Mark Anthony Neal's Blog, page 1050

Is the NBA Lockout About Race?

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Is the NBA Lockout About Race? byDavid J. Leonard | NewBlackMan
Ithought I would write a follow-up to my piece, "BillSimmons and the Bell Curve: The 'limited intellectual capital' of the NBA'sPlayers" which has elicited a significant reaction.   It should be clear from the outset,I am not interested in conversations about individuals, intention, ormotivation.  To paraphrase thealways-brilliant Jay Smooth, the conversations should focus around what hasbeen said, what has been done, and what all of this means in a larger contextrather than the individual actors. The discussion needs to be about how ideology, narrative, and framesoperate within these larger discussions. 
Oneof the common responses to Bill Simmons'commentary and more specifically the criticism directed at me forreflecting on the racial meaning in those comments has been that Simmons wastalking about all NBA players, not just those who are black.  Given the racial demographics of theleague and the racial signifiers associated with basketball, it is hard toaccept the idea that "NBA player" isn't a mere code for blackness.  In other words, blackness andbasketball become inextricably connected within the dominant imagination, akinto KathrynRussell-Brown's idea of the criminal blackman.  Just as the "criminal Blackman" exists as contained identitywithin the dominant white imagination, the blackballer functions in similarways. 
Theprocess of both essentializing and bifurcating the black baller is evident inthe very distinct ways that the white racial frame conceives of both white andblack players, playing upon ideas of intelligence and athleticism.  Whereas the blackballer is imagined as athletic,naturally gifted, and physically superior, white basketball players arecelebrated for their intelligence, work ethic, and team orientation.  In Am I Black Enough for You , Todd Boydidentifies a dialectical relationship between racialization and styles of playwhere whiteness represents a "textbook or formal" style basketball, whichoperates in opposition "street or vernacular" styles of hooping that areconnected to blackness within the collective consciousness.   In both styles of play, notionsof intelligence, mental toughness, and mental agility are centrally in play. 
Asecond and widely circulated denunciation against those critical voices has beenour lack of fairness or the double standards of this portion of thediscourse.  Whereas I honed in onSimmons' comments, little has been made about those of Jason Whitlock (BryantGumbel has been the at the center of media commentary).  Lets be clear: the comments of JasonWhitlock, irrespective of intent, are worthy of criticism in that his recentcommentary plays upon and reinforces dominant narratives and frames about raceand blackness.  Looking at his comments,alongside with those of Simmons, further illustrates the ways in whichideologies are circulated, and how commentaries such of these cannot beunderstood outside of these larger contexts.
Abelief in the superiority of white intelligence has been commonplace withinAmerican history.  This remains thecase today.  In one earlierstudy (during 1990s; see here for anothersource) about the persistence of racial stereotypes, the author found thefollowing:
More thanhalf the survey respondents rated African Americans as less intelligent than whites.Fifty-seven percent of non-African Americans rated African Americans as lessintelligent than whites and thirty percent of African Americans themselvesrated African Americans as less intelligent than whites. Sixty-two percent ofthe entire sample rated African Americans as lazier than whites and more thanthree out of four survey respondents said that African Americans are moreinclined than whites to prefer welfare over work.
Ina 2010 study about race and politics, researchersat the University of Washington found that stereotypes about blacks as itrelates to intelligence, work ethic, and trust-worthiness remain prominent. Anotherrecent study about race, politics, and stereotypes found that while therehas been slight progress in terms of the rejection of longstanding prejudices,they remain constant within the national discourse. 
Thesestudies point to the power of the white racial frame and the persistence ofracial realist arguments.  TimWise describes this line of thinking in the following way:  The primary arguments made by the so-called racial"realists" are as follows:
1.    Race is a scientifically valid category of human difference;2.   Racial differences are not only real but meaningfullyconnected at the biological and/or genetic level with important human traits,most notably, intelligence;3. Intelligence is measurable using standardized IQ batteriesand other mechanisms;4.   Blacks are generally less intelligent than whites andAsians, and this is due to biological and/or genetic differences between theraces.
Flowingfrom these premises, the racial "realists" argue that social policy should takethese "truths" into account. This means that we should cease all efforts tocreate greater social or economic equity between the races, since they areinherently unequal in their abilities. It also means that personal biases onthe basis of these truths — even those that perpetuate deep racial inequitiesin the society — are not unfair or unjust but rational. It is rational, forinstance, for employers to favor white job applicants for high-level jobs,since they are more likely to possess the talents necessary to do those jobswell. So, in this sense, discrimination should not be prohibited. It should betolerated, and seen as a logical choice given the science of racial difference.And certainly we should not take racial disparities in income, wealth,occupational status, or educational outcomes to suggest the presence of racism;rather, these gaps merely reflect the persistent human inequalities that clusteralong racial lines.
AsI read the comments of Simmons, Whitlock and countless others, I am unable todisconnect my reading from this larger social, ideological, and politicalcontext.   The largerdiscourse exists inside the words, in the interpretations, in the meaning, inthe reception, and in the larger ramifications.   It is within this larger context that I read JasonWhitlock's "Playersneed to stick to their day jobs"
Referringto the "foolishness of basketball players" and players as "a group of spoiled,entitled, delusional kids who learned boardroom manners from watching episodesof "The Apprentice?," Whitlock concludes that the players are out theirleague.   Arguing that theplayers are not victims of racism or David Stern's "plantation mentality"(reference to Bryant Gumbel's recent comments), he offers the following:
But theseNBA players are not victims during this lockout. Not of David Stern.
They'revictims of their own immaturity, stupidity and delusion. They have the wherewithaland resources to stand toe to toe with commissioner Stern, but they are improperlyusing and undermining their power. Gumbel's commentary on HBO's "RealSports" won't help them realize and effectively utilize their power. Itwill assist the players in curling up in a fetal position and playing thevictim.
That's whatwe, African-Americans, do all too often in the aftermath of the civil-rights movement.We have no real understanding of the effort, courage and disciplined strategyMartin Luther King Jr., Rosa Parks and their supporters used to win thefreedoms we now take for granted.
Herewe see that Whitlock's criticism of these "silly players," "a bunch of kidswith sycophant publicists and groupies," who are acting "stupid" is rooted incriticism of African American youth. By contextualizing the NBA lockout within a larger discourse of thehip-hop generation betraying the struggles, sacrifices, and the politics ofrespectability, Whitlock links this discussion to a wider discourse.  Playing upon hegemonic ideas regardingthe American Dream, hard work, and disciplinarity, Whitlock's comments also resonatewith larger narratives about meritocracy and bootstraps ideology.  Writing about sports as a powerfulinstitution for mythmaking about the American Dream, C.Richard King and Charles Springwood argue that:
Thecommonsense notions of the self-made man, and the American dream work againstpersonal and collective engagement with the materiality of racialdifference.  Individuals, effort,and ability to obscure the conditions and effects of racial hierarchy . ...  These life histories map outopposite itineraries, success, superstardom, and the American Dream juxtaposed withfailure, obscurity, and a societal nightmare.  They individual, they assert, makes his or her fortune basedon his or her effort and ability. The system is open, fostering upward mobility for individuals withtalent, character, and DISCIPLINE (my emphasis) (2001, pp. 31-32, p. 34).
Inother words, the riches, fame, and "the game" itself of the NBA are availableto the players, even during this lockout. What precludes the fulfillment of the American Dream is the "character"and lack of "discipline" of the players during the labor negotiations.  While blame can be spread around, inthe end, it is the players' fault.
Whitlock,unlike much of the media punditry, offers a level of honestly here, makingclear that public discussions of NBA players or the NBA is indeed a publicdebate about blackness.
Anotherstriking aspect of Whitlock's column rests with his effort to invoke themetaphor of "the animal kingdom," describing the NBA lockout as a battle betweentwo distinct species.  He writes:
We ignore thelaws of the jungle that we live in.
Racism,classism, sexism, power imbalances, etc. aren't going away. They've been here sincethe beginning of time. They're part of our flawed nature. No different from alion's nature to prey upon zebras, buffalos and wildebeest.
Have youever seen zebras hold a news conference on "Animal Kingdom" demanding thatlions quit attacking zebras? No. Zebras train their young in ways to avoidlions and other predators.
Assuch, the NBA players are conceived as Zebras who are subjected to the rulesand laws of nature. 
Dictated bythe laws of nature, David Stern (Whitlock ostensibly erases the owners from thediscussion here), as the lion, will be the aggressor with the players.  Rather than "complain" and try tobattle the lion (David Stern), the Zebras (the players) need to realize thatthey are incapable of defeating the more powerful, fierce, and fit King of theNBA jungle.  They must retreat andallow their lion to face-off with David Stern. 
Theinvoking of this rhetoric is striking in its imagination of the players and thecommissioner as two distinct species with predetermined qualities,characteristics, and skills. Zebras and lions don't acquire their skills and place in the junglehierarchy because of their own actions or training, but because of nature. 
Itis difficult to ignore the large racial implications of Whitlock's discussionof the "animal kingdom" given the ways in which biology anddifferences-grounded-in-nature have been central to racial discourse throughhistory.    
Intwo recent episodes of Real Time with Bill Maher (oneincluding Toure, who also discusses the matter), Bill Maher spoke about howthe denial of racism has become the new form of racism.  The race denial card is the mostpowerful and widely circulated in the deck, evident by the fact that I assomeone who merely tried to reflect on the racial meaning and implications wasblamed for infusing, interjecting, and otherwise playing the "race card" (isdenying race also playing the race card?)
"Racism"functioning as the denial of racism is nothing new (see Bonilla-Silva's Racism without Racist s) and so often works in conjunctionwith cultural racism.  According toBonilla-Silva, "Cultural racism is a frame that relies on culturally-basedarguments" (2003, p. 28).  According to BenCarrington and Mary McDonald, "cultural racism posits that althoughdifferent ethnic groups or 'races' may not exist in a hierarchical biologicalrelationship, they are nevertheless culturally distinct, each group having theirown incompatible lifestyles, customs and ways of seeing the world" (2001, p.1).  Likewise Nancy Spencer describescultural racism as being "predicated on an understanding of culture as a wholeway," which "has implications for racism in sport" (2004, p. 121).    While we can see both the "denial of racism" or the dismissalof the significance or race and cultural racism in its operation, we also seethe powerful ways the biological notions of difference continues to operatewithin this context. 
Thelockout illustrates the powerful ways that the black NBA player isconceptualized, imagined, and represented as a "'bad boy Black athlete" (Collins2005, p. 153), defined by being "overly physical, out of control, prone toviolence, driven by instinct, and hypersexual"; the white racial frameubiquitously imagines NBA black ballers as "unruly and disrespectful," "inherentlydangerous" and "in need of civilizing" (Ferber 2007, p. 20).  Whether focusing on "intelligence," "levelsof education," "maturity" and "disciplinarity," the NBA lockout discourse is areminder of the powerful ways that the white "gaze" subjects blackness to "theprison of prior expectation" (Williams1997, p. 74).
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David J. Leonard is Associate Professor in the Department of CriticalCulture, Gender and Race Studies at Washington State University, Pullman. He isthe author of Screens Fade 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.

Left of Black S2:E7 with Jonathan Gayles and Alondra Nelson

Left of Black S2:E7w/Jonathan Gayles and Alondra Nelson October24, 2011
JonathanGayles,professor of African American Studies at Georgia State University and writer,director, and producer of the film WhiteScripts and Black Supermen: Black Masculinities in American Comic Books joinshost and Duke University Professor MarkAnthony Neal on Left of Black.Gayles discusses reaction to his movie, which won best documentary feature atthe 2010 Urban Media Makers FilmFestival and remembers the impact of the late Dwayne McDuffie founder of Milestone Media. Neal and Gayles also discussBlack Entertainment Television's ill-fated attempt to bring the animated seriesBlack Panther to television.Neal is also joined by Alondra Nelson, Associate Professor of Sociology at Columbia University and author of Body and Soul: The Black Panther Party andthe Fight Against Medical Discrimination Nelson reveals the historicalrelationship between the Black Panther Party and medicine.  Nelson remindsaudiences of the real danger Civil Rights activists faced while marching andsitting-in, and how issues of healthcare were of practical concern given thethreats of violence.  Nelson highlights the how the work of the BlackPanther Party continues to inform community medicine movements.
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Left ofBlack is a weekly Webcast hosted byMark Anthony Neal and produced in collaboration with the John Hope FranklinCenter at Duke University.
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Episodesof Left of Black are also available for download @ iTunes U

Trailer: 'White Scripts, Black Supermen' | A Film by Jonathan Gayles

Through interviews with prominent artists, scholars and cultural critics along with images from the comic books themselves, White Scripts and Black Supermen examines the degree to which early Black superheroes generally adhered to common stereotypes about Black men. From the humorous, to the offensive, early Black superheroes are critically considered.  Written, Produced and Directed by Jonathan Gayles.

Jasiri X: "#Occupy (We the 99)" [Video]

Free Download http://jasirix.bandcamp.com/track/occupy-we-the-99

Filmed live at Occupy Wall Street and Occupy Pittsburgh by Director Paradise Gray, Jasiri X reconnects with super producer Cynik Lethal to provide a soundtrack for this growing movement that has taken the world by storm. We gonna Occupy!

LYRICS 
Verse 1
The Power's with the people don't let these cowards deceive you
and be the next mouse in the talons of a eagle
this country's wealth gap isn't unbalanced it's evil
we celebrate access while the people have less
in poverty abject madness
while the economy collapses add stress
that's the last straw
you want class war well give you what you ask for
the have nots at the have's door
we came to crash your party
and we aint leaving until we're even
the Constitution guarantees these freedoms
any one against that's committing treason
your not a real patriot unless you stand for what you believe in
and nobody got more welfare than Wall Street
hundreds of billions after operating falsely
and nobody went to prison that's where you lost me
but my home, my job, and my life is what it cost me

Verse 2
Remember when police beat the Egyptians who were defiant
even president Obama condemned the violence
but when NYPD beat Americans there's silence
it's apparent that there's bias
sticks for the people but give carrots to the liars
those crooked cops just for embarrassment should be fired
and if you want to see terrorists then look higher
they in them skyscrapers with billions from my labor
forcing people out of there homes with falsified data
so we either unify now or cry later
1% got the wealth but the 99's greater
so in every city we gone occupy major
cause nobody got more welfare than Wall Street
hundreds of billions after operating falsely
and nobody went to prison that's where you lost me
but my home, my job, and my life is what it cost me

Jay Smooth | #OccupyWallStreet: Outing the Ringers

The Progressive Roots and Disastrous Consequences of Test Driven Pedagogy

The Progressive Roots andDisastrous Consequences of Test Driven Pedagogy byMark Naison | special to NewBlackMan
Whenthe nation turned to the right in the 1980's and 1990's andneo-liberalism in its many manifestations began to dominate the policiesof both political parties, parents in inner city neighborhoods desperate to dosomething in their increasingly violent, impoverished neighborhoods turnedto schools to try to reverse the growing class and race inequality in thenation which  they feared—quite accurately—was putting their childrengravely at risk. In looking for help, they turned their attention to the oneinstitution that had not abandoned their neighborhoods, the public schoolsand tried to figure out some way to have schools serve their needs.
Intrying to make schools work better, they ended up, making what turned out to bea Faustian bargain with leaders in corporations and foundations looking torevolutionize American education through technology. In city aftercity across the country, inner city parents and their advocates decided toendorse the application of universal testing in the schools to show howfar their children were falling behind, and with it, the impositionof a test driven pedagogy, pioneered by charter schools, designed to bringtheir children up to the levels of middle class and upper middleclass children in the acquisition of basic skills, and with it give theirchildren an opportunity, in an increasingly hierarchical society, to gain entryinto the middle class
Unfortunately,the whole strategy was destined to fail. It is difficult, if notimpossible, to use the public schools to create greater class andrace equality , when tax policy, income policy, and numerous informaldimensions of class privilege maximize those polarities., especially when thepedagogy involved discouraged creativity and critical thinking. The resultproved to be the exact opposite of what is intended, despite the enthusiasticsupport of all levels of government and corporations and private philanthropy.Since No Child Left Behind and Race to the Top have been institutionalized,Black, Latino and poor people, have fallen further behind the white middleclass and upper class  in every important social indicator, fromunemployment rates, to the wealth gap, to home ownership and life expectancy.
Andthis leaves supporters of democratic education in a difficult position. We haveto challenge a strategy that originally had widespread support in inner citycommunities. But challenge it we must. Just because minority parents, in theirdesperation to do something about rampant inequality, decided to push for moretesting and more accountability for schools based on those tests, doesn't meanthe strategy was sound. In my judgment, it made schools in poor communitiesless able to prepare their students for college and a demanding job market thanschools in middle class communities—including the ones policy makers send theirchildren—which rely far less on standardized tests.
Moreover,such pedagogy discourages introducing young people, in strugglingneighborhoods, to the critical thinking skills necessary to foster socialjustice activism—the only force that can realistically reduce racial and classin equality in this society. Teaching students individual mobility skills is apoor substitute for direct involvement in  neighborhood redevelopment and in  political movements—like Occupy Wall Street—that putdemands on all levels of government for a redistribution of wealth.
Atest driven pedagogy aimed at  reducing "The Achievement Gap" isnot only counterproductive in its own terms, it undermines the acquisition ofthe very skills necessary to reinvigorate democracy and fight  effectivelyfor racial and economic equality. Or to put the matter more bluntly, anyone whosupports the imposition of more standardized tests in the nation's publicschools is PLAYING THE MAN'S GAME!!!
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Mark Naison is a Professor of African-American Studies andHistory at Fordham University and Director of Fordham's Urban Studies Program.He is the author of two books, Communistsin Harlem During the Depression and WhiteBoy: 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.

'Left of Black' Marks the 45th Anniversary of the Founding of The Black Panther Party with Author and Professor Alondra Nelson

Left of Black Marks the 45thAnniversary of the Founding of The Black Panther Party with Author andProfessor Alondra Nelson
AlondraNelson,Associate Professor of Sociology at ColumbiaUniversity and author of Body andSoul: The Black Panther Party and the Fight Against Medical Discriminationjoins host Mark Anthony Neal on theOctober 24th episode of Leftof Black. On the episode, Nelson reveals the historical relationshipbetween the Black Panther Party and medicine.  Nelson reminds audiences ofthe real danger Civil Rights activists faced while marching and sitting-in, andhow issues of healthcare were of practical concern given the threats ofviolence.  Nelson highlights the how the work of the Black Panther Partycontinues to inform community medicine movements.Neal is also joined by Jonathan Gayles,professor of African American Studies at Georgia State University and writer,director, and producer of the film WhiteScripts and Black Supermen: Black Masculinities in American Comic Books.Gayles discusses reaction to his movie, which won best documentary feature atthe 2010 Urban Media Makers Film Festival and remembers the impact of the lateDwayne McDuffie founder of Milestone Media. Neal and Gayles also discuss BlackEntertainment Television's ill-fated attempt to bring the animated series Black Panther to television.
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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: @NewBlackManFollowAlondra Nelson: @AlondraFollowJonathan Gayles: @JonathanGayles
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Bill Simmons and the Bell Curve: The "limited intellectual capital" of the NBA's Players

Bill Simmons and the Bell Curve:The "limited intellectual capital" of the NBA'sPlayersbyDavid J. Leonard | NewBlackMan
Likemany sports writers, Bill Simmons has used his columns this week to condemn NBAplayers, ostensibly blaming them for the cancellation of games.  On Friday, heoffered the following that put the onus on the players:
Should someone who's earnedover $300 million (including endorsements) and has deferred paychecks comingreally be telling guys who have made 1/100th as much as him to fight the fightand stand strong and not care about getting paid? And what are Garnett'scredentials, exactly? During one of the single biggest meetings (last week, onTuesday), Hunter had Kobe Bryant, Paul Pierce and Garnett (combined years spentin college: three) negotiate directly with Stern in some sort of misguided"Look how resolved we are, you're not gonna intimidate us!" ploy thatbackfired so badly that one of their teams' owners was summoned into themeeting specifically to calm his player down and undo some of the damage. (I'lllet you guess the player. It's not hard.) And this helped the situation … how?And we thought this was going to work … why?
Congratulations, players —you showed solidarity! You showed you wouldn't back down! You made thingsworse, and you wasted a day, but dammit, you didn't back down! Just make sureyou tell that to every team employee who gets fired over these next few weeks,as well as to all the restaurant and bar owners near NBA are
Beyondtrotting out the "angry black man" trope, whichseems to be commonplace within the NBA punditry, and blaming the playersfor the forthcoming unemployment facing many employees within of the NBA,Simmons hinges his evidence about the incompetence of the players by citing theamount of formal college education of Piece, Bryant and Garnett.  In other words, people are losing jobsand fans are losing games because the NBA is at the mercy of its stupid/uneducatedblack players.  And, Simmons wasn'tdone here, offering additional clarity about his comments in "Behind the Pipes:Into the Arms of the NHL." Explaining why he started going to hockey games, Simmons once againreturns to the lockout or better said the player caused cancellation ofgames.  In this column (sandwichedin between his general arrogance, dismissive rhetoric, and overly simplisticanalysis that presumes sports exists in his theoretical mind and not reality), he writes
Where's thebig-picture leadership here? What's the right number of franchises? Where shouldthose franchises play? What's worse, losing three franchises or losing anentire season of basketball? What's really important here? I don't trust theplayers' side to make the right choices, because they are saddled with limitedintellectual capital. (Sorry, it's true.) The owners' side can't say the same;they should be ashamed. Same for the agents. And collectively, they should allbe mortified that a 16-hour negotiating session, this late in the game, wascause for any celebration or optimism. In my mind, it was more of a cry forhelp.
UnusuallySimmons offer some blame for the owners.  As the intelligence once, they have an obligation to fix thesituation.  Although they have theintelligence they allow the players, who lack intelligence, to have input inthe situation. To Simmons, this is the source of the NBA's problem. 
Theracial paternalism here is as striking as are his efforts to resuscitate thebell curve.  What we are left withis an argument that the NBA faces a lockout because those who possess therequisite intelligence, who posses the proper fitness, have failed to controltheir inferior players.    MichaelEric Dyson described such rhetoric as central to the history of Americanwhite supremacy: "Skepticism about black intelligence and suspicion about blackhumanity have gone hand in hand throughout the history of this country infeeding the perception that black people don't quite measure up."  Writing about black male athletes andprocesses of representation, Ben Carrington invokes Frantz Fanon, who wroteabout the incompatibility of blackness and intelligence within the whiteimagination.  Carrington notes Fanon'sexploration of the ways in which blackness was conceptualized and envisionedthrough white supremacy:
When Fanon gives his white patients a wordassociation test, it is significant to note how often his respondents mentioneither sports, or prominent black athletes of the period. Fanon informs us thatthe word, 'Negro brought forthbiology, penis, strong, athletic, potent, boxer, Joe Louis, Jesse Owens,Senegalese troops, savage, animal, devil, sin'. For Fanon, the black male was therepository of white fears, fantasies and desires, and of all of theseconstructions, there was one figure above all others that held a central placewithin the colonial imaginary: 'There is one expression that through time hasbecome singularly eroticized: the black athlete'.
Inreading Simmons, it is clear that the black athlete remains both eroticized anddemonized, a repository for white fears, fantasies, and desires, as well as arhetorical space to articulate white fantasies, desires, and ideas aboutwhiteness.  It is no wonder thatSimmons recycles the bell curve, explaining the lockout as simply a violationof nature or what happens when the intellectually inferior get to have input ina world where adults should make those important decisions.  
*** David J. Leonard is Associate Professor in the Department of CriticalCulture, Gender and Race Studies at Washington State University, Pullman. He isthe author of Screens Fade 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.

Bakari Kitwana On Kanye West at #OccupyWallStreet (VIDEO)

Bakari Kitwana and Urban Cusp On Kanye West at #OccupyWallStreet

As the nation and global community turns its attention to the rise of the Occupy Wall Street movement, celebrity involvement has been a growing hot topic. Last week, controversy erupted over Kanye West's presence at the protest site, Zuccotti Park in New York City, at the invitation of Russell Simmons. One article of particular interest, Why Kanye West Doesn't Belong at Occupy Wall Street, was written by GOOD Senior Editor Cord Jefferson. Highlighting the selling price of his outfit and his image as the "Louis Vuitton Don," the writer concluded by saying that "what OWS doesn't need is everyone who'd like to be seen as a populist jumping on Rboard for a photo opportunity before leaving to go buy $500 jeans. Lip service and deceit is what got us into this mess in the first place."
Watch this videotaped discussion to hear Urban Cusp's Editorial Director Rahiel Tesfamariam reflect on the author's points with Bakari Kitwana, who has a forthcoming new book entitled Hip-Hop Activism in the Obama Era. Kitwana has been seen and heard on CNN, Fox News, C-Span, PBS and NPR. He is the CEO of RapSessions.org and Senior Media Fellow at the Harvard Law-based think think, the Jamestown Project. Kitwana is also the former editor of The Source, co-founder of the National Hip-Hop Political Convention and author of the best-selling The Hip Hop Generation: Young Blacks and the Crisis in African American Culture.

Ain't Much Black in the Fall Classic: Racial Diversity and Baseball

Ain't Much Black in the Fall Classic:Racial Diversity and BaseballbyDavid J. Leonard | NewBlackMan
TheWorld Series is set to start on Wednesday between the St. Louis Cardinals andthe Texas Rangers.  Much will bemade of the pageantry, the Cinderella story surrounding the Cardinals, who onlymade into the playoffs on the final day of the seasons, the Rangers' attempt tofinally win a title, and of course the redemption story of Josh Hamilton(whiteness has its power).  Yet,there are more stories to be hold, one being what this World Series tell usabout diversity and baseball, and more importantly what the racial and nationaldemographics of the "American past time" tell us about large socialforces.    
Whilethe National Championship series highlighted an overwhelming number of AfricanAmerican baseball players (8), the World Series won't showcase a similar levelof diversity; as the Cardinals possess 4 African Americans on its roster (EdwinJackson, Arthur Rhodes, John Jay, and Adron Chambers), Rangers will only suitup a single African American player (Darren Oliver).  Representing 10%, this still exceeds the league-wide number,which stands at 8.5%. Mac Engel describesthe state of baseball's diversity in "Baseball continues to see fewer blackplayers:"
For avariety of reasons, from societal to financial, the sport can't seem to reversethe trend of fewer African-Americans playing baseball.
The Universityof Central Florida's Institute for Diversity and Ethics in Sports reported thisyear that the number of blacks in baseball is down to 8.5 percent. Thepercentage of Latinos is 27 percent. The percentage for African-Americans inMLB is at its lowest level since 2007. When the institute began to track thefigure in 1990, 17 percent of all MLB players were African-American. Beginningin 1997, the number has steadily decreased for a variety of reasons.
Theconsequences of closed parks, globalization, specialization of sports,prohibitive costs, a failing school systems, and expanded prison system hasbeen the steady erosion of baseball. The last thirty years have seen the re-segregation of baseball, an ironictwist given its importance within the larger history of sports integration.From 1990-2000, blacks presence in professional baseball decline from 18% ofthe league's players to 13%; in the ten years since, the number has continuedto decline, with prospects even worse for the future.  While the lack of black baseball roles models and thepresumed incapability between an authentic black identity and baseballcertainly part of the story, segregation and the systematic divestment,dismantling and destruction of the institutional spaces that produced pastgenerations of black ball players is key to understanding the waning blackplace within "America's Past Time."
Thedeclining presence of African American baseball players, almost 65 years afterJackie Robinson reintegrated professional baseball, transcends the numbers,with the shrinking influence and importance, evidence by the lack of AfricanAmerican star power.  It is alsoevident in the absence of younger African American talent. Two of the players areolder than me (Arthur Rhodes and Darren Oliver) revealing beyond the numbershow the systematic destruction of the infrastructure that produced both thegreat African American stars of yesteryear and the role players has left abarren future for African Americans in baseball
TheWorld Series will equally highlight the impact of globalization, with a totalof 17 players coming from outside the United States (8 from the DominicanRepublic, 3 hailing from Venezuela, 2 coming from Japan and Mexico).  Two Cardinal players hail from PuertoRico, which has historically produced a large number of Major League players.  Similar to their African Americanbrothers, recent history has seen a precipitous decline amongst theprofessional ranks, which in part reflect the limited development and focus oncultivating talent. Despite its neocolonial status (or maybe because of it), playersfrom Puerto Rico are subjected to the MLB draft, impacting Puerto Ricanpresence within the game (teams won't want to invest in players that they mightnot be to sign).  In "Puerto Rico'sPipeline Has Been Running Low," KenBelson reflects on the changing place of Puerto Ricans within Major LeagueBaseball
The pipeline of prospectsfrom the island, once rich with potential Hall of Fame talent, has narrowed asmajor league teams focus on cheaper and more plentiful prospects from Cuba, theDominican Republic and Venezuela.
In 2009, only 3.5 percent ofposition players in Major League Baseball came from Puerto Rico, a 24-year low.Meanwhile, the percentage of Cuban and Venezuelan position players has nearlydoubled in the last decade.
Whilethe mere mention of the declining numbers of African Americans and Puerto Ricanplayers, or the efforts to highlight the global influences on the game oftensets off resistance to the mere introduction of race and politics in the game (see here for avivid example), we can learn much about larger issues of injustice, socialchange, economic inequality, and global politics by examining the rosters ofthis year's World Series competitors. 
Theimportation of international players reflects the globalization of baseball.  Moreover, it reflects the direcircumstances facing many nations that despite participation in the globaleconomy have not secured the promised riches.   Although MLB has seen a rash of imports from Japan in recentyears, the majority of players come from Latin America and the Caribbean.  The realities of a limited economicfuture (because of globalization and deindustrialization) and the overabundanceof role models have led to an overemphasis of sports achievements within placeslike the Dominican Republic. 
Theestablishment of "schools" – baseball's sweatshops that produces its rawmaterials – has exacerbated this process. Beyond filling the League with talented ball players, MLB teams use "thirdworld" because the "raw materials" (the players) are cheap. DickBalderson, a vice-president of the Colorado Rockies, called this process a "boatloadmentality."  The idea behind thisapproach is to sign a "boatload" of Latin players for less money,knowing that if only a couple make it to the big leagues, teams will stillprofit from the relationship. "Insteadof signing four [American] guys at $25,000 each, you sign 20 [Dominican] guysfor $5,000 each."  Thedesperation and poverty facing those in Latin America is facilitating this "single-minded"pursuit of sports, creating a situation where professional baseball teams areable exploit this labor force.  CharlesS. Farrell, who is the former director of Jesse Jackson's Rainbow Sports,described the dangerous predicament facing youth in the Dominican Republic
Baseball is mainly the sportof the poor in the Dominican Republic, and viewed by so many as a way to escapepoverty. Mothers and fathers put a glove on boys as soon as they can walk inorder to pursue the dream of la vida buena.
But with every dream thereare dream merchants, those who promise to pave a path to glory and riches for aprice. The buscones, as they are known, latch onto prospects at an early age,giving them advice and consul on how best to pursue the dream. Some are genuinein their mission; others simply hook into a potential meal ticket. Either way,good or bad, the buscone has become a part of the Dominican baseball scene.
Theconsequences of overdevelopment of the institutions of baseball alongside theunderdevelopment of society at large (thanks in part to the polices of the IMFand World Bank) will be on display this Wednesday evening.  Likewise, the consequences ofsegregation in the United States, structural adjustment programs, and theoverall defunding of public spaces of play within America's inner cities willalso be in full view when the fall classic starts this week.
Beginningin the 1970s, and continuing today, American society has seen the systematicdefunding of public institutions, such as Park's and Recreation.  These policies shift, along with adecreasing tax base in inner city communities, due to middle class flight,shrinking home values, high unemployment rates and devastating levels ofpoverty, have left the training grounds in shambles.  For example, during the 1970s, the Department of Recreationin Cleveland, Ohio was forced to close down 250 million dollars worth ofrecreation facilities.  New YorkCity experienced similar developments with a sixty percent decline (40 milliondollar drop in its annual budget. From 1976 to 1980, the number of park employees went from 6,100 to 2,600in New York City as well (Kelley, "Playing for Keeps, pp. 201-202).  Throughout the 1990s, Los Angeles, anda number of other cities, saw a virtual end to park baseball leagues, as wellas many basketball programs, with opportunities residing only from privateleagues and traveling teams.  Thistrend continues today with the overall privatization of space, play andrecreation, literally leaving America's poor and youth color out in thecold.   As evident with a myriad of studies published within the American Journal of Preventive Medicine(AJPM), African Americans don't have equal access to space of player, exercise,and : "that unsafe neighborhoods, poor design and a lack of open spacesand well constructed parks make it difficult for children and families inlow-income and minority communities to be physically active." 
Whatwe see with baseball is how sporting cultures are racialized just as space isracialized, leading to very different types of investment and development.  This not only impacts what we see onthe field, but the types of institutional development or underdevelopment.  Writing about "soccer, race, andsuburban space," David Andrews, Robert Pitter, Detlev Zwick, and Darren Ambrosehighlight this issue:
Particularsports and particular physical activities became synonymous with the emergenceof this 'consumerists body culture' (Ingham, 1985, p. 50), whose variousphysical manifestations represent compelling markers of normalized suburbanexistence.  The most celebratedderivatives of the rigidly class-based fitness including jogging, aerobics….The rise of soccer within suburban America cannot be divorced from themetamorphosis of the body into a corporeal commodity through which self-worthis expressed? (p. 207 in Sporting Dystopias ). 
Baseball'sconfinement in suburban and upper middle class communities, as well as itsprohibitive cost, furthers this process of segregation and black athleticunderdevelopment. For example, while only thirty three percent of school-agedkids play organized sports in Boston, over ninety percent of those residing insuburban kids play at the organized level.   "Parks and ball fields are well developed in thesuburbs," notes a black baseball coach, compared to America's urbancenters.  Black youth are "growingup without the facilities or equipment," leaving them with a limited number ofathletic choices (in Ogden 2001). 
Allof this furthers the marking of space and sport as white and thereforeunavailable to black youth.  Aswhite youth and middle class youth of color develop their talents in privatebatting cages and with professional pitching coaches, poor youth of color areleft with few spaces to even play, much less develop their athletictalent.  The reality of access toboth these informal and formal spaces is startling and dramatic.  White kids have more opportunities inboth youth and high school sports, offering greater career choices and theincreased likelihood of an athletic scholarship.  The chance to play baseball isn't simply an opportunity toplay in the World Series but a window into the differential investment affordedto the little league generation.  
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David J. Leonard is Associate Professor in the Department of CriticalCulture, Gender and Race Studies at Washington State University, Pullman. He isthe author of Screens Fade 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.