A New Year, Baby

by Radio Raheem

G21 Staff Writer

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OAKLAND, CA, USA - In last week's RECOMMENDED DAILY REQUIREMENT, my colleague THOMAS HART had a lot to say about being glad to have 2001 behind us. I read it, laughed, and sympathized with his flow. I wasn't exactly overjoyed with most of the events of 2001. But I got married in June of that year, so it will always be special for me. So, looking forward to 2002, I was pleased to be asked to share with you some of things I have to say.

I'm looking forward to this New Year, 2002, like the rest of my homies. But maybe for a lot of different reasons.

I guess it's because I'm growing up -- some of y'all have watched me grow up right in the pages of this here magazine, haven't you, Homes? -- but as I look back on what the thoughts were occupyin' my mind during the past year, I keep coming back to jobs, "gratuitous" violence in our media and on most of our city streets and how a lot of folks in this country need to get their minds right about what's important and what's not.

When I was reading KEVIN CAREY's essay last week, I could only nod my head at this line:

"...There is greed in every sinew of the body politic and it is useless to think it can be got rid of by any kind of medicine, purgative or restorative."

I don't know about you, but I about fell off my chair reading that dead-on, scathing indictment of what we, as Americans, are all about.

You can't scratch many folks you or I know without uncovering just flat-out greed, you can't look at many of our motivations without finding greed as their bases.

That is not to say that some people don't still give to charity. If September 11th did anything, at least for a moment it got some people to dig down deep to help out other folks. But let's not pretend that things changed all that much... Already, "getting back to normal" means spending more on yourself at the mall. Too much of our lives are still about ending the game with the most "toys."

So I look at the end of 2001 as a time to look ahead to what could be -- given that some of us might have been sobered by that year's events and begun to look at what's really worth prioritizing.

I look forward to 2002 with hope that that type of sea-change has taken place for some Americans and that we could move into the new year seeking some kind of spiritual renewal. I don't mean the lip-service pieties and shame-slinging of the politicians and right-wing fundamentalists. I don't think those are worth the good oxygen used up in makin' them. Instead, I'm thinking more along the lines of stepping back from our single-selfishness. If we believe that life and time do move through cyclels, 2K2 might just be a good time to start moving into a new cycle, because the one we have been on is perilous and scandalous.

Radio Raheem

A good place to start, besides the personal priorities that we have set for ourselves as plain folks, is to open our eyes to the priorities we set as citizens of a republic. I have said it before and I say it again, if we really care about the children, our future, then we got to put more of our money and less of our lip into butter instead of guns. There is no Soviet empire to outspend on weapons anymore and terrorists don't have to be in a spending race with us on giant arsenals.

The "our way of life" that we are supposed to be defending has lots and lots to do with good schools and safe streets and giving kids reasons to live, not reasons to think about what to do before they die, understand what I'm sayin'?

That type of change won't be brought about by a Missile Defense Plan or cutting taxes to corporations. GE don't need another few million thrown its way -- that will just give another fat CEO bonus to somebody -- it's the young G on the street that money should be targetted toward, giving him a reason to create instead of destroy. That type of change can only come about by you and me and all of our friends getting re-engaged as citizens in our local neighborhoods and with our elected representatives.

The only people with a vested interest in getting you and me out of politics are politicians and the fat-cat lobbyists they lap dance for.

We need to send them a loud message that we want a change in whose beds are being feathered.

I bring all this up because 2002 IS AN ELECTION YEAR. Word. That means that very soon all those high-priced posers sitting up in Washington are gonnah be coming around telling us they can give us what we need. They will be getting their Spin Doctors to string together lines of buzzwords that are gonnah be meant to pander to our fears of faceless terrorists and long wars. What we need to do in 2002 is get them to answer tough questions about our cities and our schools and "our way of life."

A big part of our way of life is knowing that you'll have a job to pay your mortgage or your rent and feed your family. Health security is an important national security issue, too. You learn that real quick when a family member gets sick. So if you fear anything, fear the mountains of money that will be used to dupe you again in 2002.

But you can change that little equation around this time, Homes. You can set the priorities according to your real needs, instead of falling for the false needs those lines of buzzwords are meant to misdirect you with.

I look ahead to 2002 with hope because I'm ready to push for some of those priorities I wrote to you about in 2001. I say, like that song by The Who, "We won't get fooled again!"

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