On Youth Violence, Conferences, and Rap-olutionaries

Youth violence is not a new issue in King County, and prevention-focused, multi-agency public policies are not new strategies to tackle it. The earliest of such efforts I could find in this city date back to 1989, and funding for it has now, after over two decades of repackaging and rearrangement, collapsed into the Seattle Youth Violence Prevention Initiative. Still, though, the problem persists. After performing and speaking with a group of young women at Powerful Voices, whose program was funded in part by SYVPI, I began delving back into research on the politics and paper trails of youth violence prevention work, and building with a number of dedicated youth and cultural service workers from different organizations and agencies across the city. One of these people was my B-Girl Media and 206 Zulu comrade Sista Hailstorm, who was asked to speak on August 19th, 2011, at a Gang Prevention Conference organized by the City of Seattle, King County Human Services, and SU’s KC Prevention and Outreach Work Group. Finding many commonalities in the moral, cultural, political, economic, and bureaucratic challenges people with integrity face doing this work, we decided to use this event as a platform to air these issues, as well as connect with others seeking alternatives to these systems. Here’s a summary of what happened, some attendee feedback, and some expertise critique:

The first speaker was Dr. Johnny Lake, a charismatic academic and cultural awareness trainer from Oregon by way of Tennessee. He emphasized through personal narrative and anecdotal references the importance of cultivating positive, proud cultural identity and self-esteem. This was followed by the only representatives working on the ground in Seattle: the community panel of Youth 180’s Gabriel Ladd, Keenan Allen, and Sista Hailstorm.(Photo from left to right: Dr. Johnny Lake, Keenan Allen, Gabriel Ladd, Sista Hailstorm.) The Youth 180 folks spoke about their mentorship model and the importance of community-based leadership development, while Sista Hailstorm went hard on multi-generational deep systemic violence waged against marginalized communities, and importance of addressing this in a discussion on youth violence. There was much more, and the community panel was a highlight of the conference, so I urge people to check out at least this part of the audio, which should be up on SU’s Social Work website soon. The final keynote, Dr. James Garbarino, is an author and academic who testifies on behalf of inmates on death row. The data he presented included statistical, scientific, and other evidence-based support for meaningful prevention work.

So what did attendees get out of it? I asked Hassan Hassan, an independent entrepreneur who has taken on youth service in the Somali and African youth community as a dedicated volunteer. “The conference had good intentions,” he said, “but I feel they missed the target when it came to interacting with us as local community grassroots representatives, to listen to our needs and perspectives.” Dione Johnson, co-director of the Multi-Media Center, a youth-led media literacy and production resource network echoed this sentiment saying, “The conference could have done a better job of inviting community organizations on the ground doing the work, but I liked how the panelists that were there did draw on positive models. We need more purpose-driven programming in contrast to violence-focused programming, because we need to call into being what we want.” She also pointed out the lack of youth participants, stressing that, “If we keep leaving young people out of the conversation, we are going to keep having the problem.” Liz Ali, who started Mother’s Outreach Movement, a woman-centered community support network, in 2008 after her son PJ was killed said, “I liked how relationships and culture were emphasized by presenters, and I appreciated Keenan on the panel giving his perspective as a youth touched by violence that has turned that around. I would have liked to see more youth participants.” (*See video footnote at the bottom of this article for youth perspectives!)

For an out-of-town, expertise perspective, I hit up Aquil Basheer of Maximum Force in LA, a former Black Panther with 35 years of violence prevention work under his belt. Too often, he said, such conferences are filled with empty rhetoric: “We rap-olutionaries, as opposed to revolutionaries, we like to hear ourselves talk. We got to stop talking so much and start bringing real measurables and deliverables to the table.” To accomplish these ends, Basheer emphasized the importance of community involvement in the planning stages of such events saying, “Before you do any conference, you need to get a specific needs list from the people on bottom up perspective so you can come with a blueprint to move forward. When we’re at the conference, we have to make sure we’re leaving with a time-oriented plan, a 5, 10, 15 point bullet-hit list of instructions and specific action items so we leave out the room with solutions and answers.”

With the plethora of youth initiatives currently on the table, including Seattle Youth Violence Prevention Initiative, the Seattle University Youth Initiative, the King County Sheriff Office Gang Intervention Initiative, and the King County Juvenile Justice Initiative, it would seem there are ample resources to accomplish this task. But if communities are not authentically aware of or engaged in the process, the results will not be consistent, sustainable, or transformative in the lives of our youth.

As a final ironic point in this conversation about violence and violence prevention, it should be noted that the hosting institution, Seattle University, has a president who was reportedly complicit by omission in the perpetuation of abuse to a whole Native community in Alaska. The story is here, and I could not do this report-back without pointing this out, as systemic violence and abuse and its impact should not be neglected, and settlement in the court of law does and should not equate dismissal in the court of public opinion. This is why as youth service workers seek to reform and adapt the existing service structure, we should, as a community, seek to create self-reliant solutions outside of the system that created these cycles.

In closing, I’d like to acknowledge Tanya Kim, from the City of Seattle for working to bring us to this table, and I hope that in the future, our new coalition of community-rooted youth and cultural services workers can help bridge the conference/community/youth divide.

(*Video footnote)
Since much of the feedback from attendees included wanting more youth perspective, my Project Mayhem/Think Tank brother Mic Flont, emcee from the group Waves of the Mind, offered to gather some brief interviews from his students in Katalyst, a Hip Hop & Social Justice youth education program housed in WAPI. He asked youth of different ages, genders, areas, and backgrounds three questions, and we uploaded it to Youtube. Here is the footage:



For more information about any mentioned people or organizations, or to find out how to get involved, email juliec.206@gmail.com.

A Broken Network Can’t Pull it Together: Why our Youth are Killing Each Other

Hip Hop, if we’re serious about saving young lives, it will take more than a superficial “Stop the Violence” campaign. On a policy level, the fragmented approach to serving vulnerable youth is wrong. While cities and law enforcement, states, and school districts collaborate in the identification, tracking, and targeting of these youth (through free lunch programs, test scores, and gang databases), they have shown a consistent unwillingness to apply the same collaborative efforts toward providing real solutions. We cannot tell the youth “Stop the Violence,” while relying on these agencies to help and heal them, especially not while they are closing our schools, mismanaging our youth service funding, and building a new jail.

“They don’t care about kids of color; they don’t care about poor kids. They don’t care about anyone who’s different than somebody who makes $75,000 or more a year.” These were the words of NAACP Seattle President James Bible after being removed from a Seattle School District school closure hearing. View the rest of his impromptu speech on the video here. Mr. Bible’s frustration was shared by a packed room of others who challenged the sincerity and secrecy of Seattle’s recent school closure process in the midst of last year’s youth violence spike. While the district bureaucratically steered clear of accountability on the issue (they maintain they are separate from the police department and the city of Seattle), they also emphasized that the closure plan was developed based on feedback from the community.

It seems that the district either has an irresponsible disconnection from reality, or other interests to satisfy. We know that that the scores of wealthy white parents who fought against the closure of their schools had a hand in the outcome. But what about the Gates Foundation, who after postponing the renewal of grants to the district for 3.5 years, finally awarded 7.5 million after the closures were announced? This money, which could have kept the schools open and programs running at least for a while, will go to more ability tracking and testing.

Now let’s talk about the Mayor’s Youth Violence Prevention Initiative, which has also been shrouded in secrecy. The initiative allocates money to select NGOs to contract out services for youth without oversight or any specified benchmarks for tracking success. This approach is justified by a flimsy report of four model programs, but a brief inspection shows the data to be riddled with incomplete or inaccurate information. To top it off, the city has tasked the Urban League, little known for any actual work in the community, with helping to solidify its “network,” while keeping community leaders who are effectively active in the work out of the discussion. Ironically, the most critical network for violence prevention, one that places the school district, the city and law enforcement in a collective state of accountability for the safety for our children, is absent.

Unfortunately this disconnection is a convenience that youth don’t have. When the schools fail them from 9:00-3:00, and the youth initiative fails them from 3:00 to 10:00, the only thing that won’t fail is the new jail. The city is putting $110 million up for this project, plus committing another $15 mil a year for operation, which is quite an investment. Perhaps they are banking on their failure to our youth?

Whatever the case may be, it is time for us as Hip Hop artists, media producers, educators, and activists to step up, beyond the superficial message of “Stop the Violence.” We must unite, collectivize our skill sets and resources, and create an alternative solution: the seamless network, rooted in culture and community that our young people need to survive.

Seattle Hip Hop Community Tackles Tough Issues at NW Hip Hop Leadership Conference

"Approximately 200 people came out from across the greater Seattle Area to participate in the 1st Seattle/NW Hip-Hop Leadership Council on Saturday February 28th at Seattle Central Community College," wrote Wyking, co-convener of the event, "presented by the Seattle Hip-Hop Summit Youth Council, Bush School Diversity Speaker Series, UmojaFest P.E.A.C.E. Center and Seattle Central Community College Black Student Union, the conference provided a wealth of information beginning with history and socio-cultural analysis related to the hip-hop generation." Okay, so I was only able to attend one part of one panel, but I still gotcha covered. Here are the highlights I was able to collect from the comrades. Shouts out to Suntonio Bandanaz, Rajnii Eddins, and Toni Hill for helping me piece this together. Also, be sure to check out the rest of Wyking's write-up as well. If you missed this one, don't worry. We're about to set it off at the 2009 Hip Hop Congress National Conference in Seattle, Washington with Dope Emporium, Umojafest, Hidmo, 206 Zulu and more July 29th-August 2nd! More to come.


The Hip Hop 101 presentation was led by Silver Shadow D, Rajnii Eddins, and Suntonio Bandanaz.The 206 Hip Hop vets opened the discourse with a mini open mic of sorts, with participation from one young man and two sisters in the crowd. The discussion then moved to the basics: roots of hip hop culture and violence prevention, and Universal Zulu Nation, the inception of the music industry, and the progression of the movement behind the culture. Naturally, the dialogue progressed to the domination of the corporate industry, its role in undermining the political aspects of the Hip Hop movement, and connection of such interests to Cointelpro through entities like Interscope Records and more. “We went from Fight the Power to Reclaim the Media, basically,” said Bandanaz, “to return to the founding principles within culture’s art forms.” Suntonio Bandanaz and Daichi Diaz from Alpha P also dropped by KSER 90.7 community radio in Everett for an interview on DJ Nanino’s Boombox FM later to promote their March 18th show at Studio Seven featuring Spaceman, Specs Wizard and more! Be sure to check Daichi’s new vinyl “The Fight Lullaby.”

The next panel, Hip Hop the New Face of Racism, was a community discussion, which included photographer Inye Wokoma of Ijo Arts, the conference keynote and author of How to Hustle and Win Supreme Understanding, Aisha B from Lakeside School Hip Hop Congress, Charys Bailey, Tacoma artist and youth mentor, and others.The discussion evolved to the questions, what happens when a culture becomes an industry, how does the corporate Hip Hop industry cater to white people’s perception of who Black people are, and what is the impact of that on racism and racial identity? One student spoke on how while her friends listened to conscious Hip Hop, they still had a hard time dealing with and recognizing white privilege. According to Raj, the dialogue that followed reflected personal experiences on the complexity of institutional and systemic racism and white privilege. A social worker spoke on the immense caseloads and rigorous data entry that supersedes effective service provision, a doctor spoke on the lack of people of color amongst his colleagues, a mentor spoke on how policies in youth detention centers interfere with young people’s ability to talk and internalize their experiences. Others spoke about the subtly of racism in Seattle, and the difficulty of addressing it without being labeled as an ‘anger black person.’ Supreme Understanding brought up the need to give people strategic tools and to make solutions concrete so they have practical applications in combating racism.

Rajnii also did his best to help me piece together a quick summary of the next panel, From the Hood to the Club, Violence in Hip Hop. This presentation featured Kun Luv, Omari Tahir-Garrett, Supreme Understanding, Gregory Lewis, Merciful, and Ted Evans and was moderated by Wyking. When Raj came in, Merciful was asserting the importance of addressing the root causes of youth violence, and illustrating the role police play in criminalizing and antagonizing Black youth through militarizing communities. He also spoke on young people acting out on that misplaced aggression, and how that contributes to the overall environment of the neighborhood by having communities turn in on each other. Kun Luv took issue with the claim, saying that most of the violence taking place in Seattle now comes from someone having a beef with someone specific. Kun’s basic premise was that the intentional, premeditated nature of the crimes makes youth violence not a political issue in Seattle. Omari, an unsung hero in Seattle Human Rights and Black history, smashed on this by stating, “There’s nothing going on that’s not coerced and endorsed by the state.” Tahir-Garrett grounded his assertion in his own family history and his experiences as a community organizer and activist in Seattle, which provides him a uniquely thorough understanding of public policy as offensive strategy to quash social movement. “National Security Council 46 is the new Cointelpro,” Omari said, cross-referencing the Obama adminstration’s recent restructure of the National Security Council with the Carter-administration memorandum to the Secretary of Defense and CIA on “Black Africa and the U.S. Black Movement.” Understanding the reference may be especially pertinent since the Obama administration has picked up a surprising number of our region’s slimy political leadership. Do some research. I spent 3 hours on some google ish myself after Raj gave me that quote.

"Women In Hip-Hop was a power packed panel with lively discussion facilitated by Rahwa of Hidmo," wrote Wyking, "The panel featured artist/educators/organizers Toni Hill, Khmet, Moni Tep, Monika Matthews Exective Director of the Nia Center and Life Enrichment Group, student Caela Palmer and fashion mainstay FirstLady Beunique of Presidential Clothing
and Beunique Agency." Toni Hill told me, “The speakers on the women and hip hop panel were insightful, engaging and honest. The gift of performance that was shared before the discussion set the tone for an enriching experience and the audience participation. It was an honor to be seated in the mists of Queens and princesses. I was particularly impressed with Youth representation especially Moni Tep. She is a talented, articulate and courageous youth with infinite potential. She was an inspiration and breath of fresh air. I have spoken on numerous panels across the country, sometimes leaving with unsettling feeling that the youth voices were not properly acknowledged or that they(youth) had not absorbed the information presented by the elders because they are tired of many of the adults talking at them as opposed to with them. Rahwa did a great job moderating and I would be proud to be apart of future endeavors with this cast of brightly shining stars." Be sure to check out Toni Hill's record release party for her new album "Only Love" March 13th at Chop Suey!

There were many more panels and workshops, so again, check Wyking's write up on the event, and get ready for this summer. This year is gonna be a good one.