Mark Anthony Neal's Blog, page 660

Mass Appeals' Rhythm Roulette with 9th Wonder feat Rapsody

In this episode of +Mass Appeals's Rhythm Roulette, 9th Wonder hits the Record Krate in Raleigh, NC, grabbing albums from country singer Charly McClain, Jermaine Jackson and The Temprees, from which he flips the latter's version of "Dedicated to the One I Love," just in time for Rapsody to drop some bars.

Lebron "Goes to Work" to Public Enemy's "Welcome to the Terrordome"

In an ad for Samsung, Lebron James gives a hat-tip to the working class with a soundtrack featuring Public Enemy's "Welcome to the Terrordome" from their classic Fear of a Black Planet (1990). 
 

#TheSpin: The Sandra Bland Case + R. Kelly

On this episode of #TheSpin with host Esther Armah, she is joined by Ebony editor Jamilah Lemieux, writer asha bandele and political strategist Glynda Carr in a conversation about the non-indictment in Sandra Bland's death and the re-emergence of R. Kelly.

#IAmSam: The-Dream Pays Tribute to Sam Cooke

"My Mother loved a lot of Artists growing up, but the one we shared the most interest in together was Sam Cooke, so Tonight I give him back to her. These songs were originally recording during the making of @beyonce 's 4 album in 2010 w my good Friend Pat Thrall. My mother passed on the 23rd day of December in 1992" -- The-Dream

Will Smith + Science + Football = A Serious & Entertaining Concussion by Stephane Dunn

Will Smith + Science + Football = A Serious & Entertaining Concussionby Stephane Dunn | @DrStephaneDunn | NewBlackMan (in Exile)
At about four and half, my sports loving, now six year old son began to plead, demand, and beg: Mommy, I want to play flag football? When can I play? I, the sports-loving, sports- watching Mom, steadfastly resisted. He’d tell everybody he was going to play football next while I’d shake my head no over his head. After a year and a half of no flag football, he settled down into sports stats commentating and a threat for me. When I grow up, I’m going to play college football. In Utah [Utah??? I gasped in my head] then I’m going to the NFL.
Avid football watching, former high school baseball player Daddy mostly stayed on the sideline but grumbling louder as time went on. ‘It’s alright if the boy plays’ and comfortingly to our son, ‘you’ll play when you get a little bit older.’  But this was before an advanced screening of Concussion and a conversation following that included ex-NFL players and the brilliant Nigerian American immigrant Dr. Bennet Omalu, the star subject of the film. The grumbling gave way to a prediction and a declaration:  that movie really could be a ‘game changer’ like the official promotion touts. ‘Our son wanna play, he can go out there when he turns eighteen but he won’t be playing on our watch.’ 
A film based on Omalu’s groundbreaking story and Jeanne Marks Laskas’s pivotal 2009 GQ article about his story and the scientific work on concussions, Concussion is written and directed smartly by Peter Landesman. Concussion takes on the now famous but surprisingly still too quietly kept reality of CTE (Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy)–the brain trauma injury phenomenon occurring among football players that Dr. Omalu’s research helped bring to much needed light. Will Smith stars as Dr. Omalu and co-stars, include Alec Baldwin in a meaty role as a former Pittsburgh Steelers’ player’s doctor, Gugu MBatha-Raw [Omalu’s wife], Arliss Howard, David Morse (‘Iron’ Mike Webster), Hill Harper, Albert Brooks, and Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje as Dave Duerson. Concussion faces several major challenges in the jockeying for box office attention–yes, it’s coming out on a coveted holiday spot, Christmas Day, but it’s just a week into the box office shattering release of Star Wars and during a critical high point in the NFL season when play off berths are being decided.
The greatest foe for Concussion is football’s sacred space in the psyche of American culture and its strong appetite for violence and maximum impact in competitive sports. Like Baldwin’s character sums up, the NFL owns a day of the week formerly owned by God. Whew! We know the NFL didn’t welcome concussions becoming a controversial hot topic of focus a few years ago so it’s a given that Concussion is not a film the NFL or college level or professional combat sports money-makers are dying for the American movie public to rush and see, embrace, and widely discuss and debate. 
However, Concussion deserves that very attention; it is both a gripping story that takes on a heavy weight issue and overall gripping filmmaking. It’s a film about science and American masculine cultural identity personified in professional football. Concussion isn’t a sports or football film as much as it is about the economic, psychic, and health implications of a violent American sports culture.
Will Smith does what we haven’t seen in awhile but love to see – stretch those capable acting chops to portray a man he obviously respects and for a story he knows is important. Challenge brings out the best in Smith, something we know from his earliest major dramatic film, Six Degrees of Separation (1993). An older Smith is more comfortable but no less hard working in taking on the challenge. He has the task of imbibing the African sensibility, accent, and persona of Dr. Omalu and subjugating that iconic movie star, cool Will Smith persona; there’s seconds long slippage in these now and again, but Smith’s experience, respect, and study result in a steady, compelling portrayal.   
The story follows the dedicated forensic neuropathologist who, while working as a coroner in Pittsburgh, begins his journey to noble infamy when he performs the autopsy on legendary Pittsburgh Steeler, Iron Mike Webster. The brain, which the real-life Dr. Omalu, views as that most beautiful organ, becomes the central subject of his research as he becomes obsessed with finding out why the fifty year old athlete sunk to such despair that he ended up homeless, gluing his teeth in, and tasering himself to sleep in the raggedy truck he lived in. As the number of Steeler players committing suicide or ending up dead after spiraling out of control climbs, Dr. Omalu’s dogged research helps uncover further evidence of a brain disease associated with repeated blunt force trauma. He’s dismissed as a quack and his scientific expertise ridiculed fueled by racial and national politics because he’s neither a white male or American but rather African. It’s ironic that an African doctor who believes wholeheartedly in the American dream and a white male bourgeois model of American success pursues a mystery that places him at odds with the very heart of American culture.
This is one of the disturbing, perhaps unwitting, layers of the film–Dr. Omalu’s striving towards melting into the pot so to speak  - achieving legitimacy as an American pitted against his dedication to the quest for scientific truth and the foundation of ethical and moral principles that is, I dare say, rooted in his African identity and worldview. Omalu’s sacred regard for the dead people for whom he works on behalf of is stressed in the film. Ultimately, the film romanticizes his American strivings and does not give a sufficient nod to his African culture rootedness. It tries hard to appear un-anti-NFL or American football through reminding us about the beauty and inspirational meaning and value of football to the cities, towns, and football fans and players attached devotedly to it.
Much chatter has been centered around the NFL’s involvement and reaction to the film; there’s a whole backstory about SONY’s concern with upsetting the powerful NFL too much and how much the script was perhaps “softened” to minimize League backlash. How do you tell a story that can’t help but to lead to questions about the shortcomings of the way American football as well as other sports such as boxing, hockey, and others are played? How are the safety measures, regulations, and equipment simply way too inadequate to seriously minimize the long-term impact of violent physical impact sports on players? And what are the shortcomings of that NFL lawsuit settlement brought by 5,000 ex-NFL players?   
Dr. Omalu assures that the NFL did not have any input into the film and further that he didn’t sign off on the film until it was done and for him satisfied the truth about a subject he sees as a “civil and human rights issue.” He’s not incorrect about the gravity of the situation. Millions of youngsters [whom he argues should not play contact sports as children when the brain is still developing] from football towns and families and many from poor, African American communities box and play football as a possible way up and out. African American players make up about 68% of the league’s players and the trend is the same on the college level. Too many parents, would be NFL star fathers and mothers in love with the ideal of raising the next NFL great, make playing a rite of masculine passage and the way to hoped for fame and fortune. A college education has become almost an afterthought, just the necessary step to get there.
The liberal use of the close up, the favored shot in Concussion, isolates detail and represent sophisticated science with striking simplicity–elements film theoretician Bela Belasz long ago attributed to the close up. Beautifully shot by Salvatore Totino and edited with precision by William Goldenberg, Concussion magnifies the painstaking brain research we witness Dr. Omalu pursue over time and with cost intercut at points with shots of player plays on the field that enthrall–the beauty of motion, speed, player athletic prowess, and the shock of bodily impact that keep so many glued in front of the television Thursdays, Fridays, Saturdays, and Sundays from late August through Super Bowl Sunday. The close ups mimic the attention to detail demanded by the process of scientific research and convey with painful, unforgiving representation the unraveling of individual players none more graphically portrayed than Morse’s Mike Wesbster when the brain, a free floating organ, is the subject of repeated trauma; Blurred shots heighten the angst, anger, and despair that accompany the science’s emergence into the public and the subsequent resistance to the findings.
Concussion rescues that very word from the sort of popular benign meaning and commonplaceness in which it is still treated with regard to player injury. Five to seven days recovery for a bleeding-in-the-brain kind of injury. It puts the close up on something we don’t glimpse on Monday night or Sunday afternoon – the possible future that awaits the physical and material life of players after playing the sport is over.
Concussion won’t send millions fleeing from their football love easily, but it will necessarily provoke real talk and more mothers and fathers raising would be NFL stars are going to be demanding some more information and research and moms like me are going to exhale and feel free to not apologize for not letting their young sons play football.
ConcussionDirected by Peter LandesmanRelease date: December 25, 2015Running Time: 123 min.
+++
Writer and professor Stephane Dunn, PhD, is the director of the Cinema, Television, & Emerging Media Studies program at Morehouse College. She teaches film, creative writing, and literature. She is the author of the 2008 book, Baad Bitches & Sassy Supermamas: Black Power Action Films (U of Illinois Press). Follow her on Twitter: @DrStephaneDunn

ReelBlack: 9th Wonder Talks 'The Hip-Hop Fellow' at UPenn

'RBTV's Mike D. caught up with producer and educator 9th Wonder after his April 2015 visit to the University of Pennsylvania, where he screened his documentary The Hip-Hop Fellow, a feature length documentary following Grammy Award winning producer 9th Wonder's tenure at Harvard University. Featured Interviewees include: Dr. Henry Louis Gates, Kendrick Lamar, Young Guru, Dr. Mark Anthony Neal, Phonte, Dr. Marcyliena Morgan, Ali Shaheed Muhammad, Ab-Soul, Rapper Big Pooh & DJ Premier.' -- +reelblack 

Kwanzaa: A Time to Recommit to Black Liberation by Louisha Barnette

Kwanzaa: A Time to Recommit to Black Liberationby Louisha Barnette | special to NewBlackMan (in Exile)
Below is a slightly modified speech that Louisha Barnette gave at North Carolina State University for their 25th annual Kwanzaa celebration. Students requested insight on how Kwanzaa can be made relevant to the current atrocities facing the black community. This is her response.
Richard Perkins, 39 year old father of 2, was the 1,000th person murdered by United States law enforcement in 2015. He was shot 16 times by 4 Oakland Police Officers. The officers had on body cameras, but they were turned off.
How does this relate to Kwanzaa? The seven principles of Kwanzaa were written as a direct response to the atrocities facing black people in the 1960s: lynchings, poor education, inadequate housing, unhealthy food, low wages, denial of basic civil and human rights, and degradation.
Kwanzaa was conceptualized during the time when:
Eugene “Bull” Conner ordered his police department to use fire hoses, police attack dogs and night sticks to break up Freedom Riders.
Four young girls, Denise McNair, Cynthia Wesley, Carole Robertson and Addie Mae Collins were murdered in the 16th Street Baptist Church bombing, while 22 others were injured.
Three civil rights activists, James Chaney, Andrew Goodman and Michael Schwemer were arrested on speeding charges, incarcerated, reported missing by the FBI and later found dead. The three men were simply trying to register people to vote and investigate church bombings.
50 protesters were hospitalized after being tear gassed, whipped and clubbed at Edmund Pettus Bridge in Alabama. The day was so horrific it was dubbed, “Bloody Sunday.”
Residents in Watts, California rebelled against police tyranny, inadequate housing, poor schools and high unemployment. The rebellion lasted 6 days. It resulted in 34 deaths and the military occupation of 14,000 National Guard troops in a 46-mile area.
These atrocities mirror what we see today. Let's use December 26th - January 1st to intentionally REFLECT on critical issues facing our community, REMEMBER the words and wisdom of previous freedom fighters, and RECOMMIT to Black Liberation.
TO REFLECT ON CRITICAL ISSUES FACING OUR COMMUNITY
In January 2015, it was reported that Palm Beach County Sheriff, Ric Bradshaw, bragged in a community meeting how police dogs ripped off the testicles of a Black man. He then urged citizens to run over protesters because they may rob, kill or rape. If they are hurt, he asserted, it is their fault. One officer drove 102 miles per hour into a crowd, killed someone, and when he was going to be charged with vehicular manslaughter, Sheriff Ric Bradshaw put someone else on the case.
Sandra Bland, a Texas based activist, was pulled over for a minor traffic violation. She was later found dead in a Waller County jail cell.
Just last month, five Black Lives Matter protesters were shot in Minneapolis while protesting the police murder of Jamar Clark.
Uprisings in Baltimore and Ferguson occurred this year in response to state sanctioned violence, high unemployment and inadequate housing.
Judge Mark Ciavarella Jr. was sentenced to 28 years in prison for the selling of 2,500 adults and juveniles, some as young as 10 years old, to developers of for-profit prisons. Ciavarella made more than a million dollars.
We are in a time when prisons are on the stock market. This means expenses are kept as low as possible (unhealthy food, inadequate housing, poor medical care), inmates and the state are overcharged to keep revenue high, and most importantly, millions of black and brown people are being locked up, typically for minor, non-criminal or false charges.
At Charleston’s Emanuel AME church, Reverend Clementa Pickney, Cynthia Hurd, Sharonda Coleman Singleton, Tywanza Sanders, Ethel Lance, Susie Jackson, Depayne Middleton, Daniel Simmons and Myra Thompson were shot and murdered by Dylann Roof while attending bible study.
The Emanuel 9 shocked many people because it showed that it does not matter if you pull your pants up, speak articulately, wear relaxed hair or go to college. It does not matter if you're currently employed, serve your community, get married and are raising your family well. It does not matter if you work hard and stop smoking weed; you can be murdered at church just for being black. This is a much harsher reality than the American dream that we are indoctrinated with on a daily basis.
TO REMEMBER THE WORDS AND WISDOM OF PREVIOUS FREEDOM FIGHTERS
“Black Power is the coming together of black people to fight for their liberation by any means necessary.” ~Kwame Ture
Sisters and brothers, see yourself as black. Think black. Love black. Value black. See yourself in every black person, which includes the homeless brother and the gay sister. See yourself in the ghettos of the poor and marginalized. We are all connected. None of us are free until all of us are free. Make it your duty to fight for your liberation, and for the liberation of all oppressed people. In some form or fashion, 99% of the world's population is oppressed.
“No one is going to give you the education you need to overthrow them. Nobody is going to teach you your true history, teach you your true heroes if they know that that knowledge will help set you free." ~Assata Shakur
Our education system teaches us to honor those who brought stolen people to a stolen land. We are taught that Africa is a destitute continent. We are taught that African descendants haven’t contributed anything to society, except doing some creative things with peanuts. You have to ask why we are being taught these things. You also have to ask what we are not being taught. Do you think it is a coincidence that we go through 12-16 years of schooling, but as a society are not taught how to grow food, construct housing, sew clothes, barter and live communally? 
“Nobody in the world, nobody in history, has ever gotten their freedom by appealing to the moral sense of the people who were oppressing them.” ~Assata Shakur
Do you want to spend most of your life working to pay off debt? Do you want to spend more time at work than with your own family? Do you want to continue being stressed out and always tired? Well, stop trying to appease, be liked by and accepted by your oppressor; it will not lead to our liberation, brothers and sisters.
“We cannot have the oppressor telling the oppressed how to rid themselves of the oppressor.” ~Kwame Ture
If liberation means stopping the killing of oppressed people, we can’t settle for criminal justice reform or ban the box. If liberation means equal sharing of profits between the workers and the CEOs, we can't afford to settle for low wages and government poverty programs. If liberation means a free quality education, child care, health insurance, and long term care for seniors, we cannot settle for diversity training workshops, subsidized child care and emergency room visits in substitution of adequate healthcare. Medicaid reform is not liberation.
“Anytime you have to rely upon your enemy for a job, you are in bad shape.” ~Malcolm X
Do you have to work so many hours that you don’t have time to take care of yourself or your family? Are you paid so little that you still have to scrape by and depend on government assistance to survive? Are you denied health coverage, holiday and overtime pay, maternity and grievance leave? Do you have to change your hair at work, your mannerisms or the way you speak? Do you have to compromise the very essence of who you are? We have to create for ourselves, brothers and sisters. We have to shift and build more worker power. We have to build institutions that do not depend on the capitalist system.
“Caring for myself is not self-indulgence, it is self-preservation and that is an act of political warfare.” ~Audre Lorde
Last month, the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), released data that showed more people die from legally prescribed drugs (meaning drugs that the Food and Drug Administration have said are safe), than from heroin and cocaine combined. According to a 2013 report released by the CDC, the leading cause of death in the U.S. was heart disease, taking the lives of 611, 105 people.
What is the cause of heart disease? Damage to the arteries, an unhealthy diet, lack of exercise, stress and smoking. A problem was created and profits are made at our expense. Money is being made from the creation of unhealthy food. Money is being made from the creation of cigarettes. Money is being made from pharmaceutical drugs to help cope with the symptoms. Money is being made to research the cure and the prevention. Money is also being made when you die, from the life insurance companies and even the selling of your organs.
Close to 2 million people died in 2013 from preventable illnesses. How do you prevent these illnesses? Stop eating pseudo foods manipulated by corporations for profit. When possible, don’t take pharmaceutical drugs. Reduce stress, anxiety, and fear by turning off the TV and radio. Get outside and interact with nature. Spend time alone to assess who you are and how you really feel about things. Work less. Spend more time with family and friends. Create for yourself.
“Before going back to college, I knew that I didn’t want to be an intellectual, spending my life in books and libraries without knowing what the hell is going on in the streets. Theory without practice is just as incomplete as practice without theory. The two have to go together.” ~Assata Shakur
Keep your ear to the streets, sisters and brothers. Serving the community and creating change requires being in the community. It takes more than writing about the problem on social media, or following it on the evening news. Get on the ground and connect with each other to create the changes we want to see.
RECOMMIT TO BLACK LIBERATION: THEORY AND PRACTICE
The seven principles of Kwanzaa are unity, self-determination, collective work and responsibility, cooperative economics, purpose, creativity, and faith. Each day of Kwanzaa honors one of the principles. On each day, decide how you and your family will take action on these principles in 2016. Please share if you are inclined. More importantly, take these ideas back to your communities and take action.
Umoja-Unity (December 26th): Remembering the words of Kwame Ture, when is the last time you have talked to and done something for your parents, children, aunts, uncles, cousins, friends, neighbors and strangers? Start at home. How can you contribute to creating unity within our race, nation, and around the world?
Kujichagulia-Self Determination (December 27th): Remembering the words of Malcolm X, how can you start to create and earn revenue for yourself? How can you contribute to the shifting of revenue from the top 1% to the oppressed?
Ujima-Collective Work and Responsibility (December 28th): Remembering the words of Assata Shakur, how active are you in oppressed communities that need the most support? What are the needs in those communities? How much time each week can you commit to organizing and responding to the needs they have expressed?
Ujamaa-Cooperative Economics (December 29th): Stop giving your hard earned money to people who exploit you. Recently, the college football players in Missouri were a powerful example of this. Their demands were met, not because they are human, not because the leaders developed a conscience, but because millions of dollars were at stake. On Black Friday, sales were down more than $1 Billion, but one day is not enough. What are the names of 5 local, black owned businesses that you will support on a weekly basis for needs such as food, clothing and accessories, gas, toiletries, art, etc.
Nia-Purpose (December 30th): Think about how you are going to work towards the liberation of black people and make that your life purpose. What talents, skills and passions can you lend to oppressed communities?
Kuumba-Creativity (December 31st): Do the best you can with what you have. As Martin Luther King, Jr. stated “If you can’t fly, run. If you can’t run, walk. If you can’t walk, crawl, but by all means, keep moving."
Imani-Faith (January 1st): Know that our struggle is worthy. Know that your actions are needed. Believe in our people. Believe in our teachers. Believe in the victory of our struggle. What ongoing practices can you commit to that will keep you uplifted, inspired, and active in the struggle towards liberation?
In no way is this meant to be an exhaustive list or even the best list of what to do. You determine the actions you are willing to commit to. All I ask is that you take time to reflect, remember, recommit and share. On each day, answer how you will honor each principle in 2016.  
~Gratitude. Love and Light.
***
Louisha Barnette is a Durham based activist and union organizer with Raise Up and the Fight For $15. She is also the founder of Peach Cobbler Yoga, a community healing practice which includes weekly yoga classes, workshops, speaking engagements, trainings and health coaching. Contact her at.

“Merry Christmas Mr. Brown” – Exclusive Q&A with Aloe Blacc

“Merry Christmas Mr. Brown” – Exclusive Q&A with Aloe Blaccby Gloria Ayee | @GloriaYAyee | NewBlackMan (in Exile) 
Aloe Blacc has always written music that makes people stop, listen, and think. The artist’s latest release is no exception. “In remembrance of the many lives lost. Our love endures” are the words of dedication and the opening caption for the video for Aloe’s new song, “Merry Christmas Mr. Brown,” which was written as a tribute to the families and victims of senseless violence, police brutality, and terrorism.
Accompanied by an acoustic guitar, Aloe’s voice is serene, yet mournful, as he sings out the names of some of the lives that have been lost, referencing the deaths of Mike Brown, Freddie Gray, Eric Garner, Sandra Bland, and Oscar Grant.


The song and accompanying visuals were published on Aloe Blacc’s YouTube channel on December 3, 2015, as part of Aloe’s new Christmas EP. “Merry Christmas Mr. Brown” is the only original song on the EP, and is available exclusively for streaming on the artist’s YouTube channel. “Merry Christmas Mr. Brown” is not available for purchase, because it was written as a tribute.
In an exclusive interview for NewBlackMan (In Exile), Aloe talked about his motivation for writing this stirring, heartfelt, and timely tribute.
First, thank you for writing such a moving and powerful song. "Merry Christmas Mr. Brown" can best be described as a tribute to the lives that have been lost as a result of anti-Black violence, but the song is also a memorial to those who have been victimized by terrorism. When did you write this tribute? Was it motivated by a specific event or did a culmination of events move you to write the song? 


Aloe Blacc: I had the idea and started writing it in August 2014 after Michael Brown was killed in Ferguson, MO. Unfortunately, there has been no shortage of headlines that have added to the work since its inception. It wasn't until my visit to Paris a few weeks after the [November 2015 terror] attacks that I was motivated to record it.
Do you personally know any of the families that you reference in the song? If so, how have they responded to the release?


Aloe: I had the opportunity to meet with the relatives of Michael Brown and Eric Garner during the 50th Commemoration of Selma. I was able to express my condolences at the time, but as of now, not sure they are aware of the song.
Tell me a little about the video production for "Merry Christmas Mr. Brown." How did you decide on the visuals that would be included?


Aloe: I wanted the song to focus on the the families in a way that was separate from the headlines, separate from the protests, to humanize them in a way that connected the listener to their loss. I wanted to show that they are real people from every-day families and share their happier moments. 

In one line of the song you say “Merry Christmas Tatiana, you remind me of my daughter.” How has fatherhood changed your personal response to violence and other traumatic or tragic events around the world.
Aloe: Fatherhood has been an incredible experience. It certainly puts your own mortality and the future of your children into perspective. It seems infinitely more tangible, and reminds me that change won't happen without taking some kind of action, however small.
You have been very active in your community promoting and supporting social issues. Do you consider yourself to be a musician as well as a community activist? Can we expect to hear more “political” music from you?
Aloe: My wife [Maya Jupiter] and I are among the founding members of Artivist Entertainment, a group dedicated to representing artists whose art and music inspire positive social change. Although I enjoy making and performing music profusely, I see it as a platform to facilitate social change first and foremost. Most of my musical icons and inspirations have come from socially progressive heroes. Bill Withers, Marvin Gaye, and Harry Belafonte, all were able to give voice to both topical and timeless political and social songs that echo as true today as they did when they were written. I certainly hope my future music is able to inform and inspire political discussion, beyond any potential popular appeal.
Please share your thoughts about the responses (from media, political leaders, and individual citizens) to social movements, like Black Lives Matter, that have developed as a “call to action” for addressing violence and police brutality in communities around the United States.
Aloe: I think the discussion is important. Though its level effectiveness may be up for debate, it’s next to impossible to solve a problem without first acknowledging it.
Do you believe that celebrities and entertainers have any responsibility to use their platforms to speak out publicly on social and political issues?
Aloe: As global citizens, I think everyone has a certain responsibility to look out for each other and give voice to the voiceless. For right or for wrong, celebrities have “louder” voices than most, and it certainly seems like a waste not to help make the world a better place than you found it.
As we come to the end of another year, please share some of your hopes and wishes for 2016.

Aloe: I’ve been spending more time and energy around a new campaign I’ve started called #GrowTogether. It focuses on bringing agriculture to urban areas that don't have access to fresh produce, and hope to grow communities through food education and production. It’s my hope that whether I’m involved or not, the emotional and physical strength of our communities continues to grow. The stronger our communities are, the more we will have a direct impact on how we deal with racial and social inequality, as well as domestic and global terrorism.
Author’s note: Over this holiday season, let us remember that the best way to honor the lives of those we have lost is to work together to take measures to create safer communities for all people, and collectively fight against injustice and oppression. “Our love endures” and love will conquer all.
Aloe Blacc’s Christmas EP is available on Amazon, Google Play, iTunes, and for streaming via YouTube.
***
Gloria Ayee is a Ph.D. candidate in the Department of Political Science at Duke University. She is also a freelance entertainment journalist and has contributed to The Root and Billboard.com.

Novelist Marlon James: "Toni Morrison changed my life"

Author Marlon James describes how reading a passage from Toni Morrison's Sula changed his life. -- +Charlie Rose  

Rosa Clemente on the Non-Indictment in Sandra Bland's Death and Impact on Black Activism

'Activist, scholar and journalist Rosa Clemente says Sandra Bland's death could be a COINTELPRO-like targeted assassination of Black activists.' -- +TheRealNews