Mark Anthony Neal's Blog, page 1059

'The Black List' Opens at the National Portrait Gallery

Smithsonian'sNational Portrait Gallery Presents 
"The Black List:Photographs by Timothy Greenfield-Sanders"
Historically, theterm "blacklist" referred to a group of people marginalized and denied work orsocial approval. Created out of the inspiration to change the meaning ofthe term to become that of a roll call of distinction, "The Black List:Photographs by Timothy Greenfield-Sanders," will open at the National PortraitGallery Oct. 28. The exhibition includes all 50 of the photographic portraits thatGreenfield-Sanders created and a small theater with a continuous loop of thethree volume film The Black List. The exhibition will be at the museumthrough April 22, 2012.

Greenfield-Sanderscreated large-format fine-art photographs and directed the film; Mitchellinterviewed the subjects, documenting the experiences of the individualsselected for "The Black List." Together they created a visual "who's who" of AfricanAmericans.
"'The Black List,'stands at the intersection of American history, biography and portraiture byreclaiming a historically negative term and presenting a nuanced recognition ofstruggles, joys, troubles and triumph," said Martin Sullivan, director of theNational Portrait Gallery. "The people who are featured in this importantproject are representative of the diverse experiences of African Americanstoday."
The photographs andvideo depict all 50 subjects, including actor and comedian Whoopi Goldberg,musician John Legend, chairman and CEO of the United Negro College Fund MichaelLomax, Morrison, U.N. ambassador Susan Rice, comedian Chris Rock, the Rev. Al Sharpton,artist Kara Walker and athlete Serena Williams.
AT&T is thesponsor of "The Black List: Photographs by Timothy Greenfield-Sanders." Thefilmed interviews in the exhibition are made available courtesy of TV One.
TimothyGreenfield-Sanders
           
Greenfield-Sanders isan internationally know photographer and Grammy Award-winning filmmaker. Hisportraits of political leaders and cultural icons have earned him a place inmore than 25 museum collections, including the Museum of Modern Art, the WhitneyMuseum of American Art and the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston.
The Smithsonian'sNational Portrait Gallery
The Smithsonian'sNational Portrait Gallery tells the history of America through the individualswho have shaped its culture. Through the visual arts, performing arts and newmedia, the Portrait Gallery portrays poets and presidents, visionaries andvillains, actors and activists whose lives tell the American story.
The National PortraitGallery is part of the Donald W. Reynolds Center for American Art andPortraiture at Eighth and F streets N.W., Washington, D.C. Website: npg.si.edu.Smithsonian information: (202) 633-1000; (202) 633-5285 (TTY).
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"Shut Up and Play:" Racism, Sexism and "Unattractive" Realities of American Culture

"Shut Up and Play:" Racism, Sexismand "Unattractive" Realities of American Cultureby David J. Leonard | NewBlackMan
My anger and frustrationfollowing yesterday's tennis match has nothing to do with the matchitself.  While pulling for SerenaWilliams and disappointed by her defeat, the surprising loss did little todamper my spirits.  What hasinspired my ire has been the media's yet again troubling treatment of SerenaWilliams.
Following the match and inresponse to her confrontation with the match umpire (see here for details and video), commentators have taken her totask, deploying racialized and gendered criticism.  Described as "petulant," going "bonkers," as "a stereotypical UglyAmerican"and as someone whose "ego"led to a "tirade" the media tone has rendered what appeared to be a tame andminor confrontation into a spectacle that rehashes longstanding stereotypesabout black women as childish, emotional, lacking self-control, and otherwiseangry.  In other instances,Williams has been demonized for her "outburst"and "menacing behavior," for "losingher cool" during an "Ugly US Open meltdown" and the "themenacing tone of her remarks." Mary Carillo referred to Serena's behavior as that of an "assclown."
The references to her tone and demeanor asmenacing, given the ways in which white supremacist discourse has pathologizedand rendered African American as cultural, physical, and economic menaces areparticularly revealing.  "Raciallogic has advanced a link between the legibility of black bodies, and a racialbeing," argues DeliaDouglas in "To be Young, Gifted, Black and Female:  A Meditation on the Cultural Politicsat Play in Representations of Venus and Serena Williams."  Noting, "thatblack bodies have historically been designated as the site and source ofpathology," Douglas makes clear that "behaviour and habits are seen assymptomatic of these racial distinctions."
The hyperbolic and racially and gendered rhetoricis encapsulated by a column from GeorgeVecesey in The New York Times
Asshe stormed at the chair umpire during a changeover, Williams was reverting to her vicious outburst at a line official that caused her to bedisqualified at match point in a semifinal in 2009, the last time Williams washere." "But at what point does comportment, sportsmanship, become part of themeasure of a great champion?" "The tantrum early in the second set caused manyin the crowd to boo the decision, delaying the next point. Stosur kept hercool, and Williams never showed a trace of those couple of hard hits. She couldhave gone out with dignity on an evening when she did not have her best game.Instead, she called the chair umpire a hater, and later professed not toremember a word of it.
Irrespective of the exaggerating and demonizingrhetoric, Serena Williams' confrontation of the umpire was tame; while angrywith a suspect call and unwilling to capitulate to authority merely because ofcustom, she was clearly composed, calm, and collective; there was no"outburst;" she did not "lose her cool" nor was anything about her behavior"menacing."   
Even the USTA has concluded that the "controversy"was much ado about nothing, fining Williams $2,000 dollars.  Explainingthe fine, it announced:
USOpen Tournament Referee Brian Earley has fined Serena Williams $2,000 followingthe code violation issued for verbal abuse during the women's singles final.This fine is consistent with similar offenses at Grand Slam events. As with allfines at the US Open, the monies levied are provided to the Grand SlamDevelopment Fund which develops tennis programs around the world.
Afterindependently reviewing the incident which served as the basis for the codeviolation, and taking into account the level of fine imposed by the US Openreferee, the Grand Slam Committee Director has determined that Ms. Williams'conduct, while verbally abusive, does not rise to the level of a major offenseunder the Grand Slam Code of Conduct.
Noting the existence of "similar offenses" duringthe course of all Grand Slam events, the USTA acknowledges the banality of thebehavior from Serena Williams. 
Williams has been positioned as yetanother black athlete who may have the athletic talent, but lacks the mentaltoughness and commitment needed to excel on the biggest stages.  More significantly, the post-matchcommentaries reveal the powerful ways that race and gender operate withinAmerican culture.   Herblackness and femininity, especially in the context of the white world oftennis, overdetermines her positioning within a sporting context.  This moment illustrates the profoundimpact of both race and gender on Serena Williams, a fact often erased by bothpopular and academic discourses. According to Delia Douglas, "Thefailure to consider the ways in which sport is both an engendering andracializing institution has lead to myriad distortions, as well as themarginalization and oversimplification of black women's experiences insport."   As such, her stardom, her success, and the specifics of the incidentdoes not insulate her from criticism and condemnation, but in fact contributesto the acceptability in fans and commentators alike symbolically shouting andyelling, "Shut up and play."
To understand the reaction is to understand alarger history involving Serena Williams. Two days before the finals match, William C. Rhoden, ina video commentary entitled "Embracing Serena," argued that Serena hasn'tbeen accepted as "a great American story." Citing a certain level of "ambivalence"and a refusal to celebrate the "resilience" and the "will" exhibited by theWilliams sisters, Rhoden highlights the ways in which cultural citizenship hasbeen denied to the Williams sisters; better said, he points to the racialdouble standards and the ways in which race and gender overdetermine the mannerin which the Williams sisters are positioned and confined within the nationallandscape.  On cue, commenters(before and after the match) provided evidence of Rhoden's argument, referringto Serena Williams as a "psychopath," immature, as a "poor sport," as anembarrassment," as a "hater," as "out-of-control," "unattractive inside," as"disgraceful" and a "poor loser," illustrating not only a level vitriol but the"continuance of racism" and sexism "inthe new millennium" (Spencer 2004).  The 2011 U.S. Open was like the 2009U.S. Open, the 2001 Indian Wells tournament and countless other years wherefans and commentators alike subjected Serena and Venus to the logics whiteracism and sexism all while denying the continued significance of both.     The continued relevance of race and gender areevident in other ways. We can see it with the constant references to her body(Jason Whitlock oncerefereed to her as an "unsightly layer of thick, muscled blubber, abyproduct of her unwillingness to commit to a training regimen and diet thatwould have her at the top of her game year-round") and the ubiquitousreferences to her physicality, strength and power.  "Black bodies have long been objects of scrutiny, therecipients of inordinate attention and discussion for over a century.  Blackbodies were seen as the site and source of black pathology, as boundariesagainst which one could determine acceptable sexuality, femininity and morality(Giddings, 1984; Gilman, 1985)," writes Douglas.  "Historically, whitesupremacist racial logic has long relied on 'the use of a dichotomous code thatcreates a chain of correspondences both between the physical and the cultural,and between intellectual and cognitive characteristics'" (Hall, 1997; p.290). 
The rhetorical descriptors long used to describethe Williams sisters and the hyper focus on her "menacing" body followingyesterday's match illustrate the ways in which race and gender operate throughthe dissection and demonization of Serena's body. We see it in the dissection,commentary, and surveillance of both their clothing and hair choices.  
We see how race and gender matters in the availablenarratives. We see it with the narrative choices that depict the Williamssisters as "ghetto Cinderellas'" as worthy of celebration because tennis (whiteness)saved them from the "cradle of crack dealers and grunge courts"leading them to compete for championships and millions of dollars. 
Raceand gender matters.  It is evidentin media coverage, fan reactions, and in so many different places all of whichillustrates how "sport both reinforces and reproduces the 'persistent','resurgent', and 'veiled' forms of white power that permeate society (King,Leonard & Kusz, 2007, p. 4 in McCay andJohnson 2008), What happened at the U.S. Open and what hashappened in the hours that followed were just another chapter of this largerhistory; a history of racism and sexism within the world of tennis. 
James McCray and Helen Johnson begin their article,"Pornographic Eroticism and Sexual Grotesquerie in Representations of AfricanAmerican Sportswomen" by drawing a historic parallel between the treatment ofAlthea Gibson and Serena Williams:
"Go Back To The Cotten [sic] Plantation Nigger. (Banner in the standswhen Althea Gibson walked on court to defend her US Open title in 1958)
That's the way to do it! Hit the net like any Negro would! (Racist maleheckling Serena Williams before she served at the 2007 Sony EricssonChampionships in Miami)
While illustrating the continuity of whitesupremacy and the fallacy of those post-racial celebrations, the sharedexperienced between Gibson and Williams encapsulates the dehumanizing andviolent conditions that both endured and challenged during their careers.   While acknowledging differences,it points to the powerful force of racism and sexism within America life. 
Yet, it also points to the ways in which AltheaGibson and Serena Williams (as well as Venus Williams) disrupt the hegemonicwhiteness of the tennis world.  Tounderstand Serena's (as well as Althea's) place within the history of tennis,including this week's events, is to understand her willingness to challengeauthority and the culture of a normalized whiteness within (and beyond)tennis.   In "Refereeing Serena: Racism, Anger, and U.S. (Women's)Tennis," on the Crunk Feminist Collective blog, itsauthor powerfully notes how Serena refuses to accept the confined andcontrolled by the overdetermining logics of racism and sexism:
Yes, I'm aware of all the ways in which her acts in this momentreinforce stereotypes of the Angry Black Woman. However, we cannot use ourinvestment in a respectability politic which demands that Black women nevershow anger or emotion in the face of injustice to demand Serena's silence.Resistance is often impolite, and frequently it demands that we skirt therules. . . .. Serena continues to disrupt tennis spaces with her dark-skinned,powerful body, her flamboyant sartorial choices, her refusal to conform to theprofessional tennis obstacle course, and her willingness to get angry and showit.  That disruption isnecessary—because however "right" or "wrong" it may technically be—itdemonstrates that all is not well racially in tennis. Black folks—men andwomen—are still largely understood within a narrative of brute, undisciplinedphysical strength—rather than as athletes who bring both physical andintellectual skills to their game.  As long as these issues remain, tenniswill continue to be "unattractive" from the inside out.  
Agreed. While others have used this moment to "hate," demonize, and passjudgment on Serena Williams, for me, it is reminder of the history ofresistance and fortitude; yet, it is also a reminder of how my love of sportsis so often polluted by the racism, sexism and "unattractive" realities ofAmerican culture. 
***
David J. Leonard is Associate Professor in theDepartment of Critical Culture, Gender and Race Studies at Washington StateUniversity, Pullman. He has written on sport, video games, film, and socialmovements, appearing in both popular and academic mediums. His work exploresthe political economy of popular culture, examining the interplay betweenracism, state violence, and popular representations through contextual,textual, and subtextual analysis. He is the author of Screens Fade to Black: Contemporary African American Cinema and theforthcoming After Artest: Race and theWar on Hoop (SUNY Press). Leonard is a regular contributor to NewBlackMan and blogs @ No Tsuris.

"I Am Troy Davis" (video)

Grassroots International Rally to Stop the Execution of Troy Davis September 20th!!!

We are calling on All Activists, Artists, Grassroots, Secular, Non-secular and Every Day People to Organize and Take to Streets in Solidarity to Stop the scheduled execution of Troy Anthony Davis AN INNOCENT MAN who is scheduled to die on September 21st at 7pm in the State of Georgia!

STOP THE EXECUTION! FREE TROY DAVIS!

On March 28, 2011, the US Supreme Court failed to take up the appeal of Troy Anthony Davis, the Savannah, Ga. man whose scheduled execution has been halted three times in the past because of the growing evidence and public belief in his innocence.

Chatham County Superior Court Judge Penny Freesemann signed the death warrant for Davis on Tuesday Sept. 6th, marking the fourth time since 2007 that the state has a scheduled an execution for Davis. The U.S. Supreme Court cleared the way for the execution in March by rejecting an appeal by Davis.

Department of Corrections Commissioner Brian Owens has set 7 p.m. at the Georgia Diagnostic and Classification Prison in Jackson to carry out the sentence.

Meanwhile, the state Board of Pardons and Paroles has scheduled a 9 a.m. Sept. 19 clemency hearing to allow Davis' attorneys one final attempt to delay or commute the sentence, board spokesman Steven Hayes said Wednesday.

Troy Davis is an African American on death row in Georgia. Davis was convicted in the 1989 killing of a police officer despite what Amnesty International calls "overwhelming doubts about his guilt." No physical forensic evidence was presented at Davis' trial, and 7 of the 9 non-police witnesses have recanted their testimony, with at least two saying they were pressured by police to finger Davis as the killer.


WHAT YOU CAN DO:

1. Organize Rallies in you area

2. Set up teach-ins

3. Sign the Amnesty USA petition, asking the GA Board of Pardons & Parole to grant Troy clemency, and forward it to others :

http://takeaction.amnestyusa.org/siteapps/advocacy/ActionItem.aspx?c=6oJCLQPA...

4. Set up vigils
5. Call Georgia Governor Nathan Deal's office and ask him to grant Troy Clemency (404)656-1776
6. Call Georgia Board of Pardon and Paroles ask them to grant Troy Clemency (404) 656-5651


Who are some of the supporters:

Well known individual such as Jimmy Carter, Archbishop Desmond
Tutu,singer Harry Belafonte, actress Susan Sarandon, Congressman John Lewis, and author and activist Angela Davis, to name a few—have voiced support for Troy.

For more info on the case of Troy Anthony Davis go to http://troyanthonydavis.org/

"Left of Black' S:2 E:1 with Michael Eric Dyson

Left of Black S:2 E:1w/Michael Eric DysonSeptember12, 2011
Host Mark Anthony Neal, is joined by Georgetownprofessor and public intellectual Michael Eric Dyson via Skype® for the seasonpremiere of Left of Black.   The two scholars assess President Obama's agenda,accomplishments, and challenges, as well as Cornel West's perspective of theObama administration so far.  Dyson also discusses the importance ofpresenting critical analysis to the broader public.  The showfinishes off with a discussion of Kanye West and Jay-Z's recent album Watch the Throne.  
***
>Michael Eric Dyson, named by Ebonyas one of the hundred most influential black Americans, is the author of sixteen books, including Holler if You Hear Me, Is Bill Cosby Right?and I May Not Get There With You: TheTrue Martin Luther King Jr. He is currently University Professor ofSociology at Georgetown University. He lives in Washington, D.C.
***
Left of Black is a weekly Webcasthosted by Mark Anthony Neal and produced in collaboration with the John Hope Franklin Center at Duke University.
Episodesof Left of Black are also available for download @ iTunesU

Party Like It's 1899: Arizona, Football and Blackface Fans

PartyLike It's 1899: Arizona, Football and Blackface Fans byDavid J. Leonard | NewBlackMan
Tocelebrate their new football uniforms, Arizona State University officialsencouraged students to come to their Friday game against University of Missouriwearing all black.  Four studentsdecided to use this moment as an opportunity to party like it was 1899 bydonning blackface.   The mediareaction, thus far, has been muted, not surprising given the persistentintrusion of minstrelsy into contemporary popular culture and the overalldismissal of most behavior from white college students as harmlessrevelry.  Yet, this instance pointto several larger issues at work. 
Thepractice of white students donning blackface is not an isolated incident butreflects a larger trend within America's college's and universities.  While usually taking place at parties,outside the view of the public at large, the minstrel tradition is alive andwell.   Tim Wise, in "Majoringin Minstrelsy: White Students, Blackface and the Failure of Mainstream Multiculturalism,"notes that during the 2006-2007 school year there were 15 publicly knowninstances of racial mockery. He describes this practice in the following way:
Given the almost monthly reports that white collegestudents at one or another campus have yet again displayed a form of racistignorance so stupefying as to boggle the imagination. For some, it meansdressing up in blackface. For others, a good time means throwing a "ghettoparty," in which they don gold chains, afro wigs, and strut around with 40ounce bottles of malt liquor, mocking low-income black folks. For still others,hoping to spread around the insults a bit, fun is spelled, "Tacos and Tequila,"during which bashes students dress up as maids, landscapers, or pregnantteenagers so as to make fun of Latino/as.
Atthe core of any of these instances is a sense of power and a perceived right tomock and degrade irrespective of its impact; it may also potential reflect ignoranceabout the larger history and meaning of blackface.  In either instance, we see white privilege in action. "It'scertainly true that most whites are unaware of the way that blackface has beenused historically to denigrate the intellect and humanity of blacks," writesTim Wise. "And most probably know little about the history of how ghettocommunities were created by government and economic elites, to the detriment ofthose who live there. Yet, at some level, most of those engaged in theseactivities had to know they were treading on offensive ground." 
Whereasin the more commonplace practice of "ghetto parties" or other racial mockingparties the ignorance argument makes less sense given the efforts gone to limitoutside exposure, it is easy to see how a lack of knowledge about the meaningand history of blackface might have led these students to attendnationally-televised football game in blackface.  Ignorance, however, is no excuse.
Theability to be ignorant, to be unaware of the history and consequences of aperson's action, to simply do as one pleases is a quintessential element ofprivilege.  It reflects a level ofpower to be either unaware or unconcerned with the potential offense; theability to ignore and dismiss history is a privilege, one that the state ofArizona promotes through its very policies.  "One thing we know about racism is that much of it islearned.  We also know that young people must also learn racialsensitivity.  In both cases, Arizona State University appears to havefailed the test," writesBoyce Watkins.  "Students are a reflection of those who teach them,and it's interesting that these four white women made the plan to wear blackface, went out and bought the makeup, told their friends about their plan, puton the makeup and went to the game, without anyone even taking a second torealize that what they were doing would be incredibly offensive to millions ofpeople."  Watkins' assessment seemsparticularly important given we are not talking about Arizona, the epicenter ofthe anti-ethnic studies movement. 
In2010, on the heals of its decision to institutionalizeracial profiling, the legislature followed-up with its ban on ethnicstudies classes "designed primarily for students of particular ethnicgroups, advocate ethnic solidarity or promote resentment of a race or a classof people."  It is hard not to makea connection here, as well as the larger history of Arizona and race. 
Whetherarguing that blackface at ASU football game reflects ignorance about the largerhistory of racism and the potential offense many might take from the sight of 4white college students reenacting a racist tradition of minstrelsy; or thattheir decision is a conscious push-back against what they perceive as politicalcorrectness run amuck, the larger context is crucial.   Ignorance of this larger history or disregard for itsmeaning is "Decrying the ghetto party as 'modern-day minstrelsy' is surely anexpression of righteous indignation, but it is only the beginning of the storyrather than the end," noted Jared Sexton in a 2007 piece that I co-wrote forColorlines. "The persistent challenge is to understand why the perversepleasure of cross-racial caricature and its disavowed currents of mockery,ridicule, envy and hatred are so powerfully attractive to itsparticipants—participants who, as a rule, rely on the dynamics of racialsegregation that have produced the ghetto for the very form and substance ofthe most public and the most intimate aspects of their social lives."   
Inother words, the sight of these four students in blackface is a reminder of theconsequences of persistent racial segregation, the cost of a hegemonicmulticulturalism that avoids issues of inequality and racism, the manifestationof white privilege, and most importantly, in the context of Arizona, evidenceof the importance of ethnic studies as a curricular intervention.   It demonstrates the necessity ofethnic studies because those are spaces where the history of and meaning withinthe tradition of minstrelsy is learned.  That is the opportunity to rectify that ignorance or unlearnthe acceptance of these practices. 
JaySmooth, in "HowTo Tell People They Sound Racist," distinguishes between "what they did andwhat they are conversations," calling upon people to avoid the traps thatresults from the common practice of debating whether or not someone is racist.  Whereas the "what they are"conversations focuses on motives and intent of an individual, "the what theydid conversation focuses strictly on a person's words and actions, andexplaining why what they did and what they said was unacceptable."   Hopefully, we can use this momentto not only to point out the unacceptability of blackface in any context ("whatthey did conversation") but to also reflect on its roots and the broaderimplications at work here.  We needto have "the it's bigger than this incident" and "it ain't just about these fourstudents" conversations so that we can maybe stop having THESE conversations sooften. 
***
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 popularrepresentations through contextual, textual, and subtextual analysis. He is theauthor 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.

Party Like It's 1899: Arizona Football and Blackface Fans

PartyLike It's 1899: Arizona Football and Blackface Fans byDavid J. Leonard | NewBlackMan
Tocelebrate their new football uniforms, Arizona State University officialsencouraged students to come to their Friday game against University of Missouriwearing all black.  Four studentsdecided to use this moment as an opportunity to party like it was 1899 bydonning blackface.   The mediareaction, thus far, has been muted, not surprising given the persistentintrusion of minstrelsy into contemporary popular culture and the overalldismissal of most behavior from white college students as harmlessrevelry.  Yet, this instance pointto several larger issues at work. 
Thepractice of white students donning blackface is not an isolated incident butreflects a larger trend within America's college's and universities.  While usually taking place at parties,outside the view of the public at large, the minstrel tradition is alive andwell.   Tim Wise, in "Majoringin Minstrelsy: White Students, Blackface and the Failure of Mainstream Multiculturalism,"notes that during the 2006-2007 school year there were 15 publicly knowninstances of racial mockery. He describes this practice in the following way:
Given the almost monthly reports that white collegestudents at one or another campus have yet again displayed a form of racistignorance so stupefying as to boggle the imagination. For some, it meansdressing up in blackface. For others, a good time means throwing a "ghettoparty," in which they don gold chains, afro wigs, and strut around with 40ounce bottles of malt liquor, mocking low-income black folks. For still others,hoping to spread around the insults a bit, fun is spelled, "Tacos and Tequila,"during which bashes students dress up as maids, landscapers, or pregnantteenagers so as to make fun of Latino/as.
Atthe core of any of these instances is a sense of power and a perceived right tomock and degrade irrespective of its impact; it may also potential reflect ignoranceabout the larger history and meaning of blackface.  In either instance, we see white privilege in action. "It'scertainly true that most whites are unaware of the way that blackface has beenused historically to denigrate the intellect and humanity of blacks," writesTim Wise. "And most probably know little about the history of how ghettocommunities were created by government and economic elites, to the detriment ofthose who live there. Yet, at some level, most of those engaged in theseactivities had to know they were treading on offensive ground." 
Whereasin the more commonplace practice of "ghetto parties" or other racial mockingparties the ignorance argument makes less sense given the efforts gone to limitoutside exposure, it is easy to see how a lack of knowledge about the meaningand history of blackface might have led these students to attendnationally-televised football game in blackface.  Ignorance, however, is no excuse.
Theability to be ignorant, to be unaware of the history and consequences of aperson's action, to simply do as one pleases is a quintessential element ofprivilege.  It reflects a level ofpower to be either unaware or unconcerned with the potential offense; theability to ignore and dismiss history is a privilege, one that the state ofArizona promotes through its very policies.  "One thing we know about racism is that much of it islearned.  We also know that young people must also learn racialsensitivity.  In both cases, Arizona State University appears to havefailed the test," writesBoyce Watkins.  "Students are a reflection of those who teach them,and it's interesting that these four white women made the plan to wear blackface, went out and bought the makeup, told their friends about their plan, puton the makeup and went to the game, without anyone even taking a second torealize that what they were doing would be incredibly offensive to millions ofpeople."  Watkins' assessment seemsparticularly important given we are not talking about Arizona, the epicenter ofthe anti-ethnic studies movement. 
In2010, on the heals of its decision to institutionalizeracial profiling, the legislature followed-up with its ban on ethnicstudies classes "designed primarily for students of particular ethnicgroups, advocate ethnic solidarity or promote resentment of a race or a classof people."  It is hard not to makea connection here, as well as the larger history of Arizona and race. 
Whetherarguing that blackface at ASU football game reflects ignorance about the largerhistory of racism and the potential offense many might take from the sight of 4white college students reenacting a racist tradition of minstrelsy; or thattheir decision is a conscious push-back against what they perceive as politicalcorrectness run amuck, the larger context is crucial.   Ignorance of this larger history or disregard for itsmeaning is "Decrying the ghetto party as 'modern-day minstrelsy' is surely anexpression of righteous indignation, but it is only the beginning of the storyrather than the end," noted Jared Sexton in a 2007 piece that I co-wrote forColorlines. "The persistent challenge is to understand why the perversepleasure of cross-racial caricature and its disavowed currents of mockery,ridicule, envy and hatred are so powerfully attractive to itsparticipants—participants who, as a rule, rely on the dynamics of racialsegregation that have produced the ghetto for the very form and substance ofthe most public and the most intimate aspects of their social lives."   
Inother words, the sight of these four students in blackface is a reminder of theconsequences of persistent racial segregation, the cost of a hegemonicmulticulturalism that avoids issues of inequality and racism, the manifestationof white privilege, and most importantly, in the context of Arizona, evidenceof the importance of ethnic studies as a curricular intervention.   It demonstrates the necessity ofethnic studies because those are spaces where the history of and meaning withinthe tradition of minstrelsy is learned.  That is the opportunity to rectify that ignorance or unlearnthe acceptance of these practices. 
JaySmooth, in "HowTo Tell People They Sound Racist," distinguishes between "what they did andwhat they are conversations," calling upon people to avoid the traps thatresults from the common practice of debating whether or not someone is racist.  Whereas the "what they are"conversations focuses on motives and intent of an individual, "the what theydid conversation focuses strictly on a person's words and actions, andexplaining why what they did and what they said was unacceptable."   Hopefully, we can use this momentto not only to point out the unacceptability of blackface in any context ("whatthey did conversation") but to also reflect on its roots and the broaderimplications at work here.  We needto have "the it's bigger than this incident" and "it ain't just about these fourstudents" conversations so that we can maybe stop having THESE conversations sooften. 
***
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 popularrepresentations through contextual, textual, and subtextual analysis. He is theauthor 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.

"Empire State of Mind"--9/11 Tribute dir. by Spike Lee

To commemorate the 10th anniversary of 9/11, State Farm partnered with award-winning director Spike Lee to film a touching tribute to thank the heroes of New York. Nearly 150 school children (ages 8-11) from the New York City area visited four firehouses and thanked the firefighters through song.
Download the full-track of Empire State of Mind (Part II) from iTunes here: http://st8.fm/ON2. Proceeds from the download benefit the National Fallen Firefighters Foundation (http://www.firehero.org/).

After the Attica Uprising

After the Attica Uprising by asha bandele | The Nation
On the morning of September 9, 1971, Attica Correctional Facility, the largest and most secure prison in New York State, went up in a flame of resistance and rage. Just over half of the men incarcerated there-more than 1,200 people-took 38 prison guards hostage, in a demand for their basic human rights. By the time their rebellion was forced to an end on September 13, 43 men, prisoners and guards alike, were dead. Thirty-nine of the dead were shot on the orders of Governor Nelson Rockefeller.
To fully understand the prisoners' rebellion at Attica forty years ago, one must first understand the complexity of 1971, which was Dickensonian in its unfolding: It was the best of times, it was the worst of times. We were a nation of hope, with the possibility of revolutionary change within our grasp. Reverend Jesse Jackson's Operation PUSH was born that year. Thirteen Democrats, with imaginations shaped as much by their own dreams as the Black Power and Civil Rights Movements, founded the Congressional Black Caucus. Broad swaths of the American citizenry felt empowered enough to stand up against unjust government policies; sixty percent of the electorate opposed the Vietnam War. Sam Cooke's "A Change Is Gonna Come" was more than a beautiful song. It was the soundtrack that nourished the spirit of a movement. This was the best of 1971: its unmitigated hope.
But for those who knew the worst of that year, they recall events that unfolded with the brutality of a serial killer. Horror was a persistent thing. Soon after the government turned its weapons on its own children in 1970, killing four and permanently paralyzing another student at Kent State University for the crime of peacefully protesting the US invasion of Cambodia, 1971 would give birth to what many now refer to as "Black August."
On August 21, George Jackson, prisoner, author and Field Marshal for the Black Panther Party was shot and killed at San Quentin Prison in California for allegedly trying to escape his sentence of one year to life for robbing a gas station of seventy bucks. Jackson's seminal work, Soledad Brother, a collection of prison letters published the year before, had firmly planted him in the seat of the hearts of people the world over, but with no group more so than America's prisoners. The official explanation for killing him-that he'd hidden a gun in his afro-was summarily rejected by many, especially black prisoners who viewed it as an execution.
The next day, at Attica, the response to Jackson's death was a silent prayer and fast. Eight hundred men-African American, Latino and white-arrived for the first shift at the mess hall all wearing black somewhere on their clothing and sat in silence, refusing to eat. The staff knew something was brewing. Jackson's death had sparked uprisings in other prisons. But Attica, with its fortress-like construction, seemed to an arrogant administration to be immune to such unrest.
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Preview! Now Dig This: Art and Black Los Angeles 1960-1980

This October the Hammer Museum will present Now Dig This! Art and Black Los Angeles 1960-1980, a comprehensive exhibition that examines the incredibly vital but often overlooked legacy accorded to the city's African American visual artists. Now Dig This! comprises 140 works from 35 artists that have rarely been shown in a museum setting and includes early pieces by now well-established artists as well as works once considered "lost." The exhibition will be up October 2, 2011-January 8, 2012.
Now Dig This! is curated by Kellie Jones, associate professor in the Department of Art History and Archaeology at Columbia University. Jones's writings have appeared in numerous exhibition catalogues and publications including NKA, Artforum, Flash Art, Atlantica, and Third Text. Most recently, she curated Energy/Experimentation: Black Artists and Abstraction, 1964–1980 (The Studio Museum in Harlem, 2006). Current book projects include, Eye-Minded: Living and Writing Contemporary Art (Duke University Press 2011) and Taming the Freeway and Other Acts of Urban HIP-notism: African American Artists in Los Angeles in the 1960s and 1970s (forthcoming from The MIT Press).

Eyes on the Prize - Episode 12 - A Nation of Law? 1968-1971

Eyes on the Prize

A Nation of Law? (1968-71)

Black activism is increasingly met with a sometimes violent and unethical response from local and federal law enforcement agencies. In Chicago, two Black Panther Party leaders are killed in a pre-dawn raid by police acting on information supplied by an FBI informant. In the wake of President Nixon's call to "law and order," stepped-up arrests push the already poor conditions at New York's Attica State Prison to the limit. A five-day inmate takeover calling the public's attention to the conditions leaves 43 men dead: four killed by inmates, 39 by police.