Mark Anthony Neal's Blog, page 200

Tiffany Haddish Talks Early Career and Representation with Sam Sanders

'Tiffany Haddish is busy From starring in prank film Bad Trip, to hosting Kids Say the Darndest Things, to voicing a self-confident toucan in animated series Tuca & Bertie, it seems like she's everywhere. It's Been A Minute's host Sam Sanders talks to Tiffany about her many projects, her hopes and dreams for the entertainment industry, and she tells a wild story about Nicolas Cage.'

Policing the Poorest: On Public Assistance and State Surveillance

'Sociologist Spencer Headworth on the mechanisms of surveillance and control placed over poor people enrolled in US welfare and food assistance programs, and his book Policing Welfare: Punitive Adversarialism in Public Assistance from University of Chicago Press.'

This is Hell! · Policing the poorest: On public assistance and state surveillance.

Artist Interview Series: Stacy Lynn Waddell

"Graphic Pull: Contemporary Prints from the Collection" is organized by Molly Boarati, Associate Curator at the NasherMuseum of Art at Duke University.  Boarati is in conversation with series artist Stacy Lynn Waddell.'

Eddie Palmieri LIVE at #RestartStages at Lincoln Center

'Over the course of an inspiring sixty-year recording career, the New York-born pianist Eddie Palmieri’s name has become synonymous with the city’s vital Latin jazz scene. An awardee of the NEA Jazz Master crown and a ten-time GRAMMY Award winner, Palmieri’s innovative skill as a composer and transcendent fluency on the keys stand as hallmarks of his legacy. Palmieri’s ability to merge the intricate and melodic sounds of contemporary jazz with the percussive salsa of his Puerto Rican upbringing has rendered him a unique figure among music industry giants and an icon within the Latin community. For the Lincoln Center evening concert, featuring a six-piece jazz band, Mr. Palmieri will explore the heights of his always-danceable oeuvre at Lincoln Center’s Damrosch Park.'

Zakiya Dalila Harris on Her Psychological Thriller

'Before working in publishing, Zakiya Dalila Harris studied creative nonfiction at the New School. Her debut novel, The Other Black Girl, is a Good Morning America Book Club pick, and we may be lucky enough to see protagonists Nella and Hazel onscreen soon, as a TV adaptation is in the works for Hulu. Harris’s writing mines workplace hierarchies, friendships, and competition, and illuminates one woman’s mission to challenge enduring power structures. In this interview with KirkusReviews, Harris discusses the genesis of her two protagonists, Nella and Hazel, and the psychological importance of their changing relationship as the novel progresses.'

Reimagining Education: "Why Should Computer Science Care About Identity?" with Dr. Nicki Washington

'Virtues & Vocations is a national forum housed at the Kenan Institute for Ethics for scholars and practitioners across disciplines to consider how best to cultivate character in pre-professional and professional education. In this talk from the webinar series “Reimagining Education: Conversations on Character, Community, and Crisis,” Kenan Institute Director and Professor of Sociology Suzanne Shanahan discusses why identity matters in computer science with Duke Computer Science Professor Nicki Washington.' -- DukeEthics

The Insurrection and the Lost Cause by Ben Jealous

The Insurrection and the Lost Cause

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

 

(TriceEdneyWire.com) - A violent insurrection engulfed the U.S. Capitol just six months ago. One United States Capitol Police Officer Brian Sicknick died and other Capitol police are still healing. Investigators are still going through video and social media documenting the attempt to disrupt congressional affirmation of President Joe Biden’s victory. Just six months ago. But many Republican leaders are already trying to rewrite the history of that day and what led up to it.

 

Some are downplaying the seriousness of the attack on Congress. They portray the invasion as a tourist outing. Some far-right activists are trying to shift blame away from the Trump supporters who were clearly responsible for inciting and carrying out the attack.

 

The people spreading lies about the Capitol insurrection are the spiritual heirs to the Daughters of the Confederacy. They are the ideological descendants of those who spent decades lying to the American public about slavery and the Civil War.

 

Promoters of pro-Confederacy propaganda known as “Lost Cause” ideology had a purpose. They wanted people to view the defense of slavery and the “southern way of life” as a noble cause. They wanted to create justifications for the brutally enforced segregation and subjugation of Black people during the Jim Crow era. They created and promoted in textbooks and media a false version of history. And they used that false version of history to keep a grip on power that they did not deserve to hold.

 

Republicans who deny or downplay the insurrectionists’ attempt to overturn the presidential election are creating their own Lost Cause ideology. They are trying to portray Stop the Steal activists and insurrectionists as patriots pursuing a noble cause—the defense of “election integrity” and the “purity of the ballot box.”

 

What we have here is layer upon layer of lies.

 

Trump’s claim that his victory was stolen by Black and brown voters in corrupt cities was the lie that fueled insurrectionists’ rage. It was repeated endlessly on right-wing media. It is still repeated by Trump and his supporters to portray President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris as illegitimate.

 

The stolen-election lie is being used to justify new voter suppression laws aimed at preventing future Democratic wins. It is a lie that Trumpists will use to mobilize white right-wing voters in 2022 and 2024.

 

Lies about the Jan. 6 insurrection began while it was still under way. Right-wing figures claimed without evidence that the attack was not led by Trump supporters but by unnamed leftists. Some claim that it was all planned by Trump’s “deep state” enemies in the FBI.

 

And now we have an added layer: the frantic campaign against “critical race theory.” The manufactured panic about critical race theory demonstrates why right-wing funders spent billions of dollars over the past few decades building an infrastructure of political and media networks. Think tanks, media outlets, political organizations, religious-right groups, AstroTurf operations, and Republican politicians have all swung into action, sounding alarms about the supposedly dire threat of students, soldiers, and employees learning to think critically about the racism in our country’s past and our institutions.

 

They are recycling the red scare propaganda used against Martin Luther King, Jr. and other civil rights activists, warning of Marxist infiltration and indoctrination in schools, businesses, government agencies, and even the military. Conservatives who until the past few months proclaimed themselves champions of free speech and academic freedom have turned on a dime and are supporting laws banning teaching or discussing racism in the classroom.

 

The campaign against critical race theory is designed to scare white parents and other Americans into fearing the growing presence of Black and brown people in positions of influence and power. It is designed to inflame fears and provoke fearful people into action to “protect” themselves and their loved ones. It is designed to bury our understanding of history in an effort to control the future. Its perpetrators are playing with fire.

 

We cannot successfully face our future by lying about our past, ignoring the realities of the present, or outlawing the truth. Our path forward must be as a multiracial, multiethnic, religiously diverse democratic society united by a shared commitment to the principles of equality, fairness, opportunity, and justice for all.

 

+++

 

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;}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;}

'It's the last plantation:' Why Black D.C. Residents are Demanding Their City Become a State

'In Washington D.C., slavery actually came to an end before federal emancipation. But today, many D.C. residents argue full democracy and freedom is still out of reach. The city is now home to 700,000 people, nearly half of whom are Black. But despite living within arms’ reach of the halls of power, residents of the so-called Chocolate City do not have a voting representative in the House or the Senate. That’s because D.C. is not a state. For years, activists have been pushing for statehood; some hope to name it the Douglass Commonwealth, after abolitionist Frederick Douglass. In April, the House of Representatives approved HR-51, which if approved by the Senate, would make D.C. the 51st state. However, with strong GOP opposition, the outcome is anything but certain.  George Derek Musgrove, a University of Maryland-Baltimore County history professor, explains that statehood matters because D.C.’s current status means it’s controlled by Congress. Residents can elect a mayor and city council, but Congress oversees the city’s budget and can block laws it disapproves of. Residents can’t dictate their own affairs.' 

One Hundred: The Ed Gordon Podcast with Kenny Gamble

'Host Ed Gordon has a conversation with Kenny Gamble, one half of the iconic writing and producing team that created the sound of Philadelphia. Gamble talks about the 50th anniversary of their record label Philadelphia International Records, the importance of their classic music and some of the famed artist that sang their songs including: Patti Labelle, Teddy Pendergrass and The O’Jays.'

Lawyering for Liberation: Lessons on Building the Power of Black Led Movements

'Haymarket Books hosts Law for Black Lives, Amna Akbar and Derecka Purnell for a discussion about what it means for lawyers to build the power of the law.  Law for Black Lives is a national community of radical lawyers and legal workers committed to transforming the law and building the power of organizing to defend, protect and advance Black Liberation across the globe.'