Just Call Him Khalid Kamau
- By Rita Robinzine
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- 20 Nov, 2017
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Black Lives Matter Activist to City Councilman!
the Georgia Delegation of Bernie Sanders Delegates. I remember seeing the excitement on his
face when he found out that he would now be joining the rest of us as we took our fight to the
Democratic National Convention for a last ditch effort to get our beloved Senator Sanders to be
the actual presidential nominee to represent the party in the November general election against
Trump.
I could feel his fire and passion about the cause so much that his charisma stood out in the
crowd. I found out later at the convention why this was the case. khalid kamau, who likes for his
name to be spelled in all small letters, showed himself as the true leader that he is. I remember
him single handedly starting and leading a protest against “The Establishment” right in the
middle of the Wells Fargo Center when it was found out that Senator Sanders had been treated
poorly by the party for the purpose to give Secretary Hillary Clinton an unfair advantage to make
her the nominee.
After getting the crowd fired up, he just stood to the side, and became silent with the look of
pride on his face for his leadership. If you have ever seen the movie “Malcolm X” and saw the
scene where Denzel Washington acting as X just used his hand gestures to get the Nation of
Islam to walk away from the hospital once they found out one of their members would be okay
after being violently attacked. That is exactly the feeling I got when I saw khalid in action. I was
overwhelmed with how he moved people to action with such ease like when he brought in the
t-shirts with the big “No TPP” on the front and organized the delegates to wear them as a form
of protest.
This Gen-Exer, who was born in the latter part of the Civil Rights Movement and too old and
busy making a living to make ends meet came on the scene too early to join the protests of the
millennials, was absolutely blown away by the personal power he holds. I did, however, go to
Forsyth County, Georgia during my sophomore year at Spelman College in 1987 to march with
Civil Rights Leader Hosea Williams against racists and white supremacists who wanted to keep
that part of the state lilly white. For that reason, I could definitely identify with the young brother.
I later found out that khalid was a very active participant in the Black Lives Matter Movement. It
was he who helped to dispel the self-proclaimed leader of the movement who incorporated the
title Black Lives Matter. I continued to follow him on Facebook. After Hillary lost to Trump and I
failed at my third attempt to become an elected official, I marveled at his announcement to run
for a spot on the city council for the newly created city of South Fulton. I watched how he used
that same passion and organizational skills that I saw in Philadelphia be put to use to make
history by becoming the first person to hold an elected seat on this inaugural city government.
Once, I started my talk show, I knew right away that I had to interview him. As an elected official,
Councilman kamau is still working hard. He just recently held a twelve hour event in his district
called The Electoral College where he held workshops, brought in local candidates to debate,
and even had a town hall meeting for the two Stacies vying to be the next Democratic governor
for the state of Georgia. I decided to attend the town hall meeting because they were the only
candidates in attendance for whom I can vote.
Khalid continued to walk back and forth throughout the church where the event was held to
make sure that everything was running smoothly as possible. Between events, I briefly caught
up with him and reminded him about my interview. He agreed. I sent a text to him, as he
requested, Friday to remind him about the interview and he explained to me how a meeting to
name the new city would probably go into my schedule. I did not care, because this was one of
the exciting people that I had to have to on my show. He finally said that he would appear on
this episode to talk about his life although he is even more of the leader that I saw for the first
time back in the spring of 2016. Just a lot busier!
Growing up in the inaugural era of Hip Hops and videos, I have seen it all. I remember the excitement of what at that time was the longest video ever made - the Thriller video by Michael Jackson which was fourteen minutes long. I witnessed the change from braggadocious lyrics to those infused with explicit words. This is the first time that I have witnessed a Hip Hop wedding.
Being the hopeless romantic that I am and remembering where I was when Prince Charles married Lady Diana. I was also glued to the TV when their eldest son Prince William married his college sweetheart Kate Middleton. After witnessing such beautiful love-filled ceremonies across the pond, there was no way that I was going to miss the most talked about wedding of the year right here in the United States.
I am speaking of none other than The Mane Event - the wedding between Gucci Mane and his longtime girlfriend who stood by his side through thick and thin - Keyshia Ka’Oir.
The couple decided on an iced out theme where the guests were asked to wear white which made them fit in with the decoration. The reported price tag for the wedding was over $1 Million!. I wonder how much of that money went towards the bouquet and the aisle.
Hopefully the couple will have many years of wedded bliss after their diamond studded display of happily ever after!
