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Health & Fitness

Blog Post: Mayor Reed Poops on Hip Hop

HIp Hop Fest, Mayor Reed and Occupy Atlanta

First, the background: On October 23-23rd, two young men had planned on having a Hip Hop Festival in Woodruff Park. They got their permits. They met with the NPU and met with Captain Ewing of the Atlanta Police Department. Everything was okay.

Then on October 20th, Candace Byrd of the Mayor's office sent an e-mail and letter stating that their permit was being revoked because of the following:

* They needed a security coordinator-APD supplies this person and Captain Ewing had pulled out. (City)

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* They needed a revised security plan-APD said they needed more security and had to pay an extra $11,000. (City)

* They did not pay $2,500 permit fee-Fee was sent USPS overnight October 20th. (City)

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Now at this point you are saying, but Shelley, isn't Occupy Atlanta in Woodruff Park? Yes, and this is why Mayor Reed pooped on Hip Hop. 

Let's go back to the beginning. So when Occupy Atlanta, who had been having daily meetings with the organizers of the Hip Hop Fest heard that Hip Hop was being silenced they agreed to put on the festival. Since they had an Executive Order to be in the park with a noise ordinance for 9:30 p.m., they went ahead.

And boy did the City of Atlanta start pooping then. First they had Captain Smith handing out a stack of copies of the letter the Mayor's Office sent to the organizers revoking the license to everyone entering the park. This was done to scare the attendees and vendors from going in the park. I have never seen this before in my life-an APD captain passing out letters to people coming in the park. Then they chased away the sound guy, the generator guy came and they threatened him with arrest if he set up, so he left.

Joe Beasley came down and supported the people and made some calls. Councilman Michael Bond said he was on his way ( I never saw him, he could have come later) 

A sound system all of sudden appeared from a supporter of Occupy Atlanta. Then a generator was rolled in. Then Candace Byrd and other female staffers of the Mayor's office showed up with the fire marshalls and a letter that said as of October 21st, no generators were allowed in the park. How convenient.

So in true Hip Hop fashion, the generator was fired up, and music started. The first song the DJ played was Rappers Delight. It was on then. The mayor's people with some cops went to remove the generator and a human chain formed around the generator and up went chants of "Hell No we won't go." It was at this point that the poop really let loose. And Fight the Power blasted away on the sound system.

So the Mayor came down and sat with everyone. I was not there but those who were said the Mayor was screaming like a little kid. Going off about what he had done for the city and for Occupy Atlanta (like tell them to remove generators when the temperature started to dip). Or not letting the Hip Hop Community and Occupy Atlanta join forces-which at the end of the day was the real reason why this happen the way it did.

Imagine if the Hip Hop Community-all young and displaced were to be seen with the Occupier worldwide community. It would be a corporate mayor's nightmare. So this is why all of this happened-pulling the APD security officer, increasing the cost of APD security, fire codes, and more. It would have been a major victory for the little people if both very vocal communities would have been seen supporting the same issues in the same space.

What is so funny about the whole affair is that this month's issue of VIBE-the hip hop magazine-had Mayor Reed featured in their Juice issue. The Mayor tried to get national street cred only to give it all back by pooping on the Atlanta Hip Hop Festival. 

At the end of the day I ask again what is the point in electing African-American leaders if they are only there to serve the corporate interests that paid to elect them? And lastly, remember during the runoff election? Mayor Reed campaigned vigorously in the clubs and received a large amount of money from Hip Hop artists only to poop on them all. 

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