As the aggrieved part of Baltimore rises, so do the moralizing voices of local authority in their characterizations of “thug” about those they are supposed to serve. Continue reading The incredible offensiveness of “#thug” | #BaltimoreUprising #BlackLivesMatter
Tag Archives: Racism
Kalief Browder, a “desaparecido” in Jim Crow’s jails | #BlackLivesMatter on Blog#42
While I don’t think America’s cruel prison-industrial complex has gotten to the point where prisoners are mass-murdered and buried in mass graves, we have gotten to the point where we urgently need to be openly engaged in a conversation about how children and adults of both sexes, particularly African Americans, are whisked off the streets and “disappeared” into jails like Rikers for years at a time, without a trial, for no good reason, left to the whims of a system that is capricious in the way it metes out justice to those who don’t have the means to put up a legal defense. Continue reading Kalief Browder, a “desaparecido” in Jim Crow’s jails | #BlackLivesMatter on Blog#42
Some thoughts on @NewBlackMan and @DrJamesPeterson: The Role of Black Intellectuals | #BlackCultureMatters on Blog#42
Dear Professors Neal and Peterson,
I write to you today because as I gave your talk on the role of the Black public intellectual a second listen in preparation for an entirely different essay, my seventeen year old daughter left her computer to sit near me and listen. While she may at times listen from her desk while engaged in some activity, Girly never leaves her computer to listen to anything I might be playing. But she did, and I thought I would tell you why. Continue reading Some thoughts on @NewBlackMan and @DrJamesPeterson: The Role of Black Intellectuals | #BlackCultureMatters on Blog#42
1.5 million missing Black men: How many innocents?
Can you imagine spending thirteen years in jail for a crime you didn’t commit simply because the exculpatory evidence you might have defended yourself with happened to have been given to someone as a gift? Continue reading 1.5 million missing Black men: How many innocents?
Open letter to Ben Affleck | Blog#42
Dear Ben,
I write this open letter after reading about your request to have a part of your ancestry hidden from the show, Finding Your Roots. Continue reading Open letter to Ben Affleck | Blog#42
A riff on MLK’s “Three Evils of Society”-calling BlackLivesMatter, MoralMonday, and the relatively conscious rest of us
Martin Luther King gave “The Three Evils of Society” speech on August 31, 1967, at the first and only National Conference on New Politics in Chicago. Continue reading A riff on MLK’s “Three Evils of Society”-calling BlackLivesMatter, MoralMonday, and the relatively conscious rest of us
MLK died warning us about inequality back in the 60’s | Social #Activism on Blog#42
I came across an excellent mash-up of segments from Martin Luther King’s speeches on poverty and the end of an interview of James Baldwin in PBS’ “The Negro and The American Promise.” These two men expressed, in ten minutes and fifty three seconds, far more than Thomas Piketty did in a seven hundred-page book. Continue reading MLK died warning us about inequality back in the 60’s | Social #Activism on Blog#42
The man who was beaten by #SanBernadino deputies is white. Now what?
Francis Pusok was badly beaten by a group of San Bernadino Sheriff’s deputies, as seen in a video that has, by now, been widely circulated. What many readers and viewers may not realize is that Pusok is white. Continue reading The man who was beaten by #SanBernadino deputies is white. Now what?
Video: James Baldwin on “The Negro and the American Promise” | PBS
This is a curated version of a PBS extra I will be referencing in an upcoming piece.
James Baldwin on “The Negro and the American Promise”
James Baldwin appears in Boston public television producer Henry Morgenthau III’s “The Negro and the American Promise,” alongside Martin Luther King and Malcolm X. The New York Times described the James Baldwin segment as “a television experience that seared the conscience.” Continue reading Video: James Baldwin on “The Negro and the American Promise” | PBS
From Lena Dunham to Trevor Noah, via Isaiah Washington
Lena Dunham compared her Jewish boyfriend to a dog in a New Yorker piece. Trevor Noah, Jon Stewart’s just-announced replacement, turns out to have tweeted bad sexist and antisemitic cliches. Isaiah Washington, when asked by Don Lemon about Chris Rock getting pulled over three times over seven weeks for “driving while black,” suggested Rock should “adapt.” Continue reading From Lena Dunham to Trevor Noah, via Isaiah Washington