This is a throwback article from a couple of years back.. I wanted folks to re-read this and see how things have progressed or re-gressed…
Daily Archives: October 23, 2010
Michael Moore: An Open Letter to Juan Williams
An Open Letter to Juan Williams from Michael Moore
Dear Juan,
Sorry to hear you got fired by National Public Radio for saying on Fox that you get nervous when you see Muslims on a plane with you. It was dumb to say such a thing, but I don’t think saying one dumb thing should be a firing offense. (I DO think an NPR journalist wanting to take money from Fox News to be a regular commentator should be a firing offense, but that’s another story).
But there’s more to this — and some important things that everyone is missing.
For instance, what you said about Faisal Shazad, the Pakistani immigrant who wanted to bomb Times Square. When he was being sentenced this month, he claimed, according to you, that his attempted attack was just “the first drop of blood.” We can’t let political correctness blind us to this, you explained.
I guess Shahzad made a big impression on you, because after being fired you went back on Fox and told them, “You can’t ignore the fact what has recently been said in court with regard to ‘this is the first drop of blood in a Muslim war against America.'”
Sadly for you (and this is also why you shouldn’t be working for a real news organization like NPR), Shahzad never said that. If you were a real journalist, you would have quoted him accurately. What he actually said was that he was the “first droplet of the flood,” not blood. But I know how easy it is to mishear things when scary Muslims are talking. And I guess it’s not a huge difference anyway.
What really matters is that you’re 100% right: We shouldn’t let political correctness stop us from paying close attention to what people like Shahzad say. The problem is you just haven’t taken it far enough.
Juan Williams
So Juan, I’m asking you to join me on a crusade — whoops! scratch that, let’s call it a “mission” — to publicize these statements by Faisal Shahzad as widely as possible. Because most of the media have not spent much time on what he had to say.
Here’s what he said at his recent sentencing (after talking about being a droplet in a flood):
“[Saladin] liberated Muslim lands … And that’s what we Muslims are trying do, because you’re occupying Iraq and Afghanistan…So, the past nine years the war with Muslims has achieved nothing for the U.S., except for it has waken up the Muslims for Islam. We are only Muslims trying to defend our people, honor, and land. But if you call us terrorists for doing that, then we are proud terrorists, and we will keep on terrorizing until you leave our land and people at peace.”
And this is what Shahzad said when he pled guilty back in June:
“I want to plead guilty, and I’m going to plead guilty 100 times over, because until the hour the U.S. pulls its forces from Iraq and Afghanistan, and stops the drone strikes in Somalia and Yemen and in Pakistan, and stops the occupation of Muslim lands, and stops killing the Muslims, and stops reporting the Muslims to its government, we will be attacking U.S., and I plead guilty to that.”
Then there’s email that Shahzad sent to a friend in 2006:
“Everyone knows the current situation of Muslim World… Friends with peaceful protest! Can you tell me a way to save the oppressed? And a way to fight back when rockets are fired at us and Muslim blood flows? In Palestine, Afghan, Iraq, Chechnya and else where.”
And then there’s what Shahzad was telling friends and relatives even before that:
Mr. Shahzad had long been critical of American foreign policy. “He was always very upset about the fabrication of the W.M.D. stunt to attack Iraq and killing non-combatants such as the sons and grandson of Saddam Hussein,” said a close relative. In 2003, Mr. Shahzad had been copied on a Google Groups e-mail message bearing photographs of Guantánamo Bay detainees, handcuffed and crouching, below the words “Shame on you, Bush. Shame on You.”
So what do you say, Juan? Now that you have a new $2 million contract with Fox, let me come on with you for some in-depth discussions about the terrorists’ real motivations. We can’t let another day go by letting the PC brigade stop us from telling the truth: Terrorists aren’t trying to kill us because they hate our freedom. They’re killing us because we’re in their countries killing them.
Yours,
Michael Moore
P.S. If you want to understand suicide bombings, be sure to read the new book that studied every instance of it for the past 30 years. It’s been used by many groups of many religions, not just Arabs and not just Muslims. And almost all such terrorism has one motivation in common: occupation by foreign militaries.
P.P.S. Here’s something else that I’d sincerely love to talk about with you: what do you think when you see rich middle-aged white men talking on TV about how they get nervous around African Americans on the street? And then they explain that we can’t let political correctness stop us from talking about black-on-white crime?
Does it drive you crazy that they say this without even being conscious of the history of far greater violence by white people toward blacks? And do you maybe understand now how those middle-aged white guys get it so wrong?
UPDATE: Juan, you probably remember in 1986 when the Washington Post Magazine ran a Richard Cohen column defending jewelry store owners who wouldn’t buzz in young black men. It caused such a big controversy that the New Republic ran a bunch of responses to it, including one by you. You might find it interesting to go back and read what you wrote then — for instance, “Racism is a lazy man’s substitute for using good judgment … Common sense becomes racism when skin color becomes a formula for figuring out who is a danger to me.”
Follow Michael Moore on Twitter: www.twitter.com/MMFlint
original article: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/michael-moore/juan-williams-is-right-po_b_772766.html
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5 Videos that Remind Us Hip Hop is Not Dead #2 From Eternia to Medusa & Beyond
Eternia
Canadian born Eternia has been making a lot of noise lately. Seems like every time she hits the stage she brings high energy and leaves an indelible impression. I love this song ‘Goodbye’ which is off the album ‘At Last‘, but I think she has harder material. For example, I wish she had a video for the remake she, Jean Grae, Rah Digga, Lady of Rage and Tiye Phoenix did of the Main Source classic ‘Live at the BBQ‘. She aslo has a song where she uses the beat from theDr Dre / Snoop Dogg classic ‘Deep Cover’. For this video Eternia writes its a tale of industry vs. art through the eyes of Eternia, wherein she learns to trust her struggle, backed by MoSS’s post-apocalyptic, end-of-the-world sonic imagery.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NQxKzmi2fHg&ob=av2e
Say what you will about Nicki Minaj, but I love the way she flipped Biggie’s classic Warning. There’s no denying the girl can flow and her lyrics to this song are good as she gave us an insightful female perspective to this tale of grit and grime. Personally I wanna see more remakes of songs, just to hear and see the way folks flip them..
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3MItv-PTKaE
Pittsburgh artist Kellee Miaze remakes the Mobb Deep classic 'Survival of the Fittest'
Kellee Maize is one of the best kept secrets in Pittsburgh. Not only is she a dope rapper who always pushes the envelop with politicized lyrics, she also is a local promoter. For years she’s been the force behind Nakturnal which was space where female emcees could come through and let loose. Her album Age of Feminine is dope and an underground classic. Her latest one ‘Aligned Archetype‘ has been explosive garnering over 300, 000 downloads.
The video below was inspired by Mobb Deep‘s ‘Survival of the Fittest‘. She said she always loved the group and especially this song. She wanted to experiment and see what it would be like to mimic their flow and add her own lyrical take. The cut is called ‘Revival of the Fifth Sun‘ and according to Maize was hard to do. She noted its easy to write for yourself. Its a challenge to try to go word for word with the same cadence as someone else. She would love to one day redo the song with Mobb Deep on it.. Here’s her version of this classic.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bcMVio4O9-Y
Medusa w/ KRS-One
The Queen of LA Hip Hop is Medusa. She’s the one who gave birth to all these emcees. Her reign dates way back to the Good Life in the early 90s when she used to step to the mic and destroy emcees to now where she still performs to packed houses all over the world.. In this video,she’s still repping as you can see with this live version of Cali Frame taken off her last album ‘Gangsta Goddess’. She is by far one of the most underrated and talented emcees around. She was rocking mics with a band long before the many who have jumped in that lane. Salute
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T1GrL9TlVQQ
Invincible
There’s not enough words to describe why Invincible is dope and such an important figure in Hip Hop for both women and the city of Detroit. This video captures the essence of who is she is-a community activist who has true love for the young people in her city. She penned this about her latest video;
After several months of anticipation, two of Detroit’s most visionary hip-hop figures, Invincible and Waajeed, are finally releasing their single, “Detroit Summer” b/w “Emergence”. The passionate two-song project is not only being put out digitally and in limited edition 7″ vinyl format but it’s also being launched with a powerful double music video as well.
This stunning visual representation of the songs was shot on-site during the historic Allied Media Conference and United States Social Forum this past June in Detroit. The video also documents the Detroit Summer Live Arts Media Project youth program, in which Invincible is heavily involved
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