Christian Minister/Activist
Previously Aired On: October 9, 2007 - Listen to the Show!
Reverend Lennox Yearwood is an American minister, activist, and hip hop organizer. He has served as a White House intern under President Bill Clinton and currently serves as CEO of the Hip-Hop Caucus (H2C) in Washington, D.C..
In addition, Yearwood is the Chairman of the Board for E.G.O.S (Education, Goals, Opportunities, and Sports) United Inc., and Helping the Homeless of the World Inc., as well as a member of the Board of Directors for the Progressive Democrats of America, ROOT Inc., Industry Ears, and is on the steering committee for UP (United Progressives) for Democracy, United for Peace and Justice, & Clergy and Laity Concerned about Iraq, as well as serving on the board of Pace e Bene. He has an office in the Institute for Policy Studies in Washington, D.C.
Reverend Yearwood was the National Grassroots and Political Director for the Russell Simmons’ Hip Hop Summit Action Network, and was a Senior Consultant for P. Diddy’s Citizen Change, and Jay Z’s Voice Your Choice, where he provided a national template for engaging the Hip-Hop generation in community-building dialogues. He was also the founder of Hip Hop Voices, a subsidiary of Voices for Working Families (AFL-CIO), and the Hip Hop U.N., which is a coalition of all the Hip Hop Political organizations throughout the world.
During the 2004 Presidential election, Yearwood created, along with Russell Simmons and Jonathan Lewis, the first ever Hip Hop Team Vote Bus Tour, to ensure that young people were challenging the established political order in a most profound and substantive manner.
After Hurricane Katrina, on September 19th, 2005, David Banner joined forces with fellow artists and Yearwood for “Heal the Hood.” The event was held in New York City at B.B. King’s to raise money for survivors of Hurricane Katrina.
Yearwood organized a hip hop concert at 9:30 Club in Washington, D.C. dubbed “Shut It Down”, calling for the end of what Yearwood claims to be torture at the Guantanamo Bay detainment camp and for the camp’s closure. The concert featured Dead Prez and several other hip hop artists. Amnesty International and the ACLU helped with the event.
Recently, Reverend Yearwood was arrested and injured by Capitol Hill police while trying to enter the hearing of House Armed Service Committee. He was charged with disorderly conduct and assault on a police officer. In an interview on Democracy Now, Rev. Yearwood said that he had been waiting in line and asked police if he could leave the line for a radio interview and the public video of the incident does show people agreeing that he had already been waiting in line and not jumped the line. Reverend Yearwood believes the officers didn’t want him to get in General Petraeus’ hearing because of the button he was wearing: ‘I LOVE THE PEOPLE OF IRAQ.’
October 9th, 2007
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