Mark Anthony Neal's Blog, page 495

Environmental Racism and the Government's Toxic Negligence

'Journalist Sharon Lerner reports on the Exxon Mobil refinery polluting the majority-Black Charlton-Pollard neighborhood of Beaumont, Texas, and the poisonous, 14 year silence from the EPA after the citizens' civil rights complaint, and connects the mechanisms of environmental racism to a history (and present) of regulatory rollbacks and industry noncompliance in powerless communities across the country. Lerner wrote the article "A Legacy of Environmental Racism" for The Intercept.' -- This is Hell!      

Sophfronia Scott's 'Unforgivable Love' Resets Steamy 'Dangerous Liaisons' In 1940s Harlem

'Unforgivable Love, the retelling of the 1782 French novel Les Liaisons Dangereuses, has just as much betrayal and bed-hopping as the original, but in a new locale. Author Sophfronia Scott explains why Harlem — and how she writes good sex scenes.' -- NPR

Defining Justice: What Happens When Mothers Go to Prison?

'What Happens When Mothers Go to Prison? -- a Discussion with  Sheila Harbert, Chief Community Outreach Officer, Girl Scouts of Eastern Oklahoma;D’Marria Monday, Oklahoma Chapter Leader, National Council for Incarcerated and Formerly Incarcerated Women and Girls;  Patrice James, Attorney and Director of External Relations, Still She Rises Tulsa; with Allison Herrera, Public Radio International.' -- AtlanticLIVE

Achille Mbembe: Future Knowledges and the Dilemmas of Decolonization

'In this talk, philosopher Achille Mbembe considers the possibilities of a new planetary configuration of the human and the humanities, in light of what he calls the injunction to decolonize knowledge. Mbembe's Critique of Black Reason , translated by Laurent Dubois, was published by Duke University Press in 2017.'

Left of Black S8:E2: Bipolar Faith: A Black Woman’s Journey with Depression & Faith

Left of Black host Dr. Mark Anthony Neal sits down with Dr. Monica A. Coleman to discuss her book Bipolar Faith: A Black Woman’s Journey with Depression and Faith. Dr. Coleman is Professor of Constructive Theology and African American Religions at Claremont School of Theology in southern California. There she also serves as a Co-Director the Center for Process Studies and Director of Process and Faith. 


Left of Black is hosted by Mark Anthony Neal and produced by Catherine Angst of the John Hope Franklin Center at Duke University and in collaboration with the Center for Arts + Digital Culture + Entrepreneurship (CADCE) and the Duke Council on Race + Ethnicity (DCORE).
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Follow Left of Black on Twitter: @LeftofBlack

Cultural Criticism in an Era of Deconstructed Whiteness

'Do we actively de-center whiteness when we first approach a piece of art? What is a writer's responsibility to readers and to themselves as cultural critics? Rebecca Carroll, WNYC's editor for special projects, leads a panel discussion on race and writing with cultural critics and essayists Fariha Róisín, Antwaun Sargent and E. Alex Jung.'  -- The Greene Space

Nikki Giovanni Soul Food, Sex, and Space

'In the 1960s, Nikki Giovanni was a revolutionary poet of the Black Arts Movement that nourished civil rights. She had a famous dialogue with James Baldwin in Paris in 1971. As a professor at Virginia Tech, she brought beauty and courage by the way of poetry after the shooting there. Today, she is a self-proclaimed space freak and a delighted elder — an adored voice to hip-hop artists and the new forms of social change this generation is creating.' -- On Being

Nell Irvin Painter: There Is No Such Thing as the "White Race"

'At a time when conversations about race are reaching a fever pitch and believers in white supremacy feel support from the president of the United States, Nell Irvin Painter, author of "The History of White People," argues that race doesn't exist.' -- CBC | Sunday Edition

The Life, Music And Beefs Of Gucci Mane

'Rapper Gucci Mane joins us to discuss his memoir,  The Autobiography of Gucci Mane . Born in rural Bessemer, Alabama, Radric Delantic Davis became Gucci Mane in East Atlanta. He recalls his roots in Alabama, the trap house and the studio where he found his voice, and reflects on his career.' -- The Leonard Lopate Show 
         
        

Junot Díaz: Radical Hope Is Our Best Weapon

“From the bottom will the genius come that makes our ability to live with each other possible. I believe that with all my heart.” These are the words of the Pulitzer Prize-winning Dominican-American writer Junot Díaz. His hope is fiercely reality-based, a product of centuries lodged in his body of African-Caribbean suffering, survival, and genius.' -- On Being