Rosa Clemente

Rosa Alicia Clemente (born 18 April 1972) is a United States community organizer, independent journalist and Hip-Hop activist. She is the vice presidential running mate of 2008 Green Party Presidential candidate Cynthia McKinney.

Clemente was born and raised in South Bronx, New York. She is a graduate of the University of Albany and Cornell University. Clemente has been delivering workshops, presentations and commentary for over ten years.

Clemente's academic work has focused on research of national liberation struggles within the United States, with a specific focus on the Young Lords Party and the Black Liberation Army. While a student at SUNY Albany, she was President of the Albany State University Black Alliance (ASUBA) and Director of Multicultural Affairs for the Student Association. At Cornell she was a founding member of La Voz Boriken, a social/political organization dedicated to supporting Puerto Rican political prisoners and the independence of Puerto Rico.

Clemente has written for Clamor Magazine, The Ave. magazine, The Black World Today, The Final Call and numerous websites. She has been the subject of articles in the Village Voice, The New York Times, Urban Latino and The Source magazines. She has appeared on CNN, C-Span, Democracy Now and Street Soldiers. In 2001, she was a youth representative at the United Nations World Conference against Xenophobia, Racism and Related Intolerance in South Africa and in 2002 was named by Red Eye Magazine as one of the top 50 Hip Hop Activists to look out for.

In 1995, she developed Know Thy Self Productions (KTSP), a full service speakers bureau, production company and media consulting service. Seeing a need for young people of color to be heard and taken seriously she began presenting workshops and lectures at colleges, universities, high schools, and prisons. In the past ten years she has presented at over 200 colleges, conferences and community centers on topics such as "African-American and Latino/a Intercultural Relations", "Hip-Hop Activism", "The History of the Young Lords Party", and "Women, Feminism and Hip Hop". KTSP now includes an expanded college speakers bureau which has produced three major Hip Hop activism tours, "Dare to Struggle, Dare to Win" with M1 of dead prez and Fred Hampton Jr.; "The ACLU College Freedom Tour" with dead prez, DJ Kuttin Kandi, Mystic and comedian Dave Chappelle; and the "Speak Truth to Power" Tour a collaborative tour of award winning youth activists.

In 2003, Clemente helped form and coordinate the first ever National Hip Hop Political Convention that drew over 3000 activists who came together to create and implement a national political agenda for the Hip-Hop generation. 10 days after Hurricane Katrina ravaged parts of the south, Clemente traveled to the areas as an independent journalist and her on-the-ground reports were broadcast on independent radio stations all over the world, including Air America, NPR, Pacifica Radio, Democracy Now, Indymedia, Hard Knock Radio and many more independent and mainstream media outlets.

Selected articles

 * "Rosa Clemente on Jesus, Hip Hop and Kanye West"
 * "Russell Simmons, You Are Not Hip Hop"
 * "Eyewitness: The Sean Bell Verdict"
 * "Rockfeller's Rocky Road"