Jehron Muhammad: Muslim professionals organize artists for Million Man March
"We believe the youth is the future and that future is now," said the 26-year-old spoken word artist Seff Al-Afriki.
Afriki, who got his big break in 2009 at a HBO special produced by Russell Simmons, not only spends his time "spitting out rhymes," he is also an "unofficial Junior Imam" at Philadelphia's Masjidullah and can be heard around the tri-state region as a featured Khateeb (lecturer) during the Friday Jumu'ah prayer service.
Writer, author, poet, activist and social entrepreneur, Afriki is also the founder of "Do It For The Deen," which focuses on youth empowerment through leadership skills training. Recently, he was in front of local hip-hop artist and film maker Jamal Hill, spitting out rhymes of encouragement.
Hosted by Eric Muhammad and Tahirah A X Austion, the co-chairs of the youth component of the Philadelphia Local Organizing Committee for the 20th Anniversary of the Million Man March, and sponsored by Philadelphia International Records chair Kenny Gamble, this dinner garnered the support of many local hip-hop artists for the upcoming October 10th "Justice… or Else" themed 20th Anniversary of the Million Man March.
Muhammad is a music producer and a performance artist and the executive director of Griotworks, an arts based non-profit that encourages artist into community involvement.
Austin is a graduate student in epidemiology. She is the founder of Transition With Power, a local organization focusing on assisting children with the Sickle Cell disease as they transition from pediatric care to adult care.
Afriki, who is also a member of the organizing committee, says about its co-chairs, "Anytime we've met it has always been in regard to… conscience uplifting activity, uplifting our people, uplifting our community. I've only known them through that light. So when the call was made for 'Justice… or else' it was only natural for them to take up that call. This was the three of us adding to our endeavors."
Muhammad says there are a lot of Philadelphia artist that are "beyond just using art for art's sake Many artists are using their art as a platform to engage the community."
Chiming in, Austin, who has used local artist to assist with publicizing care for Sickle Cell disease, said she noticed during many conversations with local artists, managers and film directors that 'they were already excited and were gearing up for the 20th Anniversary of the Million Man March." She said it was an easy sell to bring them on board the local effort to get them to possibly use their fan base "to spread the word."
She made special mention of local video director Peter Parkker, who directed J.Cole's most recent video and film director Jamal Hill who directed the movie "Brotherly Love" and attended the dinner given by Kenny Gamble.
She said Hill came to the dinner with many ideas that "we plan to utilize."
Afriki is using spoken word to get the word out. He is putting the final touches on a piece that he's dedicating to the 20th anniversary called "We Want Freedom." He said he drew "inspiration from the elders, but I'm not talking about voting. He said, "I'm talking about a serious reformation, a systematic approach (to attaining freedom), a paradigm shift that's focused on using our economic wherewithal to attain "Justice… or else!"