Model Minority "Thugs, Feminists and Boom Bap"

New Model Minority

2010-01-13T02:44:00.002-05:00

Race, Class Food and the Future of the City: A Manifesto

2010-01-10T16:02:00.009-05:00

By Renina Jarmon

I always want to know where people will go and what will they eat.

Last December I was in Whole Foods on a Friday night, trying to read get through
some really hard material on "the saturated self', I resorted to reading out loud,
so that I could "hear the theory." A man who works for the Environmental Protection
Agency over heard me, as I was astonished when I learned that Robert Moses was
considered a modernist. Knowing what I knew about Robert Moses, and then learning
what a modernist was, I had an out loud aha moment. He asked if I was a city planner
and I said no, I do "Race and the future of the city" and we started talking about his work on sustainable cities.

I asked him the million dollar question. If you are working to make the cities better,
how are you going to deal with a few centuries of United States racism?

He looked at me, and said, well, I don't know, but what I am advocating for makes
sense for all of us, clean energy, efficient transportation and better local food. And
I responded, racism is irrational, and that he was going to have to fight tooth and
nail to impact the quality of lives of Black folks in the city.

My conversation with him got me think about writing a piece about race, class, food,
and the future of the city, rooted in both a global and a local sense.

We need a new system, because the current one does not work. This new
system must be simultaneously global and local. Furthermore, if it is rooted
in the exploitation of the people in the global south it will fail. Systems premised
on exploitation carry in themselves their own demise. The question is just when.

Cheap Food Requires Cheap Labor
In the article, As the Economy Withers, Thoughts on an Inequitable Food
System, Tomm Phillpot writes,

In short, an economy hinged on cheap labor needs cheap food. And that’s the structural problem faced by Slow Food and other would-be reformers of the food system. The challenge of food reformers isn’t just to reform the food system; it’s to reshape the entire economy—to create new economic models that revalue labor along with food, so that people can afford the revalued food.

Phillpot goes on to write, quoting Julie Guttman,

Those who complain about the use of food stamps to purchase cheap, junky food ought to set their sights elsewhere. They should consider the myriad policies that allow products laden with high fructose corn syrup, transfats, growth hormones and synthetic processing aids to be sold as food. In my view, the unemployed and poor shouldn’t pay the moral price for our collective failure to curb the excesses of the food industry.

Phillpot also mentions Caitlin Donahue's article, "Out of reach: How the
sustainable local food movement neglects poor workers and eaters"
in the Guardian, which essentially argues that the slow food movement has
a class problem. She writes that it is a movement,

that has yet to really confront its class issues. Though organic grocery stores and farmers markets have sprung up on San Francisco’s street corners, it remains to be seen whether our current mania for sustainable, local food will positively affect the lower classes, be they farm workers or poor families.

Phillpot goes on to make an incredibly astute observation about class when
he writes,

Donohue hinges her story on a dismal paradox of the food system: Farm workers are so poorly paid that they can only reasonably afford the lowest-quality food. The same can be said for most of the other people who keep the food-system humming: slaughterhouse workers, dishwashers, line cooks, Wal-Mart clerks. There’s no generating vast quantities of cheap food without vast quantities of cheap labor.

I am glad to see that Phillpot is thinking not only about food but labor as well, because they
are most certainly connected. Initially, I thought that local, green, sustainable economies
were the future. But, three things forced me to reconsider this idea.

The first was reading Chandra Mohanty's Feminism Without Borders, the second
was reading, Mike Davis's Planet of Slums, the third was hearing my professor say,
that "a unit for profit, requires exploitation."

Mohanty forced me to see how the quality of life of people in the global north
is subsidized by the quality of life of people in the global south. In Feminism
Without Borders, she qotes Zillah Eisensten who writes, "Women do two thirds
of the worlds work, for one tenth of the income" and that "Women and girls are the
majority of the worlds poor and the majority of the worlds refugees."

It is largely Women and children, working in factories, who make many of the items
that we shop for in our stores. In fact the cheap prices of the items that we buy is
directly correlated to their low wages.

Our lives are connected.

From Elsa Barkely Brown I have learned that our difference is relational. This is important
to keep in mind when talking about who has which job, who has access to which resources.

Mike Davis has both an article and a book titled Planet of Slums. His work has forced
me to rethink how my local, crunchy bougie Black girl sustainability idea was going
to address the 100 million global street kids.

Mike Davis premise #1
"For the first time the urban population of the earth will outnumber the rural. Indeed
given the imprecision of the Third World census, this epochal transition may
have already occurred."

Mike Davis premise number 2
"Cities have absorbed nearly two thirds of the global population explosion since 1950
and are currently growing by a million babies and migrants each week.
As a result, cities will account for all future world population growth, which is
expected to peak at a 10 billion in 2050."

Essentially, globally rural folks are being forcibly removed from rural lands to the cities
to do jobs, that may or may not exist. These lands are extremely mineral rich and
valuable to multinational corporations.

How does these women survive, in an informal economy? According to Davis, by
"selling water, carting nightsoil, recycling trash, delivering propane and so on."

Mike Davis Premise # 3
"The Africa case was particularly paradoxical. How could cities like Cote d'Ivorie,
Tanzania, Gabon and elsewhere, whose economies were contracting by
2 to 5 percent per year still sustain growth of 5 to 8 percent per annum. Part of
the secret was that IMF, and now WTO policies of agricultural deregulation and
de-peasantization were accelerating the exodus of surplus
rural labor to urban slums even as cities cease to be job machines."

Now do you get where I am going with sustainability for whom?

Hence the statement about cheap labor and cheap food was incredibly interesting
to me, becuase I honestly to hear people make that connection often.
I argue that the issue isn't green or local economies, but is far more global in nature.

The City, Black People and American Democracy
The population of Black people in the city, historically, has been relevant to the
ways in which America has been pushed to towards democracy, for Black people
and for all of its residents who weren't legally citizens.
This is not to discount the struggles that occurred in the Montgomery and Little Rock.
In fact given the fact that according to a New York Times article about a new report by
the Southern Education Foundation,

The South has become the first region in the country where more than half of public school students are poor and more than half are members of minorities.

Keep this in mind, as I will return to it later.

The city is increasingly becoming a place where only households with a combined
income nearing 100k or more can live and enjoy the amenities,social status,
health care, eduction and benefits of being in the city.

What happens to a city when it's workers can no longer afford to live there?

According to another recent article in th New York Times, Harlem is no longer majority
Black. In seeing the demography shift explained in the article above, I posit that those
low income folks who left Harlem and are now in the south. Shaila Dewan writes in
the New York Times,

The shift was fueled not by white flight from public schools, which spiked during desegregation but has not had much effect on school demographics since the early 1980s. Rather, an influx of Latinos and other ethnic groups, the return of blacks to the South and higher birth rates among black and Latino families have contributed to the change.

The first thing I wanted to know was where did the people go who lived there and
what are they going to eat?

What are the political implications of Black and Latino poverty re-clustering in the South?

Back to Harlem. For me, the issue with Harlem, isn't race, but it is class.
If the cities, have historically been, largely, the home of Black resistance, what
happens to our democracy when there aren't any more working class or low
income Black people in the city?

Is this setting the stage for cities to become playgrounds for European
and International elites with euros?

How bad will it have to get for us to decide to create a city that has housing and jobs
for working class folks, middle class and the elite?

Will our ideologies shift so that minimum wage becomes the new middle class?
What happens when the city is comprised of Black folks who have chosen
into the structure rather than change it openly choose to not be apart of it.

Farms, Food and Social Justice
Vandana Shiva has dedicated her life to collecting seeds. Trained as a physicist, she is a philosopher, environmental activist and eco-feminist. Her central argument
is that the seed belongs to all of us, not corporations. She explains how the Structural
Adjustment program and international programs have impacted Indian farmers when
she writes,

In 1998, the World Bank's structural adjustment policies forced India to open up its seed sector to global corporations like Cargill, Monsanto and Syngenta. The global corporations changed the input economy overnight. Farm saved seeds were replaced by corporate seeds, which need fertilizers and pesticides and cannot be saved.

Corporations prevent seed savings through patents and by engineering seeds with non-renewable traits. As a result, poor peasants have to buy new seeds for every planting season and what was traditionally a free resource, available by putting aside a small portion of the crop, becomes a commodity. This new expense increases poverty and leads to indebtness.

Currently Mostanto, is patenting seeds, and selling them back to farmers.
According to John Barlett in Vanity Fair,

Farmers who buy Monsanto’s patented Roundup Ready seeds are required to sign an agreement promising not to save the seed produced after each harvest for re-planting, or to sell the seed to other farmers. This means that farmers must buy new seed every year. Those increased sales, coupled with ballooning sales of its Roundup weed killer, have been a bonanza for Monsanto.

Bartlett goes into the history of the courts and Mosanto when he writes,

in 1980 the U.S. Supreme Court, in a five-to-four decision, turned seeds into widgets, laying the groundwork for a handful of corporations to begin taking control of the world’s food supply. In its decision, the court extended patent law to cover “a live human-made microorganism.” In this case, the organism wasn’t even a seed. Rather, it was a Pseudomonas bacterium developed by a General Electric scientist to clean up oil spills. But the precedent was set, and Monsanto took advantage of it. Since the 1980s, Monsanto has become the world leader in genetic modification of seeds and has won 674 biotechnology patents, more than any other company, according to U.S. Department of Agriculture data.

In India, the farmers are unable to make a living off of farming and one the
devastating consequences of this is that two hundred thousand Indian farmers
have committed suicide in the last twenty years.

To add on to the privatization of seeds, global corporations are buying up international
farm lands for the purposes of outsourcing food production. Andrew Ri ce writes in
The New York Times,

In a series of meetings, Saudi government officials, bankers and agribusiness executives told an institute delegation led by Zeigler that they intended to spend billions of dollars to establish plantations to produce rice and other staple crops in African nations like Mali, Senegal, Sudan and Ethiopia. “They laid out this incredible plan,” Zeigler recalled. He was flabbergasted, not only by the scale of the projects but also by the audacity of their setting. Africa, the world’s most famished continent, can’t currently feed itself, let alone foreign markets.

Given all this, food, race, privatized seeds and lands, the removal of low and middle
income earners from the economy and the city, I am convinced that paradigm shift is
occurring, and the question is, in whose interests and what are we going to do about it?

When are we going to engage it, name it and activlely work to direct it?

If we are able to simultaneously, think, act and plan locally and globally,
I hope that we will be in a better position than we are today.

Happy Black Girl Day x Assimilation x Whiteness

2010-01-07T13:40:00.011-05:00

Happy Black Girl Day

Black assimilation is premised on being accepted by White people
and making them feel comfortable.

In reading Kevin Mumford's brilliant book, Interzones, I learned that the
Urban League and the NAACP are historically rooted in making
sure that country Negros from the south, who moved to the north,
didn't make aspiring middle class Black folks look bad.

These two groups monitored Negro behavior on the streets, went door to
door teaching folks about "personal cleanliness" and monitored Black sex
workers.

I am excited about #Happyblackgirl day because it is about us
affirming ourselves and not looking to mainstream media to do so.

I am grateful that @Sistatoldja took the time to make it happen.
The 7th day of every month is now, Happy Black Girl Day. Wooter.

Last week I tweeted "Black women are awesome on 55 million different
levels. CNN can't capture that and I don't expect them to. It ain't they job, its ours."

I see those reports and roll my eyes because I know that when CNN does their
Negro reports they are simply doing their job, which is to serve the interests
of the shareholders and of the white power structure.

Don't get me wrong, if CNN was like, can you come on and talk about
Black women's sexuality, global economy or gentrification, I would roll,
but I highly doubt that phone would ring, lols. Renina the pundit. Ha!

Back to the hair. Black women needing to straighten their hair to increase
their chances of getting a job or a mate, is a manifestation of structural domination.

In other words, if White women had to go through what we did ever 4-6 weeks
to turn their hair into naps, in order to try and ensure their survival as employees
then the conversation about Black hair would be different.

Last fall when Alison Samuels was talking shit about Zahara Jolie-Pitts napps,
all I could think was can this child live? Can I live? Sidebar I haven't combed
my hair since late December, I never just rocked the fro, and it has been an
illuminating experience. I am more self-conscious, always touching it, and
it's just really BIG and unruly and I get stared at. Who knew? Talking
about the self presentation of Black girls the politics of respectability, Samuels writes,

But even the mothers who spare the hot comb still have to put time and effort into keeping hair healthy: Any self-respecting black mother knows that she must comb, oil, and brush her daughter’s hair every night. This prevents the hair from matting up, drying out, and breaking off. It also prevents any older relatives from asking them why you’re neglecting your child and letting her run around looking like a wild woman. Having well-managed hair is not just about style, it’s about pride, dignity, and self-respect. Keeping your daughter’s hair neat is an unspoken rule of parental duties that everyone in the community recognizes and respects.

Hair that is nice, neat, and cared for also gives African-American girls the confidence that they can fit into the world at large without being seen as completely different.

There is a lot to unpack here, so first lets have a little primer on whiteness.
George Yancy Writes in Feminism and the Subtext of Whiteness, "whiteness
goes unmarked" yet "it assumes to speak with universal authority can truth."
He goes on to say,

Whiteness assumes the authority to marginalize other identities, discourses
perspectives and voices. By constituting itself as the center, non white voices
are Othered, marginalized and rendered voiceless.

When we think about assimilation we have to think about whiteness because
the two are related, in this country. Furthermore, what are the political, social
and spiritual consequences for a Black person assimilating into a system
that is historically rooted in oppressing that person. Yancey goes on to write
quoting Ruth Frankenberg,

First whiteness is a location of structural advantage or race privilege. Second, it is a
standpoint a place from which white people look at ourselves, at others and at society.
Third "whiteness" refers to a set of cultural practices that are usually unmarked,
unnamed.

Now that we have a working definition of whiteness laid out, we can get into Zahara
and assimilation.

Black peoples respectability politics make my ass itch and Samuels comment
is the embodiment of Black respectability politics.

There is no greater freedom than being about to be yourself, and I cannot be
myself assimilate for Whites at the same time. Or perhaps I should say it is a
tenuous challenge to do so. Don't get me wrong, I understand that it is a dance
and I have changed my self presentation in order to pursue opportunities
throughout my life.

We constantly adjust our Blackness in order to make White folks
feel more comfortable.This is the essence of Quest Loves piece about
about "The Little Things" and the ways in which he adjust's his presentation of
Black masculinity in the presence of White folks.

We do what we have to do in order to survive. Wigs, perms,
weaves and God knows what else. Jonzey says that I put too much on White
perception of our hair in the workplace. And I may, however, if it comes down
to me and another candidate and her straight blond hair is perceived as more
attractive then my black napps, twists or straight hair, then I lose, and this, is
structural domination.

What would our hair look like if we didn't need to straighten it in order to keep
a job?

The Gods to honest truth is that Zahara Jolie-Pitt, for all intents and purposes is
a member of the American elite, and one of the benefits of being member of the
elite is that your "deviance" is not susceptible to being punished the same way
that it would be if you are low income. Which brings me to the social costs of
assimilation.

Assimilation has a price. This is one of the reasons why I liked the conversation
around "Bitch is the New Black" because I would frame it as a one about the
social costs of assimilation.

As I read the article I thought, class wise, do working class heterosexual and
queer Black women have the same dating and marriage statistics and challenges?

Do affluent queer and heterosexual Black women and have the same dating
and marriage statistics and challenges?

When I hear middle class heterosexual folks talk about the "dearth" of similarly
position Black men to date, I think of public education. What does it mean for
heterosexual Black women when Black boys are placed by a White
school system on a punishment/jail track at six years old, in first grade, and
what are we going to do about it? Why in the name of apartheid is this acceptable?

Historically, America has been premised on both the notion of Democracy and
the material reality of Black oppression and the denial full citizenship to
all African Americans. Peniel Joseph's new book from Black Power to Obama
gets into this. The fact that we have been denied full citizenship is why the "Are
West Indians/Black beef is so deep?" This is why all immigrants are compared to
American Blacks.

The notion is, if you can't BE White you sure as hell don't want to be Black.

Which leads me to ask, when can we just be, just simply be able to live and be ourselves?

We were never meant to survive, so for us to be talking about Happyblackgirlday is
revolutionary on levels that I lightweight can't articulate right now but I am trying.

When will we be able to be happy, joyous and free?

As Black women we put our lives on hold for our lovers, our mommas, our families,
our kids, guess what, that life will never come unless we claim it. Sitting in Tuesdays,
waiting for the Chicken Bone Bus on New Years Eve, White dude who Loves Black
women strikes up a conversation with the me. He brings up the "Bitch is the New
Black" article. I listen. And then while talking about his Black women friends, he
says something profound, when he mentions that we "seem to put our lives on hold."
I get that sometimes we have to do it, to push through. However, every time we put our
lives on hold for someone or something else, this is a willful act. We are not objects,
we are human.

I could give a fuck about what a Steve Harvey or anyone else has to say about
Black women's marital statistics. Anyone paying their rent talking shit about us
can miss me with those. Rather than tell our story and reduce Black men to
being only worth what they can pay for on a date or in rent, how about writing
about his OWN relationships with his family members, his mother, his daddy,
his children, his narrative, his journey. Hmmp.

Happy Black Girl Day.

With Love, Resistance and Desire.

Chicken Bone Bus

2010-01-06T00:46:00.006-05:00

On everything I Love. I was on the bus from DC to NY on New Years Eve.

This dude, sitting next to me after the Philly stop, was sipping
something in a 16 oz Pepsi bottle. He then gets up and announces
that he wants to "start a gambling jawn, on the bus, give the driver 20%, who's in?"
He was an older cat, with a fedora, glasses.

Dude in the back is like "sit that shit down and shut the fuck up."
This cat, got a puff coat on, with fur around the collar, looking like Baby
with a tattoo tear. And fearless.

You know how you can TELL that a person don't care about shooting into
a crowd. BAD for me, because I was sitting next to The Gambler.

I'm like. Lawd, we are an hour away, please, its New Years Eve. Come on boo.

So.

Dude in the back is like "Sit down OG, ain't nobody trying to hear that."

Gambling dude, is like "What, I'm trying to make some money, we can all make
some money, give 20% to the driver." Before I know it, these cats are standing up.

In fact, there are four Black men, standing up, on the middle of the bus, the lights
on are at this time. The Gambler, stood up, reaching into his pocket, he was
holding something.

The Baby looking dude, was like "What, whatchu gone do, watchu got?" He had that wild
Freeway, "Who you" look in his eye.

Another man was was pleading, "My kids are on this bus, don't do this." It was
really bugged out to see these four Black men, to see Black masculinity be
performed and navigated in this instance.

Ummm hmmmp.

Philly.

In some ways it was familiar, in some was it was absurd. It worked out.

But really. On the bus ock?

Reminds me of how rap songs, be A song, but when faced with the
real life issue of, "Do he have a gun?" it is totally different.

Bless Him, Change Me

2010-01-05T12:34:00.008-05:00

Love. Resistance. Desire.

About a week or so ago FD said, "He couldn't do it anymore."

Ouch.

I thought it was just a strong response to the holiday season,
but I ain't heard from him.

It was a little rocky.

The tipping point for me, was didn't hear from him when we had
blizzard a couple of weeks back. He had a resentment towards me,
as I was venting about school and my land lord and not taking any actions.
The resentment was fine, but Black people call Black people to check on them
when we get two feet of snow. That's just gp Love.

I also got stranded in Maryland that day. The trains and buses just stopped
running. LP's loving partner gave me a ride home, in a stick shift, in a blizzard.
I was grateful.

In the week preceding FD also spoke to me twice in a way, that I was like, dude,
where is my friend, 'cuz the person on the other end of the phone don't sound like
love bears. The tone of his voice communicated what the words didn't, desire
had waned.

I didn't help any. I fucked up and pushed up on someone I had a thing with
years ago. I also mentioned it to FD. I know, Black girl fail. Things were
already fragile, then I went a did this. The awesome thing that came out
of that behavior is the next day I felt. Awful. I couldn't shake it.

I told him about it.

It was in that moment that I learned that no matter what was happening
in my life that I would be responsible to the maintenance of my interior life.

I had a bottom, and tried to allow something material to fill a God sized hole.
No bueno.

I now see that work, home, school, roommate issues, love life, my interior life needs
to be maintained and now one could really do that but me, via God.

I have worked hard on getting acclimated to school. It's really isolating.
I am also getting use to being around new people.
Making new friends, learning the culture of grad school.

Black girls had a lot of New in '09.

At times, I was self absorbed and not checking for him. In fact, it was only
in talking with one of my homies that I realized the significance of FD's had a
career milestone. He finished his course work. However, I was deep in the
midst of learning how to do APA citations. I didn't have the bandwith to really
reflect on the significance of this with him.

S.bot insisted on me writing this, but also insisted that I didn't call.
I was like, I don't understand, why can't I do one and not the other
they BOTH constitute a communication. She was like, calling is a no
no, but your blog is your space. So write. Uhhhhhhhhh. Hate her. Love her.

Last Thursday, I had just come back from Brooklyn for Xmas on Sunday,
and I saw his Facebook status update said "Queens bound" I was like wow,
you ain't speaking but you got status updates. I lost it.

So, I was standing in my room, talking to my daddy, who is on the
West Coast. He was like you sound really sad. I was, plus I was suppose to visit
him, but I was working up the courage to tell him that am not up to it right now.
He asked me, what I was going to do for NYE, I was like "make gumbo or lasagna
and watch CSI". He was like, "Are you sure." I mentioned that my support system
was in Brooklyn, and I just got an email from my homie Ian who is doing
a free party. I would just need to find a place to stay, if I went back."

He responded saying "Go. Then." I was like "I just got back, doesn't that look
kinda crazy?" He was like "No. Right now you are in your own way, in your self
pity. OTHER people ain't in they self pity. Go, be around your friends and enjoy
yourself. Self pity leads to depression. Your four walls at home will be there,
but right now you need to get out of your own way." "You may hear from him,
you may not, but you need to go where the Love is."

He was right, being around people that loved me, held me, fed me, was exactly what
I needed.

Shaking her head at my scandalous silver leggings. Ms. Lovely, laid eyes on
me and said I looked like I came from the future. That moment was priceless.

On the train, I found my mind returning to the hurt and, wanting answers, but I stilled
myself. And when it got really real, I just said the first first part of the serenity
prayer on repeat, until I thought about something else. Interior life.

I was also able to reflect on what it was like for me when I moved to New
York. How at times it was a slow grind to make friends, and in other instances,
it was real easy. My first little crew was comprised of Tiombe, Bilal and Robert
Glasper and while we only ran together for a month or so, it was nice to have
running buddies. I also had homies at Barnard who were from Oakland. Shit,
I was spoiled. Time takes time. Luls.

In the same way that I waited for God to put Ms. Fancy from the post below,
on my path, I remain the same with this, bless him, change me.

A Love Letter to Ms. Fancy.

2009-12-25T12:35:00.010-05:00

Image courtesy of Harry Cutting. He has awesome stuff, check him out.

A few weeks ago I woke up and realized that I am the person that I wanted
to be when I was thirteen.

At thirteen my closest friend was Fancy and we were in middle school together
in East Oakland. We were nerdy, and skinny, not what the streets want, no?

If the library had it we read it. I was partial to all the Judy Blume's,
Beverly Cleary's, Sweet Valley High's and when I found Walter Dean Myers
I was home.

We traded library books and Sassy issues the way 8 year old boys traded
baseball cards.

We rode that Emporium Capwells basement in downtown Oakland like
a Long Island Outlet mall the day after Christmas.

It was through my friendship with her that I saw how people treated
brown skinned Black girls. In some ways we learned how to negotiate
our femininity together.

By 15, we discovered Berkeley's Telegraph avenue, clothing stores, book stores,
used record stores, natural hair, sewing and fashion magazines. While I liked
The Source magazine, more than Seventeen, we both shared our love of the glossies.

In many ways I became myself in that era, or at the very least the ground was being
set for me to claim it in high school.

She was always more of an alternative head than me, putting me on to Neneh Cherry
and being the first Black person that I ever knew to bump Alanis Morissette.

Our goal was to become Fresh Girls.

Fresh girls were natural, maybe wrote graffiti (or was at least cool with the crew
with the most ups), were smart, had cute clothes, some of which they made
and their own style.

After middle school, I left Oakland to go to high school in 'Frisco,
and a little after that she moved back East. We had a plan for her to move
to NY to model and design clothes and I would go to college and
design clothes, sell vintage clothes or write and just be AROUND hip hop.

I move to NY for school and she got married and had a baby, and for a hot minute
I was like dude, what happened to our plan? Being young and immature
I had a resentment.

Now that I am older I realize that all women have to make choices about
baby dreams vs. career dreams, especially when we live in society that needs
children, yet refuses to support the people who are implicitly charged with raising
them.

I also now realize how much of a gift it is to think of something at 14 and actually
be able to do it 4 years later.

Back then I wanted to be nappy, be around Black art, eat good food and read
a lot.

Three weeks ago I realized that I am in fact this person.

I get to be nappy, write about Black women and pop culture (and my relationships)
and have the things that I say be taken seriously by my blog readers and my professor's
and this is awesome.

I googled Ms. Fancy a couple of weeks ago and found out she wasn't that far from me.
In a twitter conversation with @prisonerswife I talked about how I wanted to say
something, but I didn't want to come out the blue and the last few years of my life
have taught me to leave well enough alone when it comes to people. I try to live by
if it don't fit don't force it. This isn't hallways successful. I try to realize that people
will be bothered when they want to be, otherwise I should leave them be.

@prisonerswife responded saying something along the lines of, "people say things
like that just because they don't want to step up" and I was like, "I'm pretty much a courage
bear. If God wants me to be in contact with her, we will cross paths."

Ms. Fancy Facebooked me Tuesday.

Merry Christmas. Woot.

Beyonce Incorporated: R&B, Thugs and Whiteness

2009-12-17T10:35:00.006-05:00

Here is the thesis and intro ya'll. Peace to Birk and Jess for helping
me organize the beginning, I swear that's the hardest part, because the
rest of the framework flows from there.

In writing this I was reminded that its not enough to have something
to say. Its not enough to have read the books to be informed. It's only
enough when I can frame and deploy a convincing argument.

If you have any questions, leave them below, and I will try and work them
into the paper.

~Renina

Beyonce Incorporated: R&B, Thugs and Whiteness

Since the 1998 crossover breakthrough of Destiny’s Child, Beyonce Knowles has

been a star on the rise. Since then she has released numerous albums, both with

Destiny’s Child and as a solo artist, she has starred in or served as a supporting

actor in several major motion pictures, and has married a multiplatnuim selling rap

artist. In short, Beyonce is everywhere, including the bank. In fiscal year

2007-2008, Beyonce reportedly earned an estimated $87 million dollars.

Given that black wealth is incredible rare in the United States (Oliver & Shapiro, 2006),

the reasons for Beyonce’s incredible success are worth exploring.

In exploring the reasons for Ms.Knowles’ success, I am primarily concerned with

the intersection of popular culture and the day to day lived experience of African

Americans. Often times we listen to music without considering the fact that it isn’t

neutral and that it also has an affect on the ways in which we go about our lives.

Beyonce Knowles is an accomplished, talented and attractive, singer, actor,

entertainer and fashion designer.

She is also is fast becoming an entertainment empire in and of herself. While she

“grew up in a four-bedroom home in Houston's upscale third ward with her father,

Mathew, a salesman at Xerox and Johnson & Johnson mother, Tina, a hair salon

owner, and sister, Solange Knowles, sings.”According to Forbes magazine,

Ms. Knowles has “sold upwards of 118 million records, won ten Grammys,

starred in seven films and headlined three solo tours” (Rose, 2009). Her endorsement

deals are extremely lucrative. She has had them with “Tommy Hillfiger L'Oréal,

Giorgio Armani Diamonds perfume, Samantha Thavasa handbags” and in the last

year, “she's added deals with Crystal Geyser and Nintendo DS to her résumé” (Rose, 2009).

Further more, the blue chip corporation, General Mills just underwrote her most recent

tour, I AM (Rose, 2009). Rose goes on to note that “Beyoncé constantly works and

reworks her act, watching every two-hour performance on tour--even after her

hundredth appearance--taking notes on how to improve. "I'm never satisfied," she

says, adding with a nervous laugh, "I'm sure sometimes it's not easy working for me."

Then, seriously: "I've never met anyone that works harder than me in my industry”

(Rose, 2009). Indeed, given the fact that she employs four hundred people and

arguably many more through touring and merchandising, she, in many ways is a

corporation.

According to Marxist theory on cultural hegemony, “the class, which is the dominant

material force in society, is at the same time its dominant intellectual force”(Strinati, 131).

Beyonce Knowles earned an estimated 87 million dollars in fiscal year 2007-2008 not

only because she is talented and attractive but also because her most popular work

serves the interests of the white ruling class elites, such as the presidents of Fortune

500 corporations and Madison avenue advertising firms, wall street investment bankers,

television and record executives. She serves the interests of the ruling class by

normalizing and never questioning the impact that white supremacist patriarchal

capitalism has on black heterosexual relationships. Lyrics such as “pay my auto

bill, pay my telephone bill”, thug worship such as “ if his status ain’t hood, I ain’t

messing with him, he better be street if he looking at me” and “them hustlas keep

on talking, they like the way I’m walking” reify the stereotype of the black, male,

sexy thug. These lyrics also deploy the patriarchal notion that African American men

are only worth what they can contribute financially. Furthermore such lyrics are

problematic because they place the economic issues facing black heterosexual couples

squarely on the shoulders of individuals while obscuring the structural forces acting on

the lives of such couples such as a historically segregated educational system, a

segregated housing system, a discriminatory bank lending system, an oppressive

police system, historically discriminatory judicial system, the war on drugs, the war

on poverty and a largely self serving non-profit industrial complex.

I am making this argument because I am concerned with the package that her

message comes in, the content of message that is deployed and the impact that

this has on the masses of society, as popular culture is where most people learn

about society by deploying lyrics that focus on black women asking black men

for money for utility bills, that celebrate black men as the mythic thug, Beyonce

Knowles both reifies the stereotype of rugged, violent, black men who work in the

underground economy. This is important because applying white hegemonic market

ideology is harmful to Black heterosexual relationships, given the fact that historically,

Black workers tend to be some of the lowest played workers in the United States

economy (Oliver and Shapiro).

Thoughts?

Beyonce and Black Women's Empowerment

2009-12-14T10:38:00.006-05:00

Educated Sistah Girl asked me some really good questions about
the Beyonce Post from a couple of weeks ago.

I kept trying to respond in the comments but blogger wasn't having it,
so I have made it into a blog post itself. Below is my response to her
comments.
Enjoy.

ESG,

Thank you for taking the time to comment. Your
responses have me thinking. I am going to try and respond to the
questions/comments that haven't been answered already.

You said:

The up and coming artisits like Jazmine Sullivan and Melonie Fiona are sickening to me with songs like Bust Ya Windows and that song on the radio abt 'I dont care if you are cheating I just want to be with you'. They are pop artists. They are much more detrimental to our culture byt not the White Ptriachal Capitalist System that you speak of...more like in a Willie Lynch Kind of way.

This is interesting. What do you mean by this? Why is it sickening?
What do you mean by a Willie Lynch kind of way?

You said:

I woudl argue that Beyonce says that she needs a baller because she is a baller. Do you mean to tell me that a woman worth xxM should be dealing with a guy worth xxH? It makes for an imbalanced relationship and is much more unheathy.

Why does Beyonce need a baller when she is married to Jay-Z and recently made
$87M 2007-08.

Why not sing about her marriage? Whose interest are being served by this?
What does this mean given the ways in which Black women who date ballers
wind up dead or in jail?

You said:

I happen to think that Beyonce is close to the modern-day Tina Turner... to the media

You are right and I am going to root Beyonce in a Tina Turner, Josephine Baker
and maybe even Lena Horne lineage. However, we must look at
image AND content. Tina and the Yonce ain't sing about the the same shit.
They were also produced by two very different historical moments and that
has to be accounted for to.

You also made two really profound comments that I am going to respond to at length.

The first:

Even Upgrade you is a testament to being with someone who is
"on your level" and bypassing those guys who will be bad for you.
Not because he can't give you anything but because you need to
have similar level of ambition (if not interests) to be in a HEALTHY
relationship. Many of her songs (Irreplacable, Me, Myself and I, Diva,
Put a Ring on It) are about empowering women to be independant.
This is needed in our community because there are way too many
women in unheathy relationships because they think they need a man.
Their ambition in life is to be someone's woman. The reason that

Beyonce appeals to so many is because she can sing about that
strength, that fierce independance and then show vulnerability in love
with a song like Flaws and all.

The second is:

Many of her songs (Irreplacable, Me, Myself and I, Diva, Put a Ring
on It) are about empowering women to be independant. This is needed
in our community because there are way too many women in unheathy
relationships because they think they need a man. Their ambition in
life is to be someone's woman.

We have are working with different assumptions. I am glad that you commented
because it is forcing me to think through my assumptions and state them
explicitly.

Assumption Number 1:

I do not assume a patriarchal view of the family or relationships.
More about patriarchy here.

Black women asking Black men for money for the rent is not
empowering.

This is really akin to two people fighting for crumbs from 'Massa
bosses table.

Our economic system serves the interest of the ruling class, a ruling class
made up of White people, to serve the interests of White people.

Beyonce's music serves the interest of the ruling class because it talks
about "empowerment", in terms of the most historically oppressed people
(aside from Native Americans) in the United States, arguing with each other
over paying the rent.

Black men and women beefin' with each other about money,
instead of focusing on an economic system that is created by White
people to serve the interests of White people is the complete antithesis of
empowerment because it has us looking at ourselves, instead of the system
that creates these conditions.

I'm realize in reading your statement that if I had a patriarchal view of
relationships THEN it would be true, this may seem empowering.

In this society, if we were going to "ask" any men for money, logically it
should be gay White men. They are White men, so they tend to be better paid,
and because they are gay, they tend to choose when they have children, as
they are is less likely pregnancy accidents. This is material because having
children is a high predictor of poverty in the US.

Our American economic system presumes that a group of people will
be financially exploited. Historically, this group has been black men
and women.

Empowerment arises in a system that pays Black men and women enough money
to survive, or even one that pays Black men and women the same amount
that White men earn, for the same jobs.

Empowerment arises in a system that forces some folks to live simply so that
OTHERS may simply live.

Women do 2/3rds of the worlds work for 1/10th of the pay. I want MY
9/10ths of pay back. Black men didn't take it from me, so they can't give it back.
Getting it from Black men isn't the issue.

Assumption Number 2:

Black men have been woefully underemployed since after WWII, so
walking around expecting them to have money simply isn't the issue.
Its an insult to measure ANY person by what they have, Black or otherwise.

Human beings are children of God.

What you have and who you are are two different things and Pop music/culture
in general and Beyonce's music in particular is harmful because it normalizes
the idea that relationships are based on financial transactions, fuck love.

This is not to say that we shouldn't have standards and just date anyone but we
must ALSO look at how the system limits the options that Black people have
in this society.

I hear you, as women we are socialized to put relationships ahead of everything else.
I have worked VERY hard, and still work hard at making my spiritual life, my artistic
life, my work at the center of my day to day , not just my relationship. In order to do this,
I had to do a lot of unlearning what I was taught as a young girl about who was suppose
to be when I grew up. I wrote about it in this post titled, "On Waiting Around for a Man."

I am going to repaste a part of the above quote again, because it reminds
me of something else.

You write:

As far as the videos she has "Normalizing consumption and exchange-based
heterosexula relationships, she has plenty of other songs that are just as
popular, if not dancable (which doesnt realy mean much...ppl dont LISTEN
to dance songs for the lyrics), songs that speak to giving your all to a
relationship, appreciation for your partner, and recognizing the person
he/she is. Dangerously In love, Flaws and all, and Halo. Even Upgrade
you is a testament to being with someone who is "on your level" and
bypassing those guys who will be bad for you. Not because he can't
give you anything but because you need to have similar level of ambition
(if not interests) to be in a HEALTHY relationship. Many of her songs
(Irreplacable, Me, Myself and I, Diva, Put a Ring on It) are about
empowering women to be independant. This is needed in our community
because there are way too many women in unheathy relationships
because they think they need a man. Their ambition in life is to be
someone's woman. The reason that Beyonce appeals to so many is
because she can sing about that strength, that fierce independance
and then show vulnerability in love with a song like Flaws and all.

This is a profound statement.

Where is the middle ground for a heterosexual Black woman between
refusing to be a doormat and loving Black men in the face of limited
employment options that they have?

Is the issue that we need to learn love ourselves?

What is the connection between black women's empowerment and self love?
Is the issue that Black men need to learn how to love themselves as well?
Would Black teenage boys kill each other the way that they do if they loved
themselves?

Black men with Awesome credentials, Ivy League etc, have a hard time getting
and keeping a job. If Ivy League Black men can't get a job, and if we value men
by how much money they have, then don't we have a problem? Is the problem
us our the system that we live in? What will it take to redefine what it means
to love?

I am pushing this conversation to get us to think along the lines of the system
that we live in, along with, thinking in terms of individual relationships we have.

All in all, I hope this was responsive.

~Renina

What Sarah Palin Taught Me About Beyonce

2009-11-25T12:24:00.007-05:00

I am working on a paper titled, "How Beyonce and Capitalism Undermined
R&B's Ability to Normalize Black Love."

The title may change to Beyonce Incorporated, as that is more focused
and more appropriate for academia.

My professor wants me to l shift my focus to the media's investment in, what I have
called, the Beyonce Beauty Aesthetic, light skinned, size 4/6, curvy, blond hair.

I am not interested in just talking about the media, I am interested in how
Beyonce is a tool for maintaining US hegemony and the ways in which
she normalizes really fucked up, patriarchal, Black heterosexual relationships.

I am fascinated by a light skinned, middle class Black woman
from the Houston suburbs who sings about needing a soldier, who
she could upgrade, so that he can put a ring on it, and if he likes her he
can put her in his video phone.

Conversely, why is a woman worth tens of millions of dollars singing
about needing a baller?

I'm intrigued by this binary of success that allows one Black woman at a time
to be a megastar, with the general prerequisite being that she is lightskinned
and talented, and while all the rest remain pretty marginalized.

Kelis. Amel.Tiombe.Georgia Ann Muldrow.Algebra. Aaries.Goapele, Solange etc.

Estelle,Chrisette, Erykah may get some mainstream play, but for the most
part they are regulated to the VH1 Soul channel and its requisite circuit.

Mary may get some pop play.

By and large Billboard-wise Alicia and Mariah are presented to us
as Black Pop R&B stars. (Did I miss anyone? I may have, and I sure you
all will let me know in the comments.)

Both are light skinned. Both keep their sizes in a 4-6-8 range.

In trying to figure out how to frame this paper, I called Moya and asked for her
advice.

She suggested that I read Summers piece about how Beyonce is simply
just doing her job.

Summer makes the argument that Beyonce is doing her job, singing,
dancing, shimming and making work out music and that to expect
her to expect her to do anything else is implicitly naive.

Her job is to be a diva, and she most certainly does it well.

While, I agree that she most certainly is doing a job, my job is to show
how her efficiency is related to both the larger project of maintaining
white supremacist patriarchal capitalism and how the songs normalize
some really patriarchal, and implicitly violent Black heterosexual relationships.

How did I get to Beyonce from Sarah Palin?

I was talking with another professor about politics and Sarah
Palin.

I mentioned that my issue with my generation is that they are far too focused
on Sarah Palin and not on the people who are willing to vote for her in 2012.
That calling those folks stupid will not discourage them, and that it may,
in fact, embolden them.

She responded saying that there needs to be both a focus on Palin and a focus
on the people who support her. Her rationale was that some people, because
of their platform, influence and power, need to be made to shut up, because the
things that they say are harmful and can cause other groups of people to do
harm. She used Rwandan genocide as an example.

She made it clear that we need to see Palin as a willing participant in her
career.

It was at that moment that I had a better idea of how to frame Beyonce.
My homie Jess said that I should lay out the facts and then make my
argument, given the fact that multiple arguments can be made on the
same facts.

I now understand that the argument section has to be simultaneously on the
Beyonce and the culture that she influences and create's.

Culture is US hegemony's goon.

Culture does hegemony's day to day dirty work.

It was then that I realized that when I write this paper, that I will not
write about Beyonce per se, but about the power that she has, and
the harm that is done when Black women dating hustlers is normalized.

All people need love. Hustlers too.

Women of all races have dealt with people who operate in the underground
economy. I get that.

However, this must be reconciled with the fact that the most popular Black pop
singer in the world is continually singing abou needing a baller, and perpetually
valuing men for what they can give.

If Black men are only worth what they can give, then they must be worth very little,
as they are woefully under or unemployed. There are nearly1 million of them in prison mainly
for non violent drug offense, largely selling small amounts of crack or other drugs.

In a country where 1 in 15 Black men is incarcerated this is a problem.

Black and white women are going to jail at unprecedented rates too.

Human beings deserve to be loved regardless of how much cake they have.

Peep game.

Folks want Jay Z to rap about being married.

Jay Z will not rap about being married to Beyonce because young
White men, other non Black people and perhaps some Black folks,
do not want to hear about it.

Jay can be married to the game, but he can't be married to her.

The reason why I am writing this piece for the women,
that I know of from East Oakland, California, who have gotten shot in the
face, kidnapped, stuff into trunks, have caught been caught hustling
or dealing with hustlers and are now doing dumb ignorant time or they
are dead.

This morning, I woke up and while I was making coffee I remember my
patna from elementary school, Tange. In the early early nineties, Tange's
cousin got shot in Brookfield while sitting in the car with her boyfriend,
who was a hustler. The killer murdered both of them. Peep game. When I saw
Tange, she was spooked because she looked like her cousin. So when people
saw her they would say her and say, "Girl, I thought you were dead." They thought
she was her cousin because they looked similar.

People may not care, because the lives of Black women are not important
to them. Or they may think I am putting ten on two.

Their lives are important to me.

So I write.

Musing on Precious and Shaniya Davis

2009-11-17T09:30:00.005-05:00

Every scene in a movie represents a choice by the director, every
line in a book represents a choice by an author.

A significant portion of my understanding of what it means to be an artist
in New York is rooted in the PUSH era. When I visited New York in '97 to
look at colleges, I stayed a couple nights at Barnard with my friends and
was able to watch Sapphire read from the novel way back then. When I
finally moved here I would see her around the city. For me, she was a
walking, living, embodiment of a Black woman writer.

I went to see Precious Friday night and on the way, I reread the
book so that I would have proper context. I wanted to see it in
a theater made up of mostly Black people as I was concerned not
only with the film, but how the audience read it.

It was sold out in Chinatown I trooped all the way down to Georgetown,
by the water, which is pretty and reminds me of Brooklyn Heights.
The audience was approximately 60 percent Black and 40 percent
White.

I appreciated the fact that Lee Daniels used the book as the main text
for the screenplay. I also appreciate the fact that a young Black woman was
the subject of both the book and the film.

However I wondered, like so many other people why does it take a teenaged
dark brown skinned, Black, pregnant, illterate, HIV positive, incest victim for
black womens subjectivity to make to the silver screen?

In mainstream media, are we either marked pathological beings or video vixens?

Last Monday, I asked on Twitter, whether Black women (who follow me)
would be going to see Precious. One friend had already went to see it,
and two said that they wouldn't because they "weren't trying to deal with
all that" right now. The women on Twitter said that they had gone or
would be going to see it. However they were concerned with the ways
in which White people were reacting to it. I was immediately reminded
of this notion of reflected appraisal theory which involves a person
evaluating them selves through the eyes of another.

I wondered if by being concerned about White reception to the film,
where we in fact doing that. I also thought it was interesting to ask
why White people enjoy Precious, but that we never talk about why
white teenagers enjoy rap music.

I was biased towards the movie because of Armond Whites article
(and Juell Stuart's article in Color Lines.) But I realized that Armond may
have read the film differently had he read the book recently. His critique is
that the film lacked an analysis of the structural forces that created both
Precious and her momma. And this is true. But the book lacks this as well.
Sapphire clearly alludes to it through the scenes where Precious is in the
reading and writing class, her meetings with the social worker, and her
meetings with her middle school principal. But the state of the world and
Black women and never mentioned explicitly.

If a viewer knew nothing about Black women and saw that film, they
would think that we are crazy, diseased, pathological, animals. By
not explicitly talking about the forces acting on our lives, the film
runs the risk of placing the responsibility for the conditions of their lives
exclusivly on the shoulders of the characters.

Where did Precious's momma come from? What made her like that?

The film and the book take place in 1986. There are three major sctructural
forces acting on Black people in general and Black women specifically
across the country in urban areas. The crack epidemic is at full tilt, piles
of Black bodies were the streets, there is movement to sterilize low
income Black women, and HIV, which is categorized as a both a White
gay mans and drug addicts (of all races) disease, is killing Black people
on the low.

Ironically, I last week I was also assigned to read Cathy Cohens Boundary of
Blackness: AIDS and the Breakdown of Black Politics and the first two
chapters Cohen lays out some the structural forces impacting Precious's life
such as the failure to provide adequate HIV care to Black people.

Which brings me to Shaniya Davis. I hope when reading about the lives of
this little girl and her mother that we think about the structural forces that
impacted a mothers willingness to sell her daughter into prostitution.

I told Jonzey two weeks ago that we are undergoing a paradigm shift.
That the conditions will continue to worsen until we collectively do
something about it.

The murder of Derrion Albert, the raping of the teenager outside of that high
school in Richmond, the Fort Hood killings a couple of weeks ago and
now the prositition and murder of Shaniya Davis are all connected in that
they reveal aspects about the status and detoriotion of our collective humanity.

Back to Precious. The the main structural weakness in the movie
ispresent in the book which is that there is no explicit conversation
about the forces acting on these womens lives.

The film also has another structural weakness. The music video montage
scenes are exist with the specific intent of iliciting laughter from the audience,
which in fact is what happened. These were the consistent scenes in the film
where folks laughed at Precious. These scenes were not in the book and I
would imagine Daniels inserted them to add some lightness to an otherwise
intense film. However, in doing so, he drowned out the subtle transformation
that Precious went through. Its like he went Hype Williams with The Color
Purple, in those scenes.

The subtle transformation is what is special about the book. We have
all had subtle transformation. They don't happen overnight. They happen,
little by little, day by day, month by month, and "suddenly" we are a new person.

Precious started out pregnant, and illterate, by the end of the book, she was
able to articulate that she was raped by her father, she questioned that fact that
the state wanted her to do workfare rather than continue her education,
she also articulated that she loved herself, her children and that she wanted an
education, and she moved out of her momma's house.

In the film Precious "walks off into the sunset" with both of her children. Jonzey
points out that the reality is that this young woman is HIV postive, will
die soon and that these children will be orphans. As Jonzey said, is
it possible that Black woman director would have dealt with that differntly?
Perhaps. Its hard to say given the fact that the book ended with scene where
Precious has left her momma's house and is in a shelter, playing with and
mothering her son.

You see the movie, what did you think?

What does creating a Black women's Bollywood look like?

We clearly have the money, we simply need the will, strategy and
fortitude to tell our own stories?

Crack and Hip Hop Politically Underdeveloped Young People

2009-11-15T13:05:00.008-05:00

On a fluke a few of weeks ago, I picked up a dvd about the
Black Panthers and the student and employee strike at SF
State that created the first Black Studies department in the country.

It was in watching this video that realized that both crack and hip hop
politically underdeveloped young people. Much of this statement comes
out of my reading two or three books a week along with five or
six articles last month, while simultaneously watching the fall out
from Sasha Frere Jones's post about the end of hip hop and a post
about rap critics. Blog posts, long blog posts take a lot of work. At least
coherent ones do.

Reading and writing is labor and I am thinking about to which
ends, those of us who are in our twenties and thirties, are reading
and writing.

While watching the responses percolate, I wondered what would happen
if we invested the same time in rap blogs in making politics to address our lives?

What is our investment in a music that has made it clear that it doesn't
give a fuck out us in a time where we live in an unsustainable world?

For the folks who say that hip hop is related to a political project, I would say,
place a link in the comment section. By political I mean a group of
people organizing to serve a communally determined group agenda.
This doesn't mean that it hasn't served as a conscious raising tool,
in the past, but Post Chronic or even Post Blueprint, the music has
ceased being for itself and currently exists for Black respect and White dollars.

Given that this is the case, what does this mean for Black people
and what does it mean for Black music?

To the extent that this applies globally, remains to be seen.
Chuck D has argued extensively that young people globally have
used rap music as tool to make sense of their position is society.
Based a couple of documentaries that I have seen about hip hop
in Cuba and North Africa, to a certain extent this is true.

Given the impact of AID's, mass incarceration and the systemic
undereducation of Black, White and Latino students, what are the
ways in which that the music, at least since The Chronic, has helped
us make sense of our world?

I come from the Leroi Jones school of Black music, which looks at
Black music both as it relates to our history in this country, and as being
representative of a particular point in time in this country.

Three month's ago, Rafi said that rap music use to be the street talking
to the street. In commenting on the ways in which Nike used Cube's
Today is a Good Day for a skateboarding commercial he writes,

It’s just another example of hip-hop’s transformation to lifestyle
marketing tool and its astonishing disconnect from the reality it
used to represent....Three years ago I saw a big hip-hop show in
New York City just days after Sean Bell’s murder. The city was
buzzing with rage and confusion everywhere except inside the
show where the incident wasn’t even mentioned. I said back then
that there was “a time when rap was supposed to speak to and
speak for the streets”. But shows like that Rock the Bells performance
and ads like this one from Nike show how far we’ve come from that.
The acts and songs of that era are being used to market to aging
hip-hop fans like myself but it is all sound and no fury.

Rhythm and Blues affirms Black humanity, modern rap music affirms
our subhumanity.

This doesn't mean that Rhythm and Blues was all warm and fuzzy as
Black humanity encompasses both the aspects that we are proud of
our collective darkside as well.

Birkhold thinks that this is really crude statement, and criticizes me for
saying so. Yes it is crude. But I stand by it, because Black music
has changed from a being for itself to being for others. Rafi's comment
is an illustrations of this.

This isn't a conscious vs. thug dichotomy. My argument is a little more
nuanced than that. Cube, Dre, Too Short, were dudes, street or not,
talking to the street. Peep the VH1 NWA documentary, The Worlds Most
Dangerous Group. Popular gangster rappers wanted to make some money
but they were trying to become corporations themselves. That wasn't an option,
so it wasn't a goal.

I mentioned the content of this piece to Birkhold shortly after I wrote it and
he disagreed with my statement that rap use to exist for itself, and is now being
for others (thuggin' for cash),

His issue was with the fact that rap has always been, for the most part,
about Black men performing Black male, machismo, fantasy. Being for others.
Cold Crush brothers, Funky Four Plus One, Africa Bambaata were either on some
party shit, some machismo steez, or some super Black masculinity. He tried
to say that Cube was from the suburbs, but he's from South Central, according
to Wikipedia. However he did attend Phoenix Institute of Technology in the
fall of 1987, and studied Architectural Drafting. Chuck D, Russel and I believe,
Run DMC were middle class cats from Long Island and Queens respectively.
In rap, Black men have always been performing some other 'ish and I
agree with that.

However, I responded that, while it very well may be true that early rappers
were performing a macho, fantasy, partying, Black masculinity,
the scale, risk and harm in the1970's and 80's isn't analogous to
1990's and 2000's.

The fact that Byron Hurt made a movie, Barack and Curtis, about Black
masculinity comparing 50 to President Obama is indicative of this.

Currently, rap music is conflated with Blackness. As a result some Black
children who are not from the 'hood feel compelled to perform thuggery in
order to be accepted. After all the sacrifices their parents have made,
pursuing higher education, moving to the suburbs, working the corporate
gig, the children want to be exactly what their parents have been sheltering
them from, a thug. The pervasiveness of rap music in 1990's and 2000's
plays a big role in making this possible.

The notion of acceptance and assimilation is an important one. In fact, much
of the homophobia that we observe in both American culture and in Black culture
stems from the resentment that a gay man or lesbian woman
has the audacity and courage to walk around being who they want to be,
not who others expect them to be. We have been socialized to resent the
courage to be queer. We are angry because they refuse to fit into the box that
society has created for them, and we are uncertain of how to get ourselves
out if it.

Back to Huey. Watching the documentary on The Panthers, the irony of fact
that Huey Newton was murdered in a dope deal gone bad on the streets of
West Oakland isn't lost on me.

In listening to Eldridge speak in the documentary, it became to clear that
while I was familiar with his open and aggressive misogyny, as he famously
stated that he practiced raping Black women, as preparation for raping he
white women. He was also charismatic, extremely handsome and in some
ways the clip of his speech reminded me of many of the rappers that I
grew up listening to.

All these cats accomplished a lot in their twenties and their thirties.
What are we doing?

How can our generation build a movement when we can't even be honest
with ourselves about where we are?

There has been very little analysis about the ways in which Black communities
have been impacted by 20 years of the war on drugs. There has also been
very little analysis of the ways in which crack wiped out the last vestiges of
60's and 70's era Black resistance.

What does it mean that 30 years later our young people and many older
people are more concerned with whether the music is dead than with
whether neighborhoods that birthed the music will survive over the next ten
years given the impact of globalized gentrification of 'hoods in the US and
around the world?

Have you been to Biggies old block lately?

How was the FBI able to eliminate the Black Panthers but unable to contain
The Crips and The Bloods?

If Black peoples contribution to this country has been music and free labor,
what does it mean when our music is a lifestyle marketing device, and that
Black men are systemically under and unemployed?

Thank you for reading this. Clearly, I am trying to work some thangs out.
In proofreading this piece it has become clear how Sociology of the Self
is teaching me how to look at the person and society simultaneously.
WOOT.

Academic Capitalism: Moving from Talking to Doing/Being

2009-11-10T09:39:00.008-05:00

Last Thursday, while I was doing a presentation on Academic Capitalism
in class, 600 students, mostly Black, conducted a march protesting
the firing of the associate provost of equity and diversity, Dr. Cordell Black.

In addition to this, not only are the departments and offices serving
marginalized folks facing merger, but The Classics and The Chemical
and Life Sciences andComputer, Mathematical and Physical Sciences
are as well.

The question for me is who is cutting, what is the unstated
and stated rationale behind it and to what extent is this process
democratic.

It was only slightly ironic that this erupted on the day in which
I did this presentation.

I have found myself in the middle of struggle and in creating a democratic
process. There appears to be a desire on behalf of my campuses
administration to scalpel out the Negros and the "low earning" programs.

I suspect that there is a desire to raise the profile of the school, by
reducing the number of Black students enrolled in the University. There
is a connection between US News and world report ranking and SAT and
GPA's of students.

Been there, done that, seen it coming a mile away. This process is both
scary and liberating.

Scary because a friend saw a facebook comment about academic
capitalism and sent me a message saying that I may want to reword
my comment because employers lurk on face book. Its liberating
because I feel that I am an active participant in changing the world in real time.

The way that I keep my mind right, if I have to go to zero, again, and I am forced
to leave school I will move back upstate and waitress or move to Vegas and waitress.

It is hard to keep the fear of repercussions in check.

But my only option is to walk timidly, and I didn't survive the crack epidemic,
law school and now grad school to walk timid. I am a child of God.

This process is forcing me to respect people who have done this work before.
I was hella smug about the pride march in DC because I didn't see
sufficient evidence that the white gay movement did substantial base
building with the LGBTQ movement of color in California and nationally,
to be having ANOTHER march.

Now that I am in the middle of doing base building, I am far more
humbled. If I am learning anything about basebuilding, it is that you never
know what you will learn, who will be useful. I am learning that I just have to
be honest, let people know what I am doing, and that folks will either join or
not.

I am learning to start small. Small is good, because small is how everything
starts. It's hard. It continually means meeting people where they are. I have to
meet with people, send emails to folks I don't know and do know
check my ego at the door, listen, wait for emails, disagree with folks. Stay
continually TRYING to meet with people, ask questions and continually check
the desire to be bossy.

I am an old head. I sent and email to a professor saying that "I don't march"
but I want to be useful, not just complaining on the sidelines waiting for someone
to advocate for me. However, it seems like young folks seem to want to march
and meet with the administration.

She responded saying,

What does a march achieve and are those necessary goals at this point? For example, media attention, shame as a persuasive line of argumentation, personal release of anger etc. Is a march an effective strategy in relation to the nature of the administration? Is the march the beginning and the end of political activity? What other types of activity should immediately be on the table to supplement the march.

In other words I think that this is important because it politicizes the
student population, it shows the admin. that students are alert, it can
potentially build alliances through media attention. If it fizzles out without
any additional work e.g. teach in, petitions etc. then it becomes easy for the administration to wait it out. So it's not everything but its also not nothing.

I was relieved when I read her words, because she articulated my
concerns.

I am more interested in seeing how power is laid out how, how has this process
has worked in the past, who has resisted this kind of thing successfully, and what
are peoples frame of reference?

We all have a stake in how this plays out. The University is a microcosm
of society.

Thoughts? You been apart of a struggle before? Any suggestions or kind words will be appreciated.

It Was Racist

2009-10-28T20:36:00.007-04:00

I was reluctant about today's class going in.
.
We read Mary Waters Ethnic Options and her book Black Identity. I reviewed
Black Identity which focuses on the process of West Indian Americans
coming to identify or avoiding identifying as Black.

The book contained lot's of qualitative interview's with West Indian
folks talking about why they don't like African Americans,
why they are Black, but not like Black Americans, that Black Americans
are lazy, expect handouts etc.

I had no idea how the class was going to react to this.

Fascinating stuff, though, right?

Especially when you look at the presence of African Americans vs. West
Indian Americans on four year college campuses and in graduate,
law and business school in the Northeast.

The book is awesome in how it gets at how first generation verses second
generation West Indian immigrants deal with assimilation, with proving
that they are not Black and also with identifying as Black. The most
fascinating part for me was learning that women who worked as teachers
and nurses in Jamaica, came to the Brooklyn, worked as teacher and
nurses yet, class wise their lives were not the same.

The material difference is the on their salary in Jamaica, they were middle class,
so they could afford nannies and house keepers, and their housing was more
spacious and safer. In the US, housing was more expensive, there was more
opportunity for jobs and education for their children but the housing dollar
didn't go very far.

Which brings me to my classmate.

Jamaica's system is based on the British system, which means that children
are tested and tracked at a very young age. They either go into vocational
track or academic track.

Apparently Germany and much of Europe is the same way.

My Black classmate said, that he agrees with this.

I responded saying that standardized tests are measures of familial wealth
not student aptitude. And the aptitude of a four year old cannot be measured
because they have only been on the earth 48 months. He responded saying
that the British system is better because it separates the students early
and that there are some who shouldn't be in school and college.

I said that this was racist. We do not know what children are capable of at 4.

They responded saying that it wasn't racist.

I said, it was both racist AND classist because of the disparate
impact that the same policy has on Black boys in the US. Ann Fergusons
Bad Boys talks about this at length, if you want to read more about it. It's
an awesome study on a public elementary school in Berkeley,
hones in on the ways in which school policy and teacher subjectivity
impact how Black boys are disproportionately disciplined and placed
in special ed classes.

I asked him how he reconciled his approval of early testing and prediction
with the fact that standardized tests measure familial wealth not student
aptitude.

He responded saying "Yeah, tests are culturally biased but math isn't."

My eyes rolled. That did NOT refute nor address my argument.

Another classmate, a white woman who is in marketing asked, "Isn't it
better for us to asses the children at 4 rather than at 12 so that they
don't languish in the system?"

I responded no. The issue isn't when they are assessed the issue is
creating a system that serves their interests not the interests of school
administrators or corporations. We need to move out of binary
modes of thinking and ask ourselves whose interests are served by
that.

She said aren't all children about the same at four? I said no, all children are not the
same. Each child's education attainment is related to how much money her parents
earn and how much social capital her parents have and lastly how much
intergenerational wealth a family has.

I only wish that I asked them, "What would you do if your child
tests into the vocational track at 4?" I imagine, I hope the responses
would have been more compassionate.

It isn't lost on me that these people will be future professors,
bureaucrats, marketers, political advisers, researchers etc.

I see it as my job to say something.

I was proud of myself for calling a spade a spade, at least I was earlier,
this evening. As the night has warn on I am tired. School is awesome,
but in some ways the more I learn the more it appears that
racism is manifested on a civilizational level.

In some ways, this experience showed me the racism runs on
a deep civilization level. I take this term from the paper "Coloring
Epistemologies: Are Our Research Epistemologies Racially Biased?"

In the paper, James Sheurich and Michelle Young lay out three levels of racism.
I list them below:

The first is institutional racism, which exists when instituitons or ogranizations
have standard operating procedures, intended or unintended, hurt members
of one or more races in relation to members of the dominant race.

The second is societal racism exist when prevailing societal or cultural assumptions
or norms, concepts or habits favor on race over one or more other races. For
example, the OJ trial revealed societal racism.

The third is epistemologoical racism comes from or emerges out of
what we have labeled the civilizational level, the deepest, most primary level
of a culture of people. The civilizational level is the the level that emcompasses he
deepest, most primary assumptions about the nature of reality (ontology)...

On one level these experiences remind me of just how privilaged
I am, and have been, on another it reminds me of how other children
get screwed by bureaucrats on the regular.

It reminds me of how the teachers who stepped into my life when my city,
Oakland, and my family were both submerged by the crack epidemic.

It reminds me of how these angels saved my academic life.

I hope I can be an angel for someone else.

The social costs of being a model minority, of being a Black women are taxing.

I hope I don't go crazy trying to make sense of it all.

Pray for me.

Tyler Perry x Morehouse x Real Black Men

2009-10-23T09:03:00.010-04:00

Speaking to my homie Jonzey the other night, I was trying to convince
her to go see Good Hair, she refused. I said you must go to see
Sharpton's clear disdain for and anger towards Black women
and our budgetary practices around our hair.

She mentioned that she wasn't going for precisely that reason. That she is
not interested in seeing something where Black women get trashed.
I was silent because I have been there, in fact I live there.

She is a filmmaker and she said that she is tired of other filmmakers projecting
their issues onto Black people and Black women, Tyler Perry specifically.
Here is the line that got me,

"If Tyler Perry is more comfortable walking around wearing dresses then
he should make a movie about THAT, instead of projecting his shit onto us."

She believes that White filmmakers project their issues on to Black people
and Black male filmmakers project their issues onto Black women.

I had one of those blog synergy moments and asked her, well have you seen
what has happened at Moreouse this week with regard to their dress code?

Morehouse announced a dress code this week that was pretty much
no do rags, no sagging, then the last rule,states no pumps, no dresses,
no tunics.

I instantly thought of Tyler Perry and how Morehouse's reaction to
how some men dress, as evidence of why he won't make that movie.

Simply stated, Tyler Perry will not make that movie because the women who
pay to see him dress up like a Black grandmommas would not support a film
where he talks about why he feels most comfortable dressing up like a
Black Grandmomma. I then decided, after looking at the Sandra Rose
site and reading the comments that I needed to have a conversation
with Moya, because this represented a great teaching moment.

Tyler Perry's movies make Black women and White people feel comfortable,
oh, don't trip, we aren't the only ones in the movie theater. If he makes a movie
about why he feels most comfortable with in dress, this would make many
Black women and White folks incredibly uncomfortable.

Below is the interview with Moya, who runs Quirky Black Girls
and is a fellow Women Studies colleague and an incredible gender
theorist.

Renina Jarmon: Why is it acceptable for a Black school to heavily
regulate the gendered nature of clothing?

Moya Bailey: I don't think its acceptable though I do believe in a dress code
(sometimes). I think for k-12 and I could even say in college, a dress code
that's designed to counteract the hypersexualization of youth and to limit the
expression of certain exclusionary class markers makes a lot of sense to me.
Dress codes don't have to be gender specific and students could be able to
wear a range of clothing across genders regardless of their perceived sex.
Unfortunately, this Morehouse dress code is being used to reinforce a very
classed and heteronormative idea of what a black man should look like.

RJ:Does this have to do with the origins of the school as a place rooted
educating and grooming Black civil society?

MB: I definitely think this policy is connected to some old school politics of
respectability. Black people have historically tried to model the norms
of dominate culture, hoping that this mimicry would afford equal treatment
as opposed to subjugation. "Good" black men don't wear high heels or
sagging pants. There's been a lot of talk about how heels or sagging
pants won't fly in corporate America, as if to say the ultimate goal for
Morehouse men is to become black versions of the CEO's and capitalists
that are destroying communities of color with unliveable wages, gentrification,
environmental racism, and hazardous working conditions. That said, a lot
of work has been done to ensure that folks can wear what they want to
wear in corporate America. Non-discrimination policies, while not
indicative of the work climate necessarily, provide employees rights
to dress as they see fit and if employers have a problem, provide legal
means through which employees can act.

RJ:Are the people on Sandrarose.com aware that they sound like white
folks who didn't want their children to attend integrated schools in the
1950's? [Sandra Rose's statement"A man can’t lead other men wearing a dress",
sounds like some of the birthers, denying the presidents right to BE the
president.]

"buttercup24 Says:
I’m glad they are taking a stand. I’ve said numerous times I don’t have a problem with other people’s lifestyles but some people take it too far. If you are a gay man keyword is MAN. Act like one and the same thing with women. The saggy pants thing too. Save that for the knuckleheads on the street who aren’t going anywhere."

Dhoward1913 Says:
They should withdraw!!!! Why the hell would you go to Morehouse with that tomfoolery? These folks are out of control. Gay is one thing, but dressing like a woman…..and to the point that the school has to give guidelines. Damn, if you going to Morehouse you obviously want to get a degree and work in the public sector. You can’t dress like that in the public sector. Only hairsylist can do that.

MB: "A man can't lead another man wearing a dress." this quote is so deep and so
problematic to me. I'll break it down.
1. What constitutes appropriate dress for men and women is always shifting.
What's masculine one day can be feminine the next. Don't folks know the
history of high heels?
2. Read Bailey's Cafe by Gloria Naylor. Tell me then if a man can't lead
another man wearing a dress.
3. There's an assumption that for a man to be taking seriously he needs
to be marked as such. There's something silly about a man in women's
clothing. Why? Is it because men don't take women seriously? If we
change the phrase to " A woman can't lead another woman wearing pants,"
the statement very obviously breaks down.

What is it about masculinity that is so fragile that it becomes
questionable when cloaked in a dress?

RJ: Why do we assume that just because Black men weren't visibly gay
on Morehouse's campus that they, haven't been there historically?

MB: Girl, I don't know! And this is the thing about all black institutions, the
church, school, family, community, etc. There is an understanding that
there are queer black folks in these spaces but traditionally folks have
tried to argue via politics of respectability, "Hide yourself." Black queer
people can be present just not visibly so or at least not so visible as to
call attention to themselves. We have this false notion that hiding queerness
will some how make us more respectable more deserving of being
treated like human beings if we don't deviate from the norms that mainstream
(read: white) society created for us.

RJ: Is the subtext in the conversation that some hetero sexual black women
attend Spelman with the intent of finding a husband and a visible Black
gay male population stifles this possibility?

MB:Maybe but I don't think this is about heterosexual black women as much
as it is about making the homosocial nature of a school like Morehouse
not be read as homoerotic. What I mean is that Morehouse as a school
that wishes to claim a majority heterosexual student body, has anxiety
around the visible presence of gay students. What will people think if they
see black men rocking the latest jimmy cho's or sporting saggin' pants
etc. What is so interesting is that the dress code slices both ways.
They want to rid themselves of a working class hypermasculinity that is
expressed through baggy clothing as well as a feminine (read: queer)
aesthetic that also troubles a more conventional mainstream black
middle class masculinity. It seems much more prudent to begin to
have conversations about black masculinity and all that could be
rather than create a reactionary policy that brings attention to
the conservative and no-liberatory vision of the school.

RJ:What are Black people scared of?

MB: I think black people are afraid of their own queer desires. It's so
interesting that homosexuality is so threatening in our communities
that we'd rather institute draconian policies that limit all that we are or
who we could be out of fear. Homosexaulity and heterosexaulity are
recent concepts that don't effectively convey the diversity of human
sexuality, gender or biological sex. We hold tight to the notion that two
sexes, produce two genders which lead to two orientations but history
and our current world refute this at every turn. but we hold on. We hold
to these notions that ultimately imprison us and do nothing to transform
the world into what it could be. It's our desire to hold onto values, that
were never ours by the way, that keep us locked in a push/pull that is
not transformational or edifying.

RJ: Any other thoughts?

MB: I think Morehouse has a lot more to be concerned about than the
5 gay students who may or may not be wearing heels. How about
the number of sexual assaults that involve Morehouse students
and women in the Atlanta University Center? I can tell you it's way
more than five. How about the virulent homophobia and sexism that
goes unquestioned in the student body and in the administration?

As a feminist, I also want to call high heels into question as not
necessarily being indicative of a liberatory politic. Heels hurt your feet
and can even destroy them over a long period of time. I think it's interesting
that this ultra feminine footwear can be reclaimed as transgressive when
in some ways I think it can be the epitome of a hegemonic hetero-patriarchal state.

For more reading:
The difference between gender and sex
Elizabeth Gates's article in The Daily Beast: Morehouse College's Gay Tragedy
Article in the Paper Tiger, Morehouses newspaper: Is Gay the Way?
Latoya Peterson article at Racialicious: LA Times Explores Being Gay at Morehouse
Jason Harrell on Keith Boykin.com: Black and Gay at Morehouse

Interesting?

What does it mean that this is what Morehouse chooses to focus on?

Why Black folks sound like white 1950's or 2009 birther racist?

Did you know that Black MBA students can't wear locks or cornrows at Hampton?
This is material because they have a 5 year undergrad/MBA program.

What are we scared of?

Thoughts?

The Classroom is a Political Space

2009-10-12T19:24:00.004-04:00

Over the last few weeks, one of the hardest things, for me
to navigate has been deciding when to talk and when to shut
up. This has been an issue in all of my classes.

Yet, it has manifest itself differently because of my familiarity
with the material, my willingness to be vulnerable and ask
questions and my willingness to be passively rather than
actively engaged.

In life and in the classroom it is much easier to complain about how
the class is ran rather than to do something about how it is ran.

It's much easier to complain about health care, rather than going
down to your local senators office, with a few of your friends
and getting in their faces about how they are voting.

Its much easier to complain than to elect that new.

Today, I rode for that new.

The classroom is political because whose voice is or isn't heard,
who does or doesn't speak and whether a space is made for historically
marginalized voices all impacts the way that we learn in the classroom.

Today, I entered the classroom with the expressed intent of not only
participating but moving the conversation towards one on focused
on providing a systemic critique, not simply focusing on the individual.

Because we read Killing the Black Body, which is about the Black
female body throughout history, from slavery to forced sterilization,
eugenics, modern reproductive rights arguments, moms addicted
to crack, adoption and surrogate parents, I knew that it was going
to be a class ripe with emotional landmines.

At one point we were discussing the coercive element involved with the
government forcing low income Black women to be sterilized if they
received public assistance.

The notion that reproductive autonomy as a human right simply wasn't
on the table.

Because of my Twitter interaction with Phonte last week about the ways
in which both men and women are socialized to hate women, I have been
emboldened. What I took from that interaction was, to the extent that I can
ask folks questions, I know that I can take them somewhere else.

A classmate, a Black male classmate who self identified as conservative,
mentioned that if a woman is on welfare with several children, then the government
can tell her what to get sterilized. He rested his case on the individual and personal
responsibility.

He went on to say that we are all here, in this classroom, we are given equal
opportunities

This is material given the fact that the number one predictor of poverty,
in this country, is childbirth.

That rugged individualism runs so thick both in our academic and
mainstream media discourse that not only am no longer surprised
when I hear it, in fact, I anticipate it.

So, in order to get him to think about the system in which these women
lived in I asked him where he was from, and whether he felt that the ways
in which Black men are disproportionally sentenced for crack cocaine
rests on Black men or the system that they were in.

He was consistent, he answered that it was up to the individual, who got
caught up in the system.

I then said, if you are riding for individual responsibility answer me this.

Our country no longer produces products, we live in a service economy.
Walmart is the second largest employer behind the government.
We are a nation of people, where the majority of us, earn minimum wage
or work in service jobs.
Minimum wage guarantees that you will live in poverty.

How do you reconcile the need for individual responsibility with this economic
reality?

I didn't tell him was wrong, because doing that is not helpful.

I asked him questions to get him, and other students to think about other
factors.

It makes me wonder what it will take, and what will happen when we stop thinking
the individual, and start thinking about the group?

It felt good because I realized what Zora meant by "Speak,
so that you can speak again." I always thought that that statement was
over the top and corny, but today, it has real life meaning in my
world.

What will it take to think about the group, rather than the individual?
Has the classroom been a political space for you?
Why is it so hard to claim my voice?
Is it possible that there is a connection between the writing voice and
the speaking voice?

Single Ladies, Nasty Bitches and Interracial Hoes

2009-09-23T07:40:00.007-04:00

The sexual contradiction in American culture is both pervasive
and powerful.

While doing research on Latina teen pregnancy last week, I came
across a narrative where a young woman said, "I heard that, If my
boyfriend smoked weed before we had sex, then I wouldn't get pregnant."

I thought, wow, she is really serious. We have very little healthy, teen based
sex ed, yet our pop culture land is dominated by songs about sex.

I Wanna Fuck Every Girl in the World
Birthday Sex
Lol Smiley Face

The contradiction is interesting and dangerous.

It's dangerous because, the combination of little teen sex ed,
pervasive pop songs about sex, and abstinence ONLY funded
sex ed in the schools systems leaves our young men and women
with limited information. Limited informed people make awful choices.
(<<<-- I sound like a sex ed expert, no?)
Which brings me to my Black Sexual Politics class. On Monday some students
did a presentation on Pat Hill Collins' book of the same title.

For the class we also read Audre Lorde's The Uses of the Erotic.

The student presenters also played a Lil Kim video for the song
How Many Licks.

In the video, Kim is pussy, dick, female orgasms etc.

My professor pointed out that in comparison to little Kim's
video, Beyonce's Single Ladies video looks tame. So I checked
out her VMA performance, and it was confirmed.

3 women, dancing in a leotard, not that risque. The most provocative aspect
of her performance is the costume. Tight and sprayed on. It looks like
she is doing Black Broadway Showgirls routine, which I imagine is
what she intended.

Historically, Black women were not allowed to BE Ladies. Jezebels,
Mammies, Men, Welfare Queens, yes, but ladies. No. So given
that this is a part of the title of the song isn't lost on me.

Lets take the Ciara video posted above. This video moved me largley
because of the element of female desire that is present.

The whole time I was watching it I thought, what is this woman
going to do next?

Ciara licks Justin's ear, 30 seconds in. When was the last time you
saw a Black woman do something sexual TO someone else in a music video?

We don't.

Audre Lorde says that,

"Pornography is a direct denial of the power of the erotic,for
it represents the suppression of true feeling. Pornography emphasizes
sensation without feeling."

Online Black folks had a fit about the Ciara video. The fact that Justin was white,
bothered them. They thought she was being a hoe. The chain also bothered them
and in some ways took them back to slavery.

Folks over at Soul Bounce had an interesting roundtable discussion
about the video. They initially wrote a post titled, "How Can Justin Timberlake
Continue to Get Away with Fetishizing Black Women?" Implicit in this
line of thought is that it is permissible for Black artist who work for White
corporations to do this, but not a White artist.

My response to this line of thought is a few questions:

1. Where is Ciara's agency in this line of thought?
2. What happens when we stop seeing Ciara as a victim?
3. Where is the critique of rappers and they "50 million hoe's" in music
videos?

Then they came back and did a roundtable with had a more
nuanced discussion.

Peep the comments section.

Its interesting to see people struggle with race, sex and capitalism.

In some ways, what wasn't explicitly stated is that the video is powerful
because we see a Black woman being sexual, and because this is so rare
we don't know what to do with the feelings that arise when we see it.

Black heterosexual sex is everywhere and nowhere in pop culture.

According to the dominant Black narrative, it is okay for us to
walk around asking for *patriarchal fulfillment, (putting a ring on it)
but for us to express sexual desire, or even the erotic, we are automatic
hoe's.

Sounds familiar? It is. The difference today is that WE are making a connections
and pushing back.

*No, all marriages do not constitute patriarchal fulfillment, however
her body of work is about getting men to do shit for her, pay bills, be a solider
etc. We all know that, in that this notion of Black male masculinity is
patriarchal and limiting. A man, a person, is more than their paycheck.

Katie Blancita, this one is for you Little boo.

Black Sex?

Single Ladies?

Sex Culture with no Sex Ed? Thoughts?

The Futility or Perhaps the Profoundness of Whiteness

2009-09-22T10:56:00.009-04:00

I searched for a Black and White image. I found Bobby K.
You know I LOVE Bobby.

Blackness can only be understood in terms of Whiteness.

I came to this conclusion after reading Elsa Barkley Brown's

"What Has Happended Here."

She writes,

We are likely to acknowledge that white middle class women
have had a different experience from African American, Latina,
Asian American,and native American women; but the relation, the fact that
these histories exist simultaneously, in dialogue with each other, is
seldom apparent in the studies we do, not even in those studies that perceive
themselves as dealing with the diverse experiences of women. The overwhelming
tendency now, it appears to me, is to acknowledge then ignore the differences among women.

Barkley Browns general argument is that we can only
understand Black women's history if we look at White women's

history because the two require each other to work.

Whiteness ONLY works in relationship to Blackness.

This kinda shook me up.

Because I believe this to be true, I am struggling with

the Sociology readings that I have. Shit, its even hard for me
to read news paper articles or even to have conversations

with people about race.

Because a conversation about Blackness without mentioning Whiteness can

only be half right.

In the same way that a conversation about Hip Hop without mentioning capitalism

can only be half right.

Much of the discourse around race treats Male Heterosexual Whiteness

as the norm and everything else deviates from that.

Part of my ideas around the futility of Whiteness stems from reading work

by Black people, about race, that either implicitly or explicitly ask's

for White folks to see our humanity, to include us.

I arrived as an intact human in East Oakland over 30 years ago.

Whether or not a group of people SEE or validate my humanity is none

of my business.

I haven't always been this way. Growing up in East Oakland, it was difficult

to remain an intact human being, especially after the crack epidemic.

Having just started graduate school, it has become clear to me the

ways in which my education has played a role in my ability to remain

intact because many of us don't make it and we simply charge it to the game.

Its difficult for any one who isn't a White Heterosexual Male (WHM) to remain intact,

because both our laws and our mainstream culture presume that WHM is

the norm.

This norm in our society is reflected by the need to have a Civil Rights Movement,
a Women's Rights Movement, a Gay Rights Movement, an Equal Opportunities
Council Commission, a Civil Rights Bill and Health Care Reform.

All of this brings me to a conversation I had on Twitter Friday with, @BlackNerds

about saving hip hop.

Normally I don't respond to these statements, because most likely

they prove to be futile. But I engaged and I am glad I did because I made a

connection that I hadn't seen before.

I asked him:

Saving hip hop from what?

Why is there such an investment in it?

What does it mean to "save hip hop" when most artist want

Black kids respect and white kids money?

As a result of our conversation, I then tweeted and this the important
connection that I made. The tweet said, "In some ways, I think our
desire to like hip hop is connected to our need to have White folks
recognize our humanity."

I am still working this out. What I do see today, is that both instances
involve looking for validation in places that have clearly stated they it
has not, and will not be offered. It can be struggled for, but it will
not be handed over. To struggle for it, would mean a new society.

You see the connection between Blackness and Whiteness?

Why is it so hard to accept that Rap music is now a tool to sell

products?

Why do we want to save it so badly?

It feels good to be back. Thank you for reading.

I Miss Y'all

2009-09-12T20:50:00.003-04:00

Things have been busy.

Even if I don't write as much, I still think about
you all, about writing, about the essays, the conversations.

Being in school has reminded me just how special it is to
have a community to discuss ideas with. To talk about them,
even in their infancy.

In some ways the blog is an incubator.

Right now I am working on a Van Jones/Jeff Chang/Glen Beck
post. I know go figure. I have been encouraged, from my colleagues
about Beyonce and R & B rather than Lil Kim.

I still may post the Kim post here. I am trying to figure out how
to talk about Tyler Perry and how an artist CANNOT buy
their way onto varsity. Oh. And Chris Hedges.

If you do not read anything that I have recommended this year,
or shit, for that matter EVER on this blog. Read the new
Chris Hedges. He writes with a ferocity that I can only
aspire to. He calls out names, he stops short of talking about
peoples mommas. My only critique of his book is that it is
heavy on the critique and light on solutions. However,
the ways in which he talks about reality TV, Pornography, the
Military industrial complex and the Ivy League and Wall Street
is really quite remarkable.

***Waves.

I will be back.

I promise.

~R

Graduate School vs. Law School

2009-09-09T20:35:00.005-04:00

American Gothic by Gordon Parks

I have started school.

There are three material things that I see as being different
from grad school than law school.

In law school, I had to read material that was abstract
and philosophical, and rarely dealt with race, class or gender.

Now I get to read material that is abstract, philosophical,
and that deals with race, class and gender.

I wake up reading. I go to sleep reading. In law school, it took me
a year to engage with the material this way. This is a problem,
seeing that your first year grades in law school play a huge
role in your employment options after you graduate.

The second thing is that I have started school with the
understanding that it is my job to build community. To that
extent I have met with folks, to get institutional history so
that I can understand the lay of the land, who to stay away
from, who I must be in contact with, where the axis of power lies, etc.

The third material difference is being around men and women
who do not automatically presume that others are heterosexual.

I was kind of taken by surprise when talking to a colleague, who was
giving me the lowdown on a professor whom she suspects is homophobic
who said, "I don't know if you are LGBTQ identified but, this professor..."

I thought to myself, wow, that was cool and really progressive of her
to not only think but to say that.

I read all the time. In fact, had I not taken a train to see Birkhold
I never would have realized that I needed to (re)learn how to read
anywhere at anytime.

Last week, I had been telling myself, if I sit down to read, I need at least two
or three hours. FAGET THAT! Give me 1 hour and I am knocking out
at least one twenty page article with reading notes. ALL TIME IS VALUABLE.

Right now, I have estimated that I have 22 hours a week of reading.

Yup. 22. No joke, eh.

The school work isn't the hardest part of this. It's hard
but it's manageable. So long as you eat, sleep, don't party and
not have some tragic 'ish happen in an intimate relationship.

Oh, and a willingness to sit down and engage with the material. No
internet. No phone. No tv. Just you and the paper.

The most challenging part is engaging with humans, managing relationships,
keeping track of deadlines and simply just showing up on time.

Have you started school?

How is it going?

Any questions for me?

20 Questions Monday

2009-09-07T10:26:00.004-04:00

1. What would have happened if, instead of resigning Van Jones
forced the White House to fire him?

2. Have you seen this 2009 Van Jones/Willie Hortonesque video
put out by Meg Whitmans opponent?

2. Will I be able to write a blog post in two weeks? Hopefully yes.

3. Why has my research interest shifted?

4. Did ya'll see the Law and Order marathon on last night, good clean fun?

5. Would you volunteer, 8 hours a months at a year around farmers market
in your neighborhood?

6. Would you like to read a little bit about the origins of Labor Day?

7. What were you doing this time last year?

8. Did you know that I have a special connection to the song, Here Comes
the Hammer?

9. Are you going to one of the Erykah Badu concerts?

10. Do you even care about "journalism" anymore?

11. Doesn't hurt when you go to another city/state and the groceries
are twenty to thirty percent cheaper?

12. Did you know that Black, Women's and Chicano studies exist on
college campuses because folks took over campuses, sometimes with guns,
and demanded to be included?

13. [Statement] I have come to the conclusion that everything that we
have as a benefit, has been fought for. Everything. And if we are to achieve
anything else. We will have to fight for that too.

14. What is the last movie you saw?

15. Why is it so hard to look at my part in disagreements, rather
then just tell other people they are wrong? [Lols]

16. Where is the album that will narrate my fall?

17. Would you be interested in helping me choose the blog posts that
I published in book form?

18. Cook anything good lately? [Send me a recipe and a photo and I will
put it on Brooklyn Magic].

19. Did you know that much of my work on gender is rooted in the desire
to make a better world for my sweet, sweet, nephew, Baby Chris?

20. Why people more interested in analyzing racial oppression than gender
oppression?

20 Questions Mercury in Retrograde Edition

2009-08-31T22:54:00.006-04:00

1. Why don't we just run out of the grocery store with all of our
groceries instead of standing in those long assed lines, houngary?

2. What are you reading?

3. Do you have healthcare?

4. Why granola cost so much?

5. Will Jay Z still rap about selling crack when he is a 50 year
old hundred-millionaire?

6. Why is it so hard to admit that we have allowed the white
consumption of Black masculinity to define the terms of Black,
mainstream masculinity?

7. Why do I feel like I am morphing into a community organizer?

8. Why am I being forced, because of Saul Alinsky, to see that
no person, or non profit is all bad or all good?

9. Why I go to a Black wedding reception with Filthy, and was
reminded of how race is lived?

10. When will I have time to write blog essays again?

11. What are you procrastinating on doing right now?

12. What was the last sacrifice you made for someone you love?

13. When was the last time you forgave someone for hurting you?

14. How do you deal with friends you owe money to?

15. What do you think of how some of the Buddhist view pain?

16. How do you ease out of someone else's life?

17. How do you leave the door open for them to come back?

18. Why do I look at some of my old posts and totally disagree
with my previous statements?

19. Why is my lunch already made for tomorrow?

20. When am I going to learn to drink more water?

Twenty Question 's Monday

2009-08-24T13:15:00.005-04:00

Via Post Secret

1. How you feel?

2. When was the last time you were caught reading something you
had no business?

3. Why am I just now watching the Chappelle show?

4. Why have I made headway with my anger by replacing vulnerability
with anger?

5. Why ya'll never told me spinach artichoke dip went so hard?

6. When is the new Jay Electronica coming out?

7. If Black men were lynched to deter us from voting, then doesn't
angry white folk showing up to town hall meetings with guns make
sense?

8. Why is South Central one of the realest shows I have ever seen?

9. Why do I get the sense that if folks read more, they would
speak and write less?

10. Why does waking up in your own apartment feel so good?

11. Will I grow some green onions this fall?

12. Why is D.C. a big,' small city?

13. How many Law and Order episodes can you watch in a row?

14. How long will the liberals boycott of Whole Foods last?

15. What impact would having indoor year around farmers markets
have on the 'hood?

16. What would happen if the Congressional proponents said that
THEY were signing up for the new healthcare plan they were advocating?

17. Why Black men look at me crazy, when I am walking on the street
with a white man, but they refuse to give the same look to dope dealers
on the block?

18. Why Saul Alinsky gave me the wiggles and forced me to rethink
waaaaay too much?

19. What are your three favorite blogs about news, art, books or music?

20. Cook anything good lately?

I have questions. You have answers.

Capitalism is for Suckas: or, How Constructive Capitalism is our Future

2009-08-17T09:11:00.012-04:00

Note: This post grew out of two things. One is a post that I wrote
last week on how the Crack Epidemic was in its essence pure capitalism
and my personal transformation from a person who wanted to be an
investment banker to someone who aspires to be a scholar and community
organizer. The second thing was a kind of crowd sourcing that happened last
week. After I wrote the post Rafi and I went back and forth on Twitter about
constructive capitalism. I suggested that we have a conversation about it.
Two people, @professorf and @chartreuseb, suggested that we continue
the conversation publicly, which would provide a transcript and give Umair
(@umairh) a chance to respond. The blog seemed like a good space to
do this, so, here it is.

Renina Jarmon: How do you expect for constructive capitalism to survive
in a system where profits at all costs have been the mandate
since the late 70's when corporations mutated into multinationals?

Rafi Kam: First I should say that you really should do a thorough reading
of Umair's blogs because he lays these things down every
week, I'm just going to do my best to explain what I've taken
away from there.

I think your question has it backwards because if you look in the
news for the past few years it's the short term profits at all costs
approach that cannot be expected to survive. Destroying the world's
resources only works for so long, having interests in opposition to
your customers only works for so long. Companies that don't solve
problems or offer any real value to the world have now been paying
the price in the marketplace, and (bailouts aside!) that will continue.

Detroit failed because they ignored the fact that they needed to make
better cars and tried to make all their profits with creative financing
tricks. If they had spent the money and effort to make economical
cars to solve the world's problem that everybody knew about decades
ago, they'd be fine right now. Instead they tried to make their business
be about financing. Ok, so good riddance Detroit! May the next
generation of American car makers hopefully learn from your mistakes.

The mortgage crisis grew out of banks screwing people. The lesson
people are beginning to learn is that this is never truly sustainable. If
your business is based on fucking over your customer you are ultimately
screwing yourself too. I mean this was particularly true with mortgages
where the stakes were so high. I expect sustainability to be the focus
for companies instead of short term profits because that is the landscape
we are looking at today. So you see a new lending model in a company
like Kiva, which is creating this healthy system of trade and tackling the
problem of global poverty. The company enables participation and
benefits on all sides instead of being there to just suck value from the
world.

And these changes in theory will come about mostly because
they are the best means to compete, as Umair says "there is nothing
more asymmetrical than an ideal" meaning having an ideal to base
your company on is actually this insanely huge business advantage.
I believe in that very strongly and we have all witnessed it in action. It
trounces our traditional notions of positioning or economic advantages.

We've seen in our lifetime the disruption of so many things, just in the
past ten years. So too this notion of old school capitalism. It will
change because it needs to and the shift has already started.

Renina Jarmon: I have taken the time to re-read some of Umairs posts,
The Generation M Manifesto, The Case for Constructive Capitalism,
(one of my all time fav's) Michael Jackson and the Zombie Economy,
What Would a Fair Labor Ipod Cost and The Niche Paper Manifesto.

The central premise of capitalism is the endless accumulation of
capital, at all costs. It appears that what Umair is describing isn't
capitalism at all.

For example, in the Generation M Manifesto, Umair says, "You wanted
to biggie size life: McMansions, Hummers, and McFood. We want
to humanize life."

Humanizing life is antithetical to capitalism.

Capitalism turns on the expendability of workers and treating people
like property.

If he has to call it Constructive Capitalism to sell it, than I can see the
benefits of that, as I am more concerned with building local sustainable
communities than I am with arguing over the semantics of a naming of
our new economy.

I am excited that Umair is talking about a change in what institutions
value. In the the essay, "A Time to Break Silence", Martin Luther
Kind jr. talked about the need for a radical revolution of values in
our society. Perhaps the changes he is arguing for in our institutions
will also be mirrored in us individually. The possibility for this happening
is why I write, work, and in the near future, will teach.

As a Black woman and a feminist who is interested in sustainable
economies my general contention is that the crisis that our
American institutions are facing around labor and our economy
is rooted in the United State's primary contradiction, which is the
forced free labor of millions of enslaved Africans.

U.S. Capitalism is rooted in U.S. slavery.

It is brutal, bloody and treats workers like they are expendable,
when the workers are the ones creating value. The notion of the
founding fathers and the planter class taking what it needed, in this
case, the forced free labor of enslaved Africans, for the purpose of
sustaining a new nation, while simultaneously declaring its freedom
from Britain has never been both acknowledged and dealt with.

Perhaps the sustainable, local economies of the future can be an
opportunity to address this primary contradiction.

Renina Jarmon: What are some examples of business that employ
constructive capitalism?

Rafi Kam: As I said on Twitter, the most disruptive example is Google.
It was created to solve a pressing problem "organize the world's information",
it became a powerhouse of wealth because it solved another huge problem
to make advertising more relevant and accountable. This offered a solution to

a real problem for advertisers and web publishers. It stated a list of core
values about itself and how it thinks the web should work most famously
"Don't Be Evil".

That isn't to say I'm comfortable with the amount of power Google has but
by stating that as their constitutional value they themselves created that
dialog/standard and asked to be judged accordingly. They've
stressed innovation and open-ness. Employees are required to spend
a big chunk of time creating their own projects. Google's free APIs and
free apps have changed the game, provided a foundation for developers
and forced competitors to change their models. And referencing your
first question, quite clearly, they don't act according to a profits at all
cost approach.

Some Umair favorites: Kiva, Etsy, Threadless, Flickr, Twitter, Netflix, Zipcar

I think there's a connection here between Umair's ideas on Constructive
Capitalism or Capitalism 2.0 and so many things that are currently part
of the Zeitgeist: web 2.0, open source, local farming, local economies,
purpose-driven marketing, collaboration over competition, empowering
people, small is the new big and so on. People seem more aware than
ever of how destructive business as usual is, so I think these trends
and ideas rise in response to that.

Renina Jarmon: I agree, with regard to the new companies that have come
along with a different model that acknowledges the community and
human dimension of business. I am all for artisanal, robust, sustainable,
small, if you will, slow communities.

However, if this crisis has taught us anything, it the importance of
considering the global implications of our actions.

Capital is incredibly flexible. I see that it is quite possible for our U.S.
economy to become more green, local and sustainable while the
economy of the Gobal South is turned into one populated by a
"permanent untouchables" class.

The way of life of folks in the Global North is subsidized by folks in
the Global South. While I know that you hated the video that I
sent you last April, The Story of Stuff about consumption, I found
it to be useful in demonstrating the ways in which the products
that we consume start someone where, and end up somewhere else.

What I am getting it is that it is quit possible for Capitalism 1.0 to
absorb our sustainable "Green Economy" by making it profitable
at the expense of the "Third" World.

The first example that comes to mind is the Tabacoo industry. Big
Tobacco was sued in the 80's over whether they lied about knowing
that cigarettes was inherently addictive. In the 90's teen anti smoking
advocates pushed for and Big Tobacco supported underwriting,
anti-teen smoking campaigns. Teen smoking went down in the US,
but it went up in Vietnam, China and arguably other places as well.

I ask you, what is to stop this from happening?
Wouldn't businesses have to be willing to operate from a minimal
to zero profits perspective in order for this to avoid this happening?

Renina Jarmon: If as you say, we are in the beginings of a new era,
how does your notion of constructive capitalism take the fact that we
are moving towards an automated jobless society into consideration?

Rafi Kam: That's a loaded question! I don't know that we're moving towards
an automated jobless society and don't even really understand what that
means. Industries rise and fall, and automation and outsourcing have
replaced many jobs but I don't see how we are moving to a jobless society.
It's not cost-effective to replace every job with automation and it's downright
impossible for some. But speaking to low-skill manufacturing or service jobs
that may have been replaced by automation, there's different possible
answers I suppose. You have initiatives like the one Obama campaigned
on to create "green" manufacturing jobs. Ideally you'd want to see a world
where we're creating better jobs and preparing more people for them.

But it's sort of this two-sided thing where having a whole bunch of people
in need of jobs is a problem for society to solve and also a potential
resource for people with capital. In a perfect world you would have
someone looking at the labor pool both those ways at the same time.
Maybe that's too optimistic. How's that for a perfect closing line to this Q&A.

Renina Jarmon: We are in fact moving towards an automated society.
My thinking about this comes out of a reading of James Bogg's The
American Revolution, pages from a Negro Workers Notebook. The
book, was written in 1963. His general contention is that based on
advances in technology, our society will become one in which automation
will force us to think about how to organize society based on our needs
instead of our wants. I wrote about his book in a blog post last month
titled, The Coming Jobless Society.

The notion of an automated society is a hard one to swallow, however
it is coming. For every place that you see a machine replacing a
human a job has been eliminated. The further technology advances,
the more automated our society will become, the fewer jobs will be
available. Every time you use a computer, instead of working with a human,
a process has been automated and job has been lost. For instance,
in Detroit, the assembly line was automated in the '50's. Our current wars are
becoming automated via unmanned land and aerial vehicles.

For the most part email has eliminated both the need for receptionists
and the USPS. Garbage trucks are automated. Pay kiosks at
businesses, such as AT&T, the grocery store, the airport and Target,
have eliminated the need for customer service agents. Where there
was once 4 human employees you only need 2, or 1.

Taking all this into consideration, I come away from this Q & A with,
in many ways trying to reconcile the world that Boggs is talking about
with the world that Umair is advocating for.

The Term, Woman of Color: Race is Hard

2009-08-16T13:55:00.007-04:00

via Zinc Plate Press

Last week, I was watching a sex scene involving
three nude men in the film Short Bus and said to my friend,
who is white, "Wow, white folks have called us colored but they have a
variety of skin tones as well."

He nodded, and said "Yes, you do have a point" and we continued
to watch the film. Of course there are different skin hues and tones
amongst white folks, but it is the kind of the thing that is really
apparent when watching folks, nude, on a screen.

I struggle with the notion of being inclusive. As you may have noticed, I don't
use the term woman of color on my blog, at least not on a regular
basis. I usually write Black, Latina and Asian.

Back in January, Latoya put me on to a thread on My Ecdysis
about women of color and radical women of color on the internet.

So, today, I was on on The My Ecdysis blog, as I am starting a site
about Black feminism, so I was looking for the names of folks who
may be interested in contributing. I noticed that Nadia responded
to a comment that I wrote, (where I mentioned the phrase, Black
Asian and Latina women). Her comment, in part, was that using
Black, Asian and Latina, erases Arab and Native Women.

She is right.

But I was also like, this is getting to be a little much. Then I was like, damn,
I might have to use women of color, or perhaps even non-white
women, in order to talk about Black, Asian, Latina, Native and Arab
women.

It was then that I saw the usefulness of the term Woman of Color.

The jury is out.

I am thinking about what it means to be inclusive.

I am thinking about the ways in which our language not only reflects but
also shapes our reality and the futures that we envision.

Twenty Questions Saturdays 8.15.09

2009-08-15T09:49:00.006-04:00

1. Why they make the Asian dude in The Hangover act like
a stereotypical, loud, Black, drag queen?

2. What would Black bloggers write about if there was no
more (institutional) white racism?

3. Why do I find myself nodding in agreement, laughing and
thinking about blog post ideas every time I read Michelle Wallace's blog?

4. Did you see the article about the nearly 8 thousand people who
lined up for free health care last week in Inglewood, CA?

5. Why did I send out my babies v. dreams questions and Moya
quickly let me know that the issue isn't parenting or policy
but thinking within the nuclear and not an extended family framework?

6. Often times, when I hear people complain about the government,
I simply think or respond, what are you going to do about it?

7. Why he bring me a pound of Peerless coffee back from Cali and
I became a little less angry?

8. Why salmon teriyaki and black beans w/ salsa taste so good together?

9. When is Wordpress going to be customizable like Blogger?

10. Is the fact that the white folks are boycotting Whole Foods an
indication of the contradiction sharpening?

11. What are you currently reading?

12. How different would our would be if we looked at people as
humans first, then racial/gendered beings second?

13. Did you see the last episode of Roseanne?

14. Why am I excited about visiting the largest Buffalo Exchange
in the country in Las Vegas (so I have heard)?

15. The year is almost over, has it been a good one?

16. When am I going to have the courage to press publish on
my critique of the Black blogosphere?

17. Why am I just not rediscovering that I have been trying to
impress Adrienne Rich all along?

18. Why am I really excited about this Q & A with Rafi about
the sustainable of "constructive capitalism"?

19. What would republicans complain about if they made Gay
marriage and abortion permanently illegal?

20. Why are there so many similarities in how both
The Black Power Movement and Hip Hop treats women?

Me. Questions. You Answers.

Wanted: Your Short Essays

2009-08-12T13:40:00.003-04:00

I am currently reading Adrienne Rich's essay "Teaching
Open Language in Admissions" and I have decided
to run a series of short essays or posts on my educational
experience.

I have come to the conclusion that I have had a very unique one,
and I would like to use this space to share our experiences.

For instance, as a first year student at Mills, I tried to test
out of English 1. Not only did I not test out, but I was recommended
to take the grad student led reading/writing workshop along
with first year English. I was not amused.

I still remember the topic of my final essay for that class,
which was about how Adrienne Rich and Ntozake Shange were
creating a new language, in order to say new things that never
had been said.

I remember the professor telling the rest of the class that I had submitted
one of the best final papers. I was proud of myself.

The irony that I could NOT test out of English, was placed in the "support
workshop" but wrote one of the best essays, was never lost on me.

If you have similar experiences, please send them to me at
m.dotwrites()gmail.

Musing on War Money and Art Money In the University

2009-08-10T14:23:00.011-04:00

via Ican

Have public and private universities decided to trade arts education
for nuclear weapons?

While writing about the white and Black consumption of Black death
in hip hop last May, I came across Chomsky's argument, that the
U.S. is moving towards a "Third" world model.

Meaning that, we are evolving to have two classes of folks in this country,
the elite and the people who serve them. This is clearly taking root in
California and New York City. Meanwhile in the heartlands, the economies in
the factory and mining towns have been gutted, and been replaced
with the Walmart, prison and meth economies. Neither of these are sustainable,
just or democratic.

A fundamental thread of the American experience has been that the next
generation will have a better life then the current generation. Given the economies,
listed above, this simply isn't feasible.

Which brings me to the arts education article that I came across in the
New York Times today. Patricia Cohen writes,

If you are looking for a sign of how strapped the University of California, Los Angeles, is for cash, consider that its arts and architecture school may resort to holding a bake sale to raise money. California’s severe financial crisis has left its higher-education system — which serves nearly a fifth of the nation’s college students — in particularly bad straits. But tens of thousands of students at public and private colleges and universities around the country will find arts programs, courses and teachers missing — victims of piercing budget cuts — when they descend on campuses this month and next.

The comments on the article were interesting because
of both what they said, and what they didn't say. One commenter
focused on liberal arts and moms. She writes,

Cathy

ME

August 10th, 2009

10:23 am

Is this about jobs? Do these administrators think, like so many ignorant Americans, that college degrees in the arts or liberal arts don't lead to jobs? College is not vocational training, let me make that clear. But I also can't help but notice that almost every single mother I know with a degree in art is a stay-at-home mother who is also self-employed. Whether they be painters or art gallery owners, private art teachers or web-page designers, commercial artists or wedding photographers, as I enter my middle thirties I'm surprised by how many women I know who have used their art degrees to spend most of their days with their children and make money at the same time. Facebook has made this even more apparent to me as I reconnect with women I haven't seen in 15 or 20 years.

Make cuts in these programs, and you further reduce mothers' (and probably fathers') options for employment. You will also create more latch-key kids at the same time that you usher babies and toddlers into daycare centers as their parents wish it could be otherwise.

Another focused on how the arts are important to trained artists and engineers
on campus. A commenter writes,

10.

Dave

SC

August 10th, 2009

10:58 am

I work in engineering and science but regard reduced emphasis on the arts as short-sighted. Scientists and engineers are more creative and productive when they also have education and experiences in the arts. Life-long learning and an appreciation for abstract thought-and tolerance-are also positive outcomes. Arts programs add much to campus life. Spending cuts may be necessary but should be done equitably to all programs so that educational balance is maintained.

In his new book, the Empire of Illusion, Chris Hedges discusses the
relationship between the war economy and the American University.

His general thesis is that the university has used both private money from
corporations and public tax dollars from the Pentagon and the Department
of Defense to build weapons to supply, advance and sustain our permanent
war economy.

For the record, historically, when I have encountered anti war activists, I
typically, glazed over with a blank stare. It didn't seem like what they were
talking about was relevant to me, what I was passionate about, or what I
was interested in. But, given the expense of war and the expense of
higher education, the relationship of critical thinkers to a sustaining a
Democracy it is an important issue to consider as we move forward.

In reading bell hooks, Chris Hedges and Chomsky recently, it has become
clear that there is a connection between the arts and the ability to make
sense of ones life. Be it reading a novel, seeing a play, watching a movie
or a tv show, attending a concert or writing a blog.

There is something to be said for a culture that derives its meaning from
art rather than war.

I am also seeing that there is a connection between a war economy
and our boys being raised to think that being destructive, rageful
and violent is the only and most appropraite way of being. Bob Herbert
wrote recently about how the murders of the women at The LA Fitness
in Pennsylvania last week the was an act of hate against women. A
commenter wrote back saying,

To the Editor:
While I greatly appreciate Bob Herbert’s focus on violence toward women, as a psychologist looking for possible causes and solutions, I see a bigger problem. Boys and young men in most of the world are brought up to admire violence through fantasy, media and sports and in preparation for the army and war. They are taught that being a successful man requires physical power, weapons and often violence.
This has to be addressed in our child rearing and in our culture and values, beginning with childhood games and culminating in our emphasis on physical force to solve global problems and sustain our “world supremacy.”
Vivien D. Wolsk
New York, Aug. 8, 2009

Given the connection between how boys are socialized and war, and the
connection between our two wars, our schools and the dismantling of liberal arts,
I have a few questions.

What happens when a country treats it higher education like vocational/
trade schools?

When are we going to have a conversation about the fact that universities
are a billion dollar business and, given the fact that we are moving
towards an automated jobless society, what will we do with our young people
once they have graduated, if they make it that far?

If the arts programs have to sale cookies in order to survive,
do the engineering and physics departments have to as well?
If not, then why not?

Will the only jobs left be service jobs (waitresses, janitors, nurses)
or servicing the elite/corporations (finance, advertising) or joining the armed
forces?

If private corporations provide some funds to science and engineering
departments, (in return for the right of any novel discoveries) the schools
receive research grants/our tax dollars from the department of defense,
what do the students receive?

How are the interest's of both the students and the public served by this?

Lets Discuss.

Sponsorship and Biases: Musing on The Crack Game and Investment Banking

2009-08-10T01:53:00.006-04:00

The crack game, in it's essence, is pure capitalism.

Profit, over people, at all costs.
Eliminate enemies at all costs.
Take out the dominant political regime or competition at all costs.
Endless accumulation of property and capital, at all costs.
Domination through coercion, violence and if necessary legal
means at all costs.

People, human beings, babies, addicts and quite simply,
the human toll, are all irrelevant.

This evening I was reading a piece on the Newsweek site
titled, The Fatal Flaw of Obamacare. By the bottom of the first
page, I decided to Google the author because the derisiveness of
his tone suggested that he was getting conservative think tank money.
I found out he that he was a writer, and in fact conservative cat, who
is down with the National Review.

I was half right. It also became clear that his money is tied up with his
agenda. To be fair, there are left think tanks and "liberal" writers at Newsweek
who are pushing their own agendas.

My issue is with the lack of disclosure. The asymmetry of information
pisses me off, and when I sniff it out, I stay on it until my point is made.

The asymmetry tends to work in favor of he person who has more info.
Which brings me to Twitter. A few weeks ago, I learned that Oprah,
Puffy, Shaq and arguably others receive Twitter stock shares, in
exchange for tweeting.

That's cool, but there was something that struck me about the fact that
this simply was never mentioned, in all of the articles in the mainstream press
about the popularity of the site. It became clear to me that everything is
for sale. (I know. Naive bear. Hang in there with me for 90 seconds. I will
explain.)

I hadn't really thought about the notion of everything being for sale
as a strict truth since 1986, which is the year that the pure capitalism
of the crack game seeped into the streets corners and blocks of
East Oakland.

With the notion of everything being for sale, this afternoon I tweeted
that when you seperate your money from your art you are free.

This is material because I was once neutral regarding corporations.

There was a time when I thought that if I learned how corporations worked,
I could work for one, make my money, get in and get out. Never being one
short on ambition, I wanted to work at Merrill or Goldman Sachs. I
began to leverage my relationships, to the extent that I could try and
obtain such a position. I reached out to the men that I knew who worked
in the field and asked them to help me.

With this experience in the back of my mind, I read Matt Taibbi's piece on
Goldman Sachs. In many ways it represents the convergence of art,
sponsorship and the essence of the crack game as pure capitalism.

Taibbi writes like he is independent. The piece reminded me of
Gary Webb.

Moreover, he has done, what very few people have done, which
is criticize politicians, investment banking and implicitly,
capitalism in the mainstream press which in this case is Rolling Stone
Magazine. What is material is that the story was NOT buried on arrival.

In the article, The Great American Bubble Machine, Taibbi writes,

The first thing you need to know about Goldman Sachs is that it's everywhere. The world's most powerful investment bank is a great vampire squid wrapped around the face of humanity, relentlessly jamming its blood funnel into anything that smells like money. In fact, the history of the recent financial crisis, which doubles as a history of the rapid decline and fall of the suddenly swindled dry American empire, reads like a Who's Who of Goldman Sachs graduates.
By now, most of us know the major players. As George Bush's last Treasury secretary, former Goldman CEO Henry Paulson was the architect of the bailout, a suspiciously self-serving plan to funnel trillions of Your Dollars to a handful of his old friends on Wall Street. Robert Rubin, Bill Clinton's former Treasury secretary, spent 26 years at Goldman before becoming chairman of Citigroup — which in turn got a $300 billion taxpayer bailout from Paulson. There's John Thain, the asshole chief of Merrill Lynch who bought an $87,000 area rug for his office as his company was imploding; a former Goldman banker, Thain enjoyed a multibilliondollar handout from Paulson, who used billions in taxpayer funds to help Bank of America rescue Thain's sorry company.

What is interesting about the piece is both his passion, nerve and
the fact that he isn't a finance reporter, per se.

Furthermore, the article, gives me hope for the day in which
Black writers will themselves to write with similar fierceness,
criticism and vision.

On Alternet, Dean Starkman talks about the ways in which Taibbi's
piece works, doesn't work, and its merits as an article as a whole.
For the most part the mainstream press has dismissed it, yet and
still folks are talking about the company, Wall Street and whether
his assertions in the article are in fact true. They can't rebut his arguement,
they are just opting to not take it seriously because he called Goldman a
"great vampire squid wrapped around the face of humanity, relentlessly
jamming its blood funnel into anything that smells like money." Say word?

Ezra Klein offers a great sum up, of Starkman's piece when he writes,

writing that "the weakness of the piece is where others might find strength, its polemical nature and its hyperbole." In particular, he says that "when you call Goldman a 'great vampire squid wrapped around the face of humanity, relentlessly jamming its blood funnel into anything that smells like money,' you’re in a sense offering a big fat disclaimer—this piece is not to be taken literally and perhaps not even seriously."

I am thinking about Goldman, I am thinking about Democracy
and I am thinking about the Crack game.

To create another future, one of the contradictions that many of us
who came up in the 80's will have to face, is the conflict that arises when
we are faced with choosing money over people.

Take the d-boy for instance. I am mindful of our willingness to love or
respecting a dope dealer who sends children in the hood to college.
Yes, the d-boy sent the children to school, but the d-boy still sold crack,
that has to recognized and accounted for as well. Let me be clear.
I understand that cats in the hood didn't fly cocaine, Tech-9's nor AK's
into the hood. I get that. And that isn't the issue at hand. I am
more interested in who and what we respect and why.

I once thought that I could work at an investment bank, stack a little
cheese, pay off some school debt and move on.

I now realize that this is like saying, I will just sell crack for a few years,
make my money, and get out. It doesn't work. I have known since I was
ten that how an adult makes their money influences what they say and
how you say it.

When I saw, one, two and then three women be murdered
because they were either addicted to drugs or were dating drug dealers
and subsequently murdered in double homicides, it became clear to
me then that the notion of who I hung around with and or how I got money
DID and WOULD have an impact on my life.

As an artist, today, I realize as a person who operates in that murky
space of not being a journalist, of writing and soon to be, as a
lecturer and teacher, deciding to not marry my art to my income is a
scary, loaded and freeing act.

As a Black woman, I am particularly attuned to, and have a criticism
for human beings and corporations who make their mortgages
trafficking in the disparity of Black women, Black men and Black
children.

We see what Black people, who have been given a little bit money,
some job titles, but no real power have done. They have pursued their
individual gain at the expense of pursuing our collective advancement.

My preference is for the children to learn from these Black folks and
to do something different. What that something is, I am not sure.

Throwing folks under a bus for investment banking money or crack
money isn't sustainable, just, nor Democratic.

I believe, today, that to be effective, our new pursuit must be along the lines for
pursuing the collective good over the individual gain. Perhaps we
can discover what that looks like together.

Lets Discuss.

Health Care's Perfect Storm Brewing

2009-08-09T22:25:00.005-04:00

See Cartoons by Cartoon by R.J. Matson - Courtesy of Politicalcartoons.com - Email this Cartoon

Frank Rich wrote about President Obama, and the battle
over health care here.

The most insightful comments that I saw was this one:

20.

Diana

New York

August 9th, 2009

8:50 am

There’s a perfect storm brewing: a government that (but for a few ethical souls) only advances the interests of the monied class; a monied class that owns the media; and a media that exploits and advances the fears of millions--millions who are angry and growing desperate over an economy that is short on jobs and big on rewarding the monied class.

Where’s the way out? I've always taken pride in being a conscientious, informed citizen, but the last few months have forced me to finally face the fact that our government is beyond repair, beyond redemption. If I had money and a job to go to, I would leave.

This commenter was interesting, in that it became clear to
me how some of us are beginning to analyze what was promised
and what has occurred.

The surefire way to ensure that you have learned
something, is to try and teach it to someone.

Where is the website showing, in a ten point plan, what the
healthcare plan is and is not?

We can not list or teach, what we do not know.

The following comment resonated with me because of
the honesty but also the willingness to still expect politicians
to solve our problems, when it has been made clear that
there is no apparent incentive to do so.

Anya

NC

August 9th, 2009

8:50 am

Until there is universal health care, everyone is set up for failure. If you get sick or even just become one of the millions of people in a car accident, you can lose your finances. Assuming you have good insurance, they can decide to ditch you after they say they won't pay for an illness.

Say your neighbor has melanoma. Well this neighbor's insurance will only cover $10k of the cost of treatment, but that treatment can be five to ten times the maximum the insurance company will pay. The hospital wants their money, so you are on the hook for it. What are you going to do? Refuse treatment? But the doctors want to save your life! The insurance company wants to destroy it.

No matter what Suzie Orman says, you can't prepare yourself for $100,000 in medical bills. The median income for a family of four is around $40000 per year! We expect people to have three years gross salary saved in case they get sick?

That also assumes that once you get so sick, you'll be able to continue working. Now if you're on chemo, it's a lot harder to sit at a desk and answer the phone. It's even harder if you have a job in a service sector where it is vital that employees stay whole and healthy. You can't get hours if you're too sick to stand for eight hours a day. If you can't get hours, then you'll have no income. If you have no income, how are you supposed to pay for medical care in addition to the expenses we all have like rent/mortgage, car payment, utilities for the home, and food?

We, the members of the middle class (or what's left of it), have all been set up. I wish there were a politician out there who would admit it and fix it. However, he or she would face such opposition from much mightier forces than voters that they'd probably never make it to an office of any consequence. It's why change is easy to promise: we all want a change. It's probably going to be impossible to deliver a true change. I voted for Obama because I didn't want to see someone like John McCain who put women's health in air quotation marks running the country and making decisions that would affect my life.

I'm in my 20s and I don't have health insurance. I may get some when I go to grad school in a few weeks. I may even be able to get my teeth cleaned after two years of not seeing a dentist. Why have we been abandoned in the last 40 years by our government, and why did people buy Reagan's nonsense that the government was the problem? My generation is going to be paying for all of it. We're going to have to work longer, harder, and for less. What we've sacrificed is our standard of living to lobbyists.

It's enough to make me want to move to another country, and I'm lucky enough to speak Spanish. I have my pick of about 25 places to go! I could probably get my teeth cleaned in Cuba for free!

I wish there were a politician out there who would admit it and fix it.
I wish there were a politician out there who would admit it and fix it.
I wish there were a politician out there who would admit it and fix it.

Our coming new way of life will demand that we understand
that it will be our responsibility to solve our own problems.

Thoughts?

Twenty Questions Friday 8.7.09

2009-08-06T23:02:00.007-04:00

1. Why bank fees make me almost have a coronary?

2. Why am I my fathers child?

3. Even though Manaen tells me, what seems like once a week,
why is it so hard to forgive, even if the act is for me, not the
transgressor?

4. Why when someone leave, you miss them, a lot, then you get use to it?

5. What if some of the "birthers" flipped out and got violent with an Asian, Black
or Latino white person?

6. Why people stay saying that poverty is why our children can't
read, yet Cuba as a 99% literacy rate?

7. Why did it feel good when I ran into the Graduate, (he has always treated
me like number two) who said I was glowing then proceeded to hit on me.

8. Why isn't there a Black Michael Moore?

9. Why I still be looking for a modern Pharcyde?

10. Why am I so competitive?

11. Why people try and make money off of everything, when everything
ain't for sale?

12. Why do i have to resort to crack game metaphors to explain capitalism?

13. Why do I still remember dig dugs pfn number?

14. Why do I want Tony Touch to DJ my going away/birthday party?

15. If Black people don't save Black children, who will?

16. Why do I love Bianybear for teaching me that I need to be vulnerable
and fearless?

17. Why my honesty make me feel vulnerable and free?

18. When will we have an honest conversation about the fact that
automation is eliminating jobs that will never return?

19. Why we so scared to stand up for what we believe in?

20. Why "he" say that I ain't follow my heart last night?

I got questions, you, have answers.

So Apparently, I am a Man

2009-08-06T22:34:00.006-04:00

The same techniques used by white folks to keep Black men in check,
Black men use to keep Black women in check.

Last week on Twitter, I was chatting with @shehateme.

He mentioned something, probably a complaint, general
tweet like chatter. I responded, saying that he was strong,
that he would be okay. He responded saying, no "You are strong,
I want to be like you."

Another, Tweeter, @darius_sinclair responded saying, "Yes she is
strong, like three men."

I read it, and thought to myself, hmmmmm. Something about that statement
didn't sit well with me. Before I responded, I thought about it,
because quite simply, attacking people isn't productive nor my steez.

I asked @darius_sinclair, "Hey, what did you mean by this?" He responded,
simply, "That you you are strong." Even though it seemed fairly innocuous,
it still didn't sit right.

I asked a friend, who can sometimes help me see the forest for
the trees when it comes to race and gender theory. He said, quite simply,
"In our culture, women who challenge men, are not women, they are
not feminine, they are strong, and the only strong people are men."

I turned to him and said, "I don't know my place?" Then I nodded
saying I don't know my place because one of my gifts is that
I feel comfortable everywhere (except in Projects that I don't know,
they have me on edge, until I know the locations of key players.)

In a previous life, I was going to be a lawyer. What kind
of lawyer could I have possibly been if I didn't feel comfortable
challenge people? It is what we are trained to do. Craft arguments.
Be analytical. Argue statutes. Argue Facts.

I had a teachable moment on the way that patriarchy (institutionalized
sexism) works.

As a woman, if I challenge anyone, especially men, I am not
a woman, I am not feminine, I am a man.

There is simply no room for me, as a woman, to like sports- its masculine,
to be into games, technology and programming- its masculine, to
be an argumentative lawyer- its masculine, to be a philosopher- its
masculine.

Implicitly when women are called strong, the motivation is to shut us up,
to silence us, and to try make us feel ashamed. While that may not necessarily
have been the case on Twitter last week, it is the way that gender functions
in our society.

It was then that I realized that the same techniques used by white folks
to keep Black men in check, Black men use to keep Black women
in check.

Lets discuss.

Writers Block

2009-08-05T16:50:00.007-04:00

What do you all want me to write about? I know I used to ask this on a
more frequent basis.

I decided to do so today, because......I need help deciding.

You see, I spent the weekend in NYC and I was away from the internets.

Now, I am looking it the internets sideways, because..because...because....

Because school is about to start, because I just read this new Chris He dges book
and I can't get it out my mind (its like when you kiss someone and you can't get
the moment off your byrd), because I have a little time on my hands and because
I have relationship upheaval (I know, I always do, always processing, always
learning, lols), I just can't seem to write the way I normally do. I am stuck.
Backed up.

Funny thing is I get grumpy when I don't essay on the reg.
Yes. I used essay as a verb. You know what it is homies.
(I also think Mod Min about to be 4 in a couple of days. Hmmp.)
So here are the posts that I am most interested in:

What Our Forefathers Taught me about Revolution and Black People
Why Lil Kim Makes Black Women Uncomfortable
50 Cent Masculinity Requires Beyonce Femininity
Notes from a Waitress
So, I Learned that I am a Man (about femininity and how if I am a woman
who stands up to men, then I am a MAN, and no longer feminine. Deep, hunh?)
The End of California (Why California will be our first modern "3rd world" state)
Our Future: Sustainable Local Economies
I See Myself in Henry Louis Gates
Sexism Hurts {Black} Men Too

Is there anything that you would like for me to address with regard to
this list, or something you have been curious about.

As usual, I look forward to your responses.

Twenty Questions Saturdays {I Know, Late Black Girl}

2009-08-01T17:10:00.005-04:00

Life caught up with me yesterday, hence by ability to provide you
with the much beloved, 20 Questions Fridays, on a Saturday.

1. Why is it so hard to acknowledge that hip hop has an impact on
how Black children treat each other, with regard to sex, tolerance
around sexuality and violence?

2. What if everything you had now, regarding material items,
was all you would have for the next five, ten years?

3. Are you in contact with the people who mentored you when
you were a teenager?

4. Why I still cheer the A's, even though I don't know any of the
players names?

5. Why is it so hard to turn off that "I should have said X to her"
voice?

6. What will it take for those who are employed to be concerned
with the fate of the semi and permanent unemployed?

7. Have you heard of the $5 slice of pizza?

8. Why isn't there an international youth movement?

9. Why stuffed mushrooms go so hard?

10. Why did I find a bar that has a bookshelf full of philosophy
books, California beers on tap, right in Brooklyn?

11. Why, in addition to having a beer, didn't President Obama
take a moment to facilitate a broader American conversation
on the interaction between the police and Black communities.

12. How come there is never enough money for all the artistic
project ideas I come up with?

13. Why three different people tell me that I be over thinking
stuff, yesterday?

14. What collective obligation do Black folks w/ degrees and
education have to Black folks who do not have the resources or
access to achieve these things?

15. Why did being a waitress force me to grow up (in ways I
am still seeing everyday)?

16. Why is white poverty invisible in mainstream media?

17. Why are teen sex workers treated as criminals, as opposed
to people who need social services and mental health assistance?

18. Why for the first time in my life, I have visited New York City
and the people, in some ways seem incapable of feeling?

19. Have you considered composting?

20. How will I be able to blog in the fall when I won't have anymore time?

You, of course, have answers.

Super Michael Jackson Brothers

2009-07-29T22:42:00.003-04:00

I haven't played Super Mario in more than 10 if not 15 years,
yet I still remembered some of the sequences. Creepy.

Remember freezing a game in the morning and coming
back home to try and play it after school?

Yikes, the combo if Michael and Super Mario made me smile.

Enjoy.

In 5 Easy Steps

2009-07-27T13:21:00.004-04:00

I let my anger kill a relationship once in '07. I didn't really let
the anger kill it, but I wasn't mindful of the ways in which my
coping mechanisms were impacting my relationship.

This summer, I thought that I was doing success simply because
I got out of bed, and put on my happy Black girl routine and did
what I said I was going to do. I was grinding, every which way I
knew how to get cake to move to D.C. I was happy that I just
didn't throw up my hands in defeat but actually committed to
going and learning and ultimately growing.

Did I mention that I received a fellowship to go to a program
in the city that he attended, but I chose to go to D.C. instead.
So in the back of my mind a was a voice saying, "Girl, you could
have avoided all this and just moved into a loft together, went to
school and stayed put."

I continually told myself, "This is only temporary, I can do anything for
a short amount of time just to get by." I came to be proud when I
delivered awesome service, and I learned from my mistakes.
The worse mistake?

Walking up to a table and saying "Can I bring you the check" and
they responded "Um, we never got our entree." OUCH!

Model Minority Fail.

The best moment was my first $15 tip and someone telling me that
I have a great personality and to keep it because it would take
me far. Apparently, Filthy wasn't too happy with how I was coped with
being a server in June. To be fair, it was a lot for both of us to get use
to in such a short amount of time.

This summer I blogged about how when I got home, I just stared at the
wall. Sit on the internet. Well, I ain't wanna hang out either. It was hard.
The bugged out 'ish, is that the gig just ended so know I can
focus on getting all the grad school preparation 'ish done.

Doing paperwork, reading books on the reading lists, reaching out to
my cohort, shipping boxes etc. I don't turn people into the harm that they
have caused.

I am not my wounds or my mistakes. Neither is anyone
else. If that were the case, I wouldn't have parents. I am forced to see
the humanity in people. That doesn't mean that I don't hold them accountable,
it means that I try and seperate what they have done from who they are.

Its bugged out because in life, work is hard, and when your partner is
having a rough time, you can either empathize with them, or you can
turn them into a monster.

In my conversation with him last night, I mentioned that I have never
turned him into a monster, and trust me, I have the material to do so.

He wants to go on a road trip to Princeton, don't know if I am feeling
that, given the turbulence. Praying and waiting.

If it works, in some ways I see it as a vetting process for having a tried
and tested compadre for my grad school experience.

We all have growing pains.

If it doesn't I am free to pursue the next phase of my life and all of the
illustriousness that it has to offer. Here is to hairy conversations and
grown folks business.

Had to adjust to a new gig or city recently?
You let anger ruin 'ish in your life?
How much do you tip when you go out?

20 Questions Friday {7.24.09}

2009-07-24T09:23:00.005-04:00

Love, Love, Love Shiny Black Girls.

1. Why is it so hard for Black people to understand that CNN,
Cornel West and Dyson will always talk about Black poverty
because it makes them money?

2. Why does Sam Adams Summer Ale taste so orangey and
delicious?

3. Why is it so hard to call family members you haven't talked to
in a while?

4. Where did summer go?

5. Why am I itching to launch 3 new sites, one of them a Black
Vanity Fair?

6. Have you ever taken a look at the federal budget?

7. Why isn't it required for all Congressmen and women
to disclose their investments so that we will know where
their biases lie?

8. Why Jet Blue more expensive now?

9. What happened to Iyanla Vanzant?

10. You peeped how the Chris Brown apology video and
the Henry Louis Gates arrest broke on the same day?

11. What do you think of David Lindorff's piece on Henry Louis Gates
and our current police state?

12. Did you know that Tyler Perry is the first Black major
studio owner?

13. Why Ta-Nehisi the only blogger that consistently makes
me think of new angles?

14. Why is there no money left after the bills are paid?

15. Did you know that there are automated garbage trucks
in some cities, which eliminates 2 good paying jobs?

16. Did you go to Rock the Bells?

17. Did you know that Louis Proyect wrote a letter to Goldman
Sachs offering to be their PR consultant and recommending that
they fund anti- capitalist activities to quell the rising voice of The Left?

18. Did Tupac have potential or was he a really just a philosophical
and deep drug addict?

19. Why was Lebron so scurred of a dunk tape getting out?

20. Why do I miss A Different World?

I got questions.

You have answers.

Big {TEEF}

{Black} Feminism 101: Crib Sheet

2009-07-21T09:40:00.005-04:00

Note:
"I eat the pussy, the pussy I eat." Yup. Those are the lyrics.
Yup. Those are children on the stage.
Further evidence that BET/Lil Wayne and Drake are a symptom
of the problem, not the problem itself.

I have a Google alert for Black women and feminism,
and so I receive links to sites when the subject is
mentioned.

It became clear to me, based on a couple of links that I have
receive this week that many folks don't know what
feminism is, yet they hate it.

After recently reading the bell hooks book Feminism is for
Everybody I decided to post some key sections so that we
could have a working language of exactly what we are talking about

In short, the book makes it clear what Feminism is and why it
is for everybody.

bell hooks on a Definition of Feminism
Feminism is a movement to end sexism, sexist exploitation,
and oppression...I like this definition because it did not imply
that men are the enemy. By naming sexism as the problem
it went to the heart of the matter.

On Patriarchy
To end patriarchy, (which is another way of saying institutionalized
sexism) we need to be clear that we are all participants in perpetuating sexism
until we change our minds and hearts, until we let go of sexist thought
and action and replace it with feminist thought and action

On Patriarchal Violence
Patriarchal violence in the home is based on the belief that
it is acceptable for a more powerful individual to control others
through various forms of coercive force.

On Reformist vs. Revolutionary Feminists
From its early inception the feminist movement was
polarized. Reformist thinkers chose to emphasize gender
equality. Revolutionary thinkers chose to emphasize gender
equality. Revolutionary feminist thinkers did not simply want
to alter the existing system so that women would have more rights.
We wanted to transform that system to bring an end to
patriarchy and sexism.

On the Male Fear of Letting Go of Patriarchy
Most men find it difficult to be patriarchs. Most men are disturbed
by the hatred and fear of women, by male violence against women,
even the men who perpetuate the violence. But they fear letting go
of the benefits. They are not certain what will happen to the world
they know intimatly if patriarchy changes. So they find it easier to
passively accept male domination even when they know in their
minds and hearts, that male domination is wrong.

On Escalator Feminism
Reformist feminism became their route to class mobility. They
could break free of male domination in the workforce and be
more self determining in their lifestyles. While sexism did not
end, they could maximize their freedom withing the existing system.

On Mainstream Media and the Chosen "One" Feminist
Mainstream media has always chosen a straight woman to
represent what the feminist movement stands for - the straighter
the better. The more glamorous she is, the more her image
can be used to appeal to men. Woman-identified women, whehter
straight, bisexual, or lesbian rarely make garnering male approval a
priority in our lives. This is why we threaten patriarchy.

On Patriarchy and Lesbian Women
Nowadays the vast majority of lesbians, like their straight counterparts,
are not into radical politics. Individual lesbian thinkers active in the feminist
movement often found it difficult to face the reality that lesbian women could
be as sexist as straight women.

On Understanding an Exploitative System vs. Changing It
But simply being a victim of an exploitative or oppressive
system and even resiting it does not mean we understand why
its in place or how to change it.

On the Need for a New Idea of Masculinity
What is and was needed is a vision of masculinity where
self esteem and self love of ones unique being forms the basis
of identity. Cultures of domination attack self esteem, replacing
it with a notion that we derive our sense of well being from dominion
over another.

On the Need for a Male Critique of Patriarchy
To change this, males must critique and challenge male domination of the
planet, of less powerful men, of women and children. But they must also have
a clear vision of what a feminist masculinity looks like. How can you be
what you can't imagine?

White women, Class and the Feminist Movement
As many black women/women of color saw white women
from privilege classes benefiting economically more than
other groups from reformist feminist gains, from gender being tacked
on to racial affirmative action, it simply reaffirmed their fear that
feminism was really about increasing white power.

Mainstream Feminists Betrayal
The most profound betrayal of feminist issues has been the lack of
mass-based feminist protest challenging the government's assault
on single motherhood and dismantling the welfare system. Privileged
women, many of whom call themselves feminist, have simply
turned away from the feminization of poverty.

**There is a section of the book that talks about how feminism
will not succeed w/o men. If you are reading this and know the page,
please let me know, as I want/need to add it.

Thoughts?
Questions?
Did this help?
The video?
What do you think of the video having read
this post?

Black Women x Art x Human

2009-07-20T23:50:00.006-04:00

Via Afrocloud

I saw this video and thought about the ways in
which Black women, are not simply just allowed
to be in mainstream media. I mean be.

Be mommas, be human, be friends, be b-girls.

But it is up to us to create that space.

The time for begging to be recognized as a human
is over.

I am a person, regardless of whether you see me.

In fact, the more you try to render me invisible more
the present I feel.

Sometimes silence is the loudest.

Sometimes the only only way to see light
is in the dark.

I think the first time I met Amatus she was house-sitting
for Robert Guenevere Smith, way back in the day.
All I remember, was seeing lots of cherry oak. It was beautiful.
(Was the the first time I hung out in a brownstone?)

Her single is awesome and directed by another homie
from way back when. I discovered this video on a fluke
actually. Last month, Tchaiko sent a group email out, saying
"Yo, Dance Party tomorrow night" and I was like I'm upstate,
I can't make it. Then I peeped a link to the video at the bottom of her
e-mail and instantly requested permission to post it.

Finding the two above videos reminded me of how we
have awesomeness around us all the time.

It reminded me of how easy it is to believe the hype and get
caught up in the Matrix.

When I take a step back I see that we have so much potential
and that while this is certainly a tumultuous time, globally, it is
also a ripe time.

Yesterday, I was reminded recently of the importance of
publicly recognizing and celebrating relationships.

I just want to say, that I recognize you all.

The work you have done.

The work you are trying to do.

The work that you need one more grant to finish.

The work that you have done but are scared to show.

I recognize it.

I see you.

You ain't invisible to me.

Always,

~m.

Sprite. Coke. Oral Sex. Black Man. White Woman.

2009-07-20T14:46:00.003-04:00

Is this real or viral? If so, here are the Board of Directors.
Have at it.

Herbert Allen – Director since 1982, President and Chief Executive Officer and Director of Allen & Company Incorporated, a privately held investment firm. Contact info: (212) 832-8000
Ronald Allen – Director since 1991, Former Chief Executive Officer of Delta airlines. Contact info: (404) 715-2581 (404) 715-6197
Cathleen Black – Director since 1993, President of Hearst Magazines, a unit of The Hearst Corporation. Contact info: (212) 649-2641
Warren Buffet – Director since 1989, Chair of the Board and Chief Executive Officer of Berkshire Hathaway Inc. Buffet was targeted by a share-holder action at the corporation’s 2004 annual general meeting. In 2004 the California State Pension Fund and Institutional Shareholder Services opposed the re-election of Buffet to the board of directors complaining that at least two of Berkshire Hathaway’s companies do business with the Coca-Cola Company.20 Contact info: (402) 346-1400
Barry Diller – Director since 2002, Chair of the Board and Chief Executive Officer of InterActiveCorp, an interactive commerce company. Contact info: (212) 581-6433 (212) 314-7300
Donald Keough – Director since 2004, Chair of the Board of Allen & Company Incorporated, a privately held investment firm. Contact info: (212) 832-8000
Maria Lagomasino – Chair and Chief Executive Officer of J.P. Morgan Private Bank, a unit of J.P. Morgan Chase. Contact info: (212) 464-2560
Donald McHenry – Director since 1981, Professor in the School of Foreign Service at Georgetown University. Owner and President of The IRC Group, a Washington D.C. consulting firm. Contact Info: mchenryd@georgetown.edu (202) 687-6083
Robert Nardelli – Director since 2002, Chairman of the Board, President and Chief Executive Officer of The Home Depot, Inc., from1995 to December 2000, he served as President and Chief Executive Officer of GE Power Systems. Contact info: (770)-433-8211, (770) 384-3622 (Direct)
Sam Nunn – Director since 1997, Former United States Senator from 1972 through 1996. Contact info: (404) 572-4949 (404) 572-4600
Pedro Reinhard – Director since 2003, Reinhard is Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer of The Dow Chemical Company. Contact info: (800) 422-8193 (U.S. and Canada), (989) 636-1463

I know. It's reactionary. There is a part of me that is curious.

The whole time I watched, I shook my head and thought,
yup, Black women ain't having that.

First the Drake video and now this. ***Raised Eyebrow.

What if it were a Black woman in the commercial instead?
Hmmmm?

Threat to the White Male Power Structure

2009-07-20T11:33:00.004-04:00

Photo from President Obama's Cabinet Meeting

The best thing I have read in the NY Times in a month, is a comment.

3.

ORS

Toronto, Ontario

July 20th, 2009

6:25 am

I find it amusing that the arrival of Barack Obama and Sonia Sotomayor on the national scene has sufficiently scared some people into thinking that the White Male Power Structure is in jeopardy.

Here's some advice, Ross: Look at the current cabinet, look at the Senate, look at the CEOs of Fortune 500 companies, look at presidents of universities, look at editors of major newspapers, and indeed, look at the current slate of New York Times columnists. Do these groups seem racially and ethnically diverse to you?

Trust me: we are FAR from achieving equality in this country. The spaces of political, economic, and intellectual power are still overwhelmingly white and male.

The above comment is a response to an article about how
Sotomayor and Obama represents change.

What do you think of it?

Beauty in the Small

2009-07-20T09:05:00.003-04:00

Will the woman who runs Beauty in the Small please email me?

m.dotwritesXXXXXXXXXXgmail

I have a question for you, and there is no way for me to reach you.

I am a big fan.

~m.

Look What Happened to Your Hip Hop

2009-07-18T02:41:00.003-04:00

When I first heard it, I was g'chattin' with @hotcompics.

Then I saw it again, and was like that's cute.

Then the third time, I was like, "this is hella obnoxious."

Old school Breakbeats selling ice cream and cakes.

What happened to your Hip Hop?

You know what it is, I figured out what struck me about it
right before I clicked publish. This video is like an Adult Swim
cartoon skit masquerading as a commercial.

Blurring of art and commerce makes my ass itch.

Thoughts?

Bleh?

20 Questions Fridays {7.17.09}

2009-07-17T17:59:00.004-04:00

Via

1. Why do so many people say they hate feminism, yet they
can't define it?

2. What would happen if Beyonce responded to Nia Long?

3. What if young people, in schools with high drop out rates,
had a powerful and collective voice regarding the future
directions of their schools?

4. How much longer before California legalizes and taxes weed?

5. Why did it take Drake featuring White women and Latina's in
his video for Black women to get angry about a rap video?

6. Why the Washington Post charge $25K a head for an off the record,
non confrontational dinner promising health care industry lobbyist
access to writers and politicians?

7. Why do we still act like and assume we live in a meritocracy
when the fact of the matter is that your parents power in society
determines much of your life such as health care, housing and
access to education?

8. Why does O Magazine write more off beat and interesting stories
about Black women than Essence?

9. Why would happen if we decriminalized hand to hand drug dealing?

10. What are we doing for Labor Day?

11. Why is it hard to eat fried chicken in front of white people?

12. Why do people love waitresses and teachers?

13. Why is MAC eyeshadow so pretty?

14. Why do I get shook every time I get ready write a social
critique of Black people, be the men, women, or Hip Hop,
for the first time?

15. Why has it taken me so long to realize that I can only
tell who my allies are based on their actions, not their gender
or race?

17. Why do (some) white feminist think that recognizing sexism
is a political act?

18. Why can't I find my Buhloone Mindstate cd?

19. When will Black actresses start writing and producing their own films?

20. Why can't I order Trader Joes on the internet?

You know the deal.

I got questions.

You've got answers.

Gratitude Wednesdays {7.15.09}

2009-07-15T00:57:00.004-04:00

Wow. To be thankful.

I noticed a month a go that The Comeback Girl does
Gratitude Fridays, so I have decided to try it out as well.

Gratitude lists help me get my mind right.

I am not sure which day it will long on, but the goal is to do
it once, on Wednesdays or Fridays.

1. For Garland, for his funniness, generosity and chats on the
frustrations of being a Black artist.

2. For my niece and her desire to pursue theater.
I see myself in her, a renegade rebel who believes in
yes, even though others stay say no.

3. The the stars in a country sky. Its easy to forget how pretty
they are at night.

4. For my cell phone. Two years ago, my first and only Black
Berry got stolen in Prospect Park. That! Was stressful. Now
I am just happy to have a phone that works and the scrill
to pay the bill, IN FULL every month.

5. For all the women who have tried to make progressive
media (Audios Barbie, Black Lily,The Original Honey, Hue
Magazine, Fierce Magazine,) for Nerdy Black Girls. In researching you
all, I see that what we are trying to do is continue what you
all started.

What are you grateful for?

Twenty Questions Tuesday {7.14.09}

2009-07-14T12:05:00.003-04:00

1. Why text messages cost .20 cent?

2. Why is it so hard to organize communities?

3. Why is getting out the bed so hard?

4. Why is Sasha Obama so cute, that I wanna hug her?

5. Why did my coworker call some clients white trash in front of me?

6. How did Erykah Badu help me accept my body and all its
imperfections and beauty?

7. Why do I wonder what my ex is doing?

8. Why do most Black blogs spend their time responding to white media?

9. Why does the loss of (Old)Vibe, (Old) Honey, Soul Purpose,
Audios Barbie, Fierce Magazine and Hues make me feel
like nerdy Black girls can't live?

10. Why can't we accept the the internet makes mad shit free?

11. Why is it so hard to forgive?

12. What does it mean, if our popular Black blogs are responses
to white media and/or focused on gossip about Black women?

13. When is Tyler Perry going to make a movie about a Black
lesbian couple?

14. Why is Wendy Day's Twitter stream one of my favorites?

15. Why is it so hard for folks to accept that homophobia is
rooted in a hatred of women?

16. Why I wanna write Black Ameila Bedila books?

17. Why is my blog about to turn 4?

18. Why is the new site so damn fresh?

19. Why do I need to stop playing an learn CSS?

20. Why biscuits taste so good?

I've got questions, I know you have answers. Big {TEEF} Smile.