McKinney/Clemente on Democracy Now!
As a member of the Green Party, I feel a bit guilty about my lack of coverage of the Green Party candidates. Sure I've had an article about Kat Swift, Kent Mesplay and Jesse Johnson but the presumptive nominee for a long time has been Cynthia McKinney and I don't know that I've ever made a post about her. Even if I did, all my posts about Green Party candidates pale in comparison to my Ralph Nader/Matt Gonzalez posts. So when I saw that both Cynthia McKinnney and her Vice Presidential running mate Rosa Clemente were on Democracy Now! I made sure to watch. ...
I am a Green Party member, but I currently support Ralph Nader over Cynthia McKinney as his focus is more on the things that matter the most to me. Cynthia McKinney, on the other hand, is doing something I find nearly awe inspiring. She is bringing hip hop activism to the forefront of national politics by announcing Rosa Clemente as her vice presidential running mate. While I am a fan of music in general, the hip hop movement is about more than music and given my suburban white male upbringing it doesn't speak to me as much as I'm sure it does others. I found it educational when I first heard Jared Ball talk about hip hop activism at the Green Party debate in January and now I hope it begins to take hold.
The conversation that is hip hop in politics could very well change the nature of politics in America. Why do politician's have to speak about certain topics and not others? I believe the hip hop movement could, at the very least, give us more to discuss, debate and think about. I found it very intriguing, as a former fan of Public Enemy, to find a video on youTube where Professor Griff talked about why he supports Cynthia McKinney over Barack Obama.
Now how do we get him to vote? There are thousands of people who think just like him, voting doesn't do anything for him so he doesn't vote. There are thousands more people who think similar to him and yet vote for somebody who doesn't even hold the same values. How can we change this? Keep watching Cynthia McKinney and Rosa Clemente and perhaps we will find out.
