Raymond Leon Roker is a media company founder and publishes URB magazine and URB.com. The Los Angeles based URB launched in 1990 and reaches progressive urban explorers and music aficionados nationwide. For 18 years, URB has been a barometer of what's next in music and other urban movements, as well as celebrating a cultural latticework of history, influences and communities.

Roker is also a passionate photographer. His interest in street photography, music events and travel has brought him to Israel, Korea and numerous music festivals in 2008. He recently launched his own blog at http://pureroker.blogspot.com/ so stop by.

Blog Entries by Raymond Leon Roker

Rapper Subdues Bomb Suspect on LAX Flight

Posted January 7, 2009 | 04:48 PM (EST)


According to his publicist, none other than Atlanta rapper Asher Roth was involved in detaining the man who just made a bomb threat on an Atlanta-to-LAX flight. The rapper was on his way to LA for a performance on Carson Daly.

Read more here at URB.COM

Read Post

An Open Letter on Prop 8: Enough with the Anti-Black Outrage

157 Comments | Posted November 8, 2008 | 07:38 PM (EST)


Somebody posted a link to this letter on my recent post about the racially characterized attacks against blacks by some in the gay community for what CNN exit polls said was a 70% vote in favor of Proposition 8.

The letter is from Kathryn Kolbert, President...

Read Post

Stop Blaming California's Black Voters for Prop 8

1202 Comments | Posted November 7, 2008 | 04:29 AM (EST)


Excuse me? I voted against Proposition 8. I'm among the 30 percent of black Californians that did so. And as much as I can condemn the homophobia and intolerance that drove a portion of the 70 percent of blacks that voted in favor of Proposition 8's ban on gay...

Read Post

One Giant Step

3 Comments | Posted November 5, 2008 | 02:09 PM (EST)


We did it.

We fought. We hoped. We worked. We cried. We panicked. We debated. We held our breath. But after a 21 month campaign and eight years of sorry leadership and squandered opportunity, we did it. It's not hyperbolic to say that we helped shift the course of the...

Read Post

How Come McCain's "Gook" Slur Isn't Bigger News?

77 Comments | Posted October 20, 2008 | 07:37 PM (EST)


I want to know: Who is the real John McCain?

This past Sunday, when Colin Powell appeared on

Read Post

The Great Hip-Hop Debate: 10 Policy Tackling Rap Videos

2 Comments | Posted October 14, 2008 | 08:53 PM (EST)


Whatever happened to "real" debates? Back then, raw vernacular delivered rugged discourse. It was a battle. Not like the stuff on TV today. Everybody sounds the same now. Where's the innovation? It's all too marketed, too many of the same damn talking points, too much business in the art of...

Read Post

Sarah Palin Isn't Funny Anymore

59 Comments | Posted October 3, 2008 | 05:57 AM (EST)


I have a habit that's bringing me down. Immediately after the Biden-Palin debate, as I did after the Obama-McCain, I turned on Fox News. I like to get their 'Fair and Balanced' take on things -- and I'm rarely disappointed. As interesting as Rachel Maddow would have been...

Read Post

'Knocking Out the White Man:' 10 Reasons Obama Still Loses in Middle America

71 Comments | Posted September 27, 2008 | 03:05 AM (EST)


Barack Obama and John McCain squared off tonight for the first presidential debate. All through the night my Facebook page was blowing up with congratulatory posts and chest-pounding status updates. But among the self-congratulatory excitement was a palpable sigh at the heavy reality that is settling in. The question now...

Read Post

New Microsoft Ad: I'm a Mac, but I'm Listeninge

Posted September 20, 2008 | 03:52 AM (EST)


Apple has been having its way with Microsoft for a while now, but the one-sided televised fight for tastemaker supremacy has just gotten interesting. Microsoft, after taking it lying down for what seemed like an eternity, hired hotshot ad shop Crispin Porter & Bogusky (think Volkswagen,...

Read Post

Imagine That: Community Organizing Could be the Key to Peace and Prosperity in Israel

Posted September 13, 2008 | 06:24 AM (EST)


Earlier this year, I traveled to Israel. Before that trip, I'd only seen the place through the distorted prism of harrowing news stories and the cruel "normalcy" of the ongoing conflict. I wrote about it here, relaying how much impact the trip had on my understanding of the difficult...
Read Post

Palin's Baby's Baby Mama Drama and the Color of Family Values

Posted September 2, 2008 | 02:43 AM (EST)


Presidential nominee Barack Obama might have declared Sarah Palin's daughter a non-issue for his campaign staff, but he doesn't work for the media (nor the Daily Kos). With all the hoopla surrounding the VP hopeful's daughter's out-of-wedlock pregnancy, one delicate piece of hypocrisy seems to have blown by...

Read Post

The Katrina Myth

Posted September 1, 2008 | 02:28 PM (EST)


As the news swirls around New Orleans' seemingly near miss under the surge of Hurricane Gustav, let's not forget the Katrina legacy.

The non-partisan group Levees.org recently released this video to address the stubborn myths that still remain three years after Katrina. Clearly, without a proper grasp of the...

Read Post

The End of American Exceptionalism: Bacevich on Moyers

Posted August 19, 2008 | 03:41 AM (EST)


Sometimes there is an interview, an interviewee, and an interviewer that brings it all so tightly into focus. This is one of those moments. Bill Moyers -- who I've celebrated on this site before -- caught up with Boston University Professor of International Relations Andrew J. Bacevich,...

Read Post

Black in America on CNN: Are We There Yet?

Posted July 27, 2008 | 09:28 PM (EST)


No matter how strong their resume on race discussions was, there was no way CNN was going to broadcast a show called Black in America without causing a stir. And according to the network, they received more than 1000 bursts of feedback before the show had its final weekend...

Read Post

Blowback Mountain

Posted May 14, 2008 | 01:39 AM (EST)


Note: I wrote this post back on April 1 of this year. Initially, after thinking that the Jeremiah Wright situation would resolve itself (finally), I shelved it. I felt a harsh rebuff of Wright's unfair critics wasn't worth stirring the pot for. But after listening to Bill Moyers' recent...

Read Post

Guess Who's Coming To Dinner

Posted March 14, 2008 | 10:39 PM (EST)


I would like all the Huffington Post's black readers (please tell me you're out there, right?) to skip this post — this will seem like boring inside baseball to you. I would also like all open-minded non-blacks to not bother with this rant — as I understand that you feel...

Read Post

Once You Go Black...

Posted March 13, 2008 | 10:17 AM (EST)


Here we go. Again.

Barack Obama is now 'lucky' to be a black man in politics? That's so convenient, it almost leaves me speechless. What former vice-presidential-candidate bigmouth Geraldine Ferarro inferred about Senator Obama — that he is where he is due to the color of his skin —...

Read Post

Broken Promise Land: What I Saw In Israel

Posted March 9, 2008 | 08:26 PM (EST)


Somebody shared an insightful parable during my just completed nine-day trip to Israel. To paraphrase, it's something like 'Come to Israel for a week and you think you can write a book. Stay for a year and you can barely write a newspaper article'. Replace newspaper with blog and it's...

Read Post

10 Reasons The Democrats Have No Reason To Whine About Ralph Nader

Posted February 26, 2008 | 08:46 AM (EST)


1) The difference between the two Democratic candidates on the issues is razor-thin. There should be a candidate to define the largely absent progressive agenda. If Nader gets this constituency's backing, then he should be in the race.

2) Nader didn't cause Gore to lose Florida — the Supreme Court...

Read Post

Teach Your Children Well

Posted February 20, 2008 | 03:33 PM (EST)


You can't ignore it this time. Through the grainy lens of an undercover camera, the world can see the true origins of that burger, steak or Nike shoe. And try as we may to conveniently isolate this incident as the acts of a few rogue plant workers, this is...

Read Post

 
 
Bloggers Index›