The New York hiphop community has called their march on City Hall earlier this month to protest at educational budget cuts by the city's new Republican mayor, Mayor Michael Bloomberg, a victory. The mayor has backed down on his proposed cuts, and even gave teachers a 16% raise, after community leaders, many who belong to Russell Simmons’ community mobilization organisation the Hip-Hop Summit Action Network. Amongst the protestors was CMU columnist Chuck D. He told protestors: "You've got a mayor who's a billionaire who wants to take the opportunity away from you to become the same kind of person. He was joined by LL Cool Jay, Jay Z, Foxy Brown, Erykah Badu, Cynthia Nixon, Alicia Keys, P. Diddy amongst many others at the protest. Commenting on the victory respected black leader, Minister Benjamin Muhammad told reporters: "For most of these kids, this was their first experience protesting. It was our goal to empower them … the reinstatement of the $298 million into the budget, not to mention the settlement of the teachers' contracts, empowered them in a big way."
Jun 28, 2002
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1 min read
Hiphop's peaceful protest a victory
New York's mayor Michael Bloomberg has backed down on proposed education cuts and given teachers a 16% raise after a hiphop-led protest, organised by Russell Simmons' network.