For the month of February, MCC-Penn Valley decided to take another approach to celebrating Black History Month by diversifying the month's activities.

Because March is dedicated to celebrating "women's firsts," MCC-Penn Valley decided to devote the entire month of February to Black Men.

The theme for 2008 was "Am I My Brother's Keeper? Redefining & Empowering the Black Man."

Throughout February, Penn Valley hosted a calendar of events, ranging from "Brother-to-Brother" informational sessions to "Legal Issues and Black Males: Everything You Wanted to Know, But Were Afraid to Ask."

The closing ceremony was hosted by legendary rapper, activist, author, composer, radio personality and producer, Chuck D.

Chuck D is mostly known for his contribution in the political rap group Public Enemy (circa 1982), which also included the original hype man himself, Flavor Flav. When asked about his former bandmate, Chuck D simply replied, "My brother [Flav] has always been crazy. That's not TV, that's really him. Clock and all."

Chuck D, whose real name is Carlton Douglas Ridenhour, called his set "Race, Rap, Technology and Reality" and based his message on the issues of concern raised by the month's previous events.

"Intelligence will save your ass - excuse my language - whether you are in a board room, school, or jail, and that's the point I've been try'n'a get to…" D said.

D spoke for several hours and left no question unanswered. He delivered a censored - yet brutally honest - insight on the impact that race, rap, and technology have had on Americans and, more specifically, black men.

"You wanna be a thug? Uhn-hun, you'll be a thug. As a matter of fact, they're building colleges and they're building penitentiaries that look the same. And they sayin', 'You know what? We'll build a thug-type existence as far as the swagger, and the walk and all that, 'cause we got places for that attitude and [those] actions if you ain't satisfied.'"

As D closed his set, he spoke more in-depth about situations where art imitates life and life imitates art. He also confronted the accusation that rap no longer deals with the issues of today.

During a "meet and greet" that followed his set, D signed memorabilia, took pictures, exchanged information, got closer to his old fans, and even gained some new ones.

For more information on Chuck D and his music career, visit Public Enemy's website at http://www.publicenemy.com/.

Copyright 2008 Metropolitan Community College