Hip Hop Congress

Board of Directors

Amer Ahmed: Co-Chair

Amer Ahmed is an individual with an eclectic personal and professional experience. As a Hip Hop activist, spoken word poet (www.dawahpoet.com), Diversity consultant and college administrator, his life and work is centered around his life-long commitment to social justice. His education, diverse American and global experience and role in Hip Hop Congress supports his efforts to address issues of inequities that continue to affect traditionally marginalized communities. Amer’s unique approach towards engaging social justice has been useful in his work in Organizational Assessment and Development, Workshop facilitation, Public Speaking, Leadership Development and Student Support. Amer currently serves as Associate Director of Multi-Ethnic Student Affairs (www.mesa.umich.edu) at the University of Michigan – Ann Arbor and is a member of Speakout: Institute for Democratic Education and Culture (www.speakoutnow.org).

Bakari Kitwana-Co Chair

Bakari Kitwana is co-founder of the first ever National Hip-Hop Political Convention and the author of The Hip-Hop Generation: Young Blacks and the Crisis in African American Culture (Basic Books, 2002). The former executive editor of The Source, Kitwana has been acknowledged as an expert on hip-hop politics by the Washington Post, the Los Angeles Times, CNN, The O’Reilly Factor and other leading news outlets, his writings have appeared in The New York Times, The Boston Globe, Savoy, The Nation, the Village Voice, Black Book and other publications. Kitwana also writes a column on hip-hop and youth culture called “Do the Knowledge” for the Cleveland Plain Dealer and is a consultant on hip-hop for the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. The author of The Rap on Gangsta Rap (Third World Press, 1994), he’s been a visiting scholar in the political science department at Kent State University and has lectured on hip-hop at colleges and universities across the country for the last decade, including Harvard University, New York University, Columbia University and Standford University. His new book Why White Kids Love Hip-Hop: Wankstas, Wiggers, Wannabes and the New Reality of Race in America (Basic Books, June 2005) is about race and hip-hop culture. Kitwana holds Masters degrees in English and Education from the University of Rochester.

Shamako Noble

shamako@hiphopcongress.com
Shamako is a co-founder of Hip Hop Congress. He is also the Director of the H2Ed program for the Hip Hop Association which uses education, media and leadership to preserve and develop Hip Hop culture. Before moving into those two positions, Shamako worked as a Community Outreach and Development Director for a youth center in Menlo Park. As an artist, Shamako has been performing since a very young age. At this time he has performed or organized over 200 events since starting his career. In 2004, he released his first solo album, “The Return of the Coming of the Aftermath.” Shamako, who was once known as the “Kevin Bacon of South Bay Hip Hop” is now moving into a similar role nationally. Within the Hip Hop realm, Shamako is involved in culture, industry, education and politics. Locally he also operates with an organization called R.E.F.U.G.E. (Real Education for Urban Growth Enterprises) which specializes in using the Urban Arts to teach life skills, leadership and culture. This organization also gets involved in campaigns as a consultant and advocate working with communities in San Jose, Oakland and the Peninsula (East Palo Alto, Menlo Park and Redwood City). This group has collaborated with City Year, Conservation Corp, Public Allies, San Jose State, De Anza College and many other organizations around the Bay Area.

Jordan Bromley

Prior to his legal career, Jordan Bromley co-founded the Hip Hop Congress, an international non-profit organization that uses hip hop music and culture to inspire social and civic action among young people. With 40 chapters, it is the nation’s largest hip hop organization. He created Golden Mean Management, an artist management company and record label based out of the San Francisco Bay Area. Before beginning his own label, he worked for a national record labels and music publishing house.

Sarah Harris

Sarah Harris is a youth advocate, educator, and community organizer. Sarah has worked with young people of all ages and backgrounds for over nine years: in a group home, after school programs, summer programs, and public schools. She is currently developing and leading workshops for teachers and youth workers on how to utilize Hip Hop to create relevant and engaging education. Within the next year, Sarah will begin a Masters of Education program to pursue her passion for alternative education. She has been given the honor of being profiled in the book Fresh, Bold, and So Def: Women in Hip-Hop Changing the Game, which will be published in the coming year. In her own musical endeavors, she is working on becoming an accomplished piano player in classical, jazz, and soul. Sarah currently lives and works in Oakland, California.

Ron Gubitz

Ron Gubitz co-founded the Hip Hop Congress while a sophomore at USC. After transferring to Indiana University, he helped establish a chapter there. Graduating in 2002, he moved to St. Louis teaching high school English through the Teach For America program. After teaching for four years, Ron joined Teach For America’s staff as a Recruitment Director before transitioning into the Managing Director of Program role in the St. Louis region.
Ron has completed two marathons, cultivated vegetable gardens, and plays the guitar with minimal success. His first three albums could be considered commercial failures but did establish the genre of Funhop. He is also co-Founder of the Tuba Respect Society, Insubordinatetothefunk.com and gordongoodtimes.com.

Kristine M. Wright

Tina Wright received her doctorate in Sociology from the University of California, Irvine (UCI).  She is an educator/sociologist with areas of specialization that include African American studies, social stratification (race, class, gender), urban education, media and popular culture.  She is currently a professor of Sociology at Los Angeles Southwest College.   She also teaches a course titled “Black Culture as Protest – Examining Hip Hop” class, which she created and began teaching in 2001. Wright authors commentaries on hip hop issues published on various web sites and on her blog (http://riseuphiphopnation.blogspot.com/), under the title “Rise Up Hip Hop Nation, Wise Up.” In terms of her personal passion for hip hop, Wright states, “Although I grew up with hip hop (literally), my interest in hip hop today is not so much in its artistic forms of expression, but in its people and their social and political freedom from oppression. For me hip hop has and always will be foremost about the people it represents and our struggles.”

Leadership Council

Regional Directors and core Hip Hop Congress members  join the Board of Directors to form  the Hip Hop Congress Leadership Council. An active think tank,  the Hip Hop Congress Leadership Council is comprised of artists, educators, activists, and community leaders working together to develop progressive initiatives to foster inspiration and action in local communities. The leadership develops strategic partnerships with other organizations throughout the country to promote and engage in social action, civic service, and cultural creativity.