Mark Anthony Neal's Blog, page 213

Earth, Wind & Fire Share the Stories Behind Their Most Iconic Songs

'For those who might not know the greatness of Earth, Wind & Fire, allow Philip Bailey, Verdine White and Ralph Johnson to school you. Watch The Root as they explain some of their most iconic songs.'

How Michael Jackson's Complicated Legacy Impacts The Family's Music

 

'Jody Rosen recently explored the intersection of music and accountability for The Los Angeles Times after the re-release this year of expanded digital versions of the Jacksons’ albums. Almost every genre of music and dance has been influenced by Michael Jackson, the trailblazer of the group that first called themselves The Jackson 5. As he writes, Rosen says listening to music in general is sort of a calculation of moral math. And in the case of the Jackson family, he asks whether it’s possible to separate Michael Jackson from the music.' -- Here & Now

Report Details How Black Girls are Disproportionately Affected by Covid-19 and Systemic Racism

'The pandemic, like so many disasters before it, revealed the sustained inequalities that underlie many aspects of American life, laying bare health disparities, housing instability, and workforce vulnerabilities. Left shouldering the heaviest burden was an often forgotten group: Black girls. A new report from A Long Walk Home, a Chicago-based non-profit advocating for racial and gender equity, outlines how the twin pandemics of COVID-19 and systemic racism affected the health, lives, education, and economic stability of Black girls and their families. The report also highlights the many ways Black girls organized, led, resisted and survived over the past year. Joining The Takeaway is Salamishah Tillet, Professor of African American Studies and Creative Writing at Rutgers University, and co-founder of A Long Walk Home.'

Corporate Landlord Evicts Black Renters At Far Higher Rates Than Whites, Report Finds

'A report says a corporate landlord run by a former Goldman Sachs partner has filed to evict renters in predominantly Black counties at four times the rate as renters in predominantly white counties.' -- NPR

Historian Carol Anderson Uncovers The Racist Roots Of The 2nd Amendment

'Do Black people have full Second Amendment rights? That's the question historian Carol Anderson set out to answer after Minnesota police killed Philando Castile, a Black man with a license to carry a gun, during a 2016 traffic stop. In her new book, The Second: Race and Guns in a Fatally Unequal America, Anderson traces racial distinctions in Americans' treatment of gun ownership back to the founding of the country and the Second Amendment.' -- Fresh Air

Ben Okri Reads Franz Kafka

'Ben Okri joins Deborah Treisman to read and discuss “The Rescue Will Begin in Its Own Time,” four short fiction pieces by Franz Kafka, translated from the German by Michael Hofmann, which were published in The New Yorker in June of 2020. Okri is the author of two dozen books of fiction, poetry, and nonfiction, including the novels “The Famished Road,” which won the Booker Prize in 1991, and “The Freedom Artist,” which was published in 2019.' -- The New Yorker: Fiction

The History You Didn't Learn | The Overlooked Stories of America's Black Wall Streets

'It's been 100 years since the Tulsa race massacre, when an angry white mob destroyed a prosperous black neighborhood in Tulsa Oklahoma. But Tulsa's story is part of a larger history of Black Wall Streets that existed in many American cities.' -- TIME

Slavery Wasn't 'Long Ago': A Writer Exposes The Disconnect In How We Tell History

'Growing up in New Orleans, Atlantic writer Clint Smith was surrounded by reminders of the Confederacy. To get to school, he traveled down Robert E. Lee Boulevard. He took Jefferson Davis Highway when he went to the grocery store. In elementary and middle school, Smith never learned about the legacy of slavery. Instead, his class took field trips to plantations — "places that were the sites of torture and intergenerational chattel bondage," he says, "but no one said the word 'slavery.'" In his new book, How the Word Is Passed, Smith visits eight places central to the history of slavery in America, including Thomas Jefferson's Monticello plantation and Louisiana's Angola prison, which was built on the site of a former plantation. He says he wrote the book, in part, as a response to the negative messages he heard growing up in his majority Black hometown.' -- Fresh Air

What Would Reparations for Black Americans Look Like? Economist Sandy Darity Does the Math

'Tulsa's history is casting a larger light on the long-term effects of institutional racism, lost opportunities and the toll it all takes on the wealth of Black Americans. The wealth gap is believed to have widened during the pandemic and stretches among all levels of education. William Darity, a professor of economics and African American studies at Duke University, joins PBS NewsHour's Judy Woodruff to discuss.'

Meet Bill Traylor, One of America's Most Important Artists

'Bill Traylor's drawings depicted memories from the plantation and the Black Southern experience throughout the 20th century. The self-taught artist was born into slavery and died penniless at the age of 96. Earlier this year, one of his paintings sold for almost $300,000.' -- The Root