Hi all,
It has been a busy week, and I didn’t get to publish good news yesterday. I want to start by discussing Kamala Harris’s celebration of the 50th anniversary of hip-hop (and to recommend the sparkling piece Michael Harriot wrote about it).
Harriot addresses important questions — was it a cookout, a brunch, or a house party? does Common need to stop showing off? — and shares some delightful bits of gossip and insight.
It turns out that Jelani Cobb, dean of the Columbia Journalism School, knows all the words to everything and rapped along. Doug E. Fresh taught all the guests how to do the Dougie.
And Harriot discusses the origins of hip-hop and why the first generation of rappers could not have imagined their art being celebrated by the vice president of the US.
Perhaps the most remarkable thing about hip-hop is how Black people constructed it from the scraps of things that already existed. The people who conceived of this uniquely American art form took genres of music that Black people created and married them to poetry and lyrics. They invented instruments out of tools and equipment that were not meant to be used in such a manner. They designed the template and created styles that were made into an economic superpower. As hip-hop artists taught themselves how to build, market and sell hip-hop, the music industry and popular culture devalued their work and their contributions. The entire genre was seen as “worthless.” It was vulgar and indecent and dirty and unsuitable for children. And now, America is celebrating it.
Fun fact: I got my intro to hip-hop from a student named Rasheem Kowalski, who chose it as his subject for a research paper in 1985. Teaching is a free education!
For me, the VP’s event signifies the American long game — the story arc that takes us, again and again, from a dark place to one that is inclusive, vibrant, and joyful.
The news each day can feel like a proper clubbing over the head. And yet. Over time, we are hearing more voices and managing to grow and celebrate who we are becoming.
I’m definitely riding a little high from the work of activating voters. On Monday evening, two close friends and one beloved former student joined me to make a teacher-to-teacher PSA to get teachers to encourage their students to pre-register to vote.
Photo by Jeanne Heifetz
The entire affair was arranged — the space, the videographer, the cue cards, the props, etc. — on the bonds of affection and commitment to some big ideas about young people, democracy, and what kind of society we want to live in.
And we are not alone in this work. My partners in the Largest Generation Project, Kim Sillen and Jeanne Heifetz, talked this week with Zev Shapiro, the founder of TurnUp,
the largest and fastest-growing coalition of youth turnout advocates united by a shared commitment to increase youth voter registration and turnout at the polls by fully investing in our young people, removing systemic barriers to civic participation, and amplifying our formidable voice.
Zev is still in college and the project is 5 years old. TurnUp pays young people to organize registration drives in their high schools.
TurnUp’s mission and model are activating thousands of new young voters; it’s a long game with impressive recent stats: in 400 schools, they registered almost 16,000 voters and got pledges from 12,000 younger students who will pre-register when they are old enough. They plan to work with more than a thousand schools this year.
Learn more about TurnUp and support their work!
In spite of the dysfunction in Congress, our job is to keep demanding better voting legislation. In addition to the Freedom to Vote Act, which was reintroduced this summer, there is a bill to ensure that voting materials are available in translation and another to attach voter registration information to mortgage and lease documents to assist people who have relocated.
Contact your members of Congress to support a slate of important voting rights legislation.
One of the ways I teach the importance of voting to young people is to remind them of the very important work that happens at the local and state level. Here in New York City, a local climate law — LL97 — is due to take effect in January.
“They [the Adams administration] shouldn’t allow these buildings to delay,” said Alex Beauchamp, Northeast Regional Director of Food and Water Watch, which advocated for Local Law 97’s passage. “They should commit to stiff enforcement for buildings that don’t hit the emissions reductions that are required under the law.”
There are emissions benchmarks for 2030 and 2050, so every building needs to start planning for those. I’m working on this issue as a member of my Coop’s board. I can assure you that the threat of fines for non-compliance is required and that providing room for delay is not a good move when the holdouts clearly need a nudge.
Come out tomorrow to protest efforts to weaken LL97!
with love,
L