In an age of terribly unstable economic conditions, one small record store owner fights to keep his store open--following plans, from a community college, to tear it down and build upon it a parking garage--and finds help in the 23rd hour: http://counterpunch.org/tolu07142010.html

Here's a primer on what young people are capaple of--and the very reason many in power (from both parties) are speeding up measures to slash Journalism and Art courses in high schools nationwide. And here's also a primer on what true non-sensational, non-corporate, non-apologetic journalism is about--you know, the kind mainstream networks would rather slash their arms than adopt. Enjoy!
 

For good time now, the grounds have been shifting, the clouds have been darkening, hearts have been hardening. And the graveness of this moment upon which we are currently poised might be eluding the everyday-realities of most public Rap artists, who find greater joy carrying off as though life today reeks of nothing extraordinary—as though all the injustices and infractions on humanity being swiftly dealt are mere transient, inevitable elements of the ongoing human quest for survival.
 

If the Arizona immigration unrest of the last week counts of any value, it must be that in the coming days and months, Brown citizens must brace up for a ratcheting of policies and rhetoric unwavering in fervor to make of them criminals with no right to live in this “shining city upon a hill.” Even with unprecedented outrage, calls for serious boycotts, daily protests, university withdrawals, SNL skewering, and White House disappointment, the fire, it should be clear, has only begun blazing. Soon it would spread far and wide, consuming any Brown body in path.
 

Every age has its “scare.” Scare gives meaning to a society trained toward cowardice. There’s been the Red Scare, the Black Scare, the Brown Scare, the Woman Scare, back to the Brown Scare, and now the Youth Scare. The culture of fear is critical, Christopher Robbins writes, in aiding “powerful social actors and institutions … squelch opposition to their interests … while diverting attention from and reinforcing the asymmetrical conditions of power that underpin and provoke social tensions.”
 

The renowned comedienne Wanda Sykes unleashed the following in I’ma Be Me, her latest HBO special: “We really do need to revamp our education system. It doesn’t work. It does not work. … We don’t learn anything. It’s not comprehension—it’s just retention, it’s just rote. That’s it. We just keep it long enough to spit it back out—pass the test, and we get rid of that sh--. … It’s like our brain’s a big Etch-A-Sketch.
 
At this Wanda began rattling her head vigorously, in like manner of a kid erasing scrawls from an Etch-A-Sketch pad, leaving audience members bent over from cracked ribs. But in jest, as is often said, much truth is told.
 

Shock-jocks understand that in times of economic uncertainty and political upheaval, human beings are vulnerable and impressionable, and can be manipulated with ease. ...
 

[A slightly altered version of this essay can be read here: http://www.opednews.com/populum/print_friendly.php?p=Do-Youth-Count-on-the-Left-by-Tolu-Olorunda-100125-697.html]
 

The Gospel of Luke, found in The Holy Bible, tells a very sweet story of rebellion, recalcitrance, and redemption. "A certain man had two sons: and the younger of them said to his father, Father, give me the portion of goods that falleth to me. And he divided unto them his living," Jesus of Nazareth is quoted telling his disciples (KJV). Shortly after, one son takes off for a "far country" in which he squanders all his "substance with riotous living"--a weekend in Vegas, perhaps. His consumerist adventure, however, is cut short soon when famine falls over the land--and the big banks, having pocketed tax-payer money, stop lending.

I was at an academic conference last Thursday morning when a lady announced to some sitting nearby, "Students have just occupied UCLA!" The reactions were mostly supportive of the actions taken by a generation of people so often demonized for what is believed to be widespread irresponsibility and nonchalance. It wasn't before getting back home later at night that I realized the magnitude of what had taken place only a few hours earlier. 

“Africa will only remain when it realizes that the future remains with the youths.”—Oby Ezekwesili

Throughout our near-50 years as a free country, all indications that Youth play a part in sustaining and safeguarding the fundamental foundations of our democratic experiment have been validated time and time again. And there’s little doubt that the concern for the future of young people is of top priority with elected officials.

A couple of weeks back, Attorney General Eric Holder, responding to the horrific caught-on-tape death of 16-year-old Chicagoan Derrion Albert, hoped it would serve as a "stark wake-up call to a reality that can be easy for too many to ignore as they go about their daily lives." More importantly, Holder poignantly explained why the ongoing onslaught of Youth-on-Youth attacks must be understood within a universal context: "Youth violence is not a Chicago problem anymore than it is a black problem, a white problem, or a Hispanic problem. ...