Last night, I had the occasion to speak with world-renowned hip-hop provocateur Boots Riley on a wide range of subjects spanning from his childhood in Detroit, spent in a household of Communist organizers, to his current work, organizing people in his neighborhood as a member Occupy Oakland. And, of course, we touched on his equally […]
Tag Archives: pull yourself up by your bootstraps
Boots Riley of The Coup… on Communism, Corporatism, hip-hop, and the need to beat down scabs
Posted in Art and Culture, Civil Liberties, Corporate Crime, Detroit, Economics, Uncategorized, Ypsilanti | Also tagged 21 Grams, 9/11, advertising, Alex Rivera, American Splendor, anti-capitalist, at-risk youth, Barbara Ransby, Bill Maher, Boots Riley, California, Capitalism, civil rights, class, College of Ethnic Studies, Communism, Congress of Racial Equality, CORE, Danny Goldberg, dark comedy, fast food workers union, Five Million Ways to Kill a CEO, foreclosure defense, fundraisers, Greensboro, guillotine building workshop, Happiness, hip hop, ILWU, independent film, International Longshore and Warehouse Union, interviews, Japanther, Jeff Clark, K-Mart, Kev Choice, KKK, Ku Klux Klan, La Peña Cultural Center, labor history, labor movement, Led Zeppelin, Levi's, longshoremen, lunch counter sit-ins, Magic Clap, Me and Jesus the Pimp in a '79 Granada Last Night, militancy, NAACP, Nirvana, North Carolina, Oakland, Occupy Oakland, Occupy Sandy, Ohio Players, Oscar Grant, Ozone House, picket lines, police brutality, political hip hop, political organizing, Politically Incorrect, Port of Oakland, Progressive Labor Party, Prop 21, rap, revolution, rhetoric of violent revolution, San Francisco, San Francisco State, San Francisco State strike, scabs, SDS, sit-down strikes, Sleep Dealer, social justice, Sorry to Bother You, speaking truth to power, Street Sweeper Social Club, Students for a Democratic Society, sympathy strikes, Taft–Hartley Act, Ted Hope, The Coup, The Guillotine, The Ice Storm, threat of violence, unions, United Steelworkers, USW, Walmart, Walter Riley, Washtenaw Eviction and Foreclosure Defense, we need a revolution, WEFD, Woodruff's, work stoppage, World Trade Center | 32 Comments
The myth of the social mobility in America
Last night, I had the following to say about Eric Cantor’s appearance at U-M: …In his speech, Cantor apparently talked about his ancestors and how they made good lives for themselves in America by a plying themselves and working hard. The implication, of course, is that others can do the same. Unfortunately, the facts say […]
Posted in Observations, Politics | Also tagged Abe Lincoln, American dream, Benjamin Franklin, class warfare, Eric Cantor, fairytales, Herman Cain, leveling the playing field, Mitt Romney, Ponzi scheme, Robert Reich, self-made man, social mobility, wealth inequality | 3 Comments