Mark Anthony Neal's Blog, page 89

Is There Anything Tamron Hall Can't Do?

'The incomparable Tamron Hall joined The Takeawayto discuss the third season of her talk show, motherhood, and her new Court TV show Someone They Knew.  She also gave some advice to future journalists.' 

British Artist Yola’s ‘Genre-Fluid’ Blend Turns Heads in Nashville

'The British artist Yola was nominated for two Grammy Awards in 2022, for "Best American Roots Song" and "Best Americana Album." Jeffrey Brown went to see why the musician has chosen Nashville as her homebase to shake things up with her fusion of many genres.'

Vinyl Me, Please Anthology Podcast: The Story of Philadelphia International Records – Episode 4: Here to Create Music

'On the fourth and final episode of The Story of Philadelphia International Records, we’ll explore the fascinating passion projects that defined the late 1970s for PIR. This episode will cover the story of 1977’s Let’s Clean Up the Ghetto by The Philadelphia International All-Stars — a supergroup featuring Billy Paul, Archie Bell, Teddy Pendergrass, The Three Degrees and more — and Leon Huff’s own 1980 solo album, Here to Create Music. We’ll hear from Kenny Gamble, Leon Huff, PIR vocal trio The Jones Girls member, Shirley Jones, and Mark Anthony Neal, the James B. Duke professor of African American Studies at Duke University.'

Fighting the Corruption of Power by Ben Jealous

Fighting the Corruption of Power

by Ben Jealous | @BenJealous | special to NewBlackMan (in Exile)

 

(TriceEdneyWire.com) - We keep learning more about the attack on the U.S. Capitol. And we keep learning more about the many schemes former President Donald Trump and his team tried to use to overturn the 2020 presidential election.

 

In some ways, it is discouraging. We know just how badly Trump’s inner circle was corrupted by his desire to keep power at all costs. We had lawyers writing memos about how to break the law and stop Congress from affirming Trump’s defeat. We had members of Congress repeating his lies about a stolen election and trying to take the decision away from the voters.

 

In other ways, it is encouraging that the truth continues to come out. News stories that expose lies and corruption remind us of the importance of a free press. The investigation by the Jan. 6 select committee reminds us how much we need the checks and balances that are built into our system.

 

Those checks and balances—like the ability of Congress to conduct oversight of the Executive Branch—are necessary to prevent abuses of power and hold politicians accountable.

 

But for those protections to work, we must have public officials who are committed to upholding the rule of law. That’s not what we’re seeing from former Trump staffers and advisers. Just the opposite. They are stonewalling the congressional investigation and defying its subpoenas.

 

And with just a few exceptions, congressional Republicans are not acting honorably. Rather than embracing the search for truth, they try to discredit the investigation. Rather than face up to the anti-democratic rot in their party, they would like to sweep it all under the rug.

 

Let’s be clear. Trump and his lawbreaking friends are trying to keep Americans from learning the truth about the attack on Congress and the attempt to overthrow the will of the voters.

 

Specifically, Trump and his supporters are trying to run out the clock. They are counting on their allies taking a majority in the House of Representatives in this year’s elections. And then they’ll shut the investigation down before the full truth can come out.

 

That would be disastrous for our democracy.

 

Consider just a few of the things we have learned recently.

 

When the White House handed over logs of Trump’s calls on the day of the insurrection, there was a seven-hour gap covering the crucial hours before, during, and after the attack on Congress. What violations of law are hiding in that gap?

 

We also learned that Ginni Thomas, a hard-right activist and wife of Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas, was in regular contact with Trump’s chief of staff Mark Meadows in the days and weeks after the presidential election. She embraced even the most extreme and ridiculous far-right conspiracy theories about the election.

 

She even said she hoped it was true that members of the “Biden crime family,” reporters, and elected officials were being arrested and would be held on barges in Guantanamo Bay to face military trials for sedition. She urged Trump not to concede defeat.

 

It just so happens that Justice Clarence Thomas was the only Supreme Court justice who backed Trump’s attempt to keep White House records from being shared with the Jan. 6 committee. It was an 8-1 vote. That explains why so many people are now calling on Thomas to resign—or at the very least to recuse himself from any other cases about the insurrection that come before the Court.

 

We can’t make Clarence Thomas act honorably. But that doesn’t mean we are powerless to protect our democracy.

 

It was we the people who voted Trump out of power. Trump’s ability to pressure and bully election officials and legislators into joining his corrupt schemes was limited by the fact that he lost in multiple battleground states, not just one. His supporters’ ability to shield him from accountability will be determined in part by what happens in this year’s elections.

 

When Americans go to the polls this fall to elect members of Congress, we will not only be participating in democracy. We will be determining its future.

 

***

 

Ben Jealous serves as president of People For the American Way and Professor of the Practice in the Africana Studies Department at the University of Pennsylvania where he teaches leadership. Jealous has decades of experience as a leader, coalition builder, campaigner for social justice and seasoned nonprofit executive. In 2008, he was chosen as the youngest-ever president and CEO of the NAACP. He is a graduate of Columbia University and Oxford, where he was a Rhodes Scholar and he taught at Princeton and the University of Pennsylvania.

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Black Food Folks–Black Desserts: The Light & Shade of Black Nostalgia

'The world of desserts can feel indulgent and decadent in ways that overlook the practical impact our cultural relationships with food have on our lives. The joy and celebration, the emotional connection and comfort in good and bad times our dessert traditions have are as much an heirloom as the recipes themselves so on this episode Therese Nelson talks with wellness coach Shelley Chapman (@shelleywellness) founder of the Mindful Plate youtube series and the Body Food Freedom nutrition and wellness coaching practice about the importance of naming and clarifying our emotional relationships with food and pastry chef and end of life doula Dr. Monica O’Connell (@mimi_oconnell) about how she is using the symbolism and emotional connection to cakes to interrogate end of life care for patients and families.'

Left of Black S12 · E17 | The Black Arts Movement of the South with James Smethurst

How did artistic expression originating from the South, particularly during the Civil Rights Era, influence and impact the broader Black arts movement across the country? Left of Black host and Duke University Professor Mark Anthony Neal is joined by Dr. James Smethurst, professor of Afro-American Studies at the University of Massachusetts Amherst, to discuss his latest book release, Behold the Land: The Black Arts Movement in the South, published by the University of North Carolina Press.

The Art of Curation: Craft Chocolate DJing 🍫 Spencer Hyman, Cocoa Runners

 

'Despite being a “craft chocolate DJ,” Spencer Hyman has perspective on curation that goes way beyond cacao. He sees curation as a solution for discovery challenges across many consumer categories. "Curation is the flipside of knowing what you want," he says.'

Black American Photographer Chester Higgins Documents African Culture

'Acclaimed Black American photographer Chester Higgins has made dozens of trips to Africa since the 1970s to document the continent's history and culture. Now 75, he has no plans on slowing down. Jon Kalish has this profile.'

How the Lindy Hop Made its Way from Harlem to Sweden

'Lindy Hop is a dance that was born in Harlem in the 1920s and 1930s — created and performed by African Americans in segregated clubs and dance halls. But today, one of the world's most vibrant Lindy Hop communities is in Sweden. So what happens when a Black American wants to learn the art form that she first encountered at the hands of her great-grandmother? Well, in this case, she hopped on a plane. This episode of Code Switch, brought to us by our friends at Rough Translation, tells a story of what it means to encounter old traditions in very different contexts, and asks who exactly should be passing down traditions.'

Why Reading Romance Might Just be at the Heart of What Men Need

'To all the men who struggle with talking about sex and pleasure in a meaningful way, have you tried reading romance novels? While romance has traditionally been written and consumed by women, the steamy love stories at the heart of the genre can help all readers think about sex and intimacy in a deeper way. And men are reading romance even if they aren’t talking about it. According to the Romance Writers of America, 18% of romance readers are men. And their relationships and sex lives might be better because of it. Lyssa Kay Adams is the author of The Bromance Book Club series about a group of men who secretly read romance to save their relationships.'