Sayitloudnews.googlepages.com Volume1 Issue 6 July 2008

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*No one ever meets Pat Tobin and forgets about it. The PR world has suffered a great loss; the human race has suffered an even greater loss. To say that she was a dynamo is still an understatement for the wom-an who revolutionized public re-lations in Hollywood, especially dare we say, in Black Hollywood. Over a span of two decades, Pat Tobin helped put stars on the map like Spike Lee, Hal Williams, Roger Mosley, Judge Mablean Eph-riam and more recently Tyler Perry. Ms. Tobin also managed political and corporate clients like Congresswoman Maxine Waters, Congresswoman Diane Watson, Fitzgerald’s Casino owner Don Barden and the late Johnnie Cochran with the same fortitude and finesse. But then there’s what Pat Tobin meant to me. I met her in the late 80s. I was a young radio personality seeking to move up the ranks as an actress and eventually a singer. While your talents may be many, if your name and face haven’t been validated by the powers that be, then many times you’re quite invisible and treated like a nobody. That was never the case with Miss To-bin. Whenever I was around Pat To-bin, I had a “name” and my name was good enough. She praised my work as a journalist and as an actress as if I had just won an Oscar and The Peabody Award. And she promoted others to get to know me because I was on the fast track to success. She did this not because I was one of her A-list clients like who paid thousands of dollars for her services, she did this because this is what Pat Tobin did. She made ev-eryone feel important. From hosting my first book signing to introducing me to my current agent Larry Williams at

The Williams Talent Agency, Pat has been a guardian angel. Others gave me references, Pat Tobin made the call. Her picture sits atop my desk, she inspires me in every way. I’m not yet fully able to refer to her in the past tense because when I think of Pat Tobin, I think of what she is and always will be. She will never be a “was” in my mind. On the morning of June 10, 2008 the charming taskmaster Patricia L. Tobin, founder of Tobin & Associates and co-founder of the National Black Public Relations Society, lost her long battle with cancer. For 25 years, Tobin ad-ministered her unique brand of public relations that focused on building great long-lasting relationships in the com-munity, corporate America and Holly-wood. A dedicated activist for causes that impacted minorities, women and youth, Ms. Tobin created opportuni-ties for underserved consumers and communities that resulted in corporate investment and philanthropic support for a variety of important initiatives. In 1988, when the Toyota Corpo-ration sought to repair its relationship with African American consumers, To-bin seized the opportunity to educate the automotive giant on the power of the “Black” dollar. Her efforts began a 20 year relationship with Toyota that resulted in countless community part-nerships. Whether working with high profile clients like Johnnie Cochran and Spike Lee or supporting nonprofit orga-nizations like the Los Angeles NAACP and Urban League, Tobin’s energy and tireless work ethic contributed greatly to the projects success. Her profes-sional success is overshadowed only by her love and commitment to her family and the encouragement and confidence she instilled in everyone she encountered. Pat was an honor-ary member of Sigma Gamma Rho and several other groups and affiliations. Tobin & Associates is one of the most prominent, minority, female-owned public relations firms in the nation. For-tunately for us all Pat has a lovely daugh-ter named Lauren, who not only served her mother graciously until the end, she is a living testament of her legacy.

Here are just a few words from Lauren Tobin and others who have followed Pat Tobin’s lead in the field of Public Relations. “It is with a very broken heart that I inform you of the end of my mother’s valiant struggle. My mother transi-tioned most peacefully this morning (yesterday). For nearly two years, she battled cancer while maintaining the business and social activities that brought her so much joy. While her body weakened during this struggle, her spirit never did. If you ever met or knew of Pat Tobin, I ask that you keep her in your heart and remember her fondly by repeating her best “bad” hab-its. If you happen upon a stranger who begins to chat or introduce themselves, please think of her. Strangers never re-mained so for very long in her world. If you can walk into a room knowing no one, but leave that room knowing someone - or better yet, EVERYONE, please think of her.” -- Pat’s daughter Lauren Tobin, Owner of Panther P.R. “We featured Pat Tobin in our first Anniversary Issue of Global Com-municator (formerly The AAPRC Monthly). I remember how sweet and gracious Pat was when we told her that we wanted to feature her in our e-publication. However, she was ab-solutely thrilled when we featured her daughter Lauren several issues earlier. She called us several times and sent several emails thanking us--that gave her great joy! We will miss Pat and we send our condolences to her fam-ily and friends!” -- Gwendolyn Quinn The African-American Public Relations (The AAPRC) Global Communicator “Pat was a true professional and a wonderful human being.” -- Erma Byrd of EByrd Communications “I have have known Pat for so long it will be hard to even think of her not being here. She was such a wonderful person and always so helpful. I can hear her saying; ‘Don’t worry about it baby I will handled it.’” -- Miller London- CEO & Publisher The Urban Network “Pat Tobin was a friend, trailblazer and true pioneer an inspiration to all of

WE REMEMBER PAT TOBIN: Public relations icon loses her battle with cancer at 65.The Hollywood PR World Remembers ...

By LaRita Shelby/RadioScope Editor

L.A. Leaders Welcome Jealous

Case Type: Endangered Run-awayDOB: Sep 20, 1990Sex: FemaleMissing Date: 5/31/2008Race: BlackAge Now: 17Height: 5’8 Weight: 135 lbsHair/Eye Color: Black/BrownMissing Kids Case #: NCMC1097968Circumstances: Jessica may travel to Moreno Valley, San Bernardino, or Riverside, Cal-ifornia. She has scars on her left arm.

MISSING

JESSICA SIMONE STREET

NNPA AND MILLER ANNOUNCE 2008 MILLER MESSENGER AWARD WINNERS

MILWAUKEE, WI (June 30, 2008) – Pictured above are some of the nation’s top African American journalists and publishers in the black press, gathered at the re-cent A. Philip Randolph Miller Messenger Awards Reception during the National Newspaper Publishers Association (NNPA) Convention in Louisville, Kentucky. Miller Brewing Company and the NNPA have once again partnered to present the awards program for journalists within the black press. The award is named after A Philip Randolph and the first black newspaper, The Messenger. To date, the NNPA has bestowed the prestigious award to black newspapers for 17 years. Pictured are (from left) Larry Waters, senior director of multicultural relations for Miller Brewing Company, with each of this year’s winners who, along with their publish-ers, received awards totaling up to $24,000, with an additional $6,000 scholarship to benefit the NNPA. The winners are: Education/Employment — Helen Silvis, The Skanner newspaper; AIDS/Health — Sandra Jordan, The St. Louis American; Cultural Diversity — Christine Sabathia, The Los Angeles Sentinel and Heritage — Francis Taylor, The Los Angeles Sentinel.

See TOBIN Pg 2

1

Editor’s Note: On one side are the younger Africans who blame Mugabe for the crisis in Zimbabwe and on the contrary is an older faction that lived thorough the struggle for African independence who support Mugabe. Edwin Okong’o publishes M’Shale Newspaper. OAKLAND, Calif. -- When Phillip Machingura went to a library in Oak-land on a recent Wednesday evening, his goal was to get people to talk about the plight of his countrymen in Zimba-bwe. And to convince people to send money to the victims of what he called Mugabe’s war on his people. He then appealed to the audience to go to www.africaaction.org and make donations. What Machingura, 32, found at the gathering was a rift that exists between generations on the issue of Zimbabwe. On one side is a youthful group of Africans that dwell less on the colo-nial period and believes that a younger leader is what the country needs. On the contrary is an older faction that lived thorough the struggle for African inde-pendence. Members of this group al-most unconditionally support Mugabe, who they see as a symbol of Africa’s quest to be independent of the west. There are approximately 1.3 mil-lion African-born immigrants in the United States, according to the Ameri-can Community Survey’s 2006 data. The first African-born immigrants ar-rived in the country in the late 1950s and early 1960s as either diplomats of newly independent countries or univer-sity students. Between 1990 and 2000, the African immigrant population grew by 124 percent, an increase attributed to refugees fleeing civil wars. Although they have settled in the United States, most Africans still have close relatives in their home continent, making issues like Zimbabwe’s of great interest to the Diaspora.

“It is sad to see what our country, which used to be the breadbasket of Africa, has become, Machingura said to the audience. “It is so hard for those of us watching from here, so you can imagine what people on the ground are going through. There are a lot of peo-ple being persecuted by Mugabe and ZANU-PF and they need money to pay for human rights lawyers.” But while most of the nearly 30 people who showed up at the Niebyl-Proctor Marxist Library agreed that Zimbabwe was in crisis, not everyone believed that Mugabe was to blame. “You have spoken very well, but you should be careful not to use buzz-words like ‘democracy’ and ‘breadbas-ket’,” Mussa Al-Bulushi, a Tanzanian immigrant who followed Zimbabwe’s struggle for independence, said after Machingura’s speech. Al-Bulushi said Britain, Zimbabwe’s former colonizer, and the United States played a significant role in the collapse of the southern African country’s econ-omy. “When we talk about what is happen-ing in Zimbabwe it is very important to understand its history,” Al-Bulushi said. “A soon as the white settlers learned that independence was going to come and that it would come to the majority, they seized power in 1965. For 15 years the Organization of African Unity and eastern countries pleaded through the United Nations for elections to be held in Zimbabwe. For 15 years, the Untied States and Great Britain vetoed what-ever resolutions were proposed by the United Nations.” At least two other men echoed Al-Bulushi’s sentiments. Al-Bulushi and others blame the me-dia for demonizing Mugabe and rarely mentioning a disputed land reform promise the United Kingdom made to Mugabe in the 1979 Lancaster House agreement that ended colonial control and put Mugabe in power. According to Mugabe, the British promised to fund a “willing buyer, will-ing seller” program that was designed

to buy back land from white settlers upon independence to avoid their force-ful removal. The land was to be distrib-uted to Zimbabweans who had been displaced from the best farmlands. By 1997, Britain had given Zimbabwe £44 million ($87 million) to fund the pro-gram. But in the same year Tony Blair’s government cut the funding, alleging that Mugabe had used the money to buy land for his cronies. Mugabe saw Blair’s act as a scapegoat to get Britain out of its obligation, which led to the 2000 invasion of white-owned farms by landless Zimbabweans. Many like Al-Bulushi believe that this history of the colonial period is just as important in explaining Zimbabwe’s problems. Al-Bulushi asked the younger gen-eration to scrutinize opposition parties, which he said were “puppets” meant to destabilize countries that disagreed with the west. “It is very important to understand where the opposition gets its support from and where the forces that under-mine the government come from,” Al-Bulushi said. While putting events in historical context is necessary, some activists say passionate arguments about who is right or wrong often get in the way of efforts to help people who are in imme-diate danger. Nunu Kidane, the director of Priority Africa Network, a coalition of Bay Area African community organizations, who arranged Machingura’s talk, said that although she acknowledged the impact of western powers in Zimbabwe, it was clear that Zimbabweans did not want Mugabe. “It seems that there is some central force of the imperialist sitting in some room in Washington, DC, pulling these strings” in Zimbabwe, Kidane said. “But what we are seeing in Zimbabwe is the people’s voice that is saying no to Mugabe.” Kidane said that wanting Mubage out did not necessarily mean Zimbabweans

African Generational Divide Uncovered by Zimbabwe CrisisBy: Edwin Okong’o New America Media,

News Report

See MUGABE pg 2

(SOURCE: Thelma A. Walker)

On Sunday, June 29th politi-cians and black leaders from all over Southern California came out to welcome 35-

year-old Benjamin T. Jealous. The City of Los Angeles, Eric Garcetti, Presi-dent of the Los Angeles City Council, Councilman Bernard Parks and Ron S. Hasson of the Beverly Hills/Hollywood branch of the NAACP organized a re-ception welcoming the new President and CEO of the NAACP. Dozens of black leaders filled the re-ception room at The Annex in the Hol-lywood and Highland Center waiting for Jealous to appear. Jelaous was informed in May of his new role with the NAACP. ““I was so pleased to hear the news that the board of the National Association for the Ad-vancement of Colored People elected Ben Jealous as the next President and CEO,” said Garcetti. Garcetti and Jealous both attend-ed and worked together at Colum-bia University. During the reception Garcetti shared a couple of stories of Jealous’s activism and leadership roles at the university. The two have been friends for close to almost years. During the reception Jealous ex-pressed his happiness in being in Los Angeles. The young ceo expressed his goals with the audience members that attended the reception. “We have a generation that is going from school to prison at a faster pace and a higher rate then we have ever seen. To wonder what to expect from me and my admin-istration of the NAACP I make you one guarantee we will focus every energy we have just like our predecessors did on lynching, on ending Jim Crow, on dismantling that school to purple pipe-line. So that the ACT-SO kids aren’t the

exception they’re the rule,” said Jeal-ous. Local leaders and politicians that attended the reception included: Blair H. Taylor (L.A. Urban League), Cha-risse Bremond (Brotherhood Crusade), Dennis P. Zine (District 3), Wendy Gruel (District 2), Najee Ali (Project H.O.P.E.), and many others. A num-ber of presidents from local NAACP branches also attended the welcoming. Jealous received the President’s Award at the 18th Annual NAACP The-atre Awards the following night at the Kodak Theatre.

Councilman Eric Garcetti and Benajmin Jealous pose for a picture at a reception in Los Angeles held for Jealous.

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us in Entertainment. Pat was a true representative from Philly who called “Cali” her second home. She made all of our lives better just by her presence. Rest in Peace Pat. We will miss you.” -- Diane Blackmon Blackmon Entertainment Media & Family Films LLC/ Club Society Hills “Pat Tobin was a great mentor and family friend. Pat has been in our lives ever since I was a lit-tle girl, during her days working at KCBS with my father (Joseph Dyer, former KCBS Community Affairs Director). She remained very close to our family even af-ter she branched out and started her own firm. She would go out of her way to make sure we got tickets to great events and the best tables. She was a compas-sionate, driven, and hardworking human being. I had the opportu-nity to work with her when my father published his first book, and helped spearhead the book launch. There wasn’t a person I would run into that did not hear of Pat Tobin. I am fortunate enough to have been able to use her name for jobs and network-ing. Her name is a trusted brand. She was strong, aggressive, and trained me to be fearless! I learned a lot from Pat. She had a great heart and knew how to get things done. One phone call was all that was needed. There was never a time I could not reach her or get a return phone call. I will miss her, but am blessed to have been touched

by her spirit.” -- Karen Y. Dyer Media & Public Relations Con-sultant/ Dyer Communications “I was extremely saddened to learn that Pat Tobin has lost her fight with cancer. She was such a dynamic lady, a caring and warm personality, and a complete pro-fessional. She was always up-beat and easy to work with, and there was always a laugh in the process. Whatever project, per-sonality, or trend she was excited about, she was able to instill that excitement in you. In particu-lar I remember many years ago, when our L.A. music journalists group Writers Block was formed to mentor high school students, Pat facilitated our meeting with the kids by hosting us in her Hollywood office. Her legacy is how she touched all of us as a colleague, friend, and publicity professional.” -- Janine Coveney, Pulse Content Radio, Syllable Media LLC, Los Angeles, CA “Pat Tobin served as an in-spiration to me when I was just a fledging publicist some 20 plus years ago. New to Hollywood at the time, Pat Tobin was the first name I heard about when it came to public relations. In addition to a role model, she was a mother figure. As she makes her transi-tion to be with the ancestors, her legacy will live on. Blessings to her family and in particu-lar to her daughter.” -- Makeda Smith / www.jazzmynepr.com And if I might add one final word about the great Pat Tobin, walking beside her (make that trying to keep up with her) was

Khalil’s Cartoon Corner

New America MediaNewamericamedia.orgKhalil BendibJul 3, 2008For more of Khalil Bendib’s cartoons, visit bendib.com.

Editor’s note: The National Black Republican Association is playing the race card against Barack Obama, and the notion of black-on-black racism is laughable, notes NAM contrib-uting editor Earl Ofari Hutchin-son. Hutchinson is an author and political analyst. His new book is “The Ethnic Presidency: How Race Decides the Race to the White House” (Middle Passage Press).

I still don’t know wheth-er to howl with laugh-ter or shake my head in disgust at the crude and silly race-baiting antics of the National Black Republican As-sociation. It recently

announced that it’s launching a series of radio ads about pre-sumptive Democratic presiden-tial contender Barack Obama. The ads recite these tired and worked-over slanders: a rap at Obama’s alleged ties with former Weather Underground bomber Bill Ayers, his relation-ship with his former pastor Jer-emiah Wright, and convicted financier Tony Rezko. Before going any further, there are many politically astute, principled black Republicans who would never dare stoop to personal and gutter-dredging attacks on Obama, or any other Democratic candidate. They are probably aghast at the associa-tion’s mud slinging attacks too. Obama is hardly immune from legitimate political criticism, particularly for his recent black flip and rightward shift on the FISA bill, the Iraq War with-drawal, refusal to accept public financing, and support of the death penalty. That kind of criti-cism is legitimate. Still, there are several inter-esting, ironic and pitiable things about the association’s hit ads on Obama. One is that they fly in the face of what Obama rival

John McCain and the Republi-can National Committee have publicly pledged, and that’s to run a clean campaign against Obama. That means confining criticism of Obama solely to his stance on the issues. Mc-Cain and the RNC so far have not violated their pledge to play fair. But then again, they don’t have much choice. Even the slightest hint of a race-card play would bring a loud shout of foul and would likely backfire. Even those whites, and there are many as evidenced by surveys and exit polls, who say they will not vote for an African-American solely based on color would cringe in shame at a naked racial pander by the GOP. A racial attack also wouldn’t work for another rea-son. Obama and the Democrats are on guard against it. They have sternly put the GOP on notice that such an attack will be swiftly and vigorously de-nounced as dirty political pool. The irony is that blacks, even black Republicans, would choose to make race an issue with Obama. One would expect that such an attack would likely come from a far-out ultra con-servative, or race-baiting fringe political group. But it didn’t. So that raises these questions. Who paid for the ads? Is the associa-tion fronting for some shadowy well-funded Republican hit group? And what does the group hope to gain from a hit below the belt attack that could blow up in their face? Then there’s the pitiable thing about the attack ads. They crash against a hard political fact of life. Though blacks in the past have groused at and bashed the Democrats, they still over-whelmingly vote for them, and even when they don’t, they’re more likely to stay home rather than vote Republican. Their rock solid loyalty to the Democrats is not simply a case of blind and

misguided loyalty. The entire Congressional Black Caucus are Democrats, and so are the lead-ers of the mainstream civil rights organizations. Despite the shots they take at the Democrats for “political plantationism,” black Democrats and civil rights lead-ers are still highly respected. Most blacks still look to them to fight the tough battles for health care, greater funding for educa-tion and jobs, voting rights pro-tections, affirmative action, and against racial discrimination. Black Democrats still accu-rately capture the mood of fear and hostility the majority of blacks feel toward the Republi-cans. Even when black Demo-cratic politicians stumble, they are still regarded as better bets than Republican candidates to be more responsive to black needs. Then there’s the Republican Party, and its terrible history of racial exclusion, neglect and race baiting. The endless foot in the mouth, racially insulting gaffes, racially loaded campaign ads by Republican officials and politicians and the refusal by GOP brass to loudly condemn them -- or worse, their tendency to defend them -- has continu-ally ignited black fury. The fight of House Republicans against the Voting Rights Act renewal,

Iraq war expansion, the slash and burn of job and education programs, and Bush’s Katrina bungle, as well as his many year snub of the NAACP and Congressional Black Caucus, deepened black suspicions that the GOP is chock full of big-ots. McCain has said he will address the NAACP conven-tion in July. Beyond that he’s done little to court black voters. In 2004, Bush talked about making the GOP a true party of diversity. That got him a mild bump up in black votes in his 2004 presidential win. That stirred many black Republi-cans to hope for the unthink-able, and that’s that they could win big-ticket offices. That hope has been largely dashed. If the association thinks that its ad antics against Obama will sway even a microscopic frac-tion of black voters to dash to the Republican camp, they’re float-ing in dream land. And that’s worth a laugh and a shudder.

Black Republicans’ Obama Baiting Antics Are LaughableBy: Earl Ofari HutchinsonNew America Media, Commentary

New America MediaNewamericamedia.orgEarl Ofari HutchinsonJul 03, 2008Copyright@ New

America Media

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July 2008 Say It Loud!

truly like walking beside royalty. She was always headed toward the highest ranking person in the room while regarding everyone with the same honor and respect along the way. And just to hu-mor myself as I grapple with the fact that I’ll never feel the warmth of her physical presence again, let me say that I envision Pat in Heaven right now re-ar-ranging the seating at the head table for optimal networking, I also see her slapping high five with Johnnie Cochran, who’s probably vying to get a case re-tried for a few that were sent down below. Last but not least, I envision Pat trying to get Jesus to reconsider having his face on the cover of the new King James Bible since it’s been on the best seller’s list for so long. Oh yeah and now that Pat Tobin is in Heaven, we’re sure that ALL of our Democratic ancestors know the news about Obama, she’s probably hosting a fundraiser. If Heaven were ever dull and un-in-formed, it certainly isn’t anymore now that Pat Tobin has arrived! A small part of us is now miss-ing while a big part of her re-mains with us forever and a day. In lieu of flowers, the family re-quests that donations be made to the following: Pat Tobin Scholar-ship Fund or Pat Tobin Memorial Fund, 4929 Wilshire Blvd., Suite 245, Los Angeles, CA 90010. Go to www.tobinpr.com for Tobin’s bio and more about her landmark clients, legend-ary contributions and lifetime of awards and achievements.

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were embracing the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC), the opposition led by Morgan Tsvangirai. Machingura added that the issues of his country were too complicated to be answered by cliché press questions like, “Are you pro-Mugabe or anti-Mugabe?” “It is more complex than that,” Machingura said. “It’s neither here nor there. Am I supportive of Mugabe’s regime and how it is waging war on its people? No. But that doesn’t mean that we don’t recognize the role that was played by Mugabe and Zanu-PF in ushering in independence.”

Machingura said that despite what many people in the west believed, Zimbabweans were capable of knowing when a leader is bad for them. He said that Zimbabweans suspected that the MDC was funded by outside powers but still the party was their best tool for getting rid of Mugabe. “If your house is on fire and George Bush is standing outside with a fire extinguisher, do you say no to him?”New America MediaNewamericamedia.orgEdwin Okong’o Jul 10, 2008Copyright© New America Media

MUGABE from pg 1

SAY IT LOUD! Publisher Remembers Pat Tobin

“I love Pat Tobin....and she will be missed. She was a proud proudmember of NABJ and BJASC. I had the opportunity of meeting her. We met last year in Los Angeles. I told her I was in NABJ and that I was the Student Rep for Region VI...she was so proud of me. She encouraged me to get involved with BJASC. Watching Tobin as the CEO of her own company it just inspired me to build my own media empire. I just met Mrs. Tobin and I feel like we’ve know each other forever. RIP Pat Tobin.”~Saharra Jovan WhitePublisher, Say It Loud!

Student Rep Region VI 06-07, NABJ

TOBIN from Pg 2

Intern at

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Radio personality Devon Anjelica is a tough woman to get a hold of these days. Maybe that’s because she is busy coordinating promotional event with Los Ange-les based radio station 93.5 KDAY, producing her own series online, or maybe it’s lending her support to the

Barack Obama 08’ campaign. Which ever it is, one thing is for sure “Devi Dev” shows no signs of slowing down. Devi Dev as she is commonly known has catapulted from in-tern to on-air personality to producer within the last two years. Like many college students Anjelica applied for several different intern-ships and landed one at Universal Music. It was there that Anjelica would find what she was destined to do. “Ever since I was young, I loved telling stories to people,” she said. “I realized after interning that I had a real passion for music, plus I knew I had way too much personality to be a news reporter,” she added. While co-hosting for an upstart radio show called Costa’s World, an urban one hour talk show that was on Sirius satellite, a pod show network that streamed online Anjelica started to fine tune her skills. After sending her resume numerous times to KDAY’s radio DJ’s “The Goodfellas” they asked her to stop by the office and the rest is history. “I told them I would do anything, get their coffee run their er-rands, they didn’t even have to pay me,” she laughs as she recalls their conversation. “All I wanted to do was learn and observe,” she said. After a short eight months with “The Goodfellas” Anjelica was hired as an on-air personality working with the Steve Harvey Morn-ing show, then with Theo in the evening as well as hosting her own weekend show. With all this on-air time, some might ask is there room for more projects? In Anjelica’s world the answer is yes. She is currently working as executive producer on a series called zombie RADIO, co-hosted with Tony Price, whom Anjelica also worked with on Costa’s World.The online broadcast features new music from unsigned artists, who are given the option to showcase their talents by uploading and sending their music to Anjelica. “There is so much talent out there and no one gets a chance to hear it,” she said. “At zombie RADIO we give them that opportunity,” she added. Anjelica said the idea for the online show came about when she was working on Costa’s World. She said a lot of new music was featured on the show and major labels started calling in asking who were the artists and where could they sample their work. Along with helping new artists get signed, Anjelica is a big activ-ist in her community. She has been working with the Obama cam-paign helping to set up voter registration booths.“It’s so important to be involved and active in politics today,” Anjelica said. “Especially today’s youth and what we try to do when we go out to these com-munities is get them involved,” she added. When she is at KDAY she said she is constantly thinking of new projects for her and the radio station. “Right now, me and one of the DJ’s go to high schools and talk with kids about police brutality or gangs or drugs whatever it may be,” she said. “We try to educate them that knowledge is power and that there are opportunities out there,” she added. Anjelica shows great wisdom and drive with just enough person-ality to take her far within this business. There is no stopping this young woman’s ability to bring something fresh and new to the table everyday. So what does the most influential, newly entrepreneur have play-ing in her CD player right now? When asked Anjelica didn’t hesitate to “spit” her favorites. “Raphael Saadiq Live at the House of Blues, Lauryn Hill’s Unplugged, Kanye West’s Graduation and Jay-Z’s American Gangster,” she said. What more can a girl ask for.

Just call her “Devi Dev”By: Felicia SerranoSay It Loud! Staff

YOUNG BLACK LEADERS

The National Hip-Hop Po-litical Conven-tion (NHHPC) is holding its third annual convention in

Las Vegas July 28th through Aug 3rd spreading the word of peace, love and prosper-ity through the expression of hip-hop. The Convention will be held at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas (UNLV). The NHHPC is the largest meeting where activists, po-ets, organizers, artists, schol-ars and students from all over the country come together to develop and evolve what they refer to as the National Hip-Hop Political Agenda. For this year’s convention, the NHHPC is looking forward to celebrating its progression into an organization that is helping to bring knowledge and awareness to communities that often do not get the nation-al coverage that they deserve. Local organizations based all over the country from Newark, New Jersey to Omaha, Nebraska are com-ing to conduct workshops, panel discussions as well as hip-hop performances inform-

ing the community on issues that are important to them. From July 28th through July 30th students can see the cultural aspect of the convention with break danc-ing, art, and mini hip-hop concerts. Aug 1st through the 3rd panel discussions and workshops are set to begin. NHHPC’s chairman organiz-er for this year’s convention, Troy Nkrumah, who has been with the convention since it started back in 2003, said he is pleased with the way it has pro-gressed over the past five years. Nkrumah said it first started with activists and political authors coming to-gether to form an agenda for the hip-hop community, and now it has grown into its own organization with local communities under its belt. “We encourage youth to create organizations like this one all over,” Nkrumah said. “Local communities have the opportunity to work on local issues that are important to them, giving them a spot on a national level,” he added.Nkrumah emphasized

Hip-Hop Party in Sin CityPoets, activists, students & hip-hop scholars meet in Vegas for conference

By: Felicia SerranoSay It Loud! Staff

that this year more people have gotten involved since Barack Obama announced his candidacy for president. However, he added that the organization is a non-partisan convention, a grassroots orga-nization which does not sup-port one candidate but all of them. The enthusiastic chair-man shared that the conven-tion pushes candidates to talk about issues that are affecting the general public, especially the drop-out rates being the highest among today’s youth. This year one of the con-ventions major focuses is me-dia justice. Nkrumah said the convention wants to push the media’s focus towards other is-sues besides oil prices, and the war in Iraq. The convention, he said, is here to help those have a say in the way their country is being run, and how it should continue to be run in the future. California State University Northridge chapter the Hip-Hop Think Tank will also be attending the convention. The organizations Presi-dent, Estella Owoimaha said they use hip-hop to connect

with today’s youth. “It is easier for students to memo-rize lyrics from their favorite rap star then it is for them to read an academic book,” she said. “So for those who can’t read we provide Hip-Hop Karaoke which allows the student to read a book in rap lyrical form and in return helps them to practice their read-ing skills,” Owoimaha said. The Hip-Hop Think Tank tackles issues of social justice affecting students amongst urban communities like the Black/Brown issue, minor-ity issues while providing after school programs for some underprivileged schools in the Los Angeles area. The organization started in 2004 just after the NHH-PC’s second convention. “We push hip-hop towards knowledge and culture,” Owo-imaha said. “And teach that they have an understanding with each other,” she added. The convention will be open to anyone who wants to join or simply come out to sup-port their fellow Americans.For more information on the convention or how to get in-volved please visit their web-site: http://www.nhhpc.org/

Hip Hop Think Tank

FILM SCREENING ON JULY 27th IN L.A. “Diamonds in the Rough:

A Ugandan Hip-Hop Revolution” at USC’s Norris Cinema

Los Angeles, CA June 26, 2008—Celebrating the launch of their latest initiative, the Bavubuka Girls Proj-ect, the Bavubuka Foundation, a nonprofit organization that works with youth in Uganda will host a special film screening of the film “Diamonds in the Rough” directed by Brett Mazurek. The screening will be held at the University of South-ern California’s Norris Cinema Theater (850 West 34th Street) at 5:00 pm. Free parking available on the streets surrounding USC’s campus. Tickets will be sold at the door, but can also be purchased online now for $10.00:

http://www.brownpapertickets.com/event/37251 Khalil’s Cartoon Corner

New America MediaNewamericamedia.orgKhalil BendibJul 3, 2008For more of Khalil Bendib’s cartoons, visit bendib.com.

As a teenager, he thrived. No he wasn’t captain of his high school’s varsity football

team, nor did he volunteer as a red and white candy stripper at a local hospital. Instead his sport of choice was to write and his extracurricular activity was hip-hop music. Slav Kandyba, 27, is a much-respected hip-hop journalist. His journey from the Ukraine to Los Angeles at the age of 11 helped create an intrepid mul-ticultural individual with the heart of an urban sub cultured Angelino. Kandyba crosses stereotypes by fusing together the art form of hip-hop and the objective skill of a journalist. “I was always into art. When I got into high school I was into poetry and literature,” Kandyba said, “I discovered

that rappers were like poets and that there were so many different ways to writing.” Kandyba began his jour-nalism career writing for the Daily Sundial, a student newspaper at the California State University of North-ridge.During this time he was also a self proclaimed rapper. However, as time progressed Kandyba would spend most of his time writing and interning at local and national papers such as USA Today not leav-ing him with enough time to focus on his love for music. “I continued to write news, mostly business, politics and sports,” Kandyba said. He got hired at the San Fernando Busi-ness Journal right after college and further moved on to write for the Orange County Register. Then one evening in 2006, just like any other regular eve-

ning, Kandyba starred at one of his favorite hip-hop web-sites Allhiphop.com. Within a couple of seconds it hit him. He wanted to write for hip-hop. “I did my homework, re-searched and even spoke with one of the writers for the website who had just so happened to live near my jobsite,” Kandyba said. Kandyba later met with Octavia Bosotick, allhiphop.com’s publicist, and began to get writing assignments.“I later kept hearing people tell me that I was in the mu-sic industry, that’s when I started to get known as a writer in the industry,” he said. Kandyba’s next goal was to write for the Source and like any other challenge, he con-quered it head on. He began to write a symposium of articles such as a feature he did on producer Will.I.Am from the

Black Eyed Peas and another feature he did on Swiss Beats. “It was an honor to write for the Source,” he said, “The Swiss Beats feature was the longest feature the Source had ever published at 1600 words.” Today Kandyba freelances for Hip Hop DX, Nobody Smil-ing and Ballerstatus. He also writes an array of comparable analyses on his website www.theroot.com that he launched this passed February featuring “Is Nas Hip Hop Randall Ken-

YOUNG BLACK LEADERS By: Vanessa AbnerSay It Loud! Staff

nedy?” where he compares Harvard Law professor Ran-dall Kennedy and the book he published Nigger to rapper Nasir Jones and song Nigger in the album Hip-Hop is Dead.To find out more about Kan-dyba visit these sites: Theroot.com, Sufferbolevard.blogspot.com, Myspace.com/kandyd.

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Say It Loud! July 2008

Hip-Hop Fusion: A Journalistic Approach

Hip-Hop: A Say It Loud! Special

(Pic: RET ONE PHOTOGRAPHY)

The Hip Hop Tink Tank published by students at Cal State Northridge is now available. To order your copy email Estella Owoimaha at hiphoptink-tank@yahoo.com.