Mark Anthony Neal's Blog, page 1044

Jay Smooth @ TEDxHampshireCollege | "How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love Discussing Race"

from TEDxTalks
Jay Smooth is host of New York's longest running hip-hop radio show, the Underground Railroad on WBAI 99.5 FM in NY, and is an acclaimed commentator on politics and culture.

In this talk, he discusses the sometimes thorny territory of how we discuss issues of race and racism, offering insightful and humorous suggestions for expanding our perception of the subject.

http://www.hampshire.edu/

WGBH-TV (Boston) | Basic Black Live: Michelle Obama and Election 2012

Basic Black Live: Michelle Obama and Election 2012
(Originally broadcast on November 18, 2011)

This Basic Black conversation is a focus on First Lady Michelle Obama, (and the significance of having a woman of color in that role), as well as what we can expect in regards to her participation in the 2012 election. Related to the 2012 election, we'll also take a look at African Americans and the use of social media.

Our panel: Callie Crossley, host of The Callie Crossley Show, 89.7 WGBH Radio; Kim McLarin, assistant professor of writing, literature and publishing, Emerson College; Phillip Martin, senior reporter, 89.7 WGBH Radio; Peniel Joseph, professor of history, Tufts University; and Mark Anthony Neal , professor of African and African American studies, Duke University and co-editor of That's The Joint: The Hip Hop Studies Reader , 2nd edition.

"It is so time for this": Council of Elders Stand in Solidarity with #Occupy Movement

"It is so time for this"--Gwendolyn Soharah Simmons.

Emancipate the NBA: Struggling for Justice in the NBA

"Basketball and Chain" (2003) Hank Willis Thomas
Emancipate theNBA: Struggling for Justice in the NBA byDavid J. Leonard | NewBlackMan
Ihave been trying to write this column for several days.  I have thought and thought, and spentseveral hours writing, resulting in nothing.  I am just too angry. My anger about the NBA LOCKOUT has nothing to do with the players.  I am actually proud of their courageand their refusal to kowtow in the face of pressure to accept an unfairproposal.  I am happy they toldDavid Stern to file his ultimatum under "U" for unacceptable.  In fact, when I heard the news onMonday that the players indeed rejected the proposal, I found myself giving alittle fist pump.  The prospect ofa lost NBA season is disheartening at one level, yet I am encouraged by theirrefusal to accept an unjust economic arrangement. 
Despitea public narrative that continually focuses on money as the only issue ofcontention, the LOCKOUT isn't simply about how to split NBA pie.  It isn't about greedy, out-of-touchplayers that already make millions for playing a game (this idea is sodisrespectful to not only their talents but their hard work and dedication).
Playershave already given up billions of dollars when they apparently agreed to a50/50 split (or thereabouts).  Yet that wasn't enough for the owners.  Their proposal would dramatically restrict player movement,ostensibly ending much of free agency. The LOCKOUT in many ways is an effort to roll back free agency, tooverturn the legacies of Curt Flood and to create a system where owners don'thave to compete for the services of all players (RicBucher made this point eloquently). 
Theproposed structural changes would dramatically alter the landscape of the NBA,severely limiting the options and free agency potential of NBA players.  In2010-2011, where the players received 57% of basketball related income, thesalary cap was $58.044 million; that year teams paid a tax at $70.307million.  If the owners have theirway, these numbers would fall to $50,915,789 for the cap and $61,672,807 forthe luxury tax.  So what does thismean?  It means, that only 10 teamswould be under the salary cap (these calculations include potential rookiesalaries).  It means that 14 teamswould be paying a luxury tax, which would be higher in the new system.  It means that the many teams that haveempty roster spots would have little or no money to spend on free agents.  Faced with a luxury tax and only ableto use a reduced exception that allows teams to exceed the salary cap, the newsystem is an assault on free agency and "free-market capitalism."  It allows teams to ostensibly eliminateplayer leverage in getting the most possible money.      
Imagineif this system existed in other industries.  Imagine if every company in your respective field wasrestricted in how much money they could spend on salaries.  Imagine if these companies were taxedif they spent over a certain threshold. How would it impact your ability to garner employment?  How would it impact your ability tomove from one company to the next? How would it impact your ability to increase your salary because twocompetitors were forced to compete for your services?  What the owners and David Stern are trying to do, throughthe reduction of the BRI, through the changes in the mid-level of exception,and the tax structure is to limit the power and choice of the players.  It will invariably depress wages,bolster profits for owners, kill the NBA's middle-class, and otherwise limitplayer power.  
Theowners' proposal will likely HURT many teams and the quality of theirbasketball.  Look at the BostonCeltics: they have 7 players under contract for the 2011-2012 year, meaningthey would need 5 more players just to get the 12-person minimum (teams oftencarry 15 players).  Based onestimates of a 50/50 BRI split, the Celtics would be roughly $15 milliondollars over the cap, meaning that in order to fill out their roster they wouldbe limited to minimum veteran salaries and one exception (unless they signplayers previously under contract in 2010-2011).  They would be forced to pay a tax for every dollar they spend.  How do you think that will impact playermovement?  How will it impactjobs?  What team will be willingand able to sign players beyond 12-man roster?  As much as it pains me to say this (as someone born andraised in Los Angeles), the proposal would be horrid for a team like theCeltics.   
TheNBA LOCKOUT is not about fans, despite claims that it is about helping thesmall-market teams and their fans.  As I have said before, I don't buy the parity argument.  I buy it even less as it imagines the LOCKOUTas a struggle to protect small market teams from future player exodus. Focusing on LeBron James, DeronWilliams, and Carmelo Anthony, all of whom left their teams for "greener"pastures in big markets, this argument focuses on the lack of fairness to thefans in these respective cities. They cite the potential exits of Chris Paul and Dwight Howard as furtherevidence that the NBA needs structural change.  I am angered that anyone accepts this seriously flawedargument.  Whether thinking aboutthe success of the Mavs or Spurs, or the failures of the Clippers, Knicks andthe Warriors, market size does not guarantee success or failure.  It isn't about the fans or fixing abroken system, but enhancing owner profits and further creating a league whereplayers are     treated as "thehelp."  It is about ownersasserting their power to control the players.
Whileclearly a struggle that is difficult to connect to because of the money earnedby all involved, it is a struggle that connects to each and every one ofus.  That is clear from thewritings of people like MichaelTillery, MarcLamont Hill, EtanThomas, and Dave Zirin, who brilliantly described thelockout in the following way:
Maybethey're fighting for a reason so basic, we've missed it. Maybe it's becausethey overwhelmingly come from the ranks of the working poor, have careerlengths of six years and have been facing off against the ranks of truegenerational, aristocratic wealth in all it's arrogance, personified by thesnide, oozing contemptuousness of David Stern. Maybe they're just tired of beingtreated as less than men by the people who write their checks.
Maybethey just hate to lose. NBA players: welcome to the 99 percent.
Thinkingabout their struggle in relationship to broader fights for economic justicecontributes to my solidarity with the players.   The players are part of the 99%.  In the NBA, the 1% is trying to enhanceits profits, to control its workers, and to impose restrictions that underminesworker power; its trying to destroy the middle-class and the union; its tryingto curtail collective bargaining all while demonizing the players.  Their fight is similar to those thattook place in Ohio, Wisconsin and the Occupy movement.   Their fight is our fight.  Their fight is against corporate powerand power that seeks to dismiss, dismantle, and demonize the power of thepeople.    As Dave Zirin reminded us, there is a lot at stakehere: "I want my basketball, and I know I'm not alone. Let's Occupy theNBA."  Like the players, I don'twant basketball at any cost, hoping the players continue to fight so that wecan have an NBA that is both just and fair to all parties involved.  Emancipate the NBA!
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David J. Leonard isAssociate Professor in the Department of Critical Culture, Gender and RaceStudies at Washington State University, Pullman. He has written on sport, videogames, film, and social movements, appearing in both popular and academicmediums. His work explores the political economy of popular culture, examiningthe interplay between racism, state violence, and popular representationsthrough contextual, textual, and subtextual analysis. He is the author of ScreensFade to Black: Contemporary African American Cinema and the forthcoming After Artest: Race and the War on Hoop(SUNY Press). Leonard is a regular contributor to NewBlackMan and blogs @ No Tsuris.

NBA Impasse: Owners & the 'Help'

NBA Impasse:Owners & the 'Help' byMarc Lamont Hill | PhiladelphiaDaily News
OnMonday, the NBA Players Association formally rejected the NBA owners' mostrecent offer and unanimously agreed to dissolve the union and take the ownersto court.
Thedecision virtually guarantees a protracted legal battle and places the2011-2012 season on the verge of disaster. As this news settles into my brain,and with games already canceled through at least Dec. 15, I feel overcome by arange of emotions.
Assomeone who studies inequality, I can't help but resist the popular"billionaires vs. millionaires" narrative that has been attached tothe labor dispute. That allows us to ignore the fact that the NBA (like Americaitself) is an institution built upon the exploited labor of black and brown bodies.
Despiteagreeing to reduce their revenue share from 57 to 50 percent, the owners arestill trying to squeeze more money from the players, not to mention compromisetheir long-term security by reneging on the owners' promise to yield onsystemic issues.
Theplayers might be rich, but the owners are wealthy. And they're committed tokeeping it that way.
Asa black person, I can't help but feel sickened by the tone of condescensionthat spews from the mouths of NBA owners.
AsBryant Gumbel accurately pointed out, the owners speak with the indignation ofplantation owners who are outraged that their "uppity" slaves areacting in their own best interest.
Fromtheir commitment to restricting the freedom of players to their arrogant"take it or leave it" ultimatums, the owners have committed totreating the players not as partners, but as "the help."
No,these uber-rich players aren't slaves. But the owners damned sure have theslave/master routine down pat.
Asa labor advocate, I can't help but sympathize with all of the working-classpeople hurt by the lockout. Even if you can't side with millionaire players,it's easy to connect with all of the parking attendants, vendors and tickettakers directly affected by the work stoppage.
It'salso easy to see the impact of the lockout on local restaurants, bars and otherinstitutions that make income from game-day traffic. These are the people whowill be most profoundly and irreversibly hurt by the labor impasse.
Asan avid basketball fan, and Sixers season-ticket holder, I feel indifferent tothe details of the negotiations. I just want to return to my courtside seat,waiting to see if Elton Brand can keep drinking from the fountain of youth thatrevived his career last year. I want to continue watching Jrue Holliday gainconfidence and blossom into an elite point guard. I want to find out if spacecadet Evan Turner can change the collective opinion that he is the worst Sixersdraft pick this side of Leon Wood and Al Henry.
Andwhile I don't have any illusions of a championship run, I can't wait to watchDoug Collins' young team give fits to elite squads like Dallas, Miami, OklahomaCity, Chicago and Los Angeles that enter our home floor.
Iwant to see basketball - desperately. But things aren't looking good.
Unlessthe players and owners can make serious headway within the next few days, welikely won't see a regular season game until next November. If that turns outto be true, my next feeling may be to boycott the NBA for a while.
AndI won't be alone.
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DailyNews editor-at-large Marc Lamont Hill is an associate professor of education atColumbia University and host of "Our World With Black Enterprise,"which airs at 6 a.m. Sundays on TV-One. Contact him at MLH@marclamonthill.com.

Things to Consider While Occupying America

Things to Consider While Occupying Americaby TimothyB. Tyson | special to NewBlackMan
If policeofficers leveling assault rifles at unarmed citizens were not so disturbing,folks in Chapel Hill might act like Sheriff Andy Taylor does whenever DeputyFife misuses his service revolver. "Give me the bullet, Barn," he'dsay.  Poor Barney fishes into his shirt pocket and forks over the shell. 
Chapel Hill isnot Mayberry, but a big university town where law enforcement is dangerous andcomplex; we honor and support the men and women who protect us.  When ourcops point assault rifles at our citizens, however, they imperil our values—notjust our image--and court real tragedy.  We cannot pretend this was okay. Whoever decided that our police officers should go in with assault riflesleveled at unarmed citizens needs to resign right this minute.     
Self-romanticizinghotheads are shouting, like the muddy peasants in Monty Python, "See theviolence inherent in the system!  I'm being repressed!"  In thesociety of the globalized spectacle, front-page pictures of cops with AR-15smake their own fevered case.  To the extent to which those dystopianimages speak the truth about us, we must change Chapel Hill; to the extent thatthey misrepresent us, we must tell our own truth still more loudly.
"Our policedepartment responded," Mayor Mark Kleinschmidt announced, "in a deliberate andmeasured way."  In the next breath, he denied responsibility, saying thatour council-manager system won't let the mayor direct the police.  This isthe classic hallmark of a politician who knows he landed on the wrongside.  In fact, he claimed, Police Chief Chris Blue did not brief himabout the weekend seizure of a downtown building by a violent mob until Mondaymorning. 
Every parentcan translate the mayor's dubious narrative: this was not a mistake and I am not responsible for the mistake; in fact, Iknew nothing about it.  Not once did my kids ever get the car keys backuntil they did better than that. 
Chief Blue'sdecision to reenact the Normandy invasion also defies grown-up logic. That goes double if he actually thinks a two-day building seizure by what hedescribed as a threatening mob does not merit informing the mayor.  "Ourdeliberate response was appropriate," he says. 
Uh, wouldeither of you gentlemen care to try again?   
Before wesuffer any of these fools further, we should ask ourselves what the words"Kent State" mean four decades after the National Guard fired intothat crowd of students in Ohio.  Any actual "deliberate response" to therecklessness of this lost weekend must weigh the enduring costs of having"Chapel Hill" become that kind of national metaphor.    
To a largeextent, I share the rage of this flubbed-up flash mob.  Land-use policiesand real estate prices in Chapel Hill are pushing working families and the poorout of town; neighborhoods long owned by people of color are being replaced byhigh-rise housing for millionaires.   If the fashionistas wanted acommunity center in the long-abandoned Yates Motor Company, though, they mighthave recruited, well, the community.   We desperately need to talk aboutwhat is happening in this town.  A public education campaign, somerecruitment at the churches, a few press conferences and protest rallies, andit might have happened.  We all know that property rights are notabsolute, as zoning ordinances, building codes, eminent domain and affordablehousing laws attest.  Had the groundwork been done, this old buildingcould have become a symbol of our generous vision;  most people in townknow the building exists only because of the front-page showdown. 
But theAnarcho-Stylin' Dance Alliance yearned less for a community center than for aconfrontation that would validate their paranoid fantasies, some of which,alas, are not entirely paranoid.  Their victory created a global spectaclethat a single cop stumbling over the curb could have turned into a tragedy forChapel Hill and a debacle for Occupy Wall Street.        
I embrace theOccupy movement, which sparks my hopes for a better world.  At theinvitation of our brilliant offspring, my wife and I spent several days atZuccotti Park.  (Unlike our kids, Perri and I slept at a friend'sapartment.  It is possible that we did not subsist solely on the granolabars we bought for the masses.  We can neither confirm nor deny the yummysushi buffet.)   Figuratively speaking, and almost literally, we sawPete Seeger meet Kanye West in that park.  Young and old, poor andaffluent, aspiring democrats vowed that the gap between rich and poor inAmerica must not continue to widen and that corporations will not be allowed topurchase our political system.   
Occupy WallStreet has shifted the national conversation sharply for the better.  Butits future depends on our poise.  We must reach beyond the fashionistaimpulse to outrage the uncool and instead recruit and educate a largermovement.  That means coalition politics.  (See Rustin, Bayard. See also Wellstone, Paul.) 
As a historianof American social movements, I assure you that the national security state isinfiltrating the movement and attempting to strengthen its fringe and isolateits influence.  Agents provocateurs or local hotheads—it does not mattermuch which is which—will  alwaysadvocate extremist adventures.  They will berate more thoughtful activistsas "Uncle Toms" or the timid bourgeoisie.  If this spirit of ginned-uprecklessness prevails, fueled by infiltrators, Occupy's political vision willdescend into a fun-house mirror in which moral authority passes by default tothe craziest sumbitch in the room. (See Panthers, Black.  See alsoUnderground, Weather.) 
Instead, wemust invoke the ancient Chinese general, Sun Tzu: "Do not do what youwould most like to do.  Do what your opponent would least like you todo."  Those desperate to avoid a public conversation about the powerof corporate money will relish seeing the Occupy movement tied to mob seizuresof property.    
It is time forChapel Hill, whether we are Occupied or merely residential, to say who does anddoes not represent our community: this includes the Car-Lot SeizureCooperative, our officially not-responsiblemayor, and whatever mallet-head passed out the assault rifles.  Hand overthe bullet, Barney.
***
Timothy Tyson is the authorof several books including Blood Done Signed My Name and Radio Free Dixie: Robert F. Williamsand the Roots of Black Power.

Lost Soul: Marvin Gaye Sings "By the Time I Get to Phoenix" on Playboy After Dark

Has the Hip-Hop Generation Squandered Black Music's Legacy? On the November 21st Left of Black

Has theHip-Hop Generation Squandered Black Music's Legacy? On the November 21stLeft of BlackLeft ofBlackhost and Duke University Professor Mark Anthony Neal is joined via Skype©by Bill Banfield, the author of RepresentingBlack Music Culture: Then, Now, and When Again?   Banfield is a  composer, recording artist, musicaldirector, scholar and Professor in the Music and Societies program at theBerklee School of Music. The Detroit native talks about growing up in the citythat bred the Motown sound and highlights the significance of hisrelationships with communities of artists including composer T.J. Anderson.  Neal and Banfieldalso contemplate why younger generations are not knowledgeable of great musicin history.  Later Neal is joined by Nicole Fleetwood , Professor of American Studies at RutgersUniversity and  the author of Troubling Vision: Performance, Visuality,and Blackness . Fleetwood and Neal discuss the promises and pitfalls ofblack iconic images, the photography of  Charles "Teenie" Harris, and the role that her grandmotherplayed in having her consider how "blackness" is seen. Lastly, Fleetwooddiscusses the importance of a realist aesthetic in black art..  
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Leftof Black airs at 1:30 p.m. (EST) on Mondays on Duke's Ustream channel: ustream.tv/dukeuniversity.Viewers are invited to participate in a Twitter conversation with Neal andfeatured guests while the show airs using hash tags #LeftofBlack or#dukelive. 
Left of Black is recorded and produced at the John Hope Franklin Center of International and InterdisciplinaryStudies at Duke University.
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FollowLeft of Black on Twitter: @LeftofBlackFollowMark Anthony Neal on Twitter: @NewBlackManFollowBill Banfield on Twitter: @BillBanfield
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What Occupy Wall Street Has Accomplished in Two Short Months

What Occupy Wall Street HasAccomplished in Two Short MonthsbyMark Naison | special to NewBlackMan
Manypeople in the media, as well as many citizens, complain that Occupy Wall Streethas no leaders and no goals.   While Occupy Wall Street and itsspinoffs around the nation have certainly not developed "leaders" whoarticulate its goals to the media or negotiate with public officials, it hasalready registered a formidable list of accomplishments for a movement thisyoung.
Hereis my list of some of the important things this movement has done, with more tocome as it grows and matures:
1.Put the question of economic inequality in the center of national discourse forthe first time since the 1960's, even though such inequality has been growingdramatically for the last 20 years.  The vocabulary the movement hasdeveloped to describe this inequality " the 1%  and the 99%" have become apermanent part of our political discourse and has focused great attention onhow the mal distribution of wealth has undermined democracy and eroded theliving standards of the great majority of Americans.
2.Called attention to the stifling impact of student loan debt on  youngcollege, professional  and trade school graduates   who face thedouble whammy of a stagnant job market and crippling debt.  The attentiongiven this issue inspired President Obama to marginally ease the loan burden ofcurrent recipients. In the future, it might well prompt a radical reconfigurationof the debt or a major program of loan forgiveness.
3. Createdpolitical pressures that prompted the postponement of a decision by PresidentObama to begin construction of the controversial Keystone XL natural gaspipeline.
4. Inspired  a wide variety of actions to prevent foreclosures andevictions and to bring relief to beleaguered home owners and tenants.
5.Put the undemocratic character of many education reform policies, particularlyschool closings, under much greater scrutiny, creating pressures on policymakers that will make these closings much more difficultto implement  without more consultation and input from parents,students, teachers and community members.
6.Given the labor movement a new vocabulary to challenge attacks on collectivebargaining and union recognition, providing added ammunition to the successfulcampaign to defeat an anti-collective bargaining bill in the state of Ohio.
7. Focused  attention on the issue of police brutality and the militarizationof urban police forces in ways that reinforces longstanding complaints ofpolice misconduct and abuse in Black and Latino communities.
Thiswould be an impressive list of accomplishment for a movement that has lastedtwo years, but Occupy Wall Street has only been with us for two months.
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Mark Naisonis a Professor of African-American Studies and History at Fordham Universityand Director of Fordham's Urban Studies Program. He is the author of two books,Communists in Harlem During theDepression and White Boy: A Memoir.Naison is also co-director of the Bronx African American History Project(BAAHP). Research from the BAAHP will be published in a forthcoming collectionof oral histories Before the Fires: AnOral History of African American Life From the 1930's to the 1960's.

Left of Black S2:E10 | Uncovering Race and Racism in America's Newsrooms

Left of Black S2:E10UncoveringRace and Racism in America's Newsrooms
w/Amy Alexander and John Akomfrah November 14, 2011
Left ofBlackHost and Duke University Professor MarkAnthony Neal is joined via Skype© by veteran journalist Amy Alexander, the author of Uncovering Race: A Black Journalist'sStory of Reporting and Reinvention (Beacon Press). Alexander, who has workedat the Miami Herald, Boston Globe, National Public Radio (NPR) and Africana.com,shares her inspirations and reasons for writing her book, and highlights theimportance of a diverse newsroom.  Neal and Alexander also discuss theways internet culture and social media have impacted quality journalism andthey share the triumphs and pitfalls of the writer-editors relationship. Alexander uses compelling personal stories to illustrate the challenges shefaced as a journalist.  Later, Neal is joined in the Left of BlackStudios at Duke University byBritish filmmaker John Akomfrah.  A founding member of the Black Audio Film Collective , Akomfrah's filmsinclude Handsworth's Song (1987), Seven Songs for Malcolm X (1993),  TheLast Angel of History (1996), Urban Soul(2004), which features Neal as a commentator, and The Nine Muses (2010). Neal and Akomfrah discuss the implications of migration across the BlackDiaspora, the Black Cultural Studies movement and go in depth about thecontributions of political leaders Malcolm X and Britain's Michael X's ascritical thinkers.  ***


Left ofBlack is a weekly Webcast hosted byMark Anthony Neal and produced in collaboration with the John Hope Franklin Center at DukeUniversity.


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