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Talib Kweli said he felt compelled to write a song about Bresha Meadows, the Ohio teenagerwho shot and killed her father in 2016 after he was accused of abusing her mother and terrorizing the family.

In an open letter, the Black Star member said Bresha reminded him of one of his own daughters, which urgedhim to pen the song called Shes My Hero.

The first thing that struck me about Bresha was how much she physically reminded me of my own daughter, wrote Kweli.I had a similar experience when George Zimmerman killed 17-year-old Trayvon Martin, who reminded me of my son. I instantly felt drawn to these children, and I felt compelled to dive deeper into their lives. Leading up to shooting her father, Breshas grades were slipping in school, she had run away from home and had repeatedly told relatives and authorities that her father was beating up her mom and threatening to kill the whole family.

Since being charged with involuntary manslaughter, Bresha received a plea deal to enter a mental facility, which shell be released from this coming January and shortly afterthe shooting, her mother Brandi Meadow praised her daughters actions.

She is my hero, Brandi told a local news outfit. I wasnt strong enough to get out, and she helped us all.

Right now, a GoFundMe page has been set up to help Bresha and her family pay for mental health treatment, which you can contribute to here if you like.

In regards to Kwelis Shes My Hero, the Brooklyn MC said he wrote the song to remind everyone that children should be protected.

Regardless of how you feel about this particular case, whether you feel its a self-defense issue, a domestic abuse issue, a mental health issue or all of the above, the take away for me is that we must do a better job of taking care of and protecting our children, he wrote. Our children should never feel [like] they have to make these kinds of decisions.

You can listen to the new song below.

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Read more from the original source:
Talib Kweli Pens 'She's My Hero' Dedicated to Domestic Violence Victim Bresha Meadows [LISTEN] - The BoomBox

Some 25 years ago when I made the move from the political left to the political right, I took with me three liberal ideals: I remained an extremist on the issues of free speech and the rights of the accused, and have held on to my loathing for Big Business. A quick glance at todays headlines proves that those ideals no longer belong to the left.

From President Trump to George Zimmerman to Antifa, the Democrat Party and its media have surrendered all claims of the moral high ground on the issue of due process and have even embraced (as long as it is against the correct people, meaning everyone from neo-Nazis to Trump supporters) violent vigilantism. Then like something out of Robocop or Demolition Man there is the issue of how those who call themselves progressive and liberals cheer on corporations that have seized control of how Americans communicate and how those corporations have used that control to censor us.More

See original here:
Nolte: Leftists and Media Cheer as Mega-Corporations Strip Away Free Speech Rights - Canada Free Press

As I wrapped up my fellowship year at Harvard this month and began to pack my boxes and leave Boston, the concierge in my building asked where I was moving.

Kansas City? Missouri? she said. They dont like us there. Its not safe. Didnt you see the news?

Yes. More than that, I told her, Kansas City is my adopted home, in the state that compelled the NAACP to issue a travel advisory for bodies that look like my own.

Derrick Johnson, NAACP interim president and CEO, cited racist incidents and the statistic that African-Americans in Missouri are 75 percent more likely to be stopped and searched by law enforcement officers than Caucasians. These facts, he said, are unconscionable and are simply unacceptable in a progressive society.

But do we live in a progressive society or are we just pretending?

I started driving back to Kansas City the day President Donald Trump stood at his New York tower and put people standing up for equality and justice on the same plane as white supremacists.

I drove across the Missouri state line the same week the Southern Poverty Law Center showed Missouri is home to more hate groups (white separatists, neo-Nazis, anti-Muslims, anti-LGBTQ, sovereign citizens, black separatists) than Iowa, Nebraska, Kansas and Oklahoma combined: a big, bad total of 24.

With my foot on the gas, I remembered my regular supply of racist emails from readers. You dont forget people defending George Zimmerman, vilifying Tamir Rice, denying the proven police bias in Ferguson and regularly debasing black lives, immigrant lives, LGBTQ lives and the lives of women. You dont forget how recognizing the reality of racism at Mizzou led to a death threat.

And those hateful comments came before the country elected a bigot who believes more people descended on Charlottesville, Va., to protect the monument of the Confederacys top general than to perpetuate oppression. Sure.

Many of those people were there to protest the taking down of the statue of Robert E. Lee, Trump said. So this week, it is Robert E. Lee. I noticed that Stonewall Jackson is coming down. I wonder, is it George Washington next week? And is it Thomas Jefferson the week after? You know, you really do have to ask yourself, where does it stop?

Well, Mr. Trump, it shouldnt stop until upholding slavery and bias is no longer the American way.

I returned to work on Friday, the same day a vandalized United Daughters of the Confederacy monument was removed from the boulevard at 55th and Ward Parkway right within J.C. Nichols historically exclusionary Country Club District. I wondered whether Trump would be upset and consider it an erasure of what he calls Americas greatness. Would he applaud the armed militia who think its their duty to police KCs peaceful marches against injustice?

This is a man who can look beyond a terrorist using his car as a weapon to pummel protesters against hate, killing Heather Heyer. A man who can look right past the Jews will not replace us chants, the White Lives Matter cheers, the torches and the clubs and equate white nationalists with anti-supremacy protesters.

We condemn in the strongest possible terms this egregious display of hatred, bigotry and violence on many sides, on many sides, Trump said from his New Jersey golf club. It has been going on for a long, long time. It has no place in America.

Is he sure? Hes the same man who, in the midst of Hurricane Harvey and the aftermath of Charlottesville, pardoned former Arizona Sheriff Joe Arpaio, known for racially profiling Latinos and dehumanizing prisoners.

Trump is leading a national attack against journalists as a way to disempower the people. He criminalizes immigrants and objectifies women. He believes in police militarization, disrespects black lives and is trying to deny the rights of the LGBTQ community.

And Im a black, biracial woman journalist who advocates for equity and justice. Im back to stand up for what he wants to stifle and tear down.

Hate has always been a part of Americas foundation but Trump has openly given it a home. On Wednesday, he is heading to Springfield, in the great state of Missouri, to talk Republican domination and tax cuts.

The agenda should be how to bridge the divide. So if the president is not going to do his job, wed better get to work.

Read more here:
My welcome back to Missouri: NAACP travel advisory, rising hate groups and Trump - Kansas City Star (blog)

Talib Kweli has always chose the music he made as a platform to introduce his fanbase and further to social issues that many may not be familiar with. After hearing about the case of Bresha Meadows, a 14-year-old girl who shot and killed her abusive father in 2016, Talib began to do more research behind Meadows and her family which ultimately led to the creation of this song "She's My Hero." Kweli uses the song as a reflection of not just Bresha Meadows but ultimately, for children who are living in abusive households.

In the description in the song's Soundcloud page, Kweli writes "What struck me about this case was Breshas age. I express myself lyrically, so a lyric popped in my head while thinking about it - 'Do you kill yourself or kill the monster thats making you suicidal, decisions to heavy for the mind of a child.'"

Over the production of Oh No, breaks down the song in two parts essentially. The first verse gives a pretty detailed depiction of Bresha's scenario where as the second verse addresses the system at large. It's a powerful song that was inspired from his perspective as a father. In the description box of the song he also says "The first thing that struck me about Bresha was how much she physically reminded me of my own daughter. I had a similar experience when George Zimmerman killed 17 year old Trayvon Martin, who reminded me of my son. I instantly felt drawn to these children and I felt compelled to dive deeper into their lives."

Talib Kweli maintains his position as one of the best emcee's alive and his ability to hone other people's perspectives and put it in a verse. "She's My Hero" is a prime example of him using his platform to continuously bring awareness to social issues.

Quotable LyricsThey say karma is a bitchAnd when you take a lifeYou pay the priceWe shootin' in these momentsTo confuse your violence with a way of life

Go here to see the original:
Talib Kweli - She's My Hero (Prod. By Oh No) - HotNewHipHop

Dear Black Lives Matter leadership team,

I have watched your organization grow from a group of concerned citizens who protested the acquittal of George Zimmerman in the death of Trayvon Martin in 2013 to the powerhouse it is today, with local chapters across the country. While there are many things we disagree on,we agree on this fundamental point: that black lives matter.

Your work to draw attention to the need of black communities to be confident in police presence and protection of their citizens is admirable. Your diligence in seeking legal justice for citizens of color is commendable. But there are black lives whose situations I have never seen addressed by you with the same vigoryou applied to tragedies likethe killings ofMartin and Michael Brown.

On November 2, 2015, 9-year-old Tyshawn Leewas lured into a Chicago alley and shot execution-style in a gang revenge killing. If ever you would speak up for innocent black lives lost to senseless violence this would have been the time.

But I didn't see your national organization scheduling protests or speaking out forthis precious little boy. This black life mattered.

6-year-old Kingston Frazier was shot to death in May of this year by three teens when they stole his mothers car with the child inside. His body was found still in the vehicle.

There were no marches to draw attention to the violence and hatred that took his young life. This black life mattered.

In February 2017, three children were killed within two days of each other in Chicago in gang-related violence. Kanari Gentry-Bowers, 12, Takiya Holmes, 11, and 2-year-old Lavontay White, Jr. were shot to death.

But your organization did not make sure their names were forever sealed in the consciousness of America like Michael Browns or Trayvon Martins. Their black lives mattered.

Your organization has some interest in international affairs since you have accused Israel of genocide and apartheid.

So why didBlack Lives Matter remain silent when, on April 14, 2014, 276 Nigerian schoolgirls were kidnapped by the extremist Islamic terrorist group, Boko Haram? Your website states, We are committed to building a Black women affirming space free from sexism, misogyny and male-centeredness. Wouldnt being kidnapped and sold into sex slavery and manual labor count as sexism and misogyny?

And just last week, Al-Shabaab, an affiliate of Al-Qaeda, hacked three Kenyan Christians to death after they refused to recite an Islamic prayer. The group then went to the home of one of their brothers and killed him. Al-Shabaab beheaded nine Kenyans in one attack last month and four people two days earlier.

I can find no record of you using your influence to draw attention to these black lives lost in unimaginable violence.

Over 1,000people lost their lives in the August 14mudslides in Sierra Leone, but relief efforts have been almost non-existent.

If these black lives matter, why not use some of your millions in funding to send some teams to help in this tragedy or donate part of that stash to organizations with boots on the ground there?

Finally, adisproportionate number of black children are targeted for destruction in abortion facilitiesacross our country every day. Black children are killed at a rate three times that of white babies. Every one of those lives isprecious and worth defending. These black lives matter, too.

Your silence on these lives that were taken by violence or lost in natural disasters points to your involvement with only those lives who can be used to advance your political agenda. If you actually spokefor all of those lives who can offer you no political advantage, I could consider standing shoulder-to-shoulder with you to defend the least of these."

Sincerely,

A mom who believes all lives matter

View post:
What It Would Take for Me, a White Conservative Grandmother, to Join Black Lives Matter - Independent Journal Review