More Malcolm, Less Martin

I have touched on this before but I have to revisit the recent concept of 'DIY'; the hip new abbreviation of 'Do it yourself'. It baffles my mind that people keep giving themselves gold stars for being 'DIY'. But who else can do something for you other than yourself? Mom? Did she do that diorama for your 2nd grade science class? Understand, 'DIY' is a concept that only exists with artists and musicians that are Anglo-Americans who are probably dressing down to hide their affluence. Never do you hear artists in the hip-hop community touting their DIY adventures. They have been 'doing it themselves' from the get go. So please, stop getting on your soapbox and telling people how you deserve some honorable distinction by actually being self reliant. Speaking of self reliance, our buddy Malcolm X is on the cover of this issue courtesy of Houston poster art progenitor Jermaine Rogers. Jermaine has done several covers for us over the years yet not in quite some time. We are honored to have his work gracing our cover again. This punk rock depiction of Malcolm X is sort-of our 'better late than never' tribute to Black History Month. Malcolm X's writings on self-reliance and defiance of tyranny were some very important stepping stones on my ideological journey. Yet, my post-adolescent fervor for firebrands like Malcolm has ebbed and flowed. In recent year's I have ascribed to more pacifist teachings attributed to MLK or Gandhi. But fact of the matter is, neither of those men scared my white in-laws. So today we salute you Malcolm X. Keep on scaring them white devils.