Mark Anthony Neal's Blog, page 678

The University of Missouri and The Ferguson Effect

The University of Missouri and The Ferguson Effectby Lawrence Ware + LaVonya Bennett  | NewBlackMan (in Exile)
There is a Ferguson Effect, but it’s not what you think.
Many conservative commentators and some police officials have been warning Americans about what FBI Director James Comey called “The Ferguson Effect.” This is the idea that increased police scrutiny and the demand for body camera has and will continue to cause a rise in violent crime in certain cities—especially crimes against good police officers who are just doing their duty.
Acting chief of the Drug Enforcement Agency Chuck Rosenberg cosigned this theory by saying, “I think there’s something to it. Rightly or wrongly, you become the next viral video. Now you can do everything right and still end up on the evening news.” The White House and Justice Department disagrees. Issuing a statement recently, they stated:
“Mr. Rosenberg, as you pointed out, is the second administration official to make that kind of claim without any evidence.  And the fact is the evidence does not support the claim that somehow our law enforcement officers all across the country are shirking their duties and failing to fulfill their responsibility to serve and protect the communities to which they’re assigned. So I guess you’d have to ask him exactly what point he’s trying to make. You might also ask him if there’s any evidence to substantiate the claim that he’s made.”
There is clearly disagreement about the notion of the Ferguson effect as it relates to incidents of violent crime. Especially since this claim is not born out by the evidence. Yet, I do think there is a Ferguson Effect—and it is affecting consciousness of people all  across the country.
The activists who comprise the #ConcernedStudents1950 movement issued a statement at the beginning of their protests calling for the ouster of then University of Missouri systems president, Tim Wolfe.
Talking to the Associated Press, Reuben Faloughi, a third year doctoral student, explicitly cited Ferguson as a radicalizing moment for him. "That was the first time I got involved in activism. I never felt that unity before, that kind of energy. It was very empowering, and it planted the seeds that students can challenge things." Mike Sickels, a 32-year-old doctoral student agrees. He said, "This is something I wish had been happening here my entire tenure. I think universities should be bastions for this." Yes, there is a Ferguson effect. It’s the radical realization on the part of millennials that they have the ability to force those in power to address their concerns.
Americans should celebrate the social justice advocacy of millennials. Instead, they continue to marginalize activist groups, criticize the oppressed who are fighting for equity, and fuel systems of oppression. Instead of supporting millennials, becoming educated about the experiences of others, and fighting injustices—our rhetoric serves to blame millennials who are working to tear down systems of oppression.
When language like “riot” is used instead of “uprising,” we engage in victim blaming. So, when people ask the activist of #ConcernedStudents1950 why they would attend a school that they believed is so bad, they are directly supporting systems that are oppressive towards all marginalized populations. Our failure to understand that racism, sexism, and religious oppression are not unique to collegiate institutions, but, rather, are systems that are foundational to the American enterprise is why the structure of activism has begun to evolve. The evolution of activist efforts have a direct correlation to the polyvalent nature of oppression in our nation.     Many of the conversations we are having today use language and rhetoric that serve to undermine the efforts of activists. Conservative dialogue continues to inform the growing misconceptions and stereotypes around black and brown bodies.  
For example, in some moments,  marginalized communities are told to pull themselves up by their bootstraps. Yet, when oppressed groups work to make equitable spaces in the world as instructed, they are instantly deemed race-baiters, ungrateful, and moochers of the system. It’s a no-win proposition. Yet, Ferguson taught us that we can have agency, action, and a voice for populations that have consistently been silenced. The Ferguson Effect is a way to fight back against verbiage that so often becomes divisive and a barrier to justice.
At the University of Missouri, students and staff were silenced and ignored by administrators that did not respond to meeting requests or emails, and failed to address mounting concerns. They did not have education on diversity and inclusion, and those in power did not listen to gentle pleas for equity. Through several attempts to spark conversation, activist for equality were often met with silence, racism, and continued oppression.
Millennial activists have learned that powerful actions are needed to bring attention to powerful systems of oppression. People of color and social justice advocates are often told to handle things diplomatically—that is, do not upset those in power. Yet, we can see with the incidents at Missouri, Yale, the University of Oklahoma, and colleges around the United States, that those approaches do not instigate change or action.
Conversely, when those same individuals begin to speak louder, take their efforts public, and share the logic and emotion behind their cause, attention to their causes and dialogue begins. While the duration of attention and dialogue have strong correlation with economic influence, none of it would have occurred with the “diplomatic, calm, and quiet” approaches activist are often asked or expected to take.
The Ferguson Effect has shown us that systems of power and people in power do not respond unless drastic actions are taken. Millennials have learned this lesson and are realizing the power they possess.
The Ferguson Effect has given a new energy and strategy to contemporary activism. More importantly, there has been a response from those in power to social injustices. The Ferguson Effect continues to awaken the masses of black Americans who have bought into the lie that the fight against racism is over and a position of adjustment to injustice is the way to survive.
Ferguson awoke a sleeping giant, and, to quote Sam Cooke, a change is gonna come.
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LaVonya Bennett is an Administrator in Residence Life, a division of Student Affairs, and an adjunct instructor at the University of Oklahoma. She serves as a Directorate member with the Coalition for Women's Identities through the American College Personnel Association. She can be reached at:  Lavonyabennett@gmail.com
Lawrence Ware is an Oklahoma State University Division of Institutional Diversity Fellow. He teaches in OSU's philosophy department and is the Diversity Coordinator for its Ethics Center. A frequent contributor to the publication The Democratic Left and contributing editor of the progressive publication RS: The Religious Left, he has also been a commentator on race and politics for the Huffington Post Live, NPR's Talk of the Nation, and PRI’s Flashpoint. Follow him on Twitter: @law_ware

From Black Lives Matter Activists for India's Discriminated Dalits Learn Tactics

'They were once called Untouchables. There are an estimated 260 million of them across the world and some 100 million women in India. A new campaign is taking on caste violence, though, and they’ve been reaching out to activist movements like Black Lives Matter in the US. The Delhi-based All India Dalit Women’s Rights Forum has just wrapped up a two month tour of college campuses and other venues, where they exchanged strategies and told some harrowing stories of people they’ve tried to help back home.' -- Public Radio International (PRI)   

Allen Toussaint Flies Home: "Southern Nights" (1975)

Allen Toussaint, New Orleans R&B Mainstay, Dies at 77

#TheRemix: Asian-American Authenticity in Hip-Hop and Movies

'Philadelphia Asian American Film Festival director Rob Buscher and music producer Scott "Chops" Jung discuss with #TheRemix host James Braxton Peterson the gap between disrespect and celebration of Asian-American culture. The upcoming film festival marks its eighth season, Nov. 12 - 22. It is the largest East Coast showcase of films created by Asian Americans, celebrating music, culture and food along with more than 60 film showings.'

Silencing the Race Talk and Emboldening White Supremacy

Silencing the Race Talk and Emboldening White Supremacyby Lawrence Ware + Rebecca Martinez | NewBlackMan (in Exile)
Many white people want to stop talking about racism.
This may not be expressed explicitly, but it is communicated nevertheless. Sometimes it’s articles shared on Facebook highlighting the unsurprising fact that police officers are killed in the line of duty. Other times it’s the pushback to the specificity of emphasis in the slogan #BlackLivesMatter. At times, it is a backlash against teaching histories of oppression in our K-12 public schools and criticisms of college diversity requirements that claim to celebrate difference while ignoring power.  More poignantly, it is the way people who were once friends suddenly become distant because you've now become 'too political.' These are all passive aggressive acts of racial distancing that communicate a desire on the part of those in the majority for minorities to suffer in silence.
Still worse are black manifestations of this sentiment. For many middle class black folks, the unspoken state of being is adjustment to injustice. Their way of thinking says, "I'm comfortable in my privilege working next to and with white people--please don't mess that up." Oppressed people so deeply identify with oppressive conceptual frames that they fail to see that those who speak truth to power, do so from a place of pain.
The insidious nature of white supremacy is such that black and brown people will more readily identify with the feelings of the dominant group about what is being said than with those expressing truths concerning the reality of their condition. Shame is so deeply felt that moments of individual black failure are worrisome because they ‘set black people back.’ The goal implicitly articulated in this statement is white approval of black bodies and behavior.
What’s worse, many of the same upwardly mobile black folks who try to silence others are themselves in pain. They intuitively see that they are ‘othered’ by white co-workers. They are not invited to the social gatherings. They are only consulted when sports or hip-hop are the topic of conversation. And their children are sometimes welcomed to play with at the house of their white friends, but white children never visit the house of the black child. These are the concessions. This is the price of the ticket. You get access to white spaces. You get access to economic opportunity, but you are perpetually an outsider. You are never fully accepted. White Americans want cosmetic diversity without the burden of black and brown political and social consciousness. This desire for black and brown faces without a commitment to egalitarianism is widespread.
There is a push for diversity in education and business. Due to the wave of political awareness sweeping the nation, those in power have come to the realization that it would be wise to have an intermittent black or brown face in an otherwise white workforce or on a predominately white college campus. These superficial gestures toward diversity are undermined by attempts to hire ‘safe’ black and brown people, where safe is understood as unthreatening in every aspect save skin color.
The safe black woman laughs when people touch her hair uninvited, even if uncomfortable, because she does not want to be perceived as an angry black woman. Yet, if a white woman were touched without permission, no would consider her angry for accusing the transgressor of sexual harassment. The safe English-dominant Latina smiles, bewildered, and laughs it off when she is told she speaks English well. She doesn’t remind them that she was born in the U.S. and hardly speaks Spanish. The safe black man dresses the part and goes out of his way to put white cohorts at ease. He wants them to know that his blackness will not be a barrier that must be overcome. He will do all he can to not remind his co-workers of his racial identity. These hires give a workplace the appearance of diversity without a change to the cultural landscape.
As the familiar words of Audre Lorde tell us, “your silence will not protect you.” Safety and silence keep the landscape undisturbed, and we trade individual short-term success for the social change that dismantles the “master’s house.” Choosing to use your voice and throw caution to the wind is not an easy thing to do. Just this week the only black engineer in a leadership position at Twitter left the company because of “diversity issues.” Leslie Miley said that a “particular low moment” came when he asked about specific steps that were being taken to increase diversity and “Twitter’s senior VP of Engineering responded, ‘diversity is important, but we won’t lower the bar.’” The racist stereotype that diversity meant lowered standards is part of the workplace landscape. Miley left without the severance package that would guarantee his silence. Instead, he chose not to be silent or safe; he chose to speak about racism at Twitter.
When resources are not a central consideration, one of the conundrums we face in this country in deciding to be complicit or conscious is the divide between those who believe that we don’t talk about race enough and those who think we talk about it “too much.” Inevitably, both the defensiveness of “I’m–Not-Racist” or even “How-DareYou?-I’m-An-Ally” white folks and the internalized racism of people of color, who think that they are choosing safety, collude to make any meaningful conversation about race nearly impossible. No one wants to feel uncomfortable…but where has comfort gotten us? It keeps whiteness—as institutionalized power—in place, inter-personal relationships invulnerable, the “colonized mind” in check, and violence, whether physical or psychological, towards marginalization of people of color normalized.         
An important way that talking about racism is thwarted in America is the fact that our educational system ignores the histories and experiences of people of color. White students don’t have to confront this country’s misdeeds and people of color never learn their histories. When this material is included, it is presented as marginal to true (white) American history—or it may be distorted altogether. Consider, for example, the recent case of a K-12 textbook referring to slaves as immigrant workers. In one fell swoop, a history of horrific violence. Similarly, just last month, South Dakota secretly eliminated Native history from public schools.  As the Lakota Law Project reports:
The removal of lesson plans relating to the long and complex conflict between Native peoples and the United States Government will only exacerbate this issue, and make it harder for young people in South Dakota to develop a fair understanding of the historical context and causations for the current conditions faced by Native peoples.
A final example of this trend, although there are others, is the 2010 state of Arizona ban on ethnic studies courses. Specifically, HB 2281 prohibits courses that “are designed primarily for those of a particular ethnic group” or “advocate ethnic solidarity instead of the treatment of people as individuals.” Let that sink in: they LEGALLY banned ethnic studies. When an Arizona high school did try to make learning about ethnicity and race central to curriculum through a course on Chicano Ethnic Studies, the course was accused of promoting resentment towards whites. It was dismantled through the use of the legislation. That course was a model for the retention of Mexican American students:
While 48 percent of Mexican American students currently drop out of high school, Tucson High’s Mexican American Studies Program has become a national model of educational success with 100 percent of enrolled students graduating from high school and 85 percent going on to attend college.
They did not want these students to develop consciousness about their histories and social identities even if it was keeping them from dropping out of school. In their book Chicana/o Identity in a changing U.S. Society, social psychologists Aida Hurtado and Patricia Gurin, define consciousness as the following:
…whether individuals are aware that the groups they belong to hold a certain status (either powerful or not powerful) in society and whether they will take action to change this status, not just for themselves, but for other members of the group as well.
These students would not seek white approval. They would not hang their heads in shame. They would have pride in their histories. They would be conscious. And this made them dangerous. Consciousness implies action, and that kind of talking about race, ethnicity, and racism produces thinkers who challenge the status quo.
Americans are doing all they can to appear as if they are wrestling with race without admitting historical fault or committing to change. This will not do. This country needs to come to terms with the evil it has committed. Native Americans must be given the voice and the space to allow their suffering to speak. We must have frank conversations about the psychological violence inflicted upon that oppressed community that contemporaneously manifests as suicide rates, poverty, and educational marginalization. Black and brown people must be allowed to voice their displeasure with a criminal justice system that systematically targets, imprisons, and exploits them. We must examine the ways implicit and explicit bias lowers the educational, economic, and political potentiality of these marginalized populations. To ignore suffering is to become complicit. When we go along to get along and play the role of the safe black or brown person, we are complicit as well.
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Rebecca Martinez is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Women's and Gender Studies at the University of Missouri. She is a medical anthropologist whose research encompasses issues of race, ethnicity, class, gender as related to cancer and reproductive health. Follow her on Twitter: @BeckyGMartinez
Lawrence Ware is an Oklahoma State University Division of Institutional Diversity Fellow. He teaches in OSU's philosophy department and is the Diversity Coordinator for its Ethics Center. A frequent contributor to the publication The Democratic Left and contributing editor of the progressive publication RS: The Religious Left, he has also been a commentator on race and politics for the Huffington Post Live, NPR's Talk of the Nation, and PRI’s Flashpoint. Follow him on Twitter: @law_ware

How a Student Revolt Ousted Mizzou's Leadership

'The president of the University of Missouri has stepped down amid increasing student and faculty protests. Tim Wolfe was accused of ignoring months of complaints over racial slurs, fueling a demonstration at homecoming, a hunger strike and a boycott by several football players. Gwen Ifill talks to professor Scott Brooks and Brenda Smith-Lezama of the University of Missouri Students Association.' -- +PBS NewsHour  

Celebrating 100 Years: Honoring the Legacy of John Hope Franklin

To honor the life and legacy of distinguished Duke professor and activist John Hope Franklin, Duke hosted a symposium Global Slaveries, Impossible Freedoms; The Intellectual Legacies of John Hope Franklin . Franklin would have celebrated his 100th birthday this year.

The Payoff Comes First: Meet Niles Rodgers

'Nile Rodgers could live off of royalties from hits he made 30 years ago for artists like Madonna and Diana Ross. But he still wakes up to new song lyrics in his head and phone calls from Daft Punk.'

Fault Lines--State of Play: Football Players & the NCAA

'Business has been good for the NCAA, the nonprofit organization that sets the rules for college sports. In less than two decades, the NCAA's assets have skyrocketed, growing by nearly 1,000 percent. The athletes who star on the field, however, don’t receive long-term health care, are prevented from collecting a paycheck, and have no seat at the bargaining table.' -- +Al Jazeera America 

#BlackHairMatters--A Conversation with Author Bert Ashe + Filmmaker Natalie Bullock Brown | Letters Bookshop on 11/11

"An exhilarating heartfelt memoir about a black man and his dreds and all the world in between” is how award-winning fiction writer Junot Díaz describes Bert Ashe’s  Twisted: My Dreadlock Chronicles. 
Join Ashe and Filmmaker Natalie Bullock Brown in #BlackHairMatters--a discussion of the politics of Black Hair and Beauty on Wednesday, November 11, 2015 @ 6:30 pm at Letters Bookshop  (313 W Main St, Durham, NC 27701).
The conversation will be moderated by Duke University Professor and Left of Black host Mark Anthony Neal, and hosted by the Center for Arts, Digital Culture + Entrepreneurship (CADCE).