Tea Party Speaker Just Wants To Go Back To Pre Civil Rights/ Voting Rights Days…Is That So Wrong?
The opening night speaker at the Tea Party convention suggested a return to a “literacy test” to protect America from presidents like Obama — a segregation-era method employed by southern US states to keep blacks from voting.
In his speech Thursday to attendees, former Republican congressman Tom Tancredo invoked the loaded pre-civil rights era buzzword, saying that President Barack Obama was elected because “we do not have a civics, literacy test before people can vote in this country.”
Southern states used literacy tests as part of an effort to deny suffrage to African American voters prior to Johnson-era civil rights laws.
“Prior to passage of the federal Voting Rights Act in 1965, Southern (and some Western) states maintained elaborate voter registration procedures whose primary purpose was to deny the vote to those who were not white,” a website for civil rights veterans explains. “In the South, this process was often called the ‘literacy test.’ In fact, it was much more than a simple test, it was an entire complex system devoted to denying African-Americans (and in some regions, Latinos) the right to vote.”
“Because the Freedom Movement was running “Citizenship Schools” to help people learn how to fill out the forms and pass the test, Alabama changed the test 4 times in less than two years (1964-1965),” the site adds. “At the time of the Selma Voting Rights campaign there were actually 100 different tests in use across the state. In theory, each applicant was supposed to be given one at random from a big loose-leaf binder. In real life, some individual tests were easier than others and the registrar made sure that Black applicants got the hardest ones.”
White applicants could be approved even if they didn’t pass the test.
“Your application was then reviewed by the three-member Board of Registrars — often in secret at a later date,” the site continues. “They voted on whether or not you passed. It was entirely up to the judgment of the Board whether you passed or failed. If you were white and missed every single question they could still pass you if — in their sole judgment — you were ‘qualified.’ If you were Black and got every one correct, they could still flunk you if they considered you ‘unqualified.’”
Tancredo, who is known for his sharp anti-immigrant rhetoric, also attacked what he called the United States’ “cult of multiculturalism,” and tore into 2008 Republican Presidential nominee Sen. John McCain (R-AZ).
“Thank God John McCain lost the election,” Tancredo told the Tea Party crowd, citing his positions on government spending and immigration.
“This is our country,” he added. “Let’s take it back.”
Southern voting registrars could employ literacy tests arbitrarily. They included dauntingly difficult questions, aimed at keeping those they didn’t want enfranchised from voting.
For example, an Alabama literacy test required would-be voters to know esoteric facts about the US political and legal system (one of the literacy tests can be read here in PDF form).
Among the questions:
“If a person charged with treason denies his guilt, how many persons must testify against him before he can be convicted?”
“If a president does not wish to sign a bill, how many days is he allowed in which to return it to Congress for consideration?”
“If the United States wishes to purchase land for an arsenal and have exclusive legislative authority over it, consent is required from [fill in the blank].”
The answers to the above questions are two, ten and the legislature, respectively.
Tancredo called Obama a “committed socialist ideologue,” and referred to him by his full name, Barack Hussein Obama.
ABC News reported that the former Colorado representative’s speech “received enthusiastic applause at times,” but said the crowd did not fill the ballroom in which the event was held.
By John Byrne @ www.rawstory.com
Jimmy Kimmel shows the Teabaggers have literacy issues of their own…
I must say that I am incredibly disappointed by this news but at the same time…I kind of saw it coming. Def Jux has given me some of my favorite artists in Hip Hop. Cannibal Ox “Cold Vein” changed my whole perspective on hip hop all together. I remember the first time I played Aesop Rocks “Labor Days” stoned…I think I had a mini-stroke. So many great albums that will be staples in my collection and that I will never get tired of… (Fantastic Damage, Emergency Rations, 3:16 9th edition, Ravipops, I’ll Sleep When Your Dead, Cold Vein, Labor Days, None Shall Pass, Dead Ringer). The good news in all this as you will read below…El-P has stated that he will be doing more music now that he doesn’t have to tend to the label. The bad news is no more Def Jux releases…
In honor of these release I put together a (limited) mix of some of my favorite Def Jux tracks spanning the 10 year run
http://www.sendspace.com/file/o5wgob
Taken from www.shabooty.com
STRAIGHT FROM THE HORSE’S MOUTH: “From Hoopties To Hovercrafts” — by El-P
Dear Inter-web, fans, friends and JUX family,
People keep asking me what’s up with JUX. There’s been some talk, there have been some rumors. Some half true, some way off. Reports of our demise have been mildly exaggerated. Here’s what it really all boils down to:
This year, a decade after starting DEF JUX and after overseeing the releases of some incredible albums including the forthcoming release of my dear late and great friend Camu Tao’s brilliant “KING OF HEARTS” LP, I’m stepping away from my duties as artistic director for the label to concentrate on what I love most: being a producer and an artist full time. This is something I’ve been contemplating for a few years now, and can’t think of a better time or, with the eventual release of Camu’s record, a more poetic way to transition into a new direction.
This means change for JUX. Of course we’ll still have our website, we will still sell our catalog, merch and more as well as bring you news and updates on all our projects and artists. We will be releasing “KING OF HEARTS”, a DEF JUX remix compilation, a 10 year anniversary retrospective and some other goodies. But then as a traditional record label DEF JUX will effectively be put on hiatus. We are not closing, but we are changing. The process is already underway, and the last several months (for those wondering what the hell we’ve been up to) have been spent dealing with the technical aspects of wrapping up the label in it’s current form and re-imagining our collective and individual futures.
In 2000 starting a traditional record label made a lot of sense. But now, in 2010, less so and I find myself yearning for something else to put my energy into. I also see newer, smarter, more interesting things on the horizon for the way art and commerce intersect, and as an artist and an entrepreneur, I’m eager to see them unfold. The evolution of this industry is, in my opinion, exciting, inevitable and it would be nice to see the DEFINITIVE JUX brand be a part of it. In other words, maybe we can turn this hoopty in to a hovercraft.
All business aside, and regardless of what form JUX may inevitably take, my focus for the immediate future is going to be back-to-basics. The fun stuff: sitting in the studio and immersing myself in music, performing it for for my fans when the time comes and whatever (or wherever) else might be out there creatively for me. Thats how it all started and that’s how the next phase will begin. The days of me dedicating the majority of my time and energy into providing JUX with a constant stream of physical releases from multiple artists are on hold for the time being. My heart (and what little common sense I possess) is telling me to simplify my focus and it has always been my policy to listen to my heart.
Truly, DEF JUX has been amazing to be a part of. So many good people. So much fun. I feel very lucky to be friends and collaborators with people who have affected and continue to affect my life and work deeply and indelibly. Working with the likes of Amaechi Uzoigwe, Jesse Ferguson, Jason Drake, and Katy Eustis at JUX as well as allies like Kathryn Frazier (biz3), Michael Bull and Lisa Socransky-Austin (to name only a few) has been incredible. These are people who worked for generally meager wages because they loved what they did and they believed in the artists and the idea of DEF JUX. Anyone would be lucky to have worked with even one person as dedicated and passionate as all of them are. They are true champions of indie music and they (and too many others to mention here) have my gratitude and loyalty forever.
None of it would have existed, though, if not for the artists. Artists who rolled the dice on us the same way we did on them, and were there with us as we battled it all out. CAMU, MR LIF, AESOP ROCK, MURS, CAGE, ROB SONIC, HANGAR 18, CHIN CHIN, CANNIBAL OX, THE PERCEPTIONISTS, RJD2, DESPOT, SA SMASH, YAK BALLZ, CRAYZ, THE MIGHTY UNDERDOGS, DIZZEE RASCAL, DEL, P.F.A.C, ACTIVATOR, COOL CALM PETE … the list goes on. I consider them all geniuses at what they do. Every victory that they have had and will have will always feel like a victory for myself and all of us at JUX. It’s been a joy to create and even struggle with them all. It has not always been easy, but it’s almost always been fulfilling. I only hope the work we put in together helped build a path to their collective futures. They have my sincerest well wishes and genuine respect.
Lastly and most importantly are the fans… holy shit THE FANS! Our fans are no joke. I can’t tell you how humbled I am to have felt the love and respect that they have shown us all. Even when we did things they didn’t like, they stuck around. This was their label as much as ours. We answered to them, and yet they respected that we did what we loved, nothing more and nothing less. We always will. You are why we do any of this, and I’ll never be able to express how much your support means to all of us. I think I speak for all of us Jukies when I say I love making music for you and can’t wait to make more.
Until then, on behalf of everyone here at JUX and from the bottom of my heart, thank you.
EL-P
Founder/Artistic Director/Recording Artist
DEFINITIVE JUX
This will be a small version of the weekly picks. There just wasn’t a lot of heat out there…
The Knife – Tomorrow, In A Year
Nothing this duo does is easy to deal with. It’s just the way it is. Apparently not even operatic stuff – which this is. I’m seen a lot of reviews and some bad comments saying they’ve slipped…..but it’s not an album. Let me repeat – it’s not an album….at least for themselves. It’s the score to Charles Darwin’s Origin of Species. With this knowledge, please proceed to listen to the album….just proceed with caution. An interesting listen to be sure.
Just to appease Knife lovers…the following:
Madlib – Madlib Medicine Show #1 – Before the Verdict
It’s…okay. Not horrible…and not awesome either. I love the beats…I just don’t think Guilty Simpson is ill at all. A very middling talent on the mic. Hit and miss, for me anyways.
Charlotte Gainsbourg – IRM
It’s kind of a Beck album with Charlotte singing on it. I mean it’s good, and it has all of the typical Beck signatures….but it’s hard to distinguish who’s album it really is. Sometimes it even seems like Beck playing Serge Gainsbourg with Charlotte as the ingenue. Which would obviously be a little creepy…hmm. But still quality stuff.
10. Asano takes a foot to the grill in Survive Style 5+
In the first of 5 overlapping, intersecting, funny and warped stories about how people deal with what is dealt to them (ie. how they survive), Tadanobu Asano plays a man who has just killed and buried his wife. Upon returning home, he encounters her calmly sitting at the table in her bright green dress. Without saying a word, she whips up an enormous feast for him and sits quietly watching while he slowly polishes it all off. Just as he sits back to light up an after dinner smoke (perhaps thinking that he’s dodged a bullet), he looks up to see her looming over him poised for attack – which she does with a huge flying kick to his head.
9. The Samurai’s story in Rashomon. Told through the medium…
Rashomon is a crime mystery film by Akira Kurosawa. The movie centers around four perspectives of one story. A woman is raped and her Samurai husband is killed by a bandit. The movie is basically everyone’s version of what happened. You never really know who is telling the truth, that is left up for you to decide. The dead Samurai’s story is presented through a spiritual medium (Noriko Honma, who plays this role so perfect). This scene sticks out to me because the it is foretelling of future Japanese cinema. The scene is creepy in contrast to a otherwise darkly comedic movie. The samurai claims that Tajōmaru, after raping his wife, asked her to travel with him. She accepted and asked Tajōmaru to kill her husband so that she would not feel the guilt of belonging to two men. Tajōmaru, shocked by this request, grabbed her, and gave the samurai a choice of letting the woman go or killing her. (“For these words alone,” the dead samurai recounted, “I was ready to pardon his crime.”) The woman fled, and Tajōmaru, after attempting to recapture her, gave up and set the samurai free. The samurai then killed himself with his own dagger; later, somebody removed the dagger from his chest.
8. Muay Thai Vs. Capoeira battle in Chocolate
Jeeja Yanin is cute but she will beat your ass. Chocolate is her break out movie and made her an international superstar. In Chocolate Zen (Jeeja Yanin) plays a young autistic girl born to two gang members in the Thai drug trade. After her mother gives birth to her she learns that she has cancer. The mother decides to leave the game a raise her kid in a safer environment. The cancer treatment becomes too expensive Zen’s mother begins to treat herself at home. While this is happening Zen is developing her Muay Thai skills by imitating Tony Ja movies and watching the kids at the Muay Thai academy next door.
In this scene Zen’s mother has been kidnapped by the Yakuza boss and his transvestite thugs (yes i said tranny thugs, have you ever seen a Thai movie?) send out his martial artist hitmen to take out Zen. There is one challanger who has tourette’s syndrome and does some sick capoeria. The best part is after watching his movement she immediately picks up his fighting style…
7. Grenade Massacre Scene in Merde from Tokyo
7. Merde (a French term translating as “shit”) is the name given to an unkempt, gibberish-spewing subterranean creature of the Tokyo sewers, played by Denis Lavant, who rises from the underground lair where he dwells to attack unsuspecting locals in increasingly brazen and terrifying ways: he steals cash and cigarettes from passersby, frightens old women and salaciously licks schoolgirls, resulting in a televised media frenzy that creates mounting hysteria among the Tokyo populace.
In this scene Merde discovers a stash of WW2 grenades that he decides to hurl at unsuspected people in the busy streets of Tokyo. This act leads to one of the funniest terrorism trials I have ever seen.
6. Yoko tricks Kazari which results in Kazari’s death in ZOO
Twin sisters Yoko and Kazari have a “loving” mother but she only cares for one of her daughters. The mother enjoys beating Yoko and treating her like a worthless animal. Not a single soul seems to care about Yoko until she returns a lost dog to an old woman names Ms. Suzuki. Suzuki treat Yoko well and restores some of her confidence and encourages her to come live with her. After the mother discovers the key to Ms. Suzuki’s house, she hides it in her room. Kazari who is moms little Angel goes into her mothers room to get a cd and spills coffee all over her mothers laptop. Kazari tries to convince Yoko to take the rap for it and Yoko agrees but she has a trick up her sleeve—-What an awesome scene
5. The Dead Shine All NIght Long song from Suicide Club
Suicide Club is a brilliant warning about society when it becomes obsessed with pop culture idolization. Sion Sono presents social commentary in the most gruesome and grotesque manner. A string of suicides among youth in Tokyo begins to be investigated by Detectives. Through investigation you learn that the suicides are fad created by a J-Pop girl group who through their music convince life isn’t worth living resulting in “Suicide Clubs”. Naturally with any fad in mainstream culture you are going to have copy cats. In this scene you have a group of imposter groups who claim to be originators of the suicide club… It shows hows sometimes people who try to copy a dangerous idea can sometimes be more dangerous…Plus its just an awesome song
4. Zombie Song in The Happiness Of The Katakuris
a 2001 film directed by , with screenplay Takashi Miike by Kikumi Yamagishi. It is loosely based on the South Korean film The Quiet Family. The film is a surreal horror-comedy in the farce tradition, which includes claymation sequences, musical and dance numbers, a karaoke-style sing-along scene, dream sequences and Hitchcockian symbolism. The Katakuris are a four-generation family of failures (grandfather, father and mother, children and granddaughter, who narrates the film) who use the father’s pay to buy a guest house in the country. Somehow, each of their guests ends up dead— by suicide, accident or murder— and once they have made the decision to save their business by burying the bodies and concealing the deaths, they find themselves sucked into a nightmare of lies and fear (not helped by the arrival of the daughter’s con-man boyfriend, an escaped murderer with police in hot pursuit, and an erupting volcano).
3. Gunning down hospital staff from I’m A Cyborg But Thats OK
The film takes place mostly in a mental institution filled with an anarchic menagerie of patients. Young-goon, a young woman working in a factory constructing radios and who believes herself to be a cyborg, is institutionalized after cutting her wrist and connecting it with a power cord to a wall outlet in an attempt to “recharge” herself, an act that is interpreted as a suicide attempt. Her delusion is characterized by refusing to eat, (she instead licks batteries and attempts to administer electric shocks to herself,) conversing almost solely with machines and electrical appliances and obsessively listening to her transistor radio at night for instruction on how to become a better cyborg. Her apathetic mother is interviewed by the institute’s head doctor, to determine the roots of Young-goon’s psychosis; despite claiming ignorance of her daughter’s delusion (it is later learnt she knew but was too busy to make her seek help), she reveals that Young-goon’s mentally-ill grandmother had previously been institutionalized for delusions of being a mouse, a trauma that sparks Young-goon’s own lapses from reality. As a result, she fantasizes frequently of finding her grandmother and seeking revenge on the “men in white” who took her away. In this scene Young-goon has just received ECT and thinks she has been recharged and decided to take revenge on the white coats…
2. Audition Torture Scene
There isnt a lot to say about this except if you havent seen this movie…then see it. It is one of the best horror films ever…not just asian film…period! This is one of the most notorious scenes from asian film post 2000. Also I want to add that Eihi Shiina is one of the most beautiful actresses ever and should be remembered for her role in this film.
1. Oh De Su vs. gang fight scene from Oldboy
After being imprisoned in a hotel room for 15 years then being suspiciously released. Oh De Su has been training. Can 15 years of imaginary training work? Hell Yeah. This scene is great not only because 1 guy takes out a bunch of thugs. Its the way it was filmed it wasnt fancy martial arts it truly looked like a man who was self trained and was sick with revenge.
From Wikipedia: The corridor fight scene took seventeen takes in three days to perfect, and was one continuous take – there was no editing of any sort except for the knife that was stabbed in Oh Dae-su’s back, which was computer-generated imagery. Though the scene has often been compared visually to side scrollingbeat ‘em up video games, director Park Chan-wook has stated that the similarity was unintentional.
Many of the conservatives who gleefully promoted James O’Keefe’s past political stunts are feigning shock at his arrest on charges that he and three associates planned to tamper with Louisiana Sen. Mary Landrieu’s phone lines. Once upon a time, right-wing pundits hailed the 25-year-old O’Keefe as a creative genius and model of journalistic ethics. Andrew Breitbart, who has paid O’Keefe, called him one of the all-time “great journalists” and said he deserved a Pulitzer for his undercover ACORN video. Fox News’ Bill O’Reilly declared he should have earned a “congressional medal.”
His right-wing admirers don’t seem to mind that O’Keefe’s short but storied career has been defined by a series of political stunts shot through with racial resentment. Now an activist organization that monitors hate groups has produced a photo of O’Keefe at a 2006 conference on “Race and Conservatism” that featured leading white nationalists. The photo, first published Jan. 30 on the Web site of the anti-racism group One People’s Project, shows O’Keefe at the gathering, which was so controversial even the ultra-right Leadership Institute, which employed O’Keefe at the time, withdrew its backing. But O’Keefe and fellow young conservative provocateur Marcus Epstein soldiered on to give anti-Semites, professional racists and proponents of Aryanism an opportunity to share their grievances and plans to make inroads in the GOP.
According to One People’s Project founder Daryle Jenkins, O’Keefe was manning the literature table at the gathering that brought together anti-Semites, professional racists and proponents of Aryanism. OPP covered the event at the time, sending a freelance photographer to document the gathering. Jenkins told me the table was filled with tracts from the white supremacist right, including two pseudo-academic publications that have called blacks and Latinos genetically inferior to whites: American Renaissance and the Occidental Quarterly. The leading speaker was Jared Taylor, founder of the white nationalist group American Renaissance. “We can say for certain that James O’Keefe was at the 2006 meeting with Jared Taylor. He has absolutely no way of denying that,” Jenkins said. O’Keefe’s attorney did not respond to a request for comment on his client’s role in the conference.
O’Keefe’s racial issues can be seen in many of his prior stunts, of course. The notorious ACORN videos highlighted images of himself dressed as a pimp, deceptively edited through hidden camera footage as he baited African-American office workers into making statements that could be perceived as incriminating. There were also lesser-known but equally inflammatory spectacles like the “affirmative action bake sale” O’Keefe and his conservative comrades held when they were students at Rutgers University. During the event, O’Keefe stood at a table in the center of campus offering baked goods at reduced prices to Latinos and African-Americans while whites were forced to pay exorbitant amounts. (Native Americans, he announced, would eat free.)
Over the past few years, I’ve taken interest in multiple forms of design. I’m not particularly artistic in most ways….I think I just like the forms and shapes I see. From what I know, this man is a big deal. For whatever reason..I found (and lost…but I stress the FOUND part) a bootleg of a documentary of Objectified.
This week’s drop will be different. I have new stuff and some older joints I bought during my break that maybe you’d like to experiment with. Not a lot of real dope major or indie stuff came out this week, so I decided to dig into other albums I picked up this week – most of which are right in my wheel house, but might be fringe-y kind of stuff to a lot of you….but I like to put ome different ish up here in between the normal fare.
Oddisee – Traveling Man
Dope, already one of my favs for 2010. Each track is a beat that represents the city he happened to be in at some point, as to capture the essence of the city’s ambiance, through his mind, and onto wax. Definitely a diverse, textured listen….worthy of your money.
Four Tet – There Is Love In You
Complex, innovative, and lo-fi. Both things I like in a good album a lot of the time. Some bits of Massive Attack…a few other things too. It puts you in a relaxed mood – it’s just really, really chill. Very well done from start to finish…mostly genius stuff.
DJ/Rupture and Matt Shadetek – Solar Life Rift
Global music at its essence. These guys threw in everything and the kitchen sink on this. Something you can just throw in and play on any track….really feels like an extension of the ill Uproot album from 2008.
These are some I meant to do something on, but I was on break from the blog –
Royce the 5′9” – Street Hop
Basically goes hard as hell. Royce really only does banger type songs and albums – and he doesn’t disappoint. It’s kind of hard to listen to all the way thru, not because it’s not dope – it’s just so damn…..concussive. I mean the first track is called “Gun Harmonizing”…and features repetitive vocal gun claps. The dopest track is “Dinner Time” feat. Busta Rhymes (aka one of the most underrated lyricist ever.) Probably one of the better rap albums of 09.
King Midas Sound -Waiting For You
They put the dub in dubstep. This isn’t a chill album, per se….but it can be played at night…if you traveling around a post-apocalyptic city, like London 2067. It’s one of those “I’m going to listen to this album, and get high” albums, yet it can be listened to with your feet firmly on the ground. Will probably be best played on a nice stereo or soundsystem…and high quality headphones. Dope album.
Reaching out to left field on the following:
Psych-Funk 101 (1968-1975) A Global Psychedelic Funk Collection
I bought this about two weeks ago. MAN!….ill. If the title doesn’t say enough…I don’t know what else to tell you – it’s tripped out funk from back in the day. It’s really a dope collection, from so many odd places…..Iran, South Korea, Turkey, son…..funk from Turkey. Word….I mean “right on.”
John Morales – The M&M Mixes (Bonus Track Version)
Basically some stuff your parents might have bounced to, if they lived in the Bronx in 1976….straight salsoul, disco funk type of joints right here. Pretty good shit, as far as this “genre” goes. Some of it’s kind of funny…and that’s the point. It captures a carefree era.
Mulatu Astatke – The Story of Ethio Jazz (1965-1975) [New York - Addis - London]
Dude is the pioneer of “ethio-jazz” – this kind of funk infused brand of jazz….nice horns and other typical jazz pieces, and dope on various types of percussion. This is the stuff you scrunge your face up to when that bass kicks in. Also can be heard the the Jarmusch film ‘Broken Flower’. Illy.
Various Artists – Legends of Benin
Once again…that funk, this time from Benin. It’s dope that the artists in African countries had so much ingenuity when it came to incorporating the home land feel with funk…..although, that might’ve been a natural blend. The track sequencing is top shelf….takes you on an easy take off, and then into a faster past….then back down at the very end. My fav track (couldn’t find a Youtube) – “Vimado Wingnan”
Various Artists – Gilles Peterson Presents Havana Cultura
It’s a typical two-headed piece that Gilles does, to capture the pulse of a country – this time, it’s Cuba..a country with a rich history of dope music. What drew me in was the track from Obsesion called “Me Lastimas” – dope Spanish hip hop track…that wouldn’t be out of place on another album in English. (I absolutely refuse to call this reggaeton…it’s fucking hip hop in Spanish language and feel….people deal with it.) Another nice track – Pasa el Borrador by Los Aldeanos….you ever heard a song that you couldn’t understand…but you knew the lyrics were prolly dope? The rest: a good bit of Spanish hip hop…..and a set by Gilles’ Havana Cultura Band featuring local artists doing local music. Nice pick up.
