RUSA, RAW rock message of ‘drop beats not bombs’

RUSA, RAW rock message of ‘drop beats not bombs’
Daily Targum
Jared Khan / Contributing Writer
Published: Sunday, November 16, 2008


The house band Toad played rock music that sounded throughout Room 101 in Hickman Hall on Douglass campus and trailed into the hallway as students, city residents, poets and activists, young and old, filled the auditorium. The band stopped playing as poets took the stage to begin a night of spoken word.On Friday night, Rutgers Against the War and Rutgers University Student Assembly hosted the public event Drop Beats Not Bombs featuring the poet, writer, musician and actor Saul Williams.RAW and RUSA worked with the Justus League, Combat Paper, Verbal Mayhem and Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transsexual, Queer and Questioning People of Color Alliance to organize the event, said Tiffany Cheng, a School of Arts and Sciences senior and a main administrator for the event.

Money from the Rutgers University Student Association helped to fund this event but organizers tried to stay with the lowest budget possible, Cheng said.Cheng said she estimated a total of 19 poets listed to perform along with Williams. This number included but was not limited to poets from RAW and members of the Combat Paper Project, an Iraqi veteran mission that encourages reconciliation for their overseas military experience.The event attracted more than 200 people. This was about three times the amount since last year, said Ian Khadan, a spoken word poet who attended last year’s event.Cheng said the event was located in a smaller venue last year, but this year they expected a larger turnout with Williams speaking. “I’m impressed … I don’t know how they got Saul Williams,” said Annalise Leonelli, a Douglass College senior. “The band’s pretty good, too.”

Cheng said Williams’ appearance was done at the last minute.“We were trying to combine someone who became successful with someone with a socially conscious message,” Cheng said.Williams brought his books “Said the Shotgun to the Head” and “The Dead Emcee Scrolls” to the event and they were available for purchase along with some “Drop Beats Not Bombs” T-shirts near the entrance of the lecture hall.Williams held a question and answer period, where he welcomed attendees to inquire about anything on their minds, including asking for advice.The questions varied in topic, going so far as one student’s question on a conflict of interest between romance and her art.Williams answered that romance is integral to the art experience and without his romances his art would be lost.“It’s a mixture of culture and a political message,” said James Mona, a School of Environmental and Biological Sciences sophomore and member of RAW. “Being an activist isn’t all about marches and stuff. You can have fun too.”