Immortal tech. & the mayor of LA

[Nesayem]

An Open Letter From Immortal Technique About South Central
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An Open Letter from Immortal Technique About the South Central Farm in Los Angeles

EVICTION TIME HAS COME.

The time has run out and the people of the South Central Farm are going to be under threat of bulldozers come May 23rd. the women and children are under threat of being homeless because the seemingly unquenched thirst of developers and a mayors broken promise. In this time of need many people have come out of the woodwork, my supporters and many media outlets came to initiate the discussion and spread the word in late April. For that I am indebted to you, you spread the word and brought more people who have the same logical vision to the cause.

***I would personally like to thank Leonardo DiCaprio, Ben Harper and Joan Baez for expressing and pledging their support for the South Central Farm***

I told you people this wasn't about me, or about anyone else people are doing this because it benefits the entire LA community. Because it provides life in a polluted miserable place.


Tomorrow 5/19 - 9AM ( IF YOU CAN'T MAKE IT THEN PLEASE AT LEAST COME TO THE BENEFIT SHOW TONIGHT AT THE FARM!!!)

Demonstration at the LA Convention Center.
Figueroa & Pico St.

The Mayor of City of LA Antonio Villaraigrosa has been dodging the phone calls made by all of you, and he has conveyed a message of disrespect for the community by not addressing his pledge to the South Central Farm. A while ago I put out a blog and an announcement to the people of LA that i would come to do a show out there and come to do the Invasion tour, I did. It was very successful we confronted the powers that be and we raised lots of money for this scholarship program that i am going to announce at the end of the year. I might even pick a myspace Candidate, but thats neither here nor there. The mayor had promised to raise money for the people of the South Central farm but upon calling his office the response from his cronies and office workers not him was that the money was there. The people have yet to see any of that put into the fund. I think that because he has supported immigrants rights politically by going to Washington to he has decided to put this issue on the back burner. Now a forum on National Immigration is good but I hold that man to his word of helping the farm. I promised him and his people that I would be their greatest ally if they helped and the engineer of a personal hell if they didn't.

The night of the 23rd when it turns midnight ALL WOMEN AND CHILDREN are considered illegal occupants. This is the same mayor who is supposedly fighting for our rights as Latinos nationally and he can't hold back a corrupt politician like Jan Perry and a handful of city developers from taking over one city block. He had originally gave his word before he was elected to gain support among voting immigrant residents that the farm would be preserved, and now he must fulfill his promise. Not for the glory of his own self serving vanity as he attempts to leave city hall and run for Congress or Senate but so that 350 families, can have food to eat and so the entire community of South Central can provide sustenance for the children that are there.

I am asking anyone who is reading this last minute request if you could show up or at the very least take some time out of your day to continuously bombard his phone and leave message after message... Bomb his phone with messages because a leader has to answer to the people, he has to know we need him to stand up for these things, and he has to grow from criticism not become angered that community wants more than rhetoric from him.

Mayor Villaraigosa:
Email: mayor@lacity.org Phone: (213)978-0600

... There is a benefit show this Friday afternoon at the South Central Farm that will feature the following people.

05/19/2006 - South Central Farm Benefit
41st & Alameda, Los Angeles, CA 90001

Tom Morello (Nightwatchman)
Union13
Quetzal
Aztlan Underground
Olmeca
Son del Centro
plus special guests...

06:00 PM
$10 / All Ages

(Please also bring supplies if you can for the people that are gonna camp out and defend the farm. Such as flashlights, sleeping bags, blankets, batteries, bread and water.)


(ON SAT AND SUN)
10AM - 6PM Open Market at the South Central Farm.

And lastly May 23rd in the afternoon around 6PM anyone who has an interest in taking this issue to heart and standing with the farmers to plan a resistance to the corruption of land development. Please come through to the farm and show your support. I will send another word out until then I stand here in NYC and prepare to go back to the lab to work on these records and to continue building the army and massing more and more pressure against the political aristocracy here in America that thinks they can just avoid dealing with a problem by ignoring it. These people are not going to carried away quietly. They aren't going to be thrown in the streets with their children starving in an orderly fashion they are going to be attacked by sheriffs and by hired security. They are going to be targeted for eviction by people like Ralph Horowitz and Jan Perry, two gutless individuals who use racial division to keep the community down. Jan Perry you haven't done @#%$ for the black community, you are the epitome of a female uncle tom. Let the word be known I know how to return messages. And Mr. Mayor, learn how to keep your subordinates in check, and learn how to keep a promise. Because if you abandon the people now let it be know you are not the only popular Latino politician on the West Coast who can win an election for control of California.

The people make those decisions.

And the people are watching you Mr. Mayor.

Deliver, or be delivered.

Sincerely
Immortal Technique

=====================================
Here's more info on the South Central Farm

L.A. City Mayor Villaraigosa Fails to Raise Matching Funds to Save 350 Poor Families in South Central Los Angeles From Brentwood Developer

For the last three years, 350 families have been fighting to preserve the largest contiguous piece of open green space in South Central Los Angeles. On April 22nd 2006, Trust for Public had negotiated a 30 day buy option that depended on the city matching 5 Million put up by a private foundation. It appears that the City of LA and the Mayor's office will not match the money and the land will fall to Brentwood Developer.

WHEN: Friday, May 19th, 2006 @ 9:00 a.m.

WHO: South Central Farmers

WHAT: Protest and Press Conference
In the week of May 15 2006 the community was informed that, "Mayor Villaraigosa and his office would not be able to raise the matching 5 Million that he had promised to the community," stated Tezozomoc, elected representative of the South Central Farmers. "The community is in shock. Everyone thought that it was a done deal and now families face a bleak future with the possible destruction of the community farm," stated Albert Tlatoa, farmer. According to the Los Angeles Superior Court Brentwood real estate developer has already acquired the legal right to deploy the Los Angeles Sheriffs department to remove 350 families from the largest urban farm in the U.S. This could happen as soon as May 24th, 2006. There will be only 3 days to Save the Farm!


WHERE: Location Changed!
We will now be demonstrating at the intersection of S. Figueroa St. and W. Pico Blvd. in Los Angeles


WHY: This is a unique opportunity to eliminate park poverty in this highly urbanized, blighted and semi-industrial neighborhood. This site is a singular opportunity to make permanent and public the community and cultural benefits of the green oasis created by 360 families over the years as they continue to grow healthy fruits, vegetables and medicinal plants to supplement their food budgets. This urban garden, once purchased, will remain open space for generations to come.


South Central Los Angeles, CA (SCFs) May 18, 2006 -- For three years 350 families have been fighting against the City of Los Angeles, Los Angeles Port, and Brentwood real estate developer Ralph Horowitz to preserve 14 acres of contiguous open green space in the form of the largest urban farm in the U.S. On March 6, 2006 the community of the South Central Farm, located at 41st and Alameda, was served an eviction notice from the Los Angeles Superior Court giving the Farmers 5 days to prevent the eviction by the Los Angeles Sheriff's department.

The community rallied and organized themselves through the South Central Farmers and went to court to prevent the eviction. In what was deemed close to being a miracle when the Trust for Public Land, along with Mayor Villaraigosa's office negotiated a 30 day buy option from developer Ralph Horowitz.

This situation arose when the city erroneously settled a lawsuit in a backroom deal without giving the community due process. "As citizens and tax payers of the City of Los Angeles, we are outraged that the city of LA settled a speculative lawsuit(BC272571 LIBAW HOROWITZ INVESTMENT COMPANY VS CITY LOS ANGELES ET AL) with Mr. Horowitz." Even after Judge W. Crispo had ruled three times against Horowitz, the city officials conceded to give the land back to Horowitz for a mere 5.1 million dollars, extremely under the fair market value, since in 1994 it had been sold for 13.3 Million dollars.

"We are outraged that the community is now being asked to bear the profit of 11 million dollars for the real estate developer. Further, we address the primary decision maker regarding the land, Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, urging him to do more than suggest that the working class community connected to the farm raise $16 million or more through individual contributions."

"It is not necessary to destroy the community farm. Help us prevent the destruction of this 14-year project that has become an asset to South Central Los Angeles. We call upon you to reconsider the destruction of the 14-acre community farm in South Central Los Angeles," says Fernando Flores, Organizer of the South Central Farmers' Support Committee.

In the week of May 15 2006 the community was informed that, "Mayor Villaraigosa and his office would not be able to raise the matching 5 Million that he had promised to the community," stated Tezozomoc, elected representative of the South Central Farmers.

"The community is in shock. Everyone thought that it was a done deal and now families face a bleak future with the possible destruction of the community farm," stated Albert Tlatoa, farmer. According to the Los Angeles Superior Court Brentwood real estate developer has already acquired the legal right to deploy the Los Angeles Sheriffs department to remove 350 families from the largest urban farm in the U.S. This could happen as soon as May 24th, 2006.

The South Central Farmers will be holding nightly vigils at the Getty House, the official residence of the Los Angeles Mayor. On May 19th, 2006 at 9 am the farmers and community supporters will be holding a protest outside Los Angeles City Hall and a press conference at 10:00 am. They will make one last overture to the Mayor of Los Angeles and the City Council who may be able to save the farm by stepping up to the plate and displaying real leadership.

Discussions with elected representatives and grassroots supporters centered on the disbelief that Mayor Villaraigosa was not able to raise the matching funds and that he would so easily give up on the people that he touts to represent. "If Villaraigosa can not wrestle 14 acres in South Central, how does he hope to tackle a leviathan like LAUSD?" asked Tezozomoc, elected representative of the South Central Farmers.

The community expressed a great desire to continue pressing the issue to the press, city officials and people across the city.

For more info www.southcentralfarmers.com


Contact information for Los Angeles City Mayor and Council:
Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa: mayor@lacity.org or call (213)978-0600
Mayors Mansión: The Getty House @ Windsor Square
605 S. Irving blvd. Los Angeles, CA 90005
8 blocks west of Western (off Wilshire)
Council Meetings are held on the 3rd floor in the John Ferraro Council
Chamber at Los Angeles City Hall:
200 N. Spring St. Los Angeles, CA Every Tue, Wed & Fri at 10:00am.

District 1 Ed Reyes: (213)-473-7001 councilmember.reyes@lacity.org
District 2 Wendy Greuel: (213)-473-7002 councilmember.greuel@lacity.org
District 3 Dennis P. Zine: (213)-473-7003 councilmember.zine@lacity.org
District 4 Tom LaBonge: (213)-473-7004 Labonge@lacity.org
District 5 Jack Weiss: (213)-473-7005 councilmember.weiss@lacity.org
District 6 Tony Cardenas: (213)-473-7006 councilman.cardenas@lacity.org
District 7 Alex Padilla: (213)-473-7007 councilmember.padilla@lacity.org
District 8 Bernard Parks: (213)-473-7008 councilmember.parks@lacity.org
District 9 Jan Perry: (213)-473-7009 councilmember.perry@lacity.org
District 10 Herb J. Wesson, Jr.: (213)-473-7010
councilmember.wesson@lacity.org
District 11 Bill Rosendahl: (213)-473-7011 councilman.rosendahl@lacity.org
District 12 Greig Smith: (213)-473-7012 councilmember.smith@lacity.org
District 13 Eric Garcetti: (213)-473-7013 councilmember.garcetti@lacity.org
District 14 José Huizar: (213)-473-7014 councilmember.huizar@lacity.org
District 15 Janice Hahn: (213)-473-7015 councilmember.hahn@lacity.org

Office of Ralph Horowitz(developer evicting the families):
11911 San Vicente Blvd, Ste. 310
Los Angeles, Ca 90049
Intersection of San Vicente and Montana
Phone: (310) 440-7878
As we reach the end of our court granted stay on the land, we hope you will
echo your thousands of messages of support with demonstrations of support in
solidarity with our efforts.
The struggle continues.
South Central Farmers

[Nesayem]

Battle Times & Battle Rhymes: an interview wit’ revolutionary rapper Immortal Technique

Part 1

by POCC Minister of Information JR


Immortal Technique was in Watsonville last month for an event organized by the Brown Berets and attended by the POCC and BCF.
Photo: JR
For Black and Brown Principled Unity Month, we’re bringing you this interview wit’ Immortal Technique, one of the most political voices in Hip Hop standing right next to the Coup, TKash, Saigon, Hasan Salam, Akir, the A-Alikes, Prisoners of War, Saafir, Lady Bug Mecca, Amir Sulaimon, Mos Def, Talib Kweli, Badu, Public Enemy, Kam, Paris and dead prez.

Just because a lot of the readers reading this are young and into Hip Hop, your consciousness can start wit’ listenin’ to political Hip Hop, but it can’t stop there. The application of knowledge is power, and we need to use what we know to go get what we need to get against this system.

Black and Brown people, both, have to realize that it’s only two real sides; the people and the government. We have to know that we’re the people and that we’re not for the U.S. government blowing up the levees and drowning people on TV in New Orleans, just like we’re not for HR 4437, which will make it a crime for families to help so-called “illegal” relatives – although they really didn’t cross the border, the border crossed them.

“Contradictions between the people are reconcilable, but contradictions between the people and the state are irreconcilable,” like the Black Panther Party used to say. Check out this Block Report Radio interview ...

We’re back stage in San Bernadino. We’re standing here wit’ Immortal Technique, currently one of revolutionary rap’s greatest talents.

JR: With relevance to the revolution, I got one question specifically from the Black community to ask you. We love your lyrics and all of that shit, but wit’ the government-designed war between the Black and Brown community goin’ on, we’re trying to bring unity. Why do you say “nigga” so much, because out here in Southern Cali, Blacks and Mexicans in the streets aren’t getting along?


Revolutionary rapper Immortal Technique and Chairman Fred Hampton Jr. of the POCC were on stage at a recent show in Oakland personifying Black and Brown unity.
Photo: JR
Tech: I feel you, but I’m not Mexican. I’m Peruvian and Black. My family on my mother’s side is part West Indian, but West Indian people are Black. So for my whole damn life I grew up talking like that, you know what I mean?

When I was a little kid, when I went to the park in Harlem, people wouldn’t be like, “Let’s pick him to play basketball.” They would be like, “Yo, get that nigga right there.” You know what I mean? In terms of language and in terms of development, I try to stray away from using curses and that type of language as I get older and older. But my whole young life I spent talkin’ like that.

And in New York, it’s just a different vibe than it is out here. Like in the Bay Area and on the West Coast, you be havin’ homos and regular niggas in the same bar. In New York, it’s like nah, niggas ain’t rollin like that. Hard core Hip Hop doesn’t really fuck wit’ that, but out there they don’t care.

So I understand every different place has a different demographic and a different way of gettin’ along; and I’m more for Black and Brown gettin’ along better. I mean, I’m a product of that, myself, so I definitely see that in my mind. Like I try to say “bitch” less, I try to say “nigga” less, I try to say “brotha” rather than that. But my style in based in aggressiveness. It is based in war. It’s what made me, you know what I mean?

JR: What motivates your music? When you picked up a pen, why did you come wit’ revolutionary raps? Were you politically conscious when you picked up a mic, or did you turn?

Tech: I mean it wasn’t a question of really being politically conscious. I was locked up in jail.

JR: How long and where?

Tech: I did a bullet out on the East Coast. And it was stupid to me, because everybody for my whole life have been like, “Oh yeah, I came back from jail. I got my respect.” And I’m lookin’ at them now, and I’m like, “Yo, you ain’t had no respect because you had some country ass white boy calling you not ‘my nigga’ but “Yo, nigger, get in yo’ muthaphuckin’ cell.” Or “You fuckin’ spics, what the fuck are you doin’? Get in your cell.”

Everything about your life was controlled. You was basically a slave, you know what I mean? So on that note, I really just had to do the knowledge and understand where I was coming from as a man. And that was my motivation, at least partially was what I wanted to get my mind into.

I really wanted to study where my peoples was from and what our history had been. So we would know that it wasn’t just we came here, and we was stuck in the hood out here since Day One. Nah, we got a long, glorious past, you know what I mean? And we need to understand that, so we can move towards achieving a cultural creativity.

JR: Why do Black and Brown people need to come together?

Tech: For a lot of different reasons. Obviously the Black community resents the fact that it’s a lot more immigrants here, and the immigration that comes here is not the same way as when Africans immigrated here forcefully, you know, when they were taken. The conditions are, you know, a little bit better, and all of a sudden we get citizenship.

But they don’t understand that we’ve been suffering the same thing, only that we’ve been suffering in our own home countries. On the flip side of it, Latino people are sometimes raised to be more racist than white people because that Spanish-European way of thinking makes them not only hate Black people but hate the indigenous person that they are underneath, whatever they call themselves as Latinos.

So it’s not that they don’t like Black people; they don’t even like themselves. So you feel me? That’s what’s goin’ on wit’ that. Latino people have really lost a sense of who they really are. They don’t have an understanding of their indigenous roots. They think that they’re Spanish, but you’re not Spanish.

Spanish people are white Europeans with blond hair, blue eyes, blotchy white skin, you know what I mean? The only reason that they got color on their skin is because North Africans came and took the land over and civilized them.

JR: What do you think about the word “Chicano”?

Tech: I know where it comes from. It starts wit’ a “Xi” instead of a “Chi,” you know what I mean?

JR: What’s the difference?

Tech: Well see, I think that a lot of people wanted to make a name that wasn’t just indicative of just being Mexican Amerikkkan or being Mexican, or being part of whatever establishment it was. They wanted to branch out and have something of their own ... the same as how some Blacks don’t call themselves African Amerikkkan.

“I’m not Black; we’re African. That’s where the fuck we’re from. So if you don’t like that, fuck you.” That’s how they are, and I think that Chicanos feel the same way, like, “That’s the tribe of my original people. If you can’t feel that, then fuck you.” But you know that every politic is different. You got revolutionary people, you got liberal people, you got conservative Latinos. So it’s not like we all come from one type of mentality, Everybody got their own little political agenda.



JR: Seku Ture, the first president of Guinea in West Africa, said that “culture is stronger than the gun.” Why is it that you use your culture, and why is it important that our artists from our communities use culture to educate the youngstas, who ain’t reading nowadays?

Tech: I think that Malcolm said it best: “As long as you can be convinced that you never did anything, you could never do anything,” you know what I mean? We need to understand that while we may be living in the hood, that we invented astronomy. We invented working wit’ metal – metallurgy.

If you think about even mathematics – algebra, algorithms – why do you think that it starts with an “AL”? Because it is in the name of Allah like anything else. So when you understand that Black Muslims created mathematics, that’s just another thing that was stolen from our people.

It’s not just enough that they stole you. They stole your identity. You know, that’s what makes the Middle Passage possible ... that they not only convinced themselves that you are lesser, but they’ve convinced you that you’re lesser. They convinced you that you never built those pyramids; aliens helped you. Aliens, nigga?

So aliens helped you make a microchip. Aliens helped you build, you know what I mean, a space shuttle that goes to the ... because if aliens helped Black and Latino people, aliens must’ve helped white people out a whole fuckin’ lot. We discovered planet alignment ... the Mayans, Aztecs, Incas, you know what I mean? Africans developed working society, and civilization to organize themselves.

And that was done by E.T.? And they’re goin’ to act like a microwave was there ... they snapped there fingers and that shit came out. Bullshit.

This was originally recorded as a Block Report radio interview. Listen to more Block Reports at www.sfbayview.com. Email JR at blockreportradio@yahoo.com.

[Nesayem]

Battle Rhymes for Battle Times: an interview wit’ Immortal Technique

Part 2

by POCC Minister of Information JR


Immortal Technique
Immortal Technique is one of revolutionary rap’s biggest stars right now, from coast to coast. If you aren’t up on him, he is definitely one of the next legends emerging from this current era.

Last month, the POCC was on tour for three dates wit’ Tech and his crew, while bringin’ a message of principled unity between the Black, Brown and Red all up and down the state of Cali. Within a week, we hit Watts, Oakland and Watsonville and witnessed the revolutionary potential that our peoples have if we could unify against our common oppressor. This is part 2 of the Block Report interview wit’ Immortal Technique; check it ...

JR: Tell us what’s goin’ on wit’ you and the music, bruh bruh. How did you pick up a pen and start rappin’?

Tech: I could always rhyme since I was about 9 years old. One day, I heard niggaz rhyming on the radio and said, “Yo man, I could do that,” you know what I mean? I heard people out there that had a message. I don’t even remember their names.

I was so young. I was like, “Yo, all these brothas is gettin’ on and sayin’ something real. Why can’t I say something real, just to say it?” I wasn’t even looking for a deal back then. I was at a kid. I was like, “Yo, Hip Hop is the most beautiful art form because where can the poorest of the poor speak not only to the richest of the rich, but to their children?” Do you know what I mean? That’s truth right there.

That is something that has never been able to happen before. We could tap dance for them, we could dance for them, but now we’re spittin’ ideas into their minds. We’re sayin’, “This is what it is.”

You could call your society whatever, but we see it from the ground up. We built Amerikkka, you know what I mean? And while I’m down wit’ a lot of struggles, we need to take a conscientious look at who we are; take it back to Africa or our indigenous country.

I think that there is just as much an argument for staying here, because we built this muthaphucka. We aren’t gonna build this for you and leave. We built this, and this is ours. You took this shit from us, guess what? We want it back, and some people have to deal wit’ it.

And I keep it street, because that’s where I’m from. I’m from Harlem. I keep it hood, because that’s how I was always raised. My rhymes are a little aggressive and hardcore brutal, because I started out battlin’ before I did any of this shit. And then when I was locked up, I was like you know what? I’m sittin’ here in a cage for what? I might as well go out for something real.

JR: Off top. I know that you’re a Brown brotha. Tell us about the Zapatistas and what you think about their recent move in telling the visitors and the tourists that they have to bounce, so that they can reorganize. Do you have any information on that, and how do you feel about it if you do?

Tech: However they want to deal wit’ that, that’s on them. They’re a completely different entity than me. I can’t speak on every political move that they do, but I’m sure that if they were doing that, they had a specific reason behind it, you know what I mean? I think that they’re tryin’ to consolidate what culture they have, and say that if you’re going to come into our community, these are the ways that you have to accept. Why can’t you change for us?

JR: What do you have to say about political prisoners?

Tech: There’s so many of them, and not just from the past, but from now. I consider people who are locked up by the justice system of Amerikkka who have not received a fair trial ... those people are political prisoners.

We always think of political prisoners as some dude in the Middle East chained up to a radiator being electrocuted, but think about it: There’s Black and Latino people here in Amerikkka doing years behind bars for some shit that they didn’t even do. There’s rape, there’s drugs, there’s torture in there.

It’s not no secret that all the people that tortured the niggaz in Abu Ghraib, they’re all C.O.’s here from Amerikkka. Where do you think that they learned how to do that shit? By beating people and having no repercussions happen. So fuck these muthaphuckaz, man, I’m gonna ride on them ‘til the day that I check out. That’s just the bottom line. To fear death is an insult to life, so fuck death.

JR: What’s your top 5 song that you’re listening to right now?

Tech: That reggae joint “She Needs More Wood for the Fire.” That shit blasts in the whip because it really talks about how little girls really get fucked up. We got to realize that our women raise the next generation, of everything.

Of course then I go wit’ classics. I got “Sound of da Police.” I’m talkin’ about my mixtape in the car right now ... The G. Rap joint “Brotha on the Run.” That shit is on the mixtape. I’m takin’ niggaz back, son. What else is on my oldschool shit ...”Deep Cover,” the Snoop and Dre joint, and then Eric B. and Rakim “Follow the Leader.”

JR: What’s up wit’ the album?

Tech: The album is called “Middle Passage.” It’ll drop in 2006. It’s on Viper Records/Baby Grand and it comes out on Koch, you know what I mean? The website is www.viperrecords.com. Immortal Technique, Harlem New York.