It is official Kno’Ledge Cesare Election Candidate Political Party Bijlmer Style!
From now on I will be officially participating as a candidate and running the local election on March 3rd 2010 with the Political Party Bijlmer Style for Amsterdam South-East. This means I will appear on the candidate list of Political Party Bijlmer Style and residents of Amsterdam South-East can vote for me under my birth name Jerry King Luther Afriyie.
If you would have asked me if I wanted to join politics three months ago, I would have taken it as a joke. Many people around me told me that I should do something with politics but I have always enjoyed the position I was in: staying on the sideline, watching and yelling at the people in the fighting ring. Magnificent!The Dutch population needs a watchdog like me. We work for the mass, share their love and pain and stand by them. I am, like many would describe me, a ‘conscious rapper’ and rather stay far away from the politics.
When Robert approached me, I had to think about it deeply. I had to let everything sink in.
After long consideration on career and as well as personal base, I said ‘yes’. Look, I am not Johan Cruijff: the loudest person to tell the Dutch National Soccer Team how to succeed yet being the person who runs away every time when asked him to prove it.
I know that there are many things that can be improved in the Bijlmer. Political as well as civil responsibility. Together we can change and improve so much more. I am delighted to be given the chance to represent my favourite part of town in the Netherlands.
This stage is bigger than every other stage in the Netherlands that I will ever tread upon.
The Bijlmer community has been punished for long enough now. We are fed up with the fact that until this day, in 2010, we are still being followed by our past. We are fed up of being troubled by unengaged civil representatives who cannot have anything done for the people of the streets because of their selfish aspiration chase to The Hague. How could it even be possible that, with all the big and multinational companies in the South-East area, so many scholars and students are still not able to find an internship? I do not have anything against these companies, but I am reluctant to those who are not willing to engage or be involved with the community they are settled in.
The difference between the Political Party Bijlmer Style and other parties is that we do not need a committee to do research on what we need to improve. We know what is going on. We are not the people who go to work in the Bijlmer and get back to our mansion in the suburb. We do not close our stores at 5.45 pm, leave the Bijlmer and go home loaded with money. We close our doors at home, in the Bijlmer. We live here. We are part of the South-East community.
We have lots of great ideas, but the idea that has triggered me most is the fact that the Political Party Bijlmer Style wants to engage with the youth for a 100 percent. The youth always had my interest because they are our future. If we are gone tomorrow, we will need good representatives. They will have to replace us, take over our duties. Therefore I would like to take this opportunity to say this to our youth, the future: I would be lying if I said that our ‘little party’ could change your life if we win the elections. We cannot do this alone. We need your cooperation to actually achieve things for you. We cannot hire the best teacher if you would rather stay home or hang out with your friends. There is time for everything in life. You can still hang out and have a good time with friends after school. Companies cannot reserve an internship for you if you rather hang out on the streets.
To the youth who are entitled to vote: If you vote for us on March 3rd, you are not only giving us, the party, a chance. You are giving yourself a chance as well. If you vote for the Political Party Bijlmer Style it will be the beginning of collaboration between you and us which is based on trust. We have to trust each other on delivering our parts of responsibility. That is the only way to move forward. If one of us gives up then the entire project is set to fail, just like we did in the past years. I am saying this because I am a realistic person. If you fail to fulfil your own agreements, then you should not be complaining on national television that people are letting you down. Politicians also have to keep the promises they have made or at least, do everything in their power to try to make it work. They cannot ignore the youth and assume that the high criminal rate in the South-East area is to be blamed on the ‘primitive mentality’, like we are underdeveloped people. Underdeveloped they are saying. We are coping with underdeveloped people because our civil representatives were leading an underdeveloped policy all this time. It is time for change. It is time for people to stand up for themselves. It is time for our civil representatives to keep their promises. It is time for us to come together as one and create a solution. It is time for the Political Party Bijlmer Style.
Thanks for all your support in advance.
Jerry King Luther Afriyie
Note: This public announcement was officially released on January 20th 2010. Original text was written in Dutch, English translation by LMY