Tour Dates with Chromeo + Central Park SummerStage (after the jump)
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June 2010
You can also check out The Postelles Bonnaroo set over at NPR
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Retribution Gospel Choir + (public radio station so donate here) The Current + Walker Art Center = MASSIVE
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Paper Tiger is one of the go-to guys for MPLS’ hip-hop heavy hitters Doomtree. Handling the tasks of live DJ, graphic designer, and producer, it seemed like the only thing left to do was put out an LP of his own. Well I was fortunate enough to receive a copy of the debut full length Made Like Uson the doorstep of my blogging hibernation den and it was just the spring feast I needed. Paper tiger has been a key member of the Doomtree crew and has picked the perfect time to drop MLU which features rising star and fellow Doomtree member Dessa as well as Maggie Morrison of the ever growing and ATF favorite Lookbook…
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It’s unofficially official! This is a victory not only for the students at the University of Puerto Rico (UPR), but for the entire island. Beyond that, it should be a victory for the entire coutnry, but no one in the mainland has paid attention and no one will. We should be viewing and emulating what has happened at UPR all across the country. Democracy Now lays it out concisely:
Students at the University of Puerto Rico have declared victory in their two-month strike against massive budget cuts at their school. The students and the university’s Board of Regents have signed an agreement that includes an extension of tuition waivers, the cancellation of a fee that would have drastically raised education costs, and a commitment not to arbitrarily punish strike participants. The students also say the University of Puerto Rico has agreed to reject a series of initiatives that would have increased privatization of the school. The students will hold a general assembly on Monday to seek campus-wide approval for the agreement.
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It’s an example of many things American. It’s ethnocentrism. It’s classism. It’s another media failure. In short, it’s fucking nuts. And it’s us. Have you heard about the strike at the University of Puerto Rico (UPR)? The mainstream media has, of course, neglected the issue.
The short story is that “the UPR administration announced tuition hikes, the end of tuition benefits to university workers and the elimination of some merit-based financial aid—all in an attempt to cut $100 million from the budget.” In response, students have staged an ongoing demonstration on the UPR campus, which has resulted in an indefinte university-wide shutdown. The UPR administration has responded calling in hundreds of police officers, many in full riot gear.
But it’s beautiful, really, the uprising. The students’ effort is widely supported by professors, parents, and much of the population. Their campsite is host to poetry readings, music, soccer games, and creative dramitizations of political abusurdities. There are several bloggers from inside the camp, and they have even set up their own radio station– Radio Huelga.
Parents, professors, and humanitarians have been delivering food, water, and books to the students when they can evade police; however, there are reports of a father being beaten and arrested by police after trying to bring supplies to his son. This is just one example of many acts of police brutality in the conflict. Conversly, the students have only been charged with one aggressive act, which involved pepper spray on the first day of protests.
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PRESS RELEASE
Los Angeles, California, May 25, 2010
PRESS RELEASE
Los Angeles, California, May 25, 2010“We are reaching out to get your ear for a minute about this critical situation in Arizona.
If you haven’t heard, the Arizona state legislature passed a bill (SB 1070) that was signed into law by Governor Jan Brewer that legalizes and sanctions racial profiling. Straight up.
It forces the cops to hunt down and target anyone they “reasonably suspect” that may be undocumented. And if the people they harass don’t have proof that they were born in the U.S., they can be detained and arrested. This must be stopped.
Fans of our music, our stories, our films and our words can be pulled over and harassed every day because they are brown or black, or for the way they speak, or for the music they listen to. People who are poor like some of us used to be could be forced to live in a constant state of fear while just doing what they can to find work and survive. This law opens the door for them to be shaked down, or even worse, detained and deported while just trying to travel home from school, from home to work, or when they just roll out with their friends.
Some of us grew up dealing with racial profiling, but this law (SB 1070) takes it to a whole new low. If other states follow the direction of the Arizona government, we could be headed towards a pre-civil rights era reality. This unjust law was set into motion by the same Arizona government that refused to acknowledge Martin Luther King Jr. day as a national holiday.
When Rosa Parks refused to give up her seat, they arrested her. As a result, people got together and said we are not going to ride the bus until they change the law. It was this courageous action that sparked the Montgomery bus boycott. What if we got together, signed a collective letter saying, “we’re not going to ride the bus”, saying we are not going to comply. We are not going to play in Arizona. We are going to boycott Arizona!
Signed,
Zack de la Rocha”
Sign the petition to help reverse this absurdly racist law!
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