Adrian Molina spoke about activism to a group in the Wyoming Union Family Ballroom Tuesday night. According to his webpage, Molina is a Hip-Hop artist, historian, futurist, educator, spoken word poet, youth advocate, and Community activist. (Photo: Seneca Riggins)
Adrian Molina spoke and shared some of his music Tuesday night in the University of Wyoming Union Family Room, where he said hip-hop is poetry, and “the genius of it is making something old into something new.”
Molinasaid how to do that in his hip-hop workshop where he explained his Build 2020 Manifesto, a speech which outlined where the rapidly evolving future could take human rights.
He gave an example of how Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. occupied Washington, and how the current Occupy Wall St. movement is connected to it today, and the march for civil rights has never been more important. He said the current Occupy movement is in response to what he described as “not capitalism, we’re living in an oligarchy.”
Molina said while he is not an Occupy organizer, he is looking to bridge their message to his own local community while he works with Denver youth. He also asked the audience to create their own local think tanks and vote, but not to be reliant on politicians.
The hip-hop artist also spoke about where technology has taken society and where it can still go.
He argued that while social media and the internet are very important tools, many people have become too dependent on them. He added that “human interaction feels disconnected and strange.”
He advised for every hour of technology, one should also go outside or connect with a real person for an hour.
His presentation included pictures of cyborgs, and he talked about futurist Ray Kurzwell’s prediction that humans would be merged with machines by 2045.
Molina’s speech did not condemn technology, he just advised people to step back and take a closer look at where its use is quickly taking them.
He said people should not “become slaves to our machine,” whether it is increasingly prevalent social media; large, impersonal governments, widespread surveillance, or reliance on oil.
He said, “Be human. Being human is resistance.” He said he hoped societies could become more peaceful and stable by 2020, which is what Build 2020 is named.
Adrian Molina also teaches online classes at UW, and his website, molinaspeaks.com, has his music and the full Build 2020 Manifesto.
