My Adventures At Occupy Wall Street

The Gloss Of The Ghetto

                                                     

It all started off with a beat, and some dead air, the track had either just started or was finished, and there would still be music playing, but no lyrics to go along with the beat, these were usually the best parts of the song to dance to. But as people have done throughout history they became unsatisfied, and wanted to expand on that time and before you knew it, a DJ by the name of Clive“ Kool Herc” Campbell came up with the idea of using two turntables, and looping the beat creating what ended up being a prolonged version of the instrumental, from there it was only a matter of time before you had people coming onto the stage using this extra time to brag and hype the party; and with these small steps Hip Hop was born. Starting off as just a way to keep the party going, than evolving into a forum for bragging and partying this Genre became the voice of a people who had no other outlet after seeing most if not all of their leaders, gunned down, or imprisoned. But in the beginning this music didn’t really speak for the frustrations, instead it offered a funky outlet, a way to party and have fun or join in community, but the baby known as Hip Hop took a major turn in its growth process in the 80’s when three things occurred. Ronald Regan, the Crack Epidemic, and “The Message”. This essay will take a deeper look into the song “The Message” and link issues that occurred during the 80’s to the lyrics that eventually made one of the greatest songs in Hip Hops History.

"The Message" is an old school hip hop song by Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five. Sugar Hill Records released it as a single in 1982.” The song was written and performed by Sugar Hill session musician Ed "Duke Bootee" Fletcher and Furious Five MC Melle Mel.” It was a song depicting all of the performer’s frustrations with the ghetto, but unlike other songs that were out at the time and similar in content; this one received the most attention because of its strong emphasis on lyrics instead of the beat. In an Era where the music was upbeat and the sound even from the grittier artist was coated with a party sample, “The Message” was straight the defiant rallying cry that so many had been waiting for. With hard hitting lyrics that told nothing but the truth and painted the sad picture of their surroundings, the Furious Five spoke for the forgotten people and told America about everything going wrong in the community. But to understand the importance of the song, you must first understand what was going on in 1982 when the song was released. Republican candidate Ronald Regan was President of the United States, The Crack Epidemic was beginning to take over the inner city streets, feeding to gang violence, murder, and increasing the number of homeless, and unlike the civil rights movement there really was no transcending person that could represent a group of people who clearly needed a voice.

The Effects of the Regan Era

“My brothers doing fast on my mothers TV/. Says she watches to much...is just not healthy/
All my children in the daytime/ Dallas at night/ Cant even see the game or the sugar ray fight/ Bill collectors they ring my phone/ And scare my wife when Im not home/ Got a bum education / Double-digit inflation/ Cant take the train to the job there’s a strike at the station/ Me on king kong standin on my back/ Cant stop to turn around, broke my sacroiliac Midrange, migraine, cancered membrane/ Sometimes I think Im going insane, I swear I might Hijack a plane!”

Ronald Regan was President of the United States for eight years 1981-1989, during this time he was known by many as the protector of business and special interest and the oppressor of the poor, and minorities of America. During his time in office, he refused to publicly acknowledge the growing HIV and Aids Epidemic until 1985, lowered income taxes for the top money earners in the U.S. from 70% to 28%, Increased the already overgrown Military budget, and cut non military budgets like Medicaid, food stamps, and educational grants, he wanted an America with less government control and more private prosperity, and because of this Blacks and Minorities everywhere suffered mightily. During Regan’s time as president, the racial difference between incomes increased mightily; for example “In 1978 there was a 6.9 percent difference between black and white families with an income lower than 5000 a year, by 1985 that number had increased to 9.6 percent. It was also during the 80’s that nearly 1 out of every 3 blacks had an income that placed them comfortably under the poverty level. It was financial crisis like this for the black community that helped to spark the excessive criminal and gang activity that the message spoke about.

With so little financial opportunity for blacks during this time, there were only a few options that one could attain, and in the song they are listed so graciously in the lyrics:

“You'll grow in the ghetto living' second-rate/ And your eyes will sing a song called deep hate/ The places you play and where you stay/ Looks like one great big alleyway”. In the above lyrics Melle Mel paints a grim picture for what the lifestyle of a child growing up in a black family is, with such a bleak outlook and a negative environment he see’s that the main sources of motivation for most young black men and women turns into some of the worst options, this is expressed in the following excerpt.

“My son said, Daddy, I don't wanna go to school/ cuz the teacher's a jerk, he must think I'm a fool And all the kids smoke reefer, I think it'd be cheaper/ if I just got a job, learned to be a street sweeper or dance to the beat, shuffle my feet/ Wear a shirt and tie and run with the creeps”.

The Crack era

“You'll admire all the number-book takers/ Thugs, pimps and pushers and the big money-makers/ Drivin' big cars, spendin' twenties and tens/ And you'll wanna grow up to be just like them, huh”.

The Crack Epidemic more than anything else during the 80’s hit the Black Communities the hardest, selling during the time at prices as cheap as 2.50 for a gram, it was the affordable and more addictive version of coke. Soon the star basketball player in the neighborhood could use a sell crack and triple his worth, giving off the perception of a street celebrity, and because it was so cheap and an easy high people especially gateway users who needed a stronger high than Marijuana jumped at the chance to try it out, this led to an increased number of people addicted. The rise in drug trafficking and gang violence over turf pushed Regan to pass stricter drug laws, laws that put more people in jail, but the crack epidemic had its biggest impact on children. “When the drug first hit the streets of New York in the 1980s, the city had 17,000 children in foster care. A decade later, that number had soared to 50,000.” Crack houses became something of a norm in inner city neighborhoods, with gang members and drug dealers now controlling these neighborhoods. With an environment as oppressive this it is clear where the motivation for this song comes from.

From these supporting factors it is clear that “The Message” was an artist venting about issues faced in his community, but it would be wrong to ignore the factors that helped to influence the deterioration of these neighborhoods, nor would it be possible to make this song without these factors occurring.  As stated earlier, “The Message” was not the first song to speak about the horrors occurring in Black neighborhoods all across America, but it definitely was one of the most influential, and helped to start a new chapter in the young Genre. It spurred other artist on people like “Public Enemy” and “NWA” who had their own way of talking about the issues, all which motivated by gang violence, unemployment, and drug addiction, issues that all became heightened during the Regan and Crack Era.

Just like Hip Hop, “The Message” started off with a beat, a simple beat, a few men chose to add relevant content onto the sweet melody, and in return produced one of the greatest songs of our time removing what had once been a musical Gloss of the Ghetto from Hip Hop.#

When America Loses Its Soul

                                                                         



 Today two men died. In a perfect world they would have died as old men in the comfort of their home, surrounded by friends, and family after living a long fulfilling and honest life. Unfortunately the demise of these two men was a decision that was taken out of their hands.It was a decision made by a jury, and upheld by a court. An Execution of two men who some felt were so wrong in their crimes (Proven or not) deserved the ultimate punishment. So on September 21st 2011 we took the live's of two men, one was a white supremacist who dragged an innocent black man down the rode with his truck, the other was a black man who was allegedly responsible for the death of an off duty police officer. As I try to find the right words to type onto this bland screen, their deaths are complete. The sky is still blue, and tea party republicans are still stupid. But for the first time in all of my years on this earth, I have to question if we as living beings have lost our souls.

Death is a cold pill to swallow, and it is with this understanding that I harbor a deep seated fear for those who can willingly take a life and feel nothing. These are the people who register no pain knowing that they have taken something that they themselves were given. Life in its simplest form is a gift, no one in this world had a choice to be born, it is something that happened because of circumstances, and what I hope in most cases was love. We enter this world with a clean slate and the opportunity to not just exist, but matter. So when that one person has the ability to steal another's chance to make an impact on this world, they play the role of a GOD. We state to the universe that we understand our limitations, but despite all of our flaws we will still be the judge and jury of someone else's life.

We condemn murder, and promote morals, but then murder those who we feel should never be forgiven. In the very next breath we preach Christianity and tell our children how important it is to forgive people. Our news papers are flooded with redemption stories, and unlike other creatures living on this earth, we  have been given the ability to think critically. But when it comes to something as simple as death, we seem to jump onto the middle of an invisible fence. Some of us feeling justified in deciding weather a man or a woman deserves to live or die; while another faction feels that this is something we should have no power over. And within these two groups, there used to be a minority of people who felt so strongly about their ability to dictate someones life, that they cheered the death of those they felt deserved it. But as the years progress this kind of toxic thinking seems to be spreading across America. It makes me wonder, have we become the generation of the bloodthirsty?

The numbers do not lie, and since 1976 we have executed 1267 people. In the justice system we call it execution, when we do it for Oil, or foreign policy we call it war, but when it is done in the streets we call it murder, as if there is a big difference. A life taken no matter what you call it, is a life that can never be returned, and for every man or woman that we "Execute" we take one step further away from our own humanity. We become drunk, and show too much Hubris. We rob someone of the chance to reform their lives. There are people who have been put to death, and I am sure that years later we will find out that they were innocent all along, there are also those who without a shadow of a doubt were one hundred percent guilty of their crimes, but because we could not look beyond our own sense of justice, we never gave them a chance to change.

                                                                   
 Troy Davis is just one example of a possibly innocent man who lost his life. There have been hundreds of men and women who have lost their lives, and for too long we sat back and done nothing. Do not let the frustration and the pain from tonight become a blazing fire that dies out once the next sensation stirs into the media. We as human beings have no right to play God, let us find a way to save these lives before we take it from them, and in the process lose our souls.

And Then We Die

                                                                               

There seems to be this fierce competition occurring in our inner city streets. But this is no athletic challenge, although running can at times be involved, and despite what some may think it is not a test of whits. From my point of view it seems that those who are the most wanting in life's fundamental lessons strive to successful in the art of self destruction and genocide. They use the energy from their empty vessel, and go around turning innocent men and women into hollow corpses. But this is a non issue, because murder is clearly the wave this year. Or so I've been told.

I’ve also been told that it is ok to wear pants so tight that it is possible to count the exact change in my right pocket without ever asking to see it, but that is an entirely different conversation, sidelined for a moment when I am not so mortified with what people who look just like you and me have done to our neighborhoods. I’m pained by the reality of what stands before me, in just one weekend in Brooklyn New York, 48 people were shot, seven people lost their lives, and through it all I’m left wondering who made murder a fad, and why does it seem like the same place that I have always loved is now turning into a war zone. And of course I can lie to myself and say that it was just one really bad weekend in Brooklyn, but then I look at the stats, and it is clear that one bad weekend could never begin to explain the carnage taking place in our streets.

In an NYPD report titled “Murder In New York” I learned that 536 homicides took place in New York, during the year of 2010, out of the 536 homicide cases , 42% of them took place in Brooklyn, and gun shot wounds were the cause of death 61% of the time. 

These frighten me on levels not possibly understood by most. The stark reality seems to be that somewhere during this long process we call existing, more and more people have decided that they enjoy bathing in the blood of victims. And I am so hurt because somewhere at this moment as I write and you read, and someone else loves, and a couple laughs there is another person dying. Their life expired, heart beat coming to an end, eyes closing, and breathing taking a forever pause. I cry for the future that they will never experience, the family that they leave behind, the husband/wife they will never marry. The children that will never be born, how can we live in a world where a reality like this is not troubling?!

I continued to read that report, and what I learned was that 33% of all murders in New York were made by African Americans between the ages of 15-29, and 30% of all murder suspects were between the ages of 16-21 years old. It is clear that the majority of cold blooded killers in our world are little boys and girls. Children who lost their way, or were lead down a dark path, were raised by the wrong people, or always surrounded by the ugly in the world, and with this realization I am forced to ask this question. Whose fault is it?

So while you sit and shake your head over the ugly that continues to happen in our streets, and the followers continue to put the RIP Facebook status updates which are usually quickly followed up with an SMH at the circumstances, I would like to do something drastically different.

For this moment everything on my side will change, the day’s of being frustrated but docile are over. This is the moment when I declare war on all those who decide that it is ok to take a life. I formally renounce anyone who is gang involved or has gang association. This is the moment when I take a stand against drug trafficking. Because while you read, what I have taken out but a moment to write, there is an innocent young man with a lot of anger in his heart being initiated into a gang, there is a sixteen year old girl running into the arms of a 40 year old man, she goes to him for love and security, and he uses her for sex. He tells her she’s beautiful between punches, beating her to a bloody pulp in a desperate need to establish the manhood he never got a true definition of.

And while you gasp in shock over those stories, there is a young man taking three bullets to the chest over a neighborhood rivalry, or a two year old girl being shot in the head because someone was aiming for her father. We continue to do nothing, and then we die. Nobody won.

Street Violence Getting Out Of Control

What occurred in Brooklyn this past weekend was absolutely disgusting, we have to put an end to all of this gun Violence.

NEW YORK (CBSNewYork/AP) –The Labor Day weekend was particularly violent with 42 people shot in the Bronx, Brooklyn and Queens.

Mayor Michael Bloomberg and Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly stood together Monday to address the spree of separate shootings.
“I don’t think it’s back to the bad old days,” Bloomberg said. “It was a bad weekend, no question about that.”
1010 WINS’ Juliet Papa reports: Violent Weekend In NYC
“We’re concerned about it but the numbers are still way down from where they were 10 years ago,” Kelly said.
Bloomberg wants more federal involvement in gun control enforcement and a loophole addressed involving gun shows.
“We’ve just got to do something about this, this just cannot go on,” Bloomberg said.

Kelly said he continues to try new tactics to address the problem by shifting resources and using Operation Impact to saturate high-crime areas with officers but said there are “still too many guns on the street.”
He acknowledged some of the shootings over the weekend were related to festivities stemming from the West Indian Day Parade. The parade itself has been the scene of fatal shootings in 2003 and 2005.  In addition, amid Monday’s parade festivities, police said that two men were shot around 2:30 p.m.  Both were taken to Kings County Hospital in Brooklyn.
Two men were killed and three others wounded in two separate shootings in Brooklyn over the weekend. Police responded to a 911 call of shots fired in East Flatbush at 12:45 a.m. Monday and found four gunshot victims.
Tyrief Gary, 18, was shot in the chest and was pronounced dead. Three other men were taken to Kings County Hospital. One was shot in the leg, one in the back and one in the arm. They were in stable condition.
At 10 p.m. Sunday, police responding to another 911 call in the East New York neighborhood found 24-year-old Donavan Dallison dead with a gunshot wound to the head.
Police have not made an arrest in either shooting.
Police are also questioning a 17-year-old boy in connection with the shooting of eight people at a backyard party in the Bronx Sunday. An 11-year-old boy and two teenage girls were among those hurt. A suspect identified as Oneil Dasilva, 17, is still on the loose.
(TM and Copyright 2011 CBS Radio Inc. and its relevant subsidiaries. CBS RADIO and EYE Logo TM and Copyright 2011 CBS Broadcasting Inc. Used under license. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.)

This is a good idea

                                                                                 



The last time I watched the news (This morning) our economy was still in the shitter, and when I looked to our politicians they were all too busy spitting out useless rhetoric to actually do something about our sagging job market. Just when I was about to give up on finding some positive news, and give in to my rabid facebook addiction, I ran into this article. In it President Barack Obama is praising the state of Georgia for their unique job program, while at the same time cryptically mentioning that it may be in his jobs plan. here is a look at what the article said.

 Instead of collecting a check while looking for work, Georgia has a program to give the unemployed on-the-job training. It has caught the eye of President Obama.
The Georgia Works program allows those receiving unemployment insurance to be placed at a local company for up to eight weeks of training. Participants don't get paid, but they do get to keep their jobless benefits and receive a stipend of up to $240 for transportation and other expenses.

 Now before you get too excited understand that a program like this would need the proper amount of funding, and we've seen how excited our politicians are to fund things that are good for those in need, and we must also note that the program has had mixed reviews in Georgia, but I'll let the article explain that.

The program has received mixed reviews from unemployment advocates and economists though. Some question whether it really helps the jobless return to work, while others are concerned about the quality of training participants receive.
Also, the state has had to dramatically scale back the program as officials seek the money needed to continue it. Georgia Works' financial troubles began last fall when the labor department increased the stipend to $600, from $300, and opened it up to anyone without a job, not only those receiving benefits. That expansion essentially drained the programs of funds within a few months, forcing officials to cut back the stipend to $240 and restrict it once again to those getting unemployment checks.

If we could find a nice medium for this program in every state, I think that we would be in a lot better shape. One of my biggest frustrations in the world, is having to go to work every day, while people who are on unemployment collect a free pay check every two weeks for zero to no labor. Imagine if they were able to get some work experience while doing this?
The best part about it is if they do well enough, that company may ask them to stay for a permanent position. Similar to what happened to a quarter of the people who have done this program in Georgia.

Since the inception of Georgia Works in 2003, more than 23,000 participants have completed training programs at more than 16,500 employers. A quarter of them were hired at the firm by the end of the eight weeks, while nearly 60% were employed somewhere within three months of completing the program, state labor officials said.

At this point in the game we really have to do whatever we can to get this economy going, a program like this is something that would not hurt to try. What do you guys think.

Source

We've Heard This Song Before

                                                        

So while getting my usual political fix for the day, I stumbled across an article posted on yahoo's main page. It was a comment from Obama where while speaking to a crowd of supporters states that he inherited the economy. Here is exactly what he said:

"We do have a serious problem in terms of debt and deficit, and much of it I inherited" 

He then went on to say that the financial crisis made things worse, as well as the instability in finances for Europe . 

"What's absolutely true, even before these last couple days in the stock market, is that recovery wasn't happening fast enough, when you have problems in Europe and in Spain and in Italy and in Greece, those problems wash over into our shores," 

I would be lying if I said that Obama isn't right, but at this point in the game we do not need excuses from our commander in Chief, we need solutions or at the very least some suggestions. As a Liberal voter he has not done much to make me want to support him, and he has shown very little skill in negotiating with congress. So what he does now over the next year will weigh heavily on weather I vote for him again or not. I really want to believe that Obama is as great as we all believed, but over these past few months he has seriously made me doubt him. We need for the excuses to stop, and for some serious action to be taken, because if I get stuck with a shitty republican president who hates poor people, minorities, and middle class families, I will count his presidency as a failure.

Source