The Convention Will be Televised

A melding of live performance, film, panel discussions, and rallies brought some 3000 delegates and participants to Newark, NJ last week for the National Hip Hop Political Convention. The group, which represented an impressive cross section of the hip hop generation, came together from urban areas around the nation to educate and inspire one another's activism and grassroots involvement.

And while there was much talk of the important role this group can and should play in November, the focus went far beyond election 2004. The hope was to create a solid infrastructure that can take hip hop beyond the realm of entertainment and improve the relationships between the older, "Civil Rights Generation" and younger hip-hop heads. Instead of endorsing a single candidate or drilling the importance of voting into participant's heads, convention organizers remained focused on the issues -- from education to health care to the prison industrial complex -- that most need attention. Now, in November and beyond.

Here are some of the voices from the convention.

"I had seen an ad on TV and they needed volunteers, so I came and volunteered. There's a lot going on in the world. And this year, with the war...it's just crazy. Bush is spending all that money on the war when we need better schools. "

–Ayana, 15, Newark resident and convention volunteer

"The best thing that could come out of this is a sustainable, strong movement that creates a progressive political agenda and has the capacity to implement it.

To break that down, if we can have a lot of organizations working together on the grassroots level, trying to implement change through voter registration and education, through civic action, advocacy, direct action, etc. I think that that type of a movement that has multiple facets, that's youth-led, that's creative -- I know it's lofty, but that's the best thing that could come out of this event."

–Baye Adolfo Wilson, Conference Co-Chair

"One of the challenges is convincing people that they have the capacity to [make change] because Americans are so demoralized. Using hip hop as a tool to do that is exciting because there's an inherent value that hip hop gives to people "off the block" in terms of what politicians ignore. And hip hop, itself, has a democratic sensibility. It's very regional and very localized while always having a national appeal. I'm from St. Louis and when I hear people sing about the streets I grew up on, you know what I'm saying, there's a democratic sensibility...so it can counteract and overcome the lack of value that young people feel in relation to the political system, but also in their everyday lives.

The political infrastructure that exists is not appealing to young people, nor is it accommodating them nor is it recruiting them. Whether it is within electoral politics and partisan politics, or in traditional civil rights organizations. And even organizations that have come into existence after the civil rights movement still have not valued youth voice. The constituency that we are organizing has no infrastructure now...other than through club networks, through street teams and local organized groups.

But the primary challenge is that people don't feel that the democratic ideal has value to them, therefore electoral politics are irrelevant to them...at best they are suspicious, at worst, they disdain such politics."

–Reverend Osagyefo Uhuru Sekou, 32, Community Organizer and Convention Coordinator

"I was talking to the aide to a city councilman here in Newark and he was talking about education and empowering youth of color here. I work for Californians for Justice in San Jose and I gave him some newsletters 'cuz some of the educational issues are similar. So it's like if we can really show the national government that we're doing this in all these places, it's more powerful than just in our states ... to get every state to rally around these same issues, I think that'd be real cool."

–Lindsey Long, 19, San Jose Hip Hop Political Convention Commitee

I think it's a historical moment, to be at the very first, ever, national Hip Hop political convention. It's so important to be able to do that with culture ...and Hip Hop is no longer just culture, it's a philosophy, a way that social justice work is organized. It's a way that people are coming together across races and classes, and to be part of that this weekend and voting on a national agenda is tight.

–Organizer, San Jose Political Hip Hop Convention Commitee