Thug Life Army

The Pentagon prevented Latino hip hop / rap artist and hip hop activist Immortal Technique & others from joining the Rally by denying entrance to the March on the Pentagon.

The Pentagon and Virginia State Police, many clad in riot gear, wearing gas masks and wielding batons, blocked people coming from the subway/metro who wanted to attend the demonstration. They also blocked buses from accessing the Pentagon in contravention of the agreements reached in the permit. This required people to walk nearly two miles to get to their buses following the rally.

Many people who came to the rally after it had begun - some who had seen the huge march at a distance as it crossed over the Memorial Bridge across the roadways and wanted to then join the activity - were blocked by the Pentagon and the police from entering the rally site through a maze of misdirection, road closures and threats of arrest at multiple different locations. The ANSWER Coalition worked to get people in, and ANSWER organizers and our attorneys went to the site of sudden police confrontations and shutdowns, but many people were still unable to get in including the hip-hop artist Immortal Technique who was scheduled to perform.

Like so many other people, the hip-hop artist Immortal Technique's travel plans to get to the demonstration, seemed so daunting as to be virtually impossible. But due to his determination and his resourcefulness, he found a way to overcome cancelled flights and frozen roads. Although he rebooked flights in order to land in North Carolina, personally rented a car and drove it to Washington, D.C., the Pentagon and law enforcement blocked him from coming into the rally where he was going to perform. We urge everyone to read Immortal Technique's compelling account -- which is both a narrative and a political commentary. Immortal Technique's message below should be read and circulated to your e-mail address book and to e-mail lists everywhere.

Message from Latino Hip Hop Artist and Activist Immortal Technique:

Message from Immortal Technique on being denied entrance to the March on the Pentagon

"First and foremost I would like to congratulate the organizers of ANSWER and in specific Brian, Amelia, Peta, and Sarah and the many others who reached out to me and who I saw make a powerful statement today. I am not a big fan of marches and rallies because I have always believed that the system must be attacked economically above all. But, if coordinated well, they can effect change and remind people that this war is still costing lives and no matter who the father of Anna Nicole's Baby is or who wins the next season of American Idol or what new song is on the radio, people are dying, both from this country and in massive numbers in the Iraqi Civil War. March 17th, even with all the problems we faced, was a success in reminding people of the insurmountable evidence of corruption, self righteous moral depravity, and dishonesty present within our government... Because we have issue with the administration we should not be painted as people who despise their country. If I am not pleased with a book I read or a movie I watch that doesn''t mean I hate the concept of film in general or that I take issue with printed literature on a whole. The administration presently tries to attach itself to the idea of America as if they were the far right standard by which all should be judged by as Americans. This White House after all just concerns itself with the well being of its stock holders, make-shift praetorian guard of politicians and political contributors.

"The ANSWER coalition and others have been working to separate these two so people can see the Bush Regime as that which uses America like a whore and claims to love her.

"As most of you know the storms in and around the New York and NJ area prevented travel back home on the 16th. So in order to try and make the Pentagon on March 17th since my flight out of Atlanta was canceled I flew into Greensboro and drove through the radio span of about 54 Christian Radio, Top 40 and Country Music stations. There were some songs like this one right here that I had to listen to all the way through even though they were lyrically abhorrent. I guess it was just like people who slow down on the highway to watch a terrible car accident. Musical Rubbernecking is what I called it, to bear witness to just about the most ridiculous piece of musical propaganda that isn''t based on any facts but rather someone’s uninformed and uncultured back road view of America and what we are fighting over. I only heard the song but now that I''ve seen the video, it really makes me wonder how anyone from the right wing can accuse the resistance of using music or religion to promote their political agenda. It also makes me wonder what the future generations of this nation will be like.

"At any rate after my arrival in DC late on the 16th I woke up and got ready to check out and go to the Pentagon when everywhere began to shut down. I went over the key bridge and parked in the South Parking of the Pentagon when I was abruptly told by Pentagon Police that I needed to get to the North Side. After some directional confusion and them closing 27 to prevent me from going in there, Sarah Sloan tirelessly guided me back through the maze of area highways. I was entering the North Parking at which point 2 Pentagon police motorcycles rolled up and sent me back, then after circling and trying again I was at the point where the entry was for all the buses entering. There 4 police cars detained me and asked me who I was and what my relationship was to the event. When I told them why I was there they immediately demanded that I leave. They claimed that other officers must not know that this section was closed. And I thought about how difficulty in communication across the parking lot was a blatant farce. One said I should park my car in one of the local parking lots and then try the underpass and walk in, which I did but by that time it was 3:30 and as I parked my car and walked in again there was a police presence there that was sending not just myself but everyone else back. 

"They said they had to arrest people for walking in the wrong areas and for not respecting the boundaries and were basically just trying to dissuade anyone from the street who had seen the march from a distance from joining it. Several local residents were there with me and were told to leave as well. I took a bus towards Arlington and then they shut that passage down too. I say all this not to complain because I expected as much but to point out that we should expect this and if this is going to be done again we should have back up plans, people on the perimeter other ideas I’m thinking of discussing with ANSWER personally etc… Less than a football field away I was blocked, followed out, cornered by cop cars, surrounded twice and turned back several times. It was an attempt to discourage myself and others, to make it as difficult as legally and illegally possible during that period of time to get in. I didn''t expect them to be hospitable or helpful in any way but they did nothing to stop the message or dissuade me in any way. In fact they just doubled my resolve and reaffirmed how committed and focused we have to be in these times. 

Peace & Respect,

Immortal Technique

P.S.

"This Administration talks a lot about God, so much that if you think about it the Republican Party has created this ubiquitous monopoly on religion in the political world. As if they were the only people who believed in God. It's no secret that they use religious values to cultivate a fan base that would normally be very disturbed by their domestic, economic, and foreign policy agendas. They are even breeding this type of thinking in the children of this nation, thinking much farther ahead than we are actually. http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=2c7_1173547096   

"You know about 3000 years ago there were Egyptians who worshipped the statues of Gods like Osiris and Anubis and thought praying to these pagan entities gave them strength, virility, victory and love. We now scoff at this practice and think "how could people be so ignorant as to worship such idols thinking they will bring them what they ask for?" We think how could people pray to a man with a dog's head or a man with a bird’s head and think that those deities will fulfill their humble requests from the heavens. But the sad truth is that 3000 years from now if humanity still exists people will probably look back on our society and say, "look at these people they prayed to a man nailed to piece of wood, and the saddest part was that they couldn''t even follow the most basic commandment of what he said, which was treat others the way you wish to be treated." This coming from a person who while he doesn''t let religion control his life, believes in God strongly, and knows how much Christ and others like him spoke about individuals who made money off of others suffering, people like our modern day war profiteers, globalization architects and oil barons.

"Knowing how Jesus brought drama to the Holy Temple back in the day because of the way the people had made the name of God into a mechanism to increase their own personal wealth... I think that the people who work for the administration and more specifically the president that are reading this right now should let him know that if Jesus was alive, he''d probably spit in your face."

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