Mark Anthony Neal's Blog, page 230

Kristen Clarke's Civil Rights Record Led Her To Barrier-Breaking DOJ Nomination

 

"Kristen Clarke grew up in public housing in Brooklyn, as the daughter of Jamaican immigrants. Now, she's in line to become the first woman and the first woman of color to formally lead the Justice Department's Civil Rights Division since it was created in 1957." -- Morning Edition

Why I Turned Chicago's Abandoned Homes into Art

"Amanda Williams shares her lifelong fascination with the complexity of color: from her experiences with race and redlining to her discovery of color theory to her work as a visual artist. Journey with Williams to Chicago's South Side and explore "Color(ed) Theory," a two-year art project in which she painted soon-to-be-demolished houses bold, monochromatic colors infused with local meaning -- catalyzing conversations and making the hidden visible."-- TED

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Jazz Composer Terence Blanchard Took Cues From The Cast For His Oscar-Nominated 'Da 5 Bloods' Score

 

"Jazz composer Terence Blanchard’s work on Spike Lee's Da 5 Bloods is nominated for Best Original Score at the Oscars. The film follows four Black Vietnam War veterans returning to the country to chase old ghosts and a stashed cache of gold. Otis, Melvin, Paul, Eddy and Paul's son, David, are all named after the five members of The Temptations. Blanchard’s score accompanies the vets into the jungle with snare drums, trumpets and the dignity of a “Masterpiece Theater” special on war. The Grammy-winning composer has either played on or scored Lee’s films for decades. Blanchard says he wanted to show gratitude and pay homage to the sacrifice Black soldiers made during the war."--Here & Now

A Melting Pot Of Traditions: Regina Carter Talks With Lara Downes

"When Duke Ellington famously coined the phrase "beyond category," he was talking about freedom — of choice, of expression, of belonging. He meant following your heart and your instincts into an artistic territory without borders. And that's the place where violinist Regina Carter makes her home. She plays everything — jazz, classical, R&B, Latin, blues, country, pop, you name it. It doesn't matter because, as she says, she just likes to call herself "a violinist." She's always done things beautifully, spectacularly her own way." -- Amplify With Lara Downes

'Filled With Her Spirit,' A Louisville Art Exhibition Honors Breonna Taylor

Tamika Palmer, Breonna Taylor's mother, visits the "Promise, Witness, Remembrance"

"Just over a year after police officers shot and killed Breonna Taylor in her home, the Speed Art Museum has opened a show in her memory. "To see it all come together is just a blessing," says Taylor's mother Tamika Palmer."

Long Marred By Racism, St. Louis Elects 1st Black Female Mayor

 

"Voters in St. Louis delivered a historic victory for Tishaura Jones, the first Black woman elected mayor and the latest triumph for progressive candidates in the St. Louis region. Amid unrest at local jails, surging gun violence and a pandemic that has disproportionately hurt people of color, Jones said race will no longer be an afterthought in the mayor's office. "We are done avoiding race and how it holds this region back," she told NPR's All Things Considered."

In Conversation: Anthea Butler and Melissa Harris-Perry

"The American political scene today is poisonously divided, and white evangelicals play a strikingly unified and powerful role in the disunion. These evangelicals raise an important question for electoral politics: Why do they claim morality while supporting politicians who act immorally by most Christian measures? In White Evangelical Racism: The Politics of Morality in America, Anthea Butler answers that racism is at the core of conservative evangelical activism and power, and, since the nation’s founding, has played a provocative role in fracturing the electorate. Hear Butler, who is Associate Professor of Religious Studies and Africana Studies and Interim Chair of Religious Studies at the University of Pennsylvania, discuss her latest work with Melissa Harris-Perry, the Maya Angelou Presidential Chair in the Department of Politics and International Affairs and the Department of Women, Gender, and Sexuality Studies at Wake Forest University." -- California African American Museum

H.E.R. Is A 'Soul Baby' With A Social Conscience

"The morning after winning two Grammy awards, R&B singer H.E.R. received an Oscar nomination for the song "Fight For You" from the film Judas and the Black Messiah. "When I came out the womb, there were instruments in the living room," H.E.R. tells All Things Considered, remembering jamming with her father's cover band when she was a little girl growing up in the San Francisco Bay Area. By day, her father worked construction and her mother was, and still is, a nurse. But music was the dominant pastime."

Cooking Shows Slowly Open Up to Broader Range of Cultural Backgrounds

 

"The latest season of Top Chef was shot in Portland, Oregon, during the pandemic, but that isn’t the only thing different about season 18. This one also has a higher number of Black chefs judging the contestants. This past fall in a piece for the Washington Post, food writer Johnna French found that Black chefs were underrepresented both as contestants and judges over the course of the show’s history. And that lack of representation extends far beyond Top Chef, into many other popular cooking shows, and the fine-dining world as a whole. Eric Adjepong, Top Chef finalist and cookbook author, joined The Takeaway to discuss his experience on the show."

When Claudia Rankine Brought Up Race In Couples Counseling

"In her latest book, Just Us, Claudia Rankine examined her own personal interactions with white friends, family, colleagues…and even the strangers she'd meet on work trips. While Claudia's made a name for herself with her reflections on these types of conversations, she told me they're not always easy to have, including with her own husband. "I might say, 'You're only doing that because you're a white guy.' And he'll say, 'Well, you do the same thing.' And I say, "I may do the same thing, but I don't have the same reception,'" she said. Claudia also told Death, Sex & Moneyabout growing up in predominantly white spaces in the Bronx during the 1970s, and how a cancer diagnosis in her 50s allowed her to reassess what she wants out of life."