I dunno how any of y'all will feel about this, but this article drops some serious and touching knowledge.

~Shalom~

ZULU NATION MEMBER SHOT AND KILLED
by Davey D with intial words by Rosa Clementa

"For those who have not heard or seen today’s Daily News, Matthew Hall, a student at Hunter College, brother, activist, member of the Universal Zulu Nation, was shot in the back Wednesday at 9pm, and passed away yesterday at 4:30pm at Harlem Hospital.

Many may not know him by his legal name, but when you see the front cover of the daily news you will know that face, Matthew was involved in so many things, he was at every major rally, protest, always at meetings, and last year had put together an event at Hunter College, to expose students to the political nature of hip hop culture.

Immortal Technique, the Welfare Poets and I were part of that event, it was such a success that he was going to continue to do more events at Hunter and was evolving into an amazing young revolutionary and activist. I had the pleasure of seeing and chilling with Matthew last Thursday night at Hunter College for one of the ACLU College Freedom tour stops. He was excited that we had chosen Hunter, and I said to him, it was his doing, in choosing colleges for the tour, Hunter was the natural choose as so many great activists come from their, and as usual he was there supporting, and seeing what more he could do.

In the last two years we have lost two great brothers in our generation, Roan Wedderburn and now Matthew Hall, both shot violently. Let us not forget them or their contributions to our people."

These touching words were written by Rosa Clemente to describe one of New York City’s more dynamic Hip Hop activists… His tragic death has left everyone upset.

Yesterday [Sunday 9/27] I spoke with UZN leader Afrika Bambaataa who had just attended Matthew’s funeral and was understandably upset and angry about the whole situation. He explained that after folks had left the Zulu Nation meeting that evening they passed by a squadron of police who were attending to the body. It wasn’t until the next day that they discovered it was Matthew Hall.

Bam explained that Hall was one of the kindest and committed individuals he had met. He had a good heart and was set to do big things. His death is a major loss for both UZN and Hip Hop.

He also explained that Hall’s death seems to be part of an increasing wave of violence that has been impacting New York City over the past few months. Hall’s shooting underscored the group’s commitment to do whatever they can to bring attention to this disturbing pattern and take the necessary steps to end it.

Bam spoke emphatically about the responsibility all of us within Hip Hop have in trying to do things that will teach us and encourage us to celebrate life and not discard it. He and many others within Hip Hop are growing increasingly weary of the gangsterism that is being espoused by some of today’s popular artists and the major media corporations that back and promote them.He described it as a devilish attempt to misdirect our youth and keep them in a constant state of confusion. "Our kids are growing up on BET and MTV who continously promote death and confusion" he said.

He explained that the same night Hall got killed, another young brother was shot and killed on 159th street uptown. On the subway two Puerto Rican brothers were stabbed and killed. He felt that this disregard for life is part of a devilish culture that we need to put an end to.

Bam also spoke about the continued mischaracterization being put forth by many within the NY press with regards to the Universal Zulu Nation. He said the initial accounts were that there was a huge fight at the meeting and that there was speculation that fellow Zulu members shot Hall. The main reason that was suggested was that Hall was trying to bring in more white members to what some in the media have described as a militant Black Nationalist group.

Bam noted that such accusations were more than upsetting in addition to being totally untrue. ‘Why in the world would we want to shoot our own brother an impassioned Bam’ asked? Bam went on to explain what is obvious to anyone within Hip Hop, that the Universal Zulu nation is and always has been a multi-cultural organization that promotes peace, understanding and KNOWLEDGE, which is the 5th element of Hip Hop.

For those who don’t know there are UZN chapters all over the world with more than 10 thousand members. There are UZN chapters in Germany, Switzerland and Italy to name a few. In fact the Zulu Chapter in Switzerland put out a weekly widely read Hip Hop Internet Newsletter called Zulu Funk.

“We have Zulu’s of all racial backgrounds and in some cities you will find the majority of members white, Asian or Latino. We told the press this but they kept trying to make us into something we are not. I guess when they went to the website they must saw there was too much to read and went on with their own false assumptions”, Bam said
Bam went on to note that such statements being floated by the press are designed to cast a dark cloud and discredit the type of political and social activism that the Universal Zulu Nation and others within Hip Hop are involved in. In addition such speculation gives the NYPD and others within Law enforcement an excuse to monitor the group.

If folks may recall, several years ago 34 Zulu Nation members were arrested in Staten Island where they were mentoring high school students. The police stated that they had gathered in the park without a permit. Then Mayor Rudolph Giuliani had recently passed a law that made it a crime to gather in public parks with a group of 20 or more without a permit. The arrests resulted in the Zulu Nation being put on a gang list. The group had to go to court and eventually got the charges dropped, but the negative stigma was still attached because the press never reported the final outcome. They only reported the arrests and the supposed gang label that was attached to them.

What is also interesting to note is that last week when dead prez performed at the ACLU Freedom Tour concert in Brooklyn there was a heavy police presence even though dead prez is not known for attracting a violent, rowdy crowd. A few days later M-1 and Stic were arrested at a photo shoot. The reasons behind that are still unclear.

With this recent shooting death of Matthew Hall with a little bit more than a month away from the 30th anniversary Zulu Nation celebration, one can bet their bottom dollar this will be the accuse used by the police and others to place surveillance on the conference and group members. Come November all eyes will be on the Zulu Nation 30th anniversary concert.

Bam concluded by noting that it seems like every year around the fall something tragic happens within Hip Hop. Last year it was the shooting death of Jam master Jay that still plagues the community. He noted that there are plans to revitalize a Stop the Violence movement and hold a large rally on October 28th to honor Matthew Hall and other victims of senseless violence.

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Quote:

Originally posted by Bruklor Nec is just dumb

I'm taking that as a compliment.