The Hip Hop nation will be put to the test this Monday June 4th as Russell Simmons and his Hip Hop Action Network are gearing up to shut down the New York City School system. The beef stems from proposed budget cuts authorized by current mayor Michael Bloomberg that will result in the loss of after school programs, guidance counselors and other educational tools and components.
Bloomberg says the cuts are needed to help ease the city's current financial crises which was primarily caused by the September 11th terrorist attacks. Bloomberg has said from day one that he was going to be making drastic cuts and that everyone would have to be prepared to make some sacrifices. Many might've been able to stomach these cuts until it was revealed that Bloomberg would be putting more money into building juvenile prisons then he would for education.
Cynthia Nixon who stars in the HBO series Sex and the City had been helping lead the charge for a while. She's been an outspoken critic of Bloomberg's budget cuts and has even allowed herself to be arrested during a protest earlier this month. The month before an organization called Alliance for Quality Education led a protest with a number of school children holding Piggy Banks while calling for Mayor Bloomberg to not cut the school budget.
Now Simmons and a consortium of high profile artists ranging from Ja Rule to Fat Joe to Chuck D are scheduled to be a part of a huge protest this Monday June 4th in front of City Hall. Simmons is calling for all school kids not to attend school that day and to come down to city hall and help shut things down.
A couple of things came to mind when I first heard about this... To start, this who battle reminds me of the steps that were taken back in 1974 when Mayor Abe Beame attempted to save NY from financial ruin. One of the biggest casualities to his proposed budget cuts was New York City school kids who saw 15 thousand teachers fired. The city fired a total of 19 thousand workers. After School programs and the extra curriculm classes like music and drma were all cut... This was all taking place in the backdrop of Hip Hop's early days.
Second, the whole concept of putting money into building prisons for youth is something that is being vigoriously resisted by Hip Hop organizations here in the SF Bay Area. For the past year and a half groups like Books Not Bars, Let's Get Free, EBC and a number of Hip Hoppers have been whoo-riding the Alameda County supervisors to back down on their plans to build what would be the largest juvenile prison in the country.
Many of the opponents to this measure have been arrested and have come out of pocket dogging the Supervisors who would try and hold meetings in others cities like San Diego just to avoid having to deal with the Hip Hop protests. At every turn organizers have stayed in their face and have managed to get the county supervisors to back down on many of the key provisions.
Now a similar fight is brewing in New York City. It will be interesting to see how things play out. Russell Simmons' firepower and popularity versus the firepower and resources of the world's greatest city. If Simmons is able to get the city to be shut down on June 4th.. He will be a force to be reckon with in terms of his ability to get an untapped, traditionally overlooked and apathathetic constituency to be moved into action. It's Hip Hop versus City Hall.. what a show down.. We'll keep you posted as things unfold.
