Test Driven School Reform and Disengaging Working Class Youth

Filling In Bubbles:

Test Driven School Reform and Disengaging Working Class Youth

by Mark Naison | special to NewBlackMan

If I was going to figure out a plan to get working class youth to disengage from school, here would be my major components. First, I would make students sit at their desks all day and force them to constantly memorize materials to prepare for tests. Second, I would take away recess and eliminate gym. Third, I would cut out arts projects and hands on science experiments. Fourth, I would limit the number of school trips. Fifth, I would take away extracurricular activities like bands, and dance teams and talent shows and reduce the number of athletic teams, so that student’s energies could be exclusively concentrated on strictly academic tasks.

But wait a minute, isn’t that exactly what the dominant Education Reform movement in the United States is doing, from Secretary of Education Arne Duncan on down. Aren’t policy makers forcing schools to add more and more standardized tests and threatening teachers and principals with mass firings if their scores on those tests don’t go up, with the results that anything that isn’t test driven is eliminated from the school culture?

A Noose in the Locker Room: Racism Inside and Outside of the Santa Monica High School

Hank Willis Thomas: "Hang Time"

A Noose in the Locker Room:

Racism Inside and Outside of the Santa Monica High School

by David J. Leonard

It was likely just another day for a Santa Monica High (CA) student when he headed to wrestling practice. Entering the locker room, things were anything but “normal.” A noose was inside the room nearby a wrestling practice dummy (the specifics are unclear based on current reporting). When an African American wrestler entered the room, he was then accosted by two teammates. According to a report from the  Santa Monica Daily Press, “One grabbed him in what” was “described as a ‘bear hug,’ while the other slipped a lock through his belt loop and connected it to a nearby locker.” As they left the room, with the boy still attached to the locker, they shouted, “slave for sale.”

The noose, the reference to the boy as a “slave for sale” and the attack on the African American student did little to set off alarm bells from the school administration beyond damage control. According to the above newspaper account, they failed to notify the boy’s mother even while they contacted other parents connected to the wrestling team. Seemingly unconcerned about the impact of this attack on the boy, his family and the larger community of students of color at Santa Monica High School, their efforts appeared to be directed at helping (rather than punishing) and protecting the students who perpetrated these shameful acts. Some reported that at the request from school officials, pictures of the noose, for example, were erased from several student cell phones.

Disgusting, shameful, and yet another reminder of the illusion of a post-racial America, this instance is a telling reminder of the continuity of racism within twenty-first century America. The history of slavery, lynching, and racial violence stares us in the face. Yet, for some this instance tells us little about current racism. Despite the seriousness of the situation, it has received next to no media attention. In a city (Santa Monica and Los Angeles) where media has almost fixated on black-Latino tensions amongst students, it is revealing how small the media spotlight has been. Moreover, in wake of the tensions, communal problems, and the injustice directed at the Jena 6, it is troubling, to say the least, to see a school district take such a blaze approach to this hate crime (only after heightened pressure did the school district expand its response). Instead, there seems to be an attitude of confinement, an effort to isolate this incident as an aberration. Whether blaming it on athlete culture, male horseplay, or simply depicting the kids as “bad apples” who made a mistake, a portion of the reaction leaves one believing that this an isolated problem rather than symptomatic of a larger climate problem.

Tim Cuneo, the school’s outgoing superintendent,  offered the predicable rhetoric about the school’s commitment “diversity” and promoting “a positive environment.” Yet, the  rhetorical references to “horseplay,” “bullying,” and “harassment” with “racial overtones” leaves one wondering if the school does not have the historic understanding of racial violence – the historic meaning of the noose as an instrument of racialized terror. At the same time, the focus on the individual participants and the treatment of the incident as isolated erases the bigger issues here.

One has to look no further than the comment section on  Santa Monica Daily Press report to understand the larger issues in place. In an effort to counteract the narrative that depicts Santa Monica as a racial utopia where a couple kids made poor decisions, comments continually reference the immense double standards in the treatment of students of color and white students, tracking, and the differential levels of privilege and power afforded to students. One post makes this clear

Now I'm not at all condoning what happened back in 2006, but it's interesting to see the different reactions when the perpetrators are White and not another minority. The incident is swept under the rug and the students are let off with a slap on the wrist. Those two students should be prosecuted to the full extent of the law. There is NO reason why they should still be allowed to attend SAMOHI classes. We, the Black and Latino community of Santa Monica, are used to this second class citizen treatment by the SMMUSD and the city. The school district, the police department, and the city tried their hardest to eliminate the one member of the school board that stands up for our interests and works tirelessly to prevent incidents such as this.

Another comment also speaks to the broader issues in play and the treatment of students of color as 2nd class citizens, especially in comparison to white students who reap privilege each and every day:

Let's talk about what's really going on at Samohi, how about the Cambridge 3, 3 white girls get caught drinking and the board re-writes the no tolerance rule for them and they are allowed to participate in all senior activities. If a white parent screams about a cell phone that's been taken by a teacher 4 times because their child talks or text message in class the phone is given back no consequence. We get it rules only apply to students of color.

These powerful comments speak not only to the anger about this particular hate crime, but the systemic racism within the Santa Monica School District. A 2010 report from  the Santa Monica Daily Press found that “minority students in the Santa Monica-Malibu Unified School District continued to account for a disproportionate percentage of suspensions.” For example, at John Adams Middle School African Americans constituted 11 percent of the study body, but accounted for 25 percent of suspensions; Latinos were 52 percent of the school’s population yet 64 percent of those suspended. Compare these numbers of whites, who represented 34 percent of school’s student body, but only 11 percent of those suspended. Oscar de la Torre, a member of the School Board, described the report as evidence of the continued relevance of institutional racism. It shows yet again how “race and ethnicity are factors in the degree of punishment and also the degree of consequences for the same infractions.” 

The noose, and the attack on this student are two more examples of the persistence of institutional racism. Likewise, the inequality in terms of access to advanced placement classes is another example of the persistence of racism at a structural level. A 2007 report from the  Santa Monica Daily Press highlighted disparities between black and Latino students and white students in both enrollment and proficiency in advanced placement courses. As such, the horrific treatment of this student is not only a symptom of a larger issue at the high school, in the District, and within the community, but an outgrowth of a culture that empowers white students all while treating students of color as second-class citizens. 

While some have argued that this should have been a teachable for the students involved, teaching should never come at the expense of the others. It can be a moment of clarity, where we see the broader problems here and throughout the country. Santa Monica High is not alone here as all of these issues are national problems. Teaching Tolerance found that each and every year, 1:4 students reported falling victim to racial or ethnic mistreatment; same study found that 70% of female students have experienced sexual harassment with 75% of gay students reporting anti-gay slurs and treatment.

Racial bias and discrimination is equally evident in the application of suspension policies.  A study of New York schools found that while black children represent one-third of students, they account for over 50% of those suspended. “A national survey of high school students found that the number of students reporting the presence of security guards and/r police officers in schools increased from 54 percent in 1999 to 70 percent in 2003” (Sullivan 2007, p. 7).  According to a study by the  Applied Research Center (Oakland, California), black students have disproportionately endured the impact of zero tolerance policies. The study “reported higher than expected rates of suspension and expulsion for black students in all 15 major American cities studied” (Skiba 2000, p. 12). Even though white youth are more likely have used cocaine (7 times), heroin (7 times) and methamphetamine (6 times); even though white youth ages 12-17 are more likely to have sold drugs; even though white students are far more likely to whites to bring a weapon to school; blacks students face the daily repercussion in the suspension-schooling complex  (Wise 2000). 

In thinking about the varied treatment experienced by today’s students -- to suspend or not (eventually the two boys were suspended in this case); to call the police or not (only after the boy filed a complaint  did the police begin an investigation ); to treat an incident as a “teachable moment” or a moment of incarceration; or the ability to walk into a locker room without being subjected to racism – we see a school and a school district with two sets of rules, one for its white students and another for those treated each and every day as second-class citizens. What happened on May 4 was yet another example. It is no wonder that Jeannie Oakes,  in Racial & Ethnic Data in Schooling, identified Santa Monica High School as a place of “two schools,” one where college is likely, where advanced placement courses are commonplace, and where respect is a given to those white in attendance; the other is the school that houses black and brown youth. Unfortunately, when these two “schools” collided on this very day, the power and privilege of the one school once again illustrated the second-class citizenship that defines the other school.

***

David J. Leonard is Associate Professor of Comparative Ethnic Studies at Washington State University, Pullman. He has written on sport, video games, film, and social movements, appearing in both popular and academic mediums. His work explores the political economy of popular culture, examining the interplay between racism, state violence, and popular representations through contextual, textual, and subtextual analysis. He is the author of Screens Fade to Black: Contemporary African American Cinema and the forthcoming After Artest: Race and the War on Hoop (SUNY Press). Leonard blogs @ No Tsuris

Tony Cox: Helping Black Men Raise Failing Grades

Tell Me More w/Michel Martin | NPR

Helping Black Men Raise Failing Grades

by Tony Cox

Some thoughts about school and the struggles black kids face. Lots of folks with lots of experience have lots of opinions about what to do to better educate young African-American males. Harvard scholar Henry Louis Gates recently offered yet another glimpse into the issue, suggesting in a piece for the website The Root that the need is dire, which of course it is.

But for many of us in education — and to my mind that includes parents, family and friends — the problem is more than knowing what's needed. It's knowing how to get it done and make it work, how to get young African-American men not only interested but engaged in learning, and enjoying rather than dreading the journey. That requires a lot of commitment from them and from us, and there are no shortcuts.

Besides my work here at NPR, I am a tenured professor in broadcast journalism at California State University, Los Angeles. I primarily teach writing, and it troubles me to no end to see young black men struggle in my classes because they can't or don't see the value of an education and the effort required to obtain one. Records show black male students badly lagging in their graduation rates from colleges and universities. When we see them on campus, they often dress differently, speak differently, have different expectations, and in the classroom can sometimes be difficult to reach.

Denver Bronco David Bruton Teachers Math & Science During Lockout

Tell Me More | NPR

w/Michel Martin

As the NFL tries working through its lockout, one professional football player decided to teach youth from grades one through 12. In April, Denver Broncos safety David Bruton became a substitute social studies and math teacher at Jane Chance Elementary School and Miamisburg High School (his alma mater) in Ohio.

Bruton says he got the idea from his high school coach and teachers. Why did they think he was teacher material? Bruton says maybe it was because he performed well during his own high school and college years, and he had what it took to be a role model. His patience and persistence also helps, he says.

Black Music Month 2011: Patti Jo--"Make Me Believe in You" [A Tom Moulton Mix]

"We Invented the Remix": The Legacy of Tom Moulton and Philadelphia Soul 

After-dark Inquiry: Tom Moulton

Jimmer Fredette and the Fantasy of Reverse Discrimination

The Great White Hope?

Historic Amnesia: 

Jimmer Fredette and the Fantasy of Reverse Discrimination

by David J. Leonard | special to NewBlackMan

The 2011 draft brought cheers and optimism from teams across the nation. From the Cavs to Timberwolves, the NBA draft always provides a glimmer of hope for several of the NBA’s habitual losers. The celebratory tone was not limited to fans who concluded that this year’s player was the final piece of the puzzle, but found its way to those who saw hope beyond wins and losses with the entry of Jimmer Fredette into the NBA. Fredette, the leading scorer during the 2011 college basketball, was a highly honored point guard from Brigham Young University, having won Wooden Award, the Adolph Rupp Trophy, the Naismith Award, and the Oscar Robertson Trophy. Notwithstanding, Fredette has been positioned as a “great white hope,” a tribute to perseverance and fortitude who has worked to overcome his physical limitations and their stereotypes concerning white players.

In “ Fredette out to break NBA stereotypes ,” Ian O’Connor joins the celebration, ostensibly calling his entry into the NBA as a game changer. “In living color, Jimmer Fredette turned out to be a study in black and white, a prospect whose vertical leap was most valuable when he hurdled a stubborn stereotype and landed in the lottery of the NBA draft,” wrote O’Connor. Acknowledging his potential on the court, O’Connor focuses on the opportunities that transcend points, assists, and even wins/loses. “He could help change the unfortunate language of the NBA draft, one littered with racial code words that need to die a sudden and painful death.” His movement in the NBA potentially represents “a great moment for all right-minded fans, black and white, if it helps change the unfortunate language of sports.”

The argument that stereotypes about white basketball players represents an obstacle is nothing new. Yet, O’Connor takes the discussion to a new level, using a player who was drafted 10th overall (not to mention one who received endless media praise; every major college award) as an example of anti-white bias. In other words, what has he lost because of the stated stereotype (s/o Kenneth Carroll)? The 10th pick? Millions of dollars? Despite concerns about his defense and speed, not to mention shot selection, the level of competition he played against during college, whether or not he has a position in the NBA (point guard size with scoring guard mentality), and how has stats were inflated by the number of shots taken, he still was taken 10th in the draft. Stereotype or not, opportunities are abound for Jimmer Fredette.

Black Music Month 2011: Bassist/Producer Marcus Miller Remembers Miles Davis

from the JazzVideo Guy:

Bret Primack's 1998 interview with Marcus Miler. After a 30-year association with Columbia Records -- which had begun with 'Round About Midnight' way back in 1956 -- MILES DAVIS decided to sever ties with his old company and jump ship to Warner Bros. That was in 1986 and although a large amount of money helped facilitate his move, the iconic jazz trumpeter was in search of fresh musical inspiration. He found it in an unlikely source -- MARCUS MILLER, a 25-year-old Big Apple bass player who had first played with the 'Dark Magus' on his 1981 comeback album, The Man With The Horn. As Davis discovered, Miller was much more than a mere bassist -- he was a gifted multi-instrumentalist who could write, arrange and produce (he also had a parallel career in the R&B world as Luther Vandross's collaborator). Miller came up with Tutu, which with its reliance on synthesizers, drum machines and inclusion of pop elements and funky bass lines horrified many jazz critics. But it was an influential album and took Miles' music to a new generation of listeners.

Aishah Shahidah Simmons: "Reflecting Upon My Twenty-One Years Of Pride"

"I AM A FULL WOMAN"~ Rachel Bagby
Julie Yarbrough - photographer, Jennifer Ferriola - make -up, Summer Walker - stylist

Reflecting Upon My Twenty-One Years Of Pride

by Aishah Shahidah Simmons | special to NewBlackMan

For Michael (Dad), Cheryl D., and Wadia...

In Memory of Toni and Audre...

On the eve of the Pride parade in New York City, I reflect upon my very first New York Pride, which was in 1990. I was a very 'wet behind the ears,' 21-year old OUT 'Baby Dyke.' Wadia Gardiner, who was my first girlfriend as an adult, took me to the big city to celebrate PRIDE. That experience changed my life forever.

My being out as a LESBIAN is not solely political. It is literally and metaphorically about my own survival in the entity known as Aishah Shahidah Simmons in this lifetime. I will never ever condone my rape, which resulted in my pregnancy and abortion. At the same time, I know that my rape was connected to my deep seated internalized homophobia where I was a frightened teenager who literally thought I was going to be struck down by Allah (God). I can very vividly remember literally looking at the sky wondering when the striking would happen because of my attraction to women. I went to a high school (Philadelphia High School for Girls '231) where there were many of us who were either comfortable with or struggling through our queer identities. Equally as important there were many straight identified girls who were staunch allies of those who were/are queer. And yet, I still was terrified.

When I was eighteen in my senior year in high school struggling with my sexuality, Michael Simmons, my father, asked Cheryl Dowton, an out Black lesbian to talk to me about being a lesbian. My father didn’t want me to think that being a lesbian was a bad thing. Equally as important he didn’t want me to think that becoming a lesbian would mean that I would have to give up my racial identity. So it was extremely important to him that I have the opportunity to talk with a Black lesbian about all of my questions, anxieties and fears. Having the opportunity to talk with Cheryl allowed me to literally see that Black and lesbian were not contradictory identities. Even with my having a girlfriend in my senior year in high school, I was SO afraid that my connecting with Cheryl, didn’t enable me to fully embrace my authentic self until three year later.

"We Invented the Remix": The Legacy of Tom Moulton and Philadelphia Soul

"We Invented the Remix": 

The Legacy of Tom Moulton and Philadelphia Soul

by Mark Anthony Neal

“As the dance floor itself became a site where the African-American Diaspora reintegrated with itself, Gamble and Huff…created a soundtrack aimed at repairing and sustaining communal relations across the chasms of class and geography.”

—What the Music Said: Black Popular Music and Black Public Culture (1999)

For Kenneth Gamble and Leon Huff, Philadelphia International Records (PIR) was always more than a record company. Though they, along with Mighty Three publishing partner Thom Bell, were the most visible practitioners of “Philly Soul,” the music of PIR was as much a social movement; Gamble’s pseudo-political uplift narratives often finding a space on the album jackets of their artists and in the lyrics, he often wrote for those artists.

Artists such as The O’Jay’s (“For the Love of Money” and “Give the People What They Want”), Harold Melvin and the Blue Notes (“Wake Up Everybody” and “Be for Real”), the Intruders (“I’ll Always Love My Mama”) and McFadden and Whitehead (“Ain’t No Stoppin’ Us Now”) were the musical mouthpieces for Gamble and Huff’s belief that the “revolution” (spinning at 33 1/3 rpms) would be broadcast on radio stations and mixed on dance floors across the nation. Producer Tom Moulton, was a willing conspirator in Gamble and Huff’s dance floor revolution and Philadelphia Classics (originally released in 1977) showcased Moulton’s extended remixes of some of PIR’s most classic sides.

Moulton was first approached by Harry Chipetz, general manager of Sigma Sound Studios—where Gamble and Huff et al did most of their magic—to mix one of PIRs songs, as a way to introduce his skills to the duo. That song was People Choice’s bumping groove “Do It Any Way You Wanna,” notable because the song is one of the few PIR hits that lacks PIR’s signature string arrangements. It was also Chipetz, who suggested that Moulton embark on the full-length remix project that would eventually become Philadelphia Classics.

Black Music Month 2011: En Vogue | "Runaway Love"

Black Music Month 2011: Urban Soul | "The Millennium R & B"

Tags: VH1 Rock Docs, Reality TV Shows, Reality TV Shows 6

Urban Soul: The Making of Modern R&B
A film by John Akomfrah

Part Six: "The Millennium R & B"

A Meeting of Walkers: Rebecca and Kara

The Root's Rebecca Walker hangs out with renowned artist Kara Walker in Turin, Italy, and on Facebook, where they talk about everything from salty dark chocolate to their kids to why Kara's no apologist for anti-black racism.

The Italian Job

by Rebecca Walker | The Root

Kara Walker is tall, fashionable and reserved when I meet her in the lobby of the chic Residence Du Parc, a brutalist landmark of poured concrete adorned with iconic examples of modernist and postmodern art. Outside huge windows, Turin is celebrating itself: Italian flags drip from every window, flutter along every boulevard.

Kara wears flat leather oxfords, tights and a paper-thin leather jacket. She eyes me somewhat warily as I extend my arms for an embrace and launch into small talk, which I normally detest. Luckily, my bags have been lost and I indulged in a truly remarkable spa treatment the night before, so I have plenty to talk about.

Kara says little. She's been working on the installation of her show we're both here in Italy to support. The necessary projectors have not arrived. The show is to open in five days, and today we have to teach a class to art students. I sense she'd like to get back to the gallery, and the class is a distraction. She twirls her hair as we wait for the taxi.

At the class, the students are on fire. They've studied our work and want to know about memory and myth, the creative process and its demands. Kara and I sit behind a paint-splattered table and do our best. I'm jet-lagged but exuberant, thanks to a piping-hot cappuccino; Kara is laconic and soft-spoken. But then I see it -- a gentle smile, then a big laugh followed by a series of confident assessments of student work.

As the day wears on, we find a groove. We tag-team it, develop a rapport, give everything we can in the time allotted. Driving back to the Du Parc to recover and prepare for dinner, we talk about our kids. Hers is starting high school, into fashion, gorgeous. Mine is 6, getting ready for soccer camp, and I miss him with an ache I can't begin to put into words.

The next five days are a whirlwind of activity. We teach the students, I present my memoir Baby Love at Il Circolo dei Lettori on the same night that Jonathan Franzen reads from Freedom. I introduce Kara's show, A Negress of Noteworthy Talent, to a full gallery, and Melissa Harris-Perry and Jennifer Richeson follow up with talks about the black body and the neurological workings of prejudice. The press descends and recommends.

Later, I steal away to the Egyptian Museum. We dine at the home of Olga Gambari, the show's remarkable curator, and shop the Ballon, one of Europe's largest open-air markets, where I snag a fabulous Prada-esque red coat for five euros and a dress made of African wax cloth for 10, while Kara snaps pics of me on her iPhone.

Read the Full Essay @ The Root

Lisa Fager Bediako: Not About Rape, Not About Rihanna

Not About Rape, Not About Rihanna

by Lisa Fager Bediako | Special to CNN

(CNN) -- Rihanna's "Man Down" video was the motivation for Industry Ears -- a media watchdog group I co-founded -- to recently join forces with the Parents Television Council to hold media corporations, in this case Black Entertainment Television, accountable. We argued that the graphic violence aired in the video was inappropriate for the age group that makes up nearly half of BET's "106 & Park" video show's audience: 12- to 17-year-olds.

Our concern lies not with Rihanna as an artist, but with BET and its parent company, Viacom, as purveyors of violence. Over the last several weeks, however, I have witnessed our original concern with the video become twisted from a national discussion about protecting children into one of feminist empowerment and free artistic expression.

The first moments of the "Man Down" video show a man in a crowded train station being shot in the head and falling into a puddle of his own blood. This grisly image is, to us, the most questionable part of the video.

Our suggestion to BET is that they edit the "too graphic for kids" portion of this video, roughly the opening 45 seconds. We have all seen guns, drug paraphernalia, and T-shirt logos blurred out or whole scenes edited out of music videos that appear on music channels. MTV and BET routinely require record labels to edit videos, so why not this one?

Some argue that the discovery later in the video that the man being shot is a rapist, and that the woman shooting him is his victim, makes this depiction of violence acceptable. We disagree.

In his 30 years of viewing BET, Paul Porter, Industry Ears co-founder and former BET video programmer, says he has never witnessed "such a cold, calculated execution of murder in prime time." Cable television content is not regulated like broadcast television, but most cable networks have adopted the broadcast television standard of airing sexually explicit, violent and mature content after 10 p.m. and adding disclaimers, especially if the program attracts younger viewers. "106 & Park" airs weekdays at 6 p.m.

Read the Full Essay @ CNN.com 

***

 

Lisa Fager Bediako is president of Industry Ears and formerly worked for Capitol EMI Records, Discovery Communications, CBS radio and other entertainment media outlets.

Teach for America: A Failed Vision

Teach for America: A Failed Vision

by Mark Naison | special to NewBlackMan

Every spring without fail, a Teach for America recruiter approaches me and asks if they can come to my classes and recruit students for TFA, and every year, without fail, I give them the same answer: “Sorry. Until Teach for America changes its objective to training lifetime educators and raises the time commitment to five years rather than two, I will not allow TFA to recruit in my classes. The idea of sending talented students into schools in high poverty areas and then after two years, encouraging them to pursue careers in finance, law, and business in the hope that they will then advocate for educational equity rubs me the wrong way”

It was not always thus. Ten years ago, when a Teach for American recruiter first approached me, I was enthusiastic about the idea of recruiting my most idealistic and talented students for work in high poverty schools and allowed the TFA representative to make presentations in my classes, which are filled with Urban Studies and African American Studies majors. Several of my best students applied, all of whom wanted to become teachers, and several of whom came from the kind of high poverty neighborhoods TFA proposed to send its recruits to teach in.

Not one of them was accepted! Enraged, I did a little research and found that TFA had accepted only four of the nearly 100 Fordham students who applied. I become even more enraged when I found out from the New York Times that TFA had accepted 44 out of a hundred applicants from Yale that year. Something was really wrong here if an organization who wanted to serve low income communities rejected every applicant from Fordham who came from those communities and accepted half of the applicants from an Ivy League school where very few of the students, even students of color, come from working class or poor families.

Why Clarence Clemons Matters to Race Relations

Why Clarence Clemons Matters to Race Relations

by Ben Mankiewicz | Huffington Post

Iconic is a wildly overused word, but the cover photo of Born to Run -- Bruce Springsteen grinning and leaning on Clarence Clemons' broad shoulder -- is a powerful and memorable picture, one that meets the standard for iconic rock n' roll images. And its status is rooted in the beautiful story that picture tells.

You've got this enormously talented, giant black man -- literally "The Big Man" -- saxophone between pursed lips, essentially supporting Springsteen. The look on Bruce's face is honest and authentic, a genuine moment captured in a photo shoot. There's a giddiness in Bruce's smile: "I'm working with my friend," he seems to be saying, "and our music has never been better."

The photo made an instant impact on me, long before their music did.

I was eight when Born to Run was released and that image meant a hell of a lot more to me than anything my teachers could tell me about race. It sealed a point my brother Josh, now a Dateline correspondent, made a few years earlier.

This is an embarrassing story, one I'm hesitant to tell, but remember, I was five years old. We were playing Nerf basketball with Josh -- who is 12 years older -- on his knees so we'd be close to the same height. He blocked my shot or stole the ball or otherwise foiled one of my vintage mid-70s Elvin Hayes Washington Bullets moves. And then I called him an N-word. I'd clearly heard it at school and recognized it as an insult. I had no earthly idea what it meant, but boy was I about to find out.

Within milliseconds Josh was up off his knees, hands grasping my shoulders, picking me up and placing me on the bed. "You never, ever say that to anyone," he said. "That's something very bad white people say to black people when they want to be mean on purpose. It's about the worst thing you can say." I remember crying hysterically at this point because my brother never yelled at me, which could only mean I had done something seriously wrong.

When I had calmed down, I remember asking him about the equivalent, what does a bad black person say to a white person? "There really isn't one," he said, refusing to simplify a complicated issue. "They might say 'honky,' but it's really not the same thing."

Since I still remember the conversation roughly 35 years later, I'd say my brother's "teaching moment" was successful.

And three years later -- on the cover of one of the greatest albums ever released, one of the first records I owned -- was the next step in my education about race relations in America, a shot of a black guy and a white guy, clearly good friends, working together to make something great.

Critically, it delivered a subtle lesson to impressionable young rock n' roll fans. Nobody was beating us over the head with a mallet of racial unity. It's not that those messages shouldn't have been delivered, but kids have a tendency to tune out words of wisdom from overly earnest After School Specials. Instead, you had Clarence playing his sax and Bruce somewhere between a knowing smile and laughing, conveying a sense that this friendship between black and white, this artistic collaboration, wasn't such big a deal.

Being told that black people and white people were equal was one thing. Being shown it was something else.

When Born to Run solidified Bruce as one of the great artists of his generation, the photo took on even more symbolism. The second single from album is "Tenth Avenue Freeze Out" (Number 4 on my list of the Top 25 Springsteen songs, compiled last fall), which Bruce regularly calls "the story of the E Street Band." It's a joyful song, brimming with optimism, and it has one of the lines that matters most in the Springsteen catalog, words that regularly draw thunderous cheers in concert, "When the Change Was Made Uptown and the Big Man Joined the Band."

Obviously, Clarence's impact on the band will last forever. And his impact on how I -- and others, I'm sure -- view race in America will last a lifetime. 

***

Ben Mankiewicz is host, Turner Classic Movies.

Black Music Month 2011: Urban Soul | "Ghetto Fabulous | The Post Soul Generation"

Tags: VH1 Rock Docs, Reality TV Shows, Reality TV Shows 6

Urban Soul: The Making of Modern R&B
A film by John Akomfrah

Part Five: "Ghetto Fabulous | The Post-Soul Generation"

Trailer: Jamel Shabazz, Street Photographer (dir. Charlie Ahearn)

Trailer for Jamel Shabazz feature documentary by Wild Style director Charlie Ahearn.

Ask a Sista: Black Women Muse on Politics, Policy, Pop Culture and Scholarship

fstv2 on livestream.com. Broadcast Live Free

NetRootsNation 2011
Ask a Sista: Black Women Muse on Politics, Policy, Pop Culture and Scholarship

Featuring:

Jenifer Daniels | @thefriendraiser
Zerlina Maxwell | @ZerlinaMaxwell
Janee Bolden | @JaneeTMB
Cheryl Contee | @ch3ryl
Chloe Hilliard | @ChloeHilliard
Dr. Goddess (Kimberly Ellis) | @drgoddess

Starting in Jerusalem: A Word About the Black Church

Starting in Jerusalem: A Word About the Black Church

by CJ Rhodes | Special to NewBlackMan

Friday's "village forum" about what congregations can do about the war on drugs was amazing. Our presenters raised our consciousnesses and invited us to think critically and compassionately about what we can do to make maximum impact.

The discussion period prompted some interesting thoughts not only about strategies for congregational engagement, but also about the complications of movement building with diverse communities. A couple of comments emerged about the centrality of (black) churches in our conversation. Some participants felt that having a conversation about strategies and solutions that were limited to how black churches should get involved was parochial and isolating. Thus, an invitation to interracial and interfaith dialog and witness was given. As a means of public reflection, I would like to share with you a few thoughts I have about that.

First, though I'm deeply rooted in my Southern Afro-Protestant formations (namely, Baptist, United Methodist, and Pentecostal), I've long been committed to a cosmopolitan vision of the beloved community. My spiritual, intellectual and cultural journey led me through ecumenical Christianity, Judaism, Islam, Buddhism, and various Western and Eastern philosophies. I have deep roots and wide wide branches and believe that any justice journey must ultimately lead us to the liberation and flourishing of all peoples.

Second, I believe that many of the solutions and strategies needed to promote holism, shalom, justice for any group would only be enriched by diverse conversations and philosophies. Thus, any movement needs the creative tension of racial, cultural, religious, gender, etc., diversity to help us be as sustainably and creatively transformative as possible. I know my own witness to human flourishing has been deepened by my encounters with other beliefs, perspectives, and worldviews.

Third, since we live in a pluralistic society, we need persons who can speak in tongues, as it were, people who can communicate to many different audiences in many different ways.

That being said, I must also state the following:

As a black man from the South, a native son of Mississippi, I'm ever convinced that black Americans, particularly but not exclusively black Christians, have to embrace our agency and collective self-determination. This doesn't mean that non-blacks or non-Christians can't help us. I encourage allies to help us wage war against the powers. But for the sake of our collective dignity, worth, and genius, we need to see intelligent, creative, passionate, engaged people that look like us making a difference. We have to know, our children need to know, that despite the myths of black inferiority, we are black, beautiful, bold, brilliant, and blessed!

Also, the black church, a central spiritual, cultural, and political institution in our communities, must be born again and remember its first love. As a black pastor of a historic black church, and as a public theologian, I am moved to invite black churches to revival and reform, so that our spiritual genius may indeed bring faith, hope and love to our worlds. Many pastors and congregations gravely underestimate the power--both spiritual and otherwise--that we possess. We could turn our cities upside down if we understood that.

Indeed, I desire for any and all persons to partner with the African American community in any endeavor. I also want more of "us" to understand the global contexts in which we live and strive. But we can't neglect the blessed gifts that we can offer ourselves and others. We must see ourselves the way the Creator does and stand tall enough to reach the crowns of glory and honor that hover over our heads. 

 ***

CJ Rhodes is Senior Pastor at The Historic Mt Helm Baptist Church. He Studied MDiv at Duke University

Nolan & Sydney Smith Honor Their Father Through Foundation

The Family of the Late NBA player, Assistant Derek Smith

Treats Every Day Like Father’s Day

by Liz Clarke | The Washington Post

Derek Smith taught his son that great basketball players never take a play off. He taught him that no amount of money, fame or possessions could ever mean more than family.

And in the years following Derek Smith’s death, at 34, of an undetected heart defect, Nolan Smith, then 8, developed an expertise that no one wants: How to go on without a father who reached his massive arms up to heaven the day his children were born and rearranged the universe with them at its center.

In so many ways, Nolan and Sydney Smith have followed in their father’s footsteps, learning from their mother, Monica, and Derek’s former NBA teammates and proteges (Johnny Dawkins and Juwan Howard chief among them) the type of man he was and the values he would have wanted at their core.

Sydney, now 25, graduated from Louisville, where a gym is named for her father, who helped lead the Cardinals to the 1980 NCAA championship.

Nolan chose Duke to be closer to “Uncle Johnny” — then-associate head coach Johnny Dawkins — a former teammate of Derek’s on the Philadelphia 76ers. Like his dad, Nolan helped lead his school to an NCAA championship, in 2010. On Thursday, he’s expected to follow his father once again when his name is called in the NBA draft.

But before drawing his first NBA paycheck, Nolan and his sister are doing something to give their loss meaning, establishing a foundation to help children who have lost a loved one. Through the  Sydney & Nolan Smith Foundation, they’ll personally mentor a handful of boys and girls each year while trying to help a larger group through camps and other events. They’ll help with college scholarships, as well, and provide retreats and counseling for grieving single parents.

Whole Foods Parking Lot

Flying While Sagging

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RIP Clarence Clemons

RIP Clarence Clemons

(and the kozmic significance of the ordinariness it all)

by Bob Davis | Soul-Patrol.com

I have written about Clarence Clemons many times in the past, however it has never been enough. I say that simply because people like him simply never get quite enough credit because their accomplishment is in the extraordinary manner that they go about doing what should be ordinary, but isn't.

1973 - FRESHMAN ORIENTATION

Next fall my daughter will be a college freshman. That means later this summer, she will be attending something called "freshman orientation." Here in the Davis household the topic of "freshman orientation," has been the topic of much conversation over the past few days. The passing of Clarence Clemons takes me back to my own "freshman orientation," at the University of Pittsburgh way back in 1973.

Freshman orientation is supposed to be a period of time when you as the recent high school graduate, but not yet college freshman can be introduced to your selected institution of higher learning in earnest. You get to live in the dorms, you get to learn about the administrative procedures in registering for classes, you get to learn about the support system available to you at the institution and more. It is designed to assist you with the transition between high school & college. I am all but certain that they vary from college to college, yet are all designed to be somewhat similar.

In 1973 my freshman orientation at the University of Pittsburgh was all of the above, strongly enhanced by something else that was quite unexpected, and yet at the same time something quite significant. You see perhaps because it was 1973 or perhaps it was the University of Pittsburgh or perhaps for reasons that I am completely unaware of, the memory of my own freshman orientation of almost 40 years ago is completely filtered thru the haze of "sex, drugs & rock n' roll." And at the very center of that "haze" is Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band.

You see the University of Pittsburgh has arranged for Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band to perform in nearby Schenley Park for what seemed like morning, noon and night for all 4 days of freshman orientation. Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band were onstage performing whenever I happened to be in the park (which was as often as I possibly could be…..LOL)

The first thing that I noticed was that while the band was integrated, the crowd was almost 100 percent white. The music however seemed rooted in 1950's/1960's R&B and Doo Wop, so it was "retro." Yet at the same time it was contemporary and fresh. During that freshman orientation weekend I returned to that park many times, because I dug the whole scene (it was much like I had envisioned Woodstock to have been,) yet each time I returned, I was stunned by the fact that while there were many Black students attending freshman orientation weekend, almost none of them were in the park. One one occasion I did see a Black student in the park and we sought each other out. His name was Kevin Amos, who has been my friend ever since that day and whose name you will recognize from his many contributions to Soul-Patrol.com over the years.

Forgotten Fathers: Parenting and the Prison Industrial Complex

Forgotten Fathers: 
Parenting and the Prison Industrial Complex

by David J. Leonard | special to NewBlackMan

Happy father’s day to all the fathers and grandfathers, but especially to those in Attica, San Quentin, Angola, and countless other prisons throughout the United States. For many, this is a day of celebration, of happiness and reflection. It is a day where kids give their dads homemade gifts and extra-special hugs. While everyday as a parent brings smiles and laughter, it is day where it is hard not to feel special as a dad. Yet, it should also be a day of reflection, where we as a society think about those who are unable to celebrate as a family. I am speaking about those among us who as  Angela Davis laments have disappeared from the public imagination: incarcerated fathers.

According to a report entitled  “Children of Incarcerated Parents,” in 2007 America was home to 1.7 million children (under 18) whose parent was being held in state or federal prison – that is 2.3 percent of American children will likely be celebrating father’s day away from dad. Despite hegemonic clamoring about family values, the prison industrial complex continues to ravage American families. Since 1991, the number of children with a father in prison has increased from 881,500 to 1.5 million in 2007. Over this same time period, children of incarcerated mothers increased from 63,900 to 147,400. Roughly half of these children are younger than 9, with 32 percent being between the ages of 10 and 14.

The problem is even more pronounced when looking at Black and Latino fathers. The numbers are startling: 1 in 15 black children lives away from their parent because of incarceration. For Latinos that number is 1 in 41, compared to 1 in 110 for white children. For incarcerated African Americans (1 in 3 black men are currently in prison, jail, on probation or parole), father’s day isn’t simply a day of disconnect from their sons and daughters, grandsons and granddaughters, but one that highlights their separation from their own fathers and entire family. 

Daddy's Record Collection

Mark Anthony Neal pays homage to his father's record collection. Neal is a professor with the Department of African and African American Studies at Duke University and author of New Black Man: Rethinking Black Masculinity.

How Did You Learn To Be A Father?

Do We Lower the Bar for Black Fathers?

Do We Lower the Bar for Black Fathers?

by Mark Anthony Neal | @NewBlackMan

I am a better father, than I am a husband; or at least that is what has been affirmed to me, if I am to gauge such things by the number of compliments that I receive from friends and passer-bys. Indeed it’s been so easy to believe the hype, as strangers react in amazement when I show any hint of nurturing, affection or playfulness with my two daughters. I used to strut around thinking I was doing something exceptional; twelve years of parenting and decades of critical attention to the discourses that frame contemporary Black masculinity have taught me that such affirmation is borne out of a belief that Black men play little role in the lives of their children. In a society that expects so little from them, Black fathers often get celebrated for doing exactly what they are supposed to do as parents.

I thought about all of this, when the Today Show recently did a story about the positive impact of horseplay between fathers and children. It’s not new research; I cited the decade-old research of Ross Parke and Armin Brott (Throwaway Dads: The Myths and Barriers That Keep Men from Being the Fathers They Want to Be) in my book New Black Man (2005), paying particular attention to the effects play with fathers has on the self-esteem of daughters. I can’t think of a father that doesn’t find such activity one of the most pleasurable experiences of parenting, especially with young children; such play is still a vital part of my relationships with both of my daughters. I can imagine play with fathers becoming one of the pillars of a normative American fatherhood, along with providing security and discipline.

Yet, regardless of race, the expectations associated with fatherhood are far less dynamic than those that we expect of mothers, so much so that there are even institutional impediments that discouraged men from fully engaging in parenting responsibilities beyond those that are viewed as normal.