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Russell Simmons: Occupy Wall Street Movement
Interview by Kam Williams
Russell Simmons was
among the handful of celebrities making a daily show of
support of Occupy Wall Street (OWS) via a very visible
presence on the ground in lower Manhattan and other
cities. But since the police began banning and
bulldozing the group’s campsites all across the country,
it seems that the activists might have lost some of
their momentum. So, I decided to track down Russell to
see whether he thinks OWS was just a flash in the pan or
if it will be revived despite the recent crackdown.
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Kam Williams: Hey Russell,
thanks for the time.
Russell Simmons: Hey, man.
Kam Williams: Why did you
join the Occupy Wall Street Movement?
Russell Simmons:
Well, I have certainly been one of the people who’s been
very vocal about the government’s being more concerned
about special interests than the needs of the people who
elected the officials. There’s always been talk about
this, and now we have a chance to have a real dialogue.
Wall Street controlled the future of the people
participating in the occupation. A lot of pundits keep
asking, “What do they want?” It’s so clear to me what
the protesters’ rap is all about. They’re occupying Wall
Street and carrying picket signs that say things like,
“I couldn’t afford a politician, so I made this sign.”
You can trace their grievances and discontent back to
all the corporate influence which has had a huge impact
in terms of all the inequalities that people are
suffering from. If you talk about the prison-industrial
complex, I’ve fought against the prison-industrial
complex when I called for a repeal of the Rockefeller
drug laws. The biggest impediment to get the laws
changed was the lobbyists. Whether you’re talking about
healthcare, jobs going overseas, or tax reform, you’re
always coming up against lobbyists. Hello! So that issue
is critical. And this dialogue is bringing a lot more
attention to it.
Kam Williams:
But are the politicians listening to OWS or to the
lobbyists?
Russell Simmons:
The politicians already in office don’t want to change.
A few might have it in their hearts to change and to
start working for the people, but even some of the most
progressive politicians are silent because they know
that the candidate with the most money wins.
Kam Williams:
So, what’s the solution?
Russell Simmons:
On the day that Mayor Bloomberg cleared out Zuccotti
Park in New York, I went up to Boston where I promoted a
Constitutional amendment calling for public financing of
elections, a very straightforward, no-nonsense, no
compromise amendment which prohibits any expenditures by
any third party, by any special interests or even by the
candidates themselves.
Kam Williams:
That would certainly level the playing field.
Russell Simmons:
Yeah, the elected officials should be working for the
voters who elected them. Money corrupts the process. Why
would you be giving a candidate money unless you expect
something in return? That’s why I want to get this
amendment done. It’s only four lines long. This is not a
partisan idea. It’s an American idea. We’re trying to
make a true democracy.
Kam Williams:
Do you think the Occupy Wall Street Movement has been
hurt by getting kickedout of park after park around the
country?
Russell Simmons:
No, no, no… I think it’s only made it stronger. The
movement’s just beginning. It’s only a couple months
old. I was at Zuccotti Park almost every day. The kids
down there were very compassionate. They embraced the
homeless, and they were even kind enough to give free
food and tents to inmates just being released from
Riker’s Island. And some of those people would come out
of jail and find purpose in joining the movement.
Unfortunately, a few were disruptive, and the media
would give the bad apples the most attention and so OWS’
message was being misrepresented. But OWS was only
taking care of people the City of New York should’ve
been caring for. So, the cleaning out of the parks just
means the revolution has to evolve.
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Kam Williams:
What would your answer be to people who ask: What,
specifically, does Occupy Wall Street want?
Russell Simmons:
We want the government to be controlled by all the
people, not by the richest 1%. That’s always been the
first demand. That’s a simple enough message, and I
think it’s pretty clear now, even though much of the
media has been disingenuous in its coverage. We don’t
want the heads of the biggest industries to make all the
decisions, because they’re not for the people. They’re
for the corporations. Power to the people!
Kam Williams:
How will eliminating political contributions help the
election process?
Russell Simmons:
Presently, you can’t be a free man and run for office in
this country. Everybody wants something! Even
individuals who bundle your money want something. The
system has to be changed so that the politicians will
work on behalf of the people.
Kam Williams:
Isn’t it possible that you’ll still have politicians
taking money under the table?
Russell Simmons:
That’s a different type of corruption. Most people don’t
want to break the law. I’m concerned about eliminating
perfectly legal forms of bribery. At least 4 out 5
Americans believe that Wall Street and special interests
have too much control over our government. So, it’s not
just a progressive thing. Remember, even a whole unit of
Tea Party members marched with us on the Brooklyn
Bridge. They want their elected officials to work for
them, too. We see a flaw in our democracy, and there’s
no reason why we shouldn’t be able to fix it. We want to
educate people on this one issue.
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Kam Williams:
What’s tragic to me is the precariousness of the middle
class. I’ve seen people lose their jobs, and then lose
their home. Or get sick, and then lose their home. Or be
working full-time but be unable to afford health care or
to send their kids to college. A quarter of the kids in
this country now live in poverty. Meanwhile, the Bush
tax cuts for the rich remain in effect. Whatever
happened to a living wage?
Russell Simmons:
All of those problems are what makes this so urgent. And
at the same time, the stock market just rolls on. It’s a
disconnect, a money grab. Things will change when they
can no longer exploit the people.
Kam Williams:
So, isn’t business to blame for these problems more than
politicians?
Russell Simmons:
No, I don’t fault business. If you run a corporation,
your job is to maximize the return on investment for
your investors. Good for you. But by the same token, we
have to remember that corporations have no compassion.
That’s why legislation and regulations are necessary.
Kam Williams:
Do you anticipate seeing greater African-American
involvement in the Occupy Wall Street Movement?
Russell Simmons:
Definitely! Veteran activist Dr. Ben Chavis is coming
aboard with his long history and great record in terms
of organizing. I know that when the civil rights
community joins forces with the unions and with the pop
stars of the cultural community, we can make this
country much greater.
Kam Williams:
Are you at all worried about a possible backlash from
the black community the way that Dr. Cornel West and
Tavis Smiley were criticized as being anti-Obama when
they went on their poverty tour?
Russell Simmons:
No, this not about Obama. I’m prepared to go on the road
to make sure that Obama gets reelected. I’m a big
supporter of President Obama.
Kam Williams:
And what’s up next for Occupy Wall Street?
Russell Simmons:
There’s going to be an announcement made very shortly. I
can’t blow it, but I will say this much: I potentially
see the unions, the black Church and the cultural
community coming together to spearhead a Poor People’s
Revolution as a fulfillment of the dream envisioned by
Dr. Martin Luther King.
Kam Williams: Well, thanks
for updating me, Russell, and best of luck with
expanding the Occupy Wall Street Movement.
Russell Simmons: Thank you,
brother.
Russell Wendell
Simmons (born October 4, 1957) is an American
business
magnate as the co-founder, with
Rick Rubin, of the pioneering
hip-hop label
Def Jam, and creator of the clothing fashion lines
Phat Farm, Argyleculture, and American Classics.
Russell Simmons is the third richest figure in
hip-hop, having a net-worth estimate of $340
million as of April 2011. Simmons was raised in
Queens, New York.[2]
He is the son of Daniel Simmons, Sr., a public school
administrator, and Evelyn Simmons, a New York City park
administrator. His older brother is abstract
expressionist painter
Daniel Simmons, Jr., and his younger brother is
Rev. Joseph Simmons ("Run" of
Run-DMC). . . .
In January 2011 he
stated in an interview with
Allison Kugel that he is not a
Buddhist as previously reported, but is a
non-religious practitioner of
Yoga, where he prays to the
Atman, or the self. Simmons practices a method of
Yoga known as
Jivamukti Yoga, which encourages vegetarianism and
social and environmental activism. Simmons is a
practitioner of
Transcendental Meditation (TM) and a supporter of
the
David Lynch Foundation for Consciousness-Based Education
and World Peace, which was established to ensure
that any child in America who wants to learn and
practice TM can do so. On January 4, 2011 he published
the book Super Rich: A Guide to Having It All, which
espouses giving as a lifestyle choice. Simmons is also a
supporter of same sex marriage.—Wikipedia
posted 6 December 2011
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Super Rich: A Guide to Having it All
By Russell Simmons
Russell Simmons knows firsthand that
wealth is rooted in much more than the
stock
market. True wealth has more to do with
what's in your heart than what's in your
wallet. Using this knowledge, Simmons
became one of America's shrewdest
entrepreneurs, achieving a level of
success that most investors only dream
about. No matter how much material gain
he accumulated, he never stopped lending
a hand to those less fortunate. In
Super Rich, Simmons uses his rare
blend of spiritual savvy and
street-smart wisdom to offer a new
definition of wealth-and share timeless
principles for developing an unshakable
sense of self that can weather any
financial storm. As Simmons says, "Happy
can make you money, but money can't make
you happy." |
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The New Jim Crow
Mass Incarceration in the Age of
Colorblindness
By Michele Alexander
Contrary to the
rosy picture of race embodied in Barack
Obama's political success and Oprah
Winfrey's financial success, legal
scholar Alexander argues vigorously and
persuasively that [w]e have not ended
racial caste in America; we have merely
redesigned it. Jim Crow and legal racial
segregation has been replaced by mass
incarceration as a system of social
control (More African Americans are
under correctional control today... than
were enslaved in 1850). Alexander
reviews American racial history from the
colonies to the Clinton administration,
delineating its transformation into the
war on drugs. She offers an acute
analysis of the effect of this mass
incarceration upon former inmates who
will be discriminated against, legally,
for the rest of their lives, denied
employment, housing, education, and
public benefits. Most provocatively, she
reveals how both the move toward
colorblindness and affirmative action
may blur our vision of injustice: most
Americans know and don't know the truth
about mass incarceration—but her
carefully researched, deeply engaging,
and thoroughly readable book should
change that.—Publishers
Weekly |
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Blacks in Hispanic Literature: Critical Essays
Edited by
Miriam DeCosta-Willis
Blacks in Hispanic Literature is a
collection of fourteen essays by scholars and
creative writers from Africa and the Americas.
Called one of two significant critical works on
Afro-Hispanic literature to appear in the late
1970s, it includes the pioneering studies of
Carter G. Woodson and
Valaurez B. Spratlin, published in the 1930s, as
well as the essays of scholars whose interpretations
were shaped by the Black aesthetic. The early
essays, primarily of the Black-as-subject in Spanish
medieval and Golden Age literature, provide an
historical context for understanding 20th-century
creative works by African-descended, Hispanophone
writers, such as Cuban
Nicolás Guillén and Ecuadorean poet, novelist,
and scholar
Adalberto Ortiz, whose essay analyzes the
significance of Negritude in Latin America. This
collaborative text set the tone for later
conferences in which writers and scholars worked
together to promote, disseminate, and critique the
literature of Spanish-speaking people of African
descent. . . .
Cited by a
literary critic in 2004 as "the seminal study in the
field of Afro-Hispanic Literature . . . on which
most scholars in the field 'cut their teeth'."
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* * * * *
The White Masters of the
World
From
The World and Africa, 1965
By W. E. B. Du Bois
W. E. B. Du Bois’
Arraignment and Indictment of White Civilization
(Fletcher)
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Ancient African Nations
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Only a Pawn in Their Game
Rev. Jesse Lee Peterson Thanks America for
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Haitian Declaration of Independence 1804
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