The Hip Hop Caucus held a rally on Saturday at the Washington Monument, to raise awareness of an upsurge in hate crimes and police brutality against communities of color, and I brought the camcorder. I’d have posted the video earlier, but a seemingly endless string of technical difficulties prevented that.
The rally was held because, to put it one way, if what had happened to Megan Williams had happened to me, the whole country would know my name. Or in still other words, it was about all the things that mean that supporting robot overlords is a rational position for a Black person living in the United States to take.
Speakers, in order of their appearance, include three parents who lost their children to unprovoked police shootings, Michelle Battle, Rep. Albert Wynn, Hashim Nzinga, Malik Zulu Shabazz, Donna Payne and Rosa Clemente. The event had numerous other speakers whom I didn’t get a chance to record or interview, and the known affiliations of the speakers are listed below.
Three parents from the Stolen Lives Project talk about the children that were taken from them by unprovoked police violence:
Dr. Michelle Battle of the National Congress of Black Women:
Rep. Albert Wynn (D-MD), encourages attendees to carry on the torch of the civil rights movement and closes with a chant of “power to the people.”
Hashim Nzinga, chief of staff of the New Black Panther Party, on the need of Blacks to defend themselves. It was rather riveting, actually. These NBPP folks can give quite a speech:
Malik Zulu Shabazz, leader of the New Black Panther Party and Black Lawyers for justice, as well as Megan Williams’ attorney. He speaks here about Ms. Williams’ kidnapping, torture and rape in Virginia:
Shabazz responds to my question after his speech about the use of the word “faggot” to describe Black men who don’t defend Black women. I had to ask, because it’s what Pam Spaulding would have wanted:
Donna Payne of the National Black Justice Coalition, the US’ only Black LGBT alliance, responds to Shabazz’ use of the word “faggot” and discusses the Hip Hop Caucus rally at which she was also a featured speaker:
Rosa Clemente, executive director of the Hip Hop Caucus, talks about the reason for the event and what she’d like people to know about it if they were watching a report on a major news network like CNN:
