The first in a new series of videos where The Deacon of Speakin’ Mr. Abraham Beltran talks to any and everyone under the sun.
This episode features Los Angeles-native DJ Sloepoke speaking about the significance of the 1992 Los Angeles Uprising and the reverberations that this event had in the community of South Los Angeles which are still being felt to this day.
Sometimes we’ll have laughs, sometimes we won’t, but please know that EVERY time we will have damn good content for your enjoyment.
A National Guardsman stands alert in front of a burnt building after riots broke out in reaction to the Rodney King verdict in Los Angeles, California. April 1992. (Wikimedia)
The impact of the Los Angeles riots still resonates twenty years on. Here’s an audio take on the experience of the chaos–all the pain, the fear, the search for healing amid relentless destruction, and the hope for redemption rising from the ashes.
The community has changed since then–socially, culturally and economically. But the divides across race and nationality, and between the people and the state, still stratify the landscape. A generation later, popular uprisings and unrest are again exploding around the world, again raising questions of conflict, justice and peace. Maybe listening to echoes of the past can clarify our vision for tomorrow’s struggles.
DJ Sloe Poke and Chicharron bring you “Uprising LA: 20 Years Later Mix,” a musical mash-up of artists and activists then and now:
On April 29, 1992 Los Angeles went up in flames. After 4 White Police Officers were found not guilty after brutality beating Black motorist Rodney King. The beating was, for once, caught on video.
At the time, LA hip hop was not only banging, it was also speaking about police abuse in the inner city.
This mix is a reflection of the music of the time, commentary by activists and artists now and then. Enjoy and please comment and share.
Dream Activists with Jasiri X, William Anderson, Che “Rhymefest” Smith, and The Sound Strike’s Javier Gonzalez (Photo: Paradise Gray)
State Senator Scott Beason, one of the principle architects of Alabama’s anti-immigration bill HB56, is a racist. That’s not just my opinion, that’s what he was called by U.S. District Judge Myron Thompson. Beason was a key witness in trial recently and was asked by the FBI to wear a wire. The wire picked up Beason making blatantly racist statements, calling Black people “aborigines,” “illiterate” and implying we can be enticed to vote with buffets. This lead Judge Thompson in his ruling to single out Beason. The Judge said Beason’s statements “demonstrate a deep-seated racial animus and a desire to suppress black votes by manipulating what issues appeared on the 2010 ballot” and added, “Lawmakers who harbor such sentiments lack the integrity expected from elected officials.”
It’s no surprise that Beason’s name is attached to a piece of legislation that singles out a specific group of people for racial profiling, harassment, and arrest. Alabama’s HB56 is not only the harshest anti-immigration law, it’s inhumane. HB56 requires schools to verify the immigration status of students upon enrollment, allow law enforcement to check the status of people they suspect are undocumented during routine stops and arrests, and prohibits renting property to undocumented immigrants. It also makes it a felony for undocumented immigrants to apply for a driver’s license, license plate, or business license. In other words if you’re a human being in Alabama with no papers, it’s a crime to live.
A few weeks ago, I traveled to Alabama with members of Sound Strike, a coalition of artists that have committed to supporting the International Boycott of Arizona in the wake of the passage of its own racist and oppressive bill SB 1070. What we saw was heartbreaking, but also inspiring. We met with families that were broken up due to the enforcement of HB56 and children that were forced to watch their parents arrested and taken away. We heard stories about the thousands of undocumented students afraid to go to school. But we also met a group of undocumented activist so bold they placed a huge banner outside of the trailer home they live in that read, “Undocumented and Unafraid.”
These Dream Activists came from all over the country to challenge Alabama’s unjust legislation. Putting their own freedom on the line and a possible ten year ban from returning to the United States, they willing got arrested on the steps of the courthouse in Montgomery, Alabama to draw attention to HB56. They shared with us the story of two Dream Activists, Jonathan and Issac, who bravely walked into a Mobile, Alabama Border Patrol office and declared themselves to be undocumented. They were arrested and gathered stories from others within the various detention centers they were transported to. Thankfully they were freed a week later. I got the feeling I was looking at the next generation of civil rights leaders, right outside of Birmingham, where Black children faced down attack dogs and water hoses to erase laws for the books that discriminated against us.
That night the historic 16th Baptist Church, where 4 little girls gave their lives for a better tomorrow, was filled with Latino families, with thousands more outside standing up against HB56, in unity with people of all races and faiths. Only a racist mind like Beason would want to saddle Alabama with a Hate Bill that takes us back to ’56.
A close friend and mentor and I were talking about the Occupy Movement. We both had some reservations but more importantly great admiration and excitement about it. This veteran of the Civil Rights and Black Power struggle warned me, “be careful when White folks say, Occupy!” We both laughed at his tongue in check statement. I knew what he meant.
But recently I remembered something he told me years earlier that I recently also read. He said that when the movement for social and economic justice starts to have an impact it won’t be the conservatives who attack you, “It will be the liberals,” he warned. I always kind of got that, but didn’t think much of it…until now.
Suddenly the liberals attacked!
Last week the Tucson Weekly ran a disgraceful article called, “Get out of Town! Our annual list of people, organizations and things Tucson would be better off without.” The article was appropriately written by The Usual Gang of Idiots. Read the piece here
The part that bothered me the most was written by Linda Ray calling out Derechos Humanos. OMG, I know Linda! She was a part of the group of liberals that attacked me at the South by Southwest (SXSW) Music Festival in Austin earlier this year. It was a hard moment for me in Austin, especially, because I was smitten by Linda!
[Above] is a picture of the Angry Tucson mob really giving it to me.
I know Linda isn’t in the picture, but she was there. Oh, was she there! We could not stop looking at each other. It appeared she looked at me with hatred, but I can’t believe that. I know we didn’t agree on the musician boycott in Arizona, especially since everyone on her team was an Arizona based music industry professional. Who are we to call for a boycott of Arizona? We are just a bunch of human rights advocates, organizers and artists fighting for fair treatment of migrants.
They, on the other hand, were the ones fighting Arizona’s anti-migrant SB 1070. I was there with Sal Reza who has been fighting the attacks on migrants in Arizona for over 20 years. He seemed also smitten even though, as a 20 year activist and leader for migrant rights in Arizona, had never met any of these tireless fighters. NEVER, in 20 Years!
But these liberals said so many important things about taking the message to the people and helping to raise opposition to Arizona’s anti migrant SB 1070. Well I think they are liberals. At least that is what I heard at the recent Vegan, Organic, Fair Trade, General Assembly / Symposium and Bike Ride for freedom for ‘dose people in, of course, Tucson, Arizona.
My first thoughts were, how dare a bunch of music industry liberals tell a vibrant and important organization led by Chicanas who defend the rights and safety of Native Migrants to get out of Tucson? My second thought was the same as the first, as was my third, and forth thought. Then on my fifth thought I said to myself, how dare a bunch of music industry liberals tell a vibrant and important organization led by Chicanas who defend the rights and safety of Native Migrants to get out of Tucson?…
On November 18th, 2011, hip-hop artist Immortal Technique rocked a community benefit show for PUENTE. in Phoenix, Arizona. The show was yet another example that Immortal Technique is not just a talker; in front of the jam packed audience, Tech explosively and energetically walked the walk. Several thousand dollars were raised towards financing PUENTE’s future opening of a new office, which will serve as home base to the new campaign to remove Sheriff Joe Arpaio from office due to his continuing mistreatment of immigrants, blatant abuse of power, and negligent actions (for more visit Evil Arpaio).
The November 18th benefit show was more than just a great start towards funding the new PUENTE office; it was a night inspired by the tradition of the OG boogie-down Bronx sets that put hip-hop music on the map worldwide. On hand to testify, as part of the night’s impressive roster of respected hip-hop artists, was X Clan architect Paradise Gray, who once stated, “You could feel the honesty and the integrity coming from the culture and the music; that’s what hip-hop is.” Don’t just take our word for it, though- watch the video [above] to see Paradise Gray for yourself.
Tech began his set with a powerful message affirming his strong commitment to the fight against racism and anti migrant attacks like Arizona’s SB 1070. Tech broke it down like this, “for years and years and years we’ve realized that there were people who would back us in the immigration struggle who saw it as a human rights issue. Who saw it the demonization of our people and the destruction of our culture as something that was unacceptable for America and for human beings in general…what we want to happen now is for artists to come here, but come here and work with people that actually give a fuck about the community.”
Tech added, “when we heard the complaints of people who said, ‘ow your depriving Arizona of the artists … it dawned on me that these people weren’t complaining when children were being ripped apart from their parents.”
Tech laid out a renewed effort by Sound Strike artists to maintain the pressure of the economic boycott while also creating ways to do non-commercial shows for the beautiful people in Arizona who ARE fighting for freedom and justice. With that, Tech rounded out a night whose roster included such talented & socially aware artists like Rhymefest, Chino XL, Jasiri X and local artists Vprolific and Grime.
Chino XL who performed just prior to Tech, dropped some heat in his last joint that showed why he is one of the most talented lyricist around today. Paradise Gray recorded the set and put it out for the people here.
Chino and Tech really rocked the crowd that warmed up with a Chicano style hip hop show that included Mariachi’s, fire dancers, local artists, free-styling on the side, graffiti art, up-and-coming artist Jasiri X, and the Grammy Award winning Rhymefest. Already on the grind against hate, Rhymefest and Jasiri took time to visit “Evil Arpaio”’s tent city and busted a guerrilla video shoot in front of a Sheriff mobile station. In fact, from there Jasiri, Paradise, Rhymefest and I were off to Alabama to meet with some of the community leaders fighting the hateful HB 56 out there. For more information on that trip, you’ll have to stay tuned.
Thanks again to Tech, Chino XL, DJ G.I. Joe, Rebel Armz, Jasiri, Rhymefest, and Paradise Gray for taking real hip-hop to the people. Other artists, like Tigres del Norte, Ozomatli, Girl in a Coma, Manu Choa and many others, are also maintaining their positions to say no to taxable shows in Arizona, and continue to take their messages and art directly to the people. Thank you for standing strong with The Sound Strike.
Some artists like Rhymefest even took the time to battle some local MCs. Check it out! For more information about The Sound Strike, don’t forget to sign up for our email list (click here).
To follow us on Facebook, look to the right of this page, and to hear more rants and discussion of relevant issues, follow javgonz on twitter.
SB1070 drew national attention not solely because of the passage of SB 1070 but mostly from it’s protracted and aggressive war on migrant communities. A whole set of characters and protagonists motivated by hate and scapegoating have led to human rights abuses in Arizona for years. Arizona is a place where doctrines of hate are imported from white supremacist think tanks like FAIR (Federation for American Immigration Reform) and IRLI (Immigration Reform Law Institute) and promoted by private prison corporations and passed by politicians with ties to racist organizations.
Hate mongering politicians in Arizona are more than just demagogues, they are strategists looking to implement laws to preserve what they see as a natural social order. Many of the groups associated with Arizona’s anti-migrant players draw inspiration from the likes of Samuel Huntington and former Democratic Governor of Colorado Richard Lamm. Both have been strong opponents of multiculturalism and immigration while advocating and supporting groups like FAIR, IRLI, and others. There essential argument is that diversity will weaken America. Thus, limiting immigration and accelerating “assimilation” is essential for continued American dominance.
In recognition of the lack of public support for mass deportations followers of Lamm and Huntington began to devise legal strategies that have the effect of mass deportation without the publicity of massive round ups. Much of these ideas came to fruition after years of strategy and organizing that is first outlined in notes and plans laid out in the infamous WITAN MEMOS. In these memos known White supremacists outlined strategies for manipulating immigration policy, infiltrating enforcement agencies and popularizing the concept of immigrants as “illegal.” Before the 1980s being undocumented was seen more so for what it is, a civil offense. But in the WITAN memos the early founders of FAIR understood that to conduct large scale deportation immigrants had to be criminalized in the minds of Americans.
After years of promoting the need for arrest and deportation “Los Haters” as we like to call them, decided to ante up on the concept of the undocumented as criminals by highlighting stories of migrant criminals. These groups ignore studies have that “repeatedly and consistently have found that immigrants are less likely to commit crimes or be behind bars than the native-born.” Instead, Los Haters have highlighted single examples of migrant crimes in what linguist George Lakoff calls “Ideal Case Prototypes” – or using one salient example to represent an entire issue and in this case group of people.
Once migrant communities have been sufficiently demonized attorneys such as Kris Kobach and the Center for Immigrant Studies (CIS) have developed dangerous legal doctrines of Attrition through Enforcement and Inherent Authorities. These two hate doctrines must be understood to adequately understand what bills like SB 1070 are meant to accomplish. They are basically strategies to treat migrants so bad they will self deport as well as actual deportation, not in massive raids, but in mundane everyday interaction with law enforcement.
SB 1070 in Arizona is just one of the many bills in Arizona that attempts to establish these doctrines as part of a round the clock way to accelerate police intervention in federal immigration matters. Just google either of those terms to see the chain of op-eds, so called ‘legal studies’ and proposed laws that these groups have been systematically moving into towns, cities, and States.
However, this ingenious, if evil, plot cannot exist without the support of local law enforcement, as well as legislative and executive political bodies. Thus, Arizona has become ground zero for the right’s latest cultural war. In a sense, it is a laboratory of hate.
