(Posted November 1, 2005)

HUNTINGDON, Pa. -- The former editor of The Source, the first magazine to extensively chronicle hip-hop culture, will lecture at Juniata College on "Why White Kids Love Hip-Hop" at 7 p.m., Thursday, Nov. 10 in the ballroom of Ellis Hall on the Juniata campus.

The lecture, sponsored by Juniata's African-American Student Alliance, is free and open to the public.

Bakari Kitwana, a noted author and columnist for the Cleveland Plain Dealer newspaper, is a longtime observer of the hip-hop generation, particularly the music and politics of the movement. He will focus his talk on the content of his new book, "Why White Kids Love Hip-Hop," published this summer.

Kitwana also has written two previous books, "The Hip-Hop Generation: Young Blacks and the Crisis in African-American Culture" and "The Rap on Gangsta Rap." He also teaches a political science course at Kent State University called, "The Politics of the Hip-Hop Generation" and works as a consultant for the Rock 'n' Roll Hall of Fame in Cleveland, Ohio.

He worked as executive editor of The Source and his essays and journalism has appeared in Savoy, the Village Voice and the Progressive. He also has been interviewed by the New York Times, the Washington Post, the Los Angeles Times USA Today and Salon.com and appeared on CNN and "The O'Reilly Factor."

Kitwana has been quoted as saying that the hip-hop generation -- essentially African-Americans born between 1965 and 1984 -- could be more influential than the 1960s civil rights movement. He follows the political interests of the hip-hop generation as well. He has written about electoral politics on a national scale as well as local elections such as a mayoral race in Newark, N.J.

Contact April Feagley at feaglea@juniata.edu or (814) 641-3131 for more information.