First Post Jitters

So I decided to blog finally...I tried to keep away from this internet fad that contributes immensley to the clutter on the internet. However I am about to go on an incredible journy through out the United States to raise political awareness in the Hip Hop Community and I want to stay in touch with as many people as possible. Its a 30 day, 25 state, 40+ city bus tour that will be focused on the Supreme Court, educational funding, and voting rights. It is being put together by the Hip Hop Caucus (www.hiphopcaucus.org) which is a relationship put together by Rev. Yearwood to link the largest Hip Hop nonprofit organizations. Hip Hop Congress was one of the charter organizations I believe. If you don't know or hadn't known or whatever, the last 3 years I have been increasingly involved with Hip Hop Congress (www.hiphopcongress.org) which is an organization that uses hip hop to keep people involved in their communities, updated politically, and keeping things relevent socially. Currently I hold the PR Chair for HHCongress. We have a national board as well as 30 chapters across the country.

--The Tour's Focus--

The Supreme Court is the highest Court in the country – it has the final say on interpreting our Constitution and laws. Its nine Justices serve for life and the decisions they make directly influence the lives of every American. They should be fair-minded, committed to protecting the rights and freedoms of all Americans. Senators should carefully and thoroughly review every nominee and make their own judgment. And they should only vote to confirm judges who they believe will uphold the constitutional rights and freedoms of all Americans. No Senator should be a rubber stamp for nominees who would vote to weaken our rights, or who won’t even tell the American people where they stand on key constitutional issues

George W. Bush has nominated Judge John G. Roberts to fill the Supreme Court vacancy left by the resignation of Associate Justice Sandra Day O'Connor. As O'Connor's replacement, Roberts would cast the deciding vote on countless matters of individual rights where O'Connor had been a key vote, often in a 5-to-4 split-issues like abortion, affirmative action, privacy rights, disability rights, Title IX equal educational opportunity, family and medical leave, health care, environmental protection and dozens of other crucial issues for decades to come.

Most of the states we are visiting are going to have pretty influential Senator electors in 2006 and we want to make sure that people are up to date on the issues that effect their communities. We will be hitting high schools, colleges, community events, concerts, and even the MTV Video Music Awards. This is pretty heavy lifting for anyone so I am joined by a team of 12 other bus riders and a number of off-bus team memebers. One of those members is Jordan Bromley, who will be trying to rally up HHCongress members and other Hip Hop organizations to come out to our various events. My personal responsibility is to event coordinate, make sure everything is set up where ever we are headed.

I have given some of you a heads up as to where we are going to be and when, others I will be contacting you in the future. I will release the tour schedule later this week, as I am leaving a week from today to head to D.C. to start the tour.

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On another tip, I am going to be in the Midnight Ramble Bike Ride on saturday thanks to my co-worker Jason at Hats N Stuff...hopefully I'll be getting my new bike by then. The Cardinals are doin great. Scribble jam was crazy..best MC Battle I have ever seen. OH and for this blog, i expect you all to post, comment, and question things. This isn't 'aaron's lil diary', I want it to act more like a forum of communication for me and my family, friends, peers, associates, and others. This first post was kinda serious, but it will get more berkowitz as I get more comfertable writing again.

Big ups in this blog go to HHCongress, Yoni, F5 Records, Anh, Seth, DJ TopSpeed, Jon Toth from Hoth, MC Speak, Jordan, Jim Fong, Andy, and my family.

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Peace
Berk