check yo' sleeve

(politics by neeneepeksa)


(politics by chinook01)


(collage by gloamglozer)

and any man who knows a thing, knows that he knows not a damn damn thing at all/
and every time i felt the hurt and felt it giving me up off the wall/
i'm just gonna take a minute and let it ride/ i'm just gonna take a minute and let it breathe/
i'm just gonna take a minute and let it ride/ i'm just gonna take a minute and let it breathe/
- k'naan (track 4 "take a minute" http://www.knaanmusic.com/)

in 1992 my father took me a rally in downtown seattle to hear bill clinton speak. clinton was campaigning for his first term and i was in the 8th grade. i remember my father and i being at the back of a crowd of more than a thousand people. when clinton was finished speaking my father said, "hold on to me, we're gonna shake his hand." i thought my pops was a little nutty for trying. there was no way we were going to get through that large crowd in front of us. but pops did it, he maneuvered through the crowd just to shake the man's hand.

fast forward to 1996 just months before clinton's reelection. i was fortunate enough to accompany the principal of my high school to washington d.c. to accept an education award. the ceremony was at the white house and it was pretty surreal. there were rumors that clinton and gore would be giving the award, but it wasn't officially advertised. as far as we knew, the secretary of education was going to disperse the recognitions.

about an hour before the ceremony, a handful of students were selected to be on stage as clinton was named to give the key note speech. "is this for real?" we proceeded onto the stage, reporters just steps in front of me and there they were, clinton and gore, no more than 4 steps ahead of me. after clinton's speech, clinton and gore went up to each of us on stage to shake our hands.

i remember gore asking, "where are you from?"
"seattle," i replied.
He smiled and said, "seattle, i love seattle."

as gore went on to shake the next student's hand, the flashback of my father in 1992 pushing his way through the crowd came to my mind. the very next thought i had on stage at the white house was, "why didn't clinton ask where i was from? he just shook my hand and smiled."

this was just a freckle of what had influenced my calling with community, politics and media. years later in college, i remember my pops visiting and seeing all my different "conscious bearing" art and posters on the wall.

"are you a communist?" my dad inquired. he said this jokingly, but i could tell that his older demeanor (and probably life experiences since' 92) altered his once very liberal mind.

"mia, it's okay to have an opinion, but it's another thing to wear it on your sleeve. believe me, i know. it's just not worth it." i thought this was funny commentary coming from a man who used to take me to democratic rallies and at the time, i was ignorant to the fine line he was attempting to communicate.

17 years later, i recognize that there is indeed a fine line between art and politics. there is an even finer line between politics depicted in art. and it's an art all by itself to be able to effectively depict one's personal doctrines into their art without sounding preachy/PSA'ish. i'm hyping those artists right now who can bridge that gap in a clever and playful way yet still evoke pleasurable sensations while subliminally asserting their world beliefs.

the flick slumdog millionaire did this in an exquisite way. just as the emcees blu and k'naan and a handful of vocalists before them continue to do so. although there are no tangible statistics to claim in regards how much their art is able to resonate in the minds of the masses...we know that there is a hunger for what they are attempting...and presently, there is no better time than now for these quick-witted arteests to rock it on their sleeves.