Mark Anthony Neal's Blog, page 951

Decoding the Images of Black Women; and The Musical Life & Death of a Chocolate City on the October 8th Left of Black

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Johnson</b>, author of  </span><a href="http://www.baylorpress.com/Book/345/I... style="font-family: Times;">Iconic: Decoding Images of the Revolutionary Black Woman</span></i></a><span style="font-family: Times;"> (Baylor University Press) and longtime Washington, D.C. based journalist, <b>Dr. Natalie Hopkinson</b>, author of </span><a href="http://www.dukeupress.edu/Catalog/Vie... style="font-family: Times;">Go-Go Live:The Musical Life and Death of a Chocolate City</span></i></a><span style="font-family: Times;"> (Duke University Press, 2012).</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Times;">Johnson is </span><span style="font-family: Times;">Assistant Professor of Gender, Women’s & Sexuality Studies and English at Grinnell College in Iowa and Hopkinson is </span><span style="font-family: Times;">contributing editor of The Root.com, teaches Journalism at Georgetown University, Director of the Future Arts and Society Project at the Interactivity Foundation in Washington, D.C., and  Co-author with Natalie Y. Moore of <i>Deconstructing Tyrone: A New Look at Black Masculinity in the Hip-Hop Generation</i> (Cleis Press, 2006) </span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Times;">***</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0.1pt 0in; text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0.1pt 0in; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Times;"><a href="http://leftofblack.tumblr.com/"&... of Black</a> airs at 1:30 p.m. (EST) on Mondays on the Ustream channel: <a href="http://tinyurl.com/LeftofBlack"&... style="color: blue;"> </span></u></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0.1pt 0in; text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0.1pt 0in; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Times;">Viewers are invited to participate in a Twitter conversation with Neal and featured guests while the show airs using hash tags #LeftofBlack or #dukelive.  </span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0.1pt 0in; text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0.1pt 0in; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Times;">Left of Black is recorded and produced at the John Hope Franklin Center of International and Interdisciplinary Studies at Duke University.</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0.1pt 0in; text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0.1pt 0in; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Times;">***</span></span><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0.1pt 0in; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Times;">Follow Left of Black on Twitter: @LeftofBlack</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0.1pt 0in; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Times;">Follow Mark Anthony Neal on Twitter: @NewBlackMan</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0.1pt 0in; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Times;">Follow Natalie Hopkinson on Twitter: @NattyRankins</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0.1pt 0in; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Times;">Follow Lakesia D. Johnson on Twitter: @ProfSoulSista</span></span></div><div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com...' alt='' /></div>

Why the 3rd Grade is Critical in a Child's Education

The Melissa Harris Perry Show with Anne Murphy Paul[image error]

StereoTypes - Hit It And Quit It

iamOTHER 

Are you down with a one night stand?
 
Host Ryan Hall penetrates those in's and out's that makes people desire those screams and shouts.[image error]

12,000 South African Miners Fired for Striking

Al Jazeera English
Anglo American Platinum - the world's largest platinum producer, has sacked up to 12,000 miners in South Africa for staging what the company said unlawful strike. The industrial action has also spread to other mining industries with over 75,000 miners striking across the country.
South Africa, which produces an estimated 75 per cent of the world's platinum supply, has been facing labour unrest in recent weeks over the issue of pay rise.
Al Jazeera's Tania Page reports from Rustenburg.[image error]

Anti-Latino Laws Ignite The South

Anti-Latino Laws Ignite The South by Lamont Lilly | special to NewBlackMan (in Exile)
In its original format, Alabama’s Beason-Hammon Act granted school resource officers the right to badger 5th graders on the basis of their immigration status. The state of Alabama, which passed the Beason-Hammon Act (or HB 56) in June of 2011, was the only state in the country requiring public school administrators to verify immigration data for new K-12 students. However, just two months ago in August of this year, the 11thCircuit Court of Appeals struck down the student provision of HB 56, declaring it unconstitutional and a legal breach of Plyer vs. Doe, which mandates that states provide an education to all children, regardless of their immigration status. The 11th Circuit also struck down Georgia’s HB 87, a state proposal to criminalize the “transporting and harboring of illegal immigrants,” a statute with anti-Latino written all over it, a proposal with no parallel within the U.S. system of federal law.
These recent rulings were key in dispelling the notion that individual states can create their own immigration regulations, bypassing federal authority. When initially proposed, Alabama’s HB 56 along with Georgia’s HB 87, were sold as valuable pieces of legislation that would boost local economies – laws that would crack down on the presence of those entering the U.S. illegally. Conservatives billed such bigotry as a quick fix to unemployment and poorly performing schools.  Instead, such rogue policies were a complete setback to Civil Rights and due process.  In Alabama, children of all ages were deterred from attending school and pursuing their education.  Many withdrew out of fear that their families could be deported if questioned about their immigration status. According to the U.S. Justice Department, over 13% of Latino children withdrew over the one year HB 56 operated before federal intervention. Instead of teaching Geometry, classroom instructors were fishing for birth certificates.
As for those local economies and decreasing unemployment rates, Alabama’s number one industry, Agriculture, was damn near decimated. We’re talking an agricultural sector accustomed to generating over $5.5 billion per year. Industries dependent upon migrant labor, like Alabama’s poultry operations, were devastated. Small farming operations were brought to a halt, as valuable workers were scared indoors. Others simply migrated for the purpose of mere safety. Such complications have also been used as justification for not paying temporary workers – hired and fired a month later, and with no pay to show for it.  Many Latinos have refused to report crimes, whether legal or undocumented, any potential scrutiny by local law enforcement could initiate an ICE (Immigration & Customs Enforcement) investigation.
Though portions of these bills were repealed, human rights supporters have continued to sound the alarm, for this branding of social control affects all poor and oppressed people – creating fear and frustration through alienation. Recently, the state of Alabama has challenged the ruling of the 11th Circuit’s three-judge panel and has asked for a new hearing. Though particular provisions were found to be outright unconstitutional, a violation of the Equal Protection Clause of the 14thAmendment, state officials are arguing that federal courts overstepped state jurisdiction. Unfortunately, it seems that like Arizona, Alabama is positioning itself to take its immigration law all the way to the Supreme Court. For those of us who are U.S. History buffs, one can’t help but draw a direct correlation to Governor George Wallace’s stand against federal authorities in the 1960’s. His hard-line for segregation against the U.S. Supreme Court aroused racists nationwide.
In addition to federal judges, HB 56 has also caught the attention of President Obama. Even Barack has gone on record stating that “it’s a bad law.” But then again, the Obama Administration deported 396While members of congress, federal judges and state legislators continue to debate, human rights defenders applaud what little progress has been made. We know damn well however, that those of us who despise such racist bigotry must continue to raise our voices. Deleting a few provisions isn’t going to be enough here, not while racial profiling still runs rampant. When traffic stops and roadblocks become immigrant obstacle courses, ethics become a serious matter of legal concern. If justice fails to prevail in this case, such structural hate could begin to blanket the entire southern Black Belt, setting new precedents for states like South Carolina, Georgia and Arkansas.
In response to this year long battle, Immigrants Rights activists have stayed the course. Protestors have deployed an array of tactics such as rallies and community forums, teach-ins and street blockades. DREAM activists and immigrant youth have conducted walk-outs. Workers and adult cooperatives have organized major strikes. Latino customers have chosen to boycott local businesses, while tens of thousands have convened in solidarity. Organizations as the United Steelworkers Union, ACLU and Immigrant Justice League have joined forces. The NAACP and Southern Poverty Law Center are also on board. Ironically, Birmingham’s 16th Street Baptist Church has served as a rest haven and planning headquarters, the same church bombed by racists in 1963.
The bottom line is that HB 56 is a law that continues to ostracize and divide, conjuring fear, heightening the level of innocent victims and false arrests – perpetuating a complete violation of civil liberties. These anti-Hispanic acts aren’t merely a matter of disenfranchisement. Latino immigrants are being denied the right to even exist in some states, to barely breathe without some “officer of the law” riding their backs with an iron boot. True, the recent rulings by the 11thCircuit Court of Appeals are great, but there should be no compromise with laws that encourage hate. For those of us who are abreast of such racist regulations, let us spread the word and continue to organize. For those of you who are learning of such injustice for the first time, join the movement’s noble cause. We the People say, “freedom for all,” and down with HB 56!
***
Lamont Lilly is a contributing editor with the Triangle Free Press, Human Rights Delegate with Witness for Peace and organizer with Workers World Socialist Party.  He resides in Durham, N.C.  Follow on him Twitter @LamontLilly
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bloggingheads.tv: Brentin Mock and Adam Serwer Talk Voter ID Laws

Adamize: Adam Serwer ( Mother Jones ) & Brentin Mock ( Colorlines ,  The Nation )On Adamize, Adam and Brentin discuss the Tea Party push for voter ID laws. Would these laws be less onerous if states provided voters with free IDs? Is there a constitutional right to vote, and would universal voter registration make a difference? Has the Obama administration adequately enforced civil rights laws with regard to voting? Switching gears, they criticize conservative outlets for hyping a 2007 video of Obama discussing race. Finally, they differ over whether race played a role in Obama's poor showing in the first debate.[image error]

Kenyans Seek British Compensation for Colonial Abuses

AlJazeeraEnglish  The British high court in London will decide on Friday, whether a case brought by a group of elderly Kenyans will continue. The court has access to more than eight thousand secret files, and is considering if too much time has passed to hold a fair trial. They are seeking compensation for abuses committed by British colonial forces in the 1950s. Charlie Angela reports.
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Michael Eric Dyson on "Black Self Hatred"

BETNetworks  Following a heated panel discussion about the black community and racism, Michael Eric Dyson shares why he thinks fellow Don't Sleep! sleeptalker is "an honest expression of black self hatred in action."[image error]

Freeloading Muppets: Mitt, the Conservative Right and its Assault on Sesame Street

Freeloading Muppets: Mitt, the Conservative Right and its assault on Sesame Streetby David J. Leonard | NewBlackMan (in Exile)
During last night’s presidential debate, which was lackluster to say the least, Mitt Romney finally unveiled some specifics as it relates to his slash the deficit, taxes, and spending economic plan – the “no reason to hope, the future will be grim” plan.  He announced his desire to defund PBS, which according to Neil deGrasse Tyson, accounts for .012% of the federal budget.  His war on Muppets prompted a deluge of social media posts ranging from images of an unemployed Big Bird to an angry Elmo seeking revenge. 
While reflecting people’s anger and anxiety about the nature of the political process, his oft-handed remark is revealing.  At one level, it demonstrates the Republican Party’s opposition to public support for institutions and organizations that advance a social good.  It represents their contempt for the social contract. At another level, it embodies an ideological movement that promotes divestment from public education, health care, and countless other social programs.  The recasting of Cookie Monster, Grover, and Snuffy as freeloading welfare recipients constitutes a continuation of the GOP’s structural adjustment program that started some thirty years ago.  Whether or not Mitt Romney like’s Big Bird, or public teachers, firefighters, or health care workers is irrelevant.  
The gutting of public higher education throughout the nation, the destruction of America’s parks and recreation facilities, and now the proposed foreclosure on Sesame Street is part of a larger movement to divested from public support and institutions, that which is utilized by the middle-class, working-class and America’s poor.  It is yet another example of the true essence of the GOP AKA POP – Privatization Old Party.
While also akin to announcing a saving plan for a new car solely based around searching for pennies in the couch, the assault on Big Bird, Elmo, and friends is revealing.  And it ain’t all about the Benjamins.  The GOP’s disdain for Sesame Street is nothing new.  During the summer of 2011, Ben Shapiro, while making an appearance on Fox News’ Hannity,  “jokingly” announced his desire to “cap” the characters of Sesame Street.  He followed this up with more “serious” criticisms, denouncing America’s favorite kid’s show because of its “soft bigotry of low expectations,” its promotion of “gender neutral language,” and its advocacy to “give boys dolls and girls fire trucks.”  The other members of Hannity’s “great all-American” panel similarly spoke about the downgrading of America’s moral fabric, seemingly linking the messages of Sesame Street to the cultural wars.   The Huffington Post describes his criticism of Sesame Street in the following way:
Citing interviews with one of the show's creators, early episodes of the show featuring hippies and racial reconciliation and, more recently, incidents such as 2009's "Pox News" controversy, Shapiro writes that "Sesame Street tried to tackle divorce, tackled 'peaceful conflict resolution' in the aftermath of 9/11 and had Neil Patrick Harris on the show playing the subtly-named 'fairy shoeperson.'"
Patrick Harris, to Shapiro's chagrin, is gay. And, even scarier, Cookie Monster says cookies are only a sometimes food now; the venerable sweets machine has added fruits and vegetables to his diet, indicating a major liberal plot.
On Martin Bashir’s show on MSNBC, Shapiro similarly denounced children’s television for promoting “a self-esteem ethos, the idea that, to paraphrase Barney ‘everyone is special’; an unearned self-esteem.” In other words, it is a show for the 47%, who purportedly think of themselves as victims.  For Mitt and friends, Sesame Street coddles and placates this segment of society.
Yet, the attacks on Sesame Street (and by extension the liberal media and big government intrusion in family matters) are nothing new.  A 1992 column in The Economist similarly denounced Sesame Street as a liberal assault on American values:
The problem comes when the sensible tolerance and respect of “Sesame Street” are mutated into something less appealing. First, it becomes a kind of hypertolerance (which argues, for example, that the canon of black female authors is as rich as that of white male authors); which is merely silly. Second, it becomes an intolerance of those who do not practice this hyper-tolerance (so that anyone who argues that a canon of authors who happen to be white and male is better than the one picked by sex and skin color is a racist sexist); which is pernicious. It is the intolerance that has come to be called “political correctness”—or PC (Sesame Street, the acceptable face 1992, A30).
The talk of budget deficits and sensible economic policy is a farse, a rouse given the longstanding effort to divest from public programs, particularly those ideas of justice, equality, and social good.  The criticisms that “multiculturalism” or “tolerance” represents a vehicle for the “intolerance” for dominant values (white, Christian, middle-class) that have purportedly been central to America’s historic greatness are common to the broader culture.  Equally troubling to those critics of Sesame Street is not only tax-payer support for a program that is neither intended for white-middle class audiences (Shapiro notes the history behind Sesame Street), but in their mind devalues whiteness for the sake of multiculturalism agenda. 
To understand this criticism and to comprehend the right’s denunciation of Sesame Street mandates an examination of this larger history and the ways in which Sesame Street has built upon the civil rights movements and those concerned with justice, equality, and fairness.   In 1979, The New York Times identified the primary focus of Sesame Street as the “4-year-old inner-city black youngster.” Jennifer Mandel, in “The Production of a Beloved Community: Sesame Street’s Answer to America’s Inequalities,” argues that while the original intended audience for the show was “disadvantaged urban youth” who suffered because of “the limited availability of preschool education” the appeal and impact of the show transcended any particular demographic.  
While addressing structural inequalities and countering the systemic failures in America’s educational television was part of the show’s mission, it more masterfully offered a utopic vision of America and the broader world.  Joel Spring describes the mission of Children’s Television Workshop with Sesame Streetas one bound by a desire “to shape public morality” and offer “a standard as to what the world should be like.  Or as Robin D.G. Kelley might describe it, it is a show dedicated to the cultivation of “freedom dreams.”  Imagining a place of “sweet air” and “sunny days” that “sweep the clouds away,” where “friendly neighborhoods” meet and “doors are open wide” Sesame Street is a utopia worthy of any person’s imagination.  
The power of Sesame Street doesn’t merely resonate with its history, its efforts to challenge differential access to educational opportunities or even its emphasis “on the representations of diverse groups” (Kraidy 2002), but through its opposition to the normalization of whiteness; its power rests with its critiques of and counter narratives to hegemonic notions of identity.   No wonder Mittens and friends have no love for Sesame Street.
The examples of Sesame Street’s opposition and resistance to Mitt’s America are endless. The history Sesame Street is one where it sought dominant white racial frames, particularly those that reinforced the desirability and hyper visibility of white, male, heterosexual middle-class identities – Mitt and friends. The anti-Sesame wing of the GOP doesn’t just hate Big Bird or the cost to produce Big Bird, but the agenda, message, and dreaming available on Sesame Street.  
At its core, the criticisms directed at Sesame Street are racially coded and racially reactionary; it is not simply a matter of the unnatural celebration of undesirable and inferior identities and experiences but denying white male Christian identity its rightful place on America’s cultural mantle.  The argument offered by Willard Romney, Shapiro and others imagines Sesame Streetas a white-funded source of propaganda that unnaturally elevates racial (and sexual) Others all while denying the beauty and superiority of whiteness.   In their estimation, it is yet another program where he and his friends are paying for something that benefits the 47%.
Given the history of the show and the efforts to challenge, in message and in its opposition to invisibility, the systemic normalization of particular white identities, it is hard not to see his comments as part of a larger backlash against multiculturalism and any effort that unsettles the hegemony of whiteness.   It isn’t simply***
David J. Leonard is Associate Professor in the Department of Critical Culture, Gender and Race Studies at Washington State University, Pullman. He is the author of the just released After Artest: Race and the War on Hoop (SUNY Press) as well as several other works. Leonard is a regular contributor to NewBlackMan, layupline, Feminist Wire, and Urban Cusp. He is frequent contributor to Ebony, Slam, and Racialicious as well as a past contributor to Loop21, The Nation and The Starting Five. He blogs @No Tsuris.
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William 'Sandy' Darity Discusses 2012 Presidential Race in North Carolina on PBS NewsHour

PBS NewsHour In 2008, North Carolina went blue for the first time since 1976, in large part due to a high turnout of African-American voters. But with enthusiasm ebbing over the down economy and unmet expectations among key voting blocs, turnout may be too unpredictable to know which way the state will swing in 2012. Jeffrey Brown reports.[image error]