An Open Letter to Pseudo-Intellectuals and Coffee Shop Revolutionaries

Dear Socially Conscious Pseudo-Intellectuals and Internet Revolutionaries,

The pictures of starving children in Africa you just posted on Facebook are not going to feed them. That socially conscious poetry slam you spent all night finger snapping to fell on deaf ears when you stopped at McDonalds on the way home. Value meals are for those who don’t value meals, so supersize that. “Liking” someone’s fundraising link does not add money to their cause. You are not a donor. Bootlegging your favorite indie artist’s music, while complaining about artists who sell out is not keeping it real.

Calling yourself a Republican or a Democrat means you already acknowledged there are only two sides. They got you. If you spend more time promoting your organization, than putting in to action what your organization stands for; I am talking to you. If you forward conspiracy theories or “secret information that’s being kept from the masses”, without verifying the truth behind it; you are not in the know. You just don’t know. Someone posting a blog does not mean it’s true. It means they have a computer. You are not a revolutionary because you talk about other people’s revolutionary actions. They are the revolutionaries. You, on the other hand, are just a lazy admirer.

I am not writing this letter out of disrespect, but instead out of hope. I see a huge population of people that want to change this world we live in for the better. We see the injustices around us everywhere, and the possibilities for solutions. We see people fighting for social progress, and also those doing everything in their power to make things worse for the majority. The problem is that a lot of us are just watching it unfold. I also have been guilty of this. “Dealing with my own life is hard enough,” is usually the argument for this complacency.

This is true. Life is hard. You have to ask yourself though, “Why is life hard?” You will find that more times than not, it is because of the basic things that many actual revolutionaries are fighting for: adequate and affordable food, shelter, education, and healthcare for all people. If we all had these things, life would not be such an uphill climb. It’s time to act people! Stop Instagraming your fabulous life that we all know is not so fabulous. Instead, dedicate just one hour of your week to action. It will be worth it. And you won’t have to put a special effect on it to make it look good.

Peace and Respect,

–Raj FLOW

P.S- Earlier this year, Hasan Salaam and I put together the Music Is My Weapon project to put music in to “action”. Together with the whole It Takes A Village team (regular people just like you and I) we have successfully built a brand new school and fresh water well for the village of Djati, in Guinea-Bissau, West Africa. We still need to build a medical facility though. Please take a moment to watch this video update of the project, and see how you can get involved.

If you would like to be a part of this grassroots movement dedicated to social change, please join the email list here.