Chairman Fred Hampton, at my house in Brooklyn, NY

Last year I designed a key piece for the Prohibit Winter 2009 line.  The garment was called the Prohibit Resistance Stadium Jacket. The Jacket was inspired by a vintage Military Varsity piece , that highlighted various cities of battle during WWII.  Being as though we are inspired by resistance movements, I decided that our piece should pay homage to the people who have sacrificed their lives in the name of resisting oppressive governments.  I would sit in the backroom of Prohibit NYC for hours researching names and movements that would apply to this concept, and how we would incorporate them into the Jacket.  Shin Nishigaki and I would go over various statements, people, and movements that impacted the struggle for justice and found many noteworthy concepts, but it took a while to come across the statement that best described the point we were trying to convey.  This process carried on for about a month.  The one excerpt that truly stuck out in my mind was a simple yet timeless statement made by the deputy Chairman of Illinois Chapter of the Black Panther Party, Chairman Fred Hampton. . .”You can kill the revolutionary, but can’t kill the Revolution”. We decided that this statement would be the centerpiece for the garment and placed it on the front of the jacket in elegant cursive. On the back we placed the birth dates and assassination dates of key Revolutionaries in history a list that includes Malcom X, Che Guevara, Martin Luther King Jr., Bobby Hutton and of course Chairman Fred Hampton.  The jacket made an incredible statement and added historical relevance to our Winter line, not to mention artist such as Black Thought, Jay Electronica made several appearances in it.

Jay Electronica in the Prohibit NYC Stadium Jacket at Prohibit NYC

Recently I met Chairman Fred Hampton Jr.  My brother and revolutionary Dedan Kasimu was doing some work with the brother in NY and showed up to  my house to build one morning.  At first, I thought the Jehova’s Witnesses were making another uninvited appearance at my doorstep, but was surprised when I looked out of my living room window.  The first thing I did was show Chariman Fred the Stadium Jacket, and he was pleased to see that his fathers words were being used to create dialog in the form of clothing. We spent the next hour listening to the brother explain the evolution of “street tribes”or gangs, truly a blessing. I regret that we didnt make a 4x in the jacket, I would love for him to have one more than any rapper or so called taste maker living.  This was definitely one of the highlights of my year so far.  Meeting the son of Chairman Fred Hampton, the man who is continuing, and furthering the platform started by his father, was a special moment for me.

Point blank, they just don’t make men cut from this cloth anymore.  For more information on the Chairman Fred Hampton Jr. read here.

If you don’t know much about Chairman Fred Hampton I suggest you watch The Murder of Fred Hampton

So, I was having a debate yesterday on Twitter about what word offends white people as much as the word NIGGER offends black people.  After reading some hilarious comments it became abundantly clear to me that we give way to much validity to words we have no real knowledge of.  Think about it, English is a bastard language, borrowed and stolen from the vaults of civilizations conquered , and colonized.  Over the years, the meanings and origins of our everyday vernacular are blurred and oft times, changed. A prime example would be the whole bad means good thing.  My point in the debate was the word Nigga has been changed and made fraternal for large groups of indigenous , and poor people.   If you are offended by the word today, then YOU are materializing the negative connotations associated with the word, not the ignorant nigga saying it. (evil smirk).  Needless to say i lost a couple of followers…oh well.

Then today, I received a tweet / video from sistah @wizdomselah that kind of summed up this bastard language / nigga argument, in a comical way.  I understand the historical and social scars that have been healing for a long time, get ripped open every time you hear a non-indigenous person say the word.  But lets be honest. . .we all got a white homie, we let slide saying Nigga , because you can vouch for his/her honest respect or experience dealing with black culture.  I like to refer to Tupac’s definition of the word, which he broke down into an acronym N.ever I.gnorant G.etting G.oals A.ccomplished.  or you can just think of us as NEGUS, the KINGS we truly are. . .”ahhh, My Negus” (in Denzel, Training Day voice)

The Honorable El-Hajj Malik El-Shabazz manifested himself in several different forms of us. Malcolm Little, represented all of our roots in the South. Detroit Red, represented the hustler, struggling to find his way in Americas metropolitan maze, the physical personification of the next phase…Malcolm X, the national spokesman for The Honorable Elijah Muhammad and a fearless, refined Asiatic Blackman with a heightened sense of self, and supreme knowledge.  El-Hajj Malik El-Shabazz, the international thinker and wise teacher of Islam.  You will forever be appreciated and missed, because you represent us . . . .today we celebrate your existence.  PEACE.