(SETISA) in Choloma, Honduras, to manufacture their very expensive clothing lines.
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Ten years ago, anti-sweatshop activists revealed that Rocawear, along with Sean Combs's "Sean John" label, contracted with Southeast Textiles International S. We have an obligation in a democracy to hold government accountable to the rule of law (that includes international law) and to protect the interests of the whole of the people.Īnd what about deeds? I find it remarkable that Jay Z's four little words could set off global outrage, but revelations that Rocawear, the Hip Hop apparel company he co-founded with producer Damon Dash, employed sweatshop labor barely registered a blip in the black blogosphere. Such representation masks the fact that it wasn't his achievements but our achievements, our tireless mobilization on his behalf, the work of nameless millions who elected him to office to serve the people. The cult of Obama has the added dimension of being the tale of a singular black man overcoming historic obstacles, breaking the color line and achieving the highest office in the land. This is why cops and soldiers are "heroes" and dissenters and the civil disobedient are troublemakers or enemies of the state. Even modern empires, like the U.S., often fall back on hero worship, adoration of strength and might over the rule of law and justice. The idea that the president transcends all worldly criticism corresponds with a different sort of "Empire State of Mind." Empires dating back to Egypt, Rome, Ancient China and Japan have depended on an "imperial cult," the notion that an emperor is to be worshipped as a messiah or a demigod. Two years later, the United Nations honored his work with a special humanitarian award. Carter met with policy makers, advocates, and poor, water-starved families in Angola and South Africa, and committed to building 1,000 clean water pumps in Africa. And there was The Diary of Jay Z: Water For Life, the 2006 MTV documentary that raised awareness of Africa's water crisis. He has been a high-profile giver: he and his mother started the John Carter Foundation ten years ago to help fund college-bound at-risk youth he tossed a million dollars into the Red Cross's coffers after Hurricane Katrina he is a partner in the Global Citizen Tickets Initiative - the brainchild of the Global Poverty Project meant to hip pop music fans to world poverty and compel them to act (via sharing on social media, writing elected officials, donating money) while dropping big bucks on concert tickets. Anyone familiar with the dictionary definition of "charity" will find the statement ridiculous, just as anyone familiar with Jay Z's philanthropic work will wonder why he would say such a thing. To disrupt that was out of line.Let me say at the outset that I am not interested in spats between celebrities or on expending precious energy on conflict-resolution for the Negro one-percent. “It was a lot of planning that went into that performance. “To interrupt that moment for us, I don’t think that was the right thing to do,” he explained. JAY-Z, on the other hand, wasn’t too enthused with Lil Mama crashing their performance and let his feelings be known in an interview with Hot 97’s Angie Martinez at the time, comparing the moment to Kanye West crashing Taylor Swift’s acceptance speech the same night. I actually would like to have a one-on-one.” If any way JAY-Z or Alicia Keys felt offended, I want to apologize to both of you. I got up and was rooting him on as a champion for bigging up my brother. I started to feel the energy and I got up and started walking toward the stage.
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“I felt like, ‘Yeah, New York, Jay!’ I started to feel him and feel myself. A post shared by The Neighborhood Talk, LLC an interview with MTV News days after the incident in 2009, Lil Mama apologized for her actions and said she didn’t mean for her interrupting of the performance to be taken disrespectfully.