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FEBRUARY 2011 JIMMY McMILLAN During this latest installment of Initiative Radio's Salute to Black History Makers, Angela McKenzie pretty much turns the microphone over to the newly famous politician Jimmy McMillan, founder of The Rent Is Too Damn High Party. Although McMillan is thought to be a character, with his bubbly personality, black gloves and sleek, silver coif and beard, he definitely knows how to keep it real and stand up for the issues he believes in, for the sake of ordinary New Yorkers and their children. He is a self-educated man who ran his 2010 New York State Gubernatorial campaign on a meager $16.91 and considers himself to be an economic expert who has learned to survive using “street mathematics.” While running for New York City Mayor in 2009 and then his latest political effort in 2010, he was not taken seriously by white, or his fellow black politicians and leaders in New York, however all were forced to sit up and take notice when his mantra and party name The Rent Is Too Damn High, stole the spotlight from his fellow contenders during a televised debate. By the end of the debate Jimmy McMillan went from being the race's “dark horse” to an instant and international media sensation. The popularity of his persona and political message continues to grow, so an emboldened McMillan has his sights on succeeding Barack Obama in the next Presidential race.
Alexis McGill Johnson Angela McKenzie speaks at length with Alexis McGill Johnson, Executive Director of the American Values Institute (AVI) to continue celebrating the achievements of Black History Makers. Alexis is a Princeton and Yale graduate and even though her impressive professional history encompasses the worlds of academia, politics and entertainment she has not forgotten her black roots and cultural heritage. Alexis has held top posts at Hip-Hop mogul Sean "P. Diddy" Combs' Citizen Change/Vote or Die Campaign and Russell Simmons' Hip-Hop Summit Action Network, where she first crossed paths with one Senator Barack Obama. Now at the AVI, she and a national consortium of researchers and social justice advocates commit themselves to upholding the values of fairness and democracy in American society, by seeking to counter the potential for implicit bias that increases race-based anxiety and other societal ills that can undermine these ideals. In this interview Alexis speaks about her life and childhood, growing up with Black Nationalist parents who taught her to embrace the African and black American experience. She reflects upon her youthful days when the family listened to Malcolm X audio tapes, wore African dashikis and sported Afro hairdos. She also illustrates how a telephone call she received from Condoleeza Rice when she was a young scholar, impacted her decision to become a political "expert" in her field.
On this installment of Initiative Radio's Salute to Black History Makers series, Angela catches up with fourteen year old, Brooklyn native Brian Bradley, known in the Hip Hop music scene as the Astronomical Kid to discusses the parallels of being a regular kid and a musical sensation. Just like any other kid, Astro battles everyday life, keeping his grades up while leading the life of a Hip Hop prodigy, performing, producing his own sitcoms and cartoons and writing his own rhymes. His hit single entitled "Stop Looking At My Mom," inspired by disrespectful men looking at his mother and other women like eye candy, has gone viral. Even his Youtube page has over a half million views to date. Loving Hip Hop music, Astro strives to produce positive music for his fans, especially the younger generations. Through his own actions and music, he spreads the message of "pulling up their pants" both literally and figuratively so today's youth can reach their full potential, even when lower socio-economic standards and poverty are commonplace. Bradley speaks of his Hip Hop collaborations, his mentors, like Jay Z and Michael Jackson and his aspirations to expand his career. His message to all black women to be strong physically and emotionally and motivate and encourage their children is universal, because without his mother's hard work and support, he would have not been in the position he's in today. At just fourteen years old, the Astronomical Kid has made an impact on the Hip Hop music scene and we are just witnessing the infancy of his career and anxiously awaiting more.
On this Millennium Art Academy (MAA) edition of Initiative Radio, Angela McKenzie starts her month-long Salute to Black History Makers series by interviewing Ms. Lilien Christmas about her life growing up in segregated parts of New Jersey and about the legacy that she has left and continues to leave behind at ninety-one years old. She speaks about the injustices of her segregated childhood, the crucial lessons she learned in the school of life along with academics and the importance of preserving memories and the history of successful Negroes in America. Christmas is adamant about not wanting to be called or referred to as a black or African-American, but rather as a Negro with a capital N - a term she is both familiar with and proud of, since colored people of her time fought so hard to earn it. She is an active and outspoken woman who is devoted to preserving the Negro heritage and the achievements that Negroes have made and strives to do that as a participant in the Millennium Pearl Initiative (MPI) inter-generational program. This program is devoted to allowing MAA students to interact and communicate freely with elders on a weekly basis. In the second segment of the show, two students of the MPI discuss their previous misconceptions about senior citizens and revel in how much value they received from participating in the program. They once viewed the elderly as cranky people who are dissatisfied with the youth, but eventually they learned to embrace them, their similarities, their experiences and their outlooks on life. Opeolu Sehindemi and Patrick Price discuss how their elder mentors taught them empathy and understanding of changing times. Issues that the students thought were cliche or irrelevant to their lives, turned out to be pertinent in many ways, and they came out with a deeper understanding of the trials and tribulations that these men and women went through, in order for them to have free and better lives. |
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