Hip Hop Caucus Goes Green

Hip Hop Caucus
Politics for a New Generation
1112 16th St. NW, Suite 110
Washington, DC 20036
202.293.5902


April 2nd, 2009                                                            www.hiphopcaucus.org

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
Contact: Mike Cooper [cooper@hiphopcaucus.org | 202 293 5902]


It is in the enduring spirit of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. that Rev. Lennox Yearwood and the Hip Hop Caucus are gearing up for a new campaign to Green the Block. This innovative operation is a stone targeted at two birds: Urban Poverty and Global Warming.

To continue the “Dream” the Hip Hop Caucus is organizing a generation born after the peak of the Civil Rights Era, and has become the political outlet for a culture not easily accessible to traditional movements or interest groups.

Dr. King’s movement defeated segregation and Jim Crow, and now as we approach the 41st anniversary of his assassination the Hip Hop Caucus is carrying on his torch by focusing and correcting the appalling inequalities of poverty and pollution.

Low-income communities suffer from climate change and are acutely affected by rising energy costs, natural disasters, and heat-related deaths more than any other part of the populous.

Not only are urban communities the first to bear the brunt of Global Warming (disease, flooding, and temperature extremes), we are caught in the epicenter of the current financial crisis as well.

The Hip Hop Caucus witnessed first hand the effects climate change has on the impoverished when it spearheaded efforts to help the victims of Hurricane Katrina. Through its work the Hip Hop Caucus recognizes the urgent need to mobilize young people in urban communities to push for sound climate policy.

The Hip Hop Caucus sees the upcoming American Clean Energy and Security Act of 2009, introduced by Congressmen Waxman and Markey, as legislation that takes a step towards end global warming. Rev. Yearwood believes that the bill “has the potential to align the cause of ending urban poverty with the need to protect our environment.” That is, if it can reform energy policy to harness the power of an urban workforce.

The Hip Hip Caucus strives to ensure that all climate legislation fulfills the needs of Urban America by cleaning up her streets and putting her people back to work. Our purpose in this new endeavor goes far beyond the halls of Congress as we engage people from the suites to streets.

The Hip Hop Caucus will tap into its base of over 700,000 members and utilize its volunteer Member Political Advocacy and Campaign Teams (M.P.A.C.T.), to usher in necessary environmental change. From this day forward you can add Hip Hop to the green movement.

Upon implementation Green the Block will organize in 48 cities across America to work for a clean energy economy that will generate inner-city jobs, solve our climate crisis and fulfill Dr. King’s Dream of ending Urban Poverty.

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