Minister Faust's Blog, page 6

DAWUD ANYABWILE, INDIE COMIX ARTIST/CO-CREATOR OF BROTHERMAN, ON BROTHERMAN REVELATION (MF GALAXY 125)

THE ORIGINS OF THE GROUNDBREAKING INDIE COMIC; AVOIDING THE 1990s COMICS INDUSTRY CRASH WITH STUNNING INDIE DISTRIBUTION SUCCESS; ARTISTS WHO WERE HIS BEST ALLIES IN LAUNCHING HIS BUSINESS

Brotherman: Dictator of Discipline is one of the most celebrated indie comics ever to be published in the United States. Brotherman is the creation of two siblings: writer Guy A. Sims and artist-writer Dawud Anyabwile. While Marvel and DC today struggle to sell many of their titles in the low thousands, the original eleven issues of the black-and-white Brotherman comic sold a total of 750,000 copies via indie channels from African-American bookstores to barbershops and Black Expos.

Many credit Brotherman with fueling the growth of African-American comics in the 1990s. Now after a long hiatus, the series is back, not as individual pamphlet comics but in graphic novel form. Brotherman: Revelation – Book One is now out and it’s as engaging and gorgeous as ever—maybe even more now that it’s in full colour as ebook and trade paperback. When I learned the book was out, I just had to contact the artist, since I’d also loved his and his brother’s adaptation of Walter Dean Myers’ novel Monster.

In addition to co-creating Brotherman, Dawud Anyabwile worked for the video game company WanderLust Interactive, and on the television shows The Wild Thornberrys and Rugrats, and at Turner Studios as a designer and storyboard artist for Turner channels Cartoon Network, TNT, TBS, and others. He was nominated for the Will Eisner Best Artist Award, and won a 2016 Glyph Award for Brotherman: Revelation – Book One. And he also won a 2008 Emmy for conceptualising a public service announcement for the Dalai Lama, and in 1992 received the Key to the City of Kansas City, Missouri, for “Outstanding Service to Children” for the original run of Brotherman.

Dawud Anyabwile is also a down-to-earth, friendly, and very informative brother. A major reason I produce MF GALAXY is to support artists in various disciplines, including many who don’t have close to the creative discipline, sales success, and ability of Anyabwile and so need the publicity. And yet when I ask some of them who as yet have accomplished very little to come on the show, some of them turn up their noses. Not Anyabwile! Even though he’s been the subject of countless interviews and even documentaries, and you can find links to some of them on MF GALAXY.org, he was quick to respond, generous with his time, and kind. So, creators of various types, you can learn from this man in many ways.

In today’s episode of MF GALAXY, Dawud Anyabwile and I discuss:
The origins of the groundbreaking indie comic BrothermanHow his company Big City Entertainment avoided the 1990s American comics industry crash with stunning indie distribution success, andThe artists who were his best allies in launching his businessWe spoke by Skype on May 17, 2017. I began by asking Anyabwile to summarise the story of Brotherman: Revelation - Book One, and what he hoped to accomplish with this volume that he hadn’t been able to do before.

brothermancomics.com

Brotherman Movie Intro and Documentary Teaser 2009 (whole)

Brotherman Forever

Brotherman: Revelation Graphic Novel Book Teaser 2015

Brotherman: Revelation Graphic Novel Crowd Funding

Brotherman Comics on JJ On Atlanta - Peachtree TV - July 2009

Dawud Anyabwile - Self Portrait Speed Painting

Brotherman: Revelation Production Recording by Dawud Anyabwile

HOW TO BREAK INTO KIDLIT (MF GALAXY 124)

WHOSE ADVICE IS WORTHWHILE OR WORTHLESS FOR CHANGING YOUR WRITING—AND WHY; SURPRISING REALITY ABOUT JUST HOW LITTLE PUBLISHERS KNOW ABOUT SELLING BOOKS; WHY NOT TO WRITE WHAT’S HOT
 
Plenty of aspiring writers think writing for children is easy, and getting published that way is even easier. Wrong! As almost any writer will tell you, unless you’re a star, the business is never easy and is definitely never a sure thing. On May 20, 2017, a group of children’s writers met at the Capital City Press writers conference in Edmonton for a panel called “From Aliens to the Zodiac: The A-Z's of Writing for Kids and Teens.”

Who organised the event? Why, the outstanding Katherine Gibson of the Edmonton Public Library and author S.G. Wong who’s Capital City Press’s featured writer, and they assembled terrific writers to help you learn what you need to break into Kidlit or advance your career there. Those panelists are Marty Chan, Joan Marie Galat, and Tololwa Mollel, and they’ll be introducing themselves. The moderator is author Natasha Deen, best known for her Guardian and also Retribution series.

During the panel they discuss:
Whose advice is worthwhile, and whose is worthless, when it comes to changing your writing—and whyThe surprising reality about just how little publishers know about selling books, andWhy you shouldn’t start writing whatever is hot in the market right nowMany thanks to Katherine Gibson and SG Wong for arranging my recording opportunity. And now on MF GALAXY, Natasha Deen introduces the Capital City Press forum on writing and publishing for children.

http://martychan.com
http://www.natashadeen.com
http://www.joangalat.com
http://www.tololwamollel.com

MASTER IMPROVISER JACOB BANIGAN ON HOW IMPROV CAN TEACH WRITERS TO EXPAND THEIR GAME A THOUSAND-FOLD (MF GALAXY 123) – 2017 May 22

INTERNATIONAL IMPROV ARTIST + TRAINER CREATES + CRITIQUE HUNDREDS OF STORIES PER YEAR; THE MOST IMPORTANT THING TO KNOW ABOUT MAKING AUDIENCE CARE; HOW IMPROV REACHES PAST FUNNY TO FIND PROFOUND MEANING

Jacob Banigan is one impressive cat. He knows more about how to build and refine stories than anyone I’ve ever met, and I know a lot of writers. And yet Banigan doesn’t see himself as a writer and writes only occasionally.

So how and why does he grok story like no one else? Because he’s a master improviser who’s been studying the craft since 1990 when he joined Rapid Fire Theatre in Edmonton. Sure, he also gained skills in years of creating and performing sketch comedy, including in The 11:02 Show which is where we worked together for a season, and in Gordon’s Big Bald Head, where I also worked with him one summer.

But Banigan kept growing in the field, serving as Rapid Fire’s Artistic Director from 1995 to 2004, creating news plays, launching improv festivals Nosebowl and the long-form improv show CHiMPROV, and helped make Rapid Fire’s reputation go international by winning competition after competition. Now he lives in Austria where he works with Theater Im Bahnhof of Graz and English Lovers of Vienna, and he wanders the planet like David Banner, performing and teaching improv wherever people need him.

In today’s episode of MF GALAXY, Jacob Banigan discusses:
What the fundamental core of improv has to teach writers and all story-tellersWhy improvisers should never focus on “being funny”The most important thing to know about how to get your audience to care about your characters and plotWhy it’s absolutely indispensable to screw up and even fail at your art, and when you should disrupt a system that’s workingHow to harness randomness to improve your creativityHow falling in love with your process can cost you the quality of your productHow he runs the best critique sessions I’ve ever seen—which is why I’ve asked him to advise me on two screenplays—and how to learn his method, andHow to know if you can trust your fellow creators.Banigan spoke with me over food at Edmonton’s Route 99 diner on August 24, 2016. He begins by introducing himself. I seriously overestimated how well my microphone would pick up my voice and seriously underestimated how much ambient noise it would collect. So sometimes I’ll be cutting in to rephrase my question, and at other times I’ve boosted the gain so you can hear me.

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13 REASONS WHY – SHOULD SCHOOLS BAN IT? OR MAKE IT MANDATORY? (MF GALAXY 122)

CONTROVERSIAL HIT NETFLIX SERIES EXPLORES BULLYING, STALKING, SLUT-SHAMING, SEXUAL ASSAULT + TEEN SUICIDE, NOW FACING BACKLASH FROM ELITE MEDIA + PEARL-CLUTCHING ADULTS EVERYWHERE

Today on the show we’re talking about 13 Reasons Why, the Netflix series based on the Jay Asher novel. My guests are librarian Ashley Cain and policy manager Jinting Zhao, both of whom attended the high school where I taught for most of my teaching career, and where Cain was one of my English students.

I asked them to come onto MF GALAXY because they each posted insightful and powerful remarks following a Facebook thread I started discussing the series and asking about its accuracy.

In Edmonton, a school principal banned out-of-class discussion of the series. In the following show you’ll hear me incorrectly say to Jinting Zhao that the school was a junior high, but Ashley Cain correctly noted that it was an elementary school. The school emailed to parents to state its ban, but failed to encourage parents to discuss the series’ issues with their children. However, according to an online CBC news report, many schools across North America did just that. Other sources including The New Yorker magazine have attacked the series, leading series star Katherine Langford to defend it.

In today’s MF GALAXY, Zhao and Cain discuss:
The ethics of how the series depicts sexual assault and suicide, and whether such depictions encourage those actionsThe accuracy or inaccuracy of the series and how its events relate to their own harrowing experiences of junior and senior high schoolHow social media harassment can traumatise teens in ways that are totally foreign to their parents’ experiencesWhy many teens don’t know where sexual boundaries should exist to keep them safe socially and physically, and to prevent them from ruining the lives of their peersThe responsibilities of peers, teachers, and parents to young people to prevent the worst of what the series dramatises, and how some authorities inadvertently escalate the crises some teens are facingHow some young people can escape social persecution that could destroy them, andWhether teachers and parents should be watching the series with their teens—and what questions they should ask afterward, and how.
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GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY VOL2 REVIEWED (MF GALAXY 121)

AUTHOR KRISTA D. BALL + FILMMAKER BEN DOBYNS ON THE HEROES + VILLAINS, THEIR SURPRISING REVELATIONS, AMAZING CAMEOS, THE MUSIC, FARSCAPE, AND ITS TIMELY AND DEVASTATING SOCIAL SATIRE

Guardians of the Galaxy came out in 2014 and blew me away. I’ve called it the best Star Wars since Star Wars of 1977 for stunning imagery and action, and the feature film version of TV’s FarScape, for its gonzo humour and pop culture self-awareness.

And like both of shows, Guardians has outrageous, memorable characters that make fans wish we could hang out with them. That film made a billion dollars globally and now the sequel is out, and as of recording today on May 8, 2017, just four days after opening, Volume 2 has already earned $430 million dollars around the world.

Guardians is a giga-successful series and if we’re lucky, will bring the fun, great characters, and wonder back to science fiction filmmaking. Returning to the show today to discuss Volume 2 are author Krista D. Ball and filmmaker Ben Dobyns.

Krista D. Ball is an Edmonton-based science fiction and fantasy author who was born and raised in Newfoundland where she learned how to chainsaw and chop wood before getting a degree in History from Mount Allison University. She’s also a tough online brawler against the alt-Right, and is basically the Gamora of Edmonton. She’s also the author of more than a dozen novels and novellas including the Spirit Caller and The Dark Abyss of Our Sins series.

Ben Dobyns is a film producer, editor, cinematographer, composer, writer, and director, and one of the founders of Zombie Orpheus Entertainment, or ZOE. While he’s from the US he’s now living in British Columbia, and he and ZOE have just completed their third season of their indie-TV comedy-fantasy series JourneyQuest. They’ve also produced Strowlers, a forthcoming series about a world in which magic is suppressed and regulated by a xenophobic, oppressive government.  

Today on MF GALAXY, we look at the sequel which is not even a week old, discussing the familiar cast of Peter Quill, Gamora, Rocket, Drax, Baby Groot, Nebula, and Yondu, as well as Kurt Russell’s new character, all their interwoven personalities and arcs, modern screenwriting, the music of the film, its amazing cameos, its surprising and hilarious social satire, saving the galaxy, and whether my guests think it’s as good as the original. They spoke with me on May 7, 2017 by Skype.

Note that today’s discussion is 100% PACKED WITH SPOILERS. Listen at your own risk. If you’re listening on community radio and would like to hear the full 80-minute version, go to MF GALAXY.org to download it. Also, please note that Dobyns was Skyping at a public playground where his children were playing—you’ll even hear the sounds of swings later on—so some of his audio was difficult to discern. Therefore my virtual assistant M.O.I.R.A. will be voicing his missing words, as with Dobyns’s very first comment and again later on.

kristadball.com
zombieorpheus.com

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SISTERS OF TOMORROW: THE FIRST WOMEN OF SCIENCE FICTION (MF GALAXY 120)

 
HUGO-NOMINATED BOOK ON FEMINIST PIONEERS OF SF WRITING + EDITING, SEXIST BACKLASH THAT ENDED FEMINIST GOLDEN AGE OF SF, AND HOW WOMEN CHANGED SF EVEN WHILE DENIED THEIR PLACE IN THE CANON
 
Science fiction has always been a male-dominated literary genre, right? All about steel braziers on submissive women serving—and servicing—Euro-American alpha males on a colonial power trip in space? Where all the authors and editors were men and women were allowed in only to tidy the office and deliver sandwiches and backrubs?

Guess again. According to my guests Lisa Yaszek and Patrick B. Sharp and their new book Sisters of Tomorrow: The First Women Of Science Fiction, when it comes to women, the accepted history of SF is all wrong.

Lisa Yaszek is Professor and Associate Chair in the School of Literature, Media, and Communication at Georgia Tech, and past president of the Science Fiction Research Association. Her areas of expertise include science fiction, cultural history, critical race and gender studies, and science and technology studies. She’s written for numerous journals and is the author of books including Galactic Suburbia: Recovering Women’s Science Fiction.

Patrick Sharp is Professor and Chair of the Liberal Studies Faculty at the California State University at Los Angeles. He researches the cultural dimensions of and beliefs about science and technology, and how they cross-pollinate with beliefs about race and gender. He’s the author of Savage Perils: Racial Frontiers and Nuclear Apocalypse in American Culture, and he co-edited the anthology Darwin in Atlantic Cultures: Evolutionary Visions of Race, Gender, and Sexuality . He’s also the faculty chief of
EagleCon, CSULA's annual convention dedicated to diversity in comics and science fiction sponsored by the Art Directors Guild and the Costume Designers Guild.

In today’s episode of MF GALAXY, Yaszek and Sharpe discuss:
The key women authors and editors who blazed a comet trail across the sky of early science fiction and opened up the genre to what it could one day beThe early male editors who were allies in egalitarian SF creationThe sexist backlash that ended the Feminist Golden Age of SF, led by an editor whose name is still spoken with honour today, andHow women writers changed the content of SF, even while male editors were eliminating them from the canon that they were buildingMy guests spoke with me by Skype from their offices in Atlanta and Los Angeles on April 24, 2017.
Please note that the US publisher Resurrection House has just released my acclaimed novel The Alchemists of Kush about how boys lost at war fight betrayal and oppression to transform themselves and the world. If you'd like to buy the book, please get it from your favourite independent local bookstore or Resurrection House. Barring that, there's Amazon and Barnes & Noble.

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SHEREE RENEE THOMAS ON OCTAVIA BUTLER, THE POWER OF SHORT STORIES, WHY AFRICENTRIC WRITERS WORKSHOPS MATTER + EASY HACKS TO BOOST YOUR WRITING PRODUCTIVITY (MF GALAXY 119)

THE ORIGINS OF THE GROUNDBREAKING INDIE COMIC; AVOIDING THE 1990s COMICS INDUSTRY CRASH WITH STUNNING INDIE DISTRIBUTION SUCCESS; ARTISTS WHO WERE HIS BEST ALLIES IN LAUNCHING HIS BUSINESS
 
Sheree Renee Thomas changed science fiction publishing by editing the anthologies Dark Matter: A Century of Speculative Fiction from the African Diaspora and Dark Matter: Reading the Bones.

Those books won the 2001 and 2005 World Fantasy Awards, and along with the novels of Nalo Hopkinson, Tananarive Due, and Steven Barnes relaunched Africentric science fiction and fantasy in the world of books and gave rise to the revolution which is growing around the African planet.

Thomas grew up in Memphis, Tennessee loving science fiction, but abandoned the genre until she encountered the work of Africentric SF luminary Octavia Butler and then found her own path to expanding the genre.

In addition to being an editor, Thomas is a poet and short story writer whose work has appeared in literary journals, magazines, and anthologies including Vibe, The Washington Post, Callaloo, Ishmael Reed’s Konch, The New York Times, Meridians, Strange Horizons, So Long Been Dreaming, and Hurricane Blues.

Numerous prestigious organisations have awarded her fellowships, including the Cave Canem Foundation, the New York Foundation of the Arts, and the Ledig House Foundation. She also headed her own independent press, Wanganegresse, co-founded the journal Anansi: Fiction of the African Diaspora, served as a juror for several prizes, and taught creative writing across the US and in London.

In today’s MF GALAXY, Sheree Renee Thomas discusses:
The enduring and electrifying power of Kindred author Octavia Butler and why Greg Bear’s Moving Mars mattered so much to ThomasWhy short stories matter even while novels are king, and which anthologies rocked her worldThe wrong way to teach poetryThe different ways people approach nation language—or what some people call patois or creoleThe indispensability of Africentric writers’ workshops, andEasy techniques to enhance your own productivity and creativity, including playwright August Wilson’s ingenious technique for jumpstarting the next projecthttps://about.me/wanganegresse
http://www.aqueductpress.com/authors/ShereeThomas.php

Interviews listed on WikipediaYou Are Not Alone: An Interview with Sheree R. Thomas, ColoredGirls.com (2001)Black Science Fiction and Fantasy with Tananarive Due, Steven Barnes, and Sheree R. Thomas on NPR, News & Notes, August 13, 2007 (Audio)Creating Dark Matter: An Interview with Sheree Renée Thomas, Strange Horizons (2009) Ambling Along the Aqueduct, "Aqueduct Press: Conversation Pieces" (2011)Sources listed on WikipediaSheree Thomas Bibliography site by Hachette Book GroupJoe Monti's Scifi.com review of Dark MatterPamela Sargent's review of Dark Matter: Reading the BonesSteven Silver's review of Dark MatterAALBC Author page with Sheree ThomasSHOTGUN LULLABIES: Stories & Poems by Sheree Renée ThomasAqueduct Press Author page with Sheree Renée Thomas

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THE WRITERS’ JOURNEY – HOW TO SUCCEED IN HOLLYWOOD + COMICS (MF GALAXY 118)

WHAT MAGAZINES + WEBSITES YOU MUST READ, HOW TO MANAGE YOUR SOCIAL MEDIA PRESENCE TO AVOID SABOTAGING YOUR CAREER, WHERE IN YOUR STORY TO START WRITING YOUR SCRIPT, SURPRISING MENTORSHIP BY BIG-NAME WRITERS
 
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So many people talk about breaking into comics, New York publishing, or Hollywood, but most of the ones talking haven’t done it, and most of those who’ve done it aren’t talking.

Today’s MF GALAXY features people who can walk the talk and talk the walk, and who are going to give you specific, technical advice and steps to take your writing career forward, such as what magazines and websites you must read, how to manage your social media presence to avoid sabotaging your career, what point in your story to start writing your script, and some surprising realities about mentorship by big-name writers.

All of this episode’s rising-star writer-creators spoke at a panel called The Writers’ Journey at the 2016 San Diego Comic Con, which despite the name is probably the leading TV and movie entertainment convention in the US open to the general public but swarming with professionals.

The panel is moderated by Brandon Easton, a recurring guest on MF GALAXY. He’s a 2015 Disney/ABC Writing Program winner and 2014 Eisner Award nominee who worked on Marvel’s Agent Carter and IDW's M.A.S.K., among many other projects. Panelists include TV producer Geoffrey Thorne of Leverage and The Librarians, TV staff writer Ubah Mohamed of The Whispers, Gang Related, and Cold, and comics writer-creator Brandon Thomas of Skybound’s Horizon and Miranda Mercury.

Many thanks to DeWayne Copeland who recorded the video for this conversation. You can find the complete video online at MFGALAXY.org and a link to Copeland’s work, which includes my MF GALAXY conversation with him about his superhero web TV series CV Nation! And now on MF GALAXY, Brandon Easton, Geoffrey Thorne, Ubah Mohamed, and Brandon Thomas with the Writer’s Journey!

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ART + ACTIVISM with MARTY CHAN, KRISTEN HUTCHINSON, DAWN MARIE MARCHAND, AARON PAQUETTE, AND MATTHEW STEPANIC (MF GALAXY 117)

IS ALL ART IS POLITICAL? SHOULD YOU EVER INSULT YOUR OWN AUDIENCE? CAN YOU SURVIVE SOCIAL MEDIA AS A SOCIAL ARTIST? THE MOST SURPRISING ACT OF PROTEST

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Art and activism—should they be friends? Hanging together like Kirk and Spock, Crockett and Tubbs, or Laverne and Shirley? Or should they be enemies like Luke Cage and Cotton Mouth, Avatar Aang and the Fire Lord, or Donald Trump and most of humanity?

Some people say that art and politics should never mix. Other people say that they always mix—but that people only protest those politics when they disagree with them. So if that’s true, what happens to society when people who define themselves as advocates and activists combine their views and ideas with their novels, paintings, plays, and more?

Those are questions that novelist SG Wong wanted answered. Wong is the inaugural featured writer of Capital City Press, a venture by the Edmonton Public Library. Wong is the creator of the Lola Starke hardboiled detective series set in Crescent City, California, in an alternate history in which China colonised North America. She’s also an Arthur Ellis Award-finalist and a tireless organiser in Edmonton’s literary scene. On March 27, 2017 Wong and the Edmonton Public Library convened a panel to discuss art and activism.

Kristen Hutchinson is an artist, independent curator, art historian, interior designer, and lecturer at the University of Alberta.Matthew Stepanic is a poet and an editor at the Glass Buffalo and Eighteen Bridges literary journals, at the Tanner Young Publishing Group and at Where Edmonton magazine.Dawn Marie Marchand is the Indigenous Artist in Residence for the City of Edmonton, and hails from the Cold Lake First Nation.Aaron Paquette is a novelist, painter, speaker, and former federal candidate for the New Democratic PartyMarty Chan is a playwright, screenwriter, radio humourist, and YA writer.
In this episode of MF Galaxy, they discuss:
Their definitions of and experience with experience activismWhat it means to say art is politicalThe value of reflecting to audiences who they areWhy one artist was about to quit painting forever, and what horrifying experience transformed him to the artist he is todayThe role of social media among social artistsHow editors can change the conversation about art and artists, andThe surprising thing that is an act of protest
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sgwong.com

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CARL JAMES - RACE IN PLAY: UNDERSTANDING THE SOCIO-CULTURAL WORLD OF STUDENT ATHLETES, HOW PUBLIC SCHOOLS SHAPE CAREER AND EDUCATION PATHS BASED ON RACE

HOW RACISM AND ATHLETICS ARE TACKLING AFRICAN-CANADIAN STUDENTS

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Because race-based privilege, power, and exploitation are facts of planetary life, almost any society can be expected to maintain mythologies about race. That mythology includes the belief that those who belong to the racial power structure are superior to those who are excluded from that racial power system. Some of the excluded are deemed intellectually equal or potentially superior, but lacking in physical prowess and, for lack of a better term, “natural rhythm.” But then there are other people excluded by the racial power system, and inside the racial mythology, they are deemed intellectually and morally backward, but physically superior.

The late Dr. Manning Marable, a Professor of History and Political Science and formerly the Director of the Institute for Research in African-American Studies at Columbia University, discussed in a 1991 column called “Racism and the Black Athlete” how the mythology of race affected athletics. He wrote:

“For generations, White athletes who excelled in any sport were described as “hard-working,” “diligent,” “dedicated.” African-Americans who achieved prominence in sports, by contrast, were known as “natural athletes” who did not have to train rigorously for their successes. Joe DiMaggio and Rocky Marciano were applauded by the media for their work ethic; Sonny Liston and Willie Mays were described as “naturally-gifted athletes.”
“The basic racist assumption beneath these statements was that Blacks were “animals,” not human beings. Anyone knows that a horse can outrun any person. A gorilla is more powerful than the strongest weightlifter. To be Black was to be closer to the physical world of beasts. And of course, Whites who displayed physical prowess were said to have achieved these accomplishments by their mental powers.”
Marable continues:

“The argument is not only racist, it’s illogical in the extreme. Because in reality, success by any group in any avenue of human endeavour is largely determined by the factors of opportunity, availability of resources, and the levels of individual dedication.“Why do African-American athletes dominate the NBA, but are virtually unrepresented in the NHL or the Professional Golfers Association? Build 5,000 ice skating rinks and public golf courses in the African-American community and create hundreds of training programs and incentives for Black elementary school children. Believe me, within 20 years you’ll have some Whites writing about the “natural ability” of Blacks in golf and ice hockey!
“Blacks excel in athletics because opportunities are still limited in professional and corporate circles for minorities and women. Expand job access and affirmative action enforcement, and fewer Blacks would go into sports.
“Racial discrimination is still rampant in college athletics. A recently released NCAA study indicates that the graduation rate after five years for Black athletes is only 26.6 percent, compared to 52.2 percent for Whites. More significantly, the vast majority of White athletes drop out of college during their early years, while nearly as many Black athletes leave school in their final years as in their first two. This implies that many coaches and academic officials are more concerned with eligibility rather than the goals of education and graduation, when it comes to Black athletes.”
Marable concludes:

“The NCAA study also indicated that when African-American and White athletes have the same SAT scores, Blacks graduate from college at higher rates than Whites. This shows that standardized tests are a poor indicator of future academic performance, and that Blacks with lower SAT scores shouldn’t be arbitrarily denied admission to higher education.”
Today we’re going to hear a Canadian’s take on the issue. Dr. Carl E. James is a professor in the Faculty of Education and director of the York Centre for Education and Community. He’s cross-appointed in the graduate programs in Sociology and Social Work. He researches how marginalised youth experience school, sport, and society. The Royal Society of Canada inducted James as a Fellow, one of the highest honours a Canadian scholar can achieve in the Arts, Humanities, and Sciences.

He’s the author of the book Race in Play: Understanding the Socio-Cultural World of Student Athletes. The book examines the sociology of sport, youth, racism, and education, and how institutions such as public schools shape the career paths and educational future—or failure—of athletes based on race. In December 2005 James was in Edmonton for a conference on anti-racist education. We spoke at CJSR studios about how racism and athletics are tackling African-Canadian students.

A note: During this conversation recorded in December 2005, I remarked that racism against First Nations Canadians meant that they had no paths to sharing in the bounty of multicultural settler Canada. While I meant that as a critique of the settler colonial state of which I am a part, my statement blindly ignored the many First Nations Canadians who achieve excellence and even national and international influence in innumerable fields. We make far more progress not when we simply condemn what’s unjust, but when we by recognise and replicate success.

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