IT'S GOING DOWN!

It's going down. Cooley High House Party. Brought to you by the conceptual genius of Nick James and moi! More creative collabs to come, but I digress...Come thru! You see the info, $5 to get in $10 to win. Bring your cool ;)

Pay Attention

Sometimes I feel like it's really hard to affect change when it comes to what we consume and how we dispose of it. This country runs on capitalism and even if you are against it, which fundamentally I am because of how obviously detrimental and nonsensical it has proved itself to be over and over. Yet, there has been a shift happening; with information comes action and the more informed people are, the more they start to examine and shift their habits and ideas.

You may be wondering, "Where is she going with all this?" lol. Well, that rant brings me to this really cool site called http://www.storyofstuff.com/

The Story of Stuff is a 20-minute film that takes viewers on a provocative and eye-opening tour of the real costs of our consumer driven culture—from resource extraction to iPod incineration.

It's not heavy handed or preachy, left-leaning, yes, but factual and dope :) And it shows you and gives you ways to combat the problem and to just be aware of the cost of our consumption on each other and the earth. Peep!

Man Up!

One of my favorite people Nick James has shown himself time and time again to be a stand up man and an ally and lover of women. I wanted to re-post his indictment of the D-Lo song called, and I quote, "No Hoe". It is a song that I thought was a joke when i first heard it over a year ago and though the beat is that Bay slap.lol..it was never a song I could totally dance to and enjoy because of it's subject matter. Well they have turned out a remix and grown Bay rappers have decided to join in, including E-40. They have condoned this nonsense by adding their enlightening verses on pimping hoes to this 17 year old lost young man's song. I feel that male rappers especially are always making little girl lost songs,but who is leading these little boys. Man up! Thank god Nick did and will continue to do. Thank you honey and thank you to all the stand up men I know :)




"Like my brother Sleepy D, I'd bring Oprah if I could"

No that isn't one of my Du Bois quotes of the day, or even Camp Lo for that matter, this is from D-Lo's, No Hoe Remix feat. E-40, Beeda Weeda, and Jacka. I wonder if this quote will ever find its way to Oprah? It would be great to see a Black woman with power cast her hand down a la Sofia cursing out Harpo. I'm pretty sure Oprah would be the pimp, not the other way around.

First off, seeing E-40 start off the remix threw me for a loop. When E-40 was young, he did have grindin type songs but he also had songs like "It's All Bad," "Things Will Never Change," and "1 Luv." So, even when he had hardcore lyrics it was buffered by songs with a message. 40 is now 40 years old. I always wondered what it would be like to be married with kids and come home to my wife after saying I have women of all races working on the track for me on a song (just a thought). I know E-40 has always done a good job of helping out new artists in the Bay and has opened doors for folks but he could have been a mentor in this case.

The reason for such concern regarding this song is that there are 400 sexually exploited minors in Oakland every day! Our communities have been torn apart by men abusing women violently, sexually, psychologically, and spiritually, as well as by the countless boys that have been lead astray that become broken men due to their exposure to violence and hatred. Seeing women tug on Jacka's shirt as he talks about putting "yo b**** in a choke hold" and then puts a model in the video in a choke hold, is the most surreal sight I've seen in a video in a while. We have to see violence against women for what it is; violence. If a white man had a Black man in a headlock in a video, we would protest from the Bay to New York (at least I pray that we would). The jovial nature of the song makes violence, pimping, and the objectification of women go unnoticed even though the lyrics are so blatant. We must question ourselves as men, why are we always caught in this gender purgatory where we don't act?

This is a classic example of what I call the "Chronic Syndrome." When Dr. Dre released the Chronic, people always talked about how much they "loved the beats." "Bitches Ain't Shit" is the perfect example of a beat becoming a classic even though the chorus is "Bitches ain't shit but hoes and tricks, lick on the nuts and suck the dick." I understand that if you are an adult you can create almost anything and consume almost anything, but "No Ho" has been pushed and praised by extremely young fans. I've seen 8 year-old girls screaming, "We don't give a fuck about no ho," as well as seeing boys attack girls in middle school classes, so this song has direct experiences attached to it for me. I can't differentiate the chorus from the interactions I see on Oakland streets, and in particular and even more distressing, our schools.

I've worked with countless young men throughout West and East Oakland and when I have conversations with them about their relationships and interactions with women and they reiterate the sentiments of this song, I just want to give them a hug because an essential human bond is being severed. We can talk about turf unity all we want but if young men and women are at odds and physical and psychological warfare is normative, we are missing the biggest issue facing our communities. If young and adult men really knew what their mothers, grandmothers, sisters, cousins, aunties, friends, and girlfriends have gone through, they would sing another song. I know D-Lo is young; trying to have fun, and make money but there is a ripple effect. E-40 and Jacka are O.G.s and young men take heed from them. When misogyny is validated by men they see as having made it, they follow the formula.

I'm not writing to make it seem that I am holier than thou because I grew up on Too $hort's Cocktails and Snoop's Doggystyle, but I've had so many Black male mentors (my dad, godfather Bill, Coach Johnson, Coach Booth, Mr. Green, Burl Toler II & I, Mr. Thomas, Mr. Smith, Dr. Wade Nobles, Dr. Goddard, Mr. Cavil, Dr. Akom, Dr. Ginwright, and several others) that I've been demanded to always speak in manner that benefits the welfare of all people, especially those of my culture and background. Refraining from devaluing women is unfortunately a process for men in this country. Even though I don't perceive myself as a disrespectful person or a man that treats women badly, I know that I am still in recovery from patriarchy and hyper-masculinity, thus my daily actions and words must set an example to other boys and men in order to transcend male stereotypes. As older men, we must set an example at all times because we don't know who we can influence or those who have yet had the opportunity to have a mentor or man guide them in the right direction.

This is dedicated to every young man I've taught. Keep treating women, your family, friends, and yourself with the utmost respect and love. Deliver a message of peace because violence and destruction only dimmers the prospects of life.

- Nick James

"I wish I could read every book in the world!"

lol..I love song parodies! I make them up all the time and never record them and they are usually educational because I work with youth and I'm a nerd.lol..So, this just made my day :) Enjoy!

New Mixtape and New videos!!

Hola All!

I got some new new for you :) First, I wanted you guys to partake of the wonderful Youth Together mixtape. It was created by the wonderful Nick James and features yours truly :). It includes Erykah Badu, Curtis Mayfield, newcomer Nneka and much more. Click post title for link to mixtape!

Also, my homey and now Freshvibe Media family member Do Dat(http://www.myspace.com/datamen) and the lovely Melina Jones...I know hella links.lol..just released the wonderful video 'The Bridge". This song is from Dat's upcoming masterpiece in the making, "Oakland in Blue." Please check it, it's a quality video directed by Erica Eng and I'm proud of the Bay not just because of the Frisco/Oakland connection(415 stand up!lol),but because it shows the versatility we have to offer.

Also, a young lady from Berkeley who has been grinding, Netta B, also put it out a very good video. She does pop and r&b, pop&b :), but she brings it. Check it below...In short..Bay Area stand up!!

Mother Haiti

I would be remiss if I did not post something about the tragedy and devastation in Haiti. It is the place that has been routinely attacked and subjected to blatant imperialism, since it won its freedom. It has been paying reparations for it's freedom ever since. I have posted a lot on facebook, donated, and I have wonderful people in my life who have posted and who are doing work as well. I have chosen to post this, as I think it addresses a lot of the issues and gives a way to donate and think about the longterm issues we need to be aware of to support Haiti in the future. In solidarity and love...

January 20, 2010

It has been a week since we all learned of the devastating situation unfolding in Haiti, as thousands struggle to survive and await rescue and humanitarian assistance. INCITE! organizers and human rights activists around the world are mobilizing donations, organizing volunteer relief efforts, and collecting supplies to respond to the urgent humanitarian needs of the people of Haiti.

As these important efforts are underway, we recommend that we also pause and ask the question: How can we intentionally support the long term sustainability and self determination of the Haitian people? When crises of this magnitude occur, we all understandably want to act quickly, but we must also figure out how to act thoughtfully in our efforts to develop a comprehensive, sustainable, and accountable transnational radical feminist response.

The event of an earthquake of this magnitude can be catastrophic for any place. But in Haiti, it also exacerbates decades of poverty, aid dependency, military dictatorship, unsustainable development, invasions, neoliberal structural adjustment policies, corruption, and many other intersecting forms of violence. These political realities increase the multiple and complex forms of marginalization and social vulnerability women and their families will continue to face in the days, months, and years to come.

We have been in communication with Zeina Zaatari and Erika Rosas from Global Fund for Women. Their contact from the Dominican Republic, Sergia Galvan, who is currently in Port-au-Prince, reported last Friday that the situation is catastrophic and, at that point, there was no infrastructure by which humanitarian aid could be distributed.

Right now, there are many people, organizations, and governmental agencies mobilized to provide immediate aid relief and rescue operations in Haiti. However, there tends to be more readiness to donate supplies and money in the "immediate" time when things are very chaotic and before we know what the conditions are on the ground and have identified the long-term re-development needs as articulated by those most impacted. The long-term vision is critical because, when the dust settles and the big international relief organizations have left, people’s lives will still be devastated, and the need to rebuild will still be there.

We are researching if and how we can develop an intentional political relationship with local women so we can help mobilize the INCITE! network to support just and sustainable development of a sovereign Haiti, both during the interim and the long term recovery process.

As many of us work to figure out appropriate strategies to support the people of Haiti, it’s important to note that the people most vulnerable--namely, women, LGBT folks, people with disabilities, incarcerated people, children, and elders--can experience a slower unfolding of specific crises that are consequences of the original disaster and the social conditions that preceded the disaster.

For example, women experience the most negative consequences of catastrophic events, particularly with regards to higher rates of injury and death, displacement, unemployment, increased incidents of HIV rates, sexual and domestic violence, increased poverty, and the disproportionate responsibility for caring for others. This is especially true for women marginalized by race, sexual orientation, gender identity, class, health, ability, age, housing, and legal status. Additionally, in times of crises and environmental emergencies, poor and marginalized women, who are least responsible for the horrific conditions in which they live, are often blamed for their poverty and become subjected to regulatory population control policies through family planning, poverty reduction, and so-called environmental protection programs.

So, given what we have learned from Hurricane Katrina and the disasters of war, occupation, neoliberal economic dominance, and neglect that continue to plague and pathologize many of our families and friends internationally, we would like to use this time to organize an effective and accountable response during this interim phase of the crisis. Right now, we are exploring if we can activate the following plan:

• Identify a contact with at least one specific local women's organization/network in Haiti
• Help mobilize the INCITE! network to organize a response and provide specific resources identified by women in Haiti
• Work through INCITE! to sustain a productive and intentional transnational relationship with women in Haiti - this would be our long term solidarity work

We are talking with Zeina and Erika from Global Fund for Women to learn the landscape of women's organizing in Haiti, how their local partners are doing at this point, and if/how we can work with local women directly. We appreciate any feedback and ideas about this process, please respond to the list or at info@whji.org and incite.natl@gmail.com.

In the meantime, we urge INCITE! members/chapters/affiliates and the broader social justice community to:

EDUCATE YOURSELF & YOUR COMMUNITY!

• Research Haiti’s amazing history of resistance, resiliency, and self-determination
• Educate your community on the colonial history of deliberate impoverishment, control, debt, dependency, and neglect in Haiti
• Educate yourself and your community on the intersections of gender, violence, and disaster vulnerabilities
• Examine how the crises of disasters and gender-based violence are connected to the social, political, environmental, and economic issues you may work on
• Analyze how the violence of disasters and colonial legacies (and realities) undermines the sovereignty and self-determination of a people
• Identify patterns of how women, LGBT people, and people with disabilities are particularly impacted by disaster and conflict situations in, for example, Haiti, New Orleans, Palestine, Afghanistan, the Congo, the U.S./Mexico border, Native reservations

ORGANIZE!

• Convene organizing teach-ins on the history of Haiti, its historical connection to New Orleans, and the role the U.S. government has played in the underdevelopment of Haiti through invasion, occupation, and neoliberal supported policies
• Reach out to Haitian immigrants and Haitian-Americans in your community who may need support
• Support progressive democratic and human rights movements in Haiti and campaigns calling for debt cancelation and those to eliminate foreign aid restrictions that privilege US based contractors over Haitian labor
• Support the capacity of the Haitian government to rebuild its institutional and physical infrastructure and provide sustainable and equitable public and relief services to its own people free of neoliberal mandates
• Ensure that gendered perspectives are mainstreamed within humanitarian programs and long term recovery, both in recognizing the leadership roles and facilities of women and other marginalized communities to guide these processes and the specific vulnerabilities of marginalized communities in times of crisis and national emergency
• Mobilize women of color & queer/LGBT people of color in your community to develop and share organizing strategies to address crises like these both abroad and here at home
• Share organizing models and build skills to strengthen our grassroots organizing
• Connect online using:

o the INCITE! facebook page: http://tiny.cc/incitefacebook
o the new INCITE! blog: http://inciteblog.wordpress.com/

o Stay tuned for other online tools...

DONATE!

• The Global Fund For Women currently funds and partners with five Haitian women's organizations. The list of these organizations is below. GFW has a crisis fund they've set up to support their local partners. Contributions to GFW’s Crisis Fund will be directed to the re-building of women-based organizations and their communities after the disaster to ensure long-term equitable and sustainable development.
• If you would like to contribute to GFW, you can do so here: https://www. globalfundforwomen.org/ donations/crisis-fund.php
• GFW Haiti Solidarity Statement is here: http://www.globalfundforwomen. org/cms/campaigns/campaigns/ solidarity-with-our-sisters- in-haiti.html

Other groups to donate include:...

• Partners in Health: http://www.pih.org/ inforesources/news/Haiti_ Earthquake.html
• Partners in Health’s Sister Organization in Haiti – Zanmi Lasant Clinic: http://www.pih.org/where/ Haiti/Haiti.html
• Dwa Fanm (meaning "Women's Rights" in Creole): http://www.dwafanm.org/
• The International Gay and Lesbian Human Rights Commission (IGLHRC): http://www.iglhrc.org/cgi-bin/ iowa/article/takeaction/ globalactionalerts/1074.html

In Solidarity,

Women's Health & Justice Initiative (WHJI), New Orleans
INCITE! Women of Color Against Violence


List of GFW Partners:

• Fondation TOYA [TOYA Foundation], Cité Soleil, Port-au-Prince, Haiti: Fondation TOYA works to raise the standard of living throughout the slum area of Cité Soleil through the empowerment of young women in the community. Members promote women’s entrepreneurship through a micro-finance structure that facilitates access to credit for women in the informal sector. By focusing on vulnerable young women who are unemployed and/or are heads of households, Toya is ensuring that more Haitian women will be financially independent, have access to healthcare and in control of their destinies.
• Association Femmes Soleil D’Haiti [Sun Women’s Association of Haiti], Cap-Haitien, Haiti: AFASDA was formed after the three-year coup in Haiti (1991-1994), because as the group states, “after the bloody coup…it was repression. No one could move. It was said that women couldn’t remain with their arms crossed. It was necessary to do something. We began with a little seed of reflection and that’s what became AFASDA.” AFASDA advances women’s rights by organizing campaigns for potable water and creating educational opportunities for street children and rural women.
• Organisation Femmes Victimes de Solino [Organization of Women Victims of Solino] (OFVS), Solino: OFVS works with women of the Solino slum who have been victims of violence. Because of social unrest and the proliferation of armed gangs, many women are unable to earn a living.. The majority of the group’s members are single mothers, 90 percent of them affected by violence.. OFSV notes, “The majority of the women have lost all their business activities, and were forced to pay a ransom daily to the heads of gangs that took over the area so as not to be attacked again…the women have been victims of theft, burglary, and rape.” OFVS provides counseling to violence survivors, financial aid to restart businesses, and legal aid to seek redress for the crimes committed against them.
• Kodinasyon Solidarité Fanm Djanm Sid, KOSOFADS [Dynamic Women of the South Solidarity Network] (KOSOFADS) Les Cayes, Haiti: KOSOFADS promotes women's economic independence, access to health care, and the eradication of domestic violence. The association brings poor women together in workshops, during which participants are encouraged to discuss women’s rights violations and devise strategies to resolve the abuse. KOSOFADS also produces radio and television programs that focus on women’s rights issues.
• Mouvman Peyizan Papay/Fanm MPP (Women of the Peasant Movement of Papay), Pètion Ville, Haiti: Emerging from the Peasant Movement of Papay (MPP), Fanm MPP was created in 1980 to "concentrate on understanding women's unique development needs, advancing women's rights and empowering women to participate in their own development." One of the group's current projects is "Engaging Women in Holistic Health and Environmental Protection" project where women are taught to install family and community composting latrines, family cisterns so families for clean water for household use as well as plant fruits and vegetables for their families.
  
  

Women's Health & Justice Initiative
P.O. BOX 51325
New Orleans, LA 70151
504-524-8626
info@whji.org
http://whji.org/

INCITE! Women of Color Against Violence
PO Box 226
Redmond, CA 98073
incite.natl@gmail.com
http://incite-national.org/

Happy New Year!

HAPPY NEW YEAR! WISHING YOU BLESSINGS AND GOALS ACCOMPLISHED! I WANT TO THANK YOU FOR THE SUPPORT I RECEIVED LAST YEAR AND THANK YOU IN ADVANCE FOR THE CONTINUED SUPPORT :) THIS YEAR WILL BRING BIG THANKS, NAMELY, MY ALBUM! "THE OUTSIDER INSIDE" !!! SO, WITHOUT FURTHER ADO, LET'S START THIS YEAR OFF RIGHT!


UPCOMING SHOWS


Jan. 15th

This show is going to be dope! Full Band and tons and tons of fresh up and coming artist, including moi :) Info Below:










Jan 22.

Artist-in-residence programs and other residency opportunities allow local or visiting artists to stay and work 'for art's sake'. These programs offer conditions that are conducive to creativity and they provide for working facilities, ready to be used by individual artists.

DivinityVoice music & arts is asking me to put on one show per month as a work in progress...along with one or more free community workshops during the duration of your stay which is Jan/Feb/March 2010!!

I am thinking about doing an ode to the women of jazz accompanied by Maya Kronfeld and for the last show hopefully have some original compositions. So stay tuned... ;)

$8-$10pm sliding scale
3609 Maple Ave @ Mac Arthur BLVD Oakland, CA 94602
8-10pm
http://aspirebettercommunity.com/DivinityVoicemusicarts.html


That's it for now. but some interesting and possibly big things already happening for me this year, more updates to come!!

Black Girls Rock

Res is dopeness. If you don't know, find out. She put out an album awhile ago, now working with Ilde Warship, a group that includes Talib Kweli. She recently put out this free 10-track album entitled, Black.Girls.Rock! (they surely do). Those of you who fell in love with Res' debut, How Do I, should enjoy the progression on this new project. go to okayplayer.com for the download. I haven't listened yet, but I'm sure it will work out for ya :)

New album from SADE

Yay, one of my favs! My mom used to play her to put me to sleep as a baby :) She is coming out with a new album finally! Check it out
http://concreteloop.com/2009/11/music-news-sades-new-album-cover-album-news

The Future in Jeopardy

One of the things I am passionate about are disproportionate incarceration rates, especially for juveniles. These youth are the future of our country and this country has turned our schools and communities in to police states where there are no chances for our youth of color. It is unfair, nonsensical, and detrimental to them, our families, and our communities. Most of these youth are arrested for non-violent offenses and just need worthwhile alternatives and education, but instead money is spent on their incarceration and not invested in them becoming well rounded, productive citizens. Preeminent leader/scholar on the subject James Bell, writes a eloquent, vehement blog post on the subject. I posted one of the recent post. Check it above. Click on title. And check out the work of W. Haywood Burns Institute and check out the work of The Community Justice Network for Youth(cjny.org)