NewsOne’s Bakari Kitwana interviews Vijay Prashad about the implications of the recent killing of Al Qaeda leader Osama Bin Ladan. Kitwana and Prashad discuss the American public’s euphoria surrounding this news and what this death means for the war in Afghanistan, and the future of America’s enemies—from Al Qaeda to the Taliban.

They also talk about the meaning of Bin Laden’s demise to the 2012 presidential race. Says Prashad, “Forget Obama. Forget 2012. What are the long-term implications for American power and authority in a world where others are trying to build up international law as a counter to cowboy-ism?”

Prashad also shares insight on the way he sees the death of Bin Laden already playing out in civil rights and human rights circles: “In 1981 Ronald Reagan signed Executive Order 12333, which disallows the US from pursuing targeted assassinations. Likewise, international law forbids this type of action. I’m very disturbed that there is no qualified discussion about the legality of this type of action. People on the liberal to progressive side seem to have lost their bearings and are no longer able to be serious when it comes to the question of utilizing armed force overseas.”

Vijay Prashad is professor and director of International Studies at Trinity College. He is the author eleven books, including his most recent The Darker Nations: A People’s History of the Third World.

Bakari Kitwana is CEO of Rap Sessions, Editor at Large of Newsone.com and author of the forthcoming Hip-Hop Activism in the Obama Era. (Third World Press, 2011)

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Bakari Kitwana’s interviews Mark Anthony Neal about the Nicki Minaj’s recent appearance on Saturday Night Live as “The Bride of Blackenstein,” which interestingly generated very little serious media critique.

Here, they discuss the tame media response to the provocative image of Black women, as well as the predictable knee-jerk response regarding stereotypes. Kitwana asks Neal if the new media environment along with political correctness is smothering complex analyses of gender and race. Says Dr. Neal, “Nicki Minaj forces us to always think about how we come to terms with Black women’s physicality. What’s so smart about the SNL piece is that you see a connection not just to Black women’s physicality but also to how that physicality is a mode of resistance.”

Neal says he believes hip-hop is returning its earlier role as a catalyst for jumpstarting important national discussions: “We now have artists like Diddy and Lupe Fiasco who are pushing back in terms of trying to get President Obama to be much more accountable, particularly to the folks who helped put him in office.”

Mark Anthony Neal is Professor of Black Popular Culture at Duke University, host of the internet TV show Left of Black, and the author five books, including the forthcoming That’s The Joint II: The Hip-Hop Studies Reader.

Bakari Kitwana is CEO of Rap Sessions, Editor at Large of Newsone.com and author of the forthcoming Hip-Hop Activism in the Obama Era. (Third World Press, 2011)

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Bakari Kitwana speaks with Natalie Moore about the recent political crisis in Libya. Moore, a Chicago Public Radio reporter who last Fall hosted a blog from Libya, talks about the climate in Libya when she was there during Mu’ammar Qaddafi’s 41st anniversary celebration of his ascent to power, and gives an assessment on how radically things have changed over the last few months. Says Moore: “Believe Qaddafi when he says he is going to stay til the last drop of blood. He’s not going to go out like Ben Ali or Mubarak did. It’s going to be a rough and bloody road.”

In this interview Moore also reflects on Qaddafi’s past dealings with Louis Farrakhan and notorious Chicago gang leader Jeff Fort. Moore draws interesting parallels between Fort’s 1987 conviction for conspiring with Libya to commit domestic terrorism and current US War on Terror efforts as they affect young people of color locked out of America’s mainstream.

Natalie Moore is a Chicago Public Radio Reporter and the co-author of the new book (with Lance Williams) The Almighty Black P. Stone Nation: The Rise, Fall and Resurgence of an American Gang. In 2006 she co-authored (with Natalie Hopkinson the bestselling book Deconstructing Tyrone: A New Look at Black Masculinity in the Hip-Hop Generation.

Bakari Kitwana is CEO of Rap Sessions and author of the forthcoming Hip-Hop Activism in the Obama Era (Third World Press, 2011).

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