Hip Hop Political Convention PART II

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.