A CLASSIC SOUND: MELANIE FIONA

by Cleo Brown

Melanie Fiona, whose given name at birth was Melanie Hall, is a talented singer and a songwriter from Toronto, Canada whose classic sound can be compared to performers such as Mary J. Blige, Tina Turner, Natalie Cole, Nina Simone, and Billie Holiday. Singing Rhythm and Blues, Reggae, and Hip-Hop, her first single and album will be released in 2009.

The single entitled “Give it to me right” has preceded the album being released to radio stations on February 28th, 2009. “Give it to me right” peaked to number 39 on Billboard’s Canadian Hot 100. The album called, The Bridge, is scheduled for release on September 22nd, 2009. The Bridge is named after the bridge which Melanie Fiona could see from her bedroom window growing up in Toronto, Canada.

Melanie Fiona was born to Guyanese parents who immigrated to Canada. She, consequently, grew up in the inner-cities of Toronto. Her father, who heavily influenced her along with her mother and her aunt, was a guitarist in a band. According to Wikipedia her father “would allow her to sit on the stage” when she was younger as he practiced. Melanie has been influenced by music since she was a little girl. She appreciates music because it has a universal message and because of its transcendence of the races. Growing up amongst her musically inclined family, she was influenced also by the sounds of Sam Cook, Marvin Gaye, Donny Hathaway, Diana Ross, Roberta Flack, and Michael Jackson. Her role model is Beyonce.

In addition to admiring Beyonce, she toured with Kanye West in Europe in 2008 where, inspite of having released no single yet, she opened for him. Melanie Fiona says that she learned quite a lot from Kanye West. The first song which Melanie Fiona ever sang out loud in public was Whitney Houston’s “The Greatest Love of All.” And, being a devoted Michael Jackson fan, she admits to knowing all of the words to his songs on the album entitled Off the Wall which she use to sing frequently.

Her official music video, which was recorded to promote her new single “Give it to me right” was produced and directed by Anthony Mandler. Melanie, herself, has recorded on the SRC and Universal Motown Labels. Melanie performs both solo and with back-up singers to accompany her. Most recently, on August 25th, 2009 Melanie Fiona appeared at SOB’s in New York City located at 204 Varick Street. Not only is her sound classic, and her style unique but she is also a very pretty woman who is pleasing to look at. She travels frequently touring Europe, The United States, and Canada. If you get the chance to see her or listen to her music don’t miss the opportunity.

http://www.melaniefiona.com/

And So It Begins…NY-23 “Defending Dede Scozzafava”

by Dennis Sanders

In a recent post, I shared the news that New York State Assemblywoman Dede Scozzafava received the nod to run as the GOP nominee in a special election to replace Congressman John McHugh, who left the House of Representatives to become Secretary of the Army.

You also know that Scozzafava is something of an endangered species: a moderate Northeastern Republican. She has supported same sex marriage not just in name, but actually voting for it in 2007 and is also pro-choice. In many ways she is a good fit for this district, in that she is replacing a moderate Republican.

Of course, the minute a moderate has a chance of winning, the far right tries to find ways to make sure they don’t win. Erik Erikson over at RedState is urging conservatives in the 23rd congressional district in New York to not support Scozzafava because of her “liberal” stances on gay marriage and abortion and instead support the Conservative Party’s candidate for the district, Dough Hoffman.

Erikson writes:

Dede Scozzafava is to the left of the party on abortion, taxes, spending, marriage, guns, everything. She is a terrible candidate. The New York GOP had a chance to do right by the people of NY-23. They failed.

Conservatives and Republicans should rally around Dough Hoffman as a viable alternative to Dede Scozzafava. Hoffman has more in common with the people in NY-23 and is closer to the Republican Party on issues across the board.

I have a hard time understanding what makes her “terrible candidate” except that she doesn’t fit Erik’s view of what a “true” Republican should be.

I decided to look into some Scozzafava’s views on various issues while in the New York legislature. There is a lot of info, but here are some of the highlights from Project VoteSmart.

Let’s look at taxes:

Maintain Status a) Alcohol taxes
Maintain Status b) Capital gains taxes
Maintain Status c) Cigarette taxes
Maintain Status d) Corporate taxes
Slightly Decrease e) Gasoline taxes
Slightly Decrease f) Income taxes (incomes below $75,000)
Slightly Decrease g) Income taxes (incomes above $75,000)
Slightly Decrease h) Sales taxes
Maintain Status i) Vehicle taxes
Undecided k) Should the state sales taxes be extended to Internet sales?
No l) Should accounts such as a “rainy day” fund be used to balance the state budget?
No m) Should fee increases be used to balance the state budget?
Yes n) Should the New York Legislature list discretionary spending item by item in the budget?

Well, she doesn’t look like a tax and spend liberal. What about crime?

X c) Support programs to provide prison inmates with vocational and job-related skills and job-placement assistance when released.
X d) End parole for repeat violent offenders.
e) Implement penalties other than incarceration for certain non-violent offenders.
X f) Strengthen penalties and sentences for drug-related crimes.
g) Minors accused of a violent crime should be prosecuted as adults.
X h) Require that crimes based on race, ethnic background, religious belief, sex, age, disability, or sexual orientation be prosecuted as hate crimes.
X i) Increase state funding for community centers and other social agencies in areas with at-risk youth.
X j) Eliminate the statute of limitations for criminal sex cases.
k) Eliminate the statute of limitations for civil lawsuits seeking damages in sex cases.
X l) Support the restriction of the sale of products used to make methamphetamine (e.g. tablets containing pseudophedrine, ephedrine and phenylpropanolamine).

No namby-pamby liberal there. One should add that Ms Scozzafava recieved a grade of “A” by the NRA Political Victory Fund in 2008 and an “F” from New Yorkers Against Gun Violence in the same year.

And this is what the liberal blog, the Albany Project has to say about Scozzafava and the district she might represent in Congress:

Scozzafava, while being a social liberal, isn’t liberal on too much else. She, like the man she wants to succeed, is fairly moderate and will vote with the Republicans most of the time…

The reality is that you aren’t going to win NY-23 with a staunch progressive or a staunch conservative. McHugh has served the district well and is known as a moderate. That is why he was such a tough election foe. In order to serve the district, you have to be able to balance yourself.

McHugh’s last elections in 2006 and 2008, the two years when Republicans were getting slaughtered, bear this out. Wikipedia notes he won with 60 percent of the vote in both years.

In reality, Scozzafava is not the liberal that Erikson thinks. The only reason he believes this is because of her support for gay rights and abortion rights, two issues that he deems as liberal. So, he ignores the fact that she is pro Second Amendment, is tough on crime, pro-business and favors lower taxes. Normal people would see that record as mainstream conservative.

Erikson is so against Scozzafava that he even suggests that it would be better for a Democrat to win, than someone like who doesn’t follow the GOP platform. Such a statement only proves what an idiot Erikson is. In the end, Scozzafava will favor and support the GOP when push comes to shove. Sending one more Democrat to Congress means one more supporter for the President and his ideas. He also fails to realize that with McHugh gone, the Empire State only has two Republicans in the whole state delegation.

As late as 2005, there were nine Republicans in the state delagation.

Does Erikson really want to just let the state of New York become a Democratic bastion? Is his hate really that strong?

Many people like Erikson want to the GOP to be “pure” even at the expense of losing. That might satisfy Erikson, but it is a sure way to make the GOP a rump party. It’s time for the GOP leadership to basically say that winning parties are made up of coalitions and not robots.

Dennis Sanders is a pastor living in Minneapolis, Minnesota. He has worked on centrist Republican issues for years, including stints as President of the Minnesota chapter of Log Cabin Republicans (a gay/lesbian advocacy group) and Republicans for Environmental Protection. Dennis blogs at NeoMugwump and happily lives with his partner Daniel and serves two cats, Morris and Felix.

Hennessy Artistry Tour Event 2009

Sup,

HHR Blog readers everyone on staff at HHR are all def hype about the Hennessy Artistry 2009 Tour this year. Below is the first of NINE dope clips of Quest Love and Common talking about the tour, artistry, working with artists, etc. In this first clip QuestLove drops a few names of artists who are performing and speaks on why he is even involved in the Hennessy Artistry Tour.

Check out the links below…(real dope footage)

Hennessy, the best selling Cognac in the world and one of the most celebrated and storied brands in history, today announces the fourth annual edition of the acclaimed Hennessy Artistry series, a four-city slate of musical performances that promise to deliver an electrifying experience of unexpected blends: musical, artistic, cultural — and flavorful.

Unparalleled Blend of Music and Talent in Store for Series of Intimate Event Experiences Kicking Off in September

Curated by Common & The Roots




Questlove talk about his involvement in the Hennessy Artistry Tour
http://bit.ly/2yg0zM

CHICAGO - SEPTEMBER 12
ATLANTA - SEPTEMBER 19
HOUSTON - OCTOBER 3
NEW YORK - OCTOBER 7

More at http://www.hennessyartistry.com/

Defending Whole Foods

by Dennis Sanders

I rarely shop at Whole Foods, which has two locations in the Twin Cities. If I am looking for organic foods, I tend to look for them at the regular grocery store I shop at or go to Trader Joes, which one person described as the “poor man’s Whole Foods.”

But I might consider shopping at the grocery chain more in the near future because of the insane and asinine boycott going on by some on the Left. Why would people who normaly shop at the organic retailer decide to abstain?

Because their CEO wrote an op-ed in the Wall Street Journal denouncing the Obama plan and offering a plan of his own.I read that oped and thought it was interesting. I didn’t agree with everything, but Mackey made some good points and I thought nothing more of the article.

But obviously it did upset some people who expected that Mr. Mackey should support what they support. This is what was written in a guest voice post at the Moderate Voice:

The thing is, when Rupuert Murdoch published an anti-health care security op-ed from Whole Foods CEO John Mackey in yesterday’s Wall Street Journal, a few progressive latte drinkers decided they didn’t need to buy their arugula at Whole Foods anymore, and called for a boycott. After all, the big marketing gimmick for Whole Foods is that they’re a socially responsible company which sells food that is actually good for you (even if the products are very over priced)…

Whole Foods has always marketed itself to a fairly educated and financially secure customer base. This is why they can successfully sell healthy (and primarily organic) foods, at a higher cost. The company has also fostered the image that it has an altruistic streak in supporting progressive causes.

With a single op-ed in an uber conservative national newspaper, this wholesome image has been blown to bits. In the course of writing 1,165 words, CEO Mackey has caused more potential damage to the Whole Foods corporate image than an e-coli outbreak in the meat room.In calling for support of the boycott of Whole Foods, I’m making an educated guess that their average customer is very politically progressive in nature. And that is why, if liberals and progressives quit shopping at Whole Foods, the impact would be quickly apparent to the company’s Board of Directors. By quickly, I mean by this coming Monday morning when the weekend receipts are tallied.

A Facebook group has been set up and has about 10,000 members. Here’s the description of that group:

Whole Foods is NOT a company that cares for communities and they have built their brand with the dollars of deceived progressives. No more. My $ will no longer go to support Whole Foods’ anti-union, anti-health insurance reform, right-wing activities.

Whole Foods? Right-wing?

I decided to take a look at the activities going on at my local Whole Foods in Minneapolis. They have a program where you save 10 cents on using reusable bags and you can donate that money to a local charity. The Whole Foods Blog has a campaign to have fresh and healthy school lunches as opposed to the processed foods that kids eat. From my cursory glance, this is hardly a right-wing operation.

Radley Balko shares some of what this “right-wing operation” has done:

Let me see if I have the logic correct here: Whole Foods is consistently ranked among the most employee-friendly places to work in the service industry. In fact, Whole Foods treats employees a hell of a lot better than most liberal activist groups do. The company has strict environmental and humane animal treatment standards about how its food is grown and raised. The company buys local. The store near me is hosting a local tasting event for its regional vendors. Last I saw, the company’s lowest wage earners make $13.15 per hour. They also get to vote on what type of health insurance they want. And they all get health insurance. The company is also constantly raising money for various philanthropic causes. When I was there today, they were taking donations for a school lunch program. In short, Whole Foods is everything leftists talk about when they talk about “corporate responsibility.”

And yet lefties want to boycott the company because CEO John Mackey wrote an op-ed that suggests alternatives to single payer health care? It wasn’t even a nasty or mean-spirited op-ed. Mackey didn’t spread misinformation about death panels, call anyone names, or use ad hominem attacks. He put forth actual ideas and policy proposals, many of them tested and proven during his own experience running a large company. Is this really the state of debate on the left, now?

“Agree with us, or we’ll crush you?”

Blogger Freddie DeBoer thinks all the harping on the right about this (in this case a blog post by Rod Dreher) is hypocritical, but the fact is there is a lot of hypocrisy on both sides. Liberals tut-tut when conservatives try to strong arm those who don’t agree with them and ignore their own attitudes towards those who have different ideas.

What is interesting here is how so many who used to support Whole Foods think that the company should basically affirm their views. If they support health care reform with a strong role for government, well, then so must Whole Foods. They also tend to assume that beacuse they are “green” and organic, well then they must be left-leaning just like they themselves are.

The fact of the matter is, one can care about the environment and also be a libertarian. One can be into organic foods and vote Republican. Just because someone buys fair-trade coffee doesn’t mean they voted for Obama. It just means they like fair trade coffee.

When I buy ice cream, I tend to get Ben and Jerry’s ice cream even though I tend to disagree with them politcally. But I also know they do some good things in the world and they have good ice cream. I don’t need my ice cream company to agree with me 100 percent.The problem here is not that Mackey doesn’t support the President’s plan. The problem here is assuming that Mackey should mirror the view points of Whole Foods’ customers.

Dennis Sanders is a pastor living in Minneapolis, Minnesota. He has worked on centrist Republican issues for years, including stints as President of the Minnesota chapter of Log Cabin Republicans (a gay/lesbian advocacy group) and Republicans for Environmental Protection. Dennis blogs at NeoMugwump and happily lives with his partner Daniel and serves two cats, Morris and Felix.

Blanche Kelso Bruce: A Black Republican Before His Time

by Cleo Brown

Blanche Kelso Bruce, who was the first African-American to sit for a full-term as a Senator in the United States Congress. He was also the first African-American to preside over Congress. He died tragically at the age of fifty-seven years old after having been accused of stealing money from The United States’ Treasury. The accusation was an unsettling one for Bruce who was usually used by the society in which he lived as an example to be admired. It is believed, therefore, that the accusation brought on an attack of asthma which caused a heart attack from which Bruce did not recover.

Born on March 1st, 1841 in Farmville, Virginia near Prince Edward County, Bruce was born a slave. His mother, named Polly Bruce, was a house slave who became impregnated by her Caucasian owner named Pettis Perkinson. Perkinson was a Virginia Plantation Owner. Although it was not customary for plantation owners to become involved in the lives of their children born to slave mistresses, Perkinson did educate Blanche Kelso using his son’s tutor to do so. He also permitted Blanche to inter-act with his Caucasion son when they were children. Perkinson also took Blanche on trips traveling from Virginia to Mississippi and Missouri where Blanche worked a variety of odd jobs from that of field hand to factory employee. Eventually, his father freed him.

At the age of twenty, Blanche Kelso Bruce tried to enlist in the Union Army. This was when The Civil War began. There were, however, no regiments for African-Americans in 1861. Consequently, his application was declined. Blanche Bruce had, earlier, in 1850 moved to Missouri where he became a Printer’s Apprentice. Now, however, he moved to Ohio where he became a Teacher and where he also attended Oberlin College for two years. By 1864, Bruce had returned to Missouri where he began a school for African-Americans in Hannibal, Missouri.

Bruce had worked, for a brief period of time in 1850, as a Porter on a steamboat on The Mississippi River. Consequently, during the Reconstruction Era, he returned to Mississippi where he became wealthy as a Plantation Owner and as a Cotton Planter. He eventually turned to politics where, representing the Republican Party, he secured a number of positions as a Politician. He served as: “Supervisor of Elections, Tax Assessor, Sheriff, Superintendent of Education and Sergeant at Arms of the State Senate.” He married college educated Josephine Beal Wilson on June 24th, 1878. Their only child, named Roscoe Conkling Bruce, was born in 1879. Roscoe was named after New York Senator Roscoe Conkling who walked down the aisle of the senate chamber with Bruce after Mississippi Senator James Alcorn refused to walk with Bruce when he was to take his oath of office. Bruce sat in the Senate from March 4th, 1875 to March 3rd, 1881. He had been proceeded as an African -American Senator by Hiram Revels, also from Mississippi. Revels, however, did not serve a full-term but did work the remaining months of someone else’s term in office.

Blanche Kelso Bruce was appointed “Register of the Treasury by President James Garfield in 1881; recorder of deeds for the District of Columbia in 1891-1893; and Register of the Treasury again from 1897 until his death in Washington, D. C. on March 17th, 1898.”(Biographical Directory of the United States Congress). According to the personal papers of Civil Right’s Activist Ida B. Wells, Blanche Kelso Bruce, whom Wells liked a great deal, was an opportunist who was always searching for a way into main-stream society; but who was accused of stealing money from The Federal Treasury. Bruce denied the charges. Maintains Wells, a shot was heard to ring out from his study before his “so-called heart attack!” Evidently, Bruce had been cleaning his pistol (he had been a gun collector) when he experienced his fatal heart attack after a serious bout with asthma. The gun, unfortunately, went off. Bruce, however, was eventually exonerated of all of the charges in the theft. According to Wikipedia, Blanche Kelso Bruce is buried at Woodlawn Cemetery in Washington D.C.

Cleo E. Brown is a moderate Republican an educator on staff in New York City, New York. She is also a free lance writer and an Editor at HHR Blog. She holds a Master’s Degree in Contemporary African-American History from The University of California at Davis and has done work on a Ph.D. in Education at The University of San Francisco in San Francisco, California.

HHR Exclusive: Interview with UK-born singer “Nathan Official”

by Angela Severiano

United Kingdom-born singer Nathan Official was the early collaborator with Rick Ross on his 2006 hit single “Cold As Ice.” Now, the UMA Award-winner is at work on furthering his brand with a new collection of songs set to be released January 2010.

With a childhood divided between England, Jamaica and New York, Nathan Official told HipHopRepublican.com about the distinctions between a hit in his genre in the UK versus the US. “I think the main ingredient for a hit in the UK is to have song that everyone can sing along to.”

With the success of international stars Estelle and M.I.A., Nathan was also candid about the outward movement right now on the US Pop/R&B charts. “I definitely think that timing is everything and there are a lot of factors that make right now feel like the perfect time for my project..I definitely think there is a lack of mainstream R&B males and there’s space for something fresh and new.”


Son of Reggae singer Lorna Gee, Nathan’s also told about his goals overall in the music industry. “My goal is to make R&B that is unique to me and also make authentic music. I call my music ‘International R&B’ because my influences are from all over the world in all different genres. Being from the UK, it’s ok to mix and merge sounds and genres. I believe my music makes a truly unique blend.”


Nathan Officials diverse performance experience has brought him all over the world, even Virgin in Japan. He’s been rapidly making his mark in the State’s as well headling with Ryan Leslie in NY, LA and DC. While performing at BB KIngs in NYC, HipHopRepublican asked Nathan a few questions.

Tell me about yourself…where are you from…where were you born…where were you raised…which city and state are currently home to you?

I’m Nathan from the UK. I was born in London, moved to Jamaica when I was 2yrs, lived there to the age of 5yrs, then moved to NY (Brooklyn, Staten Island) then went back to Jamaica for a year at the age of 10, it was after that I moved bk to the UK permanently.

What type of a family did you grow up in?

I’m my mothers only child and she was touring when before I was born and when I was 2 yrs old she started to tour again so I lived with my grandmother for 3 years in Jamaica before moving to NY to live with my mother and then bk to the UK so its always been me and my mother…. When I got back to the UK I had a chance to see all my family Dad (10 half brothers and sisters) cousins etc… I’m a very family oriented person…

What do you like about the city and the state you currently live in?

I’m currently in Atlanta GA and its perfect for me because the music scene is booming and the producers really open to work with talented people… And the nightlife is buzzing and the girls are off the chain!!!!!!!!

Have you written any songs?

I write 90% of my songs

Are you considered a dancer, and what type of dance do you do?

I don’t consider myself a dancer even though other people do.. I do hip hop freestyle and also I definitely get it in with choreography in my videos.

What inspires you as an artist be it singing a song or writing a song?

When I’m writing a song, most of the time I’m inspired by the feeling I get when I here good music, like Michael Jackson- Human Nature or Marvin Gaye- Let’s get it on…

Have you ever been in love?

Yes I have

How does being in love or never having been in love influence you as a performing artist and as a songwriter?

Being in love affects different people in different ways.. For me any feeling that I’m living with for a long period of time seeps into my music… For me music is about feeling and love is the strongest feeling so its natural for me to show that in my songs

How old are you?

22

How does you age flavor or temper your style as a recording artist and as a songwriter?

Regardless of age, I always like to keep my music young and fresh while also referencing old skool lyrics, melodies or songs that Inspired me when I was growing

What genre of music do you consider your work to be?

I call my music International R’n'B because ALL of my musical infuences from ALL of my life experiences come through in my R’n'B from reggae to pop to techno to hip-hop etc

Are you successful abroad as well as in the United States, or is your success only a United States’ phenomena?

I’ve had success in the UK, most of Europe and Japan and now I wanna conquer the most influential market, The USA

If you are successful abroad as a musician how does this compare to being successful in the United States?

USA is the most influential market and it is also where all of the most successful artists in my genre are, so its important for me to be successful here.

Where have you performed?

Everywhere from a 50 capacity club deep in south london to the biggest record store in Japan (Tokyo Virgin Megastore)

What was your favorite venue?

Either one of my shows in Japan or perfoming in Bristol UK in front of 60,000 people.. Plus they were singing my songs too… That was kinda dope….. And ADDICTIVE!!

What was your least favorite venue?

Don’t have one…. I love the stage.. Hopefully I never have one

Which songs do you perform the most frequently and why?

“Come Into my Room”, “Do Without my Love” and my new single “Superwoman”… The first two are my most popular songs

Is there an overriding theme to most of the songs you write and/or sing(play)?

My theme is my life, my feelings and my stories…

Which label are you with now?

Monalis360/VCM

How has your music evolved since you became a musician?

In the begining I made music without knowing who I wanted to be musically… But now I’m finding myself more and can now define who and what I want to be musically and I can build on that as I grow and meet more musicians and producers

What has been your greatest challenge as a musician and as a songwriter?

To be different but familiar

What advice do you have for people who want to break into the music or the Recording Arts Industry?

Hard work and consistency pays off and…. To be different but familiar

How can your fans gain access to your music?

http://twitter.com/nathanofficial

Is there anyone you would like to acknowledge for offering financial and/or emotional support to you in your career?

My Management Monalis360/VCM and My Family

Where do you see yourself in your career five years from now?

Sky’s the limit … To continue making good music

Angela Severiano is a songwriter, performer, and political contributor currently living in New York City, New York. She is a music and pop culture writer for the blog HipHopRepublican.com.

Michael Steele & "Fried Chicken and Potato Salad"

by Richard Ivory

Recently, RNC Chairman, named Michael Steele, used the words "fried chicken" and "potato salad" while taking questions from the media. Michael Steele was visiting Indiana for a recent Young Republican Federation's Convention in Indianapolis, Indiana when he made the comments.

During the convention, Steele was asked a series of questions from the media and from local bloggers regarding outreach and the GOP's efforts to move forward. Steele replied that his overall message would be simply "yawl come, because a lot of you are already here." In other words, as long as he was Chairperson the door would be open.

In a humorous reply to Steele's position, a local blogger by the name of Cameron Cowan, perhaps picking up on Steele's, use of the word "Yawl" stated that "he would bring the collard greens" to which Steele jokingly replied that " he would bring the 'fried chicken and the potato salad'". All of this is worth noting because a few liberal bloggers are chiming in claiming that this was Steele's outreach strategy for blacks.

Check out HuffPost Steele: I'll Woo Blacks To GOP With "Fried Chicken And Potato Salad"

Perhaps I am missing something but is this not a classic case of nit picking and promoting a non- story?

Below is the actual video what do you folks think?



HHR NOTE: The only political party that I know that shoved out free food to black folks via politics and religion was Democrats and there progressive cult leader Jim Jones. He gave out chicken and Kool-Aid then sent everyone on a nice long trip from imperialist racist America to the jungles of Guyana

IDA B. WELLS: AN EARLY REPUBLICAN CIVIL RIGHTS ACTIVIST

by Cleo Brown


Ida B. Wells, a pioneering Civil Rights Activist who agitated on behalf of the anti-lynch law in especially but not exclusively, the Southern United States, was able to pursue her agenda of Civil Rights Activism through her writings in the newspaper as a journalist, and through her physical agitation as a suffragette on behalf of the right of women to vote because she was a female who did not threaten the white power-structure as a Black Man might have after the end of Reconstruction in the United States.

Ida Wells was born on July 16th, 1862 in Holy Springs, Mississippi. Her parents were James and Elizabeth Wells. James Wells had been a carpenter while his wife, named Elizabeth, had been a renowned cook. Since James and Elizabeth Wells were both slaves, Ida and most of her eight brothers and sisters were also born into slavery. With the adoption by the Southern States, in 1865, of The Emancipation Proclamation The Wells were free. This also signaled the end of The Civil War with General Robert E. Lee surrendering to Ulysses S. Grant at Appomattox Court House in Virginia in April of 1865.

With the end of The Civil War and the freeing of the slaves, James Wells felt compelled to attend Shaw University which had been a school provided for the newly freed slaves by The Freedman's Bureau. The Freedman's Bureau had been put into place by The Republican-backed Presidential Administration of Abraham Lincoln, and by Congress to help the newly freed Blacks assimilate freedom by providing the freed slaves with education, housing, clothes, food, jobs, medical care, and other necessities of life. Shaw University is now known as Rust College in Holly Springs, Mississippi.

When she was a teenager, between the ages of fourteen and sixteen years old, Ida lost both of her parents and her ten month old baby brother to Yellow-Fever. Originally, the authorities had wanted to place Ida and her siblings with her Aunts and Uncles. Ida, however, who wanted to keep her immediate family together, vetoed this idea seeking and securing a job as a teacher which enabled her to raise her brothers and her sisters as well as to provide for them along with the help of her grandmother. Ida B. Wells taught African-American students on behalf of The Freedman's Bureau until the Bureau disbanded.

It is important to note that Ida Bells grew up amidst an atmosphere of increasing economic, political, and social advantage and opportunities for African Americans. It must have been, therefore, particularly difficult for Ida Wells to accept the decreasing opportunities for African-Americans as well as the physical oppression of Blacks which she began to witness due to the end of Reconstruction in around 1876. Having lost her teaching job due to the dissolution of The Freedman's Bureau in Mississippi via harassment and intimidation by The Klu Klux Klan, Ida Wells moved to Memphis, Tennessee by 1880.

In Memphis, Tennessee Ida Wells attended Fisk University. At Fisk University she began her career as a Civil Rights Activist when she began to protest the failure of The United States' Government to grant women the right to vote. Since men had been powerless to stop the spread of The Klu Klux Klan as w ell as to continue the progress of The Reconstruction Era, Ida B. Wells believed that the power of the vote would be better utilized in the hands of women. After two-and-a-half years at Fisk, Ida Wells secured a job as a teacher in Memphis teaching extremely poor "back-woods" people the fundamental basics of a standard education. First, she began teaching during the summers, but then she secured employment as a country school elementary teacher for ten months out of the school year.

In 1884, Ida Wells - like Rosa Parks in 1955 in Montgomery, Alabama - refused to give up her seat to a white patron on a Memphis Train. Eventually, she needed to be dragged from the car by the conductor of the train and his colleagues as the all-white clientele on the train applauded the conductor's actions. This shameful encounter took place eight years before Homer Plessey in the Plessey vs. Ferguson Decision (1896) was also forced by a conductor to leave an all white car on a train in Louisiana. Unlike the 1896 decision , however, which institutionalized racism and segregation in the South by making segregation legal, Ida B. Wells won her court case at the lower level being awarded $500.00 in damages. Unfortunately, however, by 1887 this ruling was overturned by The Tennessee Supreme Court who ordered Ms. Wells to pay the $500.00 back as well as to pay an additional $200.00 in damages to the Chesapeake, Ohio & South Western Railroad Company.

Ida Wells was forced to turn to Journalism after she lost her job as an educator for criticizing The Board of Education for its treatment of Blacks. Ida Wells wrote articles for The Evening Star, The Living Way, and Headlight. In 1889 she became the co-owner and an editor at Free Speech. She believed that the re-a- mergence of racism in The United States and the continued oppression of African-American people was as the result of a Eurocentric perspective which sought to keep African-American people under white thumbs by denying Blacks the right to vote through the economic castration of African-Americans.

Re-in forcing her belief was the case of her three closest friends named Thomas Moss, Calvin McDowell, and Henry Stewart who owned a Black-owned Business ,named The People's Grocery Company, in Memphis. The Black-owned Grocery Store made the three men economically independent and, therefore, arrogant in demeanor to their White Counterparts. Ida had, at the same time, been writing in Free Speech about cases in which Black Men, Women, and children throughout the South were being lynched for the most trivial indiscretions such as public drunkenness.

She also documented the cases of Black Men being lynched for the alleged rape of white women while white men continued to fall in love with and molest "mulatto, octoroon, and darker-skinned Black Women." She did not believe, however, that lynching occurred due to rape, but due to the economic submission of the Black race due to the Caucasian's need to dominate. In retaliation, because of her condemnation of the lynch mob, the lynch mob destroyed her business while she was away in Pittsburgh. If, however, she had been a man she would have been lynched with her three friends. It is telling, however, that once she, herself, became a business owner that her business was ruined and she was threatened to the extent that she was unable to return to Memphis.

Ida Wells, after the lynching of her friends and the destruction of her business, was unable to return to Memphis. Consequently, she relocated on the East Coast advocating the migration of other African-Americans from the Memphis, Tennessee Area since they were no longer protected by the law. In Chicago, Ida Wells continued to advocate on behalf of Anti-Lynch Laws as well as the right of women to vote. She also lobbied on behalf of the end of segregation and Jim Crow Policy. An Anti-Lynching Bill was extremely important to her since, she estimated, at least one-hundred men, women, and children were killed each year through lynching in the United States. It has been estimated that between 1900 and 1944 at least 4,000 Black people were lynched in the United States.

From Chicago Ida Wells moved to New York briefly. There she met W. E. B. Dubois. Along with Dubois, James Weldon Johnson, and Mary White Ovington; Ida B. Wells founded The National Association for The Advancement of Colored People. This group did not approve of the conciliatory policies of Booker T. Washington. Particularly, did Ida Wells disapprove of Washington's plan of Industrial Education for the entire Black Race. Ida Wells did eventually return to Chicago where she continued to advocate for an Anti-Lynch Bill and on behalf of Women's suffrage and against Jim Crow.

She married Ferdinand Lee Barnett in 1895 who was an attorney and a publisher. Consequently, she published many articles on lynching and several books including her autobiographies. The Barnetts, who became wealthy, had four children with a fifth child having died in infancy. Ida B. Wells ran for public office in 1930 (Illinois State Senator) but was defeated. She died on April 25th, 1931 at the age of sixty-eight from Uremia. Had she been a man, she would have been lynched years earlier for her outspoken use of the pen and paper to condemn established White America. She was quite a courageous woman!


Cleo Brown is a new editor to the blog Hip-Hop Republican.com, she is a moderate Republican who works as as The Dean of Student Affairs in a GED Preparation Program in NYC. Cleo has a Master’s Degree in Contemporary African-American History from The University of California at Davis.

The Case for Land

by De'Von "Van" Weatherspoon

Today I started thinking about society and the many changes it has undergone since the middle Ages. What I mean to underline is the link between political elites and the landed gentry. The landed gentry serve vital functions in society, yet the very idea of a landed gentry is becoming very scarce indeed. It is very true that this class and the people in it are not the gauche Celebrity/Socialite type, nor are they likely to be profiled on some Bravo series, yet this class is the base of almost every economy in human history.

The owning of land, and not a house with less than an acre, is one of the most fundamental building blocks of any society. All one has to do is think of the United States. Our country was founded by members of the landed gentry; the Declaration of Independence, the Constitution, and the Revolutionary War are all products of the landed gentry of America. This class was ingrained with the ideals of owning physical assets (land), protecting those assets, and being able to pass those assets on to posterity. This is such a far cry from today’s fixation with non-physical assets. Sometimes I wonder will society every go back to a time where owning land was the sole respectable basis for wealth. I personally would like to think so, but I am biased. I am the descendant of this class; my ties are from France, Scotland, and England in the 1100s, add Scots-Irish in the 1400s, and Berbers in the 1700s and you practically have my entire bloodline. My ancestors were some of the first people to colonise this continent in the 1600s; in both Massachusetts and Virginia, later adding South Carolina and Georgia.

I highlight these states, and parts of my genealogy, to show that there is a sizable population of persons with a lineage like mine. In a land far ago, we would be the ones running the government and while most Americans would associate negative things with this, I don’t necessarily think of it negatively. When the Founding Fathers gathered to help found a new nation, there was a sense of community due to the fact that almost all had been raised in similar circumstances in different environments. You could count on all representatives to behave cautiously and intelligently, why? Simple, because the Fathers had their livelihoods attached to the decisions of government in a way that has not been available since.

If you are a skeptical person, you might say that American Homeownership has increased since the 1700s. While this is true, it was mostly artificial growth stimulated by various factions. To take a historical view, it would be like taking the Feudal Kingdoms of Europe and handing out land just because everyone should have a little piece of their own. Better yet, look at countries with land re-distribution programs. If you look hard enough you see that most of these countries have very serious problems.

This same person might still say that a culture based on the landed gentry wouldn’t be democratic and would create classes in society. Well I have new for you, there is no such thing as a classless society. Sure society may become less stratified socially, but classes are still there: Old Money, New Money, Upper Middle Class, the Middle Classes, and the Lower Classes. At this point, I’d like to say that if I sound a bit elitist, sorry, I am just writing my thoughts.

While I consider myself an Hamiltonian Republican, I must admit, I admire Jefferson’s thoughts on the idea of a country of landed gentry. One of you is saying that Jefferson was the common man’s man. Well he wasn’t. In fact all the Founding Fathers had a severe fear of the common man. I admit here too, while my fear is not severe, it still exists.

I am almost done writing what I am sure many of you will label me as an elitist for, but just a few more things. I have a question for you all: What would you do if there was some global crisis or event that virtually wiped out any positive incentive for urban living? Where would you get food? How would you survive? Think about it long enough and you’ll find that while living in urban cores may be fine, in the event of something substantial, one would be left with nothing to survive. What if government collapsed and your dollars were worthless?

This is where the landed gentry really had something. Owning physical assets is like having insurance for almost any event of which you can think. If your assets included enough land where you could make an earning renting out land to former suburbanites, you would come out pretty well. Think of the generations of European families that can attest to that. The physical assets need not be in America, but anywhere. I will close with this quote “Why, land is the only thing in the world worth workin’ for, worth fightin’ for, worth dyin’ for, because it’s the only thing that lasts”.


- De’Von “Van” Weatherspoon is a high school student and contributor to HipHopRepublican.com. He is from the great state of Michigan and describes himself as a “Hamiltonian-Rockefeller Republican”.

The Problem With Reform Isn’t Common Sense

by John Wilson

There are some aspects of the health-care reform debate that are informative, add value and contribute a unique perspective that is needed in the ongoing discussion. And then there is this: on Friday Peggy Noonan wrote an illogical rant about the reasons public support is shrinking for the bills emanating from the House.

On one hand, there are the Blue Dog Democrats who are “fiscally conservative” and would rather not see the deficit increase in any new plan that is proferred. And any efforts to cajole the Blue Dogs is viewed as “arm twisting,” or “forcing them to go against their principles.” That’s hogwash.

Democrats have a resounding majority in both halls of Congress. In addition, the reasons they earned that majority is due to the promises they made and are now fulfilling. When did the fulfillment of a campaign promise (which got you elected in the first place) become a hypocritical act looked down upon by the electorate and general public?

In a forthcoming article in Club Relaford I mention the “arm twisting” that the Bush administration engaged in during time in the majority in Congress. It included, but surely wasn’t limited to, “threatened severe retribution for fellow Republicans who balk at casting a desired party vote, hitting them in two important goals: reelection and status in the Congress,” according to political science researchers and professors William and Carol Weissert.

Now some readers are inclined to ask two pertinent questions: Since two wrongs don’t make something right, is it a good idea to follow the Republican way? Also, when Obama ran on a platform of “change” and a “new kind of politics,” didn’t he essentially rebuke those kinds of actions?

Both of those are good questions. But they are based on a faulty premise which could only lead to a non sequitor. Fact is, it is fanciful at best to believe politicians vote only in their constituents’ best interests or that they even should. For instance, what if a district that I represent is strongly opposed to a program or resolution that has overwhelming support nationally and is the correct course to take?

A member of Congress’ allegiance is not only to constituents that put them there but also to the nation as a whole. Their votes have far reaching implications and oversight lies essentially with only the Supreme Court. Sure presidents have veto power, but how often do they use it? Not often at all. Bush 43 vetoed 12 times in 8 years.

Now back to Peggy Noonan and her thoughts on the lack of public support for health-care reform. She exclaims that “common sense” is the reason support is lacking. Questions abound in the public’s mind such as:

Can I afford it right now? “No, I’m already getting clobbered.” Will it make the marketplace freer and better? “Probably not.” Is our health care system in crisis? “Yeah, it has been for years.” Is it the most pressing crisis right now? “No, the economy is.” Will a health-care bill improve the economy? “I doubt it.”

What stands out about these questions is (1) How really “free market” is the health-care marketplace now? and; (2) To what extent is the health care problem in this country either causing or helping to extend the economic maelstrom we are seeing?

Numerous studies show increased monopolization in the health-care market. This one by Health Care for America Now! shows 94% concentration of the health care market in states. It has led to a “more than 90 percent [rise in premiums] between 2000 and 2007, while the profits of the 10 largest insurers increased 428 percent over the same period,” according to Ezra Klein, in an excellent piece he wrote Sunday.

As far as the extent to which health care costs are causing further economic strain, look at the number of those who no longer have insurance - an additional nearly 5 million people since Sept. ‘08 are uninsured. So how are these people paying for the prescriptions? Better yet, when they must seek care where are they turning to and how are they financing it? Increasingly, foreclosures and bankruptcies are the only way out.

Noonan also says:

“The first has to do with the doctors throughout the country who give patients a break, who quietly underbill someone they know is in trouble, or don’t charge for their services. Also the emergency rooms that provide excellent service for the uninsured in medical crisis. People don’t talk about this much because they’re afraid if they do they’ll lose it, that some government genius will come along and make it illegal for a doctor not to charge or a hospital to fudge around, with mercy, in its billing. People are afraid of losing the parts of the system that sometimes work-the unquantifiable parts, the human parts.”

But those same doctors she mentions do those things because the system has no solution for those that they help. Dr. Benjamin, recently appointed as Surgeon General, knows this too well. For years she has given out free medical care and underbilled clients. But for how long can that be a reality? Even on the corporate side companies such as Costco have long provided insurance for all their employees, and not just the full-time staff. Can they afford to continue doing so? No, not without reform.

Let’s face it the doctors that Noonan mentions are a rare breed and getting rarer. Not because their heart isn’t in it but because the current system is working against them.

Lastly, Noonan exhorts this charm:

“It is a new opportunity for new class professionals (an old phrase that should make a comeback) to shame others, which appears to be one of their hobbies. (It may even be one of their addictions. Let’s stage an intervention.) Every time I hear Kathleen Sebelius talk about “transitioning” from “treating disease” to “preventing disease,” I start thinking of how they’ll use this as an excuse to judge, shame and intrude.”

So basically we are back to the “elitists” in D.C. telling Americans what to do. Give me a break. Every time a Democrat has a plan or method of reform Republicans trumpet “Elitism!” Ironically, the judging, shaming and intruding must be an equal opportunity method of legislating. Right now in Ohio Representative John Adams (R) is sponsoring a bill that would force a woman to have the consent of her unborn baby’s father before an abortion would be deemed legal. But there’s no shaming or intruding in that.

This is ‘94 redux folks. If reform doesn’t happen now, when will it?

Bio - John is a senior at Virginia Commonwealth University pursuing a double major in sociology and women’s studies. He blogs at policydiary.com and is a contributor HipHopRepublican.com