Green Party VP Candidate: "The Hip-Hop Community Has To Go Green"

In her acceptance speech as the Green Party vice presidential nominee in July, hip-hop activist Rosa Clemente said to applause "we can lead a nation with a microphone. Hip-hop has been that mic, but now the Green Party needs to be the power that can turn up the volume and blow the speakers out."

Green Party Convention attendees likely knew a lot about Green Party presidential nominee and former U.S. Rep. Cynthia McKinney, but unless they knew the difference between KRS-One and Ludacris, they probably hadn't heard of Clemente.

Clemente, a Puerto Rican South Bronx native, recently stumped in Las Vegas at the 3rd Biennial National Hip-Hop Political Convention, a project she co-founded in 2003 and that is backed by the not-for-profit National Black United Fund.

Clemente feels the Green Party can attract voters by bringing hip-hop political questions to bear on the presidential campaigns. The hip-hop agenda includes addressing the need for expanded criminal and economic justice and educational opportunities for non-wealthy Americans. For many in the hip-hop community, presidential politics should mostly concern expanding and guarding human rights -- the right not to be abused or singled out by the police, the right to affordable healthcare, to real protections against gender and race discriminations, the right to federal assistance in the wake of a disaster, for example.

"I wanted people to know that the hip-hop generation has an activist side," the 36-year-old North Carolina resident said. "It's not just about music, it's not about rappers," she added. "The artists help push the politics forward, but you still need people who are leaders. And hip-hop has that."

Clemente said that it is now her goal to bring the young, African-American, Latino, working class and often voice-less members of the hip-hop community into the political arena by urging them to register and vote Green this fall.

"We're asking to get 5 percent of the electorate so we can be at the table," Clemente said. "There's no reason that there's only two parties at the table."

The Green Party will likely be on the ballot in 36 states in November. Five percent of the national vote is a threshold for established party status in many states. If the Green Party meets that goal, its candidates will be more viable and therefore in a better position to negotiate with the two main parties to have their issues addressed. The Green Party in Europe started out with very little support decades ago but now routinely pulls down impressive vote totals. There were six Green Members of the European Parliament elected in 2004.

But 5 percent of the U.S. vote is huge. The Green Party received 0.1 percent of the national vote in 2004 and only 2.7 percent in 2000, when third-party big shot Ralph Nader was on the party's ticket for president.

Clemente said she's confident the hip-hop community will make the difference this fall.

"If hip-hop decides that they want to be at the table," Clemente said, "the hip-hop community has to go to the Greens, and we'll have our 5 percent of the electorate."

Image: 2 August 2008, Hip-Hop Convention, Las Vegas.

Comments

[research]

The world Green party is doing much better. The US system is against new parties.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Green_party

[sueno]

The Green party needs to clean up their act a lot.
Their image has been severely damaged.
The Hip Hop Community, has a big identity problem a well,
and it wouldn't help voting for the Green party this election cycle.
The Green Party, really hasn't done anything for the Hip Hop community as of late-
it takes more than having a decent political analysis-
like sending McKinney and Nader to represent you.
The Green party needs an overhaul and a better platform.

[GeorgeP922]

Haha, more genius from the McKinney comedy hour.

At least this time, the Green Party lets the VP speak.

Anyone remember Nader in 2000?

Anyone remember his fake VP who never made a single public appearance.

I propose that we start a reality show for rejects of the left (McKinney, Nader, Tinker) and the right (Craig, Vitter, Lieberman).

I dont know what the subject would be, but Americans LOVE a good train wreck.

[Horace McMillon - Huffpost Blogger]

Maybe they could call the show "House divided"- Each week one would get voted off. I bet Lieberman would win. He seems to be the best of the crew at shifting alliances. Of course Lieberman and Vitter will still be in office when shooting begins. We may have to replace them with Tad Stevens and Bob Ney. Shot live on location from a federal detention facility.

Still, not sure how to work Flavor Flav into the mix...

Great Post.

[geobushono]

Tamika, Thank you for knowing what is really important, and writing about it.

Cynthia McKinney is a true progressive. ..and a textbook case of zionist retribution.

Unfortunately we readers have to venture all the way to the back page of this 'liberal' site to even find her name.
Certainly tells us all that huffpo wants the progressives in the literal back of the bus.

[TheJibreelaMonsters]

I dont think most of these rappers are giving up there 745's just yet