Mark Anthony Neal's Blog, page 652

#WUNCBackChannel: Black Men Behaving Badly + Prosecutors Behaving Badly + #OscarsBeenSoWhite

Photo: Sebastian KimIn this episode of #WUNCBackChannel, host Frank Stasio talks with regular contributors Natalie Bullock Brown ( @ nataliebb2 ) + Mark Anthony Neal (@NewBlackMan) about the indictment of Bill Cosby, R. Kelly's bad behavior in response to long-standing charges of rape and sexual assault of minors, and the challenges Black communities face when Black men who serve time for rape and sexual assault return to those communities. Additionally Brown and Neal examine the lack of diversity in this year's Academy Award nominations.

Johnetta 'Netta' Elzie Talks #BlackGirlMagic + Activism + Motivation

'A look behind the scenes of the +ESSENCE cover shoot with Black Lives Matter activist Johnetta 'Netta' Elzie as she opens up about the Black women that inspire her, being an activist and how her mother's death helped her push forward.'

New Book--Words of Witness; Black Women’s Autobiography in the Post-Brown Era by Angela A. Ards

Words of Witness: Black Women’s Autobiography in the Post-Brown Era
Angela A. Ards
“Ambitious, timely, engaging, and provocative. Angela Ards, erudite and remarkably widely read, situates her analysis of a new political ethic grounded in black women’s experience at the intersection of autobiography studies, feminism, black literary history, and cultural and political theory.” —Julia Watson, coeditor of Women, Autobiography, Theory: A Reader
A literary and political genealogy of the last half-century, Words of Witness explores black feminist autobiographical narratives in the context of activism and history since the landmark 1954 segregation case, Brown v. Board of Education. Angela A. Ards examines how activist writers, especially five whose memoirs were published in the 1990s and 2000s, crafted these life stories to engage and shape progressive, post-Brown politics.  

Exploring works by the critically acclaimed June Jordan and Edwidge Danticat, as well as by popular and emerging authors such as Melba Beals, Rosemary Bray, and Eisa Davis, Ards demonstrates how each text asserts countermemories to official—and often nostalgic—understandings of the Civil Rights and Black Power movements. She situates each writer as activist-citizen, adopting and remaking particular roles—warrior, “the least of these,” immigrant, hip-hop head—to crystallize a range of black feminist responses to urgent but unresolved political issues.
***Angela A. Ards is an associate professor of English at Southern Methodist University. She formerly worked as a journalist for Ms. magazine and The Village Voice.  

BlackademicsTV: Representations of Blackness in Japanese Hip-Hop + Rethinking Racial Data Collection.

'Dr. Dawn-Elissa Fischer discusses representations of Blackness in global popular culture through an in-depth analysis of Japanese Hip-Hop; Dr. Yasmiyn Irizarry advocates for us to rethink the race measures that we use to collect data on race and racial identity.' -- +KLRU-TV   

Wendell Pierce: "True Capitalism is Universal Access"

'If a rising tide lifts all boats, why isn't America — a nation of such wealth and resources — a more egalitarian country? Actor Wendell Pierce says we've lost the true spirit of capitalism. Pierce's new book is The Wind in the Reeds: A Storm, A Play, and the City That Would Not Be Broken.' 

teleSUR English: Martin Luther King, Jr.'s Radical Legacy

"+Telesur English examines the radical legacy of Martin Luther King, Jr.'

Joshua Bennett: 'Say It, Sing It If The Spirit Leads (After Vievee Francis)'

Poet Joshua Bennett performs 'Say It, Sing It If The Spirit Leads (After Vievee Francis)' at  celebration for Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. at +The Greene Space at WNYC & WQXR.

Dianne Reeves: "Endangered Species" | Wangechi Mutu: "The Storm Has Finally Made It Out Of Me Alhamdulillah"

Sonic: Dianne Reeves--"Endangered Species" (Art + Survival, 1993) | Visual: Wangechi Mutu--The Storm Has Finally Made It Out Of Me Alhamdulillah (2003).

"I am a Woman, I am an Artist, and I know where my Voice belongs"--Dianne Reeves

Marlon James: Are you Racist? 'No' isn't a Good Enough Answer

'Most of us, says Marlon James, are non-racist. While that leaves us with a clear conscience, he argues, it does nothing to help fight injustice in the world.'-- +The Guardian

Dr. Tukufu Zuberi: "Most Film Is Racist..."

'University of Pennsylvania Professor and History Detectives host Tukufu Zuberi shares his insights on Black Film. Referencing classic African films such as  Touki Bouki,  Xala, Camp De Thiaroye, Teza, and Da Monzon. La Conquette De Samanyana; as well as the film movements in the US and Brazil that developed in the aftermath of political revolutions in Africa, and the works of Frantz Fanon, he speaks for a Black film movement that seeks to transform cinema as a whole and is not just mimicry of Hollywood.' -- +reelblack