These kids, from Bed-Stuy and Brownsville, deliver a powerful protest about race relations in America. The performance is a microcosm of the world they’re living in….

The young players embody the activist spirit of their driving force, poet and Black Arts Movement originator LeRoi Jones (Amiri Baraka). Using synched movements and poetry, the kids address various issues from inequality to the lack of a well-rounded black history curriculum in the schools. One girl states affectingly: “We are taught to hate ourselves…America, why did you bring us here?” But the underlying message from Jones through these kids is the importance of pride and self-empowerment. As one of the children says near the end: “Today is ours/Let’s take it.”

Watch the Leroi Jones Young Spirit House Movers and Players (9:33), introduced by Inside Bedford-Stuyvesant host Roxie Roker:

Read more about Inside Bedford-Stuyvesant:
* Interview with producer Charles Hobson
* Overview of Black-produced television from 1968, including Inside Bedford-Stuyvesant
* Article on the show from the Brooklyn Rail

(Inside Bedford-Stuyvesant was originally broadcast on WNEW in NYC. Clips provided by Charles Hobson).

The story goes that on August 11, 1973, DJ Kool Herc, a building resident, was entertaining at his sister’s back-to-school party and tried something new on the turntable: he extended an instrumental beat (breaking or scratching) to let people dance longer and began MC’ing during the extended break. This, the contributor believes, marked the birth of hip-hop. The music led to an entire cultural movement that’s altered generational thinking — from politics and race to art and language. History Detectives host/investigator Tukufu Zuberi sets out to examine an inner-city environment that helped lay the foundation for a cultural revolution:

Exploring historical objects and the stories behind them, HISTORY DETECTIVES crisscrosses the country, delving into legends, folklore and personal histories to discover potentially extraordinary objects in everyday American homes, cities and small towns.

For tonight’s show, we have just two guests — Governor Paterson and Tom Suozzi.

Featured interviews on the February 26th program:

Tom Suozzi
Tom Suozzi, will discuss his new suburbia plans which will transform Nassau County.

Governor David Paterson
Governor David Paterson, who became New York’s 55th governor when he assumed office on March 17th of last year, will discuss why he thinks New York state needs to curb spending even in the midst of a financial crisis.

New York Times business columnist Andrew Ross Sorkin hosts this seven-part television series featuring interviews that address the evolving economic crisis affecting New Yorkers. The show focuses on issues such as the city’s infrastructure and the effect the crisis is having on cultural programs.

It’s the Economy, NY airs Thursdays at 8:00 pm through the end of February 2009.

Belafonte has always been active in civil rights–Five years before this interview, he joined the historic March on Washington, D.C. with Martin Luther King, Jr. In this video, the entertainer, surrounded by a group of adults and kids in a park, discusses his problem with the inaccurate representation of blacks in the media. He later fields questions from several spectators on issues of poverty, education and politics affecting the black community.

Harry Belafonte interview(11:33)

To this day, Belafonte continues to speak on behalf of human rights. In 1987, he became a goodwill ambassador for UNICEF, and has traveled to countries such as Senegal, Rwanda and South Africa. Most recently Belafonte received the 2006 Black Entertainment Television Humanitarian Award.

Read more about Inside Bedford-Stuyvesant and Belafonte’s activism:
* Interview with producer Charles Hobson

* Overview of Black-produced television from 1968, including Inside Bedford-Stuyvesant

* Harry Belafonte’s biography on UNICEF Web site

* Harry Belafonte Web site

* A photograph of Harry Belafonte with actors Sidney Poitier and Charlton Heston at the 1963 March on Washington

* Harry Belafonte with his 2006 Black Entertainment Television Humanitarian Award

Inside Bedford-Stuyvesant was originally broadcast on WNEW. This clip provided to the web courtesy the producer.

Featured interviews on the February 12th program:

Jim Cramer
Jim Cramer, host of CNBC’s “Mad Money” will discuss the $800 billion stimulus package and whether he feels U.S. Treasury Chief Tim Geithner’s $1 trillion bank bailout plan will work.

Jeff Madrick
Jeff Madrick, author, journalist and director of policy research at the Schwartz Center for Economic Policy Analysis at The New School, will also lend insight into rescuing the banks and the nearly $800 economic stimulus package.

Carol Kellerman
Carol Kellerman is president of the Citizens Budget Commission and will speak on the New York City budget and what this year means for New Yorkers.

Dylan Lauren
Dylan Lauren, owner of Dylan’s Candy Bar and daughter of fashion designer Ralph Lauren, will discuss whether candy is a comfort food in a sour economy.

New York Times business columnist Andrew Ross Sorkin hosts this seven-part television series featuring interviews that address the evolving economic crisis affecting New Yorkers. The show focuses on issues such as the city’s infrastructure and the effect the crisis is having on cultural programs.

It’s the Economy, NY airs Thursdays at 8:00 pm through the end of February 2009.