Dall-E Mini, the AI-powered text-to-image generator has taken over the internet. With its ability to render nearly anything your meme-loving heart desires, anyone can make their dreams come true.
DALL-E 2, a portmanteau of Salvador Dali, the surrealist and Wall-E, the Pixar robot, was created by OpenAI and is not widely available; it creates far cleaner imagery and was recently used to launch Cosmpolitan’s first AI-generated cover. The art world has been one of the first industries to truly embrace AI.
The open-sourced miniature version is what’s responsible for the memes. Programmer Boris Dayma wants to make AI more accessible; he built the Dall-E Mini program as part of a competition held by Google and an AI community called Hugging Face.
And with great technology, comes great memes. Typing a short phrase into Dall-E Mini will manifest 9 different amalgamations, theoretically shaping into reality the strange images you’ve conjured. Its popularity leads to too much traffic, often resulting in an error that can be fixed by refreshing the page or trying again later.
If you want to be a part of the creation of AI-powered engines, it all starts with code. CodeAcademy explains that Dall-E Mini is a seq2seq model, “typically used in natural language processing (NLP) for things like translation and conversational modeling.” CodeAcademy’s Text Generation course will teach you how to utilize seq2seq, but they also offer opportunities to learn 14+ coding languages at your own pace.
You can choose the Machine Learning Specialist career path if you want to become a Data Scientist who develops these types of programs, but you can also choose courses by language, subject (what is cybersecurity?) or even skill - build a website with HTML, CSS, and more.
CodeAcademy offers many classes for free as well as a free trial; it’s an invaluable resource for giving people of all experience levels the fundamentals they need to build the world they want to see.
As for Dall-E Mini, while some have opted to create beauty, most have opted for memes. Here are some of the internet’s favorites:
pic.twitter.com/DbLoe1s00c
— Weird Dall-E Mini Generations (@weirddalle) June 8, 2022
pic.twitter.com/cxtliOrlHz
— Weird Dall-E Mini Generations (@weirddalle) June 12, 2022
no fuck every other dall-e image ive made this one is the best yet pic.twitter.com/iuFNm4UTUM
— bri (@takoyamas) June 10, 2022
pic.twitter.com/rEBHoWR7lH
— Weird Dall-E Mini Generations (@weirddalle) June 12, 2022
pic.twitter.com/RSZaCIDVV7
— Chairman George (@superbunnyhop) June 9, 2022
back at it again at the DALL•E mini pic.twitter.com/iPGsaMThBC
— beca. ⚢ (@dorysief) June 9, 2022
There’s no looking back now, not once you’ve seen Pugachu; artificial intelligence is here to stay.
BTS Speak Out Against Anti-Asian Hate, Share Their Experiences
The K-Pop stars are using their platform to contribute to a broader conversation on the discrimination that breeds hate crimes.
K-Pop sensation BTS have added their voices to the concern around a recent spike in anti-Asian hate crimes in the US and elsewhere.
On Tuesday the band — who, along with their management company, donated $1 million to Black Lives Matter last summer — took to Twitter with the hashtags #StopAsianHate and #StopAAPIHate, sharing a message of unity and anti-discrimination, expressing "grief and anger" over violence and lives lost, and recounting some of their own experiences of anti-Asian racism.
The message refers to times when the group behind hit songs like "Dynamite" and "Black Swan" had "endured expletives without reason," "were mocked for the way [they] look," and "were even asked why Asians spoke in English." They expressed the harm that these experiences had done on a personal level — making them feel powerless — but acknowledged that they were "inconsequential compared to the events that have occurred over the past few weeks."
But of course, the past few weeks have only brought to light a trend that has been building since the beginning of the coronavirus pandemic. Since that time, the fact that the virus originated in China has given bigots an excuse to target individuals as representatives of entire racial groups, and the incidents of hate crimes against Asian-Americans and Pacific Islanders have more than doubled in major American cities.
In an atmosphere reminiscent of the World War II era — when tens of thousands of Japanese Americans were treated as potential spies and forced into inhumane internment camps — American politicians have encouraged conspiratorial and xenophobic framing of the current crisis. Former president Donald Trump has been particularly guilty of this scapegoating, regularly referring to COVID-19 as "the China virus," and — on at least one occasion — as "Kung flu," openly and proudly conflating the deadly pandemic with unrelated aspects of Chinese culture.
In their effort to deflect their constituents' anger and resentment over economic and social conditions brought on by their mismanagement of the pandemic, they have highlighted false associations of the virus with people of Asian and Pacific Islander descent — despite the fact that far more white people have caught and spread the virus at this point. And they have lent credence to unfounded theories that the Chinese government created or intentionally spread the disease.
As a result, thousands have reported being directly affected by incidents of anti-Asian harassment and assault — with many likely going unreported -- and millions more have been living with the fear that they will be targeted next.
While this worrying trend had received some coverage previously — with particular attention to incidents of violence against the elderly — it didn't become major national news until March 16th of this year. That afternoon, a 21-year-old gunman in Atlanta targeted massage parlors staffed primarily by Asian employees, killing eight people — including six Asian women — at three spas, in a deadly spree which he reportedly blamed on "sexual addiction."
Yong Ae Yue Suncha Kim Soon Chung Park Hyun Jung Grant (maiden name Kim) Daoyou Feng Xiaojie Tan Delaina Ashley Yau… https://t.co/c8CpXaxMvT— Eugene Lee Yang (@Eugene Lee Yang) 1616179564.0
Despite Georgia officials' reluctance to label the murders as a hate crime — with one police spokesperson being removed from the case after telling press that the shooter had "had a really bad day" — it clearly folds into the ongoing trend and has stoked pushback and protests against anti-Asian hate. But it also points to the fact that the current trend is part of an existing history of racism and hate.
The shooter's sense that Asian women working in massage parlors are necessarily sex workers and that this was more of a "temptation" that he wanted to eliminate than, for instance, the strip club across from one of the spas he attacked, tie into longstanding issues of race, immigration, and fetishization.
Whether or not he invested in the xenophobic framing that all Asian people are somehow to blame for the spread of the coronavirus, he was playing into a notion of Asian women as sex workers that dates back to the 1800s and the first federal immigration law.
Responding to "Yellow Peril" panic, the Page Act of 1875 imposed special restrictions on women trying to immigrate from East Asia, with the belief — as expressed by President Ulysses S. Grant — that "few [Asian women] are brought to our shores to pursue honorable or useful occupations." In case that wasn't clear enough, the law required Asian women intending to immigrate to answer a series of questions about sex work and undergo a medical examination to determine their "character."
Today, despite the fact that there is no evidence any of the women who were killed were sex workers, much of the media has carried on this history — covering the shooter's supposed motives with a credulous narrative of a sex addict killing sex workers. Clearly a broader conversation about anti-Asian racism is necessary.
We Need To Talk About Anti-Asian Hate www.youtube.com
So, while it's true that BTS members have not experienced the most dramatic, violent consequences of that racism, it's vitally important that they're using their popularity and their platform — with around 34 million followers on Twitter — to keep the conversation going and call out all forms of discrimination.
Because as long as our culture makes room for depictions of Asian people as disease vectors, fetish objects, hyper-foreign curiosities, or model minorities to be used as a cudgel against other marginalized groups — as anything less than complex individuals trying to live their lives — there will be room for anti-Asian racism, hate, and violence.
The Ongoing Power and Relevance of Chilean Protest Anthem "A Rapist in Your Path"
This article contains mentions of graphic sexual assault, abuse, and murder.
Five years ago, a pregnant 14-year-old girl named Chiara Perez was killed in Argentina. Her death sparked a movement that has been referred to as the Latin American #MeToo.
#NiUnaMenos (Not One More) is a sweeping protest movement against murder and violence against women that brought thousands of women to the streets all across South America. Often, protestors employ theatrical techniques to make sure their messages are being heard.
One of the more famous performances to stem from the protests is a song created by Las Tesis, a quartet of women who used feminist theory to craft the perfect outcry against the epidemic that is violence against women. Their song, "Un Violador en Tu Camino (A Rapist in Your Path)," has since been performed in demonstrations everywhere from India to the United States.
CHILE: Rapist In Your Way [Un violador en tu camino] Las Tesis strong chant on police rape, HR abuse www.youtube.com
The song's lyrics are powerful, a direct protest against the idea that individual women are at fault for systemic violence. They have since become a rallying cry across the globe.
"The rapist is you / It's the cops / The judges / The state / The president," its lyrics read. "And it's not my fault / nor where I was / nor what I wore."
Action Rooted in Theory
The song, which directly targets political systems like the police and the state and links them to wider issues of violence against women, is inspired by the work of Argentinian feminist theorist Rita Segato. In her research, Segato sees violence against women as a political issue built into the frameworks that dictate vast power structures.
"Masculinity rules by means of a primal and permanent pedagogy," Segato writes in "A Manifesto in Four Themes," an abridged version of the introduction of her book La guerra contra las mujeres. "It teaches the expropriation of value and consequent domination...This violence perfectly expresses the ascendancy of a world of ownership or indeed lordship, a new form of domination resulting from the acceleration of the concentration and expansion of a para-state sphere of control over life. In these crimes, capital in its contemporary form expresses the existence of an order ruled by arbitrary patriarchal impulse and exhibits the spectacle."
In short, violence against women (as well as, one might say, marginalized groups, the poor, and the Earth) is a direct consequence of a patriarchal system that uses ownership as its means of maintaining power and capital as its means of self-expression. Therefore, addressing the problem also means addressing the entire system that maintains it.
It's classic feminist theory, but for women who have to deal with violence day in and day out, it's more than analysis — it's a pathway to liberation.
For Las Tesis, it was also the inspiration for a song. Based in Valparaíso, the Las Tesis Collective describes themselves as a "feminist artistic group performing in Chile." Since the release of "A Rapist in Your Path," they have collaborated with Russian feminist group Pussy Riot on a protest song that condemns police violence against women in Latin America and addresses the stunning global spike in domestic violence that has occurred since the onset of the pandemic.
They were also investigated by the Chilean government on the basis of "intimidation against the police," though the charges were dropped in January.
A Song Goes Viral and Speaks to a Global Problem
Their song's global impact can't be understated. "Las Tesis has been key in denouncing police violence and violence against women in Chile... their song has become a symbol of the universal demand of women to be able to live a life free of violence," UN Human Rights Council Special Rapporteurs said.
The song's performances are often theatrical, involving movements that specifically target the song's subjects. For example, the song is about how state institutions turn a blind eye to violence against women, so dancers often wear blindfolds. The blindfolds also reference eye injuries suffered by many protestors during the 2019 Chilean protests, as well as the blindfolds that victims of torture have been forced to wear in Pinochet-era Chile and horrific modern abuse committed by the Chilean police.
In addition, performers often use a series of three squats, referencing the positions women are forced to take by police when arrested in Chile, and wear red handprints over their mouths. Every move, every line, is laden with symbolism, and none of it is f**king around.
The song has been performed across the world, to varying responses. In India, performers faced water cannons as they chanted the song. In New York, protestors sang the song outside the trial of Harvey Weinstein. In Bogotá, Colombia, feminist journalists changed the lyrics of the song to reference femicide.
'The Rapist Is You!': Women Flash Mob Protests Outside Harvey Weinstein Courthouse | NBC News www.youtube.com
The song's amorphousness, its ability to mold to fit different types of violence against women, speaks both to the genius of the lyrics and also to the fact that all across the world, violence against women is state-sanctioned and legitimized by power structures at hand.
The song comes to mind yet again in light of Sarah Everard's murder. Everard was killed by a police officer while walking home in London, and her death sparked a global outcry. Though the circumstances of her death were different from those that originally inspired the song, its lyrics still contain a biting truth. Again, a person in power — in this case, a policeman — was the source of violence. Again, an entire system conspired to let this happen.
A Shadow Pandemic
While Everard's murder was widely publicized and politicized, many of the places where "Un Violador en Tu Camino" has been performed have long been plagued by extreme, unnoticed violence against women and frequent "disappearances" of women who are never found. For example, almost 1,200 women disappeared in Peru between March and June 2020; and in Brazil, 143 women were murdered over the same period.
It's impossible to find accurate statistics on the rates of femicide in some countries, where these crimes against women are often denied or never reported, but some studies estimate that in El Salvador 6 out of every 100,000 women are murdered. These murders are usually preceded by domestic abuse.
These statistics are, in turn, part of a much larger global issue — a pattern, if you will, or perhaps a system. According to UN data, "1 in 3 women experiences violence in her lifetime. A study conducted between 2010 and 2018 painted a horrifying picture," WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus told reporters. "An estimated 736 million women — almost one in three women globally — have suffered intimate partner violence, sexual violence from a non-partner — or both — at least once in their lives."
बलात्कारी हो तुम [The Rapist Is You] Chilean protest song in Hindi for #Hathras www.youtube.com
Domestic violence has always been common, but it has spiked during the pandemic— and we may never know how much, but a study from the British Medical Journal theorized that it has doubled in some countries.
Few women receive adequate responses to the violence even when they come forward, which many do or cannot for various reasons. For example, in Chile, 42 cases of sexual abuse are reported to the police each day; but in 2018, only 25.7% of sexual abuse cases led to judicial rulings. Women are frequently blamed for their assaults based on their actions, as opposed to any form of accountability.
"In the Chilean judicial system, stereotypes and biases harm women victims of sexual violence," said Bárbara Sepúlveda Hales, speaking for the feminist lawyer group Abofem. "In many trials, the life and sexual behavior of the victim is exposed as if it were a justification for the aggression they suffered."
It is difficult to locate the exact causes of this violence, which is epidemic across the world. With regards to violence against women in Latin America, researcher Lynn Marie Stephen blames it on the "region's colonial history and to a complex web of social, racial, gender and economic inequalities."
Addressing violence against women around the world is going to also take a complex, multifaceted series of responses. "Un Violador en Tu Camino (A Rapist in Your Path)" and songs like it are just the beginning of making a crack in the plague that is domestic, sexual, and state-sanctioned (or state-ignored) violence against women.
But one thing is clear: The violence is systemic. The lyrics hold back nothing. The rapist is you.
Read the lyrics to "Un Violador en Tu Camino" below:
Patriarchy is a judge
that judges us for being born,
our punishment
is the violence you don't see.
Patriarchy is a judge
that judges us for being born,
our punishment
is the violence you now see.
It's femicide,
Impunity for my killer.
It's disappearance.
It's rape.
And it's not my fault, nor where I was, nor what I wore.
And it's not my fault, nor where I was, nor what I wore.
And it's not my fault, nor where I was, nor what I wore.
And it's not my fault, nor where I was, nor what I wore.
The rapist was you
The rapist is you.
It's policemen,
Judges,
The state,
The president.
The oppressive state is a rapist man.
The oppressive state is a rapist man.
The oppressive state is a rapist man.
The oppressive state is a rapist man.
The rapist was you
The rapist is you.
Sleep tight, innocent girl
don't worry about the criminal,
your policeman lover is taking care
of your sweet dreams.
The rapist is you.
The rapist is you.
The rapist is you.
The rapist is you.
/
El patriarcado es un juez
que nos juzga por nacer,
y nuestro castigo
es la violencia que no ves.
El patriarcado es un juez
que nos juzga por nacer,
y nuestro castigo
es la violencia que ya ves.
Es feminicidio.
Impunidad para mi asesino.
Es la desaparición.
Es la violación.
Y la culpa no era mía, ni dónde estaba ni cómo vestía.
Y la culpa no era mía, ni dónde estaba ni cómo vestía.
Y la culpa no era mía, ni dónde estaba ni cómo vestía.
Y la culpa no era mía, ni dónde estaba ni cómo vestía.
El violador eras tú,
El violador eres tú.
Son los pacos,
los jueces,
el Estado,
el presidente.
El Estado opresor es un macho violador
El Estado opresor es un macho violador
El violador eras tú.
El violador eres tú.
Duerme tranquila, niña inocente
sin preocuparte del bandolero,
que por tu sueño dulce y sonriente
vela tu amante carabinero.
Here Are 6 Punjabi Songs That Support India's Farmers
Want to know what's going on with India's controversial farming laws? Here are six Punjabi songs that tell you exactly what millions of farmers think about the new laws.
In 2020, India's grassroots agricultural movement blossomed to become the largest protest in human history — and it's still going on.
Singhs And Singers: Support The Punjabi Singers Taking It To The Streets www.youtube.com
After three agricultural laws were passed in September, small farmers' movements began popping up primarily in Punjab, the heart of Indian agriculture and its fight for social justice. After two months without success, farmers' unions from the northwestern neighboring states of Punjab, Haryana, and Rajasthan banded together and said, "Dilli Chalo" ("Let's go to Delhi").
Once an estimated 300,000 farmers showed up at the capital's doorstops and blocked all four entryways into the city, the world took notice and listened to what these farmers had to say.
India's huge farmer protests, explained youtu.be
All they were asking for was a repeal of laws that farmers, economists, and sociologists agree will hurt India's small-scale farmers and help corporations amass wealth at the expense of said farmers. A capitalist's free-market dream, India's agricultural laws deregulate the market and remove the Minimum Support Price (MSP), which is a minimum price the Indian government will pay for crops. Forced to compete with powerful multinational corporations, small-scale farmers won't be able to compete with the low prices of mass produce.
This is actually happening to American farmers as we speak. According to Iris Kim from Business Insider, during the Trump administration's response to COVID-19, "government assistance has gone almost exclusively to corporations" while "small farmers who rely on direct-to-consumer sales have been shut out of receiving government subsidies."
This is after a lengthy history of the American government disenfranchising Black farmers: Kim writes that "during the 20th century, Black farmers lost over 90% of their farmland to policies that consolidated land and subsidized corporate agribusinesses."
If India's new laws remain, the result would be a monopolized market, significantly less local produce, and millions of ruined livelihoods. Farmers forced to sell their goods for exorbitant prices would watch as their crops rotted away, their acres of land and decades of farming knowledge rendered useless. That is what Indian Congress foisted upon Indian farmers in September without voter approval, a disgrace in a land that asserts itself as the "world's largest democracy."
Aside from the inevitable impovershment of India's farmers, there is a risk that India's farmer suicide crisis will only worsen, as farmers can no longer feed their families and kill themselves for a government pension for their families. Since 1995, around 300,000 Indian farmers have committed suicide.
Yes, that is how broken Indian agriculture is: Farmers drink the pesticides that have been slowly killing their communities and livelihoods since the Green Revolution.
After seeing the full weight of what Indian farmers are dealing with, the fact that they're rising up by the thousands is both an inspiration and a call to action the world over. And it's no coincidence that the center of the movement is in Punjab, a land that has been so often confronted with conflict that the justice-oriented religion Sikhism was born out of this region.
Justice Warriors: How Sikhs Continue The Fight For South Asian Equity www.youtube.com
Proving time and time again that they are a freedom-minded force to be reckoned with, Punjabi Sikhs have banded alongside farmers from different states and religions to send a message: Kisan Madzoor Ekta Zindabad, or "Long Live The Unity Between Farmers And Laborers". And while one U.K. man was fined £10,000 for organizing a car rally in October, there are other ways that global citizens can support Punjabi farmers: by listening to the words of its modern-day poets.
Here are six Punjabi protest songs that are all about supporting farmers, preserving Punjabi culture, and uplifting a people that Mughal conquerors, British colonizers and even Indian presidents have tried to eradicate and silence.
Attwadi by Diljit Dosanjh
The GOAT, the king — whatever you want to call him — Punjabi phenom Diljit Dosanjh has been a champion of the cause through social media, in person and through his song "Attwadi."
Attwadi - Diljit Dosanjh ( Official song ) Karan Aujla || Mix Singh || New Punjabi songs 2020 youtu.be
Months after the release of the aptly-named "G.O.A.T.", Dosanjh released "Attwadi" to lend his voice to vocalizing the frustrations of Punjabi farmers spanning decades.
In Punjabi, attwadi means terrorist — an extreme choice for a song title, but it is only because protesting farmers have been falsely labeled as "terrorists" by Indian politicians and media. Much like the peaceful efforts of BLM protestors in the wake of George Floyd's death, Indian protestors have been standing at the gates of New Delhi demanding change. And much like conservative politicians and detractors in the U.S., the nationalistic branch of Indian society labels anyone who critiques the government a "terrorist," even when they are non-violent.
This taps into a deep history of labeling Punjabis as destructive separatists, a tradition that dates back to Punjabi freedom fighter Bhagat Singh. Singh, a dedicated martyr for the cause of Indian independence, has been labeled a terrorist in Indian history books long after Mohandas Gandhi refused time and again to pardon him. Singh embodies a sentiment many Sikh Punjabis feel: After sacrificing their lives to protect freedom and justice, fellow Indians label them as terrorists. This is exactly what Dosanjh says in his powerful chorus:
"The people whose dharam (way of life) we saved / the people whose country we saved from its enemies / call us terrorists when we ask for our rights."
This refers to the centuries during which Sikhs fought to protect the beliefs of all Indians, no matter their religion or background. Dosanjh's song calls out the hypocrisy of those who label these farmers terrorists while enjoying their crops in a song that discusses the journey millions have taken from Punjab to New Delhi to ask for justice.
If you're not familiar with Punjabi or culture's political history, Dosanjh has a pleasantly poppy discography to explore. Check out the lovely melancholic ballad that is PEED (the Punjabi word for "pain," which is pronounced more like peerdh) or the English-infused lovelorn "Do You Know?"
PEED Lyrics English Translation Diljit Dosanjh | G.O.A.T. www.youtube.com
Do You Know - Diljit Dosanjh - Lyrics And English Translation www.youtube.com
Jatta Tadka Hoja by Jass Bajwa
A passionate advocate for farmers' rights, Punjabi singer Jass Bajwa has made multiple songs on this list. "Jatt Takda Hoja" is a call to action for Jatt farmers as they fight to till the land they've inhabited for centuries.
Jatta Takda Hoja : Jass Bajwa | G Skillz | Pavitar Bal | Latest Punjabi Songs 2020 | Being Digital youtu.be
Jatts are a prevalent Punjabi ethnic group that identifies with being agricultural land-owners. While Jatts are Hindu, Muslim, and Sikh, they were integral to the formation of Sikhism and are commonly identified in the context of Sikh Punjabi culture. In Bajwa's song and in various Punjabi films, Jatt represents the pastoral Punjabi who is proud of their land and is always willing to fight for it.
Below is an English translation of "Jatta Takda Hoja."
Kisaan Anthem by Various Artists
The second of Bajwa's contributions, "Kisaan Anthem" features ten powerful Punjabi artists as they speak truth to power in the realities of state-to-nation relations.
Kisaan Anthem | Mankirt| Nishawn| Jass | Jordan| Fazilpuria| Dilpreet| Flow| Shree| Afsana|Bobby|Sky www.youtube.com
In this collaboration, Bajwa claims that "the Indian media has been sold" because major Indian television outlets have openly endorsed a pro-Modi/anti-farmer platform. In a hilarious turn of phrase, protestors are now referring to major media as "Godi Media," godi being the Hindi word for "lap" that conveniently rhymes with Modi.
Perhaps the most striking performance is by Afsana Khan, who boldly calls out the men in her community to go to Delhi and fight for the cause.
"Boys of the village, what are you looking at now? Go to Delhi /Don't somehow end up sleeping through it / Punjab is dying in Delhi."
Like Dosanjh, Khan points out that the protestors are being called terrorists, asserting that if they were truly terrorists, the city would be overwhelmed: "The ones you're calling terrorist, Delhi / if they have to become terrorists / you won't be able to handle them."
It's important to note that Khan is a Muslim Punjabi woman. Although Sikh Punjabi men have been frequently portrayed as being at the forefront of these protests, there are Hindu and Muslim Punjabis marching with the same interests. Among the millions opposing India's agricultural laws are Hindus, Muslims, Sikhs, and a variety of other religions from virtually all of India's states, making this a unifying issue that transcends ethnic identity in a region so often divided by it.
Jawani Zindabad by Kanwar Grewal
Punjabi folk singer Kanwer Grewal teamed up with singer/songwriter Harf Cheema for "Jawani Zindabad" and "Pecha."
Jawani Zindabad [Official Video] Kanwar Grewal | Harf Cheema| Latest Punjabi Songs 2020| Rubai Music www.youtube.com
Jawani zindabad translates to "long live the youth," with Grewal and Cheema appreciating the young Punjabis who understand Punjab's history of oppression and are participating in the farmers' protests.
Anyone under the age of 35 doesn't remember India's 1984 Sikh genocide, a time when the Indian government attacked the Golden Temple and sanctioned brutal ethnic killings. This younger generation has never seen anything like the widespread upheaval that took place at that time, so for generations young and old to band together is a powerful occurrence happening at Delhi's borders. The chorus of "Jawani Zindabad" can be translated to this:
"Today, the young have woken up / Today, in every village, a storm woke up / Now all of Punjab depends on you / Victory belongs to the young."
Released in late November, Pecha opens with a poetic personification of Punjab.
Pecha {Official Video} | Kanwar Grewal | Harf Cheema |Latest Punjabi Songs 2020 | Rubai Music | youtu.be
"Hey Punjab, Delhi has ill intentions / Delhi's reach has arrived around your neck," Grewal sings. He then poses a weighted question: "Why does the ruin of your future and happiness make Delhi applaud?"
Haq by Harbajan Mann
Despite the usefulness of the term, haq is an Urdu/Punjabi word that lacks a direct English translation. As it's used in nearly every song on this list, it's worth exploring one of three ways haq has been defined during the farmers' protests.
Haq could mean any of the following:
-An abstract idea of that which is due to a person or governmental body by law or tradition or nature
-That which is deserved or owed
-An assertion of a right (as to money or property)
In folk singer Harbajan Mann's case, the first definition is what Mann refers to as the haq Punjabi farmers are owed by the Indian government (in this case, it's the righteous treatment of farmers).
"Now we won't go back or leave without taking what's ours (haq)."
Haq (Official Video) | Harbhajan Mann | Music Empire | Harwinder Tatla | Latest Punjabi Songs 2020 youtu.be
Chardikala by Satinder Sartaaj
Unlike the other songs that were carefully composed in studios, this is a recording of international actor/singer Satinder Sartaaj crooning at a protest rally at the Singhu Border on December 3rd. Sartaaj spoke from the soul about the Sikh concept of Chardi Kala.
ਆਹ ਦੇਖ ਕਲਾਵਾਂ ਚੜ੍ਹਦੀਆਂ ਨੇ | Satinder Sartaaj | Chardikla | Unrecorded Song | Whatsapp status lyrics. youtu.be
Loosely translated as "relentless optimism," Chardi Kala is living in a positive, buoyant, and blissful mental state throughout life. It is something Sikhs repeat to one another as a way of coping with life's hardships: Remain blissful and uplifted, for Waheguru (God) provides divine justice.
For further context on how Sikhs embrace Chardi Kala, this beautiful tribute by Valarie Kaur chronicles how a paralyzed elderly survivor of the 2012 Oak Creek Massacre, Baba Punjab Singh, lived in Chardi Kala until his dying breath.
In Sartaaj's impromptu performance, he tells an energized crowd to have Chardi Kala in this tumultuous time, an uplifting note to carry in dark times.
Black Power, White Money: How Ice Cube and Lil Wayne's Wealth Insulates Them from Donald Trump
After four years of reversing Obama-era policies, empowering white supremacy, and allowing the coronavirus to kill more than 200,000 Americans—a disproportionate amount of them Black—Trump is finally attempting to reach out to Black voters weeks before the election.
Ice Cube and Lil Wayne's ability to ignore all of the damage the Trump administration has done is a sharp reminder of not only class solidarity among the super-wealthy, but also the power disparity between white and Black people.
During the last few weeks of the 2020 election, the Trump campaign spent over $20 million on a last-minute grasp for Black voters. Part of this effort involved reaching out to Black celebrities like Ice Cube and Lil Wayne and unveiling what the administration called "The Platinum Plan," a part of Trump's second term strategy that would empower Black Americans by increasing "access to capital in black communities by almost $500 billion."
The plan also lists "Access to better education and job training opportunities" and "Safe Urban Neighborhoods with Highest Policing Standards," both of which implies some acknowledgment of the issues Black Americans face every day. But given Trump's stance on the Black Lives Matter movement, these promises ring hollow.
Ice Cube and Lil Wayne's willingness to associate with the Trump Administration is admirable if you consider their efforts attempts to insulate their communities against the possibility of a Trump victory in the 2020 election, but the promises Trump is making them are vague at best and hypocritical at worst.
After four years of reversing Obama-era policies, empowering white supremacy, and allowing the Coronavirus to kill more than 200,000 Americans—a disproportionate amount of them Black—Trump is finally attempting to reach out to Black voters weeks before the election. The amount of ignorance required to ignore all of that, when it's written on the page, is astronomical.
Ice Cube and Lil Wayne may have their own reasons for supporting Trump, but their ability to be independent comes from their wealth. They are allowed to choose sides because they are rich and are insulated from the consequences of the political world, while their Blackness gives them ties to communities that they have the ability to leave because they are rich.
In 2016, Ice Cube said during an interview with Bloomberg, "Do I think he's gonna do anything to help poor people or people that's struggling? No, because he's a rich white guy. He's always been rich, being rich don't make you bad, I ain't saying that. But I'm just saying, how can he relate?"
Uh oh. I have a sneaky suspicion that Donald Trump might win the demographic of wealthy Black male rappers who don'… https://t.co/e2QTZ3i9KX— Keith Boykin (@Keith Boykin) 1604012122.0
This sentiment isn't too far from the mark. It's worth remembering that Ice Cube is a millionaire himself—a millionaire who is allowed to posture as a community leader due to his fame. The Blackness and wealth that these celebrities possess make them indispensable assets for people in positions of white power.
In American politics, Black people have been offered a choice between voting for a party that allies itself with their oppression and a party that promises to oppress them less. Reasonably, many have just opted to not participate.
But Ice Cube's alignment with Trump will not persuade people to vote. In fact, it may just persuade more people not to vote, as they see a rich Black man whose wealth and fame has given him the opportunity to stand side by side with white power be won over by some hollow words on a sheet of paper.
The thing that uniquely places all Black Americans into a community is that they are pinned under the same thumb. They have fewer opportunities for upward movement, and the opportunities at the bottom of the ladder don't pay enough to move up that ladder. They are killed disproportionately by their supposed protectors. Lil Wayne and Ice Cube are insulated from, not immune to, these facts because of their exorbitant wealth.
Ice cube is Black to everyone, a fact that overwrites his wealth. He, Lil Wayne and anyone else who falls under this umbrella can always have their wealth disregarded by whiteness, so in order to be validated in their accomplishments, they often associate with whiteness.
Still, their very real wealth fundamentally separates them from the middle and lower class Black people that they seek to represent.
A lot of energy being spent on telling me to stay in my lane. Zero energy spent on telling Biden/Harris they need t… https://t.co/ObBkGOUFNd— Ice Cube (@Ice Cube) 1602949504.0
Every side is the Darkside for us here in America. They’re all the same until something changes for us. They all li… https://t.co/aa2hg4iT6N— Ice Cube (@Ice Cube) 1602709073.0
Patti Smith, Questlove, and Obama Join Joy to the Polls for Election Celebrations
Selena Gomez, Swizz Beatz, Pete Souza, and many others have also contributed playlists to the initiative, designed to bring more happiness and hope to the voting process.
The election may be freaking you out, bumming you out, or just reinforcing what you already felt about America—but Joy to the Polls is trying to change that.
Too often, voting is a solemn, dread-filled experience. Long lines, high tensions, suppression, and the looming threat of COVID-19 have all made it uniquely difficult for people to get out to the vote in 2020.
But Joy to the Polls is based on the idea that it doesn't have to be this way—in fact, it shouldn't be this way. People have fought and died for our right to vote, and voting is our opportunity to create new beginnings in our nation. The process should be a celebration, not a nightmare.
"We have rampant voter suppression in the US," says Nelini Stamp, campaign director with Election Defenders and performer and organizer with Joy to the Polls. "We wanted to figure out a way so while people are outside of the polling station, we can bring them a feeling of safety and a feeling of joy."
Using the power of music and community, Joy to the Polls is an effort to rally and inspire as many people as possible on November 3rd. The group first gained notoriety when they sent artists to greet people voting early in Philadelphia, and a video of dancers doing the cha-cha outside a middle school garnered praise from Wanda Sykes and Ava DuVernay.
I love us so much. We rise. Always. https://t.co/bEySCGf2hr— Ava DuVernay (@Ava DuVernay) 1603658011.0
Since then, Joy to the Polls has launched a number of online and real-life efforts to make voting more joyful and musical. In NYC, punk rock legend Patti Smith was seen singing "People Have the Power" to a group of lucky early voters.
Their Spotify is also star-studded, complete with a number of playlists curated by high-profile musicians. So far, contributors have included America Ferrara, Billie Joe Armstrong, Busy Philipps, Hank Willis Thomas, Katie Couric, Kimbra, Lin-Manuel Miranda, Maggie Rogers, Marisa Tomei, My Morning Jacket, Questlove, Selena Gomez, and Swizz Beatz. Former president Barack Obama also contributed a list of throwback jams in honor of the cause. View the full list of contributors here.
Joy to the Polls is trying to reach as many people as possible across the country, and they're urging artists, performers, and community members to sign up to bring Joy to the Polls in their own way. Here's their national toolkit.
Joy to the Polls' number one focus (in addition to getting out the vote) is on making sure the election is fair and democratic. To that end, they're partners with Election Defenders, a movement dedicated to rallying leaders in local areas and defending the integrity of the 2020 election.
These movements were born out of urgency, in response to Trump's insinuations that he might not accept the election results, as well as ongoing voter suppression, ballot issues, and other problems that threaten democracy. Election Defenders has promised to organize peaceful mass mobilizations and strikes–if the election is not run fairly.
But none of that will be necessary if the election is run fairly. Joy to the Polls is trying to actually get people out to the polls to make sure this happens. Hopelessness is a major issue in America, and millions of people feel like their voices don't count or their fates are out of their control.
Every voice does count, and we all have the power to help elect local champions and create grassroots change. Short of that, it's still possible to dance and sing even in the most difficult of times. In fact, music tends to show up right when it's needed most—when things look most dismal, or when democracy is most frayed and revolution is most needed. In that respect, Joy to the Polls is operating in the revolutionary tradition of past radical creative traditions.
"It's understandable why people feel a lack of hope, or a lack of agency right now," said organizer Nelini Stamp. "But we are just trying to say, you know what? If we can make people feel good for 30 minutes in a two, three, or four-hour line, if we can help people show face and motivate more people to go out and vote? That is all worth it at the end of the day."
Check out Popdust's Joy to the Polls playlist here!
Visionaries Project: Christoph Carr on Black Land Ownership and Giving Flowers to Cops
Christoph Carr talks art, music, and protest.
Scholar, activist, musician, event organizer, author—Christoph Carr is the personification of a visionary. As the co-founder of Brooklyn Wildlife and Black Land Ownership, Carr has long been working to break down boundaries and to create space where art and life can thrive without outside imposition.
More recently, he's been leading unique NYC-based Black Lives Matter protests that attempt to engage directly with the police. His many projects address current, pressing needs—but they also envision a world that could be, a world of connection, deep roots, and human empathy. Here, we spoke about the stories behind his groundbreaking organizations, and the grief and strange possibility buried in the depths of 2020.
How did Brooklyn Wildlife come to be? What space did you want it to fill?
I moved to New York in 2008 for a relationship, and by summer 2009 that relationship was falling apart. I was on the cusp of going back to DC or staying in New York, and I decided to stay.
A homie I knew had just gotten back to town and he was doing music, and we started recording a project together. By 2010 we finished the project and we were trying to do shows, but we ran into a huge issue while trying to book shows as a rap group without an agent or a booking company. The clubs didn't want to answer emails—they'd say talk to the booker, and the booker would say talk to the promoter. [A lot of these places] were only doing two hip hop shows a month at that time, or they wouldn't even book hip hop.
So me and my friend were like, we gotta just throw the shows ourselves. We know other musicians; let's just throw the party.
Chris Carr performing
When we first started sending out emails, we realized that a lot of the bookers and promoters didn't want to deal with artists, and we had to come up with a name or some way to be able to book the shows separately from us as performers. So we were like, let's start Brooklyn Wildlife. Let's make the events that we want to go to.
I was really inspired by the events going on when I moved to New York, but there was this partitioning and almost like segregation, where if I went to the warehouse electronic music parties, there was no hip hop. If I went to the hip hop shows, there was no folk.
And I like all of it. I like burlesque, I like comedy and music and visual art shows and filmmaking, and there wasn't really something that I saw that brought all these different elements together in a way that was authentic and aware and respectful of the traditions of those types of art forms.
I really obsess over hip hop and enjoy the cultural elements of hip hop and it being the quintessential postmodernist music form in its use of bricolage and sampling and expression, but I also really dug my friends who were DJing grime or dubstep or international music—what people might see as world music, or Afro-Soul and house music. All these things were of interest, and we weren't finding that.
So we started working with people we knew as Brooklyn Wildlife to throw as many shows as possible. Over the past few years we've done literally thousands of events, but it started out as wanting to have something for ourselves, and wanting to go to shows that we would enjoy ourselves.
Were you always involved in art and music?
I can't say always, but to a certain extent yes—my mom put me in violin lessons when I was five, and I was bad. In high school, I got into hip hop, but I was also playing sports, and hip hop wasn't an organized, structured activity at the time. When I got to college I started taking hip hop more seriously, MCing and writing and going out with my friends who wrote graffiti—and realized I wasn't good at that. Dancing, I wasn't good at that. DJing, not so much. I always like the types of music that other people didn't really "like" like—I like the B-sides, the secret album cut, the songs that are kind of reflective or might not be the party starters, by artists who may be more fringe or outside the status quo.
MCing was this great platform for me to learn about myself, society, and other people. When I was 18 or 19, in 1996-7, you could meet rappers and end up knowing people that worked on music video sets, just by being around the college environment I was in in Atlanta. You could run into Cee Lo Green outside the tabernacle.
At that point, I reattached to music in a serious way. [In Atlanta, there was this] level of professionalism and seriousness about what could be done with hip hop. I was still in school, and then I went to grad school at Columbia, but music was always a side thing—and it kept pulling at me. It wasn't until I left grad school and went back to DC that I was like, I need to make music. What would happen if I put all this time and effort and energy into making music on a full-time level?
I decided to invest whatever money I had into making my own studio and started making my own beats and throwing shows in DC. We were trying to throw more shows than everybody.
Since then, I don't really get writers' block or caught up in not being inspired. Since then it's been consistent: make a living from art.
A lot of your work seems to be about bringing people together in a way that's separate from corporate ownership. You started Brooklyn Wildlife because you wanted to have your own performance space that others didn't have to approve—and with Black Land Ownership, you're working to make space for people to own land outside of corporations. What's the connection between them?
One's an extension of the other. Some of the ideas from Black Land Ownership directly extend from what we learned doing Brooklyn Wildlife. The main thing is: If you don't own the land, you will not be able to dictate what happens on that land.
When I moved to my apartment, at the time, people were throwing mad shows at McKibben. As the building changes, the landlords start bringing in tenants and our neighbors move, and now it's people that have to wake up and go to work in the morning, and they start complaining to the landlords, and the landlords might lose money, so they tell me I have to stop making music.
We decided we'd rent DIY spaces. Still, if your neighbors don't like it, they call the cops. If the businesses nearby don't like it, they'll call the cops. Your landlord can shut you down. There's always someone that can make it difficult.
Whereas if you own a space, it's a lot harder for people to cause you problems. In New York it's too expensive to just buy a building. But when I went out to Colorado and Texas and parts of the country that are really wide open, I started thinking: There's so much space. If we had land, we could throw an outdoor festival with 100 people and no one could complain about anything. If people didn't like the noise, they wouldn't have to deal with it.
Still, you're going to have to lease farmland or county fair kinds of land. But when you do that, the owners can ask what types of events you're doing, and they can say that they only want certain things. And we can't really have that. We make sure we book artists that aren't using hate speech or being misogynistic or racist or phobic towards any marginalized groups, but people should be able to express their political ideologies, their emotional feelings and their spiritual feelings. And we shouldn't have to worry about some person who runs the fairgrounds saying: You all are anti-capitalist, that's anti-American, we don't want to have this.
So it comes to—well, you have to own the land. The only way that's possible for a group of artists is in more rural areas where the land is less expensive.
In Colorado, I was able to stay for free by working on a farm, and as I was pulling roots out of the ground—it gave me a lot of time to think. I did some shows while I was traveling, and when I came back I was like, why isn't that opportunity made more [available] for Black folks?
Denver is the most diverse city in Colorado, and it's still very homogenous in a certain way. In Grand Junction you're back towards the more conservative side, and you can tell people are like—"We don't have any Black people here, where'd you come from?"
It was shocking. [I started to ask], how come all the Black folks are crammed into cities on the East and West Coast, being pushed out, dealing with gentrification, being erased geographically—or we're in areas of the South and midwest that are economically depressed, dealing with racism and violence and stratification? There's all this space where there's plenty of land to grow food. Part of [the problem] is we only own 2% of the rural land in the country. So how are we going to get healthy food? We don't own the means of production.
In my mind, Marxism isn't a political system—it's an assessment of how capitalism works—and in the Marxist understanding, you have to own the means of production. If you want to have a place to grow your food, you need to own the land, or they'll push you out and find that it's more lucrative for Walmart to buy it.
[During] the Civil Rights movement, it was less difficult to find a common thread amongst different Black people. The idea of basic human rights could transcend layers of partitioning. Now there are certainly different opinions—on reproductive rights, on gender—but the one thing I could find that didn't cause people to have conflict is Black land ownership. It's not politicized, but no one talks about it. You have discussions about fair housing or affordable housing, but there are Black people with money who can't move where they want to due to institutional racism around land ownership, or groups of non-Black people pushing them out when they do make purchases.
Providing spaces for artists is important, but artists need an opportunity not to be stuck in the city paying $1,000 or $1,500 in rent every month. We need to get out and lay in a field, and play songs and run around, and have space in nature and grass under our feet, and be able to draw inspiration from something other than concrete and metal buildings.
How are you doing with COVID and everything?
It's been quite a year. Last spring, back in March, my partner had her appendix removed. She gets a call back, and she has to get a biopsy. And then [sic] she tests positive for appendix cancer, and they say they have to take out part of her colon. She has surgery in May and is recovering in June. She gets cleared. A week and a half to two weeks after that, I get diagnosed with melanoma in my toe and I have to get my pinky toe amputated.
I can't walk for however long. So I figure out how to pull off my summer festival and start throwing small shows, then wintertime hits. I go to California and tour, then in March I'm scheduled to go to SXSW. I had booked over 40 performers at the house we were renting down there, but COVID pops up the week we're supposed to go, and they cancel. That weekend of the 15th, lockdown started. In a weird way, I had already been on lockdown. Both [my partner and I] had been in our house a lot, working on our personal projects. I stopped drinking, so we stopped going to bars and clubs. COVID didn't change a whole lot for me.
I really miss not being able to meet new folks and engage with people and learn about their musical journeys. I've made a lot of stuff while we were trapped inside—a whole bunch of new songs, a project with my friend Annie Are You Okay—and a bunch of songs I've recorded with other people. And there are new secret projects I've been working on, and I finally put out one of my books—Thoughts of an Angry Black Man.
You've also led a few Black Lives Matter protests recently. Can you tell me about how that started?
I do a lot of Facebook Lives, and I was doing one about hip hop, recording in front of my building. I have my phone resting up on the fence. Since the camera is facing the street, I see the police pulling up. Then they walk up to me, and they're like, are you so and so, and I'm like nope, can't help you. And I'm like, by the way, I'm recording on Facebook Live. And they're like, we're concerned for you, are you on any medication? And I was like, no, what's this about—and they're like, we got a call that there's a man out here talking to himself and kicking at people.
And I was like, I've been recording this whole thing. Instead of them being like sorry, whatever, they're like, we're concerned—are you on medication? I was like, I don't have to answer any of your questions, but what do we have to do to make this the least conflictual as possible? Finally I just told them I live across the street, I volunteer at the school down the street, I run a store around the corner. They're finally like, we just had to check, someone called. And I'm like, what do you mean, someone called? Did you check if they're on medication?
When they pull off, I go upstairs. I look out the window and another cop car pulls up, so I [decide] I'm going to ask them how to file a report. Those police were like, you didn't have to answer the questions; you could've walked away. And I was like, really? You can't walk away from a police officer.
And then [I realize] the car I was leaning on—it's an undercover car. And an ambulance had been called. Two regular cop cars, an undercover car, and an ambulance came.
This is after Floyd stuff had happened, and I'm like, this could have gone so badly if I had a different demeanor. When I came back in I was really frustrated, and I started asking myself: what can I do to remove the standard approach to this? Who can I talk to about this?
So I walk over to the precinct, and see three cops there. And they're like: Who do you want to talk to? One cop says, "You gotta understand, people get called on emotionally disturbed people…" And finally they get the community liaison.
The liaison basically makes sure that protocol wasn't broken, and she asks if I want to file a report. One of the cops was a Black woman, and the other was a Latinx man, I think...I didn't want to get the cops in trouble. It's a policy that someone else created, that made it so they couldn't leave me alone.
After that, I was even more frustrated. When I left the precinct I was like, I gotta think of something to do that's not the same old me going back and yelling at the cops or not doing anything.
So I was like, what if I take flowers to the precinct, and talk to the guys standing in front of it and tell them about how I'd been stopped for no reason, and use the flowers as metaphors for other people who have been detailed without cause, or assaulted or brutalized by the police, or in horrible circumstances, lost their lives at the hands of the police?
[I wanted to] get the issue past politics, past the idea of Democrat/Republican or authority or anti-authority, or any of these names of organized groups. I'm a person, and the only person that ever pulled a gun on me in my life was a police officer. My friend down in Atlanta got killed by the police; my other friend in DC got shot by the police when he was unarmed. [I wanted to] root it in their humanity. Before they put on their guns and badges, they're humans, and I'm a human. Let's engage with the reality of how policing has had a negative effect on my community.
I went to the vigil at McCarren Park, and told some people about the flower thing. We ended up organizing a march from McCarren over to the 94th Precinct in Greenpoint. We took the flowers and had a line of people marching. It was wild to see that solidarity—to see how many people's lives had been touched by police brutality. It wasn't 20 people—it was over a hundred people who knew someone who had been hurt. There was no social media, no organized nonprofit entity. It was just people who had friends and heard the stories and wanted to show unity. And [they showed that] if the police harm one person in the community, 100 people might show up to support.
We organized another one that went from House of Yes over to the precinct on Knickerbocker. It's something that will continue, keeping in mind that it's about peace and love. The police aren't used to people showing up with flowers, saying, my friend got hurt by the police, and we want you to know this is personal.
This is about us as people. When we're walking on the streets, we're citizens, not criminals. You don't look at someone like me and automatically assume I'm the target of your predatory predisposition.
It's been a trip. I think it's cathartic for certain folks. They had never had the chance to present the emotions they had towards the police to the police. They may have told friends and family members, but to be able to tell the police officer in this manner that is somewhat controlled and purposeful—it kind of allowed for a valve to release pressure.
After the first march [sic], we were walking back from the precinct in Bushwick. There was a fire hydrant that was popped, and so a bunch of us danced in the fire hydrant—[it was a] cleansing experience. It was important for me, to see that solidarity, to see how all these other people have a common experience.
Find Christoph Carr's Patreon here.
Killer Mike Was Right to Meet With Brian Kemp
How are activists supposed to "speak truth to power" if they're not allowed to be in the rooms where power lives?
Killer Mike is widely considered to be one of the best political voices in hip-hop.
One half of the duo Run the Jewels, the Atlanta-based rapper is known for his outspoken support of progressive candidates like Bernie Sanders and policies like Medicare for All, legalization of cannabis, and demilitarizing the police. He has advocated for voters not to let their support be taken for granted—to ask for something in return for their votes. But now he's coming under fire from Twitter for meeting with Georgia governor Brian Kemp.
The meeting took place on Wednesday in the Governor's office in the state capitol building, and images were of the two men talking and shaking hands were promptly shared through the governor's official Twitter account. This prompted a predictable backlash that quickly led "Killer Mike" to be a trending topic on the site.
Various tweets attacked the meeting as just a "photo op" or as "legitimizing" the sitting governor of one of the largest states in the US. Others accused Killer Mike of angling for a media position as the political Black man who will sit down with conservatives.
Killer Mike attempting to brand himself as the Reasonable Negro™ by meeting with a white man who stole an election… https://t.co/PDJ6XRVYLG— Abolish the Police, NOTHING LESS! (@Abolish the Police, NOTHING LESS!) 1599742094.0
Maybe there's some truth to one or both of those complaints. After all, this isn't the first time Killer Mike has come under fire for meeting with the other side. Back in 2018 the "Ooh La La" rapper filmed a segment with NRATV advocating for black gun ownership as a defense against racist violence.
Killer Mike later apologized and noted that his comments had been deceptively edited and deliberately posted to coincide with the March for Our Lives demonstration (despite having been filmed the week before). But what about this meeting with Brian Kemp? Does Killer Mike owe another apology to his political allies for meeting with "the enemy?"
Killer Mike And Joy Reid Go One-On-One | AM Joy | MSNBC youtu.be
First of all, it's important to note that Brian Kemp is, indeed, a bad guy. In 2018, while serving as Georgia's secretary of state, Kemp oversaw the gubernatorial election in which he was competing against Democrat Stacey Abrams. Is it fair to attribute the improper purging of hundreds of thousands of Georgians from the states voter rolls ahead of the election to his desire to win? Absolutely.
Kemp chose not to recuse himself in order to avoid the appearance of corruption and deliberate voter suppression. As a result, he must take ownership for the misconduct that likely led to his narrow victory over Abrams. Everyone saying that he stole that election is right to call him out—whatever his claims of innocence. It's very possible that Stacey Abrams should be the governor right now. But she's not.
In addition, Kemp has badly mishandled Georgia's pandemic response and has done his best to undermine abortion rights in his state. But does any of that mean he's not in power?
When Kemp's victory was certified by Georgia's top election official, that "legitimized" him in a way that no photo op ever could. That legitimized his power over Killer Mike's community—the power to hurt and also the power to listen to activists like Killer Mike and actually help.
If we believe in speaking truth to power, doesn't that mean getting into the rooms where power lives? Doesn't progress require more than having some good ideas?
Well my 86 yr old Aunt who actually risked her life in B Ham and Selma was proud and called me courageous. Umma le… https://t.co/EnGoPjttmy— Killer Mike (@Killer Mike) 1599745100.0
As Killer Mike himself has said, "only time will tell" whether Governor Kemp will take on board any of what they discussed about how to improve the lives of Georgia's Black citizens with improved access to education and government contracts. But Killer Mike did what he could to push in that direction, and did not go out of his way to make Brian Kemp look good in the process.
Yes, he posed for some pictures, but he kept an appropriate amount of social distance, wore a shirt laying out the steps of political activism ("Plot, Plan, Strategize, Organize, Mobilize"), and his familiar smile was missing from his face. In its place was a look of stoic conviction. He wants to believe that Governor Kemp might take these issues seriously—even if hope is hard to come by.
Some of my issues: “Blacks In Ga” having more than 2% of state contracts while making up 35% of the state. Black m… https://t.co/D10ZP1y12Y— Killer Mike (@Killer Mike) 1599744240.0
As is often the case in this country, a figure from the political left can never do anything right. When they stand firm on policy issues, they are said to be impractical and uncompromising and kept away from the Democratic establishment that makes deals with the other side. Then, when a leftist figure sits down with the other side, they're treated as a traitor to the Democratic establishment.
There is no winning in this system for someone with Killer Mike's politics. That's why he has to keep fighting.
Sing It Out, Ladies: 10 Songs for the Female Politician In You
From Cardi B to Hamilton to Queen Bey herself, here are ten songs that have inspired and soundtracked the ascensions of female politicians and powerful women of the modern world.
If it wasn't clear from Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez's recent Twitter battle with Cardi B and Tomi Lahren, we're living in an era where politicians and musicians have the ability to influence each other on huge scales.
But music has long been a source of inspiration and power, especially for women or other people whose voices have been subjugated or silenced.
In honor of the newest class of women in Congress, and in celebration of women in politics in general, here's a list of ten songs that we think would make the perfect soundtrack to their ascensions, and might even inspire you to follow suit.
1. Cardi B – Best Life
Cardi B - Best Life feat. Chance The Rapper [Official Audio] www.youtube.com
Not only did Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez grow up in the same borough of New York as superstar Cardi B; she also tweeted the lyrics to her song Best Life, featuring Chance the Rapper.
I never had a problem showin' y'all the real me/ Hair when it's messed up, crib when it's filthy/ Way-before-the-de… https://t.co/SdojcZ9olh— Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (@Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez) 1542740838.0
The song's lyrics seem to align with Ocasio-Cortez's approach to communicating with her supporters, which has been radically honest and personal, as she frequently shares developments at work and at home via her Instagram stories. Though she was met with backlash from users who told her to "write intelligibly," Ocasio-Cortez's supporters cheered the reference.
Unabashedly outspoken and proud of their stratospheric rise to the top of their respective fields, Ocasio-Cortez and Cardi B are two women who seem to be on unstoppable paths—while determined to keep it real all the while.
2. Anaïs Mitchell – Why We Build the Wall
Anaïs Mitchell ft. Greg Brown - Why We Build the Wall www.youtube.com
When folk singer Anaïs Mitchell penned "Why We Build the Wall" in 2006 for her concept album Hadestown, she never imagined that its lyrics—which retell the story of the Greek god of death Hades and his quasi-American capitalist hellscape—would become so relevant.
The song is a call-and-response narrative between Hades and his citizens, who work ceaselessly on a wall in exchange for the economic security that living in Hadestown provides. It contains lyrics like, "The wall keeps out the enemy / and the enemy is poverty / and we build the wall to keep us free / that's why we build the wall." Hadestown, which also tells the story of Orpheus and Eurydice, is coming to Broadway in the spring of 2019.
This song seems like it would make the perfect satirical rallying cry for Nancy Pelosi, who denounced Donald Trump's request for $5.7 billion to build his wall between the U.S. and Mexico after his speech on January 8th, two weeks in to what would become the longest government shutdown ever.
3. Aretha Franklin – Respect
Aretha Franklin - Respect [1967] (Original Version) www.youtube.com
Aretha Franklin passed away in August of 2018, but her legacy lives on within every woman who ever wanted to be treated with honor and—as perhaps her most iconic song repeats—R - E - S - P - E - C - T. (Hint: that's all of us).
Aretha's unforgettable voice soars above the song's infectious musical backdrop, coalescing to form a track that is alternatingly prideful and enraged, hopeful and world-weary. This song's message seems too vast to be contained to one politician or time period. It's a timeless sentiment that could change the world, if we'd only listen.
4. Ms. Lauryn Hill – Everything is Everything
Lauryn Hill - Everything Is Everything www.youtube.com
In June, recently-announced 2020 presidential candidate Kamala Harris posted a Spotify playlist as a homage to important black musicians of the 20th century. The third song on the playlist, "Everything is Everything" from the iconic The Miseducation of Ms. Lauryn Hill, echoes sentiments that Harris has proclaimed in her own speeches.
Its powerful lyrics, "Sometimes it seems / We'll touch that dream. But things come slow or not at all / And the ones on top, won't make it stop / So convinced that they might fall," seem like they could be a rallying cry for Harris, a politician campaigning on promises of "American values" and "not putting people in boxes."
Hill's message of everything is everything is a beautiful sentiment about the way that all people and all issues are interconnected and cannot be addressed independently, and she has long been a powerful voice for women of color.
Kamala Harris's work as a prosecutor is under scrutiny from leftists everywhere, but judging by her playlist, at least her music taste is up to par.
5. Lin-Manuel Miranda – Satisfied
Satisfied www.youtube.com
Female characters take the backseat to the titular protagonist of Lin-Manuel Miranda's Hamilton, but Angelica Schuyler's Satisfied is a show-stopper in a class of its own. Sung by the sister of Eliza, Alexander Hamilton's wife, it is a flashback to the night that they all met, when Angelica developed feelings for Alexander but decided she needed to set her sights on marrying someone richer.
Angelica, played by Renée Elise Goldsberry in the musical, spits some of the show's fastest bars and hits some of its highest notes in this virtuosic performance, which reveals the extent of her brilliance as well as the extent of her regret at not taking a chance on love.
It might be easy to dedicate this song to Hillary Clinton, whose tenacious determination to win the presidency and refusal to be satisfied with a mere first-ladyship (or Secretary of State position) does belie a similar ambition to Angelica's.
But Angelica, with her razor-sharp wit and social sensibilities, seems similar to some of Congress's outspoken freshmen members, such Ayanna Pressley, who has been an outspoken critic of Trump and many of his policies from her first moments on the House floor, running on the message "Change can't wait" with an urgency evocative of Angelica's intense drive.
6. Taylor Swift – Bad Blood
Taylor Swift - Bad Blood ft. Kendrick Lamar www.youtube.com
Taylor Swift has had her fair share of beef with other artists, but until 2018 remained staunchly apolitical. But after Swift announced in an Instagram post that she "could not support Marsha Blackburn," the politician lashed out—provoking serious flashbacks to the time that Taylor Swift allegedly attacked Katy Perry over a feud involving backup dancers through her video, Bad Blood.
The stakes were slightly higher in this situation, and Blackburn still snagged the Senate seat in spite of the star's opposition.
"Of course I support women and I want violence to end against women," said Blackburn in response to Swift, who had also written that the politician's "voting record in Congress appalls and terrifies" her. Blackburn has been a supporter of Trump's border wall as well as his efforts to end Obamacare.
7. Questlove's Entire Michelle Obama Playlist
Michelle Obama's Musiaqualogy Vol 1 1964-1979 by Questlove
Michelle Obama's Musiaqualogy Vol 2. 1980-1997 by Questlove
Michelle Obama's Musiaqualogy Vol 3. 1997-2018 by Questlove
The musician Questlove of the band The Roots has created three 100-song playlists for Michelle Obama's Becoming book tour, and every song is worth putting on repeat. Entitled The Michelle Obama Musiaquology, it is a journey through time (and occasionally, space) filled with mournful, fierce, and empowering tracks—much like the biography it was designed to soundtrack.
Obama's Becoming is more about hope and unity than it is about politics and division, and so are most of the songs in this playlist. An exuberant melding of jazz, pop, and the occasional stylistic outlier, Questlove's compilation elevates voices of joy, pride, black power, and solidarity in an era in desperate need of them. Featuring icons ranging from Ella Fitzgerald to Kendrick Lamar, it's a survey of music throughout history that has given hope to those who need it most.
8. MILCK – I Can't Keep Quiet
MILCK - Quiet www.youtube.com
Newcomer MILCK's powerful composition became the anthem of the first Women's March, and since then, the artist has continued to release waves of meaningful music while maintaining a confessional and motivational social media presence.
The vulnerable and passionate song that made her famous could be an anthem for kids like Emma Gonzalez, speaking out against gun violence, and for all the other women who have spoken and will continue to reach out and fight for their beliefs.
9. Against Me! — True Trans Soul Rebel
Against Me! - True Trans Soul Rebel [ALBUM VERSION] www.youtube.com
In the shadows of the Trump administration's ban against transgender people in the military, this song is a reminder that trans people not only exist but will continue to fight.
Transgender politician Christine Hallquist did not win in the general Vermont elections for governor, but she did secure a spot in the 2018 Democratic primaries, the first time a transgender person has been nominated by a major party. And more transgender and LGBTQ people ran and won races in November 2018 than ever before, signaling an upswing of pride in spite of the Trump administration's anti-trans policies.
Against Me!'s True Trans Soul Rebel has long been an anthem for the transgender community, an outcry of pain against a world that constantly threatens them with erasure.
10. Beyoncé – Who Run the World (Girls)
Beyoncé - Run the World (Girls) (Video - Main Version) www.youtube.com
No list of songs for female politicians would be complete without Queen Bey's presence. This song is one of the crown jewels of feminist anthems, with its infectious beat pounding underneath Beyonce's velvety vocals and its iconic refrain. This one goes out to all the future female politicians, including the hopefully soon-to-be first female commander-in-chief.
With that, we welcome the 42 new female congresswomen, celebrate the women who came before them, and encourage all the women and trans people coming after to rise up and sing out. Listen to these songs enough and internalize their messages, and it could be you in those seats someday.
Eden Arielle Gordon is a writer and musician from New York City.
Dance Dance Counter-Revolution – We Built a Playlist Fit for a Dictator
The sounds of the summer don't have to just be the cries of your enemies...
There was a time when, if a leader of a nation wanted to speak to their people, they could just hop on the radio and instantly be transported into every living room. Nowadays, politicians –– democrat and demagogue alike –– have to fight to be heard above the unending noise of social media, where the inane musings of a citizen's friend is given equal time as whatever pronouncement they (the politicians) wish to make. Increasingly, this has led to attention-starved politicians engaging in some previously unimaginable behavior, in a seeming attempt to not just compete with your online friends, but become one of them.
The current U.S. President has eschewed the official White House statement in favor of stream-of-consciousness tweeting that resembles some kind of fridge poetry for Tea Party uncles. His predecessor, CoolDadPresident™ Barack Obama, realizing that Roosevelt's fireside chat shtick wouldn't work with the kids, did something different. Realizing that music is both a Thing That Humans Generally Like and a excellent signifier of cultural literacy, the White House published a series of summer playlists curated by the President that combined tracks from some up-and-coming artists (Courtney Barnett's, "Elevator Operator" made an appearance) with undeniable classics like Miles Davis' "Flamenco Sketches".
But why should elected leaders be the only ones who get to cut a mixtape? What about the outcasts of the global order; the ones who everyone avoids at UN meetings? Don't dictators love to dance too? According to The Guardian, the answer is yes, at least in the case of Bashar Al-Assad, whose iTunes purchase history reveals that even the Syrian autocrat is not immune to the charms of LMFAO's "I'm Sexy and I Know It". Years of brutal civil war has left Al-Assad's image somewhat tarnished (war crimes will do that), so perhaps he should find some time in-between barrel-bombing sessions to reveal the softer side of himself; the Bashar who, like any regular loving husband, sends Blake Shelton songs to his wife. Yes, he may have given the order to shell Homs into glass that same day, but it's a start.
So, in the spirit of the humble profession of providing PR advice to despots, I have compiled what I think is a perfect summer playlist fit for any established or prospective authoritarian; one that is sure to give them a much-needed image boost, as well as providing a few helpful tips along the way:
Track 1: "Who Wants the World" by The Stranglers
Before you can even begin to throw that tyrannical power around, you've got to have the ambition to take it. The Stranglers' 1980 new wave classic should get you pumped up for some putsch-ing. "Who waaaants the world?" You do.
Track 2: "Cruel" by St. Vincent
Any dictator worth their salt knows that, even with ambition, seizing and maintaining their positions can't be done with a clean pair of hands. That's okay though, the lilting melodies of Annie Clark should be cool enough to help you drown out the screams you hear in your head.
Track 3: "SHAME" by Young Fathers
So you've taken power, but something feels off, right? People really seem to not like you. Sure, you might've "disappeared" half their family, but your "dodgy dealings just got deadly", it's nothing to be ashamed of. In fact, they should be the ones who are ashamed. Sing it with me: "What a shame on you/Where's your gall when it's a shame on you?"...
Track 4: "Illicit Fields" by Ka
Being a dictator can be tough, but it can have its perks, even if they might be a little blood-stained. Mixing sweeping melodies and punchy samples, Ka's Honor Killed the Samurai depicts the grey moral territory of life on the margins, where there is very little time for sweeping generalizations like 'good' and 'evil'. It's a seismic work, and sure to provide lots of cool credibility when you invite some influencers over to one of your six places to listen to it on vinyl. Just don't sound too into it when you're singing the hook: "Hate's well known/It's that love I'm unfamiliar with".
Track 5: "Rasputin" by Boney M
With all of this good publicity, you're probably going to be so tied up giving interviews and re-tweeting praise from New York Times op-ed columnists that you'll need a reliable henchman to run the affairs of state in your stead. Just make sure that he's at least somewhat qualified. Oh... he's a womanizing cult leader who may or may not be sleeping with your wife? Eh, I'm sure everything will be fine. Plus, his song is so catchy.
Track 6: "The Partisan" by Leonard Cohen
The henchman thing didn't work out, there's rebellion in the air. It'll be okay though; just study this legendary Résistance hymn and you'll get to know your enemy. A bit of Cohen should also help you court some hipsters to your side, and he once published a book of poems entitled Flowers for Hitler, which sounds like a dictator-y thing to bring to a meeting with Hitler. There is something eerily sleep-inducing about the way that Cohen strums through a song that is so saturated with sadness and death; it's enough to make you ignore the wind that's blowing...
Track 7: "Sinnerman" by Nina Simone
There's really nothing that dictators obsess about more than the pursuit of immortality. Obtaining a permanent place in history, whether it be through building palaces, empires, or body counts, is kind of the dictator thing. But, as Simone herself once noted, "time is the dictator of us all," and there's a certain justice that, in the end, everyone fears. This winding, ten-minute symphony of a song is probably Simone's greatest work, and her engine-like piano playing and rhythmic vocals are the perfect accompaniment to some vigorous exercise; the kind of exercise that you'd get from say, running away from an angry mob. Turn it up, tyrants –– time to figure out "where you're gonna run to"...
10 Best Songs About Trust and Distrust
The universal struggle to build trusting relationships is best reflected in music.
After love, trust is next on the list of the most sung-about topics in music. It plays a crucial role in all types of relationships.
Here are 10 of the most memorable songs about trust (or a lack thereof).
1. "Trust in Me" by Etta James
Etta James' 1937 classic "Trust in Me" is about more than just having faith in your partner, it's a plea for trust. James captures the strife of a relationship in which one partner seems to be more invested and trustful.
2. "The Times They Are A Changin'" by Bob Dylan
Between the Civil Rights Movement and the Vietnam War, the '60s were clearly a time of social unrest and mistrust. Bob Dylan's song is a call for change and an affirmation that change is possible.
3. "A Matter of Trust" by Billy Joel
Once you get past the butterflies, there's the challenge of keeping the relationship alive. Billy Joel sings about what it takes to make a relationship last: Trust in each other.
4. "That’s What Friends Are For" by Dionne Warwick
"That's What Friends Are For" was out three years before Dionne Warwick recorded this version featuring Gladys Knight, Elton John, and Stevie Wonder. Their version became a hit: a worthy success for four friends singing about dependable companionship.
5. "Let Me Leave" by Marc Broussard
Sometimes trusting someone is a bad idea, especially when they haven't given you a good reason. If you're fortunate enough to get a heads up like Marc Broussard's "Let Me Leave," then you'd better take it.
6. "Lean On" by Major Lazer & DJ Snake Ft. MO
Named the 2015 song of the year, with more than 540 million streaming listens, "Lean On" is a mashup of EDM and indie vocals from music collective Major Lazer, DJ Snake and Swedish singer MO. Arguably the song of the summer, "Lean On" makes the point that all we need is someone to lean on.
7. "Fortress" by Coleman Hell
Toronto-based artist Coleman Hell recently split from his duo for a solo music career. "Fortress" features the same folktronica and EDM elements as the rest of his EP. With its catchy, upbeat sound, it's easy to forget the song is about how hard it is to get someone to trust you enough to let you in.
8. "Take Care" by Drake ft. Rihanna
Whenever trust is broken, there's always someone else to pick up the pieces. Drake's 2012 hit "Take Care" explores the aftermath of trying to take care of someone whose heart has been broken. The song approaches trust from all angles: giving it, gaining it and losing it.
9. "Trust Nobody" by D4
Backstabbing, faking, lying—there's a point where the only person you can trust is yourself. D4, the New Zealand rock band from the late '90s, figures that getting what you need might be a one-man effort.
10. "Trust" by Justin Bieber
Talk about a redemption tour. Justin Bieber's entire album Purpose is centered around the pop star's journey to redemption and regaining the trust he lost. "Trust" is about a couple renewing lost trust, but it really could be about any relationship.