Getting to the Promised Land
"Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter."
So said Martin Luther King, Jr. He was right about that, as he was about so many other issues. He remains a man to be emulated, a man to serve as a role model and a hero. King obviously occupies such a position for SOL GUY, the host and co-creator of 4REAL, a TV series that takes celebrity guests, like Mos Def, Joaquin Phoenix, MIA and K'NAAN around the world. In places like Kenya, Peru, Haiti and Liberia, they connect with young leaders who are affecting real change in spite of the extreme conditions they live under. You can catch the series on National Geographic International Channels, beginning in February 2008, or you can visit the website now.
Sol's decision not to be silent arose from a trip he made to Africa where, he says, he held babies who had had arms and legs chopped off over diamonds. "I couldn't come back to New York and do bling-bling hip-hop after that." he declares to anyone who will listen. With the 4REAL project, he is reaching out to his target audience -today's youth- asking them to get involved and eschew the silence, too.
Talking about MLK, Sol makes a strong case for all of us to avoid the dangers of relegating the man to a memory we drag out for one day of the year, before putting him back on the shelf to gather dust.
"I mean a holiday is cool but I am always skeptical cause holidays are the cousin of nostalgia and once things become "historic" they can lose impact." Sol writes, going on to add "... we can STAND UP and demand change even in the face of adversity, threats, potential loss of position and even death. We are all capable and able. Honor his memory by truly standing for what you believe in, this action starts within and slowly extends outwardly! On the real what would Dr. King think of the racial or political situation of America and the world? Honor him by being him, not simply remembering him."
Every one on this planet has a right to get to that promised land of equality that MLK envisioned. Every one of us has a duty to break the silence of complacency and reach out to our less privileged brothers and sisters. Teachers and parents should be on the front row of those viewing 4REAL, so that they can walk to that land with the young people they lead.
I want to end this entry with the clip below, because I feel that every word on it spoken by the great man is relevant to the need of our brothers and sisters for us to raise our voices about things that matter. I can not watch this clip, even all these years after this hero left us, without tears in my eye and a catch in my throat.
If you're interested in keeping the spirit of MLK a vital force on more than one day of the year; if you're interested in affecting change, start with the video clip below for some powerful inspiration, and then join in the chorus. Please, break the silence.
So said Martin Luther King, Jr. He was right about that, as he was about so many other issues. He remains a man to be emulated, a man to serve as a role model and a hero. King obviously occupies such a position for SOL GUY, the host and co-creator of 4REAL, a TV series that takes celebrity guests, like Mos Def, Joaquin Phoenix, MIA and K'NAAN around the world. In places like Kenya, Peru, Haiti and Liberia, they connect with young leaders who are affecting real change in spite of the extreme conditions they live under. You can catch the series on National Geographic International Channels, beginning in February 2008, or you can visit the website now.
Sol's decision not to be silent arose from a trip he made to Africa where, he says, he held babies who had had arms and legs chopped off over diamonds. "I couldn't come back to New York and do bling-bling hip-hop after that." he declares to anyone who will listen. With the 4REAL project, he is reaching out to his target audience -today's youth- asking them to get involved and eschew the silence, too.
Talking about MLK, Sol makes a strong case for all of us to avoid the dangers of relegating the man to a memory we drag out for one day of the year, before putting him back on the shelf to gather dust.
"I mean a holiday is cool but I am always skeptical cause holidays are the cousin of nostalgia and once things become "historic" they can lose impact." Sol writes, going on to add "... we can STAND UP and demand change even in the face of adversity, threats, potential loss of position and even death. We are all capable and able. Honor his memory by truly standing for what you believe in, this action starts within and slowly extends outwardly! On the real what would Dr. King think of the racial or political situation of America and the world? Honor him by being him, not simply remembering him."
Every one on this planet has a right to get to that promised land of equality that MLK envisioned. Every one of us has a duty to break the silence of complacency and reach out to our less privileged brothers and sisters. Teachers and parents should be on the front row of those viewing 4REAL, so that they can walk to that land with the young people they lead.
I want to end this entry with the clip below, because I feel that every word on it spoken by the great man is relevant to the need of our brothers and sisters for us to raise our voices about things that matter. I can not watch this clip, even all these years after this hero left us, without tears in my eye and a catch in my throat.
If you're interested in keeping the spirit of MLK a vital force on more than one day of the year; if you're interested in affecting change, start with the video clip below for some powerful inspiration, and then join in the chorus. Please, break the silence.
posted by aka.alias @ 12:43 PM 1 Comments 
1 Comments:
It's nice to hear there are people who can still be reached by the distress of others ... reached enough to want to make a difference, and going out and making that difference. Not hard at all, and a lesson for the rest of us.
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