Mark Anthony Neal's Blog, page 232

Harlem on My Mind: Jacob Lawrence

"A signed print by Jacob Lawrence sends Into America host Trymaine Lee down a rabbit hole. It begins with an exploration of how Lawrence shaped Harlem, and how Harlem shaped him."

FUC 018 | Tiffany Lethabo King — Beyond Work

"Tiffany Lethabo King, Associate Professor of African-American Studies and Women's, Gender, and Sexuality Studies at Georgia State University, joins FUC for a talk titled "Beyond Work: Black and Indigenous Feminist Critiques of Work-as-Being."

The Money Stays on Campus: Universities and Control of Urban Communities with Davarian Baldwin

'Urbanist and historian Davarian L. Baldwin joins This is Hell! to discuss the dynamics between urban universities and the communities outside their walls -- but increasingly under their control -- and his book In the Shadow of the Ivory Tower: How Universities Are Plundering Our Cities from Bold Type Books.'

This is Hell! · The money stays on campus: Universities and control of urban communities.

Justice is on Trial in the Derek Chauvin Murder Case; Justice is on trial in the United States by Ben Jealous

 

Justice is on Trial in the Derek Chauvin Murder Case; Justice is on trial in the United States  

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

 

The murder trial of Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin has begun, ten months after George Floyd died in the street with Chauvin’s knee on his neck. Americans, especially Black Americans, are watching closely to see if justice will be done.   

  

The beginning of the trial made me profoundly sad, but also profoundly hopeful.   

  

It made me sad, because Floyd is gone and nothing will bring him back to his family.   

  

It made me hopeful, because Floyd’s killing sparked a renewed movement that is challenging police killings of unarmed civilians—a multiracial and multigenerational movement.   

  

The fact that Chauvin has been indicted and is facing trial is itself reason for hope. But my hope is tempered by history. As Black Americans know all too well, our system often fails to hold law enforcement accountable for killing Black people—even when the killing is on video.   

  

Think about Eric Garner. Garner died in 2014 after a New York City police officer put him in a choke hold and wrestled him to the ground.   

  

Before he died, Garner told police officers, “I can’t breathe” 11 times. It was all on video. But a local grand jury decided not to indict the officer who killed Garner. And five years later, in 2019, U.S. Attorney General William Barr decided not to bring federal civil rights charges against him.   

  

Last year, Floyd said “I can’t breathe” 27 times as he laid on the ground with Chauvin’s knee on his neck. Other officers looked on even as people begged and pleaded with them to spare Floyd’s life.   

  

The trial testimony has been brutal. We learned on the first day that Chauvin kneeled on Floyd’s neck for nine and a half minutes—even longer than we thought. On the second day, a teenage witness tried to hold back tears on the stand while she described watching a man die and not being able to help him.  

  

I am convinced that the truth about what happened to George Floyd came out only because someone filmed his death. It was only after video was shared widely that the officers were fired, and charges eventually filed. And even now, rumors and disinformation being spread online blame Floyd for his own death.   

  

A New York Times investigation published last year found that over the past decade, at least 70 people—more than half of them Black—died in law enforcement custody after saying “I can’t breathe.” Most of them were stopped or held over nonviolent infractions, 911 calls about “suspicious” behavior, or mental health issues. More than 40 of the “I can’t breathe” deaths happened after Garner was killed.   

  

We hope and expect that the trial now under way will bring justice for George Floyd and his family. But obviously the problem in law enforcement is much bigger than individual “bad apples.”  

 

We can save lives and prevent future deaths by reimagining public safety and demanding real, institutional change. That is the motivation for measures like the federal George Floyd Justice in Policing Act and a wave of initiatives being proposed and considered at state and local levels.   

 We must finally have equal justice under the law, and it starts with a criminal justice system that holds law enforcement accountable.   

***

Ben Jealous serves as president of People For the American Way and People For the American Way Foundation. 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.

 

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Why Advocates Say D.C. Statehood is Long Overdue

 

"In March, the House Committee on Oversight and Reform held a hearing in consideration of a bill that would make Washington, D.C. a state. Speakers supporting statehood included Mayor Muriel Bowser, who argued that D.C. residents are US citizens that lack full rights. The city’s nearly 700,000 residents pay more in federal taxes than 22 states but have just one non-voting member of Congress and no Senators. Events from the last year demonstrated the limited amount of control elected officials in D.C. have to exert when it comes to calling in the national guard to diffuse an armed insurrection or lobbying federal agencies for an adequate number of vaccine doses. The Takeaway spoke with D.C. residents as well as Ty Hobson Powell, an organizer with the pro-D.C. statehood coalition 51 for 51."

'Essential Puerto Rican Recipes' with Von Diaz

"Journalist and cookbook author Von Diaz joins All Of It to discuss her new “Essential Puerto Rican Recipes” feature in the New York Times. Diaz was born in Río Piedras, Puerto Rico and grew up traveling between Atlanta and the island. In this piece, she has put together a collection of dishes and flavors that evoke her time in Puerto Rico."

Baseball and the Impact of Race

"New York Mets greats Cliff Floyd and Jerry Manuel join J’nelle Agee, the daughter of Mets Hall of Famer Tommie Agee, and moderator Mark Anthony Neal, professor of African & African American Studies at Duke University, for an impactful discussion on race in baseball."

The Picture Show: When Love Transcends Prison Bars, A Couple Finds Each Other Through Letters

"How do you tell the story of absence? How do you visualize the space occupied by longing? These were the challenges in creating Sheila & Joe, a film about two people separated by incarceration who met, fell in love and committed their lives to one another through letters." -- NPR

'Lovecraft Country' Creator Misha Green Aims To Reclaim The Horror Genre For People Of Color

 

"The HBO series Lovecraft Country takes the real horrors of the Black experience in the 1950s and adds to it the supernatural terrors of the horror genre. Series creator Misha Green tells Fresh Air she sees the show — and the novel by Matt Ruff upon which it is based — as a chance to reclaim "the genre space for people of color and for people who had usually been left out of it."

'Concrete Cowboy'

"Actor Caleb McLaughlin and director Ricky Staub join All Of It to discuss the new film, "Concrete Cowboy," which also stars Idris Elba."