As we have traveled around the country we have heard from so many people about the way that media coverage of their communities is an immeadiate and unquestionable public health problem. The media is a powerful social force, and when people are pushed out of the media or misrepresented in the media, it haunts them on their streets, in their homes, and throughout their lives.

I remember vividly a conversation I had with a gentleman on the west side of Chicago prior to the FCC hearing there. He talked about how he and his group had been fighting for years to improve coverage of community issues, and representations of people of color on the west side in the media. He linked the problems of police violence directly to what people see on the news and how those images of his community permeate the way people view him.

I was reminded of this story today when I got this announcement from Rosa Clemente of the Hip Hop Caucus. The Hip Hop Caucus has been along time ally in the media ownership fight and I encourage anyone who is in DC to take part in this event.

For more info contact: Rosa Clemente, 347.223.8054 or rosa@hiphopcaucus.org

Police
kill another unarmed youth, enough is enough! Stop Hate Crimes and
Police Violence Youth
Rally and Concert at the Washington
Monument, Sylvan Theater

15^th
and Independence Ave.
Sat., November 17, 2007 12 NOON
until dark

Following the energy of the recent youth mobilization in Jena, LA, victims and family members of victims of police brutality and hate crimes, as well as national and grassroots organizations are organizing a rally and concert at the Washington Monument to mobilize youth against hate crimes, police brutality, and community violence.  The program will bring together young leaders, artists, activists and Members of Congress from the African-American, Latina/Latino, Arab-American, Muslim and progressive white communities to build solidarity for ongoing efforts to end violence in urban communities and to respond to the recent wave of hate crimes against people of color, particularly those of the Hip Hop generation.

From the murder of Sean Bell in New York late last year, to the mass mobilization for the Jena 6, the kidnapping, rape and torture of Megan Williams in West Virginia, the ruling that sided with the Juvenile Boot Camp Guards who killed Martin Lee Anderson in Florida, to the nooses appearing on University of Maryland’s campus, at the Tupac Shakur center, and throughout the country, to the murder of 14 year-old DeOnte Rawlings in Washington, DC to the latest police killing in NYC of 18-year-old Khiel Coppin., who was shot 13 times while holding a hairbrush; as a community we say “Enough is Enough! Stop the Hate and Violence.” “As the war in Iraq rages on, we are clear that there is a war here at home, against youth of color, the violence against young people of color and the unequal treatment under the law compiles us to act, resist, and organize, we must seize the time.”Reverend Lennox Yearwood Jr. of the Hip Hop Caucus

On Saturday November 17th, there will be live performances by Hip Hop artists, DC’s own Go-Go bands such as Backyard, ABM, TCB, Familiar Faces, Uncalled 4 Experience, Mambo Sauce, What Band, Hip Hop artist and activist, M1 of dead prez, Latin Rock with The Locos, and Punk.  The Hip Hop Caucus will lead and host the event.  Invited speakers include Members of Congress, family of DeOnte Rawlings, Sean Bell, Juanita Ferguson mother of Malcolm Ferguson killed by NYPD in March 2000, and Nicholas Heyward Jr., killed by NYPD housing police in 1994, youth, community leaders and national figures.

THIS EVENT IS ENDORSED BY:

The Hip Hop Caucus, Cease Fire: Don’t Smoke the Brothers and the Sisters, Peaceoholics, Conference of Minority Transportation Officials, E.G.O.S., National Congress of Black Women, ROOT, Inc., ANSWER, the Muslim American Society Freedom Foundation, Grassroots America, Peace-Action, October 22 Coalition, CODEPINK, members of the Congressional Black Caucus, October 22 Coalition, People’s Media Center, Latino Media Collective, and the Black Leadership Forum including - 100 Black Men of America, Blacks in Government, Coalition of Black Trade Unionists, Constituency for Africa, IMPACT, Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies, The Links, Inc., NAACP, NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund, National Association for Equal Opportunity in Higher Ed, National Bar Association, National Black Caucus of Local Elected Officials, National Black Caucus of State Legislators, National Black Justice Coalition, National Black Law Students Association, National Black Police Association, National Coalition on Black Civic Participation, National Conference of Black Mayors, National Council of Negro Women, National Forum for Black Public Administrators, National Black MBA Association, National Minority Supplier Development Council, National Newspaper Publishers Association, National Urban League, OIC of America, Operation HOPE, Southern Christian Leadership Conference, Rainbow PUSH Coalition, and transAfrica Forum.

For more information contact Rosa Clemente at 347.223.8054 or at rosa@hiphopcaucus.org

###