Books Not Bars

[Ro J. Simpson]

Lots of peeps on the Hip Hop front have been stepping up their political game, so to speak. This was proven beyond a shadow of a doubt yesterday [7/24/01] in the city of Oakland. More then 200 headz from a number of Bay Area Hip Hop organizations including Youth Force Coalition, Books Not Bars, and Let's Get Free, as well as a number of local recording artists, showed up to a hastily called emergency meeting put together by the Alameda County Board of Supervisors. Many of the people who came through took a day off from their summer jobs to voice their opposition. The issue was Alameda County's attempt to build what is being described as a super prison for youth. This facility would be the largest one of its kind in the entire country. It would be larger and cost more money per capita the juvenile facilities housed in New York, Chicago and other big cities. This super prison for kids would cost somewhere in the neighborhood of half a billion dollars to build and maintain. The Hip Hop community showed in force at the Supervisor's meeting, wanting to know why some of that money couldn't be put towards programs that would help direct kids away from jails. One person suggested that the money could be put towards a super counseling center for kids, so they could get help with their problems. Someone else suggested that the money be put toward job training programs and support services....also in my view i think the money shud go directly back in to the projects

peace - seed