Mark Anthony Neal's Blog, page 11

Into America with Trymaine Lee | Street Disciples: America’s Most Wanted

'As hip-hop found its rhythm in the late 80s and early 90s, artists had to grapple with the scars of violence the drug war was causing within the community, using music videos like “Self Destruction” to hold each other accountable, and trying not to unravel in the face of what was happening in the streets. These movements culminated in the so-called “golden age” of hip-hop, a time of maturing and sophistication in the music.  But along with that maturity came uncertainty from national leaders, and a new wave of commercialization that threatened to unravel this political artform. On this episode of “Street Disciples,” Trymaine Lee hears from: Daddy-O from the hip-hop group Stetsasonic, rapper and producer The D.O.C., Video Music Box’s Ralph McDaniels, radio host Bobbito Garcia, writer Nelson George, and journalist Davey D.'

Caribbean Cultural Center | Critically Black Dialogue Series: AfroFuturism within Black Globalism

 

'A discussion of AfroFuturism within Black Globalism with Lynnée Denise, consultant for Rhythm, Bass & Place, and guest panelists Louis Chude Sokei, Rianna Jade Parker and Cyndi Anafo. This installment of our Critically Black Dialogue Series is a conversation that pushes new boundaries of how we understand AfroFuturism, thinking critically about AfroFuturism in a Black global context with Jamaica as a key city center and credible source as a producer of futuristic fables, songs and wisdom.'

Wattstax Drew 100,000 People — this 1972 Concert was About Much More than Music

'On August 20, 1972, Stax Records brought its biggest stars to Los Angeles for a marathon concert. "Wattstax" is now being commemorated with a new box set and the theatrical re-release of a 1973 documentary. More than 100,000 people turned out for the Black gathering, second in size only to Martin Luther King Jr's 1963 March on Washington. Billed as "The living word: a soulful expression of the Black experience," the Rev. Jesse Jackson's litany "I Am Somebody" set the tone for the day's events.'

The Takeaway | The Fight For The Survival of Black Farmers

'At the beginning of the 20th century, Black people owned more than 16 million acres of farmland across the United States. Now, more than 90% of that land has been lost.  This land loss is, in part, due to the USDA's systemic racial discrimination of Black farmers. While advocates have struggled to preserve the tradition of Black farming across the United States through a concerted movement of both legal and policy measures, Black farmers have not seen real relief. And Black ownership of farmland continues to dwindle. President of the National Black Farmers Association, Mr. John Boyd Jr., joins us to talk through updates in the fight against the extinction of Black farmers across the country.'

On Being with Krista Tippett | Isabel Wilkerson — "We all know in our bones that things are harder than they have to be."

'In this rich, expansive, and warm conversation between friends, Krista Tippettdraws out the heart for humanity behind Isabel Wilkerson's eye on histories we are only now communally learning to tell — her devotion to understanding not merely who we have been, but who we can be. Her most recent offering of fresh insight to our life together brings "caste" into the light — a recurrent, instinctive pattern of human societies across the centuries, though far more malignant in some times and places. Caste is a ranking of human value that works more like a pathogen than a belief system — more like the reflexive grammar of our sentences than our choices of words. In the American context, Isabel Wilkerson says race is the skin, but "caste is the bones." And this shift away from centering race as a focus of analysis actually helps us understand why race and racism continue to shape-shift and regenerate, every best intention and effort and law notwithstanding. But beginning to see caste also gives us fresh eyes and hearts for imagining where to begin, and how to persist, in order finally to shift that.'

In 'My Selma,' Willie Mae Brown Recalls Growing Up During the Civil Rights Movement

'Willie Mae Brown was a little girl in Selma, Alabama in the 1960s. In her new YA book, My Selma, she recalls growing up during the height of the Civil Rights Movement in the South. As she tells Here & Now's Robin Young, those core childhood memories include going to church to see Martin Luther King, Jr. speak – which moved Brown's mother to tears as she held the author – and her siblings getting arrested for trying to accompany teachers who were planning to register to vote. But, she says, there was also a lot of joy and community as a child on the frontlines of justice.'

Black Twitter: The Twitterverse That Changed a Generation | CBS Reports

'You may know the hashtags and the groundbreaking movements — #BlackLivesMatter, #OscarsSoWhite, — but now you'll get an inside look at where they were born: Black Twitter. Black Twitter is the barbershop or beauty salon of social media that has made waves across America and the world. CBS Reports interviews celebrities, influencers and thought leaders to chronicle the history of Black Twitter, how it has spread to other platforms like Instagram, LinkedIn and TikTok, and explore the social sphere where Black people started a community and ended up creating a pop culture juggernaut and driver of social justice.'

Helga | Sociologist Tricia Rose on Hip-hop as a Global Profit Powerhouse

"It’s hard when you try to talk across racial groups about race...I do believe that there's a better chance of them getting further if we can create spaces of both accountability and connection." -- Tricia Rose

'Tricia Rose is a pioneering scholar in the field of hip-hop, Chancellor's Professor of Africana Studies at Brown University, co-host with Cornel West of “The Tight Rope” podcast, and Director of the Center for the Study of Race and Ethnicity in America.  In this episode of Helga, Rose discusses how she balances her love of the early days of hip-hop with the global profit powerhouse it has become, the beauty of chaos, and how essential it is to build safe, stable communities at a time when everything is being done to isolate and separate.'

Millennials Are Killing Capitalism | “In the Presence of Agape, Battles for Life Ensue” - Joy James & K. Kim Holder, In Pursuit of Revolutionary Love

'In this episode of Millennials Are Killing Capitalism, Joy James returns to the podcast and is joined by K. Kim Holder. The book that occasions this conversation is her latest work In Pursuit of Revolutionary Love: Precarity, Power, Communities. It has a foreward from Da’Shaun Harrison, an afterword by Mumia Abu-Jamal. And features original articles, co-authored essays with Holder, and interviews and discussions transcribed from various podcasts including Groundings, The Black Myths Podcast, our own interview with her from the summer of 2020 and several others.'

The Buzz: The JJA Podcast | White Critics Writing About Black Music

'Host Rick Mitchell talks with jazz journalists Eugene Holley Jr. and Aaron Cohen on the subject of white critics writing about black music, an issue that dates back to birth of jazz.'