Mos Def, Dr. Cornell West On Bill Maher + Jena 6 Campaign

September 13th, 2007

The incredible artists/activists Dr. Cornell West and Mos Def laid some knowledge on the table on Bill Maher’s show a few days ago. I adore the combined energies of West and Def. Mos Def has so much charisma and a fantastic sense of humour, he keeps the energy up and just keeps dropping conspiracy theories. Dr. Cornell West has the deep voice and elegance of a professor and a Panther. They complement each other perfectly. If only Adam Yauch and Mos Def would run for Prez and VP of the US, then get Dr. West a high position in the White House or the Congress… That’s the US I want to live in!

The show was incredible and entertaining, check it out on youTube:
(The volume is really loud, turn your speakers down before you hit play)

Part 1:

Part 2:

Part 3:

If those videos get pulled off of youTube, jump over to Start Snitching for a link to the torrent.

Mos Def Cares About The Jena 6 In LA

During the show, Mos Def calls out Kanye, 50, and Jay Z as hip hop artists to get involved in the Jena 6 campaign. He calls on all people to get familiar with the situation and do anything you can to help. Mos Def is the first hip hop artist to publicly support the Jena 6 in Louisiana. He will be going down to Jena, Louisiana for the court sentencing of the 6 students who are each facing up to 100 years in prison for acts of violence. The Jena 6 are a group of African American University students who attacked a white student that taunted them with racial slurs and hung nooses from the “White Tree” on campus. In a nutshell, the black kids who beat up the white kids are getting a punishment that is at least 4 times more harsh than what the white kids received for beating up black kids. It’s a much more complicated situation than that, and has a lot to do with white supremacy in the deep south, so please look it up. Mos Def announced his plans to attend the sentencing on the Bill Maher show, and the hip hop based blog, Nah Right reported this:

Artist/ Activist Mos Def is calling upon African Americans of influence and all concerned parties to join him in Jena, LA on Sept. 20th to rally and show support for the Jena 6, who are being treated very harshly by law enforcement in the State.

The Jena Six are a group of black students who are being charged with attempted murder for beating up a white student that was taunting them with racial slurs. This student also supported other white students that hung three nooses from the high schools “white tree,” which sits in the front yard at their school. The charges could lead to sentences of 20 to 100 years in prison, of which civil rights advocates have decried as unfairly harsh.