Mark Anthony Neal's Blog, page 281

Revolutionary Practices of Black Photographers: Jamaica Gilmer, Dare Kumolu-Johnson & Jay Simple

'Watch this moving conversation about the significance of Black photographers, the power of the camera’s gaze, and photography’s role in movements for human rights and social justice featuring Jamaica Gilmer, photographer and founder of "The Beautiful Project,” documentary photographer and visual storyteller Dare Kumolu-Johnson, and Jay Simple, a visual artist and the founder of Photographer’s Green Book. Independent curator and art historian Anita Bateman, Ph.D, moderated the conversation.' -- Scholars and Publics

Official Trailer: Ma Rainey's Black Bottom

'Chicago, 1927. A recording session. Tensions rise between Ma Rainey (Viola Davis), her ambitious horn player (Chadwick Boseman), and the white management determined to control the legendary “Mother of the Blues.” Based on Pulitzer Prize winner August Wilson's play. Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom, directed by George C. Wolfe. Starring Viola Davis, Chadwick Boseman, Colman Domingo, Michael Potts, Glynn Turman, Dusan Brown and Taylour Paige.'

It’s Up to Us to Defend the Black Vote by Ben Jealous

It’s Up to Us to Defend the Black Vote

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

Just weeks before Election Day, with millions of people voting already, the Black vote is being attacked from every angle.

After the Supreme Court’s conservatives gutted important parts of the Voting Rights Act a few years ago, many states controlled by right-wing Republicans went wild imposing restrictions on voter registration and voting.

This year, they’re completely out of control.

Massively funded right-wing extremists are using threats and lawsuits against state and local officials to force purges of lists of eligible voters. The Trump campaign is trying to enlist an “army” of poll watchers to intimidate voters. With millions more Americans expected to vote by mail, Trump’s man in charge at the postal service has imposed new work rules that caused chaos and disrupted deliveries.

And those are just a few of the examples of voter suppression efforts around the country.

The Republican legislature and governor in Florida overrode millions of voters who passed a constitutional amendment to return the right to vote to people with criminal convictions once they completed their sentences; Republicans added a requirement that returning voters pay all related fines and fees before voting. That’s an unconstitutional poll tax, but courts filled with Trump-nominated judges have let Republicans get away with it.

On top of all that, Republicans are trying to force another Trump justice onto the Supreme Court just in time for the court’s conservatives to hear a case in which they could further erode the Voting Rights Act—and undermine Black Americans’ right to be free from racial discrimination in voting. That justice could also be the nail in the coffin for the Affordable Care Act, which has helped millions of Americans get access to health care.

Even more recently, a couple of far-right activists have just been charged with voter intimidation felonies by Michigan’s attorney general after they sent robocalls to voters in Detroit falsely claiming that voting by mail will somehow make people vulnerable to tracking by police and debt collectors.

Attacks on the Black vote have a long history. In the early 1980s, the Republican Party was sued for intimidating minority voters and the party agreed to a federal court order not to engage in “ballot security” efforts. That order expired in 2018, and this year, the Republican Party is spending tens of millions of dollars to block election officials’ efforts to make voting safer and more accessible.

It is enraging that 55 years after passage of the Voting Rights Act, the blood-bought gains of the civil rights movement are at stake. But this is where we are. And that’s why we must defend the Black vote, and why we must overcome every attempt to misinform, intimidate, and suppress Black voters.

Black men, especially young Black men, are top targets of misinformation campaigns. That’s why People For the American Way’s Defend the Black Vote Project is reaching out specifically to Black men between 18 and 35 to combat voter suppression and encourage turnout.

Since COVID-19 has restricted door-to-door canvassing and public events, we’re communicating with Black men through peer-to-peer texting technology. Texting lets us reach younger voters in their preferred form of communication.

In key states, where Black voters are most likely to be targeted with misinformation, we are reaching them one-to-one with information about how, when, and where to vote—including information about new voting procedures during the pandemic.

A well-trained volunteer can text up to 2,000 messages an hour, reaching many more people than by going door-to-door. We’re supplementing that with digital advertising, public service announcements on radio, and tele-townhall meetings featuring young Black elected officials.

Every dollar we spend, and every voter we reach, is worth it because there is so much at stake in November’s elections: access to health care, a responsible approach to the pandemic, justice and accountability in policing, and voting rights.

Defending the Black vote means defending the dignity and legal equality of Black people. It’s up to us.

 

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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.

C. Nicole Mason on COVID-19 and Gender Inequality

'The COVID-19 pandemic has exacerbated gender inequalities for American women across the board. C. Nicole Mason, president and CEO of the Institute for Women’s Policy Research, spoke about why this crisis is now forcing a “moment of awakening” among women at work and at home at a Zócalo/Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County event titled “Why Don’t Women’s Votes Put More Women in Power?” that was held on Zócalo Public Square’s YouTube and Vimeo channels.'

'A Chance Of A Great Spiritual Awakening': Rhiannon Giddens Talks With Lara Downes

'Eavesdrop on the forward-thinking pianist Lara Downes, host of Amplify as she talks with musical omnivore Rhiannon Giddens, who has just taken over Yo-Yo Ma's Silk Road organization.'

Homeland Elegies: Ayad Akhtar on Mourning America

'Ayad Akhtar talks about his new book Homeland Elegies, a hybrid of memoir, cultural criticism, psychological study, and loosely plotted novel that uniquely responds to the chaos and confusion of contemporary American life. The hosts also talk with Akhtar about the political, social, and affective entanglements of diaspora consciousness and experience (in this case, for Muslims from Pakistan living in the US), and about the Whitmanian fantasy of a diverse nation.' -- LA Review of Books

LA Review of Books · Homeland Elegies: Ayad Akhtar on mourning America

Some HBCUs See Lower COVID-19 Rates, Higher Enrollment Than Other Universities

'Weekend Edition Saturday's Scott Simons speaks about enrollment and COVID-19 rates with Todd Simmons, Associate Vice-Chancellor at North Carolina A&T State University, and school student body president, Brenda Caldwell.'

Leyla McCalla Rereleases 'Vari-Colored Songs'

'Leyla McCalla released her first solo album, Vari-Colored Songs: A Tribute to Langston Hughes, in 2014. Weekend Edition Sunday's Lulu Garcia-Navarro asks her about its re-release and the new song included on it.'

Rhiannon Giddens Recreates "Cry No More" With Composer Michael Abels, Members of The Met Opera Chorus, Nashville Ballet

'Rhiannon Giddens teamed with composer Michael Abels—known for scoring Jordan Peele’s Oscar-winning 2017 film Get Out—and members of the Met Opera Chorus and Nashville Ballet for a new interpretation of her song "Cry No More.' -- Nonesuch Records

ABWH TV Season: "Black Subjectivity, State Violence, and the Historical Archive" with Treva Lindsey, Vanessa Holden, Derrais Carter, and Jessica Johnson

On this episode of ABWH TV, moderator Treva Lindsey is joined by Vanessa Holden, Derrais Carter, and Jessica Johnson is a discussion of "Black Subjectivity, State Violence, and the Historical Archive." -- Association of Black Women Historians