Listen 8:00- 9:00 pm (PST) to the
WeThePeopleRadioNetwork.com and to our guest-
Rosa ClementeListen 9:00- 10:00 pm (PST) to the
WeThePeopleRadioNetwork.com and to our guests-
Cynthia McKinneyRosa Alicia Clemente is a community organizer, journalist and Hip-Hop activist. Born and raised in the South Bronx she is a graduate of the University of Albany and Cornell University. A much sought after commentator, political activist, community organize and independent reporter, Rosa has been delivering workshops, presentations and commentary for over ten years.
Rosa's academic work has been dedicated to researching national liberation struggles inside the United States, with a specific focus on the Young Lords Party and the Black Liberation Army. While a student at SUNY Albany, she was President of the Albany State University Black Alliance (ASUBA) and Director of Multicultural Affairs for the Student Association. At Cornell she was a founding member of La Voz Boriken, a social/political organization dedicated to supporting Puerto Rican political prisoners and the independence of Puerto Rico.
Rosa has written for Clamor Magazine, The Ave. magazine, The Black World Today, The Final Call and numerous websites. She has been the subject of articles in the Village Voice, The New York Times, Urban Latino and The Source magazines. She has appeared on CNN, C-Span, Democracy Now and Street Soldiers. In 2001, she was a youth representative at the United Nations World Conference against Xenophobia, Racism and Related Intolerance in South Africa and in 2002 was named by Red Eye Magazine as one of the top 50 Hip Hop Activists to look out for. In 1995, she developed Know Thy Self Productions, a full service speakers bureau, production company and media consulting service. Seeing a need for young people of color to be heard and taken seriously she began presenting workshops and lectures at colleges, universities, high schools, and prisons. In the past ten years she has presented at over 200 colleges, conferences and community centers on topics such as; African-American and Latino/a Intercultural Relations; Hip-Hop Activism; The History of the Young Lords Party; and Women, Feminism and Hip Hop. KTSP now includes an expanded college speakers bureau which has produced three major Hip Hop activism tours, "Dare to Struggle, Dare to Win" with M1 of dead prez and Fred Hampton Jr.; "The ACLU College Freedom Tour" with dead prez, DJ Kuttin Kandi, Mystic and comedian Dave Chapelle; and the "Speak Truth to Power" Tour a collaborative tour of award winning youth activists.
In 2003, Rosa helped formed and coordinate the first ever National Hip Hop Political Convention that drew over 3000 activists who came together to create and implement a national political agenda for the Hip-Hop generation. 10 days after Hurricane Katrina ravaged parts of the south, Rosa traveled to the areas as an independent journalist and her on the ground reports were reported on independent radio stations all over the world, including Air America, NPR, Pacifica Radio, Democracy Now, Indy media, Hard Knock Radio and many more independent and mainstream media outlets.
In July 2008, at the Green Party Convention, Cynthia McKinney chose her as her vice-presidential running mate.
Green Party Presidential Candidate Cynthia Ann McKinney was Georgia's first African-American Congresswoman and the only woman serving in the state's congressional delegation. She emerged as an internationally renowned advocate for voting rights, human rights.
Congresswoman McKinney was appointmented to the powerful and prestigious Armed Services Committee. She was also a member of the International Relations Committee, serving as Ranking Member on its International Operations and Human Rights Subcommittee.
For five years, she was the House sponsor of the Arms Transfers Code of Conduct, which aimed to prevent the sale of US weapons to dictators, finally passed the House in June 1997.
She was elected secretary of the freshman class by her colleagues in the 103rd Congress and was the first freshman representative to head the Women's Caucus Task Force on Children, Youth and Families. She has served as vice president of the Democratic sophomore class. Congresswoman McKinney was also a member of the Congressional Black Caucus and the Progressive Caucus and worked closely with the Hispanic Caucus.
Born in Atlanta, Georgia on March 17, 1955, Cynthia currently lives in California. She earned a B.A. in International Relations from the University of Southern California in 1978. In 1984, Cynthia worked as a Diplomatic Fellow at Spellman College in Atlanta. She also taught political science at Clark Atlanta University and later at Agnes Scott College, a women's college in Decatur, Georgia. Before being elected to Congress, Cynthia served on the board of the HIV Health Services Planning Council of Metro Atlanta from 1991-92.
Cynthia is the daughter of veteran Georgia State Representative Billy McKinney and Leola McKinney, a nurse of forty years at Grady Hospital in Atlanta. Cynthia McKinney is the proud mother of a son, Coy McKinney.
While in Congress, from 1993 - 2003, Cynthia became known as the voice for the voiceless. She provided a seat at the table for people long left out of Georgia's political and economic mainstream. She supported candidates representing the people who had been politically marginalized. The result was more hope and more representation at the local level for black people and people of low wealth throughout the rural black belt of Georgia.
It is important to note that Cynthia McKinney sponsored legislation to end the use of all depleted uranium weapons until their health effects are known. She voted against record Bush Administration Pentagon budgets and challenged the Pentagon to explain how it "lost" over $2.3 trillion in un-trackable transactions. She decried the Pentagon's sweetheart deals with Halliburton, the Carlyle Group, and DynCorp and its successor companies.
Cynthia spoke out against the loss of our fundamental freedoms during Bush Administration prosecution of the War on Terrorism and reminds Committee members of the well-known and documented abuses during the COINTELPRO era.
Her legislation to end the mining of coltan in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo was mentioned in a United Nations special report. Almost single-handedly, she forced the United Nations to convene an independent commission on the Rwanda genocide and the role of the US and the UN in failing to stop Africa's most horrific genocide.
Cynthia hosted the first delegation of Afro-Latinos from Central and South America and worked with the World Bank and the U.S. State Department to recognize Afro-Latinos. She stood with Aboriginals against Australian mining companies; and with the U'wa people of Colombia in their fight to save their sacred land from oil rigs. She stood with poor Georgia farmers, black and white, against South African mining companies operating in the US. During her tenure on the House International Relations Committee, Cynthia recognized others who championed peace and nominated President Jaochim Chissano, President of Mozambique, for the Nobel Peace Prize and he made it to the final group. In her final Congressional act, she nominated Juan Carreras for the same honor, for his work to bring peace to Democratic Republic of Congo and the Great Lakes region of Africa. Today, Cynthia continues to work with Carreras to bring justice to the dead in one of Africa's most horrific moments.
Cynthia had also begun to focus on COINTELPRO and Hip Hop empowerment. Cynthia held three Hip Hop Powershops featuring Kevin Powell, Afeni Shakur, Li'l Zane, and media executives.
She also held two COINTELPRO hearings: one on US Political Prisoners, the other on the murder of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Cynthia used her positions of influence on both the House Armed Services Committee and the House International Relations Committee to apply international human rights standards to US conduct at home and abroad.
Cynthia was tapped by the Congressional Black Caucus to lead its effort on the Durban World Conference Against Racism. Despite all her efforts on behalf of the poor and dispossessed, in Africa, Asia, Latin America, and in the United States, Cynthia learned from news reports that AIPAC, The American Israel Public Affairs Committee, had targeted her for defeat. Cynthia never lost her courage and refused to compromise her values. However, when Cynthia McKinney became one of the first Members of Congress to demand a thorough investigation into the events of September 11, 2001 and responsibly asked the question, "What did the Administration know and when did it know it about the events of September 11th?" she was vilified and targeted by Georgia and national Republicans. As a result of her thought-provoking question, an estimated 40,000 Republicans voted in the Democratic Primary to oust Cynthia. It is called "crossover" voting and her supporters filed a lawsuit against this practice so that no voice of the people like Cynthia's would ever be silenced again in such an unfair electoral practice.
Cynthia was invited to Mumbai, India to speak at the World Social Forum. She has spoken all over the United States and in Germany, France, Italy, Jamaica, and many places all over the world because she is nationally and internationally recognized for her tireless voice on behalf of justice in the United States.
The film
American Blackout provides a glimpse into her heroic efforts in Congress and the efforts to oust her and "steal elections."
Under attack by the media, the Democratic Party, defeated in the 2006 Election with the assistance of malfunctioning voting machines, she was wooed by the
Green Party to be their Presidential candidate.
