Barack Obama’s recent presidential win along with his entire campaign has inspired millions. On Election Night, I caught up with spoken word artists, Sekou Andrews (aka tha misfit) and Steve Connell, to get their poetic thoughts on the Obama’s win. Andrews and Connell were featured performers at Obama’s California Headquarters celebration. The two artists created a special poem called “Obama Takes America Back” about Obama’s historic win.

Andrews and Connell, both National Poetry Slam Champions, are no strangers to political activism and worked with the Norman Lear “Declare Yourself” campaign back in 2002. For the spoken word artists, the political is personal. And they think the meanings of being a Christian, an environmentalist, and the very definition of democracy among others are changing. Surprisingly, the duo discusses how George W. Bush was a great motivator and how fear caused many Americans to become politically active. Check out the interview above and their performance below.

-The Caramel Bella

Last night at the Obama California Headquarters Election Night celebration, I caught up with Grammy Award-Winning R&B/Gospel sensation, Mary Mary. They were the lead act for the Obama party. The duo just released their new album “The Sound,” which hit #1 on Billboard’s Christian & Gospel Album Charts, #2 On The Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums Chart, and #7 On The Billboard Top 200.  They performed their current lead single, “Get Up” and the platinum-selling hit “Shackles.”

The ladies were excited about Senator Barack Obama’s historic presidential win. The duo has believed in his candidacy since he appeared on “The Oprah Winfrey Show.” They even attended Obama fundraisers, did “word-of-mouth” campaigns, and worked with BET to get out the youth vote to support their candidate.

-The Caramel Bella

Interview, Multimedia Producing & Editing: The Caramel Bella

I thought we had a separation of church and state in the United States. Apparently, some ministers overlooked that memo.

This past Sunday, Christian ministers across the country took the laws into their own hands by telling their congregations to vote for John McCain.

According to a recent Wall Street Journal article, at least 33 ministers knew they were breaking the federal tax law but chose to do so anyway in protest.

“As Christians it’s clear we should vote for John McCain,” said Rev. Fran Pulto of Calvary Chapel in Philadelphia in a Wall Street Journal. “He is the only candidate I believe a Christian can vote for.”

For these pastors, pushing conservative social values like anti-abortion and anti-gay marriage were worth the IRS investigation.
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