Mark Anthony Neal's Blog, page 40

Bassist Jamaaladeen Tacuma Reflects on His Journey Down a 'Dirt Road' in North Carolina

'Hear music and field recordings from bassist, composer, and fashion icon Jamaaladeen Tacuma's residency in North Carolina, where he explores his familial and musical roots.'

Lewis R. Gordon: "On Enslavement, Decolonization, and Freedom"

'Duke FHI's From Slavery to Freedom Lab held their Distinguished Lecture Series with Lewis R. Gordon, "On Enslavement, Decolonization, and Freedom." Drawing upon ideas in his two recent books, Freedom, Justice, and Decolonization (2021) and Fear of Black Consciousness (2022), Dr. Gordon discusses how the project of dehumanization entailed misrepresentation in the study of racialized enslaved people, particularly through conceptions of them in antilock societies as "brute" labor. In effect offering a decolonization of the study of enslavement, he examines, through Africana existential philosophical critical analysis, what it means to be human, liberated, and free.'

Left of Black S13 · E1 | 'Read Until You Understand' with Dr. Farah Jasmine Griffin & Nnenna Frelon

"Read until you understand," started as a simple instruction for learning that Dr. Farah Jasmine Griffin first heard from her father, Emerson, who tragically passed away when she was only nine years old. Those words stuck with her and became the title of her latest publication celebrating the magnificence of Black genius in all walks of life. Read Until You Understand: The Profound Wisdom of Black Life and Literature, is a PBS NewsHour Best Book of the Year and a Publishers Weekly Best Book of the Year in Nonfiction recipient, published by W. W. Norton & Company. 

Dr. Farah Jasmine Griffin is the William B. Ransford Professor of English and Comparative Literature and African American Studies at Columbia University and was the inaugural chair of its African American and African Diaspora Studies Department. Dr. Griffin was joined by Left of Black founder and host, Dr. Mark Anthony Neal, who serves as the chair of African & African American Studies at Duke University and by 2022 Grammy-nominated jazz vocalist, Nnenna Freelon. The trio discussed grief, forgiveness, and a little bit on a long-forgotten piece of music history––the jukebox. 

 

Left of Black, the Longest Running Web Series at Duke University, Returns for its 13th Season

Left of Black, the longest running web series at Duke University, returns for its 13thseason, produced by the John Hope Franklin Humanities Institute (FHI). The season premiere, a pre-recorded in-person event at NorthStar Church of the Arts that featured Dr. Farah Jasmine Griffin, Grammy-nominated jazz vocalist Nnenna Freelon, and host and Duke Professor Mark Anthony Neal will re-stream on October 13th through FHI’s already robust YouTube channel, now touting over 15,000 subscribers.

 

FHI began producing the series at the very beginning of the now-infamous Spring semester of 2020, months before the global pandemic started. At that time, the institute’s multimedia director, Eric Barstow, took on the charge of director-producer for the series. He is now eager to embark on his fourth season with Left of Black.

 

During the pandemic, FHI, like all other Duke entities, had to pivot to working remotely. For the series, this meant conducting interviews virtually to be edited later. Now, in 2022, Barstow, an alum of Duke’s own MFAEDA documentary program, is eager to fire up in-person production once again.

 

“My approach with the show, as with events at FHI, will be hybridized. Interviewing remotely afforded wonderful conversations with scholars regardless of location. But face-to-face interaction brings a certain energy that is hard to replicate in a fully digital space. I am ready to start filming!”

 

Upcoming episodes will feature diverse discussions such as with documentary filmmaker and anti-sexist activist, Byron Hurt, whose new film, HAZING, premiered on Independent Lens on PBS earlier in September. Additional guests will include author Dorothy Roberts who will discuss her book, Torn Apart: How the Child Welfare System Destroys Black Families––and How Abolition Can Build a Safer World, published by Basic Books, and former hip-hop producer and industry legend, Sophia Chang.

@font-face {font-family:"Cambria Math"; panose-1:2 4 5 3 5 4 6 3 2 4; mso-font-charset:0; mso-generic-font-family:roman; mso-font-pitch:variable; mso-font-signature:-536870145 1107305727 0 0 415 0;}@font-face {font-family:Calibri; panose-1:2 15 5 2 2 2 4 3 2 4; mso-font-charset:0; mso-generic-font-family:swiss; mso-font-pitch:variable; mso-font-signature:-536859905 -1073732485 9 0 511 0;}p.MsoNormal, li.MsoNormal, div.MsoNormal {mso-style-unhide:no; mso-style-qformat:yes; mso-style-parent:""; margin:0in; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:12.0pt; font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif; mso-ascii-font-family:Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family:Calibri; mso-fareast-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-hansi-font-family:Calibri; mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font:minor-bidi;}.MsoChpDefault {mso-style-type:export-only; mso-default-props:yes; font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif; mso-ascii-font-family:Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family:Calibri; mso-fareast-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-hansi-font-family:Calibri; mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font:minor-bidi;}div.WordSection1 {page:WordSection1;}

Book Bans Are an Attack on the Freedom to Read, Teach and Learn by Ben Jealous

Book Bans Are an Attack on the Freedom to Read, Teach and Learn

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

 

Truth is a threat to authoritarianism. Reading is a path to truth. That’s why the freedom to read is essential to the freedom to learn. And that’s why the freedom to learn is often attacked by those who abuse power and those who cling to it.

 

Every year, the American Library Association and partner organizations observe Banned Books Week to highlight and push back against these threats. This year’s Banned Books Week runs from September 18-24 amidst a wave of book bans and other attempts to restrict what people can learn.

 

These efforts have a long and dishonorable history.

 

Before the Civil War, many slave states made it a crime to teach enslaved people to read. Slaveholders feared that being able to read might help enslaved people gain their freedom or organize rebellions. In Virginia, a judge could order that any slave or free person of color caught learning to read or write be whipped.

 

In our day, attacking the freedom to read is once again a political strategy for those seeking to take and keep power. And once again, Black people are a primary target.

 

State legislators and governors are making it illegal to teach honestly about the history and reality of racism in our country. Far-right activists are trying to purge schools and libraries of books that feature Black people, LGBTQ people, and others they deem unworthy of students’ attention.

 

The MAGA movement’s attacks on teaching about racism and sexuality have led to what the American Library Association’s Office of Intellectual Freedom has called an “astronomical” increase in challenges to books.

 

That’s why the annual celebration of the freedom to read that is Banned Books Week is especially meaningful this year. In addition to the librarians, authors, booksellers, teachers, and other anti-censorship activists who lead Banned Book Week activities, all of us have a role to play in ensuring the voices of our communities are not silenced.

 

Books by and about Black people and other people of color—and by and about LGBTQ people—dominate the ALA’s annual list of most frequently challenged books. This year’s honorary chairman, George Johnson, is an award-winning Black author whose “All Boys Aren’t Blue” is high on the list of books most challenged last year, along with others dealing with racism, racial identity, and sexuality.

 

“This is a fight for the truth that has always existed even if it rarely gets told,” Johnson says. “When the youth are empowered with stories about the experiences of others, they become adults who understand the necessity for equity and equality and have the tools to build a world the likes of which we have never seen.”

 

But far-right activists tell parents that words like “equity” are code for Marxism and something they should fight. Trump Republicans are encouraging MAGA activists to take over their school boards by running propaganda campaigns about “critical race theory.”

 

Trumpish state legislators are introducing laws to make it illegal to teach anything that might make White students experience “discomfort.” One Texas lawmaker demanded information from schools on 850 books he thought were suspect; his list included works on history and human rights. In Virginia, Gov. Glenn Youngkin set up an email hotline for people to report teachers suspected of “divisive” practices.

 

Books targeted in the current war on truth include a memoir by Ruby Bridges, which tells the true story about her walking through angry mobs when she was a six-year-old who became the first Black student to attend a New Orleans elementary school that had previously been off-limits to non-White students.

 

This is an important part of our history. We cannot build a future together if we are not willing to honestly face the truth about our past and our present.

 

Banned Books Week is a good time to commit ourselves to defending the freedom to read, teach, and learn about our history—and to opposing those who want to make it illegal to teach about that history or make it impossible for educators to do so without being smeared and harassed.

 

 

Ben Jealous serves as president of People For the American Way and Professor of the Practice at the University of Pennsylvania. A New York Times best-selling author, his next book "Never Forget Our People Were Always Free" will be published by Harper Collins in December 2022.

 

@font-face {font-family:"Cambria Math"; panose-1:2 4 5 3 5 4 6 3 2 4; mso-font-charset:0; mso-generic-font-family:roman; mso-font-pitch:variable; mso-font-signature:3 0 0 0 1 0;}@font-face {font-family:Calibri; panose-1:2 15 5 2 2 2 4 3 2 4; mso-font-charset:0; mso-generic-font-family:swiss; mso-font-pitch:variable; mso-font-signature:-536859905 -1073732485 9 0 511 0;}@font-face {font-family:Georgia; panose-1:2 4 5 2 5 4 5 2 3 3; mso-font-charset:0; mso-generic-font-family:roman; mso-font-pitch:variable; mso-font-signature:647 0 0 0 159 0;}p.MsoNormal, li.MsoNormal, div.MsoNormal {mso-style-unhide:no; mso-style-qformat:yes; mso-style-parent:""; margin:0in; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:12.0pt; font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif; mso-ascii-font-family:Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family:Calibri; mso-fareast-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-hansi-font-family:Calibri; mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font:minor-bidi;}a:link, span.MsoHyperlink {mso-style-noshow:yes; mso-style-priority:99; color:blue; text-decoration:underline; text-underline:single;}a:visited, span.MsoHyperlinkFollowed {mso-style-noshow:yes; mso-style-priority:99; color:#954F72; mso-themecolor:followedhyperlink; text-decoration:underline; text-underline:single;}.MsoChpDefault {mso-style-type:export-only; mso-default-props:yes; font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif; mso-ascii-font-family:Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family:Calibri; mso-fareast-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-hansi-font-family:Calibri; mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font:minor-bidi;}div.WordSection1 {page:WordSection1;}

Balancing A.I. And Creativity With Picsart Founder Hovhannes Avoyan

'Forbes’ Steve Bertoni sits down with Hovannes Avoyan, the Founder & CEO of Picsart, to talk about his company’s founding story, the crossroad of A.I. and creativity, and the importance of a balanced workforce.'

Harold Perrineau: Life As An Artist

'You may know superstar actor Harold Perrineau from the TV shows Lost or OZ and blockbuster movie series The Best Man but get ready to catch Harold in the new FX horror show “From.” We talk about everything, from his love of acting to being the ultimate girl dad, and everything in between. Harold Perrineau in a rare personal interview on The Carlos Watson Show.' 

 

I Count Myself as a Black Ukrainian: the Fashion Designer Starting Again in Budapest

'"Welcome to the refugee lifestyle," says Eno Enyieokpon, who is re-establishing his brand, Enno, in Budapest having left everything behind in Kyiv. Identifying as a black Ukrainian, Eno says most of the ideas that have changed his life as a designer have come from tough times in Ukraine. As he waits to bring his machines from Kyiv, and works on new shows while navigating the unfamiliar Hungarian system, he is optimistic about the future, telling other Ukrainian refugees: "If we had the will to withstand the Russians we also have the willpower to move and forge ahead in life".'

Dwight Trible - Brother Where Are You? (from 'Mothership')

Visuals for Dwight Trible's "Brother Where Are You?" from his 2019 offering, Mothership.

The Actor Jenifer Lewis: Mother, Activist, Hurricane

'Jenifer Lewis is known as the “Mother of Black Hollywood” for good reason; her screen progeny have included Whitney Houston, Angela Bassett, and Tupac Shakur. In her latest turn, she’s playing the alpha boss of a home-shopping network on the Showtime series I Love That For You. It’s no surprise that Lewis keeps getting cast as formidable ladies—the roles come naturally to her, as you’ll hear in her conversation with the New Yorker contributor Michael Schulman. Lewis’s new memoir is called Walking in My Joy: In These Streets.'