Hip Hop Congress

It’s Bigger than Hip Hop: The Truth Behind the Evergreen Uprising

For Immediate Release

2/25/2008

Julie Chang Schulman
Northwest Regional Director
Hip Hop Congress
(425) 223-7787
juliec@hiphopcongress.com
http://www.hiphopcongress.com http://www.206zulu.com

It’s Bigger than Hip Hop: The Truth Behind the Evergreen Uprising

In a prior release on February 22, 2008, Hip Hop Congress stated that the organization was in the process of preparing the results of our own independent investigation on the uprising that occurred after the Valentine’s Day Dead Prez show at Evergreen State College. The results of this independent investigation have now been released in the form of a short video and accompanying script. The video, entitled “It’s Bigger than Hip Hop: The Truth Behind the Evergreen Uprising,” narrates the sequence of events that led up to the violent uprising, and contains footage of the performance, the protest, and the uprising, as well as commentary from exclusive interviews and statements from community forums that followed later in the week.

“We have spent well over 150 hours, interviewing various eyewitnesses, faculty, administration, and students, as well as collecting and editing over 20 hours of footage,” says Andrew Rutherford, who directed and edited the video for Hip Hop Congress. “We are confident in the quality, content, and accuracy of this film, and hope that it clears up misconceptions and misinformation about what happened that night.”

Video released on YouTube by the Geoduck Student Union at Evergreen on February 21, 2008 was the first substantial footage to surface of the incident itself. While the YouTube video revealed serious discrepancies between what was reported by authorities, and what was caught on film, it still left questions as to which law enforcement agencies were involved at what time, and which agencies may have actually contributed to escalating the protest to a violent confrontation.

“We offer the results of our inquiry not only as community media producers and advocates of Hip Hop culture, but also as supporters of the movement towards universal restorative justice and proactive restitution,” says Julie Chang Schulman, Northwest Regional Director for Hip Hop Congress, and author of the video’s script. “We are concerned with what seems to be the omission of the Olympia Police Department’s role in this incident. If the objective is accountability and preserving the safety of this community, this should be just as important a part of the investigative process as finding those responsible for damages, especially given the preexisting tension between OPD and the Evergreen community.”

The National President and Executive Director, Shamako Noble, will be speaking at an event aimed at the Evergreen student community next Friday, February 29^th, at 3:00pm, location TBA. Hip Hop Congress will also be screening “It’s Bigger than Hip Hop: The Truth Behind the Evergreen Uprising” for the student body at that time.

To reach Evergreens State College’s Hip Hop Congress, contact Founder Noah Theeman-Lindberg by emailing teschhc@gmail.com or by phone at (303) 618-6703.

It’s Bigger Than Hip Hop (Video)

The truth behind the evergreen uprising (Video)

Read more »

Successful Community Building, Embarrassing Property Damage, Opportunity for Growth [Northwest]

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Julie Chang Schulman
Northwest Regional Director
Hip Hop Congress
(425) 223-7787
juliec@hiphopcongress.com
http://www.hiphopcongress.com http://www.206zulu.com

Successful Community Building, Embarrassing Property Damage, Opportunity for Growth

Olympia, WA, February 22nd, 2008 —

On the night of February 14th, 2008 at The Evergreen State College, the Olympia chapter of The Hip Hop Congress, with the support of over 40 student and community organizations, put on the most successful student-organized hip hop event in the history of Student Activities at The Evergreen State College. The event, which took place in the largest capacity space on campus, was the premier event for the Hip Hop Congress since the Evergreen chapter was formed in the spring of 2007. Following the event, violence broke out between various responding police agencies and event participants. One police vehicle was overturned and destroyed. The investigation is still being conducted by the Thurston County Sheriff’s Department, and the issue of what incited the uprising is still unclear. The Hip Hop Congress is in the process of preparing to release the results of its own independent investigation in the next week, and will issue a statement concerning the incident at that time.

With lack of a conclusive investigation, Student Activity funds will likely have to cover the costs of property damage, a number which is likely to exceed $30,000. Student Activities provides Evergreen students with funding, resources, training in policy and procedure, and insurance for all approved student events, and the hole left from this expense will be felt by the entire campus. “This hurts all of us as students. The money we use to organize, to make this campus what it is has been robbed from us by forces beyond our control,” says one student organizer, Buster Ross, “at this point, what matters the most is that this situation is utilized as the massive opportunity for community growth that it is.” While Hip Hop Congress is not being held responsible for the uprising, the nonprofit organization recognizes the impact the incident has had on the Evergreen State College, as well as all of the 80 campus and community chapters represented by their network across the country. The National President and Executive Director, Shamako Noble, will be speaking at an event aimed at the Evergreen student community next Friday, February 29th, at 3:00pm, location TBA. Further details about the event will be available on the Hip Hop Congress website, http://www.hiphopcongress.com.

In addition to the dialogue, HHC national and 206 Zulu, in partnership with student organizers at the Evergreen State College, have decided to start the first large-scale fundraising project to launch the process of restorative justice and proactive restitution in the campus community. “Not only as artists and advocates of Hip Hop, but also as educators, community organizers, and human rights activists, 206 Zulu fully supports the Evergreen’s Hip Hop Congress chapter and broader student body in utilizing the culture as a vehicle to spread awareness, and a platform for positive, productive social change,” says Julie C, NW Regional Coordinator for HHC and 206 Zulu assistant chapter-head. The Hip Hop Congress is working to release a project featuring all original Northwest Hip Hop, donated from a broad base of 206 Zulu artists, including Alpha-P, Sista Hailstorm, DJ B-Girl and more. Proposals have gone out to multiple record manufacturers and decisions will be announced on Monday. In the meantime, outreach will continue for donations to help fund the project. All proceeds will be donated in their entirety to Student Activities at the Evergreen State College. More information on the release will follow on Monday.

To reach Evergreen State College’s Hip Hop Congress, contact founder Noah Theeman-Lindberg by emailing teschhc@gmail.com or by phone at (303) 618-6703.

NATIONAL TOWNHALL MEETINGS TO EXPLORE THE HIP-HOP GENERATION’S STAKE IN THE 2008 PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION [Rap Sessions]

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

NATIONAL TOWNHALL MEETINGS TO EXPLORE THE HIP-HOP GENERATION’S STAKE IN THE 2008 PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION

February 18, 2008 (New York, NY)—Rap Sessions: Community Dialogues on Hip-Hop announces a national tour focused on hip-hop, youth civic participation and the 2008 Presidential Campaign.

Rap Sessions presents its third annual national discussion tour, which unites a diverse panel of leading hip-hop activists, artists and youth politics experts to engage youth and community leaders in candid, compelling conversations about ways hip-hop generation voters can organize to have an impact on this year’s election.

Targeting the hip-hop generation and their younger millennial siblings, these dynamic and provocative discussions are designed to inform young voters on the candidates, the issues, and prepare them to participate fully in the upcoming election.

“The 2008 Presidential Election is the most important election of this generation’s lifetime,” notes Bakari Kitwana, the Executive Director of Rap Sessions and the author of The Hip-Hop Generation. “The goal of these gatherings is to educate youth on their civic rights and responsibilities, and, equally important, to help young voters understand ways to place their issues on the national agenda.”

Reflecting on the record young voter turnout in caucuses and primaries in Iowa, New Hampshire and across the United States, as well as groundbreaking turn-outs in 2004, Kitwana added: “The hip-hop voting bloc will be a defining factor in 2008. We want to be sure that our young people are informed on exactly what’s at stake for the hip-hop generation and not be lulled to sleep by the hype of gender, race or simply voting for voting’s sake.”

Beginning in March, Rap Sessions’ interactive community dialogues will convene in ten cities across the United States.

• Jeff Johnson, BET’s Cousin Jeff Chronicles, director of Truth is Power and author of Let’s Get Free: Strategies for Organizing the Hip-Hop Voting Bloc;

• hip-hop political organizer Angela Woodson, co-chair of the 2004 National Hip-Hop Political Convention and director of Faith-based Initiatives for the Ohio Governor’s Office;

• hip-hop artist M-1, one half off the innovative hip-hop duo dead prez;

• public policy analyst Dr. Maya Rockeymoore, author of A Political Action Handbook for the Hip-Hop Generation and the former chief of staff for Congressman Charlie Rangel;

• Billy Wimsatt, co-founder of the League of Young Voters and author of How to Get Stupid White Men Out of Office;

•hip-hop activist Rosa Clemente, The Malcolm X Grassroots Movement, Black August and The Hip-Hop Caucus.

Bakari Kitwana, the moderator of these discussions, is co-founder of the first ever National Hip-Hop Political Convention and the former editor of The Source. His bookThe Hip-Hop Generation: Young Blacks and the Crisis in African American Culture has been adopted as a coursebook at over 100 colleges and universities across the country. A consultant for the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, Kitwana has been acknowledged as an expert on youth culture and hip-hop politics by CNN, Fox News, CNBC, BET and other leading news outlets. His writings have appeared in the Village Voice, The New York Times, The Nation, Savoy and the Boston Globe. Currently Artist-in-Residence at the Center for the Study of Race Politics and Culture at the University of Chicago, he teaches a course in the political science department entitled, “The Politics of The Hip-Hop Generation.” Why White Kids Love Hip-Hop: New Realities of Race in America is his most recent book.

For more information about Rap Sessions, log onto: www.rapsessions.org

Press Contact: Mona Finston, Mona Finston PR, 212-724-6117, email mfinstonpr@earthlink.net.

March
11th; Boston, MA
12th; Fairfield, CT
25th; Bethlehem, PA

April
3rd ; San Francisco, CA
5th; Chicago, IL
8th; San Luis Obispo, CA
9th; Los Angeles, CA
18th; Milwaukee, WI
19th; Madison, WI
29th; Marquette, MI