The Liberator Magazine is a quarterly print publication started by Brian Kasoro, Gayle Smaller, Tazz Hunter, Kenya McKnight, Marcus Harcus and Mike Clark in Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA. The first issue was published July 21, 2002. Currently Brian Kasoro and Kamille Whittaker serve as co-editors, with Stephanie Tisdale and Melvin Barrolle as associate editors.

Originally known as The Minneapolis Liberator , the publication's name was later changed to The Liberator Magazine. It has also expanded onto the internet with a daily weblog.

The official mission of the publication is "to help preserve humanity by creating and supporting excellent spaces of dialog that provide fresh and forceful analysis and critique of art, culture, education, and politics."

Circulation

The Liberator Magazine is distributed mainly in the United States but also has a global presence.

United States: Minneapolis, Washington D.C., New York, Atlanta, Chicago, Los Angeles, Philadelphia

Europe: London

Africa: Nairobi, Dakar, Kampala, Johannesburg

Featured interviews

The Liberator Magazine has featured interviews with:
Al Franken

Al Franken

Alan Stuart "Al" Franken is the junior United States Senator from Minnesota. He is a member of the Minnesota Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party, which affiliates with the national Democratic Party....

, Askia Toure, Brent "Siddiq" Sayers (founder of Rhymesayers Entertainment

Rhymesayers Entertainment

Rhymesayers Entertainment is an independent hip hop record label based in Minneapolis, Minnesota, co-founded in 1995 by Sean Daley, Anthony Davis, Brent Sayers and Musab Saad....

), Brother Ali

Brother Ali

Ali Newman , better known by the stage name Brother Ali, is an American hip hop artist signed to Rhymesayers Entertainment.-Personal life:...

, Cee-Lo

Cee-Lo

Thomas DeCarlo Callaway , better known by his stage name Cee Lo Green, is an American singer-songwriter, rapper, record producer and actor...

, Chuck D

Chuck D

Carlton Douglas Ridenhour , better known by his stage name, Chuck D, is an American rapper, author, and producer. He helped create politically and socially conscious rap music in the mid-1980s as the leader of the rap group Public Enemy.- Early life :Ridenhour was born in Queens, New York...

, Cody Chesnutt

Cody ChesnuTT

Cody Chesnutt is an American R&B and neo soul musician.-Biography:Cody Chesnutt is an African American musician from Atlanta, Georgia, whose music blends elements of rock, funk, soul, hip hop, and blues. Chesnutt and his former band, The Crosswalk, had a brief stint with Hollywood Records in which...

, Don Samuels, Game Rebellion, Grandmaster flash

Grandmaster Flash

Joseph Saddler better known as King Grandmaster Flash, is an American hip hop musician and DJ; one of the pioneers of hip-hop DJing, cutting, and mixing....

, I-Self Devine, James Spooner

James Spooner

For the railway engineer, see The Spooners of PorthmadogJames Spooner is the director of Afro-punk, a documentary film exploring race identity in the punk scene. He produced his film mostly out of New York, having had no previous training in film...

, Jeff Chang (journalist)

Jeff Chang (journalist)

Jeff Chang is an American journalist and music critic on hip hop music and culture. His 2005 book, Can't Stop Won't Stop, which chronicles the early hip hop scene, won an American Book Award in 2005...

, J Davey, Kara Walker

Kara Walker

Kara Walker is a contemporary African American artist who explores race, gender, sexuality, violence and identity in her work. She is best known for her room-size tableaux of black cut-paper silhouettes, such as The Means to an End--A Shadow Drama in Five Acts.-Biography:Walker was born in...

, Kevin Willmott

Kevin Willmott

Kevin Willmott is a professor of film at the University of Kansas and a movie director known for work focusing on black issues including writing and directing Ninth Street, C.S.A.: The Confederate States of America and Bunker Hill....

, K'naan

K'naan

K'naan , born Keinan Abdi Warsame in 1978, is a Somali Canadian poet, rapper, singer, songwriter and instrumentalist.-Biography:Born in Somalia, K'naan spent his childhood in Mogadishu and lived there during the Somali Civil War, which began in 1991. His aunt, Magool, was one of Somalia's most...

, K-os

K-os

Kevin Brereton , better known by his stage name k-os , is a Canadian rapper, singer, songwriter and record producer...

, M-1 (rapper)

M-1 (rapper)

Mutulu Olugbala also known by his stage name M-1 is a rapper, activist and author known for his work as one half of the political hip hop duo Dead Prez along with his friend stic.man...

 (of Dead Prez

Dead Prez

Dead Prez stylized as dead prez is a hip hop duo from the United States, composed of stic.man and M-1, formed in 1996 in New York City, New York. They are known for their confrontational style, combined with socialist lyrics focused on both militant social justice and Pan-Africanism...

), Malidoma Patrice Some

Malidoma Patrice Some

Malidoma Patrice Somé is a West African writer. He was born in Dano, Burkina Faso, among the Dagara.At the age of four he was kidnapped by Jesuit missionaries, to be raised in their boarding school, and given an education. The missionaries were attempting to train black Africans who might convert...

, Method man

Method Man

Clifford Smith , better known by his stage name Method Man is an American hip hop artist, record producer, actor and member of the hip hop collective Wu-Tang Clan. He took his stage name from the 1979 film The Fearless Young Boxer, also known as Method Man. He is one half of the rap duo Method Man...

, Mumia Abu-Jamal

Mumia Abu-Jamal

Mumia Abu-Jamal was convicted of the 1981 murder of Philadelphia police officer Daniel Faulkner and sentenced to death. He has been described as "perhaps the world's best known death-row inmate", and his sentence is one of the most debated today...

, Nathalie Johnson-Lee, Nikki Giovanni

Nikki Giovanni

Yolande Cornelia "Nikki" Giovanni is an American poet, writer, commentator, activist, and educator. Her primary focus is on the individual and the power one has to make a difference in oneself and in the lives of others. Giovanni’s poetry expresses strong racial pride, respect for family, and her...

, Runoko Rashidi

Runoko Rashidi

Runoko Rashidi is a writer and public lecturer based in Los Angeles. His academic focus is on "the Black foundations of world civilizations". Many of his claims are incorrect, however, as evidenced by various anthropological and DNA studies...

, Saul williams

Saul Williams

Saul Stacey Williams is an American poet, writer, actor and musician known for his blend of poetry and alternative hip hop and for his leading role in the 1998 independent film Slam.-Biography:...

, Stic.man

Stic.man

Khnum Muata ”STIC” Ibomu or Clayton Gavin, better known as stic.man, is an American emcee, activist and author known for his work as one half of the political hip-hop duo dead prez.-History:...

 (of Dead Prez

Dead Prez

Dead Prez stylized as dead prez is a hip hop duo from the United States, composed of stic.man and M-1, formed in 1996 in New York City, New York. They are known for their confrontational style, combined with socialist lyrics focused on both militant social justice and Pan-Africanism...

), Talib kweli

Talib Kweli

Talib Kweli Greene , better known as Talib Kweli, is an American hip-hop artist and poet from Brooklyn, New York. His first name in Arabic means "student" or "seeker" ; his in Swahili means "true"...

, The Slack Republic, Whodini

Whodini

Whodini is a hip hop group that was formed in 1981. The Brooklyn, New York-based trio consisted of vocalist and main lyricist Jalil Hutchins; co-vocalist John Fletcher, aka Ecstasy ; and turntable artist DJ Drew Carter, aka Grandmaster Dee.-Early years:Whodini was among the first hip-hop groups to...

Featured topics

The Liberator Magazine has featured articles on: Ability Grouping In Public Schools, Affirmative Action, Civil Rights, Film, Gay Marriage, Gun Control, Hip Hop Historiography, Homelessness, Hurricane Katrina, Imperialism, Immigration, Literature, Love & Relationships, Music, Parenting, Philosophy, Police Brutality, Political Theatre, Race, Reparations, Sudan, Visual Art, Welfare, White Identity, Zimbabwe and more...

Events

The Liberator's writers and editors have sponsored several community events: Twin Cities Community Forum (August 19, 2006) , Live From Planet Earth

Current editors

• Brian Kasoro - Co-Editor
• Kamille Whittaker - Co-Editor
• Kadiri Barrolle - Associate Editor
• Stephanie Tisdale - Associate Editor
• JonJon Scott - Music Editor
• Anthony Gayle - Film Editor
• Danielle Scruggs - Visual Art Editor
• Mike Wilson - Literature Editor
• Joseph Lamour - Art Director

External links

• Official site for The Liberator Magazine