Mark Anthony Neal's Blog, page 206

'Desus & Mero' On How Their Bronx Roots Paved The Way To Comedy Success

'Desus Nice and The Kid Mero started out doing comedy together on Twitter, then created the Bodega Boys podcast. Their comedy series on Showtime is now in its third season.'

'Letters To My White Male Friends' Is A Call To Action And A Reflection On Race

'Letters To My White Male Friends is an expansion of a letter Dax-Devlon Ross wrote after the murder of George Floyd last year when his white male friends reached out to him to see if he — a Black man — was doing alright.' — Here & Now

David Hammons: Day's End

'The Whitney Museum of American Art, in collaboration with Hudson River Park, has developed a permanent public art project by David Hammons (b. 1943). Entitled Day's End (2014–21), this monumental installation is located in Hudson River Park along the southern edge of Gansevoort Peninsula, directly across from the Museum. Proposed to the Whitney by Hammons, Day's End takes inspiration from an artwork of the same name by Gordon Matta-Clark (1943–78). In 1975, Matta-Clark cut five openings into the Pier 52 shed that formerly occupied the site. Hammons's Day's End is an open structure that precisely follows the outlines, dimensions, and location of the original shed—and, like Matta-Clark's intervention, it will offer an extraordinary place to experience the waterfront.'

Are Reparations the Answer to America's Historic Racial Wealth Gap?

'The median White household in the U.S. has $184,000 in wealth, while the median Black household has less than $23,000. Experts say the gap was fostered by generations of enslavement, Jim Crow laws, discrimination and redlining. CBS Sunday Morning correspondent Mark Whitaker, joined by Duke University professor William "Sandy" Darity and co-author A. Kirsten Mullen, explores the issue, and proposals to narrow the gap, including reparations and "baby bonds" or other race-neutral anti-poverty programs.'

Nina Simone - "Feeling Good" (The 21st Century Visual Mix)

"Fortifying  Nina Simone’s legacy, this visual presentation of“Feeling Good” depicts generations of Black joy and boundless self-expression."

Dawoud Bey: An American Project

'Since the mid-1970s, Dawoud Bey (b. 1953) has worked to expand upon what photography can and should be. Insisting that it is an ethical practice requiring collaboration with his subjects, he creates poignant meditations on visibility, power, and race. Bey chronicles communities and histories that have been largely underrepresented or even unseen, and his work lends renewed urgency to an enduring conversation about what it means to represent America with a camera. Spanning from his earliest street portraits in Harlem to his most recent series imagining an escape from slavery on the Underground Railroad, Dawoud Bey: An American Project attests to the artist’s profound engagement with the Black subject. He is deeply committed to the craft of photography, drawing on the medium's specific tools, processes, and materials to amplify the formal, aesthetic, and conceptual goals of each body of work. Bey views photography not only as a form of personal expression but as an act of political responsibility, emphasizing the necessary and ongoing work of artists and institutions to break down obstacles to access, convene communities, and open dialogues. Dawoud Bey: An American Project is co-organized by the Whitney Museum of American Art and the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art. The exhibition is co-curated by Elisabeth Sherman, assistant curator at the Whitney, and Corey Keller, curator of photography at SFMOMA.'

Chester Higgins: 'Sacred Nile: Where It All Began' (Book Trailer)

Chester Higgins' Sacred Nile: Where It All Began examines the ancient sacred agency of African identity. This latest collection of Higgins' photography will be published in the Fall of 2021 and will feature text from Betsy Kissam.

Kamasi Washington: 'Sun Kissed Child' feat. Patrice Quinn & Dwight Trible (From 'Liberated / Music For the Movement Vol. 3')

"Sun Kissed Child" is Kamasi Washington's contribution to The Undefeated's  Liberated / Music For the Movement Vol. 3.  The song features vocals from Patrice Quinn  and Dwight Trible.

You Have To Fight For The Vision: Wynton Marsalis Talks With Lara Downes

'The musical polymath Wynton Marsalis, in conversation with Lara Downes, offers ideas on everything from Russian satellites and hip-hop, to Bach and football, and how they shape the musical education of America.' 

The Newspaperman Who Championed Black Tulsa

'In the years leading up to the horrific Tulsa massacre of 1921, the Greenwood district was a thriving Black metropolis, a city within a city. Buoyed by money from Oklahoma’s oil boom, it was home to the original Cotton Club and to one of the first Black-owned daily newspapers in the United States, the Tulsa Star. The Star’s founder and editor was A. J. Smitherman, a lawyer and the Alabama-born son of a coal miner. He addressed his eloquence and his ire at local nuisances like prostitution and gambling halls, as well as the gravest injustices of American life. The Radio Hour’s KalaLea is the host of “Blindspot: Tulsa Burning.” She looks in this story at how Smitherman documented Greenwood at its height, and how he tried to prevent its destruction.'