Hip- Hop Generation Meets Sit in Generation at Observance of Dr. King's Assassination

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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE	CONTACT: Gwen Harmon National Civil Rights Museum
April 4, 2004	(901) 521-9699, ext.240 (phone)
	www.civilrightsmuseum.org

Hip- Hop Generation Meets Sit in Generation at Observance of Dr. King's Assassination

36th Annual King Tribute on April 4 at National Civil Rights Museum Launches Hip-Hop Summit Action Network's "All Souls to the Polls" Campaign

Memphis, TN - April 4, 2004 - The National Civil Rights Museum announces the first national collaboration of its annual ceremonial observance of the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. In a joint effort with the Hip-Hop Summit Action Network's (HSAN) Hip-Hop Team Vote - Project "All Souls to the Polls"Campaign. The National Civic Rights Museum, HSAN and other partnering organizations, will unite members of the Sit-in Generation and the Hip-Hop Generation as they reaffirm their commitment to Dr. King's legacy by mobilizing the largest GOTV effort in American history and turning out to the poles in record numbers on Election Day.

The April 4th ceremony will serve as a "call to action,"bringing together past and future leaders, ranging from elected officials, Hip-Hop artists, educators, philanthropists and young people, as they symbolically pass the torch from one generation to another. Voter registration will be included in the April 4th unity day program, along with the community-wide King legacy candlelight vigil ceremony.

"The movement of the 1960's was a young people's movement, and it is exciting to see young people today take a stand in the struggle for freedom and justice,"remarked Beverly Robertson, Executive Director of the National Civil Rights Museum. "So many young people visit the Museum, and leave wanting to know what they can do todaya^?|Dr. King and other civil rights leaders paved the way for the opportunities we have today. In 1960, the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee or SNCC integrated lunch counters and public libraries----and now in 2004, we have young people using the power of Hip-Hop culture to energize this generation to take their rightful place in the civil and human rights movement."

The National Civic Rights Museum, formerly the Lorraine Motel, is where Dr. King was staying when he was assassinated 36 years ago, April 4, 1968.

"This is the perfect place and the perfect time to build a bridge of unity between the Hip-Hop Generation and the Sit-In Generation. Dr. King's dream did not die on the balcony on April 4, 1968, and we, the Hip-Hop Generation, have the power to ensure that his dream lives on,"said Reverend Lennox Yearwood Jr., the HSAN's National Grassroots Director. "Young people are as prepared today as they were in 1968 to take up this daunting task, and we are outraged that the same fairness and access to resources for income, housing, healthcare, education, and justice are not available in equal measure for young people, working families, communities of color, and women."?

Hip-Hop Team Vote - Project 4.4.4, is one of HSAN's GOTV projects for election 2004, it is a national grassroots effort to register, educate and mobilize voters ages 18 – 36, working families, communities of color and women. On Election Day 2004, Hip-Hop Team Vote - Project 4.4.4 aims to have targeted voters cram the polls at a specific time. With Hip-Hop Team Vote - Project 4.4.4, organizers say the legacy tribute is realized through the Hip-Hop generation's understanding that they face many of the same issues that the sit-in generation encountered over 40 years ago, and mobilizing the largest GOTV effort in American history.

Recording artists who are supporting the national voter registration campaign include:

Bad Boy Recording Artist, Loon - "Young people need to register to vote it is like a passage into adulthood

Bad Boy Recording Artist and member of 'Da Band', Babs - "Ladies get up and vote" "Your vote does make a difference...its not just your vote, you vote with other people. I definitely support Project 4.4.4"

Bone Thugs & Harmony Artist, Lazy Bone - "We (hip-hop) have the biggest voice...it is mandatory for us to vote because we owe it to the young people that come behind us" "On behalf of the entire Bone Thugs & Harmony crew, we support the Project 4.4.4"

"Politics is not rocket science; it is a process in which the only thing that pulverizes unchecked power is the power of the people's vote. So, while the sit-in generation said we shall overcome, we are saying, "we shall overrun – the polls on election day 2004,"? concluded Yearwood.

Clear Channel Memphis' K-97FM/WHRK will broadcast live from 3:00-7:00 p.m. Several cities around the country are simultaneously participating in the candlelight vigil which starts at 5:30 p.m. CST.

Key coalition partners include: The National Civic Rights Museum; Hip-Hop Summit Action Network; Earth Day Network; Hip-Hop Team Vote & Hip-Hop Team Vote Partners; Center for Community Change; National Center for Black Civic Participation; Hip-Hop Summit Action Network Collegiate Coalition; Black Youth Vote; ROOT (Reaching Out to Others Together)

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