Derrion Albert: No More Space on the Wall

…Latiker wonders how she can possibly make room for Derrion’s headstone. Latiker created a memorial two years ago to honor the young people killed in Chicago. Each time a child is shot, stabbed or beaten to death, she adds a stone to the memorial wall.

“We have 163 stones right now, but we are 20, now 21, behind,” she said. “I thought, well, I hoped, I dreamed that there’d be more space on the wall than kids being killed.” (Source)

“I blame it on (F)eminism…”

…The entire episode reminds me of one of the more insightful things my mother told me (and regardless of the current state of our relationship, my mother has told me MANY insightful things): “We read them, but really, they do not read us.”

Meaning, of course, that many white women of privilege and access think what they write is new because they don’t really bother to read the work of women (and men) outside of their race and/or class. And yet we think nothing of reading theirs and weighing their contributions as part of our process of informing ourselves as we begin to do our own work.

~Rebecca Walker

Give Me Fever

"Final Score." PPR_Scribe

"Young Fan on the Bam-Bam Sticks." PPR_Scribe

"And the Crowd Roared." PPR_Scribe

Study of Implicit Bias Goes “Neuro”

In case you miss it in the Situationalist post below, this is an example of our stimulus dollars at work. As a researcher, I could not be more tickled.

Overt expressions of bigotry are relatively infrequent, but current psychological research finds that racial biases often lurk in the unconscious mind, influencing behavior in subtle ways without one’s intent. Under a five-year, $834,000 National Science Foundation CAREER award, New York University Psychology Assistant Professor David Amodio is examining the dynamics of such unconscious, or “implicit,” racial associations, through research that aims to advance our basic understanding of how neural mechanisms of learning and memory function in social behavior. The award is funded through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA).

Amodio and his colleagues are conducting research that links emotional and conceptual (i.e., stereotyping) forms of implicit racial bias to different systems of learning and memory in the brain. By linking implicit bias to neural processes, he can apply knowledge from existing scholarship on how these systems learn and unlearn, and how they interact with mechanisms for cognition, emotion, and behavior, to obtain a novel perspective on the dynamics of racial prejudice.

Night and Day (Updated)

Great post at Sociological Images about the contrast in how Germany has chosen to remember Dachau as a historical site and the way that we in the US have chosen to remember Laura Plantation as a historical site:

Plantations were many other things, but they were also the engine of slavery.  It is this that should stand out as the most important thing about them. Concentration camps were many other things as well (e.g., a military training site, a daily job site for German soldiers, a factory producing goods, and a strategic part of the war effort), but we have absorbed the important lessons from them so thoroughly that it is difficult to even imagine what an alternative tour might look like. In contrast, one can visit the [Laura] Plantation and come away not really thinking about slavery at all, in favor of how pretty the china was and oooh did you smell that candle as we walked by? Delicious. I need a coke, you?

UPDATED: Please read the discussion in the original post. Also, I have corrected the name of the plantation, as well as provided a link to the website. Here is a sample:

Here is a story that records the gradual disintegration not only of one of Louisiana’s oldest dynasties but also reflects the loss of Louisiana’s native and long-dominant Creole way of life.  In classic storytelling format, the tour highlights the most critical times in this family’s lives; times and events that best exemplify how different the Louisiana Creole was from the Anglo-American and also how this family responded to the ever-encroaching Anglo world.  Coupled with their life stories, displays of life-sized figures of Laura’s family members, their portraits, photographs, weapons, clothing, heirlooms, furniture and business & personal papers all bring the visitor up close and face-to-face with 4 generations of these Creole personalities.

A 90-minute specialty tour, specific to slavery is also offered:

This 90-minute tour covers the institution, practice and effects of slavery as it happened to the inhabitants of this plantation and in Louisiana, from the beginnings of the colony and into the 20th Century.  Special emphasis is on the contributions of Louisiana’s enslaved majority to Louisiana culture and history.

OSF Tribute to a True Musical Maverick: Meshell Ndegeocello

It’s Tribute Week here at Old School Friday! And here is mine:

It was a hot summer day, Washington D.C., at some outdoor urban fair celebrating some thing or another and featuring overpriced bottled water and free concerts. It was a homecoming of sorts for Meshelle Ndegeocello, a relatively new artist on the scene. Though she was an Army brat born in Germany—she had spent some childhood and college years not far from where she was now jamming on stage. I was impressed with how tight her band was, how they changed chords at her merest nod of instruction and took it to the bridge one more time with the merest thump-signal of her bass. Somewhere in this enjoyment of the concert, the woman standing next to me said “Sweet Jesus, it’s like I wandered into a meeting of the dyke mafia.”

I experienced a moment of confusion. Perhaps she had assumed I was Family and was sharing a wry in-joke observation with me. In which case I would be flattered. But perhaps she had assumed I was a fellow homophobe and was sharing a hateful condemnation with me. In which case I would be outraged.

Probably for the sake of this blog post all these years later I should make up a story of a witty response on my part and a funny resolution. But as happens in most such ambiguous encounters, I said nothing. The moment hung there and then dissipated, leaving the sounds of Meshell and her kick-ass band going through another number for the crowd.

But I do recall then noticing for the first time that the audience was filled with almost all women. Some seamed just to be jamming and enjoying the music. Many, though, seemed to be silently dissecting Meshell and her lyrics: Here she is talking about “if that’s your boyfriend he wasn’t last night…wassup with that? Is that Black woman up front her partner? How well does she know Madonna? I thought her stuff would sound more like John Mellencamp. How the hell do you pronounce her name, anyway? So, is she a rapper or what?

OK. So I know I was probably imagining what these women were thinking. And I understand that most people—regardless of mafia membership—probably had to work a little at fitting Meshell into a neat box. She was funk and hip hop and spoken word and R&B and jazz and rock. She was an openly bisexual woman singing songs about loving men and loving women. She played an instrument that was a tall as she was. What the hell was she?

"Gallop." cheesy42, http://www.flickr.com/photos/cheesy42/3367720000/

A maverick, that’s what.

How fitting, then, that she was recording on Madonna’s then-new label, Maverick Records.

Since that first album, she has continued to evolve. Themes of the the often-time painful exploration of spirituality and sexual and racial  identity have taken more space on her albums. Themes of sexual and romantic longing infuse her lyrics in ways that are honest and blunt and familiar to anyone who has ever loved and not-gotten or loved and lost. She has explored jazz instrumentals that—in an ideal world—would have critics talking of her ushering in a “neo-fusion” movement as they have talked of her jump starting “neo-soul.” She has collaborated with some of the most talented artists in the music world.

She is a staple on tribute albums and movie soundtracks, with her ability to so expertly study and reinterpret the music of her predecessors and to so beautifully  paint music-mood pictures.

Despite being—still—highly unpackageable in a heavily packaged musical world, she has managed to produce a steady output of music that is greedily gobbled up by a strong, if somewhat small, fan base.

And I hear that she will be releasing a new album!

I hope that this means she will also be embarking on a tour—a major one that will pass through my small corner of the universe. The Meshell Ndegeocello experience is not complete without seeing her in concert. I saw her one more time after the free D.C. concert—this time indoors, in Montreux, Switzerland at the famous jazz festival. Again, she was absolutely amazing. Again, her band was tight. Again, she took us through all sorts of genres and moods and grooves. She, obviously, takes performing seriously, as she had been no less professional and serious about her performance at her early free D.C. concert than on this international stage.

I can only hope—and wait. And in the meantime offer up this Old School Friday Tribute to a True Musical Maverick, Meshell Ndegeocello. As always, have a great OSF and a wonderful weekend. Enjoy!

Dred Loc (Sly and Robbie Edit)

Who is He (And What is He to You)?

Leviticus: Faggot

Fool of Me

Picture Show

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As always, a big thank you to OSF hostesses, Marvalus at Conversations with Marva and MrsGrapevine.

Please check out the rules for joining and list of other OSF participants here.

President Obama: Bringing Jackass Back

"I have a problem with my camera..." publicenergy, http://www.flickr.com/photos/publicenergy/2974440773/

I really have nothing new to add to the Kanye West incident. I did link yesterday to an interesting cross-post. (Read the comments to the original and cross posts as well.) I think that post relates to this occasional series I am (occasionally) working on, “Some of the People Some of the Time.” I do know that West’s outburst was probably the best thing to happen to Swift’s career in—perhaps—her career thus far, and the best thing to happen to Knowles’ career since…whatever last good thing happened to her career. (Sorry, I do not follow Beyonce so you will have to insert with your own knowledge). And I think I am not alone in saying I never even would have been aware that the award show took place had it not been for the incident, so the producers should be cutting West some checks about now or at least sending him flowers.

No. I am not going to comment on all that. What I do want to comment on is President Obama’s alleged off-the-record characterization of West as a “jackass.”

Now, I first thought, Hmmm, I wonder if he will now have West, Swift and Knowles over the White House for beers (and a lemonade, as I understand the artist who was the brunt of his outburst is not of legal drinking age).

Then I thought How wonderful! I hope this means “jackass” is back!

You see, I have a thing about old-fashioned words of insult. I find them charming and a lot more pleasant than more modern curse words. Jackass rolls off the tongue much nicer than its peer term using the same ending paired with hole. I am all for, in fact, eliminating all curse words that use “private” parts of the body and/or those body parts paired with scatological terms and replacing them with tried and true more traditional slurs and curses.

Another replacement for a-hole I have heard the president use is bonehead. Actually, I think he used the adjective form—boneheaded—and I think he applied the term to himself. Personally I like numskull for the richness of the imagery it evokes.

A certain politician was recently this close to yelling out “BULLS***” at the President. But tomfoolery is much better than bull****—more poetic. (Though, perhaps, not appreciated by people who are named Tom.) Along those lines, poppycock is borderline for, perhaps, obvious reasons; Codswallop is a little unwieldy; But balderdash is sublime.

One of my personal favorites, familiar to people who know me from other on-line forums, is daggon, an Ebonization of dog-gone—As in “What ‘Ye did the other night was a daggon shame, but I really would think the President would have more important issues to comment on.” Daggon, of course, is a replacement for a curse word that uses a deity’s name in vain. I am generally not a church-going person myself, but I tend not to use anyone’s deity within curse words—just covering all of my bases. But I think the British have the best alternative for this word: bloody. I have watched all of the movies in the Harry Potter franchise with my kids all weekend long, just to get the opportunity to repeatedly repeat after Ron “Bloody hell!” Unfortunately, it does not sound right if one says it without using a British accent, so I would not say that it is a particularly useful term for me as an American.

I do not have the time or the inclination to go into a whole other category of curse words: racial slurs. I really do not think there are alternatives for words that call people out of their names by making reference to their race, ethnicity, gender, sexual orientation, or other identities. My preference would be to just be rid of them altogether. I have heard that some people who Twitter and whatnot have started using Kanye West as a replacement term for the n-word—as in when someone (I assume someone Black) does something you do not like, instead of calling that person the n-word, you call them “Kanye West.” I guess this is supposed to be clever or something. But actually it is just the same old racism.

The same ole daggon codswallop.

We Probably Think His Song is About Us

Kanye West is not a person, he is a verb and a metaphor for the lives of the clamoring Black middle class. I feel like the day that we’re ready to deal with our own issues around race, class, and identity will be the same day we’re ready to tell Kanye “ENOUGH!” and mean it. Until then, I’ll expect more tweets, more album sales, and more tragic outbursts that result from a life of living betwixt and between the color and class lines.

~Dumi Lewis, “Why We Love to Hate Kanye (Black Middle Class Blues)“

Anyone else reading…

Sag Harbor or Kiss the Sky? What are your thoughts? (But please—no spoilers! I am only about half way through each.)

OSF: Music for Smooth Criminals

There were two ways to interpret this week’s Old School Friday theme Criminal Records. One: Music by artists who actually have criminal records and served time in prison. Two: Music about crime and prison—either literally or metaphorically: criminal records of the (old school) vinyl kind. (Also, I guess a third interpretation could be “songs performed by artists in prison concerts.” There are a surprising number of them, but unfortunately I do not happen to own any.)

Well I tried to cover both bases with my picks this week. I first thought of MJ’s “Smooth Criminal,” but then decided to just jack his title for mine. So—no MJ—sorry! But I do have Sade singing “Is It a Crime?” Of course, if you have to ask….

And I know I just recently featured Johnny Cash and “Folsom Prison Blues” when the theme was Songs You Might Be Surprised I Know. But I just love the song and it is perfect for the theme. So, here it is again for this week. He is also one of those artists, BTW, who has performed concerts to prison audiences.

The Rap/hip hop world is a gimmee in terms of songs about doing crime and doing time. But I will just pick one of the songs from one of the greats. Tupac here, then, with “When I Get Free.” And in this case I cover both bases as Shakur, in addition to rhyming about the prison life, himself served time in prison.

Finally, a crime wave of a more metaphorical and political bent, with Spearhead and “Crime to be Broke in America.”

Have a safe—and 100% crime-free—Old School Friday and weekend!

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As always, a big thank you to OSF hostesses, Marvalus at Conversations with Marva and MrsGrapevine.

Please check out the rules for joining and list of other OSF participants here.

At the Intersection: Some of the People Some of the Time Interlude

"Two-ness, Four-ness, Six-ness, Eight..." PPR_Scribe

One thing this whole thing is about is multiple, intersecting identities. Not a new idea, granted. But I think that any time any group of people begin to take note of how their identities may be morphing, some interesting conversations may follow. So how about this as a first question—for all you Black hipsters or otherwise:

Is there a “Black middle class culture” that is distinct from other intersecting cultures—namely White middle class and Black “underclass”?

Note that I am not talking about the “Black elite”—the “old money” Black upperclass. What do you think?

School is a Battlefield

Friday, September 4

Dear Dr. _____:

I have just read that ours is one of the school systems refraining from allowing children to see and hear President Obama’s address this coming Tuesday. If true, how very disappointing that a democratically elected sitting president of our nation could be treated with such disdain and disrespect. As a new resident of this county, I am deeply ashamed. I thought that when I moved back to Indiana I was moving to a state that had progressed past its insular, sometimes narrow-minded past. I see that much work is yet to be accomplished, however.

[PPR_Scribe], PhD

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Saturday, September 5

Greetings _____, _____, and _____:

I am writing to find out what the policy will be in the _____ School building, and/or in both of your classrooms regarding the airing of President Obama’s back-to-school speech to the nation’s schoolchildren on Tuesday. I have already emailed the superintendent of _____, voicing my extreme dismay that he has decided to not take the stand to allow our children to view and hear this message, but instead is passing the buck along to individual schools and classrooms.

Please be advised that if _____ School or either of your classrooms will not be participating, my husband and I may consider not sending our children to school that day. This type of partisan nonsense has no place in today’s society and surely even citizens who did not support the President’s campaign should be able to stomach the idea that for a few moments out of one day their children will hear a sitting and democratically-elected president’s encouragement about school success.

I look forward to your quick response so that we can make alternate arrangements for Tuesday if necessary.

Sincerely,

[PPR_Scribe], PhD

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Monday, September 7

I am deeply disappointed at the lack of response to my request, as well as the lack of publicizing of exactly what _____ School’s response will be. I understand that this request was made over the weekend, but I would have thought that I would have received at least one response, or have been able to find out about the _____ School policy from some other source.

I found on your website, _____, that the children in your class will not be viewing the President’s speech. This disappoints me as well. I could find no information on-line about a school-wide policy, or what might be happening in your classroom, _____.

I will be coming to pick up my children, _____ and _____, from school tomorrow shortly before the broadcast of the speech, approximately 11:45 EST, and will return them to the school following the speech.

I am still looking for, and will continue to seek, an official statement about why these decisions were made. I am not convinced that the reason was that it would be disruptive to the school day. Surely the children will not suffer from one day of no or reduced recess. Additionally, although I have only been a parent of the school for one year, I have already seen numerous times when the school day was “disrupted” for other special events. What I am looking for is why this event, specifically, was deemed different enough *not* to allow the children to participate during the school day.

I look forward to your responses.

Sincerely,

[PPR_Scribe], PhD

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Tuesday, September 8 (6:50 AM)

Thank you for your response, _____. Yes, I do understand the lack of response to my emails, and should have searched a little more for the on-line response that you excerpted below.

My disappointment remains that the school decided not to take leadership on this issue. That a small group of vocal parents (I hope, small!) could cause so many intelligent people to buckle under partisan pressure and not allow a presidential address during the school day is unfortunate. I remain unconvinced that such an address was not shown because of concerns about its relevance to “curriculum and programming.” I wonder: what kind of curriculum and programming exist in the classrooms of _____ School that makes irrelevant a Presidential encouragement to children to take responsibility to work hard at school?

I am still waiting on an official response about why such an address was deemed necessary to handle in such a way, as if the President would be speaking on a sensitive topic such as sexuality or violence. Why, for example, were plans only made for parents of children whose classroom teachers *would* be airing the address but who did not want their children to, but not for those parents whose teachers chose *not* to air the address but who *wanted* their children to?

At the very least, I would have hoped that a school as lacking in diversity at the faculty and other adult leadership level would welcome the opportunity to ensure that all children got the chance to view a man of African descent in a leadership role–the first such to serve in the office of President of the United States–to address them in the context of the school day. I will state it plainly: I am not unaware that much of the opposition to the President’s speech has a racial component. I read the speech myself last night and there is nothing in it that I could discern that was disturbing, or “socialist” in nature, “disruptive” to the curriculum, or otherwise deserving of such treatment by school administrators so many places.

As an African American parent of African American children I fear that we have ended up in a school environment where–despite many parents’ smiles and cheery words to me—large numbers of parents’ have such regressive and narrow minded attitudes that Indiana was once known for in communities of color, but that I had thought were a thing of the past. I hope that I am wrong about this and that, again, the opposition was smaller than the power of their voices seem to indicate.

Again, I remain dissatisfied at your official response as the head leader of _____ School. This reflects, in my opinion, poorly on our school, and poorly on our school system.

I have not heard from _____ but I will plan on picking up my children as I mentioned previously.

Best wishes,

[PPR_Scribe]

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Tuesday, September 8 (7:50AM)

______:

For me the issue of the type of social environment my children are in at school is not a “debate.” This experience has been extremely hurtful for me as an African American parent of children in a school with so few children who are themselves African American. That you had to spend so much time listening to parents who, I assume, objected to the speech is—once again—cause for me to believe that perhaps my parent peers are not as open-minded as I would hope.

I can only do that—make assumptions—since no information about the nature of _____ School parents’ concerns has been provided (that I can discern). Nor can I find any information about teachers who *did* decide to air the speech so that I could see what constituted a connection to curriculum and programming as far as _____ School teachers are concerned. My specific fears that the reactionary nature to the speech had racial components were not addressed in your email, so, again, I am at a loss as how to interpret what I believe to be a most unfortunate community reaction and resulting decision on the part of school and district leadership.

It sounds from your email that you wish to be done with this issue so I will leave it for now. In the future I would hope that you consider that all students and their parents have points of view that are valuable and deserve to be addressed in a meaningful way. The only “other family,” whoever that may be, and my own family, are no less deserving of this consideration because we are few in number.

Best,

[PPR_Scribe]

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Wednesday, September 9

Thank you for this more in-depth response to my concerns. At some point I think I would love to have a conversation about diversity programming in general at _____ School. At that point I will likely bring up my personal and professional opinions about (a) the ways in which these parents may have expressed their concerns in non-(explicitly) racial terms, but that perhaps reveal racial bias all the same, and (b) what schools like _____ might be able to do to foster a more inclusive and open-mined atmosphere.

Have a good rest of your day.

Best,

[PPR_Scribe]