Mark Anthony Neal's Blog, page 897

Blank on Blank: The Late Wilt Chamberlain on His Height, Being a Villain & Women

BlankonBlank

"I think a lot of ladies found me so attractive because I was different."-- Wilt Chamberlain

Original interview aired in 1992 on "Sports Innerview with Ann Liguori"
Purchase the full-length conversation on DVD @ annliguori.com

Executive Producer: David Gerlach
Animator: Patrick Smith

Chris Hedges on Last Moments of Press Freedom, Corporate Consolidation of Power & Media Propaganda

Democracy Now

Chris Hedges discusses the terrifying precedent that is being set by the U.S. government's intrusion into the phone records of the Associated Press. Hedges states, "I can't understand the inability of the traditional press to grasp that we are now in the last moments of an effort to, in essence, effectively extinguish press freedom." Relating the long series of assaults against freedom of information, Hedges calls the corporate media landscape "all propaganda" these days.

Complex TV's Magnum Opus: Talib Kweli on the Crafting of "Get By"

 

 

 

 

 

 

Complex TVIn the late '90s and early 2000s, Talib Kweli wasn't seen as a star. In Complex TV's Original Show--Magnum Opus, the Brooklyn rapper talks crafting his biggest hit, "Get By".

Fahamu Pecou presents "All Dat Glitters Aint Goals" [video]

Fahamu Pecou presents ALL DAT GLITTERS AINT GOALS (Produced by ILLASTRATE)
www.fahamupecouistheshit.bandcamp.com

Director: Fabian "Occasional Superstar" Williams
Producer: Fahamu Pecou
Videoographer: Victor "Massive" Bland
Editing/Graphics: Kimberly Binns
Music: Illastrate

Featuring: Fahamu Pecou / Yamin Semali / Methuzulah / Mike Flo / Ekundayo / DT / Massive the Victor / Boog Brown / Joe D / Divine Wiz / Great SCOTT

Gregory Porter: A Lion in the Subway [video]

NPR Music

Subway entertainers are a mixed bag, but in the arts mecca of New York City, they're often overqualified — so much so that bands and other musical acts need to audition to even set up underground. And those are just the "official" performers.
Gregory Porter has the frame of a football linebacker — maybe because he once was one, for a Division I college — and the rich, booming voice you might expect from a guy with such lungs. It cuts through a crowd with its strength, in the manner of an old-school soul singer; it demands attention with its sensitivity. If Porter weren't winning over the international jazz club and festival circuit, he'd rise above the din wherever he went.
Of course, it wasn't the most practical (or legal) thing to actually get Gregory Porter to perform on an operational MTA train. So we asked him if he'd perform for us at the New York Transit Museum in downtown Brooklyn, a collection of vintage memorabilia and reconditioned cars housed in a former subway station. All the better: Porter has a way with vintage suits, and there was a fortunate coincidence about the way it all felt right among the period-specific ads which flanked him. Accompanied by pianist Chip Crawford — who perfectly punches and beds the gaps here — Porter sang his original "Be Good (Lion's Song)," a parable of unrequited affection (which NPR Music named one of our 100 favorite songs of 2012) and the title track from his latest album.
At the beginning of the video, we scrambled for some visual direction to lead into the singing itself. We were looking for a prop for Porter to be reading, so I dug into my backpack and found the current edition of the New York City Jazz Record, a monthly guide to music in the city. Porter has a new album in the works, and, given the charisma and conviction on display here, he might just make the cover of that publication himself when it comes out. -- PATRICK JARENWATTANANON

CREDITSProduced by Saidah Blount, Mito Habe-Evans and Patrick Jarenwattananon; Videographers: Gabriella Garcia-Pardo, Mito Habe-Evans, Tim Wilkins; Audio engineered by Kevin Wait; Video edited by Gabriella Garcia-Pardo and Mito Habe-Evans; Special thanks to the New York Transit Museum

Not Worthy of National Attention: The NOLA Mother’s Day Mass Shootings by David J. Leonard

Not Worthy of National Attention: The NOLA Mother’s Day Mass Shootings by David J. Leonard | NewBlackMan (in Exile)
Amid the celebration of moms across the nation (amid the passage of policies that directly and indirectly hurt so many moms), America was once again reminded that all moms and all people are not celebrated equally; all lives are not worthy of similar mourning and attention.  In New Orleans, 19 people, including 2 children, were shot at a Mother’s Day Celebration. 
Hamilton Nolan reflected on the narrative that has already emerged (can you imagine how many stories about mothers celebrating with their children would have been on the air had this occurred in West Los Angeles or Manhattan, NY), offering a powerful comparison to the Boston marathon bombing:
A couple of disaffected young men in search of meaning drift into radical Islam and become violent. A couple of disaffected young men in search of meaning drift into street crime and become violent. A crowd of innocent people attending the Boston marathon are maimed by flying shrapnel from homemade bombs. A crowd of innocent people attending a Mother's Day celebration in New Orleans are maimed by flying bullets. Two public events. Two terrible tragedies. One act of violence becomes a huge news story, transfixing the media's attention for months and drawing outraged proclamations from politicians and pundits. Another act of violence is dismissed as the normal way of the world and quickly forgotten.
The juxtaposition of Boston and New Orleans is striking given the extent of death, given the violence that occurred within ritualized spaces, and given how each is a communal gathering space.  Of course one doesn’t have to travel down South to New Orleans or West to Chicago to see the hypocrisy in the separate and unequal narratives.  The lack of national attention afforded to violence in Roxbury, Mass; the lack of interventions in the form of jobs, reform to the criminal justice system, investment in education, and economic development is a testament to the very different ways violence registers in the national imagination.  Roxbury doesn’t enliven narratives of humanity but instead those dehumanizing representations.  
One comment in the thread made the link between Boston, Newtown (Aurora), and New Orleans in a profound way:
The difference is, of course, that the media and the public focus on Things That Could Happen to Middle Class White People. Bombs placed at a marathon or a plane hitting a building or a gunman mowing down people in Newtown, Connecticut or Aurora, Colorado are things that happened to middle class white people and show the other white people that it could happen to them. Crime is somehow not supposed to happen to middle class white people; it's supposed to happen to black people.
Whereas violence is supposed to happen in Chicago, Detroit, and New Orleans, because of “culture of poverty,” because of single parents, because of dystopia and nihilism, because of warped values, gangs, and purported pathologies, the Boston Marathon, an Aurora movie theater, or a Newtown school are re-imagined as safe.  These are places and spaces immune from those issues.
The normalization of violence in inner cities is why the suburbs exist; it is why police work to keep violence from entering into those suburban safety zones; it is why police guard the borders, making sure the wrong people don’t cross into the idyllic homeland of the American Dream.  It is why white middle-class America avoids “those” communities or activities presumed to be dangerous (or go during the right time with the right people); it is why the white middle-class America reacts when those spaces that are presumed to be safe are simply not. 
The movie theater, the school, and the marathon are symbols of Americana and therefore desirable, pure, and the embodiment of goodness.  As such, the violence that happens in these “otherwise safe” enterprises and places occurs because of the entry of “dangerous” and threatening people.  Outsiders enter into otherwise safe and idealized spaces.
It is almost as if the national media, the political elite, and society as a whole expects violence in New Orleans or Chicago and therefore anyone who is the victim is in some ways responsible since they knew the risks.  Whereas watching a movie in Aurora or going to Boston marathon are safe choices, a similar narrative doesn’t guide discussions of attending parade in New Orleans. 
The violence of New Orleans and Chicago are instead imagined as the result of violent places, cultures, and communities; there is no penetration of violence from the outside but instead manifests from within.  This explains the varied reactions whereupon the suburban spaces and those of the white middle class need protection, and insulation from those outside dangers.  With inner city spaces and those of the black under class, the focus rests with protecting and containing those outside from entry into the good parts of America.
In the aftermath of the Mother’s Day shooting, Mitch Landrieu cited the shooting as yet another reminder of the violence plaguing New Orleans.  Describing it as evidence of "the relentless drum beat of violence,” Landrieu quickly located the discussion within the narrative of New Orleans. "It's a culture of violence that has enveloped the city for a long, long period of time.”  Whereas James Holes or Adam Lanza were bad apples, this shooting was evidence of rotten trees, a rotten orchard, and worse a blithe destroying black by black.  The FBI similarly isolated the shooting, positioning it apart from Boston or even Newtown.  It said they "have no indication the shooting was an act of terrorism. 'It’s strictly an act of street violence in New Orleans.'"  Did Boston not happen on a street?  Even Aurora and Newtown, while occurring inside, occurred on a street, No?  Prior to any investigation, the shooting in New Orleans had already been profiled to fit a particular story of violence, guns, race, and safety. 
As pointed out in 2010, this is nothing new, as the shootings in New Orleans, during second line parades, have been used as a moment to demonize and pathologize culture as explanations for violence.  For example, Red Cotton, who was tragically shot at the Mother’s Day parade, laments this Fox News Report:  “Violence at second lines is nothing new, especially post Katrina. In 2006 alone, there were seven people shot during three different second lines, prompting former police chief Warren Riley to double permit fees to try and beef up security. But Riley's new fee structure was struck down in court, leaving many feeling vulnerableThe unfortunate murder that occurred on Sunday is not symptomatic of second line culture. On the contrary, its directly attributable to deep social ills that New Orleans has yet to get a firm grasp on: a broken criminal justice system that allows murderers to get off easily and maintains bad cops which in turn undermines resident's faith in cooperating with authorities; a broken education system that leaves citizens unable to function as adults in the professional world; and a economy based on two sectors that thwart ambition and opportunities - tourism and government.
The tragic murder  also highlights these issues but also demonstrates the cost and consequence of a culture of violence; one entrenched by narrow constructions of masculinity and gun culture.  It also reflects a failure to see the various manifestation and locations of violence through a shared narrative, instead racially profiling each toward very different stories, conclusions, and interventions. 
This isn’t simply abstract differences, or even the very different media coverage seen when we compare New Orleans and Boston, Chicago and Newtown. It isn’t simply reflective in the mere 10,000 dollars reward offered for information in New Orleans compared to 50,000 offered with Boston bombing or the ridiculous 2 million in the case of Assata Shakur.  It is embodied in fact that the police shut down Boston in search of suspects yet no such mobilization in New Orleans.  It is crystal clear as we examine the very difference responses, governing legislation, and the services available with each community.  Brentin Mock highlighted this important point, noting Governor Bobby Jindal’s decision to “allow a behavioral health program in Louisiana that served “at-risk,” low-income children to close.”  He writes:
Local attorney Samantha Kennedy, who’s also a capital mitigation specialist who worked in Tucson and Aurora after their mass shootings, questioned if trauma services would be available to the New Orleans communities as they were offered in Arizona and Colorado. “We have a multigenerational multi-layered PTSD in this community,” wrote Kennedy on Facebook. “Violence begets violence because trauma begets trauma. We live in a highly traumatized community. When are we going to take the biopsyhochemical and emotional needs of our people seriously?”
The tragic shooting in New Orleans is yet another reminder of America’s gun problem. Gun violence, from Newtown to Chicago, from the killing of youth in Aurora to those in New Orleans, continues without intervention. Societal failure and ineptitude in addressing gun violence at political, cultural, or social levels results from the very real ways that race impacts these discussions.  Just as every person within America is profiled as guilty or innocent, as desirable or undesirable, violence is profiled as well.  Gun violence is profiled racially. We have to look no farther than the responses from the FBI and the Mayor, from the news media and the political elite to see this at work.
***
David J. Leonard is Associate Professor in the Department of Critical Culture, Gender and Race Studies at Washington State University, Pullman. He has written on sport, video games, film, and social movements, appearing in both popular and academic mediums. His work explores the political economy of popular culture, examining the interplay between racism, state violence, and popular representations through contextual, textual, and subtextual analysis.  Leonard’s latest book After Artest: Race and the Assault on Blackness was recently published by SUNY Press.

"Being Black at Harvard was not supposed to be the Culmination of the Liberation Struggle"—Fred Moten on WUNC

The State of Things w/ Frank Stasio | WUNC-91.5
Duke Professor Carries on Tradition of Black Radical Poetry
Listen49:09
Fred Moten grew up in a home and in a time where revolution was not portrayed as a romantic dream for the future, but a vital necessity for survival. He was raised in Las Vegas in the late '60s and '70s by a family who understood the need for change.
“Las Vegas was known as the Mississippi of the West,” said Moten on the State of Things. He is a poet and a professor of modern poetry at Duke University. His mother was one of many activists in Las Vegas struggling against the violence of racism during the late '50s into the '70s.  
“I remember when Martin Luther King was shot. I remember that being a major event. I remember my mom crying. I remember knowing it had something deep and fundamental to do with me and with my life and my chances,” Moten said. 
 From Las Vegas, Moten went to Pittsburgh and Arkansas following his mother’s thirst for education and caring for his grandfather. Soon after his travels, he applied and was enrolled at Harvard University. It wasn’t exactly what he thought it would be. 
“I felt I would join a young cohort of Black people who were going to Harvard to train themselves to be a revolutionary cohort…That we were going there to learn things that would allow us to change the world,” said Moten. “And when I got there it was not quite that way.”  
After his first year struggling to find his place at Harvard in 1981, he took a hiatis. He took a job at the Nevada Nuclear Test Site in Las Vegas for a year, and it was there that he realized his tool for revolution was poetry.  
“I find myself cleaning toilets and looking in my reflection in the mirror of the bathroom,” Moten describes. “We had to work for eight hours a day, but we didn’t necessarily have eight hours of work to do, so what we did was find other things to do.”
So Moten found friends to talk philosophy with at the test site. And he wrote over 1,000 sonnets that year. Then he found it was time to return to Harvard. 
Fred Moten’s literary influences have spanned the likes of everyone from Amiri Baraka to Wallace Stevens and even Emily Dickinson. His years of academic and poetic exploration led him to Durham, North Carolina where he now resides. 
“I believe more intensely than I did before in the importance of thinking and study, and the importance of thinking and study to liberation.” he said. "That these things are bound up with one another in ways I’m still trying to consider and involve myself in.” 

Can Black-owned Franchises Help Narrow the Wealth Gap? Duke Economist William Darity Weighs In

MarketPlace
“Existing racial differences in wealth go the full distance in explaining racial differences in self-employment,” says William Darity, a professor of African-American studies, public policy and economics at Duke University. “If we’re really concerned about the self-employment gap in the United States, or the franchise participation gap more narrowly, we have to address racial differences in wealth.”

If You Want to Move Young People Out of Poverty, Give them Mentors, Not Tests by Mark Naison

If You Want to Move Young People Out of Poverty, Give them Mentors, Not Tests by Mark Naison  | special to NewBlackMan (in Exile)
Over the last ten years, I have interviewed well over 200 people about their experiences growing up in the Bronx between the 1940's and the 1980's, the large majority of them African American, smaller number Latino and white. School experiences played an important role in these interviews, and from them, I have been able to draw some conclusions that have implications for current policy discussions. One thing that came across loud and clear was that there was no "golden age" in public education for working class students, and young people of color.  The schools my informants went to were heavily tracked, and young people in the lower tracks got a far inferior education to those in the higher ones. There were also more than a few racist teachers, and others who whose teaching methods were rigid in the extreme.
Nevertheless, a good portion of my informants did manage to go on to college and achieve a foothold in the middle class coming out of Bronx public or Catholic schools and their explanation for how they did so revealed common themes. Some came from families where academic success was nurtured by taking children to museums, and concerts, and giving them music lessons; others were taken under their wing by teachers or coaches who would give them extra instruction, help them find jobs, or intervene very aggressively if they felt they were taking the wrong path or hanging out with the wrong people.
The common denominator here was the "personal touch."  Virtually everyone I interviewed who was able to move from a working class childhood to professional status had someone invest large amounts of time and energy in expanding their "cultural capital" by building their self confidence as well as their skills.  Schools as institutions did not do that—it was teachers, coaches and occasional school administrators who took it upon themselves to develop one on one relationships with children in their care, who created the basis for collective social mobility.
And as badly as schools were tracked and as discriminatory some of their practices were, they had a few things going for them that made this kind of mentoring possible. First was the extra curricular activities these schools offered. Until the fiscal crisis of the mid 1970's, NYC public schools not only had great music programs and sports teams from middle school on up, they were open five days a week from 3-5PM and 7-9 PM for supervised activities led by teachers. These activities allowed young people to develop relationships with teachers doing things they enjoyed, as well as giving teachers a chance to get to know young people in settings where grades and tests were not involved.
Even though teaching in many of our schools may be better than it was then, I am worried that the constant testing, coupled with the threat and reality of schools closings, is removing the possibility of the kind of mentoring that was the key to young people escaping poverty in the Bronx schools of the post war era. I am not sure that testing and drilling by teachers who leave the profession after a few years is an adequate replacement for that kind of personal attention.
***
Mark Naison is a Professor of African-American Studies and History at Fordham University and Director of Fordham’s Urban Studies Program. He is the author of two books, Communists in Harlem During the Depression and White Boy: A Memoir. Naison is also co-director of the Bronx African American History Project (BAAHP). Research from the BAAHP will be published in a forthcoming collection of oral histories Before the Fires: An Oral History of African American Life From the 1930’s to the 1960’s.

The David Murray Big Band feat Macy Gray: "Wake Up" [video]

David Murray (director, saxophone); Macy Gray (lead vocals); Tony Kofi, Chris Biscoe (alto saxophone); Brian Edwards, Richie Garrison (tenor saxophone); Lawrence Jones (baritone saxophone); Noel Langley, Mario Morejon Hernandez, Byron Wallen (trumpet); Nathaniel Cross, Denis Cuni Rodriguez, Trevor Alexander Edwards, Tom White, Fayyaz Virji (trombone); Ande Foxxe, Andre Williams (guitar); Marc Cary (piano, Hammond B3 organ); Jaribu Shahid (bass); Ranzel Merritt (drums).