shottas, and Haitian Jack: A Hip-Hop Creole Fusion of Rhetorical Resistance to the Law Nick J. Sciullo

Dolls with Disabilities: Playing with Diversity Katie Ellis

(Re)Thinking Gender and Sexuality in Buffy the Vampire Slayer Brian M. Peters

Women Without Men: The Separate Universe of Women's Utopian Fiction, 1915-1985 Nanette Norris

Empowered Muslim Women in the Poetry of Mojha Kahf Naglaa Saad

VideoWest: Looking Back Harshly, Moving Fast-Forward Meredith Eliassen

‘Heart o’ the City’: Mind, Body, and The Matrix Paula Young Lee

Kanye West's Monster

Last month, an unfinished music video of Kanye West’s latest single “Monster” leaked online, and since that time, the hip hop community and its critics have been ablaze with commentary and critique.

Always pushing the envelope, and some arguing too far, Kanye’s new video is graphic and violent, depicting dead white women hanging in a smokey alley, their necks wrapped in industrial chains, vampires devouring corpses, and Kanye also appears in bed with two dead, eroticized white women and holds a decapitated white woman’s head dripping blood.

The video, now released, can be seen here: Monster

Melinda Tankard Reist of the Coalition Against Trafficking in Women, among many others, started an online petition to ban the video, stating that the video represents the disturbing and misogynistic view that “men enjoy dead women as sex and entertainment. The female body is to be devoured, reduced to the same status as meat. Female bodies should be displayed before men as a great feast for their consumption.”

What is Kanye thinking? Does Monster make a political statement that eludes?

Here is a sampling of some of the commentary:

In Defense of Kanye West, That's Mr. "Monster" to You

Kanye West "Monster" Video Show Rapper Sexually Exploiting Female Corpses

Kanye West's "Monster" Video: Campy Horror Masterpiece or Misogyny?

The Meaning Behind Kanye West's "Monster" Video

The Bar Exam

Artist: Master P

Track: Ghetto Rain (Silkk the Shocker f/ Master P)

Album: Made Men

It's da black ring from da moon and tears in God's eyes
see that's the way I felt when my lil' brother died
And some fools say it ain't no justice
and other niggaz say it ain't no peace
that's why thugs handle their business in these projects and on these streets
See my daddy made me a dealer
and my cousin made me killer
See that's why everything we do, they gonna respect us and feel us
And I'm still tryin' to understand why big daddy was with da rest
and my nephew Lance Connor on da 14th died in the car wreck
It ain't a muthafuckin' antidote for crack or AIDS
and I see so many ghetto people go to jail
and live your life and die like slaves
I got a relative on appeal doin' 25 flat
on murder, armed robbery

nigga fuck it Johnny Cochran can't fight that
And since I'm Black and I'm rich
they seem to overlook us
me and (?????) bought some first class tickets, they called

da police tryin' to book us
Ain't that a bitch, I done made millions
and I'm still goin' through a thang
That's why niggaz ask me P why the fuck you never change?

Bill introduced late in last Congress to have chilling effects on file-sharing

The Combating Online Infringement and Counterfeits Act, introduced into the Senate last year as S. 3804, could have a chilling effect on file-sharing websites. The bill would allow the AG to bring in rem action against any domain name "dedicated to infringing activities" and would compel violators to "suspend operation of, and lock, the domain name."

This bill would seem to have a drastic effect on any number of domain name's with file sharing capabilities including many hip-hop sites that often post (with questionable auspices) songs, music videos, etc.

The bill's lead co-sponsor was Sen. Patrick Leahy of Vermont. The bill had 19 co-sponsors from both sides of the aisle, no small amount in the Senate.

Currently, there's been no talk of introducing it in the new Congress, but the bill did promisingly, for supporters, make it out of the Senate Judiciary Committee. The bill enjoys the support of a number of industries and industry groups including the Property Rights Alliance, Motion Picture Association of America, Association of American Publishers, NBC Universal, Entertainment Software Association, Coalition Against Domain Name Abuse, US Chamber of Commerce, Screen Actors Guild, Viacom, International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees, Moving Picture Technicians, Artists and Allied Crafts of the United States, Warner Music Group, Major League Baseball, Nike Inc, and Communication Workers of America.

Opposed to the legislation are the Center for Democracy & Technology, Electronic Frontier Foundation, and Distributed Computing Industry Association.

It will be interesting to see what the new Congress will do if given the opportunity to consider the bill.

-- Nick J. Sciullo

Interesting Interview from Talib Kweli from NBC NY

Video from NBCNewYork.com.

Not taking professors seriously when they talk about hip-hop?

There's an interesting article from January 5, 2011 over on The Chronicle... here. it talks about teaching copyright law in the classroom. The article's pretty good, but one quote from University of Illinois - Chicago UIC Distinguished Professor of Communication Steve Jones seemed particularly interesting.

Jones is quoted in the article as saying:

"I don’t think they [students] see anyone who’s a professor as having authority on hip-hop and rap."

Is that true? Does being a professor, or being academically inclined somehow detract from one's credibility or knowledge of "hip-hop and rap?" It seems to me this could not possibly be the case. Does one lose their street cred once one enters academia?

Many of the bloggers here on www.HipHopLaw.com have experience in hip-hop culture beyond their academic interests, and as many fall in the loosely defined "hip-hop generation," it seems that they have some authority on the question of hip-hop. This seems to be a common charge against academics, the notion that they are somehow apart from their area of scholarship, but usually that charge is leveled by non-academics. But, that criticism is certainly not universally applicable. Is it even legitimate?

I don't think anyone is confusing any of the bloggers here with Nas, MC Lyte, or whomever, but I also don't think that's the point. No one on this blog is trying to become a hip-hop star (at least not to my knowledge). The goal for hip-hop scholars should not be to be rappers. I don't ever want to be mistaken for any of the people I listen to or write about, I just want to bring my personal story and research to the hip-hop and legal communit(y)(ies) and see what happens. I don't think what I write is valuable because I have a J.D., I think it's just another voice in the milieu, hopefully a voice that says something important and adds to the ongoing discussion. Most of us writing on this blog, are modest in this respect and I think it is something we try to convey to friends, colleagues, and students. But, according to professor Jones, few people may be taking us seriously...

I wonder what Professor Jones means when he talks of this monolithic "professor." What are the characteristics of his "professor?"

I'd be interested in seeing what others in the blogosphere think about this article and about the above mentioned quote.

-- Nick J. Sciullo

Reversing Field: Examining Commercialization, Labor, Gender, and Race in 21st Century Sports Law

A new book has just been released called "Reversing Field: Examining Commercialization, Labor, Gender and Race in 21st Century Sports Law." Edited by andré douglas pond cummings and Anne Marie Lofaso, this book interrogates the "dark side" of sports, focusing on the commercialization of collegiate athletics and the exploitation of college athletes, as well as issues of racism, sexism and discrimination in professional and collegiate sports.

Per the frontmatter: "Reversing Field invites students, professionals, and enthusiasts of sport – whether law, management and marketing, or the game itself – to explore the legal issues and regulations surrounding collegiate and professional athletics in the United States. This theoretical and methodological interrogation of sports law openly addresses race, labor, gender, and the commercialization of sports, while offering solutions to the disruptions that threaten its very foundation during an era of increased media scrutiny and consumerism. In over thirty chapters, academics, practitioners, and critics vigorously confront and debate matters such as the Arms Race, gender bias, racism, the Rooney Rule, and steroid use, offering new thought and resolution to the vexing legal issues that confront sports in the 21^st century."

Holiday Gifts for the Hip-Hop/Law Theorist in Your Life

I thought I'd make an attempt to suggest some awesome gift ideas for folks who regularly read this blog... These ideas promise to be vaguely humorous and only marginally "good" as far as gifts go... the list is not exclusive... in general, I'll take any gifts anyone is willing to send me...

In no particular order...

For the reader...
1) New Atlantis: Musicians Battle for the Survival of New Orleans by John Swenson.

This book isn't even out yet, but it looks promising. Swenson is a veteran of the music scene and the book is sure to deliver a riveting look at this tragedy-stricken city. Find it on Amazon here.

2) The Big Payback: The History of the Business of Hip-Hop by Dan Charnas.

A veteran hip-hop journalists tackles the big business of hip-hop. This book is comprehensive in its scope and offers insights into some of the biggest characters in hip-hop over the last 35 years. Find it on Amazon here.

3) Magic City: Trials of a Native Son by Trick Daddy.

I'm not sure Trick Daddy needed to write an autobiography. I'm also not sure how many people are listening to his music. But, if you're interested in Miami as a Mecca for hip-hop, then give this book a read. Find it on Amazon here.

For the student...
1) OGIO® - Hip Hop Messenger Bag

Everyone needs to carry their stuff around. A messenger bag is always a good option. I'm not sure what makes this "hip-hop." Depending on the standard for "hip-hop-ness," I have a nice coffee table that has been known to hold a hip-hop book, so perhaps I own a hip-hop coffee table. Get this bag at Amazon here.

2)WARNING ADDICTED TO HIP HOP Mousepad

I don't know how many people use mousepads anymore, but how could you possibly go wrong here? I mean... this mousepad says it all. And in your rag-tag residence, you'll need something to show guests. Find it on Amazon here.

3) The Bluebook, 19th Edition.

Love it or hate it, you need it. How are you going to produce that awesome law review article without it? There's nothing particularly hip-hop here, but it gets high marks for scholarly appeal. Get it on Amazon here.

For the family...
1)Boy's White Infant T-Shirt with Hip Hop (Bronx) Design

There's no better way to advertise the newest addition to your family than by advertising your love of hip-hop. Who doesn't like an old skool turntable? Find it on Amazon here.

2) Hip Hop Abs Package

It's time to get in shape... hip-hop style. Results not guaranteed. Find it on Amazon here.

3) Animated Tabletop Hip Hop Mummy Cat

I don't know what this is, why one would want it, or even if it is actually "hip-hop." But it's there in the title, so it must be. It's actually scary. Find it on Amazon here.

-- Nick J. Sciullo

The Bar Exam

Artist: Immortal Technique
Track: The Poverty of Philosophy
Album: Revolutionary, Vol. 1

Most of my Latino and Black people who are struggling to get food, clothes and shelter in the hood are so concerned with that, that philosophizing about freedom and socialist democracy is usually unfortunately beyond their rationale. They don't realize that America can't exist without separating them from their identity, because if we had some sense of who we really are, there's no way in hell we'd allow this country to push it's genocidal consensus on our homelands. This ignorance exists, but it can be destroyed.

Nigga talk about change and working within the system to achieve that. The problem with always being a conformist is that when you try to change the system from within, it's not you who changes the system; it's the system that will eventually change you. There is usually nothing wrong with compromise in a situation, but compromising yourself in a situation is another story completely, and I have seen this happen long enough in the few years that I've been alive to know that it's a serious problem. Latino America is a huge colony of countries whose presidents are cowards in the face of economic imperialism. You see, third world countries are rich places, abundant in resources, and many of these countries have the capacity to feed their starving people and the children we always see digging for food in trash on commercials. But plutocracies, in other words a government run by the rich such as this one and traditionally oppressive European states, force the third world into buying overpriced, unnecessary goods while exporting huge portions of their natural resources.

I'm quite sure that people will look upon my attitude and sentiments and look for hypocrisy and hatred in my words. My revolution is born out of love for my people, not hatred for others.

You see, most of Latinos are here because of the great inflation that was caused by American companies in Latin America. Aside from that, many are seeking a life away from the puppet democracies that were funded by the United States; places like El Salvador, Guatemala, Peru, Columbia, Nicaragua, Ecuador and Republica Dominicana, and not just Spanish-speaking countries either, but Haiti and Jamaica as well.

As different as we have been taught to look at each other by colonial society, we are in the same struggle and until we realize that, we'll be fighting for scraps from the table of a system that has kept us subservient instead of being self-determined. And that's why we have no control over when the embargo will stop in Cuba, or when the bombs will stop dropping in Vieques.

But you see, here in America the attitude that is fed to us is that outside of America there live lesser people. "Fuck them, let them fend for themselves." No, Fuck you, they are you. No matter how much you want to dye your hair blonde and put fake eyes in, or follow an anorexic standard of beauty, or no matter how many diamonds you buy from people who exploit your own brutally to get them, no matter what kind of car you drive or what kind of fancy clothes you put on, you will never be them. They're always gonna look at you as nothing but a little monkey. I'd rather be proud of what I am, rather than desperately trying to be something I'm really not, just to fit in. And whether we want to accept it or not, that's what this culture or lack of culture is feeding us.

I want a better life for my family and for my children, but it doesn't have to be at the expense of millions of lives in my homeland. We're given the idea that if we didn't have these people to exploit then America wouldn't be rich enough to let us have these little petty material things in our lives and basic standards of living. No, that's wrong. It's the business giants and the government officials who make all the real money. We have whatever they kick down to us. My enemy is not the average white man, it's not the kid down the block or the kids I see on the street; my enemy is the White man I don't see: the people in the white house, the corporate monopoly owners, fake liberal politicians those are my enemies. The generals of the armies that are mostly conservatives those are the real motherfuckers that I need to bring it to, not the poor, broke country-ass soldier that's too stupid to know shit about the way things are set up.

In fact, I have more in common with most working and middle-class White people than I do with most rich Black and Latino people. As much as racism bleeds America, we need to understand that classism is the real issue. Many of us are in the same boat and it's sinking, while these bougie motherfuckers ride on a luxury liner, and as long as we keep fighting over kicking people out of the little boat we're all in, we're gonna miss an opportunity to gain a better standard of living as a whole.

In other words, I don't want to escape the plantation I want to come back, free all my people, hang the motherfucker that kept me there and burn the house to the god damn ground. I want to take over the encomienda and give it back to the people who work the land.

You cannot change the past but you can make the future, and anyone who tells you different is a fucking lethargic devil. I don't look at a few token Latinos and black people in the public eye as some type of achievement for my people as a whole. Most of those successful individuals are sell-outs and house Negros.

But, I don't consider brothers a sell-out if they move out of the ghetto. Poverty has nothing to do with our people. It's not in our culture to be poor. That's only been the last 500 years of our history; look at the last 2000 years of our existence and what we brought to the world in terms of science, mathematics, agriculture and forms of government. You know the idea of a confederation of provinces where one federal government controls the states? The Europeans who came to this country stole that idea from the Iroquois lead. The idea of impeaching a ruler comes from an Aztec tradition. That's why Montezuma was stoned to death by his own people 'cause he represented the agenda of white Spaniards once he was captured, not the Aztec people who would become Mexicans.

So in conclusion, I'm not gonna vote for anybody just 'cause they Black or Latino they have to truly represent the community and represent what's good for all of us proletariat.
Porque sino entonces te mando por el carajo cabron gusano hijo de puta, seramos libre pronto, viva la revolucion, VIVA LA REVOLUCION!