Mark Anthony Neal's Blog, page 466

"Ghost Boys" Tackles Police Violence for a Young Audience

'12-year-old Jerome is shot dead on the very first page of Jewell Parker Rhodes’ new novel Ghost Boys . The story chronicles the life, death, and afterlife of a young African American boy, who is killed by a police officer who believes he has a gun. The object turns out to be a toy. Jerome comes back to Earth as a ghost, where he sees his family grieving and ultimately befriends two other children. One of them is Sarah, the daughter of the police officer who killed him, and the other is Emmett Till, a "ghost boy" like Jerome. The premise could have been ripped from the headlines of any news outlet over the past few years, but Rhodes wrote this book for children. Rhodes, professor Arizona State University's Center for Creative Writing, says that middle schoolers see the violence around them and have the power to respond to it.' -- WNYC

The Complicated (and Racist) Legacy of Dr. J. Marion Sims

"New York City removed a statue of the controversial gynecologist J. Marion Sims from its perch in Central Park. Barron Lerner , bioethicist, historian of medicine and internist at New York University’s Langone Medical Center and the author of The Good Doctor: A Father, a Son, and the Evolution of Medical Ethics   (Beacon Press, 2014), and Harriet Washington , medical ethicist and the author of  Infectious Madness: The Surprising Science of How We "Catch" Mental Illness   (Back Bay Books, 2016), discuss the legacy of the doctor who experimented on slaves, but also pioneered the cure for fistula, a complication of childbirth, and what his story teaches us about ethics in medicine.' -- WNYC
         
        

Jazzmeia Horn: Empowerment Through Improvisation

'You’re probably familiar with scatting, an improvisatory, rhythmic vocal style that ditches standard vocabulary for punctuated syllables that deliver melodies unique to every vocalist. But, for Grammy-nominated jazz vocalist Jazzmeia Horn, it’s more than a technique; it’s a means to honor her ancestry and empower herself in the present moment. Jazz Night in America asked Jazzmeia how she hopes her music is interpreted, she spoke about using her platform to inspire others, especially young, black women such as herself. "Society teaches us to be docile, especially as black women. We don’t wanna hear your opinion. But when I get on that stage, I’m greater. The stage is mine. It’s my empire.” -- Niki Walker

Gene Demby: Why Are Cities Still So Segregated?

'Housing segregation is in everything. But to understand the root of this issue, you have to look at the government-backed policies that created the housing disparities we see today. NPR Code Switch's Gene Demby explains how these policies came to be, and what effect they've had on schools, health, family wealth and policing.'

Lynn Nottage, Elephants and the True Cost of Desire

'Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright  Lynn Nottage  discusses her play Mlima’s Tale, along with Obie Award-winning director  Jo Bonney  and actor  Sahr Ngaujah . Beginning in a game park in Kenya, it tells the story of Mlima, an elephant trapped in the clandestine international ivory market. Mlima leads us through memory, fear, history and tradition.'  -- Midday on WNYC         
       

BK Stories: The Black Doll Project

'After finding out that her grandmother was Haitian, Clarivel Ruiz started the Dominicans love Haitians movement based in Brooklyn. The organization serves as an initiative to show the world the similarities between the two nations, and to address anti-Blackness on the island. The Black Doll Project, created by Ruiz, is initiative to bring Black dolls to children in Haiti, the Dominican Republic, and Puerto Rico through doll donations in addition to Ruiz's handmade black rag-dolls.' -- BRIC TV

Left of Black S8:E17: Alsarah and the Sounds of Nubia

Left of Black S8:E17: Alsarah and the Sounds of Nubia

Left of Black host Mark Anthony Neal is joined in the Left of Black studio by Musician and Ethnomusicologist Alsarah, lead singer and co-founder of Alsarah and the Nubatones, an East African retro pop music group that was in residence at Duke University.

Artist and Activist Patrisse Khan-Cullors at Crystal Bridges

'Patrisse Khan Cullors inspires audiences to action with her passionate views on the racial, gender, and sexual-orientation discriminations; issues that are also explored in the temporary exhibition, Soul of a Nation: Art in the Age of Black Power. Already an established community organizer and performance artist, Cullors and her co-founders ignited a national conversation about social injustices when they created the Twitter hashtag #BlackLivesMatter in 2013, which quickly evolved into a powerful global movement. Resolute in her vision of a world where the lives and contributions of all individuals are recognized equally, Cullors adeptly communicates the adversities inflicted by social injustice as she educates and inspires others to work together to promote inclusiveness and equality.' -- Crystal Bridges

Dr. Regina Bradley on Navigating the Grad School Grind as A Black Woman and the Impact of Grief

'Writer and researcher Dr. Regina Bradley talks about her graduate school trajectory and the difficulties she faced reconciling personal obligations with professional expectations. Taken from THE HIP HOP SOUTH, a public reading, reception, and conversation held at the Hayti Heritage Center in Durham, NC, on February 19, 2018. Bradley read passages from her published and unpublished literary fiction and was joined in conversation by Duke professor Mark Anthony Neal.'

Black and Highly Dangerous Episode 13: "Got 99 Problems, But A Book Ain't One" -- A Conversation with Mark Anthony Neal

Host Ty and Daphne welcome Duke University Professor Mark Anthony Neal to  Black and Highly Dangerous for a discussion of representations of Black Men in Media, the current state of Hip-Hop and the relationship between Black Popular Culture and social change. Neal is the author of several books including Looking for Leroy: Illegible Black Masculinities and is Chair of the Department of African and African American Studies at Duke.