THE INDYPENDENT/PAPER TIGER FILMS PRESENT: RIGHT TO THE CITY!!! (...RIGHT ON!!!!!) Says Uni Q. Mical , Tuesday, December 8, 2009 at 1:16 PM, in Labels: housing, new york, right to the city

Indypendent Magazine & Paper Tiger Films gathered footage from the rallies and condo canvassing of Right to the City from this past year. It's a FREEKIN sweet introduction of the campaign and the full scope of our demands. Surprisingly, I'm even in it :-)

Enjoy!

UH-OH!!!! HEADS UP CUZ WE DROPPIN SUM SHIT! Says Uni Q. Mical , Thursday, December 3, 2009 at 2:04 PM, in Labels: georgia anne muldrow, music, nneka, res, talib kweli

And now, to take a commercial break from my rage...

ALL MY FAVORITE HOMEGIRLS R BAAAAAACKKKKK...AND SOME NEW ONES!!!!

Nneka, Nigerian/German tell it like it T.I. IS sistah, is soon to drop her album, Concrete Jungle, next year. In the meantime, I've been dousing myself in her '08 release, No Longer At Ease. Peep the video for the pounding yet low-key protest track "Heartbeat", which takes you through the streets of her hometown, Lagos, Nigeria:


(not to mention, she's FREEKIN gorgeous.)

Her new new joint is "The Uncomfortable Truth", which really has me clawing for her next release:


And theennnnn...
Shareese Renee Ballard, aka RES, finally returned with some older and newer joints packaged in her FREE release Black.Girls.Rock. Honestly, I'd heard half of these songs back in '06, but they were nowhere to be found! If you missed who she even is (which is easy, her promotion SUCKED), she dropped the oh-so-severely slept on classic album How I Do back in '01. Because she was hard to pigeonhole--too hip-hop and soul to be rock, and vice versa, she slipped under the radar. But got DAMMIT, she's PHENOMENAL nonetheless. Go for the goal and hit the link for the album:

http://www.okayplayer.com/news/Res-Black.Girls.Rock-Free-LP-.html

MOREOVER, much of her time has gone to teaming up with Talib Kweli and Canadian MC/Singer Graph Nobel for their trio, Idle Warship! This project is the dream mix of lyricism meets-Saturday night sloshing debauchery. I'm in love. Peep their new joint, Party Robot:


And last but certainly not least, my homegirl, Georgia Anne Muldrow is BACK with an album under her government name (the previous Patty Blingh/Dudley Perkins & Ms One albums also CRAZY) with Umsindo. Hellz to the YESSSSSSSSS. Y'all needa really keep ya eyes on shorty, she's the fucking greatest thing since Prince, playing ALL her own instruments, singing, emceeing...so full of goodness.


The neverlution has left the buildin when they step in. There may actually be some hope left...stay tuned!

AND TO THINK, I ALMOST THOUGHT WE HAD IT. Says Uni Q. Mical , at 1:38 PM, in Labels: equality, gay marriage, new york, senate, vote

Even though, as I've countlessly stated, marriage equality should not AT ALL be the main issue we focus on with us LGBTQ folks, I shud really change my name to FUCK U MUTHAFUCKAS.

http://ny1.com/1-all-boroughs-news-content/top_stories/109767/-span-style--font-size-18pt--line-height-1-2--state-senate-rejects-same-sex-marriage-bill--span-

38-24 nays to yays in the New York Senate, and the audacity of State Senator Ruben Diaz to say their votes reflect the votes of the people. The people voted 51 to 33 in SUPPORT of the Marriage Equality Bill. Ugh. Makes me feel like a true forgotten soul. Again.

And yet, this--this is why I love our penly lezbo Speaker Christine Quinn, who says "My life isn't any better today." This shit is bigger than politics, muthafucka--This is LIFE.

Paint Me a Rainbow Fairytale and Tell Me It's Better Now. Says Uni Q. Mical , Tuesday, December 1, 2009 at 10:43 AM, in Labels: baltimore, gay, hate crime, lgbt, puerto rico, queer, uganda, youth of color

...We gettin our heads decapitated.

As many of y'all might've heard, there is an escalating amount of violence against LGBTQ folks happening globally. We are, and always have been, enemies of the global state. From Puerto Rico, to my hometown B-more, my heart is crushed more and more as I attempt to feel safe in a world that overwhelmingly fears our existence. And yet they see marriage as a win.

Two weeks ago I had the charm of going to a rally at the Uganda Embassy to protest their "anti-homosexuality bill", which is as follows:

The existing law, Section 140 of the Ugandan penal code, penalizes "carnal knowledge of any person against the order of nature" with imprisonment of up to 14 years...The draft bill tabled today seeks to imprison anyone convicted of "the offense of homosexuality" for life.
ANNNND:
This new draft bill includes a provision that could lead to the imprisonment for up to three years of anyone, including heterosexual people, who fails to report within 24 hours the identities of everyone they know who is lesbian, gay, bisexual, or transgender, or who supports human rights for people who are.

Now this is not to demonize my African people, but other countries are pushed to follow suit as well. How delicious.

And then I get home, only to find out about Jason Mattison, 15 yr old who was raped, gagged, and hung in his aunt's house in West Baltimore, AND George Steven Lopez in Puerto Rico, found decapitated and dismembered on the side of the road. Worse was the fucking police agent who stated, ON TV, that "people who lead this type of lifestyle need to be aware that this will happen". I want people who lead ur type of lifestyle, aka, law enforcement, to be aware that YOU get dismembered.

Three words: Fuck 'em all.

My girlfriend reminded me that we must fight hate with love, and that those that hate are the overwhelming minority. I really want to believe that as truth. The next post is a poem of mine dedicated to all my beautiful, fearless, queer people the world over who will not let fear dominate who they are. Hearts.

WE WANT-WE WANT-CONDOOOOS! Says Uni Q. Mical , Wednesday, October 28, 2009 at 1:20 PM, in Labels: bloomberg, condo, low income, luxury, new york, nycahn, protest, quinn, right to the city, VOCAL

Yesterday, my organization NYCAHN/VOCAL, along with 17+ other grassroots organizations in the city took it to the streets to introduce Right to the City-NYC to, well, NYC. For about two years, this coalition has existed, and was born out of a response to gentrification. Org's like FIERCE, Families United for Racial and Economic Equality (FUREE), Community Voices Heard (CVH), Make the Road (MTR), Mothers on the Move, Picture the Homeless, CAAAV, and Jews for Racial and Economic Justice (JFREJ), are a part of the coalition.

Our policy platform has 10+ demands ranging from the right to environmental justice and public health, to the right to community decision making power, and the right to public space, but the most widely and deeply felt was the right to affordable housing.

In your city, my city, and every city, there is a condo crisis. Developers got trigger happy, thinking they were gonna suck the life, heart and soul out of every 'hood for some quick bucks, and THEN a recession hit, and now they ain't got SHIT. Instead, what exists are skeletons of 6-32 story buildings, laying dormant, unfinished, or vacant in the same neighborhoods as low-income apartments, public housing, and in many cases, the homeless.

THIS IS A FUCKING INSULT.

This little economic BOOM that developers are waiting for simply CANNOT be the excuse for thousands of vacant units in NYC alone. Sure, wait on your upper income gentrifiers to regain back most of their stocks, and stomp their business shoes/artist shoes/NO shoes (hey, I went to Hampshire, I know the rich when I see 'em) into these neighborhoods. But ask yourself: do we not deserve to live in these luxury spaces? People that have lived in these neighborhoods for generations? Or even someone like me, who, yes, is a transplant to New York, but has never tasted what it even feels like to be MIDDLE class?

Christine Quinn and Co. in City Hall created what is called the Housing Asset Renewal Program (HARP) in July. This is their $20 million pilot response to the increasing housing crisis in New York, to turn 50+ units of these dormant condos into "affordable" housing, their way of looking out for the little guy. But, to qualify for HARP, a family of four must make no more than $100,000 to rent, and a single person, $70,000. Yeah, affordable housing.

AFFORDABLE FOR WHOM?

I honestly don't think they got the memo. PEOPLE ARE POOR in this city. These figures are middle to moderate income ONLY, and don't even scrape the fucking plates of New York's poor. Of course, in our coalition, we discussed that the income should be $30,000 or less, to count us low-income or NO income folks.

We surveyed 6 neighborhoods in NYC where most of our org's are located: South Bronx, Harlem, West Village/Chelsea, Downtown BK, LES, and Bushwick, on foot, to locate these condos, and found 601 total buildings that qualified. This figure makes me gag a little, and even more when I found the city's Dept. of Buildings only tallied 454 IN TOTAL FOR ALL OF NYC. With a city that only has 10 beds left in its ENTIRE shelter system, 601 newly built, vacant, and unfinished condos in OUR neighborhoods are a crime against humanity.

SO, WE TOOK IT TO THE STREETS:

• WE DEMAND THAT BLOOMBERG AND QUINN CONVERT THESE BIGASS LUXURY CONDOS INTO AFFORDABLE HOUSING FOR LOW (AND NO) INCOME PEOPLE.
• WE DEMAND THAT THESE CONDOS ARE PERMANENTLY AND TRULY AFFORDABLE;
• WE DEMAND THAT 100% OF THESE BUILDINGS ARE FOR LOW AND NO INCOME PEOPLE;
• WE DEMAND THAT A NON-PROFIT DEVELOPER MANAGE THESE UNITS, AND ANY PROFITS MADE BE PUT INTO COMMUNITY TRUST FUNDS;
• WE DEMAND AN OVERSIGHT COMMITTEE COMPRISED OF LOW-INCOME PEOPLE TO ENSURE THE PROGRAM IS FAIR AND TRANSPARENT.
• NYCAHN/VOCAL ALSO DEMANDS THAT A PORTION OF THESE BUILDINGS BE CONVERTED INTO AFFORDABLE HOUSING FOR DRUG USERS, USING NY NY III FUNDING.
  

Now, I hear ya sayin, "them developers ain't givin shit up. it'll never happen." Well, in our world, and yours, any and everything is possible, if we ACT. Simple as that.

Stay tuned for more progress...

HAVIN A '93 MOMENT...(ONE OF MANY) Says Uni Q. Mical , Sunday, October 4, 2009 at 1:54 PM, in Labels: 1993, hey mr dj, naughty by nature, zhane

SHOUTOUT TO ZHANE (PRONOUNCED JAH-NAY, AS THEIR ALBUM SAYS LOL) for this classic "Hey Mr. DJ". Aside from just bein' an ill party joint, I'd like to say they popularized the guns-into-your-chest-as-you-roll-down-to-the-ground dance, or what I just called the "Raven Symone" when I was 5.

Where are they now? Do they have weaves? Whatever happened to that Naughty By Nature affiliate emcee? So many questions.

Flo Jo, kick the music...

CAN I TAKE YOUR ORDER!?!?!?! Says Uni Q. Mical , Friday, October 2, 2009 at 2:15 PM, in Labels: good burger, kenan and kel, restaurant

Dude. It's real. It's really freakin real.

On 43rd and 5th lays a juicy, medium well chunk of my childhood nestled between two buns, lettuce, tomatoes, and onions.

As minstrel as they may be, I kinda miss Kenan and Kel.