By Aliya Ewing & Anthony Springer, Jr.

Anthony

I was one of the millions of early voters this time around. I made the trek down to a local shopping mall on my lunch break, waited patiently in line, got my voter card (we have electronic ballots here in Nevada), and made my way to the machine. When I got to the machine, I marked my choice—Obama/Biden. After stories of electronic machines flipping votes, I double checked my choice on the screen, and checked again when I got my paper receipt.

I walked out of the voting booth cynical, nearly certain that Nevada—known to be a libertarian leaning state—wasn’t going to vote for the black guy. Yeah, racism runs DEEP out here. It ain’t the Mississippi of the west for nothing.

And I waited.

When Election Day rolled around, my eyes and ears were glued to the TV and the Internet, patiently waiting for a confirmation of my worst fears. Aside from some minor issues, there were no major scandals, no hanging chads, and no massive purging of names from the voter rolls (that we know about.
Election night rolled around and before I knew departed my graduate seminar, the race had been called.

Barack Obama was named the 44th President of the United States.

January 20, 2009 marks the end of an error, but as “yes we can” turns to “yes we did,” where do we go from here?

While the Obama victory in without a doubt a historic turning point in the United States, we must remain vigilant. Simply put, it ain’t all good. At best, we’ll see people try to close the book on racism; at worst, we’ll see a rash of hate crimes. Though we must remain vigilant against violence, the former has much more dangerous consequences for communities of color.

Many will hail this Obama victory (falsely) as the death blow for racism, proclaiming that an outbreak of equality magically struck the country. As though 400 years of slavery, decades of government sponsored Jim Crow Laws, the Trail of Tears, Christopher Columbus, a backlash against immigration, and gay rights have somehow become non issues.

We know better, and as the adage goes, “act like you know.”

Yes, an Obama victory does mean that we’ve made (some) great strides, but a victory for one is not necessarily a victory for all. This is a time for the Hip Hop generation and other progressives to build on this election and force a conversation—a real conversation—about the importance of economic justice and equal rights. We need to force a real conversation on the effects of poverty. Simply put, a black man in the White House doesn’t mean that it’s all good and the hoods of America will suddenly become bastions of prosperity.

While we must keep a watchful eye over our government and defeat political apathy in our communities, each and every individual that makes up this thing called Hip Hop has a job to do as well.

Aliya

There’s a moment just before history is made that seems to swelter with electricity. Simultaneously anticipating the thrill of victory and the agony of defeat; I wondered what the outcome would be. Will I have to somberly recite to people the mathematics of the Electoral College yet again as I had to in 2000? Will I have to look my son in the eye, as my parents did to me, and make some wistful tale of how “one day” he just might be able to become the First Black President. Would we march in the streets? Would we riot? Would lives be lost?

Thank God no.

Now, there’s a sense of relief. People feel like they can exhale while still in disbelief.

I’ve never believed in any presidential candidate the way I do Obama. Being a skeptic and conspiracy theorist at heart; I still understand that he can’t make miracles happen, but still, I see positive change ahead for our future. But as the balance of justice slowly tilts closer to left, what are the possible side- effects to our progression as a people?

Hip Hop

There were a lot of hot sixteens kicked during this election cycle, but it’s time for all of us in this thing called Hip Hop—artists, executives, radio personalities, and journalists—to step up to the plate. While we’re “ready for damn change, so y’all let the man shine” (© Young Jeezy [click to read]) sounds good, the industry needs to shine too.

Election Day proved that life is about more than making it rain, stuntin like your daddy, and fuckin these hoes. There’s no reason that consumers of Hip Hop should be led to believe that life for a young black male is limited to rap, sports, or prison—or for a black female to think that life is limited to rapping or the pole.
We are better than that.

Hopefully, this new administration will give artists the boosts they need to go out and make better music. The '90s were considered a golden era of Hip Hop because of the balance. Yes, the game had its problems, but we lost the desire to fight the power when we became the power. We overdosed on success, got high on complacency, and fast tracked our way to self destruction.

We journalists need to look for the next generation of talent and stop following the status quo. For too long, we—and DX has at times been guilty of this as well—have been content to co-sign the bullshit, when we know better. If our children can now be anything they want to be, Hip Hop can too. Continued on page 2 »