Democrats have launched a new hip-hop task force aimed to address the issues plaguing Black and brown people in America.
On Wednesday, Rep. Jamaal Bowman (D-N.Y.) announced the Congressional Hip Hop Power and Justice Task Force at the Capitol building in Washington, D.C.. The new program will use hip-hop music and community-building messages to help kickstart initiatives to fix the issues with economic equality, affordable housing, and more.
The task force will be led Bowman as well as Rep. Hank Johnson (D-GA), Rep. Delia Ramirez (D-IL) and Rep. Andre Carson (D-IN). There are no Republicans on the task force.
In an interview with The Hill, Bowman revealed he was inspired to start this task force by the way hip-hop has been a part of his life and the rappers who made him love the genre, including Eric B. & Rakim, Queen Latifah, and Public Enemy.
“They were very instrumental in creating a curriculum and blueprint for my life,” Bowman told The Hill. “I owe a lot of who I am to the lessons that they taught me on and through their music.”
He added, “Hip hop has always been about ending poverty in America, about fully funding our public schools. It’s always been about justice reform and police reform. It’s always been about affordable housing and dealing with the issue of threats of violence.”
Bowman then claimed there is no better time than now to implement ideas that’ll benefit the Black and brown communities across the country.
“At this moment in particular when you consider the Black Lives Matter movement to the Ceasefire movement and the fight that continues for freedom, justice and equality — now it’s time to build political power at a level that’s never been done before,” he said.
