Tag: justice

MAR 29, 2012 - Chaka Khan and others have released a tribute music video titled "Super Life" in honor of Trayvon Martin, and in response to the possibility that Trayvon Martin wearing a hoodie may have played a role in him being profiled by his killer. The video is also sort of a PSA campaign, with people wearing hoodies saying "I am Trayvon, I am [their name], Fear Kills, Love Heals". Chaka gets some help from friends including Angela Bassett, Eva Pigford, Eric Benet, Kelly Price, Kenny Latimore, Loretta Devine and Kimberly Elise. Chaka wears a hoodie in the video and sings:

"Another mama is cryin'
"Cause another young man has gone and died
He's not some statistic
He's an awesome destiny denied"

MAR 28, 2012 - JTMP has been reporting on the freethinker gathering and concert "Rock Beyond Belief" that will take place on this Saturday, March 31 at Fort Bragg, NC. Having a non-evangelical and/or non-religious event was a hard pill to swallow for the base commanders, and was met with fierce resistance and backlash. One of the bands participating at the event Aiden received hate email from religious people saying that the band Aiken was "burning down churches for the Obama campaign video" and other ridiculous nonsense. This arose because one of their videos shows a scene of a church burning (watch below), and Fox News reporter Todd Starnes wrote an article twisting the words of the song so badly and taking them totally out of context. Aiden's intention of the scene of the burning churches represents Christians, Muslims and Jews burning their rival's churches through the centuries, and the violence and nonsense perpetrated in the name of religion. The band in no way shape or form condones or promotes violence against churches or religious people. They just don't want discrimination against freethinkers. Read a good article about it here.

MAR 27, 2012 - Activist rapper Rebel Diaz has released a new song on Occupy the Airwaves with his new song, "American Nitemare", where he asks people from the inner city "not to leave when you get that degree" and saying we need to help the inner cities who are struggling, like planting trees, creating jobs and fixing the schools. The video was directed by Mateo Zapata, produced by DJ Dez Andres, and he was helped out by Windy City of God. Check it out below.

MAR 26, 2012 - Activist rapper musician Jasiri X, whom JTMP has blogged about when posting about Occupy Wall Street, has wrote and put out a music video titled, "A Song for Trayvon" in honor of Trayvon Martin, the young man shot and killed in Florida last month. Check out the performance at the House of the Lord Church in Brooklyn, New York in a video below. To sign a petition calling for justice for Trayvon, visit MoveOn.org, and also you can text "Trayvon" to 30644. The hashtag is #SongForTrayvon.

MAR 26, 2012 - Last Friday on March 23, 2012 in Tampa, Florida Bruce Springsteen performed his controversial song "American Skin (41 Bullets)", a song he had only performed twice before. The song was written back in 2000 and was about the horrible shooting death of Amadou Diallo, who was shot by police 41 times when he was taking out his wallet. When Bruce performed the song in Atlanta back in 2000, the Patrolmen's Benevolent Association called for the boycott of Bruce Springsteen when he came to Madison Square Garden in NYC, where he sang the song again. The call for a boycott had no effect, Springsteen did an amazing 10-show run at MSG.

Many people are saying it is obvious the recent shooting death of Trayvon Martin in Florida last month inspired Springsteen to perform the song again. Millions of people and us here at JTMP have been shocked and horrified by the hunting down and murdering of a young man, and that the murderer is free. There is a petition over at Change.org with over 2 million signatures calling for the prosecution of the killer. The lines from the song unfortunately show in America you still can get shot for the color of your skin:

Well, is it a gun, is it a knife 
Is it a wallet, this is your life 
It ain't no secret (it ain't no secret) 
No secret my friend 
You can get killed just for living in your American skin

Listen to audio of the performance of "American Skin (41 Shots)" below.