NewBlackMan

"Somebody Here is Lying and it's not POTUS"--James Braxton Peterson on MSNBC

2012-01-27T06:32:00.002-05:00

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

James Braxton Peterson is Director of Africana Studies and Associate Professor of English at Lehigh University and the author of the forthcoming Major Figures: Critical Essays on Hip Hop Music (Mississippi University Press). Follow him at @DrJamesPeterson.

Our Eyes Witnessed: On People of Color in the United States and The Palestinian BDS Movement

2012-01-26T22:09:00.000-05:00

Our Eyes Witnessed:

On People of Color in the UnitedStates and The Palestinian BDSMovement

by Darnell L. Moore & Lisa Weiner-Mahfuz | special to NewBlackMan

Colorlines recently featured a story entitled“TheIsrael Lobby Finds a New Face: Black College Students,” which highlightedthe American Israeli Public Affairs Committee’s(AIPAC) recruitment of young black and brown college students to support their Zionistagenda.

According to AIPAC’s website, they recruit “[o]n campuses acrossAmerica—from Ivy League universities, to small liberal arts colleges, toHistorically Black and Christian schools,” as a means to help students, “findtheir voices in support of a strong U.S.-Israel relationship.”

The success of recruitment and propagandaefforts, like that of AIPAC, might be a result of Israel’s efforts to focusattention on its ostensibly progressive track record of human rights whileconveniently overlooking its human rights and international law infringementsas it relates to its treatment of Palestinian people and possession ofPalestinian land. Some critics citeIsrael’s attempt to “pinkwash”, or wipe away its violations againstPalestinians by illuminating its receptivity of LGBTQI people.

In the case of black and brown students, itseems that a similar phenomenon may be occurring. The focus on Israel’s seemingstellar record of human rights and progressive practices are again used as aploy of distraction: a means of shifting the public’s attention away from theoccupation of Palestine and in the direction of its record of justice.

For instance, in an article in The Jerusalem Post titled, “Blackstudent leaders slam 'apartheid' characterization,” a representative of theVanguard Group, which is a “leadership development academy and honor societyfor top students,” provided the following in response to the pro-Palestineadvocacy work of Students for Justice in Palestine, “[L]abeling of Israel, anextremely diverse and vibrant country, as an apartheid state is not only false,but offensive.” The representative went to state that such claims “are highlyobjectionable to those who know the truth about the Israelis’ record on humanrights and how it so clearly contrasts with South Africa’s.”

But whose truths, which truths arerepresented in the hegemonic discourses shaping the thoughts of students ofcolor like those represented in the Vanguard Group?

AIPAC’s intentional targeting of black andbrown college students, in particular, should raise suspicion among those whoare concerned about the Israeli occupation of Palestine. As two organizers ofcolor, who work against anti-Semitism and anti-Arab racism and who recentlyreturned from a visit to Palestine/Israel, we are deeply troubled by AIPAC’sactions.

In fact, we believe that the occupation ofPalestine is a struggle that all people of color should recognize as our own.Why?

Throughout our recent journey to Palestineas members of the first queer delegation, we witnessed the connections betweenwhat our communities have—and continue to face—in the US and those faced byPalestinians at the hands of the Israeli government. And we believe that it isimportant that people of color in the US know what the occupation of Palestinelooks like.

We were reminded in our witnessing of thebrutal hands of Jim Crow segregation, the 500 years of colonization anddisplacement of First Nations people and land, the state-sanctioned policing ofbodies and borders, the “redlining” of neighborhoods, the prison industrialcomplex, and multiple forms of environmental injustice as they have manifestedin the US. These are daily realities of our past and present that people ofcolor are familiar US. They are realities that Palestinians are quite familiar,as well.

Systems of Apartheid

We also witnessed strong parallels betweenthe state-organized system of apartheid in South Africa and the occupation ofPalestine. We rely on the stories of Palestinians and the testimonies of otherslike Bishop Desmond Tutu, who stated aftervisiting Israel, "It reminded me so much like what happened to us blackpeople in South Africa. I have seen the humiliation of the Palestinians atcheckpoints and roadblocks, suffering like us when young white police officersprevented us from moving about” to support this claim.

According to Leila Farsakh, an AssistantProfessor of Political Science at University of Massachusetts Boston, thesystems of apartheid formally employed by the South African government and thatpresently used by the Israeli government have different historical and socialcontexts but share striking similarities. Farsakh notes, “Despite their initialdifferences, apartheid South Africa and the Israeli-Palestinian conflict havebecome similar since 1993.”

Apartheid, as it took shape in South Africaand other places throughout the globe, is a system of racial and ethnicseparation that has been defined by theinternational community as a “crime against humanity” that include thefollowing acts:

The inhumanetreatment and capricious arrest of members of a racial group;

The deliberateconditions used to impact the living conditions of a racial group;

The advancing of legislativemeasures that are harmful politically, socially, economically and culturally;

The measures thatdivide the population along racial lines by the creation of separateresidential areas for racial groups;

The prohibitionof interracial marriages; and the persecution of persons opposed to apartheid.

There are many cases of acts like these committedby the hands of the Israeli government against Palestinians as evidencedthrough the many testimonies of Palestinians that we spoke with. To be sure, theApplied Research Institute in Jerusalem(ARIJ) and the Land Research Center(LRC) maintains a log of dailyreports tracking human violations as an initiative of its joint MonitoringIsraeli Colonizing activities in the Palestinian West Bank and Gaza program.

Recently, Israel'sSupreme Court even uphelda law banning Palestinians who marry IsraeliArabs from obtaining Israeli citizenship and/or residency rights. Many humanrights groups have decried the court’s upholding of this racist law.

Striking Similarities

Much of our own first-hand accounts ofwitnessing this occupation will sound strikingly familiar to the dehumanizingsegregationist practices used in the US and elsewhere:

We went to Sheik Jarrah, the site ofone of the largest Israeli settlements in the Palestine territories. Mostsettlements are gated communities with manicured lawns, pool facilities,shopping centers, schools, light rail service and garbage collection. They arepristine and full of services like uninterrupted water and electricity.Directly cross the street from this settlement is the massive Palestinianrefugee camp named Sho’fat.. Thecamp has 17,000 people. It hasintermittent water and electricity, almost no municipal services, two schoolsand one doctor. All sides of therefugee camp are policed by the Israeli army. The contrast between these“neighboring communities” in East Jerusalem was banal.

A 760 km (470mile) apartheid wall, gates,guns, fences, identification cards, colored-coded license plates, and over 700military guarded checkpoints are all used to control every aspect of Palestinianlife and mobility. Families have been separated for decades by walls and facesevere restrictions on mobility. We went to Qalandia check point, which is oneof the most brutal checkpoints in Palestine. Here is what we saw: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VSIe_WbewnI&feature=related.

Displacement and segregation are strategiescommonly used by the Israel government in Palestine. In Hebron, for instance,we witnessed the tools of Jim Crow segregation at work where a few of the mainstreets were lined with concrete barriers and others used soley by Israelisettlers. We watched as Palestinians were forced to walk on one side of thebarrier while the Israeli’s walked freely on the other. In other villages, likeAlWallajeh, we stood on barren land where an entire community onceflourished. We learned that Palestinians will demolish their own homes and communitiesto avoid paying fees to the Israeli government to do it; In order to avoid thesevere financial penalties, many Palestinians take the situation into their ownhands and demolish their own homes.

Without conflating the particularities ofour experiences, it’s important for us as US based people of color tounderstand that the occupation of Palestine is like the system of apartheidthat devastated South Africa, the racist Jim Crow system that still affectspeople of color in the US today and the sustained colonization of First Nationsland and people. Israel will argue that such actions are security procedures.We contend that such actions are dehumanizing and create the atmosphere forviolence. We must and find our common paths of solidarity. Our mutual survival depends upon it.

A Case for Supporting the Palestinian CivilSociety’s Boycotts, Divestment, and Sanctions Movement

On July 9, 2004, the InternationalCourt of Justice (ICJ), the primary judicial arm of the United Nations,offered an opinionon the illegality of the construction of the Israeli separation wall in the OccupiedPalestine Territories. Israel continued to build its wall, despite the opinionof the ICJ, and continues to do so today.

In response to this and other violations ofinternational law, members of the Palestinian civil society called for acampaign of boycotts, divestment and sanctions (BDS) as a means to apply thepressure of the international community on Israel to follow the rule ofinternational law.

The Palestinian BDS campaign callsfor three ends:

1. That Israel end its occupation andcolonization of all Arab lands occupied in June 1967 and that Israel dismantles its Wall;

2. That Israel recognizes the fundamentalhuman rights of its Arab-Palestinian citizens to the fullest extent of equality;and

3. That Israel respect, protect and promotethe rights of Palestinian refugees to return to their homes and properties asstipulated in UNResolution 194.

Many will recall, that a sustained campaignof boycotts, divestment, and sanctions against the South African government wasinstrumental in bringing an end to apartheid in South Africa in1994.

The history of the South African movementagainst apartheid is a great example of an unarmed, sustained movement againstsystematized oppression. We have those lessons to guide the Palestinian BDSmovement.

“Palestinians and their supporters abroad woulddo well to take the South African resistance movement into account whenrethinking their political vision and resistance strategy,” as Farsakhadmonishes. In fact, Palestinian civil society has already embraced BDS as aprimary strategy.

Given the dehumanizing conditionsperpetuated by the occupation of Palestine by the government of Israel, webelieve that the Palestinian BDS movement, which aims for the end of occupationand colonization, the full recognition of the human rights of Palestinian people,and Palestinian’s right of return as provided in UN Resolution 194, is acampaign that people of color should support.

BDS is an unarmed resistance movement ofthe international civil society that is anti-racist, anti-Zionist,anti-imperialist. It is a movement aligned with the struggle for liberation ofpeople of color in US and all people.

We call upon our brothers and sisters ofcolor in the US to stand in solidarity with the Palestinian movement forself-determination. Our strugglesagainst white supremacy and imperialism across the globe are linked. We must dothe hard work of witnessing one another’s struggles so that we can be effectiveand knowledgeable allies across those struggles. Falling prey to the Israeligovernment’s Zionist project works against all of our interests. Let us worktogether to stop this occupation and the US governments long history ofsupporting and financing of it. As a quote from an aboriginal woman so aptlystates “If you have come to help me you are wasting your time. But if you havecome because your liberation is bound with mine, than let us work together.”

For more information on the Palestinian fight for self-determination,please visit the following:

Palestinian Campaign for BDS: http://www.bdsmovement.net/

Statement of the African HeritageDelegation: http://www.ifpb.org/africanheritage/statement.html

Israeli Committee Against HouseDemolitions: http://www.icahd.org/

Jewish Voice for Peace: http://jewishvoiceforpeace.org/content/jvp-mission-statement

***

Darnell L. Moore is a writer and activist who livesin Brooklyn, N.Y. Currently, he is a Visiting Scholar at the Center for theStudy of Gender and Sexuality at New York University.

Lisa Weiner-Mahfuz is the co-founder of intersections/intersecciones consultingwith Lisbeth Melendez Rivera. Weiner-Mahfuz’s writings can be found in Colonize This! YoungWomen of Color and Feminism (Seal Press, 2002), Fireweed Magazine's “Mixed RaceIssue” (Issue 75), and through on a Web-based project titled BustingBinaries,which she co-authors with Ana Maurine Lara.

Classic Material: Happy Birthday Angela Davis

2012-01-26T08:24:00.000-05:00

Barry Callaghan Interviews Angela Davis in California Prison, 1970.

Trailer: Barber of Birmingham--Foot Soldier of the Civil Rights Movement

2012-01-25T19:29:00.002-05:00

Barber of Birmingham: Foot Soldier of the Civil Rights Movement

Mr. James Armstrong is a barber, a “foot soldier” and a dreamer whose barbershop in Birmingham, Alabama has been a hub for haircuts and civil rights since 1955. “The dream” of a promised land, where dignity and the right to vote belongs to everyone is documented in photos, headlines and clippings that cram every inch of wall space (and between the mirrors).

GAIL DOLGIN, Director/Producer

ROBIN FRYDAY, Director/Producer

Legendary Philly Songwriter & Producer Bobby Eli is in 'The Colored Waiting Room'

2012-01-25T13:42:00.000-05:00

Grammy award winner Bobby Eli is waiting with us in The Colored Waiting Room.

Trailer: Wilmington on Fire (The Wilmington Massacre of 1898)

2012-01-24T22:44:00.000-05:00

"Serious damage was done to the soul of the town. That's why folks want to turn it around. Now is the time to make up for the crime. To help our children learn from our mistake. To ensure that there will be no more 1898."- Excerpt from the poem "Wilmington Massacre of 1898" by Larry Reni Thomas

ABOUT THE PROJECT:
"Wilmington on Fire" is a feature-length documentary that will give a historical and present day look at the Wilmington Massacre of 1898 and how the descendants of the victims of the event are asking for legal action in regards to compensation / reparations. The Wilmington Massacre of 1898 was a bloody attack on the African-American community by a heavily armed white mob on November 10, 1898 in the port city of Wilmington, North Carolina. It is also considered one of the only examples of a violent overthrow of an existing government (coup d'etat) and left countless numbers of African-American citizens dead. This event was the spring board for the white supremacy movement and Jim Crow (segregation) throughout the state of North Carolina, and the American South.

The purpose of the film is to educate and bring awareness to people of all racial, cultural and economic backgrounds on the importance, significance of this event in history and to present the story from an African-American perspective. This incident is barely mentioned and has been omitted from most history books. It was not until 2006, after the North Carolina General Assembly published a report on it, that the tragedy become known to the public. It was supposed to be a secret, and it was for over 100 years. The film features interviews from historians, authors, activists and actual descendants of the victims of the Wilmington Massacre of 1898.

SCHEDULED TO APPEAR IN THE FILM:
Larry Reni Thomas - Larry Reni Thomas is an author/radio announcer and activist. He is also the founder of ICROW, Inc. (International Organization for Compensation and Reparations for the Victims of the Wilmington Massacre of 1898).

Lewin Manly - Lewin Manly is the grandson of newspaper editor Alex Manly. Alex Manly was a prominent black figure in Wilmington and was forced to leave Wilmington in 1898 after his office building was burned down by a white mob.

Faye Chaplin - Faye Chaplin is the great-granddaughter of Thomas C. Miller. Thomas C. Miller was a prominent businessman and property owner in Wilmington and was forced to leave Wilmington in 1898.

Mary Alice Jervay Thatch - Mary Alice Jervay Thatch is the owner of The Wilmington Journal, one of the oldest black weeklies in the nation.

William Darity Jr. - William Darity Jr. is a Professor of African-American Studies and Economics at Duke University.

Umar Johnson - Umar Johnson is a Nationally Certified School Psychologist who practices privately throughout Pennsylvania and lectures throughout the country. He is considered an authority on mental health in the Black community.

Al McSurely - Al McSurely is a legal advisor for the North Carolina NAACP.

MEET THE TEAM:
Christopher Everett (Director + Writer + Producer) - Check out his recent project "The Laurinburg Institute Est. 1904" (preview trailer) at: http://www.vimeo.com/1761543
Christopher Everett is an actor, writer, director and producer. He has a degree in Graphic Design from King's College in Charlotte, NC. He recently finished his first documentary short entitled "The Laurinburg Institute Est. 1904" on a historic African-American Boarding & Day School in his hometown of Laurinburg, NC. Christopher has also starred in many commercials throughout the south east and indie films such as the award-winning narrative short “On My Last Breath”.

Pete Chatmon (Executive Producer) - Check out his media + marketing collective Double7 Images at: http://double7images.com/
Pete Chatmon is an award-winning filmmaker across several platforms. He wrote, produced, and directed "Premium", starring Dorian Missick and Zoe Saldana and "761st", narrated by Andre Braugher, and has directed several short films, original webseries, and branded content for ad agencies. Double7 Images, his media+marketing collective, exists to give businesses, brands, and entrepreneurs a fighting chance in a marketplace crowded with distracting media noise.

Donte' Lee (Cinematographer) - Check out his cinematography work at: http://vimeo.com/donte
Donte' Lee has experience in film, music videos and commercials. His music video experience includes videos for artists such as Shaggy, Calvin Richardson, Tamer Hosny, and Paper Tongues. His commercial experience includes commercials for Rubbermaid and Saber Grills. His recent feature film work includes indies “Jimmy” and “9 Ball”.

Matthew Head (Composer) - Check out his film composer work at: http://www.matthewheadproductions.com/
With over six years of scoring experience, Matthew has found much success in the realms of film and video. His composition credits include numerous scores for movies, documentaries, and even commercials. Working with The Horne Brother’s production company, Matthew served as the Music Supervisor and Composer for their films Kissing Bandit and The Start of Dreams. Matthew has also worked with Dapa Entertainment composing the music for their documentary I am a Dream Chaser. Extending his abilities, he has worked closely with the Atlanta Journal-Constitution marketing team providing music for their commercials.

Ja'Nese Jean (Music Supervisor) - Check out her music at: http://www.facebook.com/janesejean
Talk about a musician that embodies every aspect of music, you’re talking about Ja’Nese Jean. Artist, Vocal Producer and Music Supervisor, Ja’Nese Jean is a Triple Threat. Ja’Nese Jean’s dream is to inspire the masses through music, and for that reason, it’s important for her to be well skilled and knowledgeable in multiple aspect of the musical realm. She’s a Songwriter/Composer with ASCAP, a member of NARAS, and AGMA. She’s also a classically trained coloratura Opera diva, and humanitarian amongst many other things.

Jesse Kale (Still Photographer) - Check out his IMDB page at: http://www.imdb.com/name/nm3960520/
Jesse Kale has wanted to work in film since the first time he watched John Carpenter's The Thing. Since that first viewing he's attended the UNC School of the Arts, worked on Extreme Makeover Home Edition, is an intern for Instinctive Film and is about to start work on producing his first short film. He currently attends UNCW for Communication.

WHAT WE PLAN ON DOING WITH THE PROJECT:
Once completed, we plan on entering the film in major + small film festivals around the country. We will also have screenings (with Q&A) throughout the state of North Carolina. After the film makes its run through festivals and screenings, we plan on distributing the film independently through retail + cultural shops and online.

WHY WE NEED YOUR HELP:
Our goal is to raise $3,100.00 in 30 days. We are trying to get through production and the money raised will be used for film crew + travel expenses (to finish conducting interviews). You will be rewarded for pledging to this project via film credit, copy of the DVD, movie posters, t-shirts, etc. As we shoot and the deadline draws closer, we will keep you posted on the progress of the film and any other updates. We tried to go for the "GUSTO" (raise the full budget) the last campaign but we were unsuccessful (see the 1st campaign here: http://www.indiegogo.com/wilmingtononfire). We have decided to fundraise in 2 stages with this being the "Production" fundraising stage and after this will be the "Post-Production" fundraising stage.

REWARDS FOR DONATING TOWARDS THE PROJECT:
$10.00 - A special thank you + "shout out" on the film's facebook & twitter pages

$25.00 - Teaser Poster (11 x 17) + a special thank you + "shout out" on the film's facebook & twitter pages

$50.00 - Copy of the DVD (once completed) + Teaser Poster (11 x 17) + a special thank you + "shout out" on the film's facebook & twitter pages

$75.00 - Limited Edition "Wilmington on Fire" T-Shirt + Copy of the DVD (once completed) + Teaser Poster (11 x 17) + a special thank you + "shout out" on the film's facebook & twitter pages

$100.00 - Copy of the DVD (once completed) + Limited Edition "Wilmington on Fire" T-Shirt + 2 Teaser Posters (11 x 17) + a special thank you + "shout out" on the film's facebook & twitter pages

$500.00 (5 available) - Associate Producer credit + 1 free pass to the premiere in Wilmington, NC (TBA) (travel + lodging not included) + Copy of the DVD (once completed) + Limited Edition "Wilmington on Fire" T-Shirt + 3 Teaser Posters (11 x 17) + a special thank you + "shout out" on the film's facebook & twitter pages

$1,000.00 (3 available) - Executive Producer credit + 2 free passes to the premiere in Wilmington, NC (TBA) (travel + lodging not included) + Copy of the book "Rabbit! Rabbit! Rabbit!: A Fictional Account of the Wilmington Ten Incident" + Copy of the DVD (once completed) + Limited Edition "Wilmington on Fire" T-Shirt + 3 Teaser Posters (11 x 17) + a special thank you + "shout out" on the film's facebook & twitter pages

Join the official facebook page at: http://www.facebook.com/wilmingtononfire

Follow the official twitter page at: http://twitter.com/wilmington1898

You can view the teaser trailer on Youtube at: http://youtu.be/9toV2-zDWkA

You can view the teaser trailer on Vimeo at: http://vimeo.com/33422710

Take ACTION! and sign the petition "Endorse Compensation for the 1898 Wilmington Massacre Victims" at:
http://www.change.org/petitions/the-general-public-endorse-compensation-for-1898-wilmington-massacre-victims

Please, help spread the word and share this amazing film project with all your friends + followers. Thank you!

Sampling Again: Shawn Carter and the Moynihan Report Remix

2012-01-24T08:17:00.000-05:00

SamplingAgain: Shawn Carter and the Moynihan Report Remix

byDavid J. Leonard | NewBlackMan

Ihave resisted the temptation to write about the media spectacle surrounding therecent birth of Blue Ivy Carter. The obsession has been striking on so many levels: (1) it seems to reflect a desire to represent Shawn Carterand Beyoncé as royalty. Their cultural visibility and powerreaffirms a narrative about the American Dream and post racialness. Blue IveyCarter becomes evidence of multi-generational wealth; her arrival in the worldaffirms the American Dream as Beyoncé and ShawnCarter now have millions of dollars AND the prescribed family structure (notsure about dog and picket fence). (2) There also seems an investment in constructing hip-hop as growing upas evident by a politics of respectability and through a patriarchal nuclearfamily. The media discourse has imagined a family (or children) as thenecessary step toward becoming an adult.

MarkAnthony Neal brilliantly reflects on thisparticular aspect, noting how the media has constructed Carter as ushering in anew era for hip-hop. “There are of course other examples of rapperswho do take parenting seriously.” More importantly, Neal works to disentangle lyrical flow fromparenting:

To be sure,writing a song about your daughter is the easy part. Fathers are often laudedfor the more celebrated aspects of parenting: playing on the floor, piggybackrides, the warm embraces after a long day at the job. Mothers, on the otherhand, are often faced with the drudgery of parenting, like changing soileddiapers, nursing, giving up their careers to be stay-at-home moms, and thecriticism that comes if they don’t live up to societal notions of what “good”mothering is.

Thecelebration of Shawn Carter’s fatherhood and the lack of commentaries regardingBeyoncé as a mother are telling on so many levels. At one level, it reflects the erasure of mother’s labor, asnoted by Neal. Yet, at anotherlevel it reflects the desire to stage yet another referendum on black fathersand mothers within the public discourse. For example, Joanna Mallory recently penned: “Jay-Zanthem to fatherhood is music to the ears of black leaders and family advocates.” Arguing that, “72% of African-Americankids are raised without a dad,” Mallory celebrates the birth of Blue IveyCarter because she inspired her dad to write “Glory:

“But she isalso rich in love, as Jay-Z exults in his song “Glory.” The best part? A lot ofother babies are going to benefit. Because Jay-Z’s ecstatic reaction to being adad will be the strongest boost yet to a growing movement in the blackcommunity encouraging responsible fatherhood.

Concludingthat the song is a necessary remedy for absent black fathers is emblematic ofthe media discourse here: sensationalistic, simplistic, and wrapped up in anarrative of distortions, misinformation, and stereotypes. It is yet another reminder thosecritics should not wax sociological.

Havingalready written about this in regards to Colin Cowherd and Touré, I thought I might just recycle partof the “Blaming Black Families” piece, albeit with a little remix (I swappedout Cowherd’s name for Mallory). The fact that critics, politicians, and the public discourse continuallyrecycles the same fallacious and troubling argument mandates that I merelyrecycle my work as well.

Theefforts to recycle the Moynihan report, to define father as naturaldisciplinarian and mother’s nurturing, to link cultural values to familystructures, and to otherwise play upon longstanding racial stereotypes, isstriking.

Firstand foremost, the idea that 71% of black children grow up without fathers is atone level the result of a misunderstanding of facts and at another level themere erasure of facts. It wouldseem that Ms. Mallory is invoking the often-cited statistics that 72% of AfricanAmerican children were born to unwed mothers, which is significantly higherthan the national average of 40 %. Yet, this statistic is misleading and misused as part of a historically definedwhite racial project.

Firstand foremost, children born into an unmarried family is not the same is growingup without a father. In fact, onlyhalf of African American children live in single-family homes. Yet, this again, only tells part of thestory. The selectiveinvoking of these statistics, while emblematic of the hegemony of heterosexistpatriarchy, says very little about whether or not a child grows up with twoparents involved in their lives. Accordingto the Fragile Families and Child Wellbeing Study, a sizable portion ofthose children born to single mothers are born into families that can bedefined as “marriage like.” 32% ofunmarried parents are engaged in ‘visiting unions” (in a romantic relationshipalthough living apart), with 50% of parents living together without beingmarried. In other words, the 72%says little about the presence of black fathers (or mothers for that matter).

Likewise,this 72% number says very little about the levels of involvement of fathers(and mothers), but rather how because of the media, popular culture andpolitical discourses, black fatherhood is constructed “as an oxymoron” allwhile black motherhood is defined as “inadequate” and “insufficient.” According to the introduction for The Myth of the Missing Black Father,edited by Roberta L. Coles and Charles Green,

It would beremiss to argue that there are not many absent black fathers, absence is onlyone slice of the fatherhood pie and a smaller slice than is normally thought.The problem with "absence," as is fairly well established now, isthat it’s an ill defined pejorative concept usually denoting nonresidence withthe child, and it is sometimes assumed in cases where there is no legalmarriage to the mother. More importantly, absence connotes invisibility andnoninvolvement, which further investigation has proven to be exaggerated (aswill be discussed below). Furthermore, statistics on children’s livingarrangements also indicate that nearly 41 percent of black children live withtheir fathers, either in a married or cohabiting couple household or with asingle dad.

Countlessstudies substantiate the fallacies that guide claims about absentee blackfathers. For example, while blackfathers are the least likely to be living with or married to the mother, theyare much more likely to be involved and engaged with their children.

Forinstance, Carlson and McLanahan’s (2002) figures indicated that only 37 percentof black nonmarital fathers were cohabiting with the child (compared to 66percent of white fathers and 59 percent of Hispanic), but of those who weren’tcohabiting, 44 percent of unmarried black fathers were visiting the child,compared to only 17 percent of white and 26 percent of Hispanic fathers (in Colesand Green).

Intotal, Mallory misrepresents reality, once again recycling a narrative aboutabsentee black fathers and ineffective black mothers. In other words,“non-residence” is not the same as being absentee; it says nothing aboutinvolvement and the quality of parenting.

Mallory’sfocus on “bad parents,” her efforts to blame parents, her desire to reimagineblack families as places where fathers are not invested in raising children, afact that could change if they listen to “Glory,” is both a fallacy based inracial assumptions and one that lets society off-the-hook. It puts the onus on black fathersrather than a criminal justice system that has systemically broken up blackfamilies. AsI noted previously:

According toa report entitled “Childrenof 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 2.3percent of American children will likely be celebrating father’s day away fromdad. Despite hegemonic clamoringabout family values, the prison industrial complex continues to ravage Americanfamilies. Since 1991, the numberof children with a father in prison has increased from 881,500 to 1.5 millionin 2007. Over this same timeperiod, children of incarcerated mothers increased from 63,900 to 147,400. Roughly half of these children areyounger than 9, with 32 percent being between the ages of 10 and 14.

The problemis even more pronounced when looking at Black and Latino fathers. The numbers are startling: 1 in 15black 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. . .

Thesystematic efforts to break-apart families, destroy communities, and separatefathers and mothers from their children is a direct result of the incarcerationof drug users. According toAlexander, as of 2005, 4 in 5 drug arrests were for possession by individualswith no history of violence; in the 1990s alone, a period that saw a massiveexpansion of America’s war on drug users, 80 percent of those sent to prisonwere done so for marijuana possession. Yet, again we see how this is not a war on drugs or even illicit druguse, but use within the black community even thoughwhites are far more likely to use illegal drugs. In a number of states, between 80 and 90 percent of all drugconvictions have been of African Americans.

Inhis “99 problems,” Jay gives voice to this new Jim Crow (Michelle Alexander’s work),

In my rear view mirror is the mother fuckin' law
I got two choices y'all pull over the car or (hmmm)
Bounce on the devil put the pedal to the floor
Now i ain't tryin' to see no highway chase for Jay
Plus i got a few dollars i can fight the case
So i...pull over to the side of the road
i heard "Son do you know what i'm stoppin' you for?"
Cause i'm young and i'm black and my hats real low
But do i look like a mind reader sir, i don't know
Am i under arrest or should i guess some mo'?
"Well you was doin fifty-five in a fifty-four"
"License and registration and step out of the car"

Ofcourse he is not alone, part of hip-hops efforts to give voice and challengethe racism of America’s war on drugs—aka the war on black America, black families, mothers, fathers, andchildren. It isn’t simply aboutsymbolic gestures or “role models,” but challenging both the lies and thesystems that produce the new Jim Crow.

***

David J. Leonard is Associate Professor in the Department of CriticalCulture, Gender and Race Studies at Washington State University, Pullman. Hehas written on sport, video games, film, and social movements, appearing inboth popular and academic mediums. His work explores the political economy ofpopular culture, examining the interplay between racism, state violence, andpopular representations through contextual, textual, and subtextualanalysis. Leonard’s latest book After Artest: Race and the Assault on Blackness will bepublished by SUNY Press in May of 2012.

Left of Black S2:E16 | ‘Blackness’, Professional Sports and the #Occupy the Academy Movement

2012-01-23T17:42:00.000-05:00

Left of Black S2:E16

‘Blackness’, ProfessionalSports and the #Occupy the Academy Movement

w/ Bomani Jones, ProfessorDavid J. Leonard and Professor James Braxton Peterson

January 23, 2012

Host and Duke UniversityProfessor Mark Anthony Neal is joined via Skype© by David J. Leonard and in-studioby Bomani Jones. Leonard is an associate professor in the Department ofCritical Culture, Gender, and Race Studies at Washington State University atPullman and the author of the forthcoming After Artest, Race and the Assaulton Blackness (SUNY Press). Jones is a journalist, sports commentator, formerhost of The Morning Jones and a well-known contributor to ESPN’s Aroundthe Horn and Jim Rome is Burning. The trio discuss responsesand effects of the recent 2011 NBA lockout and how it relates to race. Leonard and Jones highlight how branding defines basketball’s popularity andthe irreplaceable value of the sport’s greatest athletes. Lastly, theconversation touches on the comparison between how fans value the NFLdifferently than the NBA.

Later,Neal is joined via Skype© by James Braxton Peterson, director of AfricanaStudies and associate professor of English at Lehigh University. A frequentcontributor to MSNBC, Peterson addresses the impact of scholars who reach wellbeyond the Academy. Neal and Peterson also discuss the scholarly impactof the #Occupy Movement asexpressed in Peterson’s recent HuffPost Black Voices article, “#Occupythe Academy.”

***

Left of Black is a weekly Webcasthosted by Mark Anthony Neal and produced in collaboration with the John Hope Franklin Center at Duke University.

***

Episodes of Left of Blackare also available for download @ iTunes U

‘Affirmative Action,’ ‘Black’ GPAs and the Discourse(s) of Black Intellectual Inferiority

2012-01-22T22:44:00.000-05:00

‘Affirmative Action,’ ‘Black’ GPAs and the Discourse(s) of Black Intellectual Inferiority

by David J. Leonard | NewBlackMan

The racial culture wars (i.e. the demonization of black students) are once again raging on college campuses. A recent study authored by Peter Arcidiacono, Ken Spenner, and Esteban M. Aucejo concludes that African American students are less qualified and academically prepared to succeed at Duke University. “What Happens After Enrollment? An Analysis of the Time Path of Racial Differences in GPA and Major Choice” cites evidence of African Americans switching from science (STEM) majors to easier liberal arts majors as evidence for a lack of preparation.

According to a group of Duke Alumni, “The study opens with a bold statement that affirmative action admissions in higher education allow for the college admission of minority students who have 'weak' preparation for college-level work. This implies that students of color are not as intelligent or prepared as their white counterparts.” The study is thus not simply an assault on affirmative action and the struggle for diversity on college campuses, but an effort to reassert notions of white superiority. “What many people of color discovered upon entering those previously closed corridors was not white superiority but, for the most part, white mediocrity. Now, to preserve such a system, what is often brought up is the mediocrity of blacks and other groups of color who enter,” writes Lewis Gordon. “What is not brought up, however, is the group of blacks and brown people who were excluded on the basis of their excellence. The prevailing view in predominantly white institutions about such candidates is fear of whether such candidates are ‘controllable.’” Leaving readers with the conclusion that blacks are not controllable (and thus not desirable), the study has dangerous implications.

In relying on and working from a series of stereotypes and accepted narratives, the study fails to answer a number of questions that points to both its deficiencies and its danger:

How does the study define blackness; does it differentiate between first generation African immigrants or students whose family have been in the United States? Does it account for class differences? In talking about SAT courses, and preparation, how does it account for educational inequalities, such as differential resources, access to SAT preparation courses, and the availability of advanced placement courses and countless other examples that point to the ways in which racism produce an uneven playing field?

How does the study account for extracurricular activities, demands of work, student involvement, and engagement with the community? Are there differences between different disciplines? How does it account for the ways that the demands of life, and the potential involvement of students as organizers, community leaders, athletes, artists, and active citizens differs between the sciences and the liberal arts, and the potential impact on grades? How does it explain high rate of entry for black students in STEM majors and how does it account for high exit rates?

In failing to actually talk with students and learn from their experiences, in an effort to understand how the institutions and higher education is potentially failing, the authors instead explain once again put the onus back on black students. Offering a narrative that focuses on “qualifications,” “work ethic,” educational unpreparedness, the authors not only deploy a dominant white racial frame that consistently images whites as superior and deserving, and blacks as inferior and therefore undeserving, but erases the meaningful ways that racism and white privilege operate in contemporary society

The study works from a premise that sciences are harder, demand more study time, and are more demanding; the evidence provided for each of these claims is lower grades amongst students despite greater academic preparation. The authors argue at great lengths – “and perhaps related to the differences in grading practices, students are working harder in natural science and economics classes and perceive these classes to be more challenging than classes in the humanities and social sciences”—that African American students are fleeing from harder classes and majors because they cannot handle them. Without any evidence, such claims should give pause on a number of levels. The assumptions here are extensive as the authors provide little evidence that these classes are harder or more demanding; the authors merely recycle the assumptions that Schwarz Reflection Principle and Heisenberg Uncertainty Principle are far more challenging to students than understanding the use of metaphors by Shakespeare and Ellison, analyzing Ferdinand de Saussure’s idea of signifier and signified within The Matrix, or applying the theories of Karl Marx, Max Weber and Walter Rodney to globalization.

At the core, the study demonstrates no understanding of the ways in which race and racism may operate within the classroom and within the broader community. In fact, it shows an inability to understand how race and racism impacts the experiences of students color. For example, they argue, “While researchers have documented lower grades for black students in college (see, for example, Betts and Morell 1999), this is to be expected given differences in college preparation.” Evidence of their failures to look beyond numbers, and the tendency toward reductionist thinking (differential college preparation=low grades), the study erases the larger context and processes that impacts grades. Had the researchers actually talked with students they may have gotten a better understanding as to how their experiences, as African American in predominantly white classrooms at a predominantly white institution with predominantly white male professors, may have figured in their decision to switch majors.

A study – “Critical Race Theory, Racial Microaggressions, and Campus Racial Climate: The Experiences of African American College Students” by Daniel Solorzano, Miguel Ceja, Tara Yoss – found that black students experience ample discrimination and prejudice (microaggressions) during their academic classroom experiences. Citing expressed low expectations, negative interactions with white peers, segregation from other white students in class, isolation, discrimination from joining study groups, and a culture of diminishment, these authors illustrate the profound ways that race operates within the college classroom. I cite two of their examples to highlight how race and racism might account for the switching of majors

An African American female stated that racial discrimination in study group formation was obvious: I've had times when a guy in the class ... [said], "Well, I don't want to work with you because you're Black." And he told me to my face.... And it was upsetting 'cause ... I came here thinking that it wouldn't be like this, and that was naive.

Another African American female recalled a friend's experience: [A Black male student] thought he was going to be pre-med. And he was in this chemistry lab, and nobody wanted him to be in the [work] groups, so his partner [sic]. . . turned out to be this deaf girl. I'm sure everybody's looking at them like, "They're never going to pass."

The authors conclude with this observation:

Several of the students we interviewed indicated that beyond feeling like a numerical minority, they also felt personally diminished by nonverbal microaggressions perpetrated by their White counterparts. Other students agreed that merely "looking like" a person of color can be cause for White professors, students, and college staff persons to draw negative assumptions about minorities and lower their expectations of them. They further recognized that being stereotyped carries very real consequences beyond feeling bad about oneself. Some indicated feeling "drained" by the intense scrutiny their everyday actions received in the context of negative preconceived notions about African Americans. Others acknowledged as racial microaggressions the subtle and overt daily put-downs they encountered-or attempted to avoid-in their interactions with some Whites in the academic setting. Such incidents put these African American college students on the defensive to keep from succumbing to stereotype threat.

Stereotype Threat, an idea popularized by Claude Steele, describes the ways that anxieties and fears that failure will confirm negative stereotypes, dramatically hinders performance. Sandy Darity summarizes the importance of stereotype threat in his critical response to the authors’ study, citing Steele and Aronson (1995), who found that black students under stereotype threat scored 13 percent worse than those under no threat at all. They also found that those under threat answered questions at a much slower rate than those students not subjected to the threat. This study fails to consider the ways in which the stereotype threat may impact academic success within the sciences and how this same stereotype threat impacts test scores as well pointing to its overall ignorance about racism and white privilege on and off campus.

In recycling bell curve, anti-affirmative arguments, that isolate or particularize black movement from STEM majors to humanities rather than reflecting on the larger trend; one might instead argue that the sciences fail to retain students. Whether reflecting bad pedagogy, an elitist desire to weed students out of particular majors, shifts in professional goals (leaving the sciences after deciding against pre-med), or the curricular banality, the sciences are systematically failing to maintain its students. In “Why Science Majors Change Their Minds (It’s Just So Darn Hard),” Christopher Drew explores the issues here:

Studies have found that roughly 40 percent of students planning engineering and science majors end up switching to other subjects or failing to get any degree. That increases to as much as 60 percent when pre-medical students, who typically have the strongest SAT scores and high school science preparation, are included, according to new data from the University of California at Los Angeles. That is twice the combined attrition rate of all other majors.

The failure of this study to account for the reasons why students may choose a field in the humanities over sciences reflects its methodological choices. Its focus on statistical analysis, and its operating through a series of assumptions, might have been complicated the authors actually talked to students. Within a recent New York Times article, Mr. Drew chronicles the experiences of one such student:

MATTHEW MONIZ bailed out of engineering at Notre Dame in the fall of his sophomore year. He had been the kind of recruit most engineering departments dream about. He had scored an 800 in math on the SAT and in the 700s in both reading and writing. He also had taken Calculus BC and five other Advanced Placement courses at a prep school in Washington, D.C., and had long planned to major in engineering.

But as Mr. Moniz sat in his mechanics class in 2009, he realized he had already had enough. “I was trying to memorize equations, and engineering’s all about the application, which they really didn’t teach too well,” he says. “It was just like, ‘Do these practice problems, then you’re on your own.’ ” And as he looked ahead at the curriculum, he did not see much relief on the horizon.

So Mr. Moniz, a 21-year-old who likes poetry and had enjoyed introductory psychology, switched to a double major in psychology and English, where the classes are “a lot more discussion based.” He will graduate in May and plans to be a clinical psychologist. Of his four freshman buddies at Notre Dame, one switched to business, another to music. One of the two who is still in engineering plans to work in finance after graduation.

The above points to the complex reasons why students may chose one major over another, none of which has anything to do with the ease of humanities compared to sciences, the yearning for better grades, or an unwillingness to work. In this instance Mr. Moniz points to the pedagogical differences between the sciences and humanities, an important factor given research on pedagogy and the best practices, much of which points to the limitations of traditional lectures (studies have shown that students retain between 20-40 percent of material presented during a lecture).

The failure to look at the sciences themselves, to deploy stereotypes about black students and rehash ideas about the difficult sciences, points to the failures of this study. Yet, this study is receiving national attention. Articles have appeared in countless newspapers, which cite its findings as evidence for a larger narrative about white preparedness and black educational deficiencies. It is dangerous because of its conclusion and because of how it reinforces dominant stereotypes and narratives.

Lewis Gordon recently asked, “What’s the problem with affirmative action?” The Duke study attempts to answer that with flawed analysis, and flawed conclusions, all based on a flawed approach. Sandy Darity, in “Affirmative Action Grumbles,” summarizes Gordon’s rhetorical responses: “First, when implemented, ‘it works.’ Second, its very existence forces the society that has adopted it to acknowledge that it continues to be a site where racism and discrimination operate – not past discrimination but current, ongoing discrimination. Making such an admission may be the source of the biggest grumbles of all.” No matter what the study says, it fails because it neither acknowledges the profound ways that affirmative action is working and the ways in which racism and discrimination remain in operation. One has to look no further than this study to see how race and stereotypes remain a salient issue in our society.

See Also: Affirmative Action on Death Row by R. L'Heureux Lewis

***

David J. Leonard is Associate Professor in the Department of Critical Culture, Gender and Race 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. Leonard’s latest book After Artest: Race and the Assault on Blackness will be published by SUNY Press in May of 2012.

Kevin Alexander Gray Talks Race & the Southern Strategy on Democracy Now

2012-01-22T20:23:00.000-05:00

democracynow.org

Leading up to the South Carolina primary, several Republican presidential candidates have been criticized for comments made over issues of race. This week Newt Gingrich defended his description of President Obama as "the food stamp president," while offering praise for President Andrew Jackson, the architect of the Indian Removal Act. We speak to South Carolina civil rights activist Kevin Alexander Gray and longtime political reporter Wayne Slater about how Republicans have adopted the long-held "Southern Strategy" of race-baiting in order to win over bigoted white voters. "When the Democrats come here, they come to get their black ticket punched. Republicans come here to punch black people," Gray says.

Remembering Etta James

2012-01-22T16:49:00.000-05:00

Remembering Etta James

by Henry A. Giroux | Truthout

My encounter with the music of Etta James constituted something of a rite of passage. I was a white, working-class kid who went to Catholic Youth Organization dances on Friday nights with small dreams, hoping to escape the boredom and sometimes explosive violence in my working-class neighborhood and find an outlet for the erupting and confusing desires that dominated the lives of young boys. The music was generally tame, and almost entirely white. Instead of Little Richard we got Pat Boone; instead of Little Anthony and the Imperials, we got the Beach Boys. When things got risky, we might have heard Carl Perkins or Elvis Presley.

Of course, the CYO was in a solidly white, working class neighborhood that listened to white singers who often stole the music of African American performers and stripped it of any passion, desire, sexuality, or integrity. The nuns patrolled those dances like vultures waiting for their prey to finally die. I can still hear them as they intervened between us as we danced telling us to leave room for the Blessed Virgin Mary. The refrain was repeated over and over again about not letting our bodies touch, and so it went.

As a basketball player at Hope High School, I also had an opportunity to go to parties on weekends with some of my black teammates. The first party I went to was in a basement apartment filled with smoke with bodies twisting, packed together, eyes lowered, dancing, flirting; young people were laughing, kissing and touching each other sweetly, with respect and great warmth, and in the background was Etta James singing “Trust in Me.” That beautiful, husky voice filled the room with sensuality, conflated bodies and desire, and for the first time I found myself dancing without moving my feet. In a moment, sensuality was liberated from the repressive policing that had marked my CYO days. Etta's music opened a door to new discoveries, friendships, and social relations and certainly a new understanding of what it meant to cross racial barriers free of the hostility that informed my neighborhood. More was at work here than the reclaiming of the body and desire. There was also the reclaiming of a deeper sense of solidarity and social justice. I never looked back after that, and Etta James became for me the musical equivalent of my literary hero James Baldwin.

Being underage, on weekends my high school friends and I could not go to a bar, so we often ended up on the third-floor flat that my parents rented and would drink a few bottles of beer, fire up the 45 rpm record player and listen to Etta. Etta was one of us. She was gritty, from a broken home, lived amid poverty, took drugs, and was hard as nails. Her music never sought to escape from her past, and in spite of the pathos, there was always a sense that with music came an affirmation of desire, struggle and hope. In that neighborhood, the body was all we had and more often than not it was the object of disciplinary repression whether in the schools or in the streets. Etta’s music recast the body as a source of joy, creativity and resistance. With Etta in the background, we talked about politics, women, school, how to beat the horses, sports and our future. After a couple of hours of listening to Etta, we would escape into the night, our heads filled with a musical sensibility and aesthetic that was rarely matched in the house parties we attended.

I never stopped listening to Etta James, not only because her music reminded me of some of the most memorable moments of my youth, but because she flaunted her cultural capital without apologies, combined passion and desire and lived on the edge merging her body and music into a constant reminder of what it meant to ground one's life in real struggles, disappointments, and hopes. She knew how to affirm rather than compromise both her music and the pathos and hope it embodied. She was a tough and talented lady.

Etta James was also a crossover artist, a border crosser, who helped break down the racist musical barriers that prevailed in the fifties and sixties. She also helped break down the racial barriers in my youth among black, brown and white working-class kids who viewed living in their bodies as an asset rather than a liability. She was a model for courage, for connecting the body to the mind, and her music was always about a world that seemed far more real than the Disnified bleach put out by racist radio stations.

Later in my life, I heard her sing at the Newport Jazz Festival, as well as in Toronto around 2006. When she sang "Fool That I Am," the sound was beautiful, moving and sensual as it was when I had heard it in my youth. Not everyone recognized her talent and President Obama made the dreadful and revealing mistake of having Beyoncé sing Etta’s signature song, “At Last,” at his inauguration. Etta later admitted she was hurt by the gesture. For me, this was not only an insult but also a sad commentary on how a hyper-consuming, talent flattening society had contributed to erasing a musical giant, or even worse, how Etta’s working-class legacy for middle-class politicians had become too dangerous to associate with.

Etta never bought the whitewash, the cleansing of history, life and memory, and it was reflected in every note she sang. No wonder she was rebuked by a president who later turned risk-free civility into a form of cowardice. She was more than a musical icon, she was a pioneer who pushed the boundaries of music and talent into the murky and complicated mix of a society struggling with racism, inequality, and injustice, and she found a space in which to remind us what it could mean to be moved to listen, dance and revel in our desires. In this age of electronic noise, talentless posturing and pure spectacle, Etta James stands out as a musical giant and a reminder of what music could be when it was rooted in passion, desire and possibility rather than in the corporate playbook version that has all but killed the kind of sound she produced.

This work by Truthout is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial 3.0 United States License.

***

Henry A. Giroux currently holds the Global TV Network Chair Professorship at McMaster University in the English and Cultural Studies Department. His most recent books include: Youth in a Suspect Society (Palgrave, 2009); Politics After Hope: Obama and the Crisis of Youth, Race, and Democracy (Paradigm, 2010); Hearts of Darkness: Torturing Children in the War on Terror (Paradigm, 2010); The Mouse that Roared: Disney and the End of Innocence (co-authored with Grace Pollock, Rowman and Littlefield, 2010); Zombie Politics and Culture in the Age of Casino Capitalism (Peter Lang, 2011); Henry Giroux on Critical Pedagogy (Continuum, 2011). His newest books: Education and the Crisis of Public Values (Peter Lang) and Twilight of the Social: Resurgent Publics in the Age of Disposability (Paradigm Publishers) will be published in 2012). Giroux is also a member of Truthout's Board of Directors. His website is www.henryagiroux.com.

Classic Material: "This is My Country" Curtis Mayfield & The Impressions w/ Clifton Davis (Amen!)

2012-01-22T13:20:00.000-05:00

Impressions - This Is My Country (live)

‘Blackness’, Professional Sports and the #Occupy the Academy Movement on the January 23rd ‘Left of Black’

2012-01-22T13:14:00.000-05:00

‘Blackness’, Professional Sports and the #Occupy theAcademy Movement on the January 23^rd ‘Left of Black’

Host and Duke University Professor MarkAnthony Neal is joined via Skype© by DavidJ. Leonard and in-studio by BomaniJones. Leonard is an associate professor in the Department ofCritical Culture, Gender, and Race Studies at Washington State University atPullman and the author of the forthcoming After Artest, Race andthe Assault on Blackness (SUNY Press). Jones is a journalist,sports commentator, former host of The Morning Jones and a well-knowncontributor to ESPN’s Around the Horn and Jim Rome is Burning. The trio discuss responses and effects of the recent 2011 NBA lockout and howit relates to race. Leonard and Jones highlight how branding definesbasketball’s popularity and the irreplaceable value of the sport’s greatestathletes. Lastly, the conversation touches on the comparison between howfans value the NFL differently than the NBA.

Later, Neal is joined via Skype© by James Braxton Peterson, director of Africana Studies and associateprofessor of English at Lehigh University. A frequent contributor toMSNBC, Peterson addresses the impact of scholars who reach well beyond theAcademy. Neal and Peterson also discuss the scholarly impact of the #Occupy Movement as expressed inPeterson’s recent HuffPost Black Voices article, “#Occupy theAcademy.”

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Left of Black airs at 1:30 p.m. (EST) on Mondays on the Ustreamchannel: http://www.ustream.tv/channel/left-of-black. Viewers are invited to participate in a Twitterconversation with Neal and featured guests while the show airs using hash tags#LeftofBlack or #dukelive.

Left of Blackis recorded and produced at the JohnHope Franklin Center of International and Interdisciplinary Studies at DukeUniversity.

***

Follow Left of Black onTwitter: @LeftofBlack

Follow Mark Anthony Neal onTwitter: @NewBlackMan

Follow David J. Leonard onTwitter: @Dr_DJL

Follow Bomani Jones onTwitter: @Bomani_Jones

Follow James BraxtonPeterson on Twitter: @DrJamesPeterson

###

Video: Santigold "Big Mouth" (2012)

2012-01-22T12:35:00.002-05:00

BBC Documentary: Janet Jackson Taking Control (2011)

2012-01-21T13:02:00.000-05:00

Classic Material: Voices of East Harlem Sing 'Young, Gifted & Black' @ Sing Sing (1972)

2012-01-21T12:37:00.001-05:00

“RE: Racial Redux in the Republican Presidential ‘Race’” by James Braxton Peterson

2012-01-20T22:34:00.002-05:00

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

“RE: Racial Redux in the Republican Presidential ‘Race’”
by James Braxton Peterson | special to NewBlackMan

Let’s gather up all of the Black children and take them to Niggerhead for a retreat. When we get there we should be sure to share with them the ‘fact’ that many of them would have been better off being born during the era of slavery. Back then they would not have been considered human beings nor would they have had any modicum of freedom or dignity but they may have been more likely to be born into a ‘nuclear’ family. Unless their mothers were raped by their masters/fathers; in that case they would be dogged by the existential tensions of their own miscegenated identities and their sui generis experience with fatherlessness would have been inextricably linked to their condition as human chattel. Let’s remind the black folk of the baby boomer generation that racism is no longer an issue.

Even though they have less access to quality healthcare, shorter life expectancy, and a fraction of the wealth of their white counterparts, none of these facts are a result of racial stratification. Let’s go to the NAACP national convention and explain to their largely professional middle and upper middle class membership that their ‘Food Stamp’ President has put more (white) people on government assistance than any other president in history. Let’s teach the descendants of enslaved Africans about the American work ethic – you know the one where you get paid for a solid day’s work. Let’s explain to them that even though your ancestors built the White House – as enslaved laborers, (as well as the SC capital building from which the Confederate flag waves flagrantly - as enslaved laborers), you have no concept of hard work.

Let’s convene all of the unemployed, underemployed and working poor black folk and lecture them on the value of money vs. the value of public assistance. Let’s tell them that Blah people need to choose earning over entitlement, that Blah people need not be offended by the cavalier ways in which Republican politicians situate the discourses of entitlement within the retrograde racialized discourses of a bygone American era. Let’s use the language of slavery and liberation as a back-dropped prop to bamboozle the middle class and the poor into thinking that the Obama administration is a well-organized group of socialist overseers; that Obama is a demagogue, hell-bent on diminishing their freedom.

Debt, of course is the enemy. Entitlements (not the social safety net) is the term through which these lessons must be framed. Let’s publish and circulate newsletters. We won’t write them but we will put our names on them. These newsletters will tell our loyal readers all about the ways in which Blah people are inherently criminal; why 13 year-old Blah boys are superhuman thugs who will riot in our cities until their welfare checks are ready. If anyone asks us about any of this all we have to do is dismiss those uppity media folk. Best to keep journalists in their place.

If this all sounds absurd yet frighteningly familiar to you then you’ve been tuned into the Republican presidential campaign process.

I am JBP2 and I approve this message.

***

James Braxton Peterson is Director of Africana Studies and Associate Professor of English at Lehigh University and the author of the forthcoming Major Figures: Critical Essays on Hip Hop Music. Follow him at @DrJamesPeterson.

Dr. Roscoe Brown, Tuskegee Airman

2012-01-20T21:52:00.000-05:00

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

Esther Phillips, Carmen McRae, Maxine Weldon, Morganna King & Nina Simone Sing "Lady Day" (1979)

2012-01-20T21:34:00.001-05:00

Etta James: "Something Got a Hold on Me" (1962)

2012-01-20T21:25:00.001-05:00

Etta James (1938-2012)

Trailer: 'The Story of Soul!' feat Stokely Carmichael, Miriam Makeba, James Baldwin, Amiri Baraka

2012-01-20T21:18:00.000-05:00

In late 1967, PBS aired the inaugural episode of Ellis Haizlip’s show, SOUL!. Shot at the WNET studios in New York, it would be the first nationally syndicated television program in history dedicated solely to African-American culture. Through legendary music and interviews from the show itself, archive footage and present day discussion, feature length documentary The Story of SOUL! will recount the story of an historic African-American series and a how it’s ideals and goals affect America today.

FATHER MC: Will Jay-Z Push Fatherhood like He Has Champagne?

2012-01-20T00:42:00.003-05:00

FATHER MC:

Will Jay-Z Push Fatherhood like He Has Champagne?

by Mark Anthony Neal | Ebony.com

"The most beautifullest thing in the world is daddy’s little girl.”—Shawn "Jay Z" Carter

During the early stages of her singular solo recording career, former Supremes lead singer Diana Ross gave birth to her daughters Rhonda (1971) and Tracie (1972). To pay tribute to her little girls, Ross conceived of the album To the Baby, which included covers of Roberta Flack’s “The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face,” Michael Jackson’s “Got to Be There", Oscar Brown, Jr.’s “Brown Baby", John Lennon’s “Imagine” and Marvin Gaye’s “Save the Children.”

The album was eventually scrapped. Though Motown’s official reason was that the project didn’t have a solid lead single, I suspect that the label wasn’t quite ready to have their flagship artist give in to the desires of motherhood. Decades later, no one would give second thought if a vocalist of Ross’s stature—say Beyonce Knowles—chose to pay tribute to motherhood in song. Yet, many were surprised when Knowles’s husband, Shawn Carter, released “Glory” shortly after the birth of their first child.

In many circles, the birth of Beyonce and Jay Z’s daughter might seem like a bit of fate; what better punishment for a rapper, who many believe has contributed to the objectification of women in popular culture, to now be faced with the challenge of raising a daughter in the context of the very culture he helped to create. Nevertheless the birth of his little girl also represents the opportunity for a powerful transformative moment—as it has been for so many fathers, who find themselves faced with helping their daughters navigate a world that is often hostile and dismissive of them.

Read the Full Essay @ Ebony.com

Left of Black: Wednesday @ the Center | Hip-Hop Activism and the Arab Spring

2012-01-18T22:34:00.001-05:00

Left of Black: Wednesday @ the Center

Hip-Hop Activism and the Arab Spring

w/Omar Offendum and Pierce Freelon

January 16, 2012

Host and Duke University Professor Mark Anthony Neal is joined in personby activist, hip-hop artist, and architect OmarOffendum, and jazz, hip-hop artist, and educator Pierce Freelon. Recorded in October as part of the John Hope Franklin Center’s Wednesdays at the Center programming,Offendum and Freelon discuss the role that hip-hop has played and continues toplay in activism. Offendum, a Syrian American artist, and Freelon, whose parentsare Jazz artist Nnenna Freelon andarchitect Philip Freelon, discussthe importance of authenticity, and reflecting one’s community and backgroundin their work.

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Left of Black is a weekly Webcasthosted by Mark Anthony Neal and produced in collaboration with the John HopeFranklin Center at DukeUniversity.

***

Episodesof Left of Black are also available for download @ iTunes U

Trailer: 'Bad Friday': Rastafari After Coral Gardens

2012-01-18T14:04:00.000-05:00

A documentary film directed by Deborah A. Thomas and John L. Jackson, Jr.

Producers: Deborah A. Thomas, John L. Jackson, Jr., Junior "Gabu" Wedderburn, and Junior "Ista J" Manning

Musical Director: Junior "Gabu" Wedderburn

SYNOPSIS

For many around the world, Jamaica conjures up images of pristine beach vacations with a pulsating reggae soundtrack. The country, however, also has one of the highest per capita murder rates in the world, and the population is actively grappling with legacies of Western imperialism, racial slavery, and political nationalism – the historical foundations of contemporary violence in Jamaica and throughout the Americas.

BAD FRIDAY focuses on a community of Rastafarians in western Jamaica who annually commemorate the 1963 Coral Gardens "incident," a moment just after independence when the Jamaican government rounded up, jailed and tortured hundreds of Rastafarians. It chronicles the history of violence in Jamaica through the eyes of its most iconic community, and shows how people use their recollections of past traumas to imagine new possibilities for a collective future.

“#theLakersAreSoWhite:” Celebrations of the White Baller

2012-01-17T23:29:00.001-05:00

“#theLakersAreSoWhite:”Celebrations of the White Baller

by David J. Leonard | NewBlackMan

Oneof the more popular twitter trends of late has been the #theLakersAreSoWhitememe, a response to a Lakers’ roster that has five white Americanplayers: Luke Walton, Jason Kapono, Josh McRoberts, Steve Blake, and Troy Murphy. The meme includes a range of postsfrom the silly – #thelakersaresowhite half the team is skipping the plane backtonight to open a gluten-free bakery in #ripcity – to those based solely aroundrecycling stereotypes of blackness and whiteness:

#thelakersaresowhite Kobe boughtthem all do rags for Christmas and they all thanked him for the new"handkerchief".

#TheLakersAreSoWhite theKardashians won't attend Lakers games anymore

#thelakersaresowhite they can'tdance

Thememe elicited a column from JAAdande on the changing “color” of the Lakers. The 2011-2012 Lakers have the most number of white Americanplayers since the 1977-1978 team. In “Purple and gold take on a new color,” Adande reflects on the Lakers’recent demographic shift, situating the increased number of white Americanplayers on the Lakers within a downward trend throughout the league. Adande wonders if the Lakers, as one ofthe NBA marquee franchises, have the potential to increase the number of whitekids seeking entry into the NBA. “It also would be interesting to see if havingso many white players on a high-profile team could have any long-term effectson the dwindling number of white American players in the NBA.” At this level, the piece is quiteinstructive because it offers a challenge to the biological determinism thatboth explicitly and implicitly governs much of sports discussions.

In speculating as to how the visibilityof a cluster of white American players on the NBA’s principle franchise, Adandemakes clear that the racial demographics of the NBA is the result of a myriadof factors from culture (self-fulfilling prophecies) and role models, to resourceallocation and inequality in the availability of sports. “The acceptance of this ‘naturalathlete thesis’ … is instead an insult when you really break down all theimplications,” writes ToddBoyd in Young Black, Rich and Famous. “If this was true, how do we accountfor the millions of black people, who have never played a sport? Why then are not all black people whopursue sport successful? Thebiological argument is without any merit, though it is argument that keepsgetting recycled. Culture is keyto understanding this phenomenon, but few are ready to accept it as such” (Boyd64-64). I n this regard, Adande’s explanation of the Lakers changing color is achallenge to “the natural athlete thesis” and the memes that have been generatedin response to the supposedly new found diversity of the team.

Yet,Adande’s shock and awe reinforces the very spectacle that so often surroundsthe entry of whiteness on the basketball court. The mere fact that he writes an article, and that countlessothers chimed in with twitter comments (the meme) is a testament to the ways inwhich dominant discourse normalize blackness within the context of the NBA. The spectacle and discourse of the whiteballer anomaly pivots on the assumed natural connection between blackness andbasketball. “Basketball’sprevailing ghettocentric logic keys on essentializing the embodied practicesand experiences of Black urban male youth as a means of denoting an ‘authenticBlackness’ designed to appeal primarily to White, middle-class consumers,”writes David Andrewsand Michael Silk.

It is highlylikely that such commercially driven paeans to basketball’s location within theBlack urban American landscape are more attuned to the mainstream (White)consumptive gaze. In light of this, the commercial media, and advertising inparticular, have therefore reduced difference to a ‘cultural commodity’(Sandell, 1995) and valorized ‘a particular, mediated notion of urbanblackness,” which connects non-Black, suburban youth to only ‘the mostdesirable aspects of urban black male experience and physicality—all from asafe and sanitized distance’ (Soar, 2001, pp. 51-53).

Inimagining whiteness as Othered within a basketball space, Adande, like much ofthe media and popular discourse surrounding white ballers, further reinscribesblackness as authentic to the basketball landscape and therefore foreign,unnatural, and inauthentic in virtually every other space.

Theeffort to celebrate whiteness and its presence within the context of the NBAreflects the overall effort to manage and control the NBA’s blackness. GlynHughes(2004) argues that, “The NBA ismarketed and managed with a specific, if often tacit, goal of making Black mensafe for (White) consumers in the interest of profit” (p. 164). By highlighting and celebrating thepresence of whiteness, by noting the many ways that white players help blackplayers, the discourse is in many ways neutralizes white fears of black bodies. For example, Bill Plaschke took a breakfrom being the leader of the Andrew Bynum hater nation to take his turn as thepresident of “Josh McRambis,” “Josh McFly” and “Josh McHoosier” (names he gives toJosh McRoberts) fan club.

In “Lakers'Josh McRoberts is becoming a household name,”Plaschke argues “McRoberts has done the sort of things that make the Lakersbetter while leaving the sometimes glamour-weary Lakers fans inspired. Theextra pick that frees Kobe Bryant for the jump shot? That's him. That extrapass that leads to a Bynum dunk? Him again.” Recycling the stereotypes long associated with blackness andwhiteness, Plaschke depicts one of the Lakers’ newest acquisition ashardworking and team-oriented, as someone who makes their “glamour” (black)players that much better.

Inan article discussing the representations of white players in the NBA, LarryPlatt (2000) documents how Matt Maloney (former Penn and Houston PG) isoften described by commentators and reports as “heady or cerebral,” possessinga tremendous “work ethic” needed to offset his lack of “athletic ability”(71-72). The celebration of theLakers “white core” emanates from this rhetoric and their underlyingassumptions. Todd Boyd, in Am I Black Enough for You, further elucidatesthe inextricable links between race and the styles of play associated withdifferent players. Whereaswhiteness represents a “textbook or formal” style basketball, blackness hascome to embody “street orvernacular” styles of hooping defined by flash (narcissism), individual play(selfishness), and uber athleticism. Boyd identifies a hegemonic narrative where “whitebasketball” players are represented as individuals for whom “adherence to aspecific set of rules determines one’s ability to play successfully and‘correctly.’” White playersare seen in relationship to intelligence, mental toughness, and mental agility,whereas the blackballer is imagined through physical attributes – strength,toughness – and aggressiveness. Intelligence, orientation toward team play, and sticktoitness precludeblackness. These ideas are theundercurrent and foundation for the recent pieces by Adande and Plaschke.

In both cases and within much ofthe media adoration for white basketball player there is a focus on temperamentand attitude. That is that whiteplayers possess the requisite attitude and demeanor to succeed alongside oftheir black teammates on the basketball court. Adande seemingly argues that the ability of the “5 whiteamigos” to succeed on the Lakers reflects their backgrounds: “If you think about it, the Lakers now have a clusterof white players because they have five individuals who were at ease beingoutsiders.” Noting that Blake grewup in Miami, Walton played with several black players at University of Arizona,and McRoberts was the only white guy on his AAU team, Adande concludes thatthese experiences as “minorities” provided them with the requisite education tosucceed in a league where white players are minorities. In erasing white privilege, inreimagining whites as victims, in denying the normalization of whiteness inbasketball and other segregated spaces, Adande reifies the hegemonic views ofrace and the role of sports as the greater equalizer.

According to CharlesBarkley: “The best thing about sports is that it’s colorblind. In the locker room, we’re all thesame. Sports bring ustogether. I meant if you can play,your gonna play, no matter what you are” (quoted in Platt 73). Don’t tell that to Tim Tebow andthe Lakers “of a different color;” don’t tell that to Andrew Bynum or anynumber of black athletes who have “been constructed as asite of pleasure,dominance, fantasy, and surveillance” (Kingand Springwood 2001, 101). The celebration of white ballers inopposition to black players is yet another example of how “in a post-civilrights America, AfricanAmericans have been essentially policed, and literally (re)colonized through Euro-American idiomssuch as discipline, deviance, and desire.”

***

David J. Leonard is Associate Professor in the Department of Critical Culture, Genderand Race Studies at Washington State University, Pullman. He has written onsport, video games, film, and social movements, appearing in both popular andacademic mediums. His work explores the political economy of popular culture,examining the interplay between racism, state violence, and popularrepresentations through contextual, textual, and subtextual analysis. Leonard’s latest book After Artest: Race and the Assault on Blackness will bepublished by SUNY Press in May of 2012.

Jay Smooth: Ten OTHER Things Martin Luther King Said

2012-01-16T13:09:00.000-05:00

Duke MLK Celebration Service 2012 with Donna Brazile

2012-01-15T21:52:00.002-05:00

Sunday, January 15, at 3:00 p.m. in Duke Chapel, the University hosted the 2012 Service of Celebration in honor of Martin Luther King, Jr. Donna Brazile, Political Commentator and Vice Chair of Voter Registration and Participation of the Democratic National Committee is the keynote speaker. The service includes the 100 Men in Black Choir and the Collage Dance Company.

Hip-Hop Activism and the Arab Spring on a Special Martin Luther King Day Episode of Left of Black

2012-01-15T11:31:00.000-05:00

Hip-Hop Activism and the Arab Spring on a SpecialMartin Luther King Day Episode of Left of Black

Host and Duke University Professor Mark Anthony Neal is joined in personby activist, hip-hop artist, and architect OmarOffendum, and jazz, hip-hop artist, and educator Pierce Freelon. Taped in October as part John HopeFranklin Center Wednesdays at the Centerprogramming, Offendum and Freelon discuss the role that hip-hop has played andcontinues to play in activism.

Offendum, a Syrian American artist, andFreelon, whose parents are Jazzartist Nnenna Freelon and architect Philip Freelon, discuss the importance of authenticity, and reflecting one’scommunity and background in their work.

***

Left of Blackis recorded and produced at the JohnHope Franklin Center of International and Interdisciplinary Studies at DukeUniversity.

***

Follow Left of Black onTwitter: @LeftofBlack

Follow Mark Anthony Neal onTwitter: @NewBlackMan

Follow Omar Offendom onTwitter: @Offendum

Follow Pierce Freelon on Twitter:@durhamite

###

“We Need Leaders Among The People, Not Leaders Of the People”

2012-01-15T09:51:00.000-05:00

“We NeedLeaders Among The People, Not Leaders Of the People”

byMark Nasion | special to NewBlackMan

Forthose on the left who don’t understand my willingness to work withwhites they regard as conservative or racist, let me tell you a little bit aboutmy political mentor, Rev. Claude Williams. Rev. Williams, with whom Ispent four summers with during the early 1970s organizing his personal papers,was a Presbyterian minister brought up in the hills of Tennessee in anevangelical tradition ( a credo he described as “God said it, Jesus did it, Ibelieve it, and that settles it) who had a conversion experience in hislate thirties and became an advocate of the social gospel and an opponent ofsouthern segregation.

Williamshad an opportunity to put these principles into action when he became aminister in a mining town called Paris Arkansas during the Depression, anddevoted his ministry to strike support, moved to Commonwealth Labor Collegewhen he was forced out of Paris and there became a supporter of theSouthern Tenant Farmers Union, an interracial organization that fought for therights of sharecroppers and tenant farmers being forced off the land byDepression conditions and New Deal agricultural program.

Whenorganizing for the STFU, Williams developed a unique strategy fororganizing southern blacks and white for progressive unionism byemploying biblical imagery common to both. His fiery preaching andinnovative charts and posters, using quotes from the bible to promoteinterracial solidarity and a cooperative commonwealth, made him one of theSouth’s most effective organizers, and a hated figure among local elites,who literally ran him out of Arkansas in the late 1930s.

Fromthere, Williams moved to Memphis, where he helped organize interracial localsof the Food and Tobacco Workers Union and in North Carolina and then wasbrought up to Detroit during World War II by the UAQ to help preach to theSouthern Blacks and Whites working in easy proximity during that city’s autoplants.

Afterthe war, Williams moved back to farm South of Birmigham where he beganworking with interracial locals of the Mine Mill and Smelters Union and holdingmeetings on his property to help people register to vote. When a wave ofMcCarthyite reaction set in, Williams became a target of the local Klan, whoset fires on his property, killed his dogs, and forced him to stop holdinginterracial meetings on his farm. But his white neighbors, who had been therecipient of many acts of generosity on the part of Williams and his wifeJoyce, refused to let the Klan kill him, so he remained on his farm through theworst days of Klan and Citizen’s Council Terror until and opening came in themiddle 60’s and a strong civil rights movement came to the Birmingham area.

Ihad learned about Williams amazing work when writing my Master’s essay on theSouthern Tenants Farmers Union, but meeting him in person, an being givenresponsibility for organizing and filing his personal papers was atransformative experience. Williams was a big, powerful, hard drinking man who held a deep conviction that Southern working class whites,when they could overcome their racism, were far more reliable allies to Blacksthan northern white liberals because they had a common religious heritage aswell as a common class interest. He had shown the potential of this approach inlabor struggle after labor struggle before McCarthyism had sidelined him andbelieved it was the only one that would allowprogressives to challenge domination of American politics bythe rich and powerful.

Havingthe opportunity to live with a person who not only articulated such a view withgreat eloquence, but practiced it every day, and survived pressures thatwould have silenced most people, made a tremendous impression on me. Williamschallenged me, as he did all leftists to relinquish elitist contempt of workingclass people and meet them on their own ground, using arguments rooted in theirown culture and traditions, and providing and example of courage and generositythey would respect. As he told me on countless occasions “ We don’t needleaders of the people, weneed leaders among thepeople.!”

Throughoutmy life of political activism,, I have tried to take that message to heart andreach out to people of diverse political perspectives while fighting for racialand economic justice.

NothingI have experienced in 40 plus years of activism, including my experience withthe Occupy Movement and the 99 Percent Clubs in the last 6 months, hasconvinced me this approach is wrong.

***

Mark Naison is a Professor of African-American Studies and History at FordhamUniversity and Director of Fordham’s Urban Studies Program. He is the author oftwo books, Communists in Harlem Duringthe Depression and White Boy: A Memoir.Naison is also co-director of the BronxAfrican American History Project (BAAHP). Research from the BAAHP will bepublished in a forthcoming collection of oral histories Before the Fires: An Oral History of African American Life From the1930’s to the 1960’s.

"Race is an Economic Coding System": Walter Mosley @ BAM

2012-01-14T08:23:00.000-05:00

The Mixtape “King”

2012-01-13T23:28:00.000-05:00

TheMixtape “King”

byMark Anthony Neal | NewBlackMan

Twoof my favorite images of Martin Luther King Jr., are not of actual images ofKing at all. They are of actorJeffrey Wright in his performance of King from the HBO original film Boycott, directed by Clark Johnson. The first scene occurs nights beforethe launch of the Montgomery bus boycott and King and Ralph Abernathy(portrayed by Oscar nominatedactor Terrance Howard)—the duo functioning more like running partners—dispatchthemselves to local pool halls to get the word out about the bus boycott, onthe premise that, “not everybody goes to church.”

Thegesture itself is not all that important, but the film presents an image ofKing that suggest how seamlessly he might have integrated himself into whatmany might have thought—at least at the time—as fairly disparate spaces; apoint that was not lost on the film’s characters who were hustled into a gamesof pool by the otherwise devout servant of the Lord—and his people.

Thesecond image occurs during the film’s closing credits. With the film’s versionof King’s legacy assured, we see King in contemporary Montgomery, holding courtwith a bunch of corner boys—young African-American men—seemingly physically,and perhaps, rhetorically at home with the denizens of the Hip-Hop generationat the turn of the 21^st Century.

Inthis scene it is not unimaginable to imagine this King doppelganger, rolling upon this group of would be thugs—legible in that way to far too many casualobservers—and greeting them with the gesture “Lil Nigger, Just Where You Been?”. This is, of course, part of the privateKing—the King that played the rhetorical dozens with his inner circle, the Kingwho sought sexual release in the afterhours of public life, the King that hasbecome most relatable to those generations, who’ve only known him as a deadicon and a ready made postage stamp.

AsMichael Eric Dyson notes in his book IMay Not Get There With You: The True Martin Luther King, Jr., the “rulesfor public discourse for blacks have changed from the fifties…neither iscursing an automatic sign of unintelligence or unrighteousness. Those stereotypes must be broken up inorder to open communication between the civil rights and hip-hop generations.” AsJonathan Rieder suggests, the “sublime and decorous universalism” that definedthe public King, “never encompassed the entirety of King’s repertoire of talkan identity.”

Rieder’sessay “What Kind of People Worship Here? The Labor of Legitimacy and thePassion of Prophesy in ‘Letter from Birmingham Jail’” is focused on King’sdexterity at speaking to multiple publics, most often one Black and oneWhite. The King that Riederpresents us, is one who is highly skilled at navigating these distinct publicsor what some social scientists have called parallel publics; one who deftlygestures across race and religion, who, as Rieder describes it, “glides fromgentility to rudeness and from the labor of legitimacy, to the passion ofprophecy.” This is the King, whoneeded the comforts of community, to whoop it up, when the reporters were gone,and he needed to recover from the rhetorical pirouettes that were as necessaryto the forwarding of the freedom struggles as the direct action that took placein the streets.

Inmany ways the translation of this King to the hip-hop generation is not anempty or simple conceit; The King that Rieder give us—the King who some viewwith suspicion because of his liberal borrowing of ideas in that doctoraldissertation—is the King who functions like a skilled turntabalist, dutifullymixing and remixing narratives of freedom, resistance and redemption—forhimself and the nation; A King whois at home with the sampling practices that have come to define the sonicgenius of rap music production, both part of a broader continuum of Blackexpressive culture that privileges borrowing, sharing, and the refashioning ofstyle and ideas. Like Sean “PuffyDiddyDaddy” Combs boasted a decade ago, “weinvented the remix.”

AsRichard Schur writes in his book Parodiesof Ownership: Hip-Hop Aesthetics and Intellectual Property Law, “Sampling is not simply the reshapingand reuse of recorded text, but a method of textual production…that proceeds bylistening for and incorporating discrete parts, rather than completed wholes,and constructing an aesthetically satisfying text out of them.”

Partof King’s genius, was not simply his ability to speak across disparate publics,but to do so in a way that was aesthetically pleasing within thesepublics. Yes, this is, as Riedersuggest, the crossover King—the King we remember every January, who getsinvoked in visual mashups with Malcolm X and President Barack Obama.

Yetwe still have this private King—the barbershop King, shooting the shit with his“lil Niggers”—well offstage, sometimes into the afterhours, on drives acrossthe South, in hotel rooms where they are partaking in the fruits of theirsegregated celebrity.

Thisis the mixtape King—the King that circulates to check the temperature of hisstreet cred, the King who inspired those with no vested interest in theinstitutions and institutional figures, including King, who spoke for them, butinstead simply appreciated the Swag, both rhetorical and political. And perhaps it is this mixtape Kingthat we all might also consider.

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Mark Anthony Neal is the author of several booksincluding the forthcoming Looking forLeroy: (Il)Legible Black Masculinities. He is professor of African& African-American Studies at Duke University and host the weekly videowebcast Left of Black. Follow him onTwitter @NewBlackMan.

Private Prisons Pimp the People

2012-01-13T22:43:00.000-05:00

Private Prisons Pimp the People

by Lamont Lilly |special to NewBlackMan

Here in America, ourgreat “land of the free,” there are approximately 130,000 inmates now housed inprivately owned prisons. It‘s a foul stench within a justice system that leadsthe world in number of persons incarcerated within a state, federal or privateinstitution. Our latest tally of 2 million equates to 25% of the globe’sincarcerated population. This massive waste of human life is commonly known as thePrison Industrial Complex, an oppressive current now being led from the topdown by the highly profitable Prison Privatization Movement. Its roots can betraced back to the 1980’s of Ronald Reagan, his “War on Drugs” and toughersentencing platform. Due to policy makers’ concerns of prison overcrowding atthe time, in 1984 the Corrections Corporation of America was contracted tooversee its first facility in Hamilton County, Tennessee. Such transitionmarked a new federal precedent of complete private control of a correctionalinstitute.

Though depicted ascost-saving efficient operations, independent studies suggest the contrary. Alack of regulation enables smaller staff and inadequate training, in turn,producing more violence and consistently unstable conditions among those whoseek to “serve time” responsibly. Sustainable medical care has also come intoquestion. Private prisons like the George W. Hill Center, Walnut Grove YouthFacility and New Castle Correctional Institute have garnered a barrage ofrecent scrutiny over the deaths of dozens of inmates. And though touted asinexpensively designed, private prisons have proven just as costly to constructas those categorized as public. Even more unnerving, such misguided controlsounds eerily similar to the Black Belt’s Convict Lease System of the late 1800’s,a state-run practice throughout the south that forcibly extracted free laborfrom newly emancipated slaves deemed “criminal.”

Just as then, thesame companies grossing billions from the capture and incarceration of Americancitizens (mostly poor, Black and Latino) are the same brokers who donatemillions to state senators, school boards, mayors and police chiefs. It’s no secretthat private firms such as The GEO Group possess direct appeal to federallegislation like “Three Strikes” and Mandatory Minimum Sentencing. Common sensesays such merging complexities spell corruption—political dividends too closefor public comfort. Meanwhile, predatory investors like Wells Fargo, AmericanExpress and Merrill Lynch reap robust returns on private bond purchasing—thesame greed-driven giants literally “banking” on the results of Black boys andtheir 4^th grade EOG’s. (The Children’s Defense Fund details this associationthrough its Cradle to Prison Pipeline Campaign). As far as the diversityof stock in such regressive investments, additional stakeholders include a slewof corporate sponsors: Nordstrom’s, Microsoft, IBM, Revlon, Target, Dell, Hewlett-Packardand even AT&T, a smorgasbord of some of your favorite brands.

Fact is, we as Americansaren’t committing more crime; we’re doing more time because it pays. In a way, such structural manipulation isalmost worse than chattel slavery, considering America’s global claim to moral Democracyat its highest order—an order not far removed, it seems, from Nazi Germany’sconcentration camps at Warsaw and Auschwitz. We’re talking “Third World”sweatshops disguised as rehab programs, possibly in your home state!

The Human Rightsinfringement of privatization isn’t punishing someone who does wrong; it’sprofiting from the pain of that punishment, exploiting the limited freedoms ofinhumane confinement, maximizing such restrictive conditions for capital gain—thesame profits that merely perpetuate the incarceration of more citizens forlonger periods of time. I won’t even mention the effects of exploited prisonlabor on the working class. While poverty in the U.S. continues to plague thegeneral public, highly-skilled positions are going for $1 an hour in theprivate prison sector. No wonderwe can’t find jobs; our furniture and home appliances are being produced by rent-a-slaves,now. I hope this isn’t what Big Business means by “Made in America.” If so, I don’t want no parts of it.

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Lamont Lilly is a contributing editor with the Triangle FreePress, who recently served as an organizer with Cynthia McKinney’s, “Reportfrom Libya Tour.” He is also a Human Rights Delegate with Witness for Peace andcolumnist for the African American Voice.

Gil Noble Talks "Like It Is"

2012-01-13T16:02:00.000-05:00

from the National Visionary Leadership Project:

Gil Noble, producer and host of the public affairs program “Like It Is,” has interviewed famous African Americans like Malcolm X, Martin Luther King Jr., Fannie Lou Hamer and Paul Robeson. During his career, he has worked to correct negative media representations of African Americans and has promoted ethics and objectivity in journalism.

Noble was born in Harlem to Jamaican immigrants Gilbert and Iris Noble. As a teenager, Noble was inspired by pianist Erroll Garner and decided to pursue a career in music. He formed the Gil Noble Trio and played in clubs around New York City while attending City College. After graduating, he worked for Union Carbide and modeled on the side. He met his wife Jean, also a model, during this time.

Noble attempted to break into broadcast by doing voiceovers and television commercials. He became a part-time announcer for WLIB, a Harlem radio station, in 1962. While at WLIB, he also reported, read newscasts, serviced the Associated Press teletype machine and tracked interview tapes. This experience gave him working knowledge of all aspects of a newsroom operation.

In 1967, Noble auditioned for a TV reporter position at WABC. On his second audition assignment, he was called to cover violence in Newark, New Jersey’s Central Ward. Blacks had been shut off by a National Guard barricade while white city officials and journalists stood at the perimeter. Noble was able to cross the barricade and get the story from the black community’s perspective. Because of his reports, he was hired. By 1968, he was anchoring weekend newscasts. At that time, WABC created a black-oriented program in response to the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Actor Robert Hooks was the host and Noble was the interviewer. When Hooks accepted an acting job, Noble replaced him as host. In the beginning, “Like It Is” focused on mostly entertainers, however, when Noble became producer in 1975, he turned its focus to the more serious issues of the black experience.

Over the years, Noble saw the documentary as the central focus and most rewarding aspect of his career. “Like It Is” has produced the largest collection of programs and documentaries on the African-American experience in the last half of the 20th century. He says documentaries “remain a powerful weapon to change false values, correct historical error and cure the poison of prejudice in the minds of black and white Americans.”

Brother Oustider: The Life of Bayard Rustin

2012-01-13T11:18:00.003-05:00

California Newsreel:

To watch the entire documentary, to read background information and to order DVDs, visit:
http://newsreel.org/video/BROTHER-OUTSIDER-BAYARD-RUSTIN

This is a definitive film biography of one of the most controversial figures of the Civil Rights Movement. Hew was one of the first "Freedom Riders," an advisor to Dr. Martin Luther King and A. Philip Randolph, organizer of the 1963 March on Washington, intelligent, gregarious and charismatic, Rustin was denied his place in the limelight for one reason - he was gay.

Obery Hendricks: Mitt Romney and the Curse of Blackness

2012-01-13T11:07:00.000-05:00

Mitt Romney and the Curse of Blackness

Obery M. Hendricks | HuffPost Religion

When it comes to others' choice of religions, I'm pretty much a live-and-let-live guy. In fact, I don't believe in religious litmus tests of any kind. Frankly, I think they are self-righteous and insulting. Yet I must admit that there is something about Mitt Romney's religion that I find deeply troubling, particularly in light of the possibility that he could become the next president of this nation. What concerns me is this: the Book of Mormon, the book that Mitt Romney and all Mormons embrace as divinely revealed scripture that is more sacred, more true, and more inerrant than any other holy book on earth, declares that black people are cursed. That's right. Cursed. And not only accursed, but lazy and aesthetically ugly to boot.

I'm not talking about ascribed racism such as we see in Christianity, in which racist meanings are attributed to certain verses of the Bible that actually contain no such meanings, as with the Gen. 9:25 cursing of Canaan (not Ham!) which, though used as "proof" of black wickedness and inferiority, in actuality has nothing to do with race.

And no, I'm not talking about a single ambiguous, cherry-picked verse, either. I'd much rather that were the case. The sad truth is that the Book of Morman says it explicitly and in numerous passages: black people are cursed by God and our dark skin is the evidence of our accursedness. Here are a few examples:

And the Lord had caused the cursing to come upon them, yea, even a sore cursing, because of their iniquity. For behold, they had hardened their hearts against him, that they had become like unto a flint; wherefore, as they were white, and exceedingly fair and delightsome, that they might not be enticing unto my people the Lord God did cause a skin of blackness to come upon them (2 Nephi 5:21).

And I beheld, after they had dwindled in unbelief they became a dark and loathsome and a filthy people, full of idleness and all manner of abominations (1 Nephi 12:23).

"O my brethren, I fear that unless ye shall repent of your sins that their skins will be whiter than yours, when ye shall be brought with them before the throne of God. (Jacob 3:8).

And the skins of the Lamanites were dark, according to the mark which was set upon their fathers, which was a curse upon them because of their transgression and their rebellion against their brethren, who consisted of Nephi, Jacob, and Joseph, and Sam, who were just and holy men (Alma 3: 6).

It would have been infinitely more righteous if Mormons had relegated the sentiments of these verses to the scriptural sidelines of their faith, but the historical record tells us otherwise. Joseph Smith, Jr., the founder of Mormonism, repeatedly ordered his Church to uphold all slavery laws. Although Smith had a change of heart toward the end of his life, his successor, Brigham Young, did not. Young instituted social and ecclesiastical segregation as the Church's official policies, thus excluding people of black African descent from priesthood ordination and full participation in temple ceremonies, regardless of their actual skin color. Moreover, Brigham Young, whom Mormons revere almost equally with Smith, proved to the end of his life to be a brutal white supremacist who fervently supported the continued enslavement of African Americans; he was so convinced of black accursedness that he declared that if any Mormon had sex with a person of color, "the penalty, under the law of God, is death on the spot."

The Book of Mormon's teaching of the accursedness and, therefore, the inferiority of blacks -- if blacks are cursed, then by definition they are inferior to the divinely acceptable whites -- was reaffirmed by numerous Mormon leaders for a century and a half. As late as 1969, even after the Civil Rights Movement had dismantled de jure segregation throughout the land, David O. McKay, then president and "living prophet" of Mormonism, still publicly justified its segregationist policies by declaring that "the seeming discrimination by the Church toward the Negro... goes back into the beginning with God."

Now, some will argue that I should dismiss the codified racism of the Book of Mormon as the unfortunate folklore of a bygone era because of the 1978 revelation by Spencer W. Kimball, the Church's president and "living prophet" at that time, that after a century and a half black males were finally un-accursed enough to fully participate in Mormonism's priesthood and sacred temple ceremonies. However, even if we ignore the suspiciously coincidental timing of this "revelation" (it conveniently appeared when the Church's federal tax-exempt status was imperiled by its racial policies), an attentive reading reveals that Kimball's proclamation did not in any way address the question of whether or not the Church still considered the Book of Mormon's assertions of black inferiority to be divinely authorized. In fact, the specific contents of Kimball's revelation were never made public. Nor has the Church ever disavowed the Book's white supremacist passages or the past racist practices and pronouncements of its leaders.

What makes this all the more problematic for me is that at no time has Mitt Romney ever publicly indicated that he seriously questioned the divine inspiration of the Book of Mormon's teachings about race, much less that he has repudiated them. It is true that in a 2008 Meet the Press interview with the late Tim Russert, Romney did vigorously assert his belief in equal rights for all Americans in every facet of life. As part of that narrative, he cited his parents' "tireless" advocacy for blacks' civil rights, including the dramatic exit of his father, Michigan Governor George Romney, from the 1964 Republican convention as a protest against nominee Barry Goldwater's racial politics. He also shared that he wept when he learned of Spencer Kimball's aforementioned revelation. Yet from Romney's remarks it is not clear whether he wept for joy because Mormonism was eschewing its segregationist policies or if he wept from relief that the announcement promised to quiet the public outrage that those policies were causing. And significantly, while he recited his parents' efforts to confront racial injustice, Mitt Romney pointed to no such activities of his own.

But let me be clear: this is not a "gotcha" political ploy. In all honesty, I am neither saying nor implying in the slightest that Mitt Romney is a racist. I simply do not know that to be the case. Nor do I mean to overlook the racial progress that the Mormon Church has made in the last several decades. What I do mean to say is 1) that Americans of goodwill owe it to ourselves not to turn a blind eye to the possible implications of the white supremacist legacy of candidate Romney's religious tradition, no matter how noble our intentions; and 2) that Mitt Romney himself owes it to America to address the issue. Why? Because Romney was tutored into adulthood by a holy book that declares that all Americans like me are cursed by God. And he is not only a believer; he has served as a leader in his faith. This is indeed a crucial point for consideration because, as this nation has seen time and time again, the inevitable consequence of America's policy-makers considering people of color as inferior to whites is that blacks' social and material interests have also been considered inferior -- and quite often treated that way.

I admit that this question of religion and racism is quite complicated and I don't claim to have all the answers. But I do know that recognizing the equal rights of black Americans under the law, while of paramount importance, is not the same as recognizing our intellectual capabilities and moral character as inherently equal to whites. And I am aware of one thing more: that when Tim Russert invited Romney to repudiate his Church's racist legacy on Meet the Press, Romney refused.

That is why, Mr. Romney, as an American citizen whose president you seek to become, I must insist that you honestly and forthrightly attest to me and all Americans of goodwill that you actually can be my president, too, fully and completely. You can accomplish this by publicly disavowing the portions of your holy book that so sorely denigrate the humanity of me, my loved ones and all people of black African descent.

It is incumbent that you do this, candidate Romney, for the sake of all Americans.

***

Obery Hendricks is Visiting Scholar at Institute for Research in African-American Studies and Department of Religion at Columbia University and the author of the recent The Universe Bends Toward Justice: Radical Reflections on the Bible, the Church, and the Body Politic.

"Freedom Rider," Etta Simpson Talks "Social Media"

2012-01-13T09:25:00.001-05:00

From the Ella Baker Center:

In 1961, a group of young civil rights activists challenged segregation in the south by riding interstate buses. We had the pleasure of meeting one of the Freedom Riders.

'Now Dig' Kellie Jones Talking About Art and Black Los Angeles

2012-01-13T09:13:00.000-05:00

Now Dig Kellie Jones Talking About Art and Black Los Angeles

by Tukufu Zuberi | HuffPost BlackVoices

I recently visited an art exhibit chronicling the legacy of art in Black Los Angeles. The show is at the UCLA Hammer Museum and is called "Now Dig This! Art & Black Los Angeles 1960-1980." I sat down to speak with the curator of the exhibit. Kellie Jones is associate professor in the Department of Art History and Archaeology at Columbia University. Her writings have appeared in numerous exhibition catalogues and journals. Her critically acclaimed book EyeMinded: Living and Writing Contemporary Art (Duke University Press 2011) has been named one of the top art books of 2011 by Publishers Weekly. Her project "Taming the Freeway and Other Acts of Urban HIP-notism: African American Artists in Los Angeles in the 1960s and 1970s" is forthcoming from The MIT Press. Stay tuned for the rest of my interview with Kellie Jones tomorrow in my next post.

Your latest show is at the UCLA Hammer Museum, "Now Dig This! Art & Black Los Angeles 1960-1980." Talk to me about the conceptual background of this show.

Well, the show came about because I was doing research on a book on African-American artists in Los Angeles. I was in Los Angeles and I ran into a friend who happened to be the chief curator of the Hammer Museum at the time, Gary Garrels. He said, "What are you working on?" I told him I was working on this book about L.A. And he said, "Oh, are you planning to do a show?" I told him, "One day, in the future." Two weeks later, he calls me and he says, "How about now?" So it turned out, there was this great opportunity with the Getty Foundation, the Getty Research Institute. They were offering seed money over a two to three-year period to do research on aspects of Southern California art. And would I like to put a proposal together to do a show based on my own research? I was already scheduled to go to the Getty to do an oral history for them with some of these artists, who ended up being in the show and are also in my book. So I said, "Great! Let's get going on this!"

Several of the works that you highlight in "Now Dig This!" come from the storage rooms of some of the major museums of art in the United States. In what way is this exhibition a philosophical shift from the typical show we might see at a museum of art?

I don't think it's that far off the mark of typical shows. I think what's different is that people are kind of shocked about all these artists that we didn't know about. And they happen to be African-American. This type of research goes into shows, generally, at certain institutions. If you look at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, or the Museum of Modern Art, these shows are based on a lot of research. The only difference then is that the focus is on African-American artists and what they were making at the time and how their work elucidates that time period. It's just another way to frame history.

Now, in your show, you've placed some of these artists in relation to the development of art in the United States more generally. For example, you placed David Hammons and Maren Hassinger and others in conversation with the experiments in multimedia and post-minimalism. Do you think the artists in your show were rebelling against the Western aesthetic tradition?

Yes and no. I mean, they're part of that tradition. They all went to art school, so they all have part of that. Minimalism was this kind of, more industrial, kind of cold, modernist thing. Generally in this kind of practice no sorts of extra meaning would come into the work outside the meaning of the materials themselves. But what post-minimalism did was that you could have materials that actually signified different things. So for David Hammons to use the greasy bag, for him, it meant places where people picked up chicken and the grease was running in the bag. And so, there you go. You know, for him, with hair, he thought he had found his perfect object. It was a black object. Yes, he thought this was a racial object. He used black hair, from black barbershops, and it was non-gendered. That's what he liked. So it didn't have to be about men or women. It could just be this black object. He also thought grease was a black object. Something that, you know, your mama tells you to grease your body up so you don't look ashy. So that these materials signified people's lives in history. For Senga Nengudi -- you didn't mention her, but she's also one of the people in that post-minimalist room -- she used pantyhose to talk about women's bodies. So we have a certain feminist idea. And then the sand. They're in L.A. You got a lot of sand at the beach. So you can get some sand. And that gave it a certain kind of volume, a certain kind of shape. Maren, now see Maren, she's interesting because she's using materials that are part of a minimalist canon -- that is steel, steel wire, rope -- but then she's making them into these kind of verdant forms. Of all the artists in the show, her work is not signifying something that would be "black," that would be considered "black art". But her performative practice does bring in African dance styles. They are working within a kind of canonical post-minimalism, but then at a certain point -- particularly Hammons -- they're bringing in things that are saying, this is about African-American life. This is about another side of life that you hadn't really considered, and that these kinds of materials allow us to think about.

Tukufu Zuberi is Chair and Professor of Sociology, University of Pennsylvania; host, PBS’ 'History Detectives'

What Angry Black Woman? FLOTUS Responds

2012-01-12T20:39:00.000-05:00

Seven Minutes of 'Red Tails'

2012-01-12T10:44:00.000-05:00

RT Clip from Tambay Obenson on Vimeo.

Sun Moon Child

2012-01-12T10:22:00.000-05:00

Never tire of this; music by Imani Uzuri, video treatment by Pierre Bennu.

Trailer: Diary of a Single Mom | A Robert Townsend Film

2012-01-11T14:33:00.000-05:00

From Image Entertainment:

In the center of a storm is Ocean (Monica Calhoun), a 27-year old highly-motivated mother who manages a neighborhood apartment building and all of the problems that come along with it. Managing the building is a dream come true for Ocean. Not only has she secured a job with a title, but also managed to escape her family's problems and the closet-sized bedroom she and her two children used to share in her mother's house. Now, Ocean is juggling a new job, a new home furnished with only cardboard boxes, a niece who hates everything, her own two children and the needs of all the other tenants. DIARY OF A SINGLE MOM illuminates the challenges and triumphs of three women struggling to create lives that not only sustain them and their families, but also inspire others toward more action and compassion in their own lives.