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Black August: Erykah Badu Joins Talib Kweli & Dead Prez to Raise $$$ for Political Prisoners

StoryAugust 08, 2003
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Democracy Now! talks to Erykah Badu and Black August organizer Saki Hall. This Sunday in Brooklyn, the Black August collective will host a major hip-hop concert benefit to raise awareness and money for political prisoners. Among the performers are Erykah Badu, Dead Prez, Talib Kweli and Boots Riley of The Coup. Many of the performers will then head to Cuba to attend the 9th Annual Havana Rap Festival.

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Transcript
This is a rush transcript. Copy may not be in its final form.

JUAN GONZÁLEZ: As we hear from from political prisoners and the [MOVE] 9, we are going to move to another story connected to political prisoners. This Sunday in Brooklyn, the Black August Collective will host a major hip-hop benefit to raise awareness and money for political prisoners. Among the performers are Erykah Badu, Dead Prez, Talib Kweli and Boots Riley of The Coup. Many of the performers will then head to Cuba to attend the 9th Annual Havana Rap Festival.

AMY GOODMAN: You are listening to Democracy Now!, as we turn now to Saki, who is one of the political activists who is involved with Black August. Explain what Black August is.

SAKI HALL: Well, Black August was started in the early ‘70s within the California prison system as a means of honoring fallen freedom fighters, such as George Jackson, and expanded outside of the prison system in the late ‘70s. And the Malcolm X Grassroots Movement has inherited Black August. And the time of August is a time for us to study and acknowledge and honor the resistance movement in the United States. August is the — it’s titled August, Black August, because there’s a history and a legacy of resistance within that time. So, for example, the Nat Turner rebellions were in August. George Jackson was assassinated in August. The Haitian independence movement started in August. And so, we with the Malcolm X Grassroots Movement, and artists like Erykah Badu and the people who will be performing on Sunday, like to continue that legacy of resistance.

AMY GOODMAN: We’re going to hear from one of those artists, M-1, who was in our studio, and he will be performing this Sunday in the Black August event.

M-1: They try to make us think we crazy
but I know what they doin, they tryna put us back in slavery
check it, to get on welfare you gotta give your fingerprints
soon ya gotta do eyescans to get your benefits
now they got them cards to swipe, ain’t no more foodstamps
shoulda seen it comin, it’s too late to get amped
and everything got a barcode
so they know what you got, when you got it, and what you still owe.

AMY GOODMAN: M-1, who was here in Democracy Now!’s studios. On the line with us, Erykah Badu, who is one of the headliners of the Black August concert. Can you talk about the significance of this event and then why you head to Cuba on Monday? Welcome.

ERYKAH BADU: Good morning, Amy.

AMY GOODMAN: It’s good to have you with us, and I’m here with Juan González.

ERYKAH BADU: It’s good to be here. The significance to me of Black August is to celebrate Black Music Month and to also help to support political prisoners and their families. We head to Cuba to have a cultural exchange of music and to show that we are dedicated to the bonding of two cultures through our politics.

AMY GOODMAN: What is the world of an artist like now in this post-9/11, U.S. PATRIOT Act world?

ERYKAH BADU: Well, I think the artists’ world never changes. The people go where the music goes. And I think that a few of us have chosen to be a bit responsible to keep rebirthing music and consciousness at the same time, kind of midwives of some sort.

AMY GOODMAN: Well, Erykah Badu, I want to thank you for being with us. Her album Worldwide Underground is being released by Motown Records. Thank you very much.

ERYKAH BADU: Peace.

AMY GOODMAN: And thank you, Saki. You are listening to Democracy Now! That wraps up our program. If you’d like to get a video or audio cassette of the show, you can call 1-800-881-2359. That’s 1-800-881-2359. I’ll be in Nantucket tonight at the Unitarian Church, tomorrow night Martha’s Vineyard at the Old Whaling Church, on Sunday night with Noam Chomsky and Howard Zinn at Provincetown Town Hall. Looking forward to those events and meeting Democracy Now! listeners and viewers. Democracy Now! is produced by Mike Burke, Sharif Abdel Kouddous, Lenina Nadal, Elizabeth Press. I’m Amy Goodman, with Juan González. Our website, democracynow.org. Thanks for joining us.

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