Mark Anthony Neal's Blog, page 791

New Mobile Clinics are Helping Aid Workers Treat Ebola Patients in Liberia

PRI
Liberia is the hardest hit country in the Ebola outbreak, which has engulfed West Africa. But there are signs of hope. Mobile labs are being constructed to test for Ebola and to treat those infected with the virus. The labs will reduce the amount of time it takes to learn if a patient has Ebola from several days to a few hours.

Sex & Masculinity in US Prisons

Huffpost Live 
Sex & Masculinity in US Prisons
"Don't drop the soap" is a stereotypical refrain when talking about life behind bars. But there's a lot more to prison sex than forcible rape. On HuffPost Live, we unpack the realities of sexuality and masculinity for inmates.Hosted by: Marc Lamont Hill
Guests:
Daniel Genis @DanGenis (Brooklyn, NY) Author, 'A Gentleman's Guide To Sex In Prison'Larone Koonce @LaroneKoonce (Atlanta , GA) Former Correctional OfficerMark Anthony Neal @NewBlackMan (Durham, NC) Professor of Black Popular Culture at Duke UniversityShaun Attwood @shaunattwood (Liverpool, United Kingdom) Author, 'Hard Time'; Former Inmate at a Arizona Prison

Janet Napolitano on Combating Sexual Assault on College Campuses

OZY
OZY co-founder and CEO Carlos Watson sat down for a rare interview with Janet Napolitano, former U.S. secretary of homeland security and the newest president of the University of California system.

Left of Black S5:E2: A Conversation with Dillard University President Dr. Walter Kimbrough

Left of Black S5:E2: A Conversation with Dillard University President Dr. Walter KimbroughLeft of Black host and Duke University Professor Mark Anthony Neal is joined via Skype by Dr. Walter Kimbrough, aka the “Hip-Hop Prez,” the 7th President of Dillard University.  Dr. Kimbrough was outspoken in the aftermath of Andre Young’s (Dr. Dre) $35 Million gift to the University of Southern California (USC) noting in this interview that USC’s endowment is “twice the endowment of all the HBCUs put together; they don’t need the money.” Yet Dr. Kimbrough also admits “those who are alums, it is your responsibility, primarily, to take care of those institutions.”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.***Episodes of Left of Black are also available for free download in @ iTunes U***Follow Left of Black on Twitter: @LeftofBlackFollow Mark Anthony Neal on Twitter: @NewBlackManFollow Dr. Walter Kimbrough on Twitter: @HipHopPrez

Ferguson Unrest Continues as Police Accused of Incitement & Michael Brown's Killer Remains Free

Democracy Now
Protests continue in Ferguson, Missouri, calling for the arrest of Darren Wilson, the officer who killed the unarmed African-American teenager Michael Brown. On Friday, officers dismantled an encampment where activists had been living in the weeks since Brown's death. Some accused police of excessive force. More protests took place over the weekend, including one outside the Ferguson Police Department Sunday night. 

How Lecrae Mixed Rap and Theology to Find Mainstream Success

Religion News
He’s been crowned the “new hip-hop king” and his newest album, Anomaly, topped iTunes and Amazon charts the day of its Sept. 9 release. He’s been invited to birthday parties for both Billy Graham and Michael Jordan and riffed on NBC’s Tonight Show with host Jimmy Fallon. It’s the kind of mainstream success that has eluded most Christian rappers. Then again, some people are still trying to decide if hip-hop star Lecrae is a Christian rapper, or a rapper who happens to be Christian.

Artistic Inspiration or Piracy? Does Copyright Law Favor the Famous?

"Michael Jackson and Bubbles" -- Jeff Koons APM Marketplace

Jeff Koons’ retrospective show at the Whitney Museum of Art is a grand testimonial to his work over the decades. It is also “a time capsule for copyright law,” says Andrew Gilden, teaching fellow at Stanford University Law School. 

The Unrepentant Data Thief: Hana Beshara--The Deposed Queen of NinjaVideo

New York Times Video
Hana Beshara, a founder of NinjaVideo, once a popular illegal video downloading site, was known as Queen Phara to its users. Now she’s putting her life back together after 16 months in prison.

Turn Down for What?: Hip-Hop and the Misgivings of Disability

Turn Down for What?: Hip-Hop and the Misgivings of Disabilityby Wilfredo Gomez | special to NewBlackMan (in Exile)

A true artist is willing to die for what they believe in, ideologies, principles, behaviors and actions that are indicative of a way of life, a paradigm changer in search of something honest, pure, in essence, something larger then themselves. Would the artist feel the same, if we gradually took away the use of some body parts, a kind of social experiment that seeks to approximate living with disability?

In seeking to make a message intelligible to his core audience, Kanye West recently mentioned rap music, real music, real expression, and real artistry during the most recent leg of his Yeezus tour in Australia. But as I listened to Kanye West’s recent demand that audience members rise to their feet, less the show would be paused, I was left to ponder a set of questions: is rap music an appropriate creative outlet for the disabled body?

Is real expression a conceptualization of material realities that takes into equal account the disabled and disabled body? How might the iterations of that manifestation change when thinking about the visible and invisible disabilities that represent the prospects and possibilities of being, presence, and performance? What does it mean to perform hip-hop as an able or disabled body? Does the artist’s search for the real lie at the intersections where the reception of the aural cues birthed from creative genius meet the kinesthetic demands of getting on up and getting on down?

While Kanye West’s recent incident makes headlines, we must not forget that just several years ago, rapper Busta Rhymes found himself in a similar situation at a concert, having called out an audience member who was wheelchair bound, and as a result could nor (or perhaps would not) elicit the kind of energy and response requested of the artist. I am reminded that while larger venues and mainstream artists command the attention of space and seats, a good number of concert venues are places where standing only rules apply. That being said, one can highlight the American with Disabilities Act and its legal and political realities that call for the appropriate accommodations of equal access and accessibility, but what does it mean to critically examine and inquire into having access to the disabled or alternately-abled body at a performance venue.

Kanye’s pause and line of inquiry into the energy of the room, or lackthereof, elicits responses that range from laughter to flat out boos. Furthermore, we as listeners are privy to the thoughts of audience members as we hear the comments, “how dare you disobey him” alongside everyone chanting in unison “stand up!” What is perhaps most troubling during this exchange, or lacktherof, is Kanye’s blatant disregard for difference. A crowd stands, leaving two audience members seated, while Kanye suggests that they either stand or be removed.

This all-or-nothing response on the part of Kanye West the artist, leaves several things to be highlighted, one of which is the fundamental failure to conceive of difference within the oftentimes myopic lens of the world of hip-hop, particularly rap music. One can contrast this ultimatum posed by Kanye, thinking about how he as an artist situates himself vis-à-vis the punditry and stigma surrounding rappers and the media’s (mis)reading of their difference(s). Kanye shines a light on his “difference” as a rapper, while simultaneously stripping these two audience members of their agency, autonomy, and ownership over their respective bodies.

Another poignant matter highlights the fetishized nature of the alternately-abled body and its presence as both commodity and consumer, readily available to be disposed of, but surely capable of having access to the kinds of financial capital necessary to even secure a seat and be present at any artists live show.

Its rather poignant and perhaps a little too coincidental that the song disrupted by the presence of disabled bodies present at Kanye’s live show was “Good Life.” At an elementary level, Kanye’s call for a standing audience equates the act itself (standing) with a good time being had. The inability to stand is a direct affront to the standards and norms of a hype show in the realm of hip-hop culture. This presumes the existence of an unwritten, yet acknowledged script that seeks to qualitatively measure the essence of a great live performance. However, in doing so, there are dominant narratives that circulate that have literal and symbolic consequences for the kinds of violence and ridicule we project onto disabled bodies.

Do we honestly expect disabled hip-hop heads to be apologetic for being disabled? If so, are there unintended consequences for the kinds of pushback and criticism we hold artists accountable to?

Disabled bodies are made invisible by our collective efforts to make them legible. Kanye West may have opted to continue his live show when a bodyguard confirmed the credibility of the disabled body, but his foray into the song “good life” chipped away at his artistry and the quest for something real by transforming music into what fellow rapper Elzhi called “mu-sick!”

***
Wilfredo Gomez is an independent researcher and scholar who can reached via Twitter at @BazookaGomez84 or via email at gomez.wilfredo@gmail.com

Re-Branding HBCUs? Dillard President Walter Kimbrough Talks with 'Left of Black'

The Root | Left of Black
Left of Black host Mark Anthony Neal interviews Dillard University President Dr. Walter Kimbrough about HBCU recruitment and issues of African-American males.