Mark Anthony Neal's Blog, page 604

Beyond Country & Blues: The Jazz Legacy Of Houston, Texas

'When you think of the sound of Houston, Texas, you might think of country and western music. Maybe you've heard of bluesmen like Johnny Copeland and Albert Collins or gospel stars like Yolanda Adams . Or, you know, Beyoncé ? But Houston has also produced some of the biggest jazz musicians of today, according to the host of Jazz Night in America, composer and bassist Christian McBride .' - - NPR
 

#TheRemix: Social Media Project Focuses on the Faces of Mass Incarceration

'Reporter Lisa Riordan Seville and photo editor Zara Katz wanted to engage the public in the discussion of mass incarceration in the United States in a new way. They asked themselves: "What does mass incarceration look like?” To answer that question, they created the Instagram account #everydayincarceration.' -- #TheRemix  

Uncovering the Other Slavery: A History of Indian Enslavement in America

'Historian Andrés Reséndez examines the long history of Indian enslavement in the Americas - from the legal and economic mechanics that distinguished it from African slavery, to evidence that the practice was responsible for massive indigenous population collapse across the Caribbean - and explains how this "other slavery" continued well past the Thirteenth Amendment, and continues today in forms of coerced labor and human trafficking. Reséndez is the author of The Other Slavery: The Uncovered Story of Indian Enslavement in America.' -- This is Hell!
 

#UnderTheSoulCovers: “Home is Where the Hatred Is” -- Gil Scott-Heron + Esther Phillips

#UnderTheSoulCovers: “Home is Where the Hatred Is” -- Gil Scott-Heron + Esther Phillipsby Mark Anthony Neal | @NewBlackMan | NewBlackMan (in Exile)
Perhaps no one wrote as lucidly about the desires of addiction and the challenges of home, as Gil Scott Heron did on “Home is Where the Hatred Is” from his first “studio” album Pieces of a Man (1971). When Scott-Heron evoked “home,” it seemed both as a recognition of the demons that he would never get away from and of a generation of Black Vietnam veterans, for which home was an excuse to “trip” from the trauma experienced in Southeast Asia. 
Those demons were all too real for Esther Phillips; the singer was in the midst of a comeback in 1972 when her version of “Home is Where the Hatred Is” was featured on her Grammy Award nominated From a Whisper to Scream -- which this critic easily assigns as one of the ten-most important recordings from the tradition in the 1970s.  Phillips’ version, which functions as both an act of defiance and an act of submission, was powerful enough for Aretha Franklin, who won the Grammy in the category in which Phillips was nominated, to gift her Grammy to Phillips in the ultimate act of respect. 

#WUNCBackChannel: Celebrating Black Music And Honoring 'The Greatest'

'In 2009, President Obama declared June "African-American Music Appreciation Month." The tribute started as "Black Music Month" in the 1970s. While the name has changed, it continues to be a time to celebrate the ways black artists have shaped music. Host Frank Stasio talks with contributors  Natalie Bullock Brown , professor of film and broadcast media at St. Augustine's University, and Mark Anthony Neal , professor of African & African American studies at Duke University, about the political implications behind "African-American Music Appreciation Month," and they remember "The Greatest," Muhammad Ali.'

Movement for Black Lives Yields New Targets of the State by Lamont Lilly

Movement for Black Lives Yields New Targets of the Stateby Lamont Lilly | @LamontLilly | NewBlackMan (in Exile)
During the height of the Ferguson Rebellion in late summer 2014, youth organizer, Joshua Williams quickly rose to the call of duty.  In the aftermath of Officer Darren Wilson’s brutal murder of unarmed Black teenager, Mike Brown, 19-year-old Josh Williams, stepped forward in the most dedicated and courageous way possible – on the front lines.
At protests, Williams stood his ground against armed police, national guardsmen, tanks and teargas, encouraging others to do the same.  In doing so, Josh not only earned the respect and admiration of his peers, he began to garner favor with longtime veteran leaders such as Cornel West and Al Sharpton.  Williams became a darling of the national media, from USA Today to the New York Times.  Everyone loved Josh.  His humor.  His courage.  His charisma.
Unfortunately, just a few months after Mike Brown’s dead body dangled in the street for four hours, another Black teenager, Antonio Martin, was shot by the police in Berkeley – a small town just outside of Ferguson.  In a righteous rage, youth took to the streets in rebellion.  In the process, Williams was caught on camera lighting a fire at the convenience store where Martin was shot and killed.  In December 2014, Josh Williams was arrested by the St. Louis County police, and a year later plead guilty to first degree arson and second degree burglary.
Were Josh’s actions of “damaging property” illegal?  Yes, of course.  But so was the murder of innocent human lives.  Did Darren Wilson serve time in jail?  No, he did not.  Did George Zimmerman serve time for murdering 17-year-old Trayvon Martin?  No, not at all!  Josh Williams, however, was sentenced to eight years in the Eastern Reception Diagnostic and Correctional Center in Bonne Terre, Mo.  Neither Wilson nor Zimmerman ever served one day in prison.
Legal Repression, Trumped-up Charges
Another recent case of overt targeting of activists by the state is the case of 28-year-old Jasmine Richards (also known as Jasmine Abdullah).  Founder of the Black Lives Matter Pasadena Chapter, Richards became the first Black person in the United States convicted of “felony lynching.”  Yes, lynching!  She was hit with this charge for attempting to prevent the arrest of a Black woman accused of not paying her bill at a local restaurant, back in August 2015.
During the incident, Jasmine and others were nearby at a local park rally against violence in the Black community.  As commotion spilled over into the street, Jasmine and nearby protesters came to serve as witnesses, demanding justice.  At the time, only the suspect accused of not paying her bill was formally arrested.  Three days later, however, for her valiant pursuit of justice, Jasmine was charged with delaying and obstructing officers, inciting a riot and felony lynching.  On June 1, 2016, Jasmine Richards was sentenced to 90 days in jail and 3 years of probation time.
In the state of California, lynching implies “the taking by means of a riot of another person from the lawful custody of a peace officer.”  The erroneous charges against Jasmine backfired, however, when the general public finally received word of such a ridiculous interpretation, and legal application.  Public outcry was heard worldwide.  And though Richards was released on bail just a few days ago on June 18, an old phenomenon has become quite clear.
Learning Lessons from Past Movements
What we’re seeing in regards to targeting activists and organizers of the Black Lives Matter Movement is nothing new – no different than the targeting of Mumia Abu-Jamal, Assata Shakur and Leonard Peltier.  What we’re seeing is the same strategy that COINTELPRO used against the Black Panther Party (BPP), Black Liberation Army (BLA) and American Indian Movement (AIM).  
What we have to do now is call this out, and critique such developments through a contemporary context.  The intent of such repression is to halt the movement, to halt the surge and organization of the poor and oppressed, to “disrupt, discredit and destroy.”  
For those who may not be familiar, “the state” is the police and county sheriffs – ICE, U.S. Border Patrol, the FBI and CIA – your local probation and correctional officers – even the judges and state prosecutors.  Collectively, the state apparatus will do anything to protect the elite.  Such statement is unfortunately true because, it is indeed, their job.  And if the state cannot stop you permanently, they’ll tie up your time, energy and resources in the jails and court system.  And they’ll use the media to demonize you in the process.
As current activists, radical scholars and revolutionaries, we have to learn from these lessons and pass them on.  As the Movement for Black Lives continues to grow, mature and push forward, it would behoove us to only expect that there will also be other activists targeted.  It could be me.  It could be you.  It could be any one of us: the organizer, the foot soldier, the professor.
We know what the state wants – to prevent the poor and disenfranchised from rising and seizing power.  Such position has always been the state’s role.  What is new, is that a new generation must be armed with the proper information to protect themselves.  Those on the front line must be defended, by us, the people, the community, at all cost, by any means necessary.
As our great field general, Assata Shakur teaches us, “It is our duty to fight for our freedom.  It is our duty to win.  We must love each other and support each other.  We have nothing to lose but our chains.” ■
NC-based activist, Lamont Lilly is the 2016 Workers World Party, U.S. Vice-Presidential Candidate.  He has recently served as field staff in Baltimore, Ferguson, Oakland, Boston and Philadelphia.  In 2015, he was a U.S. delegate at the International Forum for Justice in Palestine in Beirut, Lebanon.

Revisiting Past Loves, Rediscovering Yourself: on Terry McMillan's Latest

'In her new novel,  I Almost Forgot About You, McMillan's heroine confronts midlife malaise by reconnecting with men from her past.' 

NPR's Eric Deggans on Oprah's New Megachurch Melodrama 'Greenleaf'

'Oprah Winfrey returns to a regular TV drama role for the first time in two decades, appearing in Greenleaf, a scripted drama set in a Memphis megachurch. The show premieres on her OWN network.' 

"Marry the state, jail the people": On Hillary Clinton's Carceral Feminism.

'Writer Yasmin Nair examines the cost and consequences of carceral feminism - a reliance on the criminal justice system to correct crimes against women - and explains how expanding America's surveillance and incarceration apparatus not only prioritizes the prison industrial complex over the health and safety of women at large, but limits alternative methods of violence prevention and gender equality that exist outside the state's control. Nair's essay "Marry the State, Kill the People: Hillary Clinton and Carceral Feminism" appears in the Verso collection False Choices: The Faux Feminism of Hillary Rodham Clinton .'

#DontSleep on Algebra Blessett’s Recovery by I. Augustus Durham

#DontSleep on Algebra Blessett’s Recoveryby I. Augustus Durham | @imeanswhatisays | NewBlackMan (in Exile)
Breakups and heartbreaks have probably engendered some of the best music created. Whether country ballad or soul classic, genres have no premium on conveying the whimsy of the heart. That said, while the 2016 release of Beyoncé’s Lemonade signaled a pop album invested in overcoming those very obstacles of the heart, personally and corporately—even as metaphor—, Algebra Blessett’s 2014 Recovery, to my mind, provides the first taste of lemonade, albeit mixed with sweet tea.
Algebra’s discography begins in 2008 as she leads a Purpose driven life. Interspersed between her two albums, she collaborates with Esperanza Spalding among others, and even covers a remixed Justin Timberlake record where she sings the verse of the aforementioned songstress. However, this second album marks a radically different feeling from racial uplift and chronotopic love. Recovery is a project that performs emergency surgery on a patient in cardiac arrest.
The album unfolds almost as a cycle of sorts. The first track, “Exordium to Recovery (Give My Heart a Chance)”, suggests living in a post-op world where the heart intends to beat again. Mid-album, we find “Augment to Recovery (Give My Heart a Chance)”, presumably referencing the need to change the dressing of and continue the medication regimen for the wounded organ in order to get one’s proverbial (cardiac) weight up. The album speaks to a plethora of affective moves: impermissible/unrequited love (“Struggle to Be”; “Mystery”); protection, or lack thereof, of the heart (“Paper Heart”); passion and infatuation (“Nobody But You”; “Forever”’ “Danger Zone”); vulnerability in moving on (“Recovery”; “Better for Me”; “Writer’s Block”).
With all the vicissitudes the heart experiences on the album, it is no wonder that Algebra appears as a butterfly on the cover: the project actualizes how one moves from chrysalis to metamorphosis, retrograde to recovered. While one does not know whether Recovery is metaphorical, what it does elicit is an opportunity for self-reflection, to look back and wonder how you got over that. And so, a moment of transparency:
While I have never known “Becky with the good hair”, I have known “‘Robert’ in the Greek paraphernalia”. In fact, “Robert” and I spoke on the phone once; he told me how lucky I was, that I was with a great person. When someone you love, someone great, someone you feel lucky to be around, is so twisted that s/he treats your heart like a piece of hot toast, starving for retribution is only appropriate.
Lemonade, then, could illumine six virtues—intuition, denial, apathy, emptiness, loss, accountability—as opposed to deadly sins. However, if Recovery is its precursor, then the paramount lesson it teaches, in order to eventually savor lemons, is simple.
Although tight(ened) metaphors abound in totality, over and against the mixed and broken ones previously heard and seen, a record like “Formation” may offer the right and wrong “Exordium”: while in some cases, the best revenge is your paper, the bestest—the best of the best—revenge might actually be your survival.
Here is the strange and bitter(sweet) sip.
***
I. Augustus Durham is a fourth-year doctoral candidate in English at Duke University. His work focuses on blackness, melancholy and genius.
Other essays from I. Augustus Durham:
KING Me: Soul for a Black Future
Mr. White! *said in echo*: Charting the Black(ness)