Sister Souljah (born 1964) is an American hip
hop-generation author, activist, recording artist, and film producer.
She gained prominence for Bill Clinton's criticism of her remarks
about race in the United States during the 1992 presidential campaign.
Clinton's well-known repudiation of her comments led to what is now
known in politics as a Sister Souljah moment.
Souljah was the executive director of Daddy's House Social Programs
Inc., a not-for-profit corporation for urban youth, financed by Sean
Combs and Bad Boy Entertainment.
Souljah was born Lisa Williamson in the Bronx, New York. She recounts
in her autobiography that she was born into poverty and raised on
welfare for some years. At age 10 she moved with her family to the
suburbs of Englewood, New Jersey, a lower-middle class suburb with
a strong African-American presence, a slight change from the big
city feel of the Bronx.[1] Englewood is also home to other famous
Black artists such as George Benson, Eddie Murphy, and Regina Belle.[2]
Souljah disliked what American students were being taught in school
systems across the country. She felt that the school systems purposely
left out the African origins of civilization. Also, she criticized
the absence of a comprehensive curriculum of African American history,
which she felt that all students, Black and white, needed to learn
and understand in order to be properly educated. She felt that she
was being taught very little of her history, since the junior high
school and high school left out Black history, art, and culture.
The Englewood school district, however, took an active role recruiting
Black educators and administrators, which has lasted to the present
day.[citation needed]
Souljah took a very active and special interest in learning everything
she could about African history, which she felt was left out of the
education curriculum in the United States purposely: "I supplemented
my education in the White American school system by reading African
history, which was intentionally left out of the curriculum of American
students."[3] While at Dwight Morrow High School, a school that
had a relatively even distribution of Black-, Latino-, and Jewish-student
enrollment and a majority Black administration during the time of
her studies, from 1978 to 1981. She was a legislative intern in the
House of Representatives.[2] Souljah was also the recipient of several
honors during her teenage years. She won the American Legion's Constitutional
Oratory Contest, a scholarship to attend Cornell University's Advanced
Summer Program.[2]
Throughout college she traveled, visiting Britain, France, Spain,
Portugal, Finland, and Russia. Her academic accomplishments were
reinforced with first-hand experiences as she worked in a medical
center in Mtepa Tepa, a village located in Zimbabwe, and assisted
refugee children from Mozambique. She also traveled to South Africa
and Zambia. She graduated from Rutgers University with a dual major
in American History and African Studies. She became a well-known
and outspoken voice on campus and active writer for the school newspaper.
One of her noted campus initiatives was spearheading a campaign to
bring Jesse Jackson to Rutgers to speak against the university's
controversial investments in South Africa at the time, when divestiture
from apartheid-era South Africa was a heated political issue. Sister
Souljah was part of the Rutgers Coalition for Divestment, which successfully
organized the Rutgers University administration to divest US$3.6
million in its financial holding companies doing business in racist,
pre-Nelson Mandela South Africa. Sister Souljah and students across
the state of New Jersey also organized a successful campaign to get
the state of New Jersey to divest more than US$1 billion of its financial
holdings in apartheid South Africa.
In 1985, during her senior year at Rutgers University, she was offered
a job by Reverend Benjamin Chavis of the United Church of Christ
Commission for Racial Justice. She spent the next three years developing,
organizing, and financing programs such as African Survival Camp,
a 6-week summer sleep-away camp in Enfield, North Carolina. She also
became the organizer of the National African Youth-Student Alliance
and outspoken voice against racially motivated violence in cases
such as Howard Beach, Yusuf Hawkins, and more.[4]
Sister Souljah became a controversial figure during the 1990s as
a frequent guest on American television and radio talk shows. Her
comments drew attention and criticism due to their inflammatory nature
concerning race relations. Her position of influence among Black
Americans as a hiphop artist polarized groups and individuals both
Black and White and led to public controversy.
Sister Souljah is married to Mike Rich.[5] They have one child[6]
named Michael Jr.[5]
[edit] Career
[edit] Music
She appeared on several tracks as a featured guest with the hip-hop
group Public Enemy, and she became a full member of the group when
Professor Griff left the group after making anti-Semitic remarks.
In 1992, she released her only album, 360 Degrees of Power. Both
of her videos, "The Final Solution: Slavery's Back in Effect" and "The
Hate that Hate Produced," were banned by MTV because of their
inflammatory imagery. Her album sold only 27,000 copies, and so her
label, Epic/SME Records, dropped her. It is believed that the album
sold poorly because of public backlash from her comments in response
to the beating of Rodney King, but it also received mixed reviews
in the music press.
[edit] Sister Souljah moment
Souljah became infamous for her statements about the 1992 Los Angeles
riots. In an interview conducted May 13, 1992, she was quoted in
the Washington Post as saying:
“
If Black people kill Black people every day, why not have a week
and kill white people? ”
The quotation was later reproduced in the media, and she was widely
criticized. Presidential candidate Bill Clinton publicly criticized
that statement—and Jesse Jackson for allowing her to be on
his Rainbow Coalition—thus the Sister Souljah moment was created.
[edit] Author
In 1995 Sister Souljah published a volume of autobiography titled
No Disrespect. (Times/Crown/Random House. ISBN 0-812-92483-5.). In
1999, she made her debut as a novelist with The Coldest Winter Ever.
(Simon & Schuster. ISBN 0-671-02578-3.). The latter was praised
by The New Yorker.[7] An indirect sequel of the novel, titled Midnight:
A Gangster Love Story. (Atria/Simon & Schuster. ISBN 978-1-4165-4518-7.),
originally scheduled for October 14, 2008, was published November
4, 2008,[8] and entered The New York Times bestseller list at #7
its first week out and remained there as of February 2009.[9] Another
sequel, Midnight and the Meaning of Love., was released on April
12, 2011,[10] and another novel, Porsche Santiaga, is due in 2012.[citation
needed]
She also does occasional pieces for Essence Magazine and has written
for The New Yorker.[11]
[edit] Community activist
As a community activist, Souljah has organized a number of service
programs. In 1985, during her senior year at Rutgers University,
she developed and financed the African Youth Survival Camp for children
of homeless families, a 6-week summer sleep-away camp in Enfield,
North Carolina. She has been a motivating force behind a number of
hip-hop artists' efforts to give back to the community, organizing
major youth events, programs, and summer camps with artists such
as Lauryn Hill, Doug E. Fresh, and Sean "Diddy" Combs.
Souljah was the executive director of Daddy's House Social Programs
Inc., a not-for-profit corporation for urban youth, financed by Sean
Combs and Bad Boy Entertainment. Daddy's House educates and prepares
youth, aged 10–16, to be in control of their academic, cultural,
and financial lives. The students progressing through the program
earn support to travel throughout the world.[12]
[edit] Discography
Album information
360 Degrees of Power
Released: March 17, 1992
Chart positions: #72 Top R&B/Hip Hop
Last RIAA Certification: N/A
Singles: "The Hate that Hate Produced," "The Final Solution:
Slavery’s Back in Effect"