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Hip Hop activist and independent journalist Rosa Clemente recently accepted Green Party Presidential candidate Cynthia McKinney’s invitation to be her running mate. A 36 year old South Bronx native of Puerto Rican decent, Clemente delivered her acceptance speech last Saturday at the Green Party National Convention in Chicago. Citing everyone from hip hop group Dead Prez to Puerto Rican Independence fighter Pedro Albizu Campos, she underlined the politics of her ticket’s presidential campaign. Before this stint for public office, Rosa Clemente was a student at the University of Albany and earned her Master’s Degree at Cornell. While at Cornell, Clemente started La Voz Boriken, an organization that supported Puerto Rican political prisoners and the independence cause. She became involved in alternative media at our sister station, WBAI Pacifica Radio in New York and has published numerous articles for print in magazines such as Clamor and The Ave. In 2003, Clemente was central to organizing the first ever National Hip Hop Political Convention that created a political agenda for the Hip Hop generation.

GUEST: Rosa Clemente, Vice Presidential Candidate of the Green Party, community organizer, independent journalist and Hip-Hop activist. For more information, visit www.rosaclemente.com.

Rough Transcript:

Sonali Kolhatkar: First Rosa, begin by telling our listeners why you decided to accept Cynthia McKinney’s invitation to be her running mate. What led up to that?

Rosa Clemente: Well, I mean, what led up to it was five years ago, in 2003, I was one of the founders of the National Hip Hop Political Convention, and I really believe that the Democrats or the Republicans, no matter how much the symbols of president change, both parties are the same. And there are issues that are affecting particularly African-American and Latino young people that no candidate is addressing. And Cynthia McKinney, in her years in Congress, already proofed to the young people of color that she supported our issues and supported our leadership development. So I’ve been a Green Party member since, maybe five years now, but in my days in upstate New York at Albany, when the Greens were there, so, you know, it was really an honor to accept that from her.

Sonali Kolhatkar: So was your decision based more on the fact that it was Cynthia McKinney doing the inviting rather than, you know, just a Green Party ticket?

Rosa Clemente: Well yeah, I mean I’m going to run with Cynthia McKinney because I have seen her work and admire her. I mean I knew she was again running on a Green Party ticket, I don’t think one is, what’s the word, one deletes the other. It’s something I did because both, it’s the party and Cynthia McKinney.

Sonali Kolhatkar: Did you ever think that you were going to run for office in the party?

Rosa Clemente: I mean I had thought in the future about running for some type of office, but as a community organizer and activist, you know, I use the ballot and I understand the limitations of the ballot, but I also understand how public policy functions. So I have kind of, in 2003, the reason I helped form the convention was to merge grassroots organizing with the ballot, kind of like what Malcolm talked about in his speech, The Ballot or the Bullet. It’s neither one for us right now, so, I didn’t think it would happen this fast, but it’s here, so I’m ready for it.

Sonali Kolhatkar: This year’s presidential election has been covered from many different angles, but one of those, particularly during the Democratic primary race, was the large numbers of young people who were involved. What do you make of the fact that a large number of young people across the country are flocking towards the base of Barack Obama and are very excited about him?

Rosa Clemente: I mean, I think the base that Obama is reaching of young people is middle class, mostly young white people. Of course there is an excitement amongst African-American and Latino young people, but I also see those people, they are mostly college-educated middle class, you know, in that way. So, it’s a certain targeted group of young people that is being targeted. Right? But it is not the working class black and Latino young people in East Oakland or Oakland; or Austin, Texas; or Chicago, Illinois. You know, Barack Obama hasn’t even had a major policy speech around particularly the issues affecting young Americans across the board. So he has done a great job at outreaching to the mostly liberal white youth vote. He’s done a great job.

Sonali Kolhatkar: So are you reaching out primarily then to young people of color who are low income or is your campaign broader?

Rosa Clemente: No, I mean my target is to reach those 48% of young people that haven’t even registered to vote. They are black, white, Asian; they are poor, they are gay, they are straight, they have money – but that 48% that doesn’t see the Democrats or the Republicans as having their best interest, which is why they are not even registering to vote. So that in itself says that almost half of the population of young people aren’t even involved in this campaign at any level, so that is who we are trying to reach. I know with our policies and the more that we get out there, especially in the mainstream, that we will gain Republicans and Democrats and Independents and all those people, but I am also looking for those people that have completely been disenfranchised and marginalized from the process.

Sonali Kolhatkar: Now, Ms. McKinney has talked about a 5% goal, meaning for the Green Party to try to get 5% of the electoral vote, and yet, if you combine all the 3rd parties, if you will, the Green Party, the Libertarian Party, other parties, even independent candidates, don’t add up together to as much and particularly the Green Party is certainly not pulling at more than 1% right now. What do you think it is going to take between now and November to bring those numbers up?

Rosa Clemente: Well, first I don’t care about polls. Polls are people who have phone numbers in their house or have access to even get surveyed. So, you know, again, that’s also people that are registered to vote. I think that what we are going to do is have a complete targeted outreach against the people that have not even registered to vote, but particularly to the young people. If young people, even those going for Obama, understand clearly that the Green Party is a party for them, the values for them, we win the 5%. We win the 5% just if we can get young people to vote, but it’s not just gonna be young people voting for Greens, that are marginalized. It’s older people, all types of people. But it’s completely doable, and the way we do it is by outreach, by the Green Party selecting me as a young person speaks a lot to how the Green Party views its party is going to grow and who is going to step up to be the leaders. We can target a hardcore group of Latinos that have been completely put in a box that says Hillary Clinton. And Afro-Latinos. No one is talking to Afro-Latinos in this country. You know, so there is a lot of people that feel that the Democrats or the Republicans are not running a campaign that includes them. So, you know, I am really excited. And if the progressive media would really be progressive, if the Huffington Post and The Nation, In These Times, Air America, all these other so-called progressive networks have not even written a story about this historic run of two women of color. Not even the most liberal feminists have something to say about our historic run. At least Ralph Nader, he at least congratulates us and knows that the country itself is tired of the two-party system. And the only way we can really break through beyond the mainstream media is for the progressive media that is failing this ticket right now to step up its game and get off Obamamania and cover all the parties that are running.

Sonali Kolhatkar: Do you think that people’s slow but increasing dissatisfaction with Barack Obama over the past month or so after he clinched the nomination and is moving away from progressive positions, do you think that that is going to in a way increase the ranks of those who might pledge green?

Rosa Clemente: Completely. Because if every person that has been polled, particularly on the democratic side, that says they want an end to the war, we are not gonna get it with Barack Obama. He is already telling you there is going to be a 16 month process, and really we know and our listeners in particular know that a troop withdrawal can also be a troop transfer to bring more troops to Afghanistan. So if people out there really want the wars to end and they want impeachment to be put on the table and processed, we are the only party that is committed to doing that. So that is what I would say to people. You see he is already flip-flopping. It took him less than 30 days to moderate on four major issues including signing the FISA Bill which even Hillary Clinton didn’t sign. And his speech to AIPAC and his continuing want of an embargo on Cuba, his lack of knowledge and wanting to let the Puerto Rican people finally vote to determine whether they are going to be independent or not. I don’t know what to tell people who are on the Obamamania. I hope it’s not just a symbolic thing that people want to see, because we have had a lot of symbols – Alberto Gonzales, Colin Powell and Condoleezza Rice, and look at where they have gotten us.

Sonali Kolhatkar: And Rosa, what do you make of Barack Obama’s, in a way it was lecturing to particularly black fathers?

Rosa Clemente: Well, I mean I have to say I find it really offensive. I am married to an African American man from the hood, who has struggled to be where he is at. I mean a man who is taking care of his daughter, his mother, everybody. Right? Including me, his wife. when I hear Barack Obama consistently, every speech he has when it relates to black men, about personal responsibility, I get sick and tired of that conversation, because that is not the only thing that is happening. I know many a black man who are doing the right thing, and because of structural racism can never move forward. You know, I see how black and Latino young men in particular are criminalized beginning at the age of 7. I see the lack of employment. 50% of African American men in New York City and increasingly in California are unemployed. You know, so personal responsibility, you know, George Bush and all these people should take personal responsibly, too, and they should be held accountable for their actions and they never are. You know, so again, I find it so offensive and if he continues to talk down to black people, however Jesse Jackson said it that’s for people to process, but what he said was right. You can’t continue to talk down to the same people that particularly got you were you are at. You have to address the system of racism and capitalism also.

Sonali Kolhatkar: We hear a lot about Barack Obama breaking barriers. Very few people thought they would ever see an African-American man be a nominee for a major party. How long do you think it is going to take this country to elect not just a woman, but a woman of color for President?

Rosa Clemente: I don’t think it is going to take long. I think the majority of the people are realizing that leadership, when it is good leadership, you follow it. And women of color have had amazing leadership from Hip Hop activism to the last five years of being the first people to oppose war and to ask for a fair livable wage. I mean it is really single women in this country that are the most marginalized and those are mostly women of color who have to work two or three jobs. I think they know that if they see a Cynthia McKinney and a Rosa Clemente, not only do we obviously visually represent this history and this unity, we are also capable of being just these two women that represent this ticket, but also represent the party and the platform of the Green Party. And I think it says a lot for a predominantly right now, a predominantly white party to say these are the two women to lead us. This is the future. I mean it is women of color. We can control anything in this country right now. We could shut anything down. We can stop anything from moving and we can make an election that gets people that are committed to the principles of social justice and nonviolence and impeachment for George Bush and an end to the war. So I’m very excited and it is historic and I hope that women of color see this but I hope that some of these white feminists who have turned their backs on people of color wake up and understand that we are the party for them. We are talking about full reproductive rights, when no one else is talking about even full reproductive rights, even Barack Obama is moderating on that, too.

Sonali Kolhatkar: I want to talk a little bit about your own background politically, Rosa, which is the fact that you are Puerto Rican and you have talked about that in your acceptance speech at he Green Party convention, you have done a lot of activism on behalf of Puerto Rican political prisoners and for the independence of Puerto Rico. Can you talk about how that background is going to play into your campaign and what parts of that political activism will you bring to your Green Party campaign?

Rosa Clemente: I mean, first and foremost raising the issue of the Puerto Rican people being able to self-determine their own fate, releasing our political prisoners and, you know, if we are to keep going to the United Nations for these decolonizing hearings, but finally to get Puerto Rico free. That is imperative for me. But what I represent. Look, I didn’t realize it until people started telling me that I’m the first Latina, or Latino person that has achieved this level in electoral politics. I am running for Vice President of the United States and it is pretty overwhelming. And the thing we are having a little bit of problem right now is breaking through the Spanish language press, which is obviously skewed so heavily towards the Democrats, or even the Republicans, of course, depending on where you are at in America as a Latino person. But being born an American citizen, you know, this is why I understand the black and brown unity and why I understand why people want to say that that doesn’t even exist. I’m born as an American citizen, and just like African-Americans in this country, we are always treated as second-class citizens. The darker we are as Puerto Ricans, the less privilege we have. Many of us are black Latinos, so we are subject to the same racial and social injustices in this country. But you know, it’s interesting that we are born American citizens, but if we live on the island of Puerto Rico, we are not allowed to vote for the president, which means that the largest disenfranchisement that happens every four years happens on the island of Puerto Rico, because the people cannot vote for the president, but are yet subject to U.S. laws because we are this colony. So, I mean, I hope to not only bring history, but to really bring what I feel the Puerto Rican movement has always been about. About being progressive and radical and about self-determination, and I bring that forward.

Sonali Kolhatkar: What about the National Hip Hop Political Convention? You helped to form and coordinate the first ever of its kind in 2003, attracted thousands of people. Where has this convention evolved to and do you see those efforts as laying the groundwork for your campaign today?

Rosa Clemente: Exactly. I mean, what you said is 100% what I would say. I helped found the National Hip Hop Political Convention with 12 other people in Chicago.

Sonali Kolhatkar: And remind our listeners what the goal of that convention was.

Rosa Clemente: We formed the National Hip Hop Political Convention to form an agenda and implement an agenda that represents the issues of the Hip Hop generation, and we did that in 2003 and in 2004, and then in 2006 we had our second convention in Chicago. And now in 2008, from July 31 to August 3, the convention will be held in Las Vegas, Nevada. When I look at these last five years and when I was accepting my speech, I said that I am a vessel for this work. I am just one of the foot soldiers for this. I just happen to be right in the front right now. And five years, from 2003 to now, having also the first ever Hip Hop activist to run for this high office; that’s a lot of progress for five years. And I think that we have to realize this is a race. It is a struggle. So we look at 2003 when no one was even talking about Hip Hop activism and electoral politics. We look at 2004 where we helped to register over 125,000 young people and now here we are in 2008, where one of the founders of the Hip Hop convention because of all the work of thousands of Hip Hop activists is now running on the vice presidential ticket of the United States. And people who know me know that I am 100% accountable to my generation and that the issues that affect us the most – particularly police brutality, the prison-industrial complex and the right of return for the people of New Orleans – that I am going to put those issues right there in the forefront. And no candidate has done that. Not one. Except for obviously Cynthia McKinney, but I mean any other party.

Sonali Kolhatkar: Finally, Rosa, where do you see the Green Party evolving beyond this year’s presidential election?

Rosa Clemente: I want to see the Green Party double in membership in the next 2 years. I know it can happen because I see the dissatisfaction among young people. I want the Green Party to get what we need, our 5%, so that we can pull up the chair right there at that table, and I want us to get the federal election financing that we are entitled to. And I want us by 2012 or 2016, to have a Green as the President of the United States. And it’s completely doable. And I keep saying that the Green Party is no longer the alternative party, we are the imperative party if this country is to even survive from even the environmental degradation that is going on. So that is what I want to see and I know we can make it happen. I didn’t think in 2003 we would even be here in 2008 and it has happened.

Sonali Kolhatkar: Rosa Clemente, I want to wish you the best of luck and thanks so much for joining us today.

Rosa Clemente: Thanks for having me. And if folks want to, please just check out my website, www.rosaclemente.com, and you can link to all the other Green party websites through there.

Special Thanks to Claudia Greyeyes for transcribing this interview