India Arie Interview....

[Nesayem]

Recently we caught up with India.Arie in Washington, D.C. at the Millions More Movement while we were on the POCC National Tour. We didn’t want to talk about the usual music industry stuff that interviewers always ask questions about – we wanted to talk to her about issues that are real life, instead of just Hollywood.

In JR’s opinion, Atlanta native India is one of the dopest musicians in the mainstream, so it was even more interesting to see where she stood on a few of the issues of the day. Check her out:

JR: Why are you here at the Millions More Movement?

India: Because I am on a mission to spread love and healing through music so when my people gather, I want to be there. Mother Tynetta invited me to be a part of her composition, so that’s why I’m here.

Rashida: Can you talk about the gentrification, poor schools and police murders that are going on in our neighborhoods with our people?

India: What can I say about that ... you know what I’m saying? It is frustrating because it seems like such a big task to conquer, but it seems like such a simple solution, but how do you get everybody to think alike? ... to move forward at the same time? ... and to agree on a leader? How?

JR: How do you feel about political prisoners like Mumia Abu Jamal, Sundiata Acoli, Aaron Patterson and Assata Shakur, whom the government put a $1 million bounty on her head recently?

India: What can you say? It just makes you mad, and it’s funny because when you think since Hurricane Katrina (Amerikkka) I think that we’ve been all saying the same thing: That’s how they always treated us, you know what I’m saying? It’s like why is everybody so shocked? I understand why everybody is upset, but why are we surprised?

I’m not surprised by that at all. You know, look at what they do in Africa. People are in Kenya with no shoes, just walking down the street with no shoes? Come on now, they don’t care about Black people.

JR is Minister of Information for the POCC. Ra’shida is West Coast Chairwoman of the POCC. Email them at blockreportradio@yahoo.com.