Brown and black people from Milwaukee’s North and South side unite on the bridge that separates them to discuss issues that they all face. This was a powerful experience that brought plenty of emotions. #OccupyTheHoodMKE #Unity #Peace

Check the whole album of powerful photos here.

Hoods all over the U.S. are getting together and starting there own movement. Occupy The Hood is a movement ran by people of color. Black and Latino Americans lack participation in the #Occupy movement, so Occupy The Hood is a movement started by Malik Rhasaan and Ife Johari Uhuru after participating in the #OccupyWallStreet protest.

They believe that people of color don’t know how Wall Street effects them and by starting Occupy The Hood, they will bring more people of color involved in the movement.

Check out one of our blogroll partners, Black Youth Project‘s website.

Monday was a celebration of the late great Martin Luther King‘s 82^nd birthday. In Milwaukee, WI over 500 people of all different races, ages, and sizes rallied and marched in the snow to the Martin Luther King Statue on MLK Drive. Yes, in the snow! Singing “We Shall Overcome” in the snowy streets made me realize that Dr. King’s dream is in effect. Even though all people are not treated equally, I saw that day that all races can come together and be very powerful. If we all continue to work together and respect one another we can create the change we want to see. If we continue agitating, educating, and mobilizing we can’t be stopped!

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.

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….

When we translate the kid issues into adult conflicts, we will see how the only difference is the device…..sometimes. Within the concept of television is the underlying idea of information being readily accessible to the masses through a controlled medium. But even though everyone seems to have their own favorite channel, all of the programs have the same agenda; keep people watching.

The idea of revolution is one that has existed in the minds of the oppressed for as long as there has been oppression. As a community organizer, the idea of revolution continues to take on new definitions. The more I consider myself, and my roll in community reparation, the more I realize that my personal growth is instrumental in affecting any collective growth. It is not possible to affect true change unless I acknowledge aspects of myself that are perpetuating my oppression. In other words, the revolution is something that must happen within me; within you, and inside all of us as individuals.

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.

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.

However, it is not just Mr. Hooks’ death that causes me to mourn, that makes me sob, but it is also that damn cat. You see Mr. Hooks had a hold of him for many years, and now that he is gone, I afraid the cat may begin to run loose again and to wiggle himself back out of his bell. He’s a conniving critter, and I’m sure that he’s been waiting to take advantage of a situation like this, for a longtime now. But Mr. Hooks knew how to handle him, and he spoke about him all the time. As a matter of fact, during his last public appearance before the NAACP, at the Centennial Convention this past summer, he told the story of this cat.

He said…“There once were three mice, who were troubled by this cruel cat and so the mice held a meeting to get rid of the cat. Each mouse suggested their idea but all ideas were rejected, as they were not practicable. At last, the youngest mouse suggested tying a bell round the cat’s neck when cat was fast asleep, so that when the animal would move, the bell would ring and warn them of the danger. Everybody approved of the idea but the question arose, who shall bell the cat?

Mr. Hooks said that this was the question that he and those of his generation had to ask themselves? Who would it be to bell the cat of segregation, of Jim Crow of Laws, and of racial tyranny? He said, “I answered the question and helped to bell the cat, when I joined in leading student sit-ins efforts in the south. Martin answered the question and helped to bell the cat, when he faced threats while trying to end unequal treatment, because he declared that he had seen the promise land and that he wasn’t going to let nobody stop him from leading his people there. Marshall answered the question and helped to bell the cat, when he fought against the outlandish law of separate but equal education.” But Hooks then asked the question, “Who shall bell the cat now? Who shall be the leaders of this generation bold enough to confront the challenges that we face today. ”

As sorrowful as I am at this moment, when I consider these words in hindsight, I believe that Mr. Hooks knew that his time was drawing near. However, as I reflect, I stand froze in a petrified manner, for I realize that the bell has fallen into me and my generation’s hands.

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.

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.

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.

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.”

If you’re not a millionaire or living with family, chances are you’re currently sharing a dorm or an apartment with roommates. Bets are you chose them (or they were selected for you) based on living compatibility: likes, dislikes, level of cleanliness, habits etc. But have you ever really analyzed them based on race?

New studies by several universities have, with several surprising results. Living with a roommate of a different race will decrease your prejudice levels. If you’re a white student (who statistically enters college with the least diverse friendship group), you’ll become the most likely to develop cross-racial relationships, whereas the opposite occurs with black students (they enter with diverse friendship then experience a decline as they seek out people from a similar background). Hispanic and Asian students maintain the same levels as they had before entering freshman year.

On the other hand, cross-racial relationships are more stressful than homogenous ones—they spent less time together and shared fewer friends. However, if they managed to tough it out for 10 weeks, they would both experience an “improvement in racial attitudes.”

Which is all very interesting. Come to think of it, I suppose I had a cross-racial roommate experience in freshman year, as I lived with a girl who had an Indian heritage. Honestly though, I never thought of our cohabitation in racial terms. I don’t remember her as “that-Indian-girl-who-improved-my-racial-attitude,” but rather as an annihilator of fire alarms, a lover of jumping on streetside couches, and an all-around amazing person to be around. In other words, I see her as a friend, not as a member of any particular race. And isn’t that the way the world should be?

Aren’t you glad summer’s finally here? The recent reemergence of the sun makes me crave days at the beach and nights spent camping. But the recession means that for many (hell, most of us) a vacation simply isn’t that feasible this year.

We should consider ourselves lucky if that’s the worst recession can do. It’s hit a lot of people a lot harder. Every year, the number of families who are homeless skyrocket at the beginning of summer. This year has been particularly bad. People from 10 000 families will become homeless in New York alone this summer, an increase of more than 28% from last year. At last count, that number had already hit 9420—9420 moms, dads, brothers, sisters, and children on the street in one city. That’s A LOT of people—so many, that if you wanted to meet them all, one a day, it would take you more than 27 years.

But numbers are just statistics. They don’t tell the whole story. People do. Like 11 year old Arielle Figueras, who completed fifth grade one day and was in a shelter with her family the next. Or the Dixon family, who were evicted in April, have been separated in various homes since then, and are now reunited on the streets. Families who had found short-term solutions—like staying with relatives or asking the landlord to temporarily take pity on them—are booted out now that the weather is warmer and the kids are out of school and underfoot.

Across the nation, families are becoming homeless faster than any other demographic. PBS estimates that roughly a third of the homeless are families. Families who approach shelters are subjected to intense questioning, metal detectors, long waits, and overcrowding in addition to the stress of displacement and an uncertain future. Many of them are not allowed in the shelter during the day, left to wander the streets. 1 in 2 families are split up and put in different shelters. They are the lucky ones—one third of families are turned away from shelters entirely because of a lack of resources.

It’s a summer ritual that makes you understand why not everyone welcomes summer. . .

According to a study conducted by the University of Minnesota, researchers have determined that 15 percent of teens – that is, roughly 1 in 7 – believe they are going to die young. Based on a survey of 20,000 youth, researchers believe this drives a high amount of distressed youth into drug use, gang violence and other risky behaviors. This goes against the grain of the old adage that kids believe that they’re “invulnerable” or bulletproof. Moreover, youth of color and low income youth were much more likely than their white peers to believe that they would die young.

The general sense of hopelessness that plagues teenagers can be seen as a red flag. We need to lift each other up, but how do we raise the spirits of our peers? Is there a remedy for hopelessness? Or is the answer in our communities? What do you think?

Last night, Michael Jackson passed away at the age of 50. Around the world, the response has been the same: absolute shock and intense sadness. Anything we could possibly say would merely echo the sentiments of those around the world: how the man was beloved for his work, changed the game in every way for black artists of future generations yet remained tortured by the allegations that haunted him.

Just to highlight one effect of his legacy, take a look at the following story, which took place just before the release of Thriller in 1983, one of the bestselling albums of all time:

In 1980, when Jackson asked the publicist of Rolling Stone if they would be interested in doing a cover story on him, the publicist declined, to which Jackson responded, “I’ve been told over and over that black people on the cover of magazines doesn’t sell copies … Just wait. Someday those magazines are going to be begging me for an interview. Maybe I’ll give them one. And maybe I won’t.”

Throughout his career, Michael Jackson emphasized unity, a celebration of the world’s diversity and respect for all people and creatures.  Extraordinary in his artistic talent, he is a role model for his selfless charity work.

He will be sorely missed.

After months of waiting on Obama’s campaign promises, the gay community will finally observe a small victory tonight when President Obama announces the implementation of certain benefits for same-sex partners of government employees. But is it really a victory worth celebrating?

While on the campaign trail, Obama made countless speeches promising the gay community that he would extend full health benefits to same-sex couples. Tonight is the first time since his election that he will broach the topic, and health coverage is not on his list. This is huge: it’s an omission which has left many gay rights advocates screaming “WHAT THE %&*#?”

Critics aren’t buying the official excuse that health coverage would require further legislation and red-tape, pointing out that the Obama administration has not begun the necessary bureaucratic process or even indicated that they wanted to do so.

Many are frustrated not only at Obama’s empty promises, but also at his reluctance to address gay issues in the first place. The White House has refused to speak to issues such as the ban on homosexuals in the military or same-sex marriage, a fact which has left many critics questioning the sincerity of tonight’s announcement.

Turns out they may just be on to something. Last week, several gay donations were withdrawn from the Democratic National Committee fundraiser scheduled for next week.

Could Obama’s announcement be just another political strategy; one small step for gay rights, one giant leap for . . . appeasement politics?

Iran’s elections have been all over the news lately. Anger is visible in the streets. Youth are tired of the same old thing and a revolution may be bubbling underneath the surface. We’ve got a firsthand account from a friend of The League/99Problems who is brave enough to venture in a field report directly from Iran! Check out this article by Laylo Fagroovy!

…………………………………….

The Revolution Begins by Laylo

June 15, 2009 The eerie howling of “Allah al-Akbar! Allah al-Akbar!”
(God is Great) could be heard from rooftops in the streets of Tehran
after dark. It is an echo from the 1979 Iranian Islamic Revolution 30
years ago, when Ayatollah Khomeini and his supports ousted Mohammad
Reza Shah Pahlavi, to replace the monarchy with a religious democracy,
forming the Islamic Republic of Iran.

But in recent years, the people of Iran have yearned for more freedom
under the current regime, with some sacrificing their lives to be
heard. On Monday, June 15, possibly as many as one million people took
to the streets of Tehran to march from Enqelab (Revolution) Street to
Azadi (Freedom) Square to support Mir Hossein Mousavi in the contested
presidential elections.

Leading up to the elections between the four presidential candidates
(Mohsen Rezayi, Mehdi Karoubi, Mir Hossein Mousavi, and incumbent
President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad) Mousavi’s supporters were the most
vivid and lively, taking to the streets and brandishing the campaign
color green; all within the parameters established by the government’s
Shoraye Negahban (Guardian Council). But, since the results of the
elections were announced on Saturday, with Ahmadinejad receiving 63%
of the votes, people have taken to the streets to contest these
results in a massive way of protests.

Today’s protests were the largest display of support for Mousavi, with
rallies held in Tehran, Shiraz, Esfahan and other cities throughout
Iran. Police have cracked down on some protestors since the elections,
and the state news reported that seven were killed, as well, hundreds
of arrests made including dozens at the University of Tehran where
students were arrested and their dormitories thrashed by police and
militia. Anarchy has also erupted in some parts of Iran, as dumpsters
were lit on fire and windows of banks and other structures were
smashed.

Mousavi joined his supporters at Azadi Square and called on them to
use restraint, as he and Rezayi file legal complaints to the Guardian
Council about the election results. Ahmadinejad has told reporters
that everything is fine in Iran and people are happy about the
results, citing the fact that this year 85% of eligible voters went to
the polls, the highest turnout in the history of the Islamic Republic.
But it seems that the government and the Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali
Khamenei, are worried. And for good reason. The people of Iran,
especially the youth, have taken advantage of a small opportunity for
change. And change is coming.

The Recession has indelibly shaped the zeitgeist of our modern American times.  The era of the iPod gave way to the Great Anxiety of 2008, and the Era of Change became the Era of Count Your Loose Change.

Park your car and pump up your old bike tires, the new American puritanism is our collective need for atonement, the great big Morning After that suppresses all enthusiasm and motivates us to keep our heads down, work quietly at our desks — if we’re fortunate enough to still have them — and wait for sunshine over head, a blare of trumpets and the pop of champagne signaling the all clear, production levels risen, time to slip a newer, prettier piece of plastic in our pockets and hit the improved guilt-free digital streets of tomorrow.

Right?  We’re all in this together? Guess again.

In some accounts, the recession is even described as the “great leveler,” smudging the dizzying levels of inequality that characterized the last couple of decades and squeezing everyone into a single great class, the Nouveau Poor, in which we will all drive tiny fuel-efficient cars and grow tomatoes on our porches.

But the outlook is not so cozy when we look at the effects of the recession on a group generally omitted from all the vivid narratives of downward mobility — the already poor, the estimated 20 percent to 30 percent of the population who struggle to get by in the best of times. This demographic, the working poor, have already been living in an economic depression of their own. From their point of view “the economy,” as a shared condition, is a fiction.

That’s a quote from Barbara Ehrenreich in an excellent NYTimes.com piece called  Too Poor to Make the News.  In the era of the blogger — the voice of every man, and every man has a voice — we’re encouraged to believe that all news is equal, no crevasse unrevealed. But the real poverty in our country is forgotten.  It shouldn’t be surprising.  All the people who were already invisible to our social radar — in Ehrenreich’s words, “the undocumented immigrants, the sweatshop workers, the janitors, maids and security guards” — are still there, still invisible, but many have experienced the last 3 months of economic disaster not as an ultimately purifying wake up call but as the final, two ton straw that breaks an already battered back.

Ehrenreich ominously likens this ‘invisible’ suffering to “a bad debt that will eventually come due.”  But we aren’t talking about sub-prime loans and Ponzi schemes.  The Nouveau Poor have no explanation and no excuse for the blind eyes turned to the suffering of so many thousands and thousands of our countrymen and women.  Our society is a great machine of innovation, of opportunity…and we have let so many languish as the grease in our wheels, the smoke from our steam pipes, the necessary byproduct of this Great Society.

We shouldn’t buy that.  We sell emission credits; what about the human element?  At the end of the day, and at the beginning of each tomorrow, what fundamental dignity do we owe to every person?  Call it naivete, but I strongly believe that most Americans want to see, want to know that our country protects its own.  Open the factories, travel the byways of America, and show us our brothers and sisters in need of a hand.  Many of us will extend one.

We haven’t spent much time covering veteran affairs on 99problems.org but, like many Americans, I certainly support the men and women who put their lives on the line for our country.  The controversy over the War in Iraq, tied deeply to the Bush Administration, has all but died down in recent months.  Afghanistan looms on the horizon, but lately it seems you’re more likely to hear about Elections in Pakistan and Nuclear Warheads in North Korea than news from the front lines of America’s war in the Middle East.

As long as our country maintains a standing army, we owe our troops the dignity and honor they deserve.  That’s why it is so nice to read Shannon Moriarty‘s article on Change.org  discussing President Obama’s promise to find homes for the 160,000 homeless veterans in America.

According to the U.S. Department of Veteran Affairs, “[a]bout one-third of the adult homeless population have served their country in the Armed Services.”  One third!  That is a travesty, and it is clear that these veterans — many of them who date back to the Vietnam War — have been forgotten by our country, left to fend for themselves and shoulder the burden of their experiences alone.

President Obama’s decision to tackle this issue in 5 years is laudible.

Regardless of your race, religious beliefs or personal attitudes, the words that Johnathan McCoy says are mindblowing and are so wise…and he is only ten years old! You’ll be amazed.

Don’t take my word for it, watch for yourself:

www.youtube.com/watch?v=bMyp8y8SkUM

What do you think?