Mark Anthony Neal's Blog, page 1058

Alice Walker: No Regrets for Misfortunes [Video]

 

For Immediate Release

NEWS FROM OPEN ROAD: September 20, 2011

Alice Walker's Pulitzer Prize–Winning Novel The Color Purple and Two Other Walker Titles Now Available as Ebooks from Open Road Integrated Media

"The Color Purple is an American novel of permanent importance." —Newsweek

Open Road Integrated Media announces the ebook publication of three titles by celebrated author Alice Walker, including her novel The Color Purple, which won the 1983 Pulitzer Prize and National Book Award, and was subsequently adapted into an Academy Award­–winning film starring Whoopi Goldberg and Danny Glover. Walker is known for her deep andunflinching explorations of black life in America, particularly the experiences of black women. In her public life, Walker has worked to address problems of injustice, inequality, and poverty as an activist, teacher, and public intellectual.

In The Color Purple Walker writes about the life of Celie, a young black woman living in the segregated South who undergoes a sexual and spiritual awakening. The 1983 novel represented a major breakthrough for mainstream African-American fiction, inviting favorable comparisons to the work of William Faulkner and prompting the New York Times Book Review to declare Walker a "lavishly gifted writer."

Joining The Color Purple in this release is its follow-up, The Temple of My Familiar, in which characters Celie and Shug from The Color Purple subtly shadow the lives of dozens of characters, all dealing in some way with the legacy of the African experience in America. Also included in the release is Possessing the Secret of Joy, in which Walker exposes the abhorrent practice of female genital mutilation, as the protagonist must come to terms with the circumcision she endured as a child in Africa. On November 22, 2011, eight more titles will join the Alice Walker ebook collection from Open Road Media. They will include novels The Third Life of Grange Copeland and Meridian; poetry collections Revolutionary Petunias, Horses Make a Landscape Look More Beautiful, and Once; short story collections You Can't Keep a Good Woman Down and In Love & Trouble; and essay collection Living by the Word.

Extra content includes:

• Behind-the-scenes author commentary & videos at www.openroadmedia.com/authors/alice-walker.aspx
• Illustrated biography in each ebook, including unseen photographs and documents from Walker's personal life and distinguished career


Available September 20, 2011, from Amazon.com, Apple iBookstore, Barnesandnoble.com,
Kobo Books, Sony Reader Store, and OverDrive:

The Color Purple
Possessing the Secret of Joy
The Temple of My Familiar

Eight more titles to join the Alice Walker ebook collection on November 22, 2011:

Novels: The Third Life of Grange Copeland, Meridian
Poetry: Revolutionary Petunias, Horses Make a Landscape Look More Beautiful, Once
Short Stories: You Can't Keep a Good Woman Down, In Love & Trouble
Essays: Living by the Word

Contact Laura De Silva for more information:
Open Road Integrated Media
180 Varick Street, Suite 816, NY, NY 10014
P: 917.512.4325 or ldesilva@openroadmedia.com

Joan Morgan: "Black Women's Voices in Film" [Video]

From: RapSessions  | Sep 7, 2011  | 1 views
From Precious II For Colored Girls: The Black Image In The American Mind 
Columbia College (Chicago) | April 26, 2011.

Panelists:

Mark Anthony Neal, Elizabeth Mendez Berry, Joan Morgan Vijay Prashad and John Jennings

Moderator: Bakari Kitwana

Vijay Prashad: "How Do You Make Art for People for Whom There's No Future?" [Video]

From: RapSessions  | Sep 7, 2011  | 24 views
From Precious II For Colored Girls: The Black Image In The American Mind 
Columbia College (Chicago) | April 26, 2011

Panelists:

Mark Anthony Neal, Elizabeth Mendez Berry, Joan Morgan Vijay Prashad and John Jennings

Elmo and the "Beloved Community": The Conservative Right's Assault on Sesame Street

Elmoand the "Beloved Community":  The Conservative Right's Assault on Sesame Street by David J. Leonard | NewBlackMan
Overthe summer, Ben Shapiro, while making an appearanceon Fox News' Hannity,  "jokingly" announced his desire to "cap"the characters of Sesame Street.  He followed this up with more "serious" criticisms,denouncing America's favorite kid's show because of its "soft bigotry of lowexpectations," its promotion of "gender neutral language," and its advocacy to"give boys dolls and girls fire trucks." The other members of Hannity's "great all-American" panel similarlyspoke about the downgrading of America's moral fabric, seemingly linking themessages of Sesame Street to thecultural wars.   The Huffington Post describes hiscriticism of Sesame Street in thefollowing way:
Chiefamongst Shapiro's alleged liberal offenders is Sesame Street, the JimHenson-created educational show carried on PBS, the public network with fewconservative fans or defenders.
Citinginterviews with one of the show's creators, early episodes of the showfeaturing hippies and racial reconciliation and, more recently, incidents suchas 2009's "Pox News" controversy, Shapiro writesthat "Sesame Street tried to tackle divorce, tackled 'peaceful conflictresolution' in the aftermath of 9/11 and had Neil Patrick Harris on the showplaying the subtly-named 'fairy shoeperson.'"
PatrickHarris, to Shapiro's chagrin, is gay. And, even scarier, Cookie Monster sayscookies are only a sometimes food now; the venerable sweets machine has addedfruits and vegetables to his diet, indicating a major liberal plot.
OnMartin Bashir's show on MSNBC, Shapirosimilarly denounced children's television for promoting "a self-esteemethos, the idea that, to paraphrase Barney 'everyone is special'; an unearnedself-esteem."
Theattacks on Sesame Street (and byextension the liberal media and big government intrusion in family matters) arenothing new.  A 1992 column in The Economist similarly denounced Sesame Street as a liberal assault onAmerican values:
The problem comes when the sensible tolerance and respect of"Sesame Street" are mutated into something less appealing. First, it becomes akind of hypertolerance (which argues, for example, that the canon of blackfemale authors is as rich as that of white male authors); which is merelysilly. Second, it becomes an intolerance of those who do not practice thishyper-tolerance (so that anyone who argues that a canon of authors who happento be white and male is better than the one picked by sex and skin color is aracist sexist); which is pernicious. It is the intolerance that has come to becalled "political correctness"—or PC (SesameStreet, the acceptable face 1992, A30).
The criticisms that"multiculturalism" or "tolerance" represents a vehicle for the "intolerance"for dominant values (white, Christian, middle-class) that have purportedly beencentral to America's historic greatness are common to the broader culture.  Equally troubling to those critics of Sesame Street is not only tax-payersupport for a program that is neither intended for white-middle class audiences(Shapiro notes the history behind SesameStreet), but in their mind devalues whiteness for the sake ofmulticulturalism agenda. 
To understand this criticism and tocomprehend the right's denunciation of SesameStreet mandates an examination of this larger history and the ways in whichSesame Street has built upon thecivil rights movements and those concerned with justice, equality, andfairness.   In 1979, The New York Times identified theprimary focus of Sesame Street as the "4-year-oldinner-city black youngster." Jennifer Mandel, in "TheProduction of a Beloved Community: Sesame Street's Answer to America'sInequalities," argues that while the original intended audience for the showwas "disadvantaged urban youth" who suffered because of "the limitedavailability of preschool education" the appeal and impact of the showtranscended any particular demographic.   While addressing structural inequalities andcountering the systemic failures in America's educational television was partof the show's mission, it more masterfully offered a utopic vision of Americaand the broader world. 
Joel Spring describes the mission of Children's Television Workshopwith Sesame Street as one bound by adesire "to shape public morality" and offer "a standard as to what the world shouldbe like.  Or as Robin D.G. Kelleymight describe it, it is a show dedicated to the cultivation of "freedomdreams."  Imagining a place of "sweetair" and "sunny days" that "sweep the clouds away," where "friendlyneighborhoods" meet and "doors are open wide" Sesame Street is a utopia worthy of any person's imagination.  Virginia Heffernan describes the show'smessage and transformative representational politics as follows:
The concept of the "innercity" — or "slums," as The Times bluntly put it in its first review of "SesameStreet" — was therefore transformed into a kind of Xanadu on the show: abright, no-clouds, clear-air place where people bopped around with monsters anddidn't worry too much about money, cleanliness or projecting false cheer. TheUpper West Side, hardly a burned-out ghetto, was said to be the model.
People on "Sesame Street"had limited possibilities and fixed identities, and (the best part) you weren'texpected to change much. The harshness of existence was a given, and no one wasproposing that numbers and letters would lead you "out" of your inner city toElysian suburbs. Instead, "Sesame Street" suggested that learning might merelymake our days more bearable, more interesting, funnier. It encouraged us, aboveall, to be nice to our neighbors and to cultivate the safer pleasures that takethe edge off — taking baths, eating cookies, reading. Don't tell the kids.
The power of Sesame Street doesn't merely resonate with its history, itsidentification with King's Beloved Community, its efforts to challengedifferential access to educational opportunities or even its emphasis "on therepresentations of diverse groups" (Kraidy 2002), but through its opposition tothe normalization of whiteness; its power rests with its critiques of andcounter narratives to hegemonic notions of identity.  
Itis easy to come up with countless examples where Sesame Street sought to challenge dominant white racial frames,particularly those that reinforced the desirability and hyper visibility ofwhite, male, heterosexual middle-class identities.  For example, in 1971, JesseJackson dropped by Sesame Street, where he offered a call and responsereciting of his famous "I am somebody." Surrounded by a diverse group of kids, Jackson and the kids announced
I amsomebodyI amsomebody
I may bepoorBut I amsomebody
I may beyoung But I amsomebody
I may besmall But I amsomebody
I may makea mistakeBut I amsomebody
My clothesare differentMy face isdifferentMy hair isdifferentBut I amsomebody
I amblack; brown; whiteI speak adifferent language
But I mustbe respected, protected, and never rejectedI am God'schildI amsomebody.
Jackson'sappearance highlights Sesame Street'smission and the goal of King's Beloved Community, a place where differences arecelebrated, where the humanity of each member of a community is acknowledgedand respected, and where "people at the grassroots and community level" equally participate "increating new values, truths, relationships, and infrastructures as thefoundation for a new society" (Boggs2004). At the same time, this moment highlights the ways in which Sesame Street has long challengedprivilege and normalizing discourses. Similar themes remain central to SesameStreet today.
Callingupon kids to dream and recognize the beauty of diversity, Will-I-Am continuesthe message of Jackson with "What I am."  Joined by a crew of Muppets, he sings,"If what I am is what's in me, then I'll stay strong, that's who I willbe."   
SimilarlyKingston, who is afavorite in our house, so often delivers not just a message about the beauty ofdiversity but the problematic demands of homogeneity and authenticity frompopular discourses, which punishes those who embrace counter or oppositionalidentities.   Kingston, whowears a sweater vest and tie, celebrate his own unique identity in "Happy tome," singing, "I watch all my friends turn their hats to the back, but I keptto the front because I like it like that. Not trying to be different, just doin my own thing."  With a hook of "be yourself, its easyas A-B-C . . . just happy to be me" and "I do it my way," Kingston brings tolight the pressures to embrace and perform particular identities, opening up aspace for a myriad of ways of being. 
Likewise,one of Sesame Street most celebratedsegments similarly embraces the diversity that exists between and withinracialized communities, questioning the discursive articulations ofauthenticity so commonplace within society. In 2010, "I love my hair" capturedthe imagination of many individuals, further illustrating Sesame Street's power and purpose.  In the song, a young black girl Muppet sings
Don'tneed a trip to the beauty shop,
'cause I love what I got on top.
It's curly and it's brown and it's rightup there!
You know what I love? That's right, myhair!
I really love my hair.
I love my hair. I love my hair.
There's nothing else that can comparewith my hair.
I love my hair, so I must declare:
I really, really, really love my hair.
Wear a clippy or in a bow
Or let it sit in an afro
My hair looks good in a cornrow
It does so many things you know, that'swhy I let it grow
I love my hair, I love my hair
I love it and I have to share
I love my hair, I love my hair!
I want to make the world aware I love myhair.
I wear it up. I wear down. I wear ittwisted all around.
I wear braids and pigtails too.
I love all the things my hair can do.
In barrettes or flying free, ever perfecttresses you'll see
My hair is part of me, an awesome part ofme
I really love my hair!
KaiWright describes not only the song and video, but it's significance, in thefollowing way:
Sesame Street gotmore than the kiddies' attention when it took on black women's hair. . . . Anadorable black girl Muppet dances up to the camera and starts belting an ode toherself: The girl goes on and on in unselfconscious adoration of herself. Thenshe sings that one of the great things about her hair is all the cool stuff shecan do with it—an Afro, cornrows, braids, dreadlocks. Even stick a bow in it.Good stuff Sesame Street. Good stuff"
Celebratingthe ways in which the song distinguishes "between style and self-hate,"Wright praises it for its intervention against a larger history of white supremacy.  He and others rightly note how itspeaks against a larger history and discourse that has used hair (hairpolitics) to pathologize and demonize blackness.  Astory on The Root.com further emphasizesthe important message and the larger history embedded within this song
Sesame Street works off of a platform that permeates both childhood and adulthood-- it's designed down to the smallest detail to teach children (and adults)through pictures, sounds and subliminal messaging. Thus, it's easy to see how asong like "I Love My Hair" could bring a grandmother or parent of ablack child to tears. Looking past the puppet, you can clearly see and hear apositive message that says, "You are beautiful." It's a statementthat seems so simple but is much more complex.
ManyAfrican-American families struggle with teaching their children to love notonly themselves but also the things that make them unique: their full lips,wide noses and kinky hair. "African Americans as a people have had tobattle the social idea that not only is our skin inferior, but that our hair isas well," says Karcheik Sims-Alvarado, visiting lecturer at Georgia StateUniversity's department of African-American studies. "We were treated asinferior by default simply because we were black, and because of this, weinternalized these beliefs and unfortunately passed them down from generationto generation.
Whatis evident here is the ways in which SesameStreet has challenged the normalization of whiteness; it is sought tounsettle the hegemonic celebration and normalization of white (male;heterosexual; Christian; middle-class suburban) identity within and beyondpopular culture.  And this isbrings me back to Ben Shapiro's criticism of Sesame Street.  Whilehe was positioned within the public discourse as a conservative being criticalof the liberal bias of the media, the insidious nature of his criticismtranscends that clichéd position: it is a criticism reflective or and in theadvancement of a new racist agenda. By denouncing Sesame Street for"promoting a self-esteem ethos, the idea that, to paraphrase Barney 'everyoneis special'; an unearned self-esteem" Shapiro appears to criticize the show forchallenging and unsettling the privilege of white (heterosexual Christian)identity. 
Atits core, the criticisms directed at SesameStreet are racially coded and racially reactionary; it is not simply amatter of the unnatural celebration of undesirable and inferior identities andexperiences but denying white male Christian identity its rightful place onAmerica's cultural mantle.  Theargument offered by Shapiro and others imagines Sesame Street as a white-funded source of propaganda thatunnaturally elevates racial (and sexual) Others all while denying the beautyand superiority of whiteness.  While often celebrating their idea of King's dream, the right hasactively opposed policy and societal implementation of King's dream/BelovedCommunity into our daily lives. Their hypocrisy illustrates the hollowness of this support.  Given the history of the show and theefforts to challenge, in message and in its opposition to invisibility, thesystemic normalization of particular white identities, it is hard not to seehis comments as part of a larger backlash against multiculturalism and anyeffort that unsettles the hegemony of whiteness.   It isn't simplyabout liberal bias but the perceived threats to whiteness.
***
DavidJ. Leonard is Associate Professor in the Department of Critical Culture, Genderand Race Studies at Washington State University, Pullman. He has written onsport, video games, film, and social movements, appearing in both popular andacademic mediums. His work explores the political economy of popular culture,examining the interplay between racism, state violence, and popular representationsthrough contextual, textual, and subtextual analysis. He is the author of Screens Fade to Black: Contemporary AfricanAmerican Cinema and the forthcoming AfterArtest: Race and the War on Hoop (SUNY Press). Leonard is a regularcontributor to NewBlackMan andblogs @ No Tsuris.

New Episode of Weekly Webcast 'Left of Black' to Feature Noted Black Economist William "Sandy" Darity

New Episode of WeeklyWebcast 'Left of Black' to Feature Noted Black Economist William "Sandy" Darity
Onthe September 19th broadcast of 'Left of Black' host Mark AnthonyNeal is joined by noted economist William "Sandy" Darity, the Arts &Sciences Professor of Public Policy, Professor of African and African-AmericanStudies and Economics at Duke University. 

Darity discusses the ObamaAdministration's methods of tackling the economic crisis and reveals his ownapproach to combating unemployment.  The professor then delves into hisprojects that educate youth by providing "gifted-quality education" andteaching research skills.  Darity, who is Chair of the Department ofAfrican and African-American Studies at Duke, also highlights the importance ofAfrican and African American studies to all Americans.   
Theepisode will also feature Duchess Harris, associate professor of Americanstudies at Macalester College in Minnesota and author of Black FeministPolitics from Kennedy to Obama. In her book, Harris tours the movements of black feminist women underdifferent presidencies and tells the story of the formation of the NationalBlack Feminists Organization and Combahee River Collective, while highlightinghow the face of feminism changes.  Harris also discusses the currentcontroversy surrounding the film The Help.
"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.  
"Leftof Black" is recorded and produced at the John Hope Franklin Center ofInternational and Interdisciplinary Studies at Duke.
###

"When They Reminisce Over You"--Jasiri X: "I Am Troy Davis" (T.R.O.Y.)

Jasiri X uses Pete Rock's classic beat, "They Reminisce Over You" to shed light on the case of Troy Davis.

The state of Georgia plans to execute Troy Davis on September 21, 2011. There is still serious doubt as to Troy Davis' guilt, and by putting him to death Georgia runs the risk of killing an innocent man. Please call on the board to save Troy Davis' life.

The fact is, no physical evidence connected Davis to the murder. Seven of the original nine witnesses have recanted, with many saying their testimony was a result of law enforcement pressure. Of the remaining witnesses, one is highly suspect and the other could be the actual culprit in the officer's murder.

Now, despite these and other facts, the state of Georgia has taken the final steps toward Davis' execution -- and only the Georgia Board of Pardons and Parole stands between Davis and the lethal injection chamber.
Take action by going to:

http://www.naacp.org/pages/too-much-doubt

http://www.colorofchange.org/campaign/save-troy-davis-life/

http://blog.amnestyusa.org/deathpenalty/dont-let-georgia-kill-troy-davis/

Sign a petition, send a tweet, post on facebook, or organize an event.

Just do something

LYRICS
Does the court system employ racists?
Then why are so many black boys in cages?
Why shouldn't I be paranoid of hatred?
Just look at the curious case of Troy Davis
Let travel on down to savannah
In the state of Georgia just south of Atlanta
Where they wave the rebel flag like a bandanna
Hung our ancestors then posed for the camera
A white police officer was shot and killed
Over and argument he tried stop and heal
And here's where the plot gets real
The main suspect blamed Troy went to the cops and squealed
And with no physical evidence or weapon
Troy was arrested for a 187
He said he was innocent man was a when he was questioned
But they said that he did it who needs a damn confession
They just need is a witness they can press to cry
Tell em what to say or they arrest the guy
Then Put em on the stand and make em testify
Swear to god to tell the truth and do they best to lie
And they did so troy was found guilty
Sent to death row by police so filthy
Even though his innocence is true
We pray they don't reminisce over you

But the truth always comes to light
And Troy Davis didn't give up the fight
He kept filing appeals until it was reveled
The state of Georgia wants an an innocent man killed
That's why a who's who wants him out
cause there's just too much doubt
And witness after witness came forward and admitted
the only reason they did it cause the police insisted
so wicked so vicious
The system's broke so fixed
2 decades no Christmas
Execution dates 4 listed
get organized show resistance
go online sign those petitions
Black Americans know the difference
It's a new day but the same old lynchings
I am Troy Davis
families destroyed be cases
why can't we avoid the Matrix
instead of giving his children toys to play with
he's waiting his execution hoping the court stays it
I'm praying and doing
we need action we need movement
cause his innocence is true
I pray they don't reminisce over you

Ain't Nothing Gettin' Corrected: Correctional Facilities, Lockup Raw and the Breivik Controversy

Ain't Nothing Gettin' Corrected: Correctional Facilities, Lockup Raw and the BreivikControversy by John (J.D.) Roberts | special to NewBlackMan
Recently, I received an order onAmazon for a book. This purchase was for an inmate in a correctional institutionand the purchase address was to the inmate, with his prison number after hisname (proper protocol and required for inmates to receive incoming mail). Havingexperienced problems with this type of order in the past-I had a packagerejected for "excessive tape" (apparently packaging tape can be used to make orfortify a shiv/shank)-I called the correctional facility to see what I had todo to successfully complete this transaction. The prison guard I spoke with onthe phone, who was almost flippantly (or comically) candid, told me not to sendthe book because it would get rejected by the facility. My father, who is aminister, had a similar experience trying to send a Bible to a suicidalcongregation member in prison. This experience made me think how sad it is thatI (a seller on Amazon and a complete stranger to the prisoner) cannot send abook about the biology of bats to an incarcerated person. Despite thoroughsearches of all items sent via mail into prisons, these shipments would stillbe denied by the facilities for whatever reason. America's correctional facilitieshave been on my mind a lot lately. Following Anders Breivik's recent homicidalrampage in Norway, many news agencies began to report on the "cushy" conditionsBreivik would likely experience in prison in facilities such as Halden Fengsel,and compared them to the punishment doled out in American correctionalfacilities.The beginnings of an answer to thisquestion and the inspiration for this piece are found on a TV show called Lockup Raw shown late night on MSNBC. SinceI often find myself staying up late with insomnia, I generally end up watchingthis show when late night TV options run out. The program travels around theUnited States, filming the ins and outs of living as inmates and working ascorrectional officers in American correctional facilities across the country. Oneespecially telling scene from the show had a correctional officer in Boston'sSuffolk County Jail saying goodbye to an inmate, then asking the inmate when hewould see him next and laughing about it. The correctional officer then expressedhis belief that the former inmate would either violate his parole or commit acrime and be re-incarcerated in the same facility. This scene subtly capturesone of the biggest problems with correctional facilities in America: nothing isbeing corrected or rehabilitated, and no one (guard or inmate) believes in thatmission statement. While Norway attempts to humanizetheir prisons and mainstream/rehabilitate inmates for their future success backin society, the United States clings to punishment theory for its so-called "correctional"facilities. Inmates must submit to all commands of the correctional officer, nomatter how arbitrary or capricious (as long as the command is legal and notviolating an inmate's human rights, and even then, who knows). Officers shownon Lockup Raw often make badsituations worse by heightening the tension between themselves and inmates withseemingly unnecessary directives. Corrections officers create,maintain and sustain a system of restriction, privation and subjugation tofurther punish their inmates (beyond their mere incarceration). Austere cellsand facilities further aggravate the psyches of inmates who frequently comefrom dysfunctional families, impoverished socioeconomic backgrounds and quiteoften are mentally ill to varying extents.  Correctional facilities can even have water and electricityrestrictions, forcing inmates to, for example, commingle toilet and sinkbathroom water or restrict their reading. Correctional facilities are places ofextreme danger for everyone involved, inmate and officer alike, due to theincarcerated persons, the restrictive punishment systems in place, and thecontinuous heightened state of alert in the facilities (due to both inmate ANDofficer behavior). Inmates are at no time treated as human equals bycorrections officers, but are instead further confined inside correctionalfacilities in a parent/child relationship (I think back to the words my parentswould say that made me the most angry as a kid: "because I said so"). Nowhere is this situation clearerthan the cell extraction. If an inmate refuses to comply with instruction whilein his or her cell, or s/he is destroying their cell or creating a hazard tothe prison while in their cell, this situation can lead to a cell extraction,where a team of trained correctional officers go into the cell, subdue theinmate, and extract the inmate. The process of cell extraction is highlyformalized, with a clear coda of verbal instructions, precise videotaping ofthe incident for legal reasons, clothing and equipment to protect the officersduring the cell extraction, and regimented teams following procedure to theletter during the extraction. What is incredibly striking and not discussed on Lockup Raw is the fact that this cellextraction is often a test of wills between officers and inmates. Perhaps halfof the cell extractions displayed on LockupRaw are truly due to such hazards as facility tampering, fecal/urine cellcontamination, or violent/hostile behavior by the inmate. The other cellextractions involve inmates trying to "prove a point" or demonstrating an unwillingnessto submit to officer commands. Cell extractions are not only apower play between inmate and officer, but are also a gargantuan waste ofresources, manpower, training, and equipment. Officers are frequently called inor off from other duties to participate in the cell extraction. Someone has tofilm the incident from beginning to end. The state or federal government has topay for the equipment, clothing, and extensive training programs involved intraining officers to properly extract inmates from their cells.

How Hip-Hop Fueled the Arab Spring [Video]

Hip hop has inspired freedom fighters and pro-democracy protesters from Tunisia to Bahrain. NBC News' Karl Bostic investigates.

[Trailer] Sonia Sanchez: Shake Loose Memories

Directed by Jamal Joseph.

Urban Science Education for the Hip-Hop Generation [Video]

This video features the work of Christopher Emdin and his new book, Urban Science Education for the Hip-Hop Generation.
The book, "is rooted in his experiences as student, teacher, administrator, and researcher in urban schools and the deep relationship between hip-hop culture and science that he discovered at every stage of his academic and professional journey. The book utilizes autobiography, outcomes of research studies, theoretical explorations, and accounts of students' experiences in schools to shed light on the causes for the lack of educational achievement of urban youth from the hip-hop generation." (Sense Publishers)