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FORWARDEVER MEDIA CENTER

Writer Alex Haley writing The Autobiography of Malcolm X with Brother Malcolm.

"The media's the most powerful entity on earth. They have the power to make the innocent guilty and to make the guilty innocent, and that's power. Because they control the minds of the masses."
- Malcolm X

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The Forwardever Media Center is 100% committed to providing unconventional writing workshops and media literacy training to "at-risk" Black youth, particularly males, ages 14 through 24. Working in partnership with The Mentoring Center in Oakland, CA., the Center's writing workshops, website internship, and film forums, help students develop critical thinking skills and discover their creative talents. We recruit youth for our programs from the California Youth Authority (the state's largest prison for youth) as well as from universities and high schools. This cross-pollination of young minds creates dynamic shared experiences.

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Whatchusay Cinema–A monthly film forum hosted at schools or community centers in Northern California that explores issues such as race, class, gender, and society. Students are joined by a panel of activists, educators, athletes, entrepreneurs, etc. to rate the films and convene roundtable discussions about corresponding relevant issues in society. For info about film screenings and schedules contact: cheo@whatchusay.com

Writing Workshops–We offer intensive seminars in journalism, creative writing, cultural criticism, new media, film production, etc. These seminars are taught at the center, located at 1224 Preservation Park, Oakland, CA, 94612. They are also available on location, at schools, community and detention centers, churches, etc. For info about class schedules contact: cheo@whatchusay.com

Internships–Whatchusay.com offers competitive internships to young writers who have clearly demonstrated a passion for the craft of writing or media production. The 3-month internship covers news writing and reporting, feature writing, creative writing, media literacy and new media. Working in partnership with community based organizations, universities and international and national media outlets, we produce a pipeline of informed journalists of color who will go on to create their own independent media organizations or work for major media organizations.

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An Open Letter to Flavor Flav

By Charlie Braxton

Dear Brother Flavor Flav:
When I first learned that VH-1, a station owned by Viacom, was planning a reality show featuring you and Bridgette Neilson called "Strange Love," I was concerned that the show would be problematic. After all, VH-1 and its sister station MTV has a history of being hostile to rap groups with pro-Black messages and since you have a long history with Public Enemy, the most influential and positively-Black hip hop groups of all time, I figured there might be a conflict of interests with your involement with the show. Unfortunatley, I was wrong.

On "Strange Love" you have made a complete fool of yourself by pining after Bridgette Nielson (a white female), who seems to treat you with the kind of affection reserved for a dog – she has even called you "Foofie!" The sad thing is that your submission to her racist patronage has not only reduced your humanity, but you allowed the producers of the show to exploit your personal conflict between your children and their mother, who is African American.

"Strange Love" – note the racist connotation of the title - has exploited every known stereotype that the larger society has about Black men and has done considerable damage to the image of one of the greatest hip hop groups of all time.

Like so many other hip hop heads fortunate enough to be a part of the genre's Golden Era (circa 1985 -1995), I was and still am a huge fan of Public Enemy. As a young Black man coming of age during the Reagan/Bush (the father, not the son) era, I was attracted to PE's up lifting message of self-love and self-reliance because it was something that resonated with me.

To me, albums like the classic "It Takes a Nation of Millions to Hold Us Back," was more than just some cool music to party to, it was a sonic manifesto, a hip hop call to arms that compelled me and thousands of others to take stock in our lives.

Thanks in part to PE many of us tossed our fat gold ropes and exchanged them for bead and black medallions. We put down forty ounces and picked up books like George GM James Stolen Legacy and Carter G. Woodson's The Miss-education of the Negro. Many of us either joined or formed organizations and did what we could to "fight the powers that be."

In fact, it was Public Enemy's song "Don't Believe the Hype" that inspired me to become a hip hop journalist. My friend and fellow journalist Kevin Powell once told me that as hip hop journalist we are in a very precarious position. As fans of hip hop we feel the need to defend the culture from hostile forces that refuse to see our culture in context so we often find ourselves trying to bring balance to skewed commentary regarding hip hop culture. On the other hand we as journalists and critical thinkers we also have to be the ones to offer a clear analysis of hip hop culture and, when necessary, call our own on the carpet.

Flavor, as you know, speaking to Allhiphop.com, your colleague, PE front man, Chuck D apologized to the Black community for your bad behavior.

"[The show's imagery] has been harmful to Flav's standing and legacy of being our brother," said Chuck. ""I would be lying if I said that the side of Flav shown on ‘Strange Love' doesn't affect what I've wanted our collective to stand for, because it does and many have told us how deeply they are bothered by this."

Flavor... the buffonery you have acted out on this show before millions of PE fans is an insult to your PE band mates, and all who have labored to portray the Black man with dignity and honor.

Please brother, for the love of God and the Black Community worldwide, stand up and stop this senseless Step n Fetch It act now!

Sincerely,
Charile Braxton, hip hop journalist

BlogOn: Has Flavor Flav disgraced Public Enemy and himself on the reality show "Strange Love." Whatchuthink?

Posted on July 24, 2005 7:30 AM

Comments (38)

feafd:

I don't think you have any idea what you're talking about. I fail to see how the show Strange Love is racist. Maybe you're just incredibly closed minded and uptight, and downright paranoid? I can't fathom why you would accuse Flav of making blacks look stupid. That's just the way he is. He's always been that way. It further shocks me that even Chuck D would go so far as to be as uptight as you. I think many people are getting the wrong impression, and need to seriously relax. There are so many far more racist things in this world, why don't you be more selective? Go lobby aginst CNN, or Fox News, the most racist news networks in America! I can't understand mindless paranoia directed as seemingly random things. And why do you talk about racism? Do you have a problem with a black man marying a white woman? Maybe when you boil it all down and cut through the bullshit, isn't it actually you who's racist?

Posted by feafd | November 11, 2005 9:11 AM

Posted on November 11, 2005 09:11

Cat:

And here I thought the show was called "Strange Love" because Bridgette Nielson is one bizarre woman. Granted, neither show participant acted with dignity or intellect...

Posted by Cat | December 31, 2005 3:33 AM

Posted on December 31, 2005 03:33

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