Video: 'California, Help us Save the Water'

This morning in my Geography class, we got to watch movies.


Screenshot of "Save the Water" by Qwest.

Besides the amazing graphics in Earth: The Biography, the highlight was a music video created by a student that took the class last fall.

"Save the Water," by Qwest (aka Wesley McAfree) is a catchy ballad about saving one of Earth's most precious resources; water. "Water is so precious, we use it for everything," Qwest sings. "To wash our clothes, cook our food, and keep our bodies clean."

Filmed live on location at the Lake Merritt Channel – and even in Mark Rauzon's Geography class – the video should be on East Bay MUD's website.



Besides the fact that I go to Laney College (where the video was filmed) and I'm currently enrolled in the course the video was produced for, there's another symbolic message for me.

Seeing a Black man singing about a major environmental justice issue – access to water – in a HipHop style video featuring a group of Black men is all apart of reframing the 'Green Movement." The Environmental Movement, with its origins in the Conservation efforts of folks like John Muir, is largely seen as a "White Only" movement.

Green is not white. We can all be green, live green, go green, truly!

And I don't care if you're Black, Brown, Yellow, or Blue with Orange Stripes, you need water to survive.

Not only does this video explain California's water crisis and the need to preserve water, but, for me, it highlights the virtues of community college education. A place where learning is innovative, creative and superlative.

Of course, I'd be we can't forget Mos Def's classic, "New World Water."

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