Adisa Banjoko is the cofounder of the Hip-Hop Chess Federation. In May, the organization hosted an event at the Omega Boys Club in San Francisco, which Gary Moskowitz and James Woodward captured for P+P in sound and pictures. Click on the image above to view their piece.

Why hip-hop and chess? It’s simple, Banjoko says: hip-hop and chess are nonviolent mental martial arts. Or as DJ Qbert puts it: “Life is a game. I’d like to see the whole game. Like these grand masters— they can see the whole thing, from beginning to end. That’s what I wanna do in my life, see what I’m going to achieve in the end and how I’m going to get there, as far as, like, scratching goes, you know?”

Words: Gary Moskowitz. Images: James Woodward.

A Berkeley-based conceptual artist who strives in her work to create challenging “immersive experiences”, Banks in 2004 was eager to trace the origins of the sweet treat she had consumed much of but only recently had begun thinking about critically.

“I started to read more information on packages, like percentages of milk, whether or not the chocolate was bitter, or whether it was a single bean or single plantation bar,” Banks says. “I was curious about what that meant.”

During her trips to Ghana, the Ivory Coast and Cuba, she relied on the good will of cocoa farmers and locals, who were often suspicious, but curious. They wanted to spend time with her and get to know her before they took her onto the farms. She says the experience was “extreme.”

The heat was oppressive. There were usually no maps, no train schedules and no cars. The poverty beyond what she had anticipated. She didn’t feel as self-sufficient as she did back home. She had to trust complete strangers. Daily journal entries—now posted as an online travelogue—kept her sane. Her journal is a reflection of her art—both the fully immersed process by which she makes it and the fully immersed experience it can provide. In a brief excerpt from 12 September 2004, entitled “Last Day in Ghana,” she writes about food and disease and faith and popculture in revealing juxtaposition:

women rarely drive. i saw no women driving taxis, tro-tros or buses.

goat meat is a delicacy. bush meat, a wild rodent, is a common menu item.

to Ghanaians, Nigeria is a bad word. all things Nigerian are corrupt. except for “Nollywood”, the exploding industry of low budget soap operatic movies from Nigeria that are flooding the West African market. i’ve seen a few. very funny.

everyone wears chaleywatahs (flip-flops) even chiefs.

typical business name:
“Almighty God Tyre Shop”
“El Shadaii Communication Center”
“Seek Ye Supermarket”

common question:
“Are you Christian or Muslim?”

AIDS awareness billboards and advertisements are everywhere.

a common taxi decal reads: “Drive protected. If it’s not on, it’s not in.” there is an illustration of a bus driving into a condom.

music:
high life
hip life
Celine Dion
lot’s of Beyonce and R Kelly

“I could not have anticipated how people there reacted to me,” Banks says. “People not understanding how or why there is an ‘African American.’ So many people did not know slavery had happened. The whole idea of black people in America was, to many of them, a result of some sort of privilege. I went through a lot of emotions. I felt so many things.”

Once inside cacao farms near the Ivory Coast—one of world’s top three cocoa producers—Banks watched farmers cut seeds from the fruit and dry them. She learned that the product is purely for export, that the farmers don’t eat the chocolate they help produce, and that large numbers of children perform the grueling work of cocoa farming.

Although the Ivory Coast produced more than 40 percent of the world’s cocoa supply in 2004-2005, it remains one of the International Monetary Fund’s “heavily indebted poor countries.” The State Department reported in 2000 that about 15,000 children had been sold into forced labor on cocoa, cotton and coffee plantations there in recent years.

Banks says conversations with farmers, who typically spoke no English, consisted mostly of hand gestures. She met a few Americans who were able to translate some indigenous languages. Families living on farms were amazingly generous and offered her meals. She later traveled to New York to watch brokers trading cocoa at the Board of Trade. In time, she was able to trace cocoa from farmer to trader to herself: the quintessential chocolate lover.

Banks drew on her personal experience and research to create “Free Chocolate,” a solo exhibit on display through February 17 at Intersection for the Arts in San Francisco. A publicity photo for the exhibit shows Banks with her index finger silencing her closed mouth, her eyes blindfolded with Hershey’s and Cadbury chocolate bar labels.

In the gallery a “Candid Camera” type video recording shows people walking down the street and deciding whether or not to sample free chocolate placed on a table in the middle of a sidewalk. A sequence of photographs and postcards from Africa and Cuba show images of cocoa farms and farmers, and feature a chain of facts about the cocoa industry. A “micro chocolate shop” offers products inspired by and based on chocolate.

“I wanted to help explain to people that chocolate comes from somewhere, and we don’t think about it a lot,” Banks says. ‘I didn’t try to push a position about fair trade, but to just present information in a visually stimulating way.”

Banks is still exploring her own conflicted feelings about chocolate—her love for it on the one side and the knowing how it is produced on the other, looking for a way to reconcile the two. Her show is one small step. She also participated in a panel discussion on fair trade with members of Global Exchange and TransFair USA.

Her next project is to create a series of images that resemble vintage cocoa advertisements but that evidence a political awareness. They’ll contain images and information about what’s happening today on cocoa farms worldwide.

“I call it a guilty pleasure,” Banks, 34, says. “There’s so much more I could talk about and want to talk about… I could easily do another two or three chocolate shows.”

——
Gary Moskowitz, former assistant editor and podcast host for Pop and Politics, is an editorial intern at Mother Jones magazine. He writes for Oh Dang!, WireTap and Blogowitz, and plays trumpet for the Oakland punk-soul band Damon and the Heathens.

Together with an artist and a colorist, Harding creates and publishes the comics on his social worker’s salary from his home in Arizona. Each issue costs about $7,000 to produce. A lot of the books were gathering dust in Bay Area comics stores until a recent San Francisco Chronicle article on Harding filled the stores overnight and vanished almost every copy of the first three issues.

When Pop and Politics spoke with Harding earlier this month, he was sealing up a package with copies of Pariah and a cover letter that explained why the book would make an excellent movie. The recipient? Stephen Spielberg. He’s gotten this far on his own, why not shoot for the moon?

What are you doing with Pariah exactly? What motivates you?

Pariah’s been kicked out of heaven and sent back to Oakland. Immediately he’s in trouble because he’s naked and people think he’s a deranged pervert. Police are chasing him. That’s what hell wants for Pariah. Life isn’t just black and white. With Pariah, we pick out the gray areas, life’s tough dilemmas. Circumstances, ideals, beliefs, exceptions to a set of beliefs— that’s what hell uses to cloud and seduce him.

That’s a tall order for a comic book.

It is, but these things define life. Right now our country’s at war. Some think it’s a good idea and some don’t. Some thought the war was right in beginning, but now they see it’s costly and American soldiers are dying, so now what do people think? On 60 Minutes, they asked Condoleeza Rice how she felt now about weapons of mass destruction, and she said “Hey, we went in based on the intelligence we had on Iraq at that time.” But what if we had decided not to invade? Life turns on choices, and that’s everything with Pariah.

What happens to Pariah? Where’s it going?

I know where he ends up. Ultimately he will fail. He will turn. But through his failure, he will become victorious. That’s his destiny, like Judas. Somebody had to betray Christ. That was his destiny, his job. This is Pariah’s job: to fail. But through his failure, he will save mankind. We got some pretty deep things going on here.

So the comic is a biblical allegory, a sort of illustrated Pilgrim’s Progress?

No, it’s not a metaphor to the Christ story. I wanted to do something different. How do you come up with a story that’s unique. Marvel and DC Comics have done everything. But an angel expelled to Oakland? Absolutely. The place is what makes it different, life there, it shapes the story. My guy’s not just fighting other superheroes. He’s figuring out what’s good and what’s evil.

Why the focus on heaven and hell?

I’m a religious guy. I’ve always been interested in religion. But I’m not taking a religious stance, you know… If you want to hear Bible stories, heaven itself has done some wicked as well as some wonderful things— angels destroying cities because of people’s sins— heaven has done some wicked things to mankind. There’s that side to it, the jealous god, punishing mankind for transgressing. That’s Pariah. He has sinned. They kick him out… and sent him to Oakland!

Tell us the truth: Are you Pariah?

We’re totally separate. This comic doesn’t reflect my life. He’ll be tortured, abused… In the end, he’ll lose the battle to get to heaven but he’ll win the battle of life. I had a good life in the Bay Area. That influenced the book, no question.

Why Oakland, exactly?

I thought, where can I put him? Most heroes live in fake cities or in New York. How come the Bay Area doesn’t have a hero? Why not Oakland? Oakland gets a bad rap, with crime and everything. I thought Oakland could use a cool superhero, and I knew nobody else would do it.

Who is the audience for Pariah?

My operation is small. Most people don’t have any idea what it takes to publish a comic. My market is anybody who’s interested. We have more than 1500 fans… I’m not totally sure how to measure it. Our site gets about 10,000 hits a month. But I don’t know who our fans are. I do know that after the Chronicle article, every copy of Pariah in California sold out. I got 120 emails from folks saying they loved the book, saying that it’s about damn time.

Why did you choose to make your hero a black guy?

Well first off, I thought it would be difficult to have a white superhero in Oakland [laughs]. There’s lots of minorities in Oakland. Typically, the harsher stuff about Oakland, the bad news, typically has to do with African Americans— selling dope, all this stuff. I wanted to give readers in Oakland some hope, our black children, Latinos and whites. Pariah is a good guy— he’s black and he’s a good guy! I couldn’t pull off a white superhero in Oakland. He had to fit the demographic.

I grew up in San Francisco. The Bay Area made me who I am now. I have such love. I can’t afford to live there right now, but the culture, the weather, the people… it’s a good place. I wanted to use all aspects of the Bay, to put Mexicans, Latin Americans, gay people also into the book. Why not? That’s the real balance of life. Why not reflect that? The comic’s geared for youth and adults– but I’m keeping it pretty clean. There’s violence but no sex or blatant nudity. I’m trying to get the story told, trying to make it like everyday reality. I’m not taking any political or religious stance, just trying to tell a cool story. Do people get high? Yes. Is there racism? Yes. That will all be in there, as well as the choices we make about those things. These things define us. Let’s keep it real.

Did you set out to make a role model for African-American youth with this comic?

For all youth. Not just black youth. Typically heroes are white. All youth need to see that heroes can be of any race. Not just white or black. Any race. Why can’t we have an Asian hero? Hispanic hero?

You’re about to mail off your comics to Stephen Spielberg. That’s ambitious, man.

If I’m gonna get turned down, I may as well get turned down by the best. I’m sending letters to Spielberg and others. I went to LA two weeks ago and got a star map and now I’m going to see if he’s willing to help out a comic book hero. One thing he hasn’t done is a comic book movie. I know people out there want to see stuff like this. I got this far all by myself and I’m gonna keep going. A lot of people have said to me “You ain’t gonna get that far.” I’m just trying to stay persistent, keep my hustle on.

——
Gary Moskowitz, former assistant editor and podcast host for Pop and Politics, is now a frequent contributor. He plays trumpet for the hip-hop/reggae band Bay Root.

Together with an artist and a colorist, Harding creates and publishes the comics on his social worker’s salary from his home in Arizona. Each issue costs about $7,000 to produce. A lot of the books were gathering dust in Bay Area comics stores until a recent San Francisco Chronicle article on Harding filled the stores overnight and vanished almost every copy of the first three issues.

When Pop and Politics spoke with Harding earlier this month, he was sealing up a package with copies of Pariah and a cover letter that explained why the book would make an excellent movie. The recipient? Stephen Spielberg. He’s gotten this far on his own, why not shoot for the moon?

What are you doing with Pariah exactly? What motivates you?

Pariah’s been kicked out of heaven and sent back to Oakland. Immediately he’s in trouble because he’s naked and people think he’s a deranged pervert. Police are chasing him. That’s what hell wants for Pariah. Life isn’t just black and white. With Pariah, we pick out the gray areas, life’s tough dilemmas. Circumstances, ideals, beliefs, exceptions to a set of beliefs– that’s what hell uses to cloud and seduce him.

That’s a tall order for a comic book.

It is, but these things define life. Right now our country’s at war. Some think it’s a good idea and some don’t. Some thought the war was right in beginning, but now they see it’s costly and American soldiers are dying, so now what do people think? On 60 Minutes, they asked Condoleeza Rice how she felt now about weapons of mass destruction, and she said “Hey, we went in based on the intelligence we had on Iraq at that time.” But what if we had decided not to invade? Life turns on choices, and that’s everything with Pariah.

What happens to Pariah? Where’s it going?

I know where he ends up. Ultimately he will fail. He will turn. But through his failure, he will become victorious. That’s his destiny, like Judas. Somebody had to betray Christ. That was his destiny, his job. This is Pariah’s job: to fail. But through his failure, he will save mankind. We got some pretty deep things going on here.

So the comic is a biblical allegory, a sort of illustrated Pilgrim’s Progress?

No, it’s not a metaphor to the Christ story. I wanted to do something different. How do you come up with a story that’s unique. Marvel and DC Comics have done everything. But an angel expelled to Oakland? Absolutely. The place is what makes it different, life there, it shapes the story. My guy’s not just fighting other superheroes. He’s figuring out what’s good and what’s evil.

Why the focus on heaven and hell?

I’m a religious guy. I’ve always been interested in religion. But I’m not taking a religious stance, you know… If you want to hear Bible stories, heaven itself has done some wicked as well as some wonderful things— angels destroying cities because of people’s sins— heaven has done some wicked things to mankind. There’s that side to it, the jealous god, punishing mankind for transgressing. That’s Pariah. He has sinned. They kick him out… and sent him to Oakland!

Tell us the truth: Are you Pariah?

We’re totally separate. This comic doesn’t reflect my life. He’ll be tortured, abused… In the end, he’ll lose the battle to get to heaven but he’ll win the battle of life. I had a good life in the Bay Area. That influenced the book, no question.

Why Oakland, exactly?

I thought, where can I put him? Most heroes live in fake cities or in New York. How come the Bay Area doesn’t have a hero? Why not Oakland? Oakland gets a bad rap, with crime and everything. I thought Oakland could use a cool superhero, and I knew nobody else would do it.

Who is the audience for Pariah?

My operation is small. Most people don’t have any idea what it takes to publish a comic. My market is anybody who’s interested. We have more than 1500 fans… I’m not totally sure how to measure it. Our site gets about 10,000 hits a month. But I don’t know who our fans are. I do know that after the Chronicle article, every copy of Pariah in California sold out. I got 120 emails from folks saying they loved the book, saying that it’s about damn time.

Why did you choose to make your hero a black guy?

Well first off, I thought it would be difficult to have a white superhero in Oakland [laughs]. There’s lots of minorities in Oakland. Typically, the harsher stuff about Oakland, the bad news, typically has to do with African Americans— selling dope, all this stuff. I wanted to give readers in Oakland some hope, our black children, Latinos and whites. Pariah is a good guy— he’s black and he’s a good guy! I couldn’t pull off a white superhero in Oakland. He had to fit the demographic.

I grew up in San Francisco. The Bay Area made me who I am now. I have such love. I can’t afford to live there right now, but the culture, the weather, the people… it’s a good place. I wanted to use all aspects of the Bay, to put Mexicans, Latin Americans, gay people also into the book. Why not? That’s the real balance of life. Why not reflect that? The comic’s geared for youth and adults— but I’m keeping it pretty clean. There’s violence but no sex or blatant nudity. I’m trying to get the story told, trying to make it like everyday reality. I’m not taking any political or religious stance, just trying to tell a cool story. Do people get high? Yes. Is there racism? Yes. That will all be in there, as well as the choices we make about those things. These things define us. Let’s keep it real.

Did you set out to make a role model for African-American youth with this comic?

For all youth. Not just black youth. Typically heroes are white. All youth need to see that heroes can be of any race. Not just white or black. Any race. Why can’t we have an Asian hero? Hispanic hero?

You’re about to mail off your comics to Stephen Spielberg. That’s ambitious, man.

If I’m gonna get turned down, I may as well get turned down by the best. I’m sending letters to Spielberg and others. I went to LA two weeks ago and got a star map and now I’m going to see if he’s willing to help out a comic book hero. One thing he hasn’t done is a comic book movie. I know people out there want to see stuff like this. I got this far all by myself and I’m gonna keep going. A lot of people have said to me “You ain’t gonna get that far.” I’m just trying to stay persistent, keep my hustle on.

———
Gary Moskowitz, former assistant editor and podcast host for Pop and Politics, is now a frequent contributor. He plays trumpet for the hip-hop/reggae band Bay Root.

Some argue that we are stretching our military way too thin. And how will this affect our relationship with the Mexican government?

In related news, one woman suggests using DNA to control immigration into the U.S. with THIS idea.

THIS argument claims that the education system has failed those students, and they should be allowed to graduate regardless of exit exam results.

THIS piece claims that educators should stick to the standards no matter what.

What I’m wondering is, why did it take so long for folks to file a law suit? The exit exam has been around for several years, and all educators have known about the 2006 deadline all along. Why wait until the last minute to raise the issue?
And, keep in mind that the test consists of 8th-grade level math and 9th- and 10th-grade level English.

And, the pending lawsuit doesn’t adequately address the needs of English Language Learners, who make up a large portion of those 48,000 students. THIS article addresses the issue.

Victory, however, came along with 14 alleged dead, and many, many wounded.

The U.S. PULLED many of its workers from the area, and urged American citizens to postpone travel there.

Well, check out some ALLEGED punk rock activism online!

And now, check out THE OTHER SIDE of the story.

Lastly, check out some PRANKS that are actually funny, punk rock, artistic and worthwhile.

HERE is some info about senior policy coordinator Karl Rove.

And, HERE is the 411 on Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld.

What’s the deal? Why are folks asking to leave, leaving, or shifting their roles at the White House? And we’ve still got about a year and a half until the next presidential election, folks.

IN THIS ARTICLE the Bush Administration says they will send Iran “a clear message” about their nuclear program, and will impose meaningful consequences if they don’t comply.

Didn’t the Bush Administration basically say the same thing to Iraq?
Where is this heading?
Are we prepared for the consequences?

One Nebraska Senator said history would not judge the state “kindly” for their decision, should it become law in 2008.

And, race rears its head in the school testing arena, too.
CHECK OUT how some folks are reporting No Child Left Behind test scores.

French student groups and labor unions spoke out against some wack labor laws, and the French government LISTENED according to April 10 reports.

HERE is a column that helps put the whole situation into some perspective.

Here’s what Wikipedia has to say about youth activism in the United States

Some folks took Chevy’s “Make Your Own Tahoe Commercial” idea and ran with it. They turned the tables on the big wigs at Chevy by making anti-SUV ads.

CLICK HERE for the scoop.

Vanity Fair this month is running an exclusive article about ‘Desperate Housewives’ actress Teri Hatcher, in which she admits to being sexually molested by her uncle. Her comments helped put him in prison, after the guy was busted for molesting other young women.

So the question is, why did Vanity Fair choose to accompany a STORY about sexual molestation with photos of Hatcher wearing not much more than women’s underwear on the cover, and in what are arguably sexually alluring positions on the inside pages?

What message is intended for readers?

THIS new Britney Spears sculpture — what many are calling a pro-life piece of art — is living proof.

And in other pro life news, folks want to create a day for the unborn child across the globe.