July 2007 issue
Boulder Weekly
Interview with McAD
Here are the questions each participant was asked:
The Fourth of July commemorates the American Revolution and the principles that the United States was founded on. 1) In your opinion, why has America recently fallen so short of the intentions outlined by its Founders? And 2) What actions can America take to become a country that its citizens can be proud of once again?
M.c.A.D.
1)That's a big question. First and foremost, there's an inconsistency between which Americans are relating to those Founders. I'm Native American, African American and Caucasian. If I'm just looking at it from a Native side of things, even today there's an inconsistency about what those Founders intended. Obviously, Native Americans weren't trying to get their independence from Great Britain. Like a lot of first drafts, [the Declaration of Independence] was flawed. When you read it, it sounds great. A lot of the things they were talking about I can really relate to. Still, the Founding Fathers didn't represent the whole faction. They were talking about human rights in a time of slavery. I think they were falling short of what they were trying to do. There was a lot of injustice going on. In the big picture, it truly was a great revolution. Part of my revolution is correcting things that have never been addressed. The Native People are the poorest people in the nation. They've been shuffled around from reservation to reservation.
Take AIM, or look back to the '60s with the Black Panthers. There were plenty of revolutionaries trying to do good. The political and social history we've been showing the people isn't as equal as what's been defined as the status quo. I feel like I'm fighting a revolution against an oppressor that doesn't represent me. Dissent can now legally be considered an act of terrorism.
2)I think we need to be on the same page, and that means all the voices of America need to be heard. America is being pulled in a thousand different directions. The white people I know [are not] trying to be disrespectful — they just don't know. We're not on the same page. It's a social and a spiritual issue. It comes from your compassion for the world. I define my family as earth. I feel what I do affects the people on the other side of the planet. I call that maturity. Everything has a cause and effect, and understanding that takes maturity.
I think people need to get really specific with where we're going. I know a lot of conscious people, and it's on the people themselves. They need to have the cause and effect of life, to have compassion for themselves and others. Engaging people and having people talk about it — it's crucial.
(M.c.A.D. is the founder and lead vocalist of the Boulder-based experimental hip-hop group Freedom Movement.)
