Mediaboss Marketing

Photo courtesy of Tyson Amir

Bay Area musician and activist Tyson Amir has distilled a powerful essay's worth of ideas on race and culture into a four-minute spoken word poem that brings to mind the angry power of Beat Generation poet Alan Ginsberg and contemporary musician Saul Williams. Like many artists with activists souls, dating at least back to Paul Robeson, Amir believes in art as a tool for social change. Taken from his book, "Black Boy Poems," which was released on the 50th anniversary of the founding of the Black Party, "Between Huey and Malcolm" charts a history of repression and struggle that's long from won. Ignited by a quote from Black Panthers founder Huey Newton, "I do not expect the white media to create positive black male images." Amir mentions Michael Vick and George Zimmerman among others to contrast how the definition of justice isn't colorblind. His visceral imagery and gathering rhythm feel like the banging of the drums of war. A deep unease and unsettlement takes the place of a cathartic moment.

"Dig Your Own Grave" is the persistently catchy single from alt-rock Philly band, Spin. The video features a young blonde woman traipsing around Venice beach, both seizing the moment and looking for trouble. It's a familiar image, but like well-worn tropes, it still retains a certain effect. Distorted and driven by a driving central riff that stakes ground between playful and furious, the song is undeniably a throwback to a time when straight-ahead rock reigned. The other two original songs on the EP "Meant to Rise" pulse with a similar energy that draws the listener in with nostalgia. A brooding reimagining of Marvin Gaye's "What's Going On" feels like a jarring departure. A rap interlude in the middle further amplifies its odd-man-out feeling. That being said, as bizarre as it is, it makes for an intriguing listen.

Openly gay pop star Jordan Alexander sets the tone for her album "The Lonely Hearts Club" with the opening track "Take Me Out Tonight." The melody is filled with lift and hope but there's also a longing that drives its dance beat. The video, directed by her mentor Jarvis Church (Nelly Furtato), puts a new spin on the title as Alexander and her friends take her wheelchair-bound grandmother for a night out on the town in a red Cadillac convertible. Shot on the streets of Toronto, it pops with a distinction the Canadian musician needs to develop a unique voice. She sings with a pleasingly airy lilt, but there's a paint-by-numbers feel to sentiments throughout the album like "I don't ever really want to be without you" but it's also refreshing to hear a line like "something tells me to stay away from pretty girls with pretty hearts" sung by a woman.

A lot of Marty McKay's upcoming album, "New York City Dreams" trades depth for a slick musical veneer. Lyrics like "my soul is a ticking time bomb" on the song "Escape" lack subtlety. As a New Yorker, there isn't much of the city evoked here, and it's perhaps in generalities that the album drowns. The Zurich-born McKay began his career as a hip-hop turntablist, so the moody rock maximalist tone here is a stark departure. "Into the Fire" is the most fully-realized track with a powerful 80s-style melodic hook, but it's the final track "Until the Pain is Gone" that glimpses at a greater artistic potential. Regret and the painful desire to rewrite the past looms large throughout the track and then a prescient voice takes over. It's British philosopher Alan Watts: "The course of time is really very much like the course of a ship in the ocean...it leaves behind it a wake just the same way that the past and our memory of the past tells us what we have done." The past determines our future as little as the ship's wake determines its continued path. It's our folly to live under the illusion that fate is anything more than a human construct.

I don't know what Steve Hussey and Jake Eddy's politics are but as I was listening to their Americana-soaked album, "The Miller Girl," I couldn't help but think that bluegrass could be a link between the two increasingly disparate Americas. As a liberal New Yorker, I recoil when I see a "Make America Great Again" hat or hear people lamenting that there isn't a white history month, but I love the sound of the banjo and songs that reference county lines. The title track evokes the small familiar communities of Thorton Wilder's "Our Town" while "Looking for Love" is driven by a catchy fiddle riff woven into a smooth melody. As sweet as the music can be, the lyrics do wear thin with simple rhythms and story lines that feel unfinished.

Read this article:
On the Culture Front: Music from the Underground, Part 9 - Huffington Post

Tragically, murdered black children have become symbols representing the injustices in the world.

We know their faces: Hadiya Pendleton and the senseless nature of street violence; Laquan McDonald and police brutality; and Trayvon Martin and racial profiling.

What we forget, however, is that behind the symbol are parents who will never see their beloved daughter or son again.

Such is the fate of Sabrina Fulton and Tracy Martin, the parents of Trayvon Martin.

Trayvon was 17 when he was fatally shot by George Zimmerman, a self-styled neighborhood watchman who had stalked the teen through a gated community in Sanford, Fla.

Trayvon, who was wearing a hoodie, was unarmed and returning from a store carrying a bag of skittles and a can of fruit juice.

OPINION

The fatal encounter shed light on Floridas stand-your-ground-law, that allows persons who claim to fear for their lives to use deadly force against a perceived threat.

Trayvons death sparked protests by ordinary citizens and civil rights activists across the country. And with the help of a brilliant legal team and social media campaign, Trayvons parents were successful in getting Zimmerman charged with second-degree murder and manslaughter.

But 17 months later, a jury found Zimmerman not guilty, on all charges and he walked out of the courtroom a free man.

It was a crushing blow.

Fulton and Martin have not given up the fight to raise awareness of the flaws in the criminal justice system that led to this acquittal.

Tracy Martin, the father of Trayvon Martin, is shown speaking in St. Louis in 2014. He has collaborated with his ex-wife on a book about their son. | Scott Olson/Getty Images

They have penned a stirring book, Rest in Power: The enduring life of Trayvon Martin, published by Spiegel & Grau, that takes readers on their pursuit of justice that was a catalyst for the Black Lives Matter movement.

Who was Trayvon Martin? Ive been asked that question a million times since his death. In death, Trayvon Martin became a martyr and a symbol of racial injustice, a name and a face on T-shirts, posters and protest signs, Fulton writes.

When he was alive, of course, he was none of those things. He was simply a boy, growing into a young man, with all the wonder and promise and struggle that journey entails, she said.

The divorced couple presented a united front in the face of this horrific tragedy, and joined forces to tell their sons story.

They write alternating chapters explaining the pain and the glory that gave birth to this new movement.

But at the heart of the book is an earnest expression of every black parents fear.

As parents, we all too well know the everyday worrying about our children. Now that worrying has been amplified by our children being shot and killed, and nobody is being held accountable, Fulton told Vanity Fair in a recent interview.

The parents retraced the steps they took to put a face to their sons story and give it an emotional life.

Although it was said that the family purposely chose a photograph of Trayvon that made him appear younger, Martin denies that was the intent.

They chose the photo that was easily accessible in their time of grief, the father wrote.

The one that would turn out to be published the most was the picture of him in his red Hollister T-shirt. We simply provided the media with photographs that we had access to and they chose what they wanted to run, he said.

On February 26, 2012, Trayvon was an unknown teenager.

Today he is a martyr of a cause that has been going on since black people first arrived in America.

Join me for two conversations with Sybrina Fulton and Tracy Martin, hosted by The Chicago Humanities Festival, on Thursday Feb. 16 and Friday, Feb. 17. Go to chicagohumanities.org for times and locations.

More here:
Mitchell: Trayvon Martin's parents move to keep his legacy alive - Chicago Sun-Times

Norman Miller Daily News Staff @Norman_MillerMW

FRAMINGHAM Although often portrayed as a terrorist or anarchist organization by its opponents, Black Lives Matter exists to give a group that has been ignored and treated like second-class citizens a voice, a member of the group said on Saturday.

Speaking at a Black History Month program at the Greater Framingham Community Church, Martin Henson of Black Lives Matter-Boston, the groups existence is necessary.

We took this month where we want to make sure there is a black voice heard, said Henson, speaking to about 30 attendees. Black Lives Matter exists because its something we need to survive. Im not going to give the world as it is to my daughter. Im not going to do it.

Saturdays event featured artwork from Framingham elementary and middle school students that celebrated Black History Month, as well as Black Lives Matter.

It also featured a community reading of an abridged version of Frederick Douglass 1852 speech, The Meaning of the Fourth of July for the Negro, led by Fran Smith of Mass. Humanities, a human rights group based in Northampton.

Black Lives Matter started in 2012 after George Zimmerman was cleared of murdering Trayvon Martin in Florida, Henson said. Since then, Black Lives Matter has changed.

It started as a hashtag, then turned into an organization and then turned into a movement, said Henson. Black Lives Matter is inclusionary. There is no standard of what you have to look like, the way you have to act or what you have to think.

Black Lives Matter is an abolitionist group it wants to abolish the current prison system and the current way of policing that all too often targets blacks and minorities, Henson said. He called prison one step away from slavery.

When asked if there werent prisons, what would happen, Henson said there has to be a better way for society to treat people.

I know for sure what we do now is inhumane, he said. I know Im going to focus on stopping what is inhumane.

Rev. Anthony Lloyd, the pastor for the Greater Framingham Community Church, spoke about KKK flyers that were dropped off at several Framingham homes on Martin Luther King Jr. Day.

He said, when it occurred, he was contacted by reporters for comment. But, he said, he is not the right person to talk to.

Im not here to say black folks are upset by the KKK, said Lloyd. You dont need to call me about that. You have to call the white folks who live in Framingham and see if thats the type of community they want to live in. Part of the solution is to see how they feel about this.

Norman Miller can be reached at 508-626-3823 or nmiller@wickedlocal.com. Follow Norman Miller on Twitter @Norman_MillerMW or on Facebook at facebook.com/NormanMillerCrime.

See the rest here:
Black Lives Matter gives a voice, speaker says in Framingham - Milford Daily News

SALT LAKE CITY, Utah (ABC4 Utah) Ten years ago, Salt Lake City watched in horror as a mass shooting unfolded at Trolley Square. A lone gunman walked into the mall and began firing.

When it was over, five were dead, four others wounded. One of those who survived, Carolyn Tuft has become a voice in the anti-gun movement.

Tuft lost her daughter 15-year-old Kirsten Hinckley that night. Mother and daughter were together shopping for Valentine's Day cards.

Later Tuft would take part in a very unusual project.

It's Carolyn Tuft on the front cover of a prestigious magazine in New York City. Next to her, Todd Underwood, a seller of firearms over the internet.

"He said do you know who I am? I said no. Sorry," said Tuft.

It was an experiment in empathy to see if people could understand each other.

Ten years ago, Tuft was wounded in a mass shooting at Trolley Square. A lone gunman killed five people and wounded four others. Her daughter Kirsten Hinckley, 15, was one of those killed.

In December Tuft and 16 others were invited to New York City to share their stories. She was paired with Todd Underwood.

"He said I'm Todd Underwood. Still I had no idea and he said I'm the founder of United Gun Group. And I still had no idea and he said I'm the one who bought and sold George Zimmerman's gun, the one who shot and killed Trayvon Martin."

In 2012, George Zimmerman was acquitted in the fatal shooting death of Trayvon Martin in Florida.

"And my mind went blank. I couldn't. I said to him how could you sell a weapon that destroyed another life? I just felt that was so ethically wrong and hurtful.

Good4Utah Skyped with Underwood in his Kansas City home. He says he didn't make a dime selling Zimmerman's gun and defended his website.

"Basically if it's legal activity that surrounds the Second Amendment we decided to allow it and allow our members in what kind of activity they wanted to engage in," said Underwood.

Underwood was unaware of the Trolley Square shooting until that weekend.

"It was one of the hardest things I've done in all my life, tell her story... it was definitely a difficult experience," said Underwood.

The story exchange: each person tells his or he partner's story.

"I suffer from MS and if anybody wanted to take me down, I would be an easy target. So I carry a gun because it keeps me safe. I feel safe with a gun. It levels the playing field. I just want to keep my family safe," said Tuft.

"He shot me in my arm. On the ground shot me again in the back and then I watched him put a shotgun on daughters head and and ended her life," said Underwood.

At the end as they discuss solutions, there's bickering. Some walk out including Underwood.

"I didn't want to leave on that note. I got up and left. Not because I was mad or anything. But I didn't want to take away from my personal experience. I wanted to see everyone as my dear friend," said Underwood.

"After learning his story, I understood how he felt. So I really couldn't judge him for how he felt... I didn't agree with him but I couldn't judge him," said Tuft.

"If we understand each other and how it feels to walk in each other's shoes then maybe we'll be kinder, maybe we can pass some legislation that we all can agree on because we can understand," said Tuft.

Underwood say the anti-gun and pro-gun community want the same thing to keep families safe. Because of this encounter, Underwood began demanding full disclosure from anyone buying a firearm on his website.

See more here:
Can a Victim of Gun Violence and Gun Advocate Find Common Ground? - Good4Utah

From the grassroots to the upper levels of government, the national conversation today is indicative of a new development in the U.S. where resistance is widespread, diverse, and aboveground. Dissent is everywhere. Millions of newly-politicized people are refusing to normalize hatred in its myriad forms. The arrogance with which the new administration issues its spiteful and unconstitutional executive orders, and appoints unqualified candidates to positions that will devastate the majority of the people, has had the unintended effect of mobilizing the largest-scale protests in this countrys history. Even those of us who maintain that Trump is doing little that deviates much from the path this country was already on (the border wall, Muslim registry, deportations, torture, etc., are sadly nothing new) acknowledge that the vindictiveness and ferociousness of this administration are setting into motion a mass outrage that would not have happened otherwise.

The post-inaugural Womens March on Washington and the multiple sister marches in every state in the country have seized upon the national feeling and catalyzed a movement that shows every sign of having longevity, rather than merely being a proud moment. Spoken or unspoken (and it definitely was spoken quite a bit), there was an understanding for the millions who marched that day, that were in it for the long haul, and that we would have to organize, and organize better, in order to block the harm we knew this administration would hasten to unleash upon the people.

And as the blows keep raining down fast and furious on us, the people are responding with newfound determination to resist, stay strong, stop Trump. Already, there is a general strike called for on February 17, around Presidents Day, and another on March 8, International Womens Day. And repeated calls for strategic organizing.

Importantly, the Womens March on Washington originated from the impulse to denounce Trumps blatant misogyny, yet the platform of the march included multiple intersecting struggles that would have been ignored by millions of newly-mobilized protestors, were it not for the vision and experience of the organizers. This is because many of the marchers were newcomers to dissent, indeed, only newly-threatened by a government, and would have been satisfied, even elated, had Hilary Clinton won the presidential election.

But the march organizersare women who have always been vulnerable, and who had long been active in struggles ranging from the school-to-prison pipeline, to challenging Zionism and Islamophobia, anti-Black racism, and environmental devastation, women who understand that so-called leaders who dismiss the massacres of Palestinians as collateral damage, and the deaths of Iraqi babies as worth the price, are the same people who would argue that George Zimmerman was standing his ground, but not Marissa Alexander. Angela Davis, who spoke at the Womens march, also cast a wide net for our activism as she stated,The struggle to save the planet, to stop climate change, to guarantee the accessibility of water from the lands of the Standing Rock Sioux, to Flint, Michigan, to the West Bank and Gaza. The struggle to save our flora and fauna, to save the airthis is ground zero of the struggle for social justice.

The signs protesters carried are not empty slogans, they reflect an awareness, long-held for some, newly-found for others, of the inherent interconnections of struggle. More people are realizing today the incongruity of denouncing a border wall on the U.S.-Mexico border, but not Israels apartheid wall. More people are realizing that when we oppose a Muslim ban in the U.S., we must also denounce it in Israel. When we act in solidarity with immigrants and refugees, we must also support the Palestinian right of return.

Taking to the streets is important, but insufficient. As we march and strike to denounce this countrys multiple wrongs, laid bare for all to see, now is the time for an intentional revisiting of how we can organize optimally. We are mobilizing together at a historic moment when large-scale resistance is no longer focused on narrowly-defined causes and identity politics. Yes, these are extremely important, and an understanding of our differences even as we come together is absolutely critical for the long-term viability of our alliances. But for the marginalized, criminalized communities, these have never been silos, we have lived, and survived, at their intersections.

And today, as we look around, we cannot help but notice, and be thankful for, a new mindset in progressive politics. The leaders of national and transnational resistance movements are mostly young, overwhelmingly gender non-conforming women of color, with a critical understanding of violence encompassing intimate as well as institutional, state-sanctioned violence. Its a leadership grounded in an experiential understanding of intersectionality.

And this understanding, this lifelong experience of social vulnerability, of surviving despite a system that wants you dead, comes with a wealth of knowledge from which we can all benefit. Some advice is for the long haul, behaviors we can use right away to strengthen ourselves, so we can keep taking more and more powerful and strategic actions, according to the wisdom for organizers site Finding Steady Ground.

Another equally useful analysis is about centering and prioritizing the voices of marginalized populations, because We have always resisted. Resisted the lies of the two-party electoral game. Resisted police beatings and murders. Resisted environmental degradation and the evils of corporate polluters. Resisted male violence and transphobia. Resisted the rich bosses and landlords who own the airwaves and politicians. Resistance is our legacy. Resistance is our duty. We have resisted a long time. We will continue to resist, said the Bay Area grassroots organizationCausa Justa, Just Cause.

Indeed, some of us have been on the unwanted list all our lives, while others are now realizing that their lives dont matter much. It is absolutely vital to our success that we not prioritize the newly-revived white feelings of victimhood. These are potentially truly revolutionary times, bringing about much-needed radical change, rather than reform. Radical change is about sustaining the leadership of the most disenfranchised, the most criminalized, those who have been in the struggle the longest. Leaders who understand that this is not a nation of immigrants, and who are made uncomfortable, rather than reassured, by settler-colonial anthems such as Woody Guthries This Land is Your Land.

We see this taking place at the Standing Rock Sioux camps, we see it in the leadership of Black Lives Matter, and the Womens March, we see it in the embrace of the Palestinian-led call for BDS, and we must continue to support these visions that emanate from the experiences of those who, in the immortal words of Audre Lorde, were never meant to survive.

Gaza to Ferguson is not an empty slogan. Water is Life in South Dakota, Flint, Michigan, and the Gaza Strip.

Our organizing base is getting broader. The connections we have been diligently forging over the past years are blossoming, as an ever larger number of people from all walks of life realize that solidarity is our weapon.

Welcome to the resistance.

Originally posted here:
Welcome to the resistance - Mondoweiss