Source: Kevin Mazur / Getty
Dear Hov,
I’ve been waiting for the right time to write this. I mean I could’ve written it back when I was organizing the Ferguson rebellion but I kinda had my hands full, if you know what I mean. You see, our people got a situation on our hands so I knew it was time to call Hov. I wish it was a 1-900-HUSTLER number I could’ve called back in 2014 but you hadn’t set it up yet. But anyway, let’s get to the business at hand.
You see about 10 years ago, we started to get active. For those who weren’t born in it. The consciousness of Black youth didn’t really peak until the time between Hurricane Katrina and Gena 6. The killing of Trayvon Martin definitely woke up Black America. That was certainly the spark but the police killing of Mike Brown Jr. woke up not only Black America but Black people all around the globe for something greater. There have been some highs: a few awards shows here and there, we’ve fed tens of thousands of our people globally and put some smiles on our mama’s, father’s and children’s faces. But it also came with some lows: some failed relationships, a few homies in jail and too many good soldiers in the grave too soon. And the worst part is watching your people switch sides on you. But that’s to be expected. Who am I telling, right? We watched this play out with you a few times before through the media.
In spite of these challenges, we’ve kept to the blueprint and even used the game laid by the OGs who came before us. We studied the Black Panther Party for Self Defense’s programs until we could not only replicate them but advance them to address Black people’s problems in the 21st century. One example is our cornerstone program, “Books and Breakfast.” We use the same philosophy of the Free Breakfast Program but we give every Black child a Black book to attack the low literacy and reading comprehension rates plaguing our youth today.
We took advantage of speaking engagements, both in the U.S. and abroad to organize our people towards Global Black Unity. We not only established these relationships but maintained them for a greater cause later. Because we know that we can build a movement that would make the great Marcus Garvey proud.
And after years of political letdowns by both the Democratic and Republican parties, we got a 2024 campaign that will definitely set the record straight on Black political issues. I would tell you all about it but it’s something we gotta discuss in person so the crew could really lay this all out.
And what the summer of George Floyd and Breonna Taylor proved was that this movement is ready to put in the work beyond protesting but they lack knowledge to go beyond the only strategy they’ve known or seen.
Since 2020, we’ve been building a movement that is full of Jeff Fortes and Assata Shakurs. It’s where the Blue Ivys learn from the Gloria Carters and the young boys can learn from the Nipsey Hussles to sharpen their revolutionary spirit. With this much multigenerational social, economic and political organizing going on, we’re only missing one thing: The consistent revolutionary funders. Funders who understand that funding the solutions to Black people’s problems can’t be solved with a year or two of funding considering we are correcting 400 plus years of oppression. And we know exactly who can help us with that.
So along with the Black Grassroots across the world, we would like to request a meeting with you. A meeting where our movement can lay out our strategic plan on how we can continue to build Black Power socially, economically and politically. Because with this much Black brilliance, wealth and ingenuity happening in 2023, we should be halfway free already.
And if this is too much to ask then we can just skip the dinner meeting and we’ll humbly accept $500,000 a year for the next decade.
Please let us know where you stand, Hov, either way.
Sent on behalf of the Black people all around the world who still believe that every revolutionary bar you spit was for a moment just like this.
Tory Russell
Tory Russell is a Ferguson Uprising Organizer, Internationally recognized Black Movement Leader and Director of Organizing for the International Black Freedom Alliance.
SEE ALSO:
Ferguson Movement Leader Says Clarence Thomas Makes Valid Points In Affirmative Action Case
Reflections Of A Grassroots Organizer Years After The Ferguson Uprising Began
