LYVEF Hits Up Tucson to Train Local Youth!

This week the League of Young Voters Education Fund will be in Tucson, Arizona training young leaders ages 13-21 to stand up and be the change that they want to see. The training is being presented by the NonViolence Legacy Project of the Culture of Peace Alliance.

Yesterday, Jayme Montgomery-Baker (Wisconsin State Director) and I were greeted by the Tucson community with song, food, and open discussion about the issues affecting Arizona. Gang Violence, SB 1070, Dream Act, Voter registration, and HB2281 were some of the issues discussed at the circle. The LYVEF is honored and humbled for the opportunity/invitation to inspire, educate, and train Arizona’s young adults during such historical times. You can feel the excitement, emotion, and passion in the air; The Federal Government has filed a lawsuit against the state of Arizona, protests are taking place on the streets, McCain is running for reelection, and LYVEF is here doing what we do best!

The young people that we have had the pleasure to meet are some of the most passionate and dedicated of this generation and definitely operating from an “Opposition to Proposition” state of mind.

Posted by:

CJ

The Revolution Will Not Be Televised

People love to talk about change. It is a natural occurrence for people that are enduring a similar situation to agree on the necessity of change and for them to agree on the things that need to change. However, people typically have conflicting ideas of how the change that is envisioned can actually be realized and what that change would look like. It is at the intersection of these two occurrences that is the ever present ingredient which threatens to halt any movement by a community of people who have deemed it necessary to affect a change in their accepted way of life.

This concept can be applied to even the simplest conflict. Let’s say two kids plop down on the couch at the exact same time and the TV is on a channel that neither of them wants to watch. They each have the same desire; a pleasurable viewing experience. However, each of them has a different perception of what a pleasurable viewing experience might be. What the two kids have is a conflict of interest although they have a similar objective. Although they agree on the necessity of change, they disagree on what that change should look like.

So now let’s say that these are two really bratty kids. Let’s say they are really stubborn and cannot agree on a single channel to watch. How can each of them get what they are in search of at the same time? How did they come to the conclusion that they cannot each have what they want at the same time? And furthermore, how did they become so dependent on the TV for stimulation….

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Posted by:

Kwesi Low

Leave The Muslim Community Center Alone, People. Geez.

This is one of those things that’s just like. . .”Oh, god . . .really? No. Stop that. You can’t mean that”.

A big rally is being planned to protest the construction of a Mosque and Islamic Community Center near the site of Ground Zero.

One of the opponents is quoted as saying “‘If the Japanese decided to open a cultural centre across from Pearl Harbour, that would be insensitive. If the Germans opened a Bach choral society across from Auschwitz, even after all these years, that would be an insensitive setting.”

Considering that Bach died in 1750, I have a feeling that few Polish Jews are holding him personally responsible for World War II. But even that’s not the point.

Obviously, building a mosque near ground zero, as stated by the leader of the project, “sends the opposite statement to what happened on 9/11″. It shows that American Muslims are working as hard as they can to disprove the crazy stereotypes about Islam that have become rampant since 9/11. This protest is a depressing sign that they have a pretty big mountain to climb if that’s going to happen.

Posted by:

Rachel Bishop

Who shall Bell the Cat Now?

Have you ever been shook to your core?

Or, experienced a feeling so impactful that it makes your gut wrench?

This was the type of blow that I felt just moments ago. It was as if someone had punched me in my stomach so hard, that it had taken all of my breath away. Huh, huh, huh, I even pant now, as if I just crossed the finish line of a five mile marathon.

The loop of CNN’s Tony Harris plays constantly in my head. “Lady and gentlemen, I am sad to announce the death of civil rights leader, Benjamin Lawson Hooks.” What? Are you serious? Not Mr. Hooks? Not the greatest past President of the NAACP in post-modern history? Not the last living one who helped Thurgood Marshall to develop the NAACP’s famous litigation strategies? Not the one who took the reins of leadership from civil rights great, Roy Wilkins? Tony, you should know better than that; I mean that is not the type of news that you just spring on a brother.  How can he be? Mr. Hooks is like the grandfather of the NAACP, and having grown up in that association, that made him like a grandfather to me.

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Jabari Paul

AVATAR: The Good, the Bad and the Gray by Adrienne Maree Brown

League Alum and current executive director of the Ruckus Society, Adrienne Maree Brown, wrote a really compelling review of Avatar over at her blog http://adriennemareebrown.net/. We thought we’d give you a taste of the awesomeness.

The Good:

The ecological analysis, that the world is a web of complete interconnectedness, of life…that life is precious, that a planet and everything on it is connected…this is very much what i believe. it is what i have spent the last several years trying to slow down enough to experience, to lean in close enough to smell and feel, to embody in my work. they made it phosphorescent, magical, lighter than life. but this planet can feel like that, too.

The Bad:

I hated that the strong female indigenous lead, who teaches the human avatar Jake Sully to speak, eat and live, has to step back and jump behind him (physically and hierachically) after they mate, when danger strikes. its not for long, and she comes back into her strength before the end, but that moment was too alpha for me.

The Gray:

Men, particularly white men, need to hear and see stories that help them (and anyone else engaged in violence and dominance behavior) recognize they have a part to play in a new way of living, and it requires a release of the whole dynamic of power over others.

But how does that message get delivered? Even if it’s in 3D, I don’t know how many millions will turn out to see an eco-justice anti-war tale about mother earth rising up against the military.

And since the story is so deeply a story about our relationship to this planet, our obliteration of our natural resources, our disrespect of indigenous cultures and forgetting our own indigenous stories, our displacement and destruction of the only place we have, the only water that we know exists and can sustain us…since it is SO close to home…can we perhaps as people with analysis, see it as a step in a process.

If you’d like more, you have to go to AMB’s blog here.

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The Editor

Understanding Unequal Unemployment

The unemployment rates you hear on the news are misleading. The overall unemployment rate is currently at a shocking high of 9.6%–but the ethnic breakdown of this figure is still more disturbing.

According to a study released July 15 by The Economic Policy Institute, minorities are significantly more likely to be jobless than their white counterparts. Part of this can be attributed to the recession, which has taken its toll on non-white communities the worst.

Yet even this cannot account for the shocking unemployment gap that exists. African-Americans typically suffer unemployment rates that are twice as high as their white peers, while Hispanics come in at 1.5% more than Whites. For example, currently in Alabama there is a 5.8% unemployment rate for whites while for African-Americans it jumps to 15.1%! In Louisiana, African-Americans were three times more likely to be jobless. And the same is true for Hispanics, who’s unemployment rates are suspected to be higher than reported (it is thought that many illegal aliens would have feared taking part in this study).

The bad news is that the unemployment gap between whites and minorities is increasing. The good news, however, is that there are tentative plans to improve the situation by imposing a small tax on stocks to create extra resources for job creation in these hard hit communities.

Find out more about the inequalities of unemployment rates, and how you can GET INVOLVED at http://www.reuters.com/article/domesticNews/idUSTRE56E83L20090716.

Posted by:

Yolanda Clatworthy

Killing Outreach Programs (Indirectly) Kills Kids

It’s unthinkable that a kid is killed in a drive-by while at an Anti-Violence Rally. Yet that’s precisely what happened to 13 year old Tamrah Leonard in Trenton, New Jersey last Sunday! Abomination! How is society not outraged at this heinous act?

Sadly, it was not an isolated incident.The economic recession has had an adverse affect on homicide rates, which are skyrocketing. Homicide is now the leading cause of death among young African American youth, and the number two cause of death for all other youth aged 10-24. Dire straits mean that desperate youth are becoming increasingly likely to resort to violence. At the same time, decreased funding means that many after-school programs–which have been proven to get youth off the streets and lower crime rates–are at risk of being reduced or eradicated entirely.

Thankfully, outreach programs provide hope that change is on the horizon. Find out more about these matters of life-or-death, and WHAT YOU CAN DO TO HELP, at http://www.campusprogress.org/fieldreport/4284/killing-the-programs-we-need-most.

Posted by:

Yolanda Clatworthy

Krumpin’ Clown to the Rescue!

Clowning is no laughing matter for Tommy the Clown (born Thomas Johnson). Instead, it’s a way to combat deeper issues like gang involvement, boredom, hopelessness, violence, and inactivity.

Born in Detroit, T.J. moved to LA as a teenager, where he soon found himself in trouble with the law. He had plenty of time to reconsider his life’s direction while spending 5 years in jail, where he decided to turn his life around. He’s done that and more–he’s changed the lives of youth around the world.

How? By clowning. It started out as a favor for a friend’s kid’s birthday party, but soon evolved into a way to help at-risk youth, youth who were in danger of falling through the cracks the same way that T.J. had been. Young people were allowed to join his clown/krump/hip hop crew on the condition that they did well in school, stayed out of gangs, didn’t do drugs, and acted as positive role models. In 15 years, this has grown to become a world-wide phenomenon, with 60+ dance crews in LA, performances across Europe, Asia, and the Americas, and motivational lectures in schools across the country. It has also spawned a new form of street dancing (y’all know it as “krumping”) and even a 2005 movie by Dave Chapelle, called “Rize”.

Tommy is more than just a red-nosed, smiling face–he’s entertained millions, inspired thousands to get off the couch and off the streets, trained, guided, and helped countless urban youth, and spread a message of peace to us all: “You got problems? Don’t fight no more. Bring it to the dance floor.”

Posted by:

Yolanda Clatworthy