INTERVIEW WINTER 2010 KLIPSUN



FIGHTS FOR RIGHTS
Story by Rod Lotter // Illustration by Rebecca Rice
How to Stick it to the Man
The man wears many hats. He is the boss man: enemy of the working class, the tax man of Beatles fame and the war-profiteering politician.
The Man is faceless and voiceless, yet omnipotent and ubiquitous. Wherever there is civilization, he is there to take power and oppress dissent. Wherever there is inequality, he is behind the curtain pulling the strings. Wherever there is prosperity, he is there to plunder it.
But, wherever there is The Man, there is also a group of people who will resist the life that The Man has offered.
People like author and activist Ronald Lewis, dedicate words, thoughts and actions in various ways to stick it to The Man.
"The Man is anyone who abuses [his or her] power," Lewis says. "Wall Street and the U.S. government are the best examples. Banks have mishandled billions of taxpayer funds. Politicians have refused to serve the interests of the people-which is their job. The Man can be oppressive, reckless and careless. It's their nature."
Lewis, who lives in Denver, began his battle against The Man as a young man raised by a single mother in Detroit.
"I realized early on that urban youth were born into misnomers about their identity and intelligence," Lewis says. "I refused to be another statistic and rejected the status quo."
In his book, "Stick It To The Man," Lewis provides a survival and reference guide about how to to outsmart The Man concerning education, finance, banking, travel, taxes and government.
Lewis says he wrote the book for the blue-collar consumer. He says his goal is to inspire hope, ingenuity and determination during a time when the nation is crippled by an ongoing recession, which he claims is The Man's fault.
While Lewis uses the written word to rebel against the powers-that-be, Bellingham resident Boris Budd uses his guitar and his voice.
Budd's vendetta with The Man began in the chilly months of fall 2004.
"Three things happened to me: I became legally blind, George Bush was re-elected to the presidency and the Red Sox won the World Series," Budd says. "After that, I had a fire inside of me and I needed to let it out in some way."
Budd says he used the anger and frustration he experienced during this period to write protest songs in the tradition of bands like Rage Against the Machine and The Clash. The songs were later recorded by his band, Boris Budd and The Waterboarders.
"We want the ultimate destruction of conservative politics and inequality," Budd says of his band's political agenda. "To me, 'sticking it to The Man' is like a war-a war of ideas-and the only way I can fight back out is [with] my songs."
Budd's band was recently featured in the pin-up section of What's Up! Magazine. The band's photo depicts Budd with his hands and feet bound to a flat surface with a cloth over his mouth and nose. Budd is shirtless and wearing a U.S. flag fashioned into an adult diaper while fellow band member, Shawnee Kilgore, pours a bong full of water down his throat. The flag is covered by a large black box with the word "censored" written across it.
"Most people say The Man is the white man in a suit," Budd says. "Which is true, but the real Man is on the news channel. That ticker tape at the bottom of the screen with the stock market numbers, that is The Man."
Lewis agrees with Budd's depiction of The Man. And Lewis says making money is The Man's top priority.
"The Man has always had an unfair advantage," Lewis says. "Consumers can cripple companies overnight by refusing to spend money with them. A recurring dream I have is of Americans cutting the blood supply to our greatest parasites: the IRS and U.S. government."
When thinking of who is on The Man's side, Budd says he is reminded of a speech by one of The Man's best friends, former President George W. Bush.
On Jan. 29, 2002, the former president gave his famous "Axis of Evil" speech. In that speech, Bush identified Iran, Iraq and North Korea as the biggest threats to world peace.
"The real axis of evil is organized religion, corporations and the politics of government," Budd says. "These things are all in The Man's realm. These are the people who shape policy, who sell a country on the concept of war. The Man is a great salesperson."
While The Man often dabbles in politics, Budd says he believes politicians are not necessarily The Man.
Budd admits to being somewhat hypocritical because he campaigned for Barack Obama in the 2008 presidential election.
"I campaigned for Obama because I believed in him," Budd says. "I still believe he will enact change, albeit a really slow change. It felt great to be a part of that revolution, and to me, that was sticking it to The Man, although we made a man into The Man."
Lewis remembers his greatest experience as an activist, when he co-organized the Internet's largest shareholder dispute against one of the nation's largest telecommunications companies, XO Communications, in 2001.
"Investors were angry about a backroom deal where the company agreed to a leveraged buyout," Lewis says. "I designed a Web site that attracted 2,200 investors with millions of shares outstanding. It was a messy fight."
Both Lewis and Budd say they will always be fiercely rejecting the social constructs created by The Man and his cronies, even though The Man has all the power and all the advantage.
They hope that one day, the power will be tipped in favor of the common man.
"All I can hope is that my music educates and informs people," Budd says. "Maybe 50 kids will show up to the show and hopefully at least some of them will become interested in what I sing about and learn more about it. The Man uses a gun to change minds. We, on the other side, use music and art."
© 2010 Klipsun