Upon the Ashes of Babylon Parts 1-3 and Other Poetic Teachings: Muslim Spoken Word Artist, Amir Sulaiman

April 25, 2007October 27, 2024RBG Street Scholar 1 Comment

Last Updated 10-24-24

Image credits: https://www.amirsulaiman.com/

11 Video Playlist

Trk# 1-3 is an entire talk entitled “Upon the Ashes of Babylon” from a powerful Muslim spoken word artist, Amir Sulaiman. The event was part of Islam Awareness Week 2006 at the University of Alberta in Edmonton, AB, Canada. Amir’s words manifest a quiet confidence which I find compelling. He has a way of framing issues which is really cathartic and healthy… it reminds me of how I felt when I read Malcolm’s speeches for the first time.

A native of Rochester, New York, writer, activist, and educator Amir Sulaiman is a member of Goodestuff Entertainment, an Atlanta based collective providing culturally relevant programming. With a political consciousness that is profound without being preachy and stately without being stand-offish, Sulaiman has garnered the respect of such notables as Kevin Powell who invited the riveting performer to open for his State of Black Men in America Tour Kickoff held at Rev. Dr. Barbara King’s Hillside Chapel and Truth Center. Even media mogul Russell Simmons sat in awe as Sulaiman dropped science to a fervent audience during a recent taping of HBO’s Def Poetry. In addition to writing and recording, Sulaiman gives presentations and workshops. His presentation, The 40 Year Itch: The Harlem Renaissance, The Black Arts Movement and Modern Spoken Word, grounds the burgeoning spoken word movement in cultural, historic, and literary roots. He also molds the minds of youth teaching the elements of poetry, the power of voice, and style development. In his Communication Workshop, he explores the intricacy of human language and the process by which ideas travel from one mind to another. Sulaiman was an active participant in Goodestuff Entertainment’s First Annual Southern Poetry Conference held at the historic Auburn Research Library as well as the Atlanta Congressional Debate.

Amir Sulaiman began writing poetry at the age of twelve. In 1996, he began performing at colleges, universities, bookstores, and coffee shops as a student at North Carolina A&T. In his sophomore year, he released his debut poetry collection Words of Love, Life, and Death. This early work distends across the broad canvas of truth, struggle, relationships, and poetry. During his tenure at NC A&T, Sulaiman’s work was published in literary journals and collections including The Hazmat Review, All That Jazz, and Sauti Mypa. After obtaining a B.A. in English from North Carolina A&T he moved to Atlanta, G.A and released his breakthrough CD “Cornerstore Folklore”. Bolstered by the success of Cornerstore Folklore Tour– which reached such cities as D.C., NY, Oakland, San Francisco, Norfolk, Richmond, Philadelphia, Baltimore, Raleigh, Greensboro—Sulaiman began whispering in the same breath of elders like Amiri Barka and solidified himself as a voice of light in the midst of a dark day.

Buy his Book Here: Love, Gnosis & Other Suicide Attempts – Poems By Amir Sulaiman

For more like this visit RBG Communiversity’s eLibrary | Hip Hop/Rap Music _ eBooks & Video Edu Folder

HOW HIP HOP DESTROYED BLACK POWER by Min Paul Scott, 4/23/02

April 24, 2007June 28, 2024RBG Street Scholar Leave a comment

The FNV Newsletter
In Today's Issue: April 23 2002

*HOW HIP HOP DESTROYED BLACK POWER by Min Paul Scott
*GETTING GROWN by Q of SOHH.COM

Send comments, questions and concerns to

mailto:mrdaveyd@aol.com
mailto:Misterdaveyd@aol.com

The FNV Newsletter
written by Davey D
http://www.daveyd.com
http://www.rapstation.com

c 2002 All Rights Reserved
===================================

How Hip Hop Destroyed Black Power

By Min. Paul Scott
TBWT Contributor
Article Dated 4/19/2002

 From the moment Stokley Carmichael (Kwame Ture)
grabbed the mic and yelled Black Power! the phrase has
struck fear in the heart of white America. Not that
they were overly concerned that we posed some sort of
military or economic threat, as the white power
structure had those two options on "lock" but the
possibility that the phrase would galvanize the masses
of Black youth to action. Motivating them to do more
than get their groove on Saturday night and their
praise on Sunday morning sent chills up the spines of
those who had a vested interest in holding the Black
community down. Something had to be done to destroy
this uncompromising desire for FREEDOM, JUSTICE and
EQUALITY.

The blackploitation movies of the 70's were a good try
as they served as a funkier alternative to the Black
Nationalist struggle. However, even the pimps and
pushers were Struggling against "the man." Also,
during that period, the blood of the Black Panthers
and our other martyrs was still fresh on the pavements
of many neighborhoods of Black America.

So the weapon of choice was a movement of young Black
teenagers who had developed a system of organization
that could do anything from educate children about the
historical struggle of African people to turning the
deadliest gang rivalry into a break dance competition.

First, the power structure tried to ban rap music
altogether by strengthening indecency laws in states
where rappers performed and forcing them to place
parental guidance stickers on their albums. But the
contradiction of having those who have robbed, killed
and murdered every culture on the planet serving, as
morality police was too much to swallow. Also
problematic was the fact that to them the members of
the 2 Live Crew and Public Enemy were interchangeable.

So they fell back on their old standard "if you can't
beat them, corrupt them." It was not an overnight,
hostile takeover but a slow, cunning infiltration,
kind of like the annoying scratchy throat that you
ignore until it has you sick in bed for two weeks. By
then it is too late.

What arose was a Hip Hop nation that held no
allegiance to the Black Nation as the hip Hop nation
was all inclusive and anyone regardless of race,
class, religion or political views where anyone who
had 15 dollars to buy a CD and could imitate the style
of dress from glossy magazine covers could be down.

There is a saying in Afrocentric circles that when the
European missionaries came to Africa they had the
Bible and we had the land and when they left, we had
the Bible and they had the land. In terms of Hip Hop,
when the white missionaries in the form of corporate
executives came to the `hood they had the 20 inch rims
and Courvoisier and we had the music, when they left,
we had the rims and Courvoisier and they had the
music. We traded our dashikis for Rockawear, our
African medallions for platinum chains and our souls
for a moment to shine in front of white America. As it
is said, we crossed over and couldn't get black. Black
Power became an example of racism in reverse and a
term that should have gone out with the Afro pick.

Hip Hop should serve as the background music for the
Black Nation and should be heard pumpin' through
speakers at every uprising, protest, or demonstration.

However, the forces, which control Hip Hop, have taken
measures to make sure that the Hip Hop Nation and the
Black Power Nation never unite. While most rappers
would swear on their mammas' graves that they are in
control of their Hip Hop destinies, I can not help to
think that behind the back stage curtain at every rap
concert is an old white "Wizard of the `hood"
carefully manipulating the lives of our children.

What we have here is a failure to communicate; a
conversation that never happened. A dialogue between
the Black Nation and the Hip Hop Nation has been
skillfully blocked by the white power structure. While
talk shows often pit Harvard educated, middle class
journalist, Bob Smith against straight up gangsta, MC
Cut Throat, I have yet to see a debate between "MC Cut
Throat" and straight up Black militant, revolutionary,
"Bro. Shaka Zulu."

We must not be afraid of alienating our children (as
many of them cannot become more alienated, anyway) by
engaging them to observe Hip Hop against the back drop
of the struggle for Black LIBERATION. As many of them
pride themselves on being the "realist" and shocking
white America with their lyrics that talk loud and say
nothing, we must teach them of the ancestors who were
really controversial and were rewarded with a bullet
in the head or noose around their necks and not heavy
rotation on a radio station.

We must not be afraid to use the term
"anti-afrikanism" in describing some of the disrespect
that white corporate America gives us in the guise of
entertainment. While it may be too early to grill Lil
Bow Wow on his views on the mental genocide of Afrikan
people, it is not only proper; but also our
responsibility, to engage 30 something year old Black
men on their views on colonialism. If they are able to
tell our children about the correct way to sell crack
or murder another Black man, the issue of white
supremacy should not intimidate them in the least.

Although many would like to write off the age of Black
Consciousness as a lost era; if you walk outside on a
warm summer night, after the last video has played on
BET, if you listen closely you can still hear the
voices of the ancestors shouting black power, Black
Power, BLACK POWER!

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Assata: In her own words and Assata (Shakur), An Autobiography (eBook and Audiobook), with Her RBG Video Edu. Player

April 21, 2007October 11, 2025RBG Street Scholar Leave a comment

Updated, October 11, 2024

15 Video Playlist

Assata: In her own words

My name is Assata (“she who struggles”) Shakur (“the thankful one”), and I am a 20th century escaped slave. Because of government persecution, I was left with no other choice than to flee from the political repression, racism and violence that dominate the US government’s policy towards people of color. I am an ex political prisoner, and I have been living in exile in Cuba since 1984. I have been a political activist most of my life, and although the U.S. government has done everything in its power to criminalize me, I am not a criminal, nor have I ever been one. In the 1960s, I participated in various struggles: the black liberation movement, the student rights movement, and the movement to end the war in Vietnam. I joined the Black Panther Party. By 1969 the Black Panther Party had become the number one organization targeted by the FBI’s COINTELPRO program. Because the Black Panther Party demanded the total liberation of black people, J. Edgar Hoover called it “greatest threat to the internal security of the country” and vowed to destroy it and its leaders and activists.

Assata Shakur has been living in Cuba since 1986, after escaping from prison where she was serving a life sentence imposed in a highly disputed trial. Assata was a Black Panther then a Black Liberation Army (BLA) leader in the early ’70s, so she was a target of the FBI’s COINTELPRO operation. Assata was captured in a shoot-out resulting from resistance to yet another “driving while black” police action in 1973 on the New Jersey State Turnpike. This time a State Trooper was killed. Zayd Shakur, traveling in the car with Assata, was also killed. The third person in the car, Sundiata Acoli, is still serving time over 20 years later and has recently been denied parole for another 20 years. According to one of Sundiata’ attorney, Joan P. Gibbs, “Assata, at the time of her arrest, was ‘wanted’ on federal and state charges in New York, all of which juries subsequently found her not guilty of or were dismissed.” “The idea of the Black Liberation Army emerged from conditions in Black communities: conditions of poverty, indecent housing, massive unemployment, poor medical care, and inferior education. The idea came about because Black people are not free or equal in this country. Because ninety percent of the men and women in this country’s prisons are Black and Third World. Because ten-year-old children are shot down in our streets. Because dope has saturated our communities, preying on the disillusionment and frustrations of our children. The concept of the BLA arose because of the political, social, and economic oppression of Black people in this country. And where there is oppression, there will be resistance. The BLA is part of that resistance movement. The Black Liberation Army stands for freedom and justice for all people.