Real Talk

On Tuesday, January 12, 2010, a magnitude 7.0 earthquake hit Haiti. The epicenter hit Haiti’s crown city, Port-Au-Prince, and over 50,000 people are feared dead. Haiti is a country known for its poverty and poor living conditions, and this earthquake has irreparably damaged a nation who some thought was on the verge of a rebound.

When I heard this news, all I could do was pray. And then I began seeing on Twitter and other social networks that donations were being taken, so I gave what I had. Now it is time for our country and other countries to step up to bat and help the relief effort. I am asking you, that if you are reading this, give what you can. Money is of most importance now. Supplies are needed but there is no logistics yet set in place to get the supplies to the people. So money is what is needed now.

The media will have you believe that the hip-hop community is a misogynistic group of individuals who only car about money, cars, jewels and women. But we know that is not true. There are those in the hip-hop community, activists and artists like Wyclef Jean who are leading the relief effort in Haiti, and it is now time that we show the world how indeed powerful we are as a group.

Stand up, be counted, be heard, and GIVE! We owe it to ourselves as well as the people of Haiti, a nation who has struggled in modern times, but was once a crown jewel of the Latin America. If you cannot donate money, please visit the American Red Cross and give blood, something that is also vital for the health of Haiti’s survivors.

For more information on how you can help, please visit my blog at http://www.thecubiclechick.com/index.php/2010/01/14/a-song-for-haiti-bloggers-day-of-action/.

Hip-hop is a strong and powerful art-form, resilient, just like the citizens of Haiti. Do your part NOW!

–
TheCubicleChick.com

Tags: American Red Cross, Earthquake, Haiti, Haiti Earthquake Fund, Hip Hop, HipHopGivesBack, Relief, Wyclef
Posted in This Woman's Work! | 2 Comments »

Idle Hands Will Only Make This Tragedy Worse by Wyclef Jean

Wednesday, January 13th, 2010

The following is a statement that was sent to GlobalGrind from Wyclef Jean in the wake of the horrible 7.0 hurricane that struck Haiti this evening:

——-

Haiti today faced a natural disaster of unprecedented proportion, an earthquake unlike anything the country has ever experienced.

The magnitude 7.0 earthquake – and several very strong aftershocks – struck only 10 miles from Port-au-Prince.

I cannot stress enough what a human disaster this is, and idle hands will only make this tragedy worse. The over 2 million people in Port-au-Prince tonight face catastrophe alone. We must act now.

President Obama has already said that the U.S. stands ‘ready to assist’ the Haitian people. The U.S. Military is the only group trained and prepared to offer that assistance immediately. They must do so as soon as possible. The international community must also rise to the occasion and help the Haitian people in every way possible.”

Many people have already reached out to see what they can do right now. We are asking those interested to please do one of two things: Either you can use your cell phone to text “Yele” to 501501, which will automatically donate $5 to the Yele Haiti Earthquake Fund (it will be charged to your cell phone bill), or you can visit www.Yele.org and click on DONATE.

-Wyclef Jean

Source: globalgrind.com

Tags: Disaster Fund, Donate, Give Back, Haiti Earthquake Fund, Wyclef, Yele Haiti
Posted in Drop A G.E.M (General, Events & Miscellaneous) | 1 Comment »

Featured Contributor

Kevin Powell

"My life-calling is to be a servant for the people, period. Money, fame, status, personal achievements, and all that means very little to me when pain and suffering are still real on this planet. I am interested in the powerless becoming powerful." - Kevin Powell

Kevin Powell is widely considered one of America's most important voices in these early years of the 21st century. Legendary feminist Gloria Steinem asserts that "as a charismatic speaker, leader, and a very good writer, Kevin Powell has the courage...to be fully human, and this will bring the deepest revolution of all." Internationally acclaimed scholar and social critic Dr. Michael Eric Dyson has called Powell "a mighty wind of fresh air." And of Kevin Powell, the writer asha bandele says, "When you consider the intelligence and breadth of Kevin Powell's writing and activism, you come to the conclusion that there may be no better spokesperson and representative for a generation that has too long been counted out."

Kevin Powell is a political activist, poet, journalist, essayist, hiphop historian, public speaker, and entrepreneur. A product of extreme poverty, welfare, fatherlessness, and a single mother-led household, he is a native of Jersey City, New Jersey and was educated at New Jersey's Rutgers University. Kevin Powell is a longtime resident of Brooklyn, New York, and it is from his base in New York City that Powell has published seven books, including his current title, Someday We'll All Be Free (Soft Skull Press). This new book is a collection of provocative essays on freedom, democracy, justice, and race in America, as inspired by Hurricane Katrina, the 2004 presidential election, and September 11th. Powell is set to publish two books in 2008, No Sleep Till Brooklyn, his second volume of poetry; and The Black Male Handbook: A Blueprint for Life. Additionally, Powell is at work on his childhood memoir, homeboy alone, slated for 2010, and The Kevin Powell Anthology (2011), which will highlight the first twenty-five years of his literary career. Indeed, he has written numerous essays, articles, and reviews through the years for publications such as Esquire, Newsweek, The Washington Post, Essence, Rolling Stone, The Amsterdam News, and Vibe, where he was a founding staff member and served as a senior writer, interviewing and profiling, among many others, General Colin Powell and the late Tupac Shakur. Most recently Powell has been a Writing Fellow for the Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies, as well as a Phelps Stokes Fund Senior Fellow. And Powell is currently a 2008 Democratic candidate for the United State Congress in Brooklyn, New York (http://www.kevinpowellforcongress.org).

A gifted and highly sought after public speaker, Powell has lectured on multiculturalism, building corporate responsibility, American and Black American history, the life of Dr. King, civil rights, American politics and civic engagement, sexism from a male perspective, leadership, social activism, the state of hiphop, redefining American manhood, and being Black and male in America, among other topics, at hundreds of colleges and universities, community centers, prisons, religious institutions, conferences, and festivals, as well as in corporate settings. Furthermore, Kevin Powell routinely offers his insights on a variety of matters, to TV, radio, newspaper, magazine, and internet outlets in America, and abroad.

A fixture on the pop culture landscape the past several years, Powell was a cast member on the first season of MTV's "The Real World"; hosted and produced programming for HBO and BET; written a screenplay; hosted and wrote an award-winning MTV documentary about post-riot Los Angeles; and was the Guest Curator of the Brooklyn Museum of Art's "Hip-Hop Nation: Roots, Rhymes, and Rage" which originated at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum in Cleveland, Ohio, and of which Powell was the exhibition consultant" the first major exhibit in America on the history of hiphop.

Of paramount importance to Kevin Powell, however, is his activism. He has been a leader in some form or fashion for over twenty years, dating back to his days as a teenager at Rutgers University. He was a participant in the student-led anti-apartheid movement, the drive to end racism in South Africa. He has been at the forefront of police brutality and racial bias cases. He has worked for years around voting rights. Powell is one of the most prominent voices in the hiphop generation, and he has organized a number of concerts, mc battles, rallies, and forums that stress the use of hiphop as a tool for social change. As a result of his own past personal struggles, contradictions, growth, and a commitment to therapy and healing, Kevin has become a very outspoken critic of violence against women and girls, of violence in general, and he has been at the forefront of the movement to redefine American manhood away from sexism and violence. Powell also plays a key role in the Black male development arena, having produced, the past few years, among other things, a 10-city State of Black Men Tour, numerous Black male think tank sessions, and Black and Male in America, a 3-Day national conference (http://www.blackandmaleinamerica.org). Powell has taught, mentored, and counseled in schools, camps, prisons, and on the streets of urban America. He produces an annual holiday party and clothing drive every December in New York City that benefits the needy. And Powell was a central figure in Gulf Coast disaster relief efforts, facilitating the delivery of goods and services to the affected regions, and being a cofounder of "Katrina on the Ground," an initiative that sent over 700 college students to work in the devastated region.

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Posts Tagged ‘Haiti Earthquake Fund’

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Idle Hands Will Only Make This Tragedy Worse by Wyclef Jean

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