Mark Anthony Neal's Blog, page 272

Richard J. Powell: Exploring Black Visual Satire

'Tracing a historical line from commedia dell'arte, Hogarth and others to modern and contemporary artists including Ollie Harrington, Robert Colescott, Spike Lee, and Kara Walker, a discussion Black visual satire with Duke University professor Richard J. Powell, author of Going There Black Visual Satire .' YaleUniversity · Exploring Black Visual Satire

Making Contact: #SayHerName—Black Women, Police Violence, and Abolition

'It’s been six years since #SayHerName, the movement to draw greater awareness and action around Black female victims of police and state violence, was created by the African American Policy Forum. Today, the deaths of Black women and girls at the hands of law enforcement still don’t generate the same vocal concern and outrage as that of Black men and boys. Why is it that the deaths of Black women at the hands of police don’t seem to generate as much outrage as the deaths of Black men? Is it because Black women are valued less in the Black community? Is it because Black men are targets and Black women are simply collateral damage? Is it a combination of reasons? What can be done to address this perceived lack of outrage, and put an end to the deaths of ALL Black people at the hands of police?'

Featuring:

Chanelle Helm, Organizer, Black Lives Matter-LouisvilleByron Hurt, American Activist, Lecturer, Writer, and award-winning Documentary Filmmaker-Beyond Beats and Rhymes: Masculinity in Hip-HopRichie Reseda, Founder of Success StoriesTreva Lindsey, Professor, Ohio State UniversityRobin DG Kelley, Professor, UCLAWanda Johnson, ActivistMother of Oscar GrantSheila Hines Brim, ActivistAunt of Wakeisha WilsonBianca Austin, ActivistAunt of Breonna Taylor Making Contact ·

Trailer: 'Unapologetic' (dir. Ashley O'Shay)

'After two police killings, Black millennial organizers challenge a Chicago administration complicit in state violence against its Black residents. Told through the lens of Janaé and Bella, two fierce abolitionist leaders, Unapologetic is a deep look into the Movement for Black Lives, from the police murder of Rekia Boyd to the election of mayor Lori Lightfoot.'

The Quarantine Tapes 130: Sonny Rollins

'On episode 130 of The Quarantine Tapes, Paul Holdengräber is joined by acclaimed jazz musician Sonny Rollins. Sonny and Paul talk about the importance of always continuing to learn. Sonny tells stories from his early days as a musician, from first meeting his influences like Coleman Hawkins and Thelonious Monk to the hours he spent playing music on the Williamsburg Bridge. Sonny says that bravery and freedom have always been inherent elements of jazz that differentiate it from other genres of music. He tells Paul about the spiritual nature of improvisation and how music affects him today in a fascinating conversation that draws from Sonny’s decades playing music and learning.'

2020 Langston Hughes Festival - Symposium Celebrating Michael Eric Dyson

'The Langston Hughes Festival Symposium 2020 is comprised of a panel of guests celebrating medal winner, Dr. Michael Eric Dyson. Presenting: Prof. Bobby Derival, Prof. Brittney Cooper, Prof. Marc Lamont Hill,Prof. Joan Morgan, Prof. Mark Anthony Neal,and Prof. Tracy Sharpley-Whiting.'

What influence has #BlackLivesMatter had on the character and form of the organization of #EndSARS?

'Is what we see in Nigeria also linked up and influenced by politics happening outside Nigeria? #EndSARS is very localized but it is in conversation with other events taking place globally against police brutality and the question of policing more broadly. How much influence does #BlackLivesMatter - the methods, the style, the ways in which it does cross-class politics - have on how politics has been conducted in Nigeria and what are some of the consequences thereof? British-Nigerian independent researcher, Annie Olaloku-Teriba, and Africa Is a Country contributing editor Sa’eed Husaini, discuss the decentralized movement led by Nigerian youth that is #EndSARS.'

Left of Black S11 · E4 | Lavelle Porter on The Blackademic Life

'Scholars are all too familiar with academic writing in the university. But what about academic fiction? Moreover, what academic fiction was penned by notable Black writers, such as W.E.B. DuBois, and how is this genre explored in more popular forms of media such as the 1990's show, A Different World, or the film and subsequent series, Dear White People? Left of Black host Mark Anthony Neal discusses these themes with Dr. Lavelle Porter, assistant professor of English at New York City College of Technology, CUNY and the author of the new book, The Blackademic Life: Academic Fiction, Higher Education, and the Black Intellectual, published by Northwestern University Press.'

A Visit with Elvis Costello

'Elvis Costello’s thirty-first studio album, Hey Clockface, will be released this month. Recorded largely before the pandemic, it features an unusual combination of winds, cello, piano, and drums. David Remnick talks with Costello about the influence of his father’s career in jazz and about what it’s like to look back on his own early years.  They also discuss “Fifty Songs for Fifty Days,” a new project leading up to the Presidential election—though Costello disputes that the songs are political. “I don’t have a manifesto and I don’t have a slogan,” he says. “I try to avoid the simplistic slogan nature of songs. I try to look for the angle that somebody else isn’t covering.” But he notes that “the things that we are so rightly enraged about, [that] we see as unjust . . . it’s all happened before. . . . I didn’t think I’d be talking with my thirteen-year-old son about a lynching. Those are the things I was hearing reported on the news at their age.”  Costello spoke from outside his home in Vancouver, B.C., where a foghorn is audible in the background.'-- The New Yorker Radio Hour

MAKERS@Home with Austin Channing Brown

'“What I need is for you to be able to look around and see injustice on your own, without me having to point it out, without me having to teach you." Austin Channing Brown, best-selling author and executive producer of The Next Question, gets real with MAKERS' Dyllan McGee around centering Black women's experiences to further the fight for intersectional equality.

The Quarantine Tapes 129: Ruha Benjamin

'On episode 129 of The Quarantine Tapes, Paul Holdengräber speaks with Ruha Benjamin, an Associate Professor of African American Studies at Princeton University. As a teacher, she has found it essential that she and her students extend grace to each other as they navigate the uniquely challenging circumstances of teaching and learning under the pressures of the pandemic. Ruha expresses the difficulties posed by teaching remotely and interrogates our relationship to the technologies used to connect us in these times.'