interesting that i found both hurricane song
and this article about colorofchange.org that came from
the black radical congress list
i read over the colorchange.org site while listening
to the hurricane song and i tell you dear surfer it
brought tears to my eyes
put the song on, download it and spread it around
call the stations and have them play it
join color of change.org
its time to make a difference
guess this will be the post that i work on this week after all
new paradigms of struggle, how and why
blackfolk ready to rumble
i can feel it in my bones
rickydoc flowers
wouldbe prophet of the hoodoo way
10,000 African-Americans Join Online Political Group
San Francisco, CA (BlackNews.com) - Angered by the government response
that followed Hurricane Katrina, two Black activists have launched a
new, online organization, ColorOfChange.org, to give a stronger voice
to Black concerns in U.S. politics. In its first month, the site has
attracted 10,000 members.
The founders of ColorOfChange.org, James Rucker and Van Jones, see
their early success as a sign that African-Americans and those who are
concerned about Black issues see Katrina as a "wake-up call - and that
they're ready to make a difference politically.
"Middle-class Black folks like ourselves got a clear dose of reality.
While many of us are doing well, millions of our folks have been left
behind," Rucker said. "When we saw the television screens, the emotions
were almost universal. First we were sad and angry, and then we
realized we had no political voice - no organized way to respond and
hold government accountable. That's when we decided to start
ColorOfChange.org. For too long, Black America has been effectively
left out of the political discourse - Republicans are rarely on our
side, and too many Democrats take our support for granted. And it needs
to change."
TAPPING BLACK ENERGY: "The energy is out there. It just hasn't been
tapped," Rucker said. Given simple, tangible ways to make a difference,
people will act. And when they act together, it amplifies their
political voice. We've seen it with MoveOn.org and were seeing it now.
ColorOfChange.org members use the Internet to pressure elected
officials using petitions and phone calls, and soon they'll be able to
support media campaigns that call attention to issues that concern them
and thereby frame the public debate. Our mission is to help Black
people and pro-Black people become politically engaged and to have a
renewed and strengthen political voice."
"A politician might be able to ignore one individual Black bumblebee,
buzzing and complaining alone," Jones said. "But nobody can ignore a
whole swarm." ColorOfChange.org is about using the web to help lots of
isolated Black individuals become a massive, unstoppable swarm.
EARLY SUCCESSES: The effort already has some successes under its belt.
More than 5,400 people signed the groups online petition to hold radio
host and former U.S. Secretary of Education Bill Bennett accountable
for his racial comments that "you could abort every black baby in this
country, and your crime rate would go down."
Pressure from ColorOfChange.org and other groups stopped Republicans in
Congress from using Katrina as an excuse to make massive cuts to the
social safety net. And almost 1,000 have bought the "Kanye Was Right"
T-shirts that put ColorOfChange.org on the map in September. (Kanye
West is the rapper who said, "George Bush doesn't care about black
people" during a national hurricane relief telethon.)
IMPRESSIVE FOUNDERS: James Rucker, 36, is a veteran leader of online
activism. As Grassroots Mobilization Director, Rucker helped MoveOn.org
grow into a powerful 3.3 million-member organization. MoveOn's mission
is to return political influence to where its supposed to be in a
democracy - everyday people - instead of moneyed special interests and
corporations.
Van Jones, 37, is the founder and executive director of the Ella Baker
Center for Human Rights (EBC). Under Jones' leadership, EBC has grown
from a small local non-profit to a leading organization in the national
fight for alternatives to the "incarceration industry." Jones is also a
leader in the push to integrate the environmental movement with other
social justice movements.
In time, the duo plans to build a membership of 250,000 people.
ColorOfChange.org will tackle many key issues, including economic
fairness and opportunity for African-Americans.
"When TV is showing you people who look like your grandmothers and your
children just dying and getting no help in the richest country in the
world, you can't just go on with business as usual," Jones said. "With
ColorOfChange.org, we are on the path to making sure that nobody gets
left behind like that ever again."
PRESS CONTACT:
Van Jones, 415-336-7688
James Rucker, 415-505-9048
www.colorofchange.org
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