Part 1 – Nadir’s Audio Interview with Rosa Clemente
(13 mins 25 secs; 12.3 MB)
Part 2 – Nadir’s Audio Interview with Rosa Clemente
(15 mins 23secs; 14.1 MB)

Rosa Clemente is a community organizer, journalist and co-founder of the National Hip Hop Political Convention. In July 2008 she makes history again as the vice-presidential nominee for the Green Party of the United States. Clemente joins Green Party presidential candidate Cynthia McKinney to become the first US presidential ticket led by two women of color.

I am an independent voter who has been sympathetic to the Green Party since Ralph Nader’s presidential run in 2000, but I’ve never become a member. Where the party has fallen short, in my estimation, has been in its inability to organize among young people, the working class and the people of color who might embrace the party’s progressive agenda. By nominating McKinney and Clemente, the Greens seek to erase that perception, and to change the face of the organization from its current image of older white hippies and tree huggers to a young, vibrant multicultual political party with fresh ideas and hip hop swagger.

During our 30 minute interview Mrs. Clemente discusses the difficult obstacles that the Green Party faces in its campaign to secure 5 percent of the vote this November. The hip hop activist also confirms the Green Party’s commitment to the progressive values that young people and the hip hop community list as their most important issues – eliminating police brutality, reforming the prison industrial complex and ending the corporate domination of the US political landscape.

Clemente balks at the notion that any political candidate can “transcend race” in America. She offers some frank criticism of Barack Obama for signing the FISA bill, for pushing to transfer troops from Iraq to Afghanistan and for “running his campaign to the right”.

Click below to listen, save and share.

Part 1 – Nadir’s Audio Interview with Rosa Clemente
(13 mins 25 secs; 12.3 MB)
Part 2 – Nadir’s Audio Interview with Rosa Clemente
(15 mins 23secs; 14.1 MB)

Blues Talkin'