Mark Anthony Neal's Blog, page 630

Rev. Dr. Calvin Butts on Does a Presidential Candiate's Religion Matter?

'Rev. Dr. Calvin Butts, pastor of Abyssinian Baptist Church in Harlem, explains why religious faith is a small matter for him when choosing who to vote for political office.' -- +The Greene Space at WNYC & WQXR  

D’Angelo Russell’s Real Crime by David J. Leonard

D’Angelo Russell’s Real Crimeby David J. Leonard | @DrDavidJLeonard | NewBlackMan (in Exile)
America’s great fascination has always been Black sexuality.The spectacle of inter-communal Black conflict. It is no wonder that  D’Angelo Russell’s secret video of Nick “Swaggy P” Young confessing his sexual adventures has captivated America. Trending on twitter, dominating the ‘thought piece-o-sphere,’ and leading both sports shows and celebrity driven news world programs, this “scandal” tells us a lot about America’s desire for race, sex, and social media.
Let’s get this straight: D’Angelo Russell tapes Nick Young talking about his infidelity and Russell is the one worthy of outrage (and no, I am not calling for a national moral finger wagging directed at Young either).  “The world is treating this kid like he beat up a child,” notes Kiese Laymon, author of the novel Long Division, adding that he simply “exposed his engaged friend's infidelity.”
The scant discussion of Nick Young's purported infidelity reveals the spectacle of black male sexuality.  This is nothing new for the NBA whether  Wilt Chamberlain’s claim of having slept with 20,000 women to a Sports Illustrated feature on “absentee Black fathers;” sports culture has always been a space for articulating fear and fetishization of black sexuality, where the commodification, policing, and surveilling of black male bodies are central to that project.
The outrage at Russell who has been called an “idiot,” who has been ridiculed across many mediums, speaks to the ways that we define masculinity.  Whereas Young fulfills dominant expectations of men, who are lauded and celebrated for their “conquests,” who are ‘slut praised,’ Russell transgresses these expectations.  
More than violating the "bro code” Russell pulled the curtain back on the hypocrisy of America’s sexual politics.  The reactions to Russell speak to the many ways this is just another moment where analysis and critical discussion are as illusive as accountability for Peyton Manning. As Dave Zirin notes, such discourse is “codified, well-compensated misogyny.”
It is no wonder that the outrage is directed at Russell as exemplified by  NFL players who have taken to twitter to say he wouldn’t be welcome in their locker room (but are fine with Johnny Football, Greg Hardy and countless others). It is no wonder that there seems to more outrage directed at Russell than any number of NFL player’s accused of domestic violence, sexual harassment, and sexual violence.  It is no wonder that people are ready to banish him from the NBA and society as a whole.  In America that is what happens to black bodies that are deemed unproductive.
In Just Mercy: A Story of Justice and Redemption, Bryan Stevenson writes, “Each of us is more than the worst thing we’ve ever done.”  Tell that to D’Angelo Russell.  ‘His career is over’; ‘he will never be trusted again’; ‘unless he becomes a superstar, no team or teammate will want anything to do with him.’ This is the message over and over again.
Beyond reflecting that black male bodies are treated as little more than commodities – ‘You did a terrible thing and unless you average 25 and 10, you will never forgiven – the lack of forgiveness and empathy speaks to the irredeemability of black bodies that is at the core of anti-black racism.
In a media culture that routinely pathologizes hip-hop culture, and black Americans in general, for purported acceptance of  a “stop snitching” ethos (even as the “Blue Wall” is held up as an idealized signifier of brotherhood), the anger directed at Russell is striking given the ubiquitous references to his ultimate sin: snitching.  
This is ironically from a media culture that also routinely profits off sex tapes and paparazzi pictures of unknowing female celebrities at the beach, at the swimming pool, or in other spaces. It is telling that the violation of Nick Young’s privacy is what sparks anger and outrage about boundaries and privacy.   
In a society that sanctions surveillance and increasing state power in the social media age, it is striking that D’Angelo Russell has become exhibit “A” in the fight to protection of our personal lives.  
Rather than turn this into yet another spectacle and  another moment to lament black male values (or the so-called lack of them, how about we have a conversation about our values.  How about a conversation about justice codes and equality codes rather than “bro codes.” “We would be a better nation if the outrage here went two ways, not one,” as Laymon suggests.  A better nation indeed.
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David J. Leonard is Professor in the Department of Critical Culture, Gender and Race Studies at Washington State University, Pullman. Leonard's latest books include After Artest: The NBA and the Assault on Blackness (SUNY Press), African Americans on Television: Race-ing for Ratings (Praeger Press) co-edited with Lisa Guerrero and Beyond Hate: White Power and Popular Culture with C. Richard King. He is currently working on a book Presumed Innocence: White Mass Shooters in the Era of Trayvon about gun violence in America. You can follow him on Twitter at @drdavidjleonard.

Through The Decades: Examining The Black Male Film Hero

'The release of the new Miles Davis biopic Miles Ahead shows a Davis that was assertive and assured. Assertive black men are seldom portrayed in film. NPR's Karen Grigsby Bates talks with writer Quincy Troupe, Duke University Professor Mark Anthony Neal, and Film Critics Tim Cogshell and Wesley Morris about some of those actors and characters, and the impact they made.'

Edge of Sports: Remembering Miles & Phife with Don Cheadle & Bobbito Garcia

'Dave Zirin of Edge of Sports pays homage to two departed legends of music with Don Cheadle, star and director of the Miles Davis biopic Miles Ahead and DJ Bobbito Garcia remembers his friend Malik Taylor, AKA Phife Dawg of A Tribe Called Quest who passed away last week.' 

Tricia Rose on Black Feminism + Popular Culture + Respectability Politics

'Tricia Rose, Professor of Africana Studies and Director, Center for the Study of Race and Ethnicity in America at Brown University talks Black Feminism, Popular Culture and Respectability Politics as part of the Annual Elizabeth Munves Sherman'77, P'06, P'09 Lecture in Gender and Sexuality Studies.' -- +Brown University  

Hip-Hop Sisters Rise Up: On the Silencing of Women in Hip-Hop

Hip-Hop Sisters Rise Up: On the Silencing of Women in Hip-Hopby Dr. Adia Winfrey | @DrDia | NewBlackMan (in Exile)
Women, if the soul of the nation is to be saved, I believe that you must become its soul. 
~Coretta Scott King
The silencing of women in Hip Hop goes beyond radio spins, extending to the 5th element, Knowledge. Like the Black Panther Party before it, the Hip Hop as Knowledge movement has been largely driven by women, yet the faces given the most exposure and the voices given the largest platforms are overwhelmingly male.
This is particularly true when we examine the paradigm shifts bringing Hip Hop to therapeutic and academic spaces. While the decade long debate shaming the invisibility of women in rap rages on, I can no longer sit silently ignoring this other side of invisibility.
Why is it that women consistently support Hip Hop events, blogs, chats, conferences, and webinars that often fail to give us the shine we deserve? Although women have been part of this movement since its inception, we are often an afterthought, unless it happens to be Women’s History Month or the topic is “Women in Hip Hop”. Today I challenge my Hip Hop sisters to rise up and be heard.
Cheering from the sidelines, when we are actually writing and executing the plays only ensures our invisibility will continue. Let’s support each other, and embrace our power. It’s time to move boldly without apology. As Fannie Lou Hamer stated, “You can pray until you faint, but unless you get up and try something God is not going to put it in your lap.” The acknowledgement we deserve will not be given, history has shown us that. We must claim the space we’re already filling or give it away to the next man. The choice is ours.
We are the soul of Hip Hop, and have been at the center of our culture’s evolution from the beginning. Let us be bold like Mother Fannie and demand our space within the culture. If not for us, let’s prepare a place for our daughters. Through Hip Hop’s 5th element, it is time to make our presence felt. No more asking.
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Dr. Adia Winfrey is an author and clinical psychologist who has been featured on NPR, the Tom Joyner Morning Show, and in JET Magazine. She is the founder of Healing Young People thru Empowerment (H.Y.P.E.). H.Y.P.E. incorporates Hip Hop music and lyrics into group therapy sessions for at-risk youth. Learn more about Dr. Winfrey and H.Y.P.E. at www.letsgethype.com.

Sex And 'An African City': The Steamy Ghanaian Drama

'Imagine Sex and the City, but instead of New York City, the action takes place in Accra, Ghana. This remix is called An African City, a Ghanaian series that debuted on YouTube two years ago. The girlfriends are five fashionable African women raised abroad who have returned home to continue high-powered careers, look for love and have sex. Lots of sex.' -- +NPR 
  

Guatemalan Rapper Rebeca Lane Thinks Hip-Hop Can Unite All Women

' Rebeca Lane's music has three main themes: feminism, social justice and history. She calls herself a daughter of Guatemala's civil war in the 1980s. Through her music, Lane wants to fight problems like femicide and domestic violence, and unify women in general.' -- +Public Radio International (PRI) 

Left of Black S6:E23: Gospel Music + ‘Gracious’ Masculinity + Black Spirituality

Left of Black S6:E23:  Gospel Music + ‘Gracious’ Masculinity + Black Spirituality
Left of Black host and Duke University Professor Mark Anthony Neal (@NewBlackMan) is joined in-studio by Alisha Lola Jones (@Move_And_Shake), Assistant Professor of Ethnomusicology at Indiana University.  Jones and Neal discuss her research on Gospel Music and the performances of Black Masculinity, the career of Anthony Charles Williams II (B.Slade/Tonex), and her Top-5 of Gospel #turnups.Left of Black is a weekly Webcast hosted by Mark Anthony Neal and produced in collaboration with the John Hope Franklin Center at Duke University and in conjunction with the Center for Arts, Digital Culture & Entrepreneurship (CADCE).
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Episodes of Left of Black are also available for free download in @ iTunes U
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Follow Left of Black on Twitter: @LeftofBlack 

Making Contact: Life + Breath + Toxics: Lethal Negligence of Northeast and South L.A.

'From Norco, Louisiana to Flint, Michigan to Los Angeles, California - environmental racism is real. On this edition of Making Contact , we look at polluting industries in Northeast and South Los Angeles. We begin with a story by Making Contact’s Community Storytelling Fellow Ivan Rodriguez, followed by an interview with journalist Aura Bogado and Los Angeles County Supervisor Hilda Solis.'