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DMV artists and activists will unite on the West Lawn of the U.S. Capitol Building on Thursday, July 15  to edu-tain an audience about the importance of political participation and the need for D.C. citizens to have full voting rights in Congress.

Backyard Band, Uptown XO and RaTheMC (of Kenny Burns’ Studio 43), Black Cobain, Fattrell (of Wale’s Board of Administration), Rasi Caprice, Phil Ade (of Raheem DeVaughn’s 368 Music Group), K-Beta, and PHZ Sicks are providing the soundtrack.

“Congress wants to put unregulated guns on the streets of D.C., including assault rifles, and we can not let that happen,” said Johnny Barnes, one of the event organizer’s and Executive Director of the American Civil Liberties Union of the Nation’s Capital.

“Congress tries to tell us how to live and tell us how to die, by deciding how we spend our own money and by interfering and intervening in our laws.”

The speakers and entertainers will present the virtues of D.C. Statehood and will protest the proposed Gun Amendment that Congress is seeking to impose on the D.C. Voting Rights Bill.

“This free concert and teach-in is a great opportunity, especially for young people, to raise their voices and make clear their interests,” said Barnes.  “I expect it to be an evening where people learn, get involved and hopefully, Congress listens,” concluded Barnes asCongress is scheduled to be in session during the event.

The scene will be captured as part of, “HoodStock,” a documentary project being produced by local media firm, N’KOSI.

“’HoodStock’ is about developing a sustainable market in the District through the lens of Hip-Hop,” said producer, Sia Tiambi Barnes. “In our research, we found that it is fundamentally impossible to sustain environmentally, economically, without first hearing from the community. And isn’t that the purpose of our democracy – for the people, by the people? How can we campaign for democracy around the world when we turn a deaf ear to the voices of our own nation’s capital?”

For more information, log on to n-kosi.com.