Mark Anthony Neal's Blog, page 152

Canadian Rapper Shad on Spirituality, Profanity and the Right for Black people to be Average

'Here & Now's Tonya Mosley talks with Canadian rapper Shad about his single "Black Averageness" and his new album Tao.'

50 years ago, 'The Electric Company' Used Comedy to Boost Kids' Reading Skills

'When The Electric Company debuted in October 1971, television hadn't seen anything quite like it. Psychedelic graphics, wildly creative animation, mod outfits, over-the-top characters and sketch comedy all functioned to serve the same goal: teaching kids to read. Brought to you by the Children's Television Workshop (CTW) — the same producers behind Sesame Street, which debuted in 1969 — The Electric Company won two Emmys, aired on more than 250 public TV stations and became a teaching tool in thousands of classrooms nationwide. The show's cast included Academy Award winner Rita Moreno, Bill Cosby and a then-unknown Morgan Freeman. Guest stars included Mel Brooks, Zero Mostel, Gene Wilder and Joan Rivers. The teen pop band Short Circus (get it?) included future star Irene Cara. The comedy writers were among the best in the business and later went on to work on hit TV shows, including MASH and Everybody Loves Raymond.' -- Morning Edition

LaToya Ruby Frazier: The Last Cruze

'In The Last Cruze, on view at  California African American Museum, artist LaToya Ruby Frazier chronicles the lives of workers at the General Motors plant in Lordstown, Ohio. Due to a confluence of circumstances, including the global outsourcing of labor, rapid automation, and the growing demand for electric cars, GM’s Lordstown facility stopped production in 2019 after more than fifty years of operation. This shutdown presented Lordstown facility workers with limited choices: relocate, sometimes leaving behind family and support networks, or find work elsewhere. Across the country, the trickle-down effect of economic decline and the corporate response to this decline disproportionately affects large groups of workers who have very little decision-making power within big corporations. And yet, their labor remains vital to the development and success of these businesses.'

The Far-Right Political Playbook Is a Threat to Our Health, Our Schools, and Our Democracy by Ben Jealous

The Far-Right Political Playbook Is a Threat to Our Health, Our Schools, and Our Democracy

by Ben Jealous | @BenJealous | special to NewBlackMan (in Exile)

 

 

The New York Times recently reported that the public health system in the United States may be less prepared for the next pandemic than it was for the current one. Given everything we have been through, and everything we have learned, how can that be?

 

The answer is disturbing. Our public health system is being put at risk by the same right-wing disinformation tactics that are undermining our educational and election systems.

 

Right-wing media outlets and social media spread false information and conspiracy theories. Conservative activists and politicians opposed public health measures as a form of “tyranny.” Angry people have harassed and threatened public health officials, and politicians have passed more than 100 laws restricting their authority to take action to protect the public.

 

Those new laws, combined with chronic underfunding and staff burnout, are making us all more vulnerable to health threats in the future. So is the fact that extremism is being embraced by public officials, not just agitated activists. The Times reported that one county sheriff in Washington state threatened to arrest any government official enforcing health restrictions that he thought were unconstitutional. New laws will make it harder for schools and hospitals to enforce vaccine requirements that have been in place for years.

 

We are seeing this destructive political dynamic play out in our schools and elections as well.

 

The opposition raging against public officials trying to protect our health care is the same opposition raging against teaching about systemic racism in our schools and feeding the “Big Lie” about a stolen 2020 election. It’s all coming from the same playbook.

 

All across the country, school board meetings have turned into angry mob scenes. Parents’ frustration over school closings and mask requirements has boiled over in some places, and it is being inflamed and exploited for political purposes. To make matters worse, right-wing media and political groups have manufactured a panic about the supposed threat of “critical race theory” being taught in schools.

 

Critical race theory is an academic framework for understanding how systemic racism affects people’s lives. But right-wing activists, with a big boost from Fox News and Donald Trump, are getting parents riled up with claims that honestly teaching about the racism in our history and institutions is part of a Marxist plot to impose tyranny by making students hate America.

 

It sounds ridiculous, and it is. But the rising tide of threats against educators and school board members is no joke. Neither is a widespread campaign by right-wing activists to take over school boards and impose a whitewashed “patriotic education” on students. They are passing laws that will make it impossible to teach about racism in schools—even in some state colleges.

 

This is part of an ugly backlash against the Black Lives Matter movement and a reaction to the increasing diversity of our schools and communities.

 

Speaking of ugly backlash, the assault on voting rights continues. Trump supporters couldn’t handle the fact that he lost. They could not accept that their hero was defeated in part by increased turnout among Black voters in key states. Or that Black voters in Georgia and their allies took control of the Senate away from Republicans.

 

So, we see the same right-wing playbook in action. Spread lies and conspiracy theories to convince conservative and right-wing voters that their country and their freedom are being “stolen” from them. Launch attacks on the officials who oversee our elections. Undermine confidence in elections with fake “audits” and tell more lies about the outcome of those “audits.” Use the lies and anger to justify new laws that make it harder for people to vote. Some Republican state legislators have given themselves the power to ignore voters altogether and declare their own winner if they don’t like the results.

 

We are seeing the fruits of social media outlets pushing people deeper into conspiracy theories and further from reality. We are witnessing the destruction of trust and community by powerful right-wing media figures who profit from inflaming fear and division.

 

These are all threats to our future as a peaceful, multiethnic, multiracial democratic society. And there’s no easy solution to overcoming these threats. There’s a lot of hard work to do. Exposing lies and telling the truth. Lifting up voices with moral authority to break through the deceptions. Organizing people of good will to get involved. And insisting that our friends and allies in positions of cultural, economic, and political power have the courage and commitment to defend our families, schools, communities, and democracy.

 

# # #

 

Ben Jealous serves as president of People For the American Way. Jealous has decades of experience as a leader, coalition builder, campaigner for social justice and seasoned nonprofit executive. In 2008, he was chosen as the youngest-ever president and CEO of the NAACP. He is a graduate of Columbia University and Oxford, where he was a Rhodes Scholar, and he has taught at Princeton and the University of Pennsylvania.

@font-face {font-family:Helvetica; panose-1:0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0; mso-font-charset:0; mso-generic-font-family:auto; mso-font-pitch:variable; mso-font-signature:-536870145 1342208091 0 0 415 0;}@font-face {font-family:"Cambria Math"; panose-1:2 4 5 3 5 4 6 3 2 4; mso-font-charset:0; mso-generic-font-family:roman; mso-font-pitch:variable; mso-font-signature:3 0 0 0 1 0;}@font-face {font-family:Calibri; panose-1:2 15 5 2 2 2 4 3 2 4; mso-font-charset:0; mso-generic-font-family:swiss; mso-font-pitch:variable; mso-font-signature:-536859905 -1073732485 9 0 511 0;}@font-face {font-family:"Segoe UI"; panose-1:2 11 5 2 4 2 4 2 2 3; mso-font-charset:0; mso-generic-font-family:swiss; mso-font-pitch:variable; mso-font-signature:-469750017 -1073683329 9 0 511 0;}p.MsoNormal, li.MsoNormal, div.MsoNormal {mso-style-unhide:no; mso-style-qformat:yes; mso-style-parent:""; margin:0in; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:12.0pt; font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif; mso-ascii-font-family:Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family:Calibri; mso-fareast-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-hansi-font-family:Calibri; mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font:minor-bidi;}.MsoChpDefault {mso-style-type:export-only; mso-default-props:yes; font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif; mso-ascii-font-family:Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family:Calibri; mso-fareast-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-hansi-font-family:Calibri; mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font:minor-bidi;}div.WordSection1 {page:WordSection1;}

Op-Docs | Takeover: How We Occupied a Hospital and Changed Public Health Care

'On July 14, 1970, members of the Young Lords occupied Lincoln Hospital in the South Bronx — known locally as “the Butcher Shop.” A group of activists, many of them in their late teens and early 20s, barricaded themselves inside the facility, demanding safer and more accessible health care for the community. Originally a Chicago-based street gang, the Young Lords turned to community activism, inspired by the Black Panthers and by student movements in Puerto Rico. A Young Lords chapter in New York soon formed, agitating for community control of institutions and land, as well as self-determination for Puerto Rico. Their tactics included direct action and occupations that highlighted institutional failures. Through archival footage, re-enactments and contemporary interviews, Emma Francis-Snyder's Takeover shines a light on the Young Lords’ resistance movement and their fight for human rights. The dramatic takeover of Lincoln Hospital led to one of the first Patient’s Bill of Rights, changing patients’ relationship with hospitals and doctors nationwide.'

The New Yorker Festival | Jamaica Kincaid and Charlayne Hunter-Gault on Hope in the Black Community

'Jelani Cobb speaks to Jamaica Kincaid and Charlayne Hunter-Gault, contributors  to The Matter of Black Lives, an anthology of New Yorker pieces about race in America and beyond.'

 

Uncle Bobbie’s Presents: Farah Jasmine Griffin “Read Until You Understand" with Edwidge Danticat

'Uncle Bobbie's Coffee & Books's welcomes Farah Jasmine Griffin for an exciting conversation about her new book Read Until You Understand: The Profound Wisdom of Black Life and Literature featuring fellow writer, Edwidge Danticat.'

'Passing,' About an Issue that isn't Black-and-White

'Passing can be a gray area that some biracial or multiracial Americans face when navigating questions of identity and social acceptance, while defining the story we tell about ourselves.  CBS Sunday Morning's co-host Michelle Miller talks with Rebecca Hall, Tessa Thompson and Ruth Negga, the director and stars of the new film Passing and with writers Lise Funderburg and Allyson Hobbs, about the social history of passing, and its impact upon perception and power.'

African Farmer Grows Rice Paddies in New York's Hudson Valley

'Rice farming is new to the Northeast. What's thought to be the first commercial rice farm in New York, the Ever-Growing Family Farm, was started less than a decade ago by a Gambian musician Nfamara Badjie and his American wife Dawn Hoyte. With the help of volunteers, the farm has survived, though it's a ways from thriving and it's not certain they'll be able to keep going. This year's harvest is nearly done. All Things Considered's Karen Michel reports.'

In song and poetry, 'Nina' and 'Just Us' Offer Ways to Start a Conversation on Race

'After the protests of 2020, we heard the phrase "racial reckoning" a lot, as some groups of people struggled to catch up with what's just been reality for many others. This week NPR's Book of the Day got two books that might help you reckon with that reckoning, in two different ways: Traci Todd and illustrator Christian Robinson's bright and powerful picture book biography Nina: A Story of Nina Simone and poet Claudia Rankine's Just Us: An American Conversation, in which she puts together poetry, essays and images to bring readers into an uncomfortable but necessary conversation about race.'