ACE will be celebrating Black History Month with a series of five blogs throughout out the month of February. We will look at Black History Month through the lens of the Climate Movement.

This is part 2 and it comes from our Senior Educator AshEl Seasunz. Read Part 1. 

A friend of mine just returned from a pilgrimage in the Himalayan Mountains. Though I did hear about her enlightening time meditating with Tibetan Monks and the like, the most illuminating mantras she heard was from a tiny boom box:  Bob Marley and Tupac had also somehow cascaded up the mountain.

Sure, part of the responsibility for this lies in the fact that we have a globalized world of 7 billion people quickly leaving no place on the planet untouched by humanity. However, Reggae and Hip-Hop culture, created from the social, political, and economic struggles of black and brown youth in the ghettos of the U.S., resonated with the youth of a people who have also endured human rights abuses.

Today, in many of the cities of the U.S., the mountains that young people are climbing are called asthma, cancer, diabetes, gun violence, and immigration issues. How is today’s music speaking to these issues? Well, just as the gains that black and brown leaders made over the years have improved society for people all around the world, so has their music of liberation. If Hip-hop is global, then so is the youth voice.

Let’s hear what Hip-hop has to say about one of the biggest challenges of this generation: Global Warming. This is a Global WarNing.

Lyrics to the song are at the bottom of the Youtube video description. Enjoy!