The Caltech Y Social Activism Speaker Series Presents: Boots Riley, Social Activist and Front Man of The Coup

FREE, no tickets required

** Reception with the speaker after the event **

Boots Riley is a musician, vocalist, writer, social activist, and public speaker known for being the front man and producer of the political hip hop group The Coup, and the front man of Street Sweeper Social Club (with Rage Against the Machine's Tom Morello).

For decades, Boots Riley has been an integral part of the progressive struggle for radical change through culture. At a young age Boots served on the central committee for the Progressive Labor Party. He was the President of InCAR (International Committee Against Racism), and organized to build California's Anti-Racist Farm Workers' Union.

In 2000, through his workshop on Art and Organizing at La Peña Cultural Center, Boots Riley led a group of young artists to create "Guerilla Hip-Hop Concerts" on a flatbed truck, which traveled throughout Oakland to protest California's Proposition 21. The workshop also distributed tens of thousands free cassettes of "The Rumble", which he called "newspapers on tape". Boots Riley taught a daily high school class, "Culture and Resistance: Persuasive Lyric Writing", at the School of Social Justice and Community Development in East Oakland.

In 2001, Rage Against the Machine and Audioslave guitarist Tom Morello invited Riley to be part of the "Tell Us the Truth Tour". The tour was meant to shed light on alleged monopolization of the media and the coming FTAA agreements. It featured acoustic performances by Riley, Morello, Billy Bragg, Steve Earle, Mike Mills and Jill Sobule. The tour was hosted by Janeane Garofalo and Naomi Klein.

Riley also spoke out against the bombing of Afghanistan as well as the war in Iraq in various local and international news media, such as Bill Maher's "Politically Incorrect," Fox News' "Hannity and Colmes," and on "Democracy NOW!"  Riley has been featured and interviewed in various international media, speaking on a variety of subjects from music, to grassroots organizing, to US imperialism and racism. Recently winning awards from the AFL-CIO for his participation with the Tell Us the Truth Tour, Riley continues to effect social change through his artistic and political work.

The views expressed by the speaker are solely those of the speaker. Presentations do not necessarily reflect the opinion of the California Institute of Technology, or Caltech Y Social Activism Speaker Series Committee and should not be taken as an endorsement by these groups.