What I would have said about the Trayvon Martin case

There is something about the subtle, not provably deliberate de-racializing conversations surrounding the Trayvon Martin killing that just rub many Black people the wrong way. When Jay Leno interviews Piers Morgan as an expert, and everyone is clearly sympathetic to the Martin family for their loss, what can you say when they try to take race out of the narrative? Well, you have to say something.

Jill (Cheryl Contee) says it very well. Here's one quote from her April 12 JJP post, and then please go check out the original.

The step backward then is the misunderstanding, the lack of connection of race to what happened. The bewilderment I see in white people’s eyes as they ask — how did this even happen? They are shocked! Shocked, confused and dismayed! The Trayvon case is not shocking for African-Americans. Infuriating, yes. Disgusting, yes. But sadly…so sadly not shocking. Ok so white folks, just so we’re all clear — this happened because unlike your kid (or you), Trayvon was not white. And this kind of thing has a way of happening to not-white people sort of regularly.

The difference between Strom Thurmond and Arnold Schwarzenegger

Conservatives never openly bad-mouthed Strom Thurmond.

Race-neutral, my eye: William Julius Wilson changes his mind

The American Prospect Q&A linked below is interesting for where Wilson agrees w/ President Obama (e.g. Promise Neighborhoods) and where he doesn't (e.g. lack of united Democratic Party & administration message against right-wing racism). Wilson's call to bring race back into the political discussion on the left is a change of his 1990s position, which was based on the political situation at the time (Reagan-Bush years).

Personally I'm still impressed w/ the President's Univision town hall* on March 28 which shows the that the President CAN go to specific audiences that are deemed controversial by right-wingers and directly address issues that affect POC. They just have to keep the ball rolling. If they choose to. Okay, here's Wilson:

Race-Neutral Politics: William Julius Wilson revises stance

ETA: A version of this item is cross-posted at Prometheus6 where there's a bit of conversation on Wilson.

*Obama/Univision Mar. 28 text here. Full video is here.

Steve Erickson, Arc d'X anyone?

Curse me for a novice, but is anyone out there familiar with Steve Erickson? I just picked up a copy of Arc d'X (1993) which is billed as being in the "avantpop" genre. I'm mentioning it here because Thomas Jefferson and Sally Hemings play significant parts in the novel.

Any info (comments, suggestions, criticisms) from anyone who's read Erickson would be appreciated!

P.S. I purchased this (on sale, mind you, for 50 cents) in clear violation of the "2 out for every in" book rule I established over the summer. Apologies to my shelves.

Facing Race just happened

I was not at Facing Race 2010 and it appears we missed a good one. It seems that rising star Melissa Harris-Lacewell was the keynote speaker and knocked it out of the park, if she will forgive the sports metaphor.

The following is lifted from a post at JJP by the Christian Progressive Liberal.

Oh, my, where to start in reporting about my experience at “Facing Race”?

First off, let me say this – “Facing Race” is not your parents’ Diversity Conference. In fact, it’s not a diversity conference at ALL.

Facing Race is not for the faint of heart – nor is it for people who work in diversity and are usually mandated by your job to be in attendance. It is not for those who can’t stand to hear the painful, honest truth about race; yet these are the very imbeciles who think if they attend a diversity conference or two, that qualifies them to lead discussions on race and racial issues from THEIR perspective, and not the perspectives of the people of color who suffer and live with race on a daily basis.

Facing Race does just what the name says – FACING the Issues Regarding RACE. No “Kuubaayah” moments in this set.

And what a profound experience it was. When 800+ people attend such a conference because they want to really unite our communities; not because they are mandated; not because they are curious:

You have a conference that really does the meat and potatoes discussion of race issues, where POC cheer, and any whites not Tim Wise will wince, moan, groan, leave the room – anything to avoid hearing the hard TRUTH about Race in America, and not how the media wants to frame the issue.

This is the first part of a series of articles I will be doing on “Facing Race”, a nitty-gritty conference held every two years where practitioners attend to plan, organize, strategize and mobilize on the ground forces to facilitate true democracy and equality By Any Means Necessary.

“We don’t do “Diversity” at this conference”, said Rinku Sen, the Executive Director of Applied Research Center, and publisher of the magazine, “Colorlines”, and host of this conference. “We discuss real issues of race – this is a community of people who care about race gather, and aren’t afraid to confront issues of race in a real and forthcoming way.”

“We are trying to consolidate the base and continue to build the community,” Rinku told me. “We share are collective learning experiences in modernizing the racial justice movement. Where there is ‘motion’, we claim it as a ‘movement’”.

MORE, much more in the complete post at JJP.

ProfGeo note: If you are reading this post, white, and "not Tim Wise" (which is not exactly how I would've put it, but I think CPL was in the heat of the moment) I would encourage you to click through and read the post anyway as it lays out some specifics from Dr. Lacewell that are worthwhile for discussion and maybe for wide adoption.

Michel Martin takes the floor and darn well keeps it (CNN Reliable Sources)

The first segment of this Reliable Sources, August 22 episode, has seen considerable play around the ol' blogosphere. (I will take credit or blame as you wish.) Michel Martin simply does not let host Howard Kurtz simplify or whitewash the New York mosque issue or the "Dr. Laura and the N-word" issue. She kicks serious butt all over the whole panel and takes no prisoners. And explains why the Dr. Laura thing has nothing to do with "debate" or the 1st Amendment better than most of us could. We need more of Michel, everywhere.

I'm still getting my fall classes going (students still come first, so there) and I hope this item, even if a repeat, has value for you.

Frederick Douglass, 4th of July speech all over the place

A tip o' th' doiby to rrp for the reminder about Douglass, as I've been sidetracked.

As most of us know, on July 5, 1852, Frederick Douglass spoke on “The Meaning of the Fourth of July to the Negro.” (“What to the Slave Is the Fourth of July?”) This year I'm going to attend one traditional “patriotic” event and one patriotism-neutral event over the 4th of July weekend. Neither is likely to be heavily populated with POC. As with any large crowd on a holiday, some attendees will be irony-impaired, even if they are of liberal mindset, while others will be quite aware and a joy to talk to. So the Douglass speech, originally given to a white audience, may be appropriate to have freshly in mind and in context.

There are many readings of the Douglas speech online. I like Morgan Freeman's at History.com. YouTube has others, including James Earl Jones and Danny Glover (if you're not mad at him this week for ever having associated with Mel Gibson). For the readers amongst you, the original text is readily available as well.

Jones:

Glover:

Event-wise, Massachusetts has quite an interesting and supportive way of acknowledging the speech this year (mileage in your home state--yeah, lookin' at you, Arizona--may vary):

Springfield to celebrate Frederick Douglass' 1852 Fourth of July speech

Published: Tuesday, June 29, 2010, 12:45 PM

SPRINGFIELD - A communal reading of Frederick Douglass' fiery 1852 speech, “The Meaning of the Fourth of July to the Negro” will take place Wednesday at noon in Court Square....

The event is part of a state-wide series of readings that is partially funded by a We the People grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities. Local collaborating organizations are the Springfield Museums, the City of Springfield, Mass Humanities, the Springfield Cultural Council and Art for the Soul Gallery.

Additional sponsors are The Brethren, Olive Tree Books and Voices, PAHMUSA, Springfield NAACP, and the Teaching American History Program of the Springfield Public Schools.

A gentle reminder for our gentle readers of what month it is

For a host of reasons I forgot to post this yesterday, but there's still plenty of May 2010 left. You may recall Kris Broughton's recent post over at Brown Man Thinking Hard. It was written in response to neo-Confederate shenanigans (too many to list here) from Virginia Gov. Bob McDonnell and Mississippi Gov. Haley Barbour, and was titled "America Has a Black President Month" Comes Every 30 Days. It said, in part:

This is "America Has A Black President" month.

The next celebration will begin May 1st. The one after that will be June 1st. The one after that...

Keep smiling.

"Next Blog" of the Week (April 25-May 1, 2010)

This is like this because that is like that.

   --Thich Nhat Hanh

I haven't been able to figure out the pattern (if any) for the Next Blog link at the top of Blogger/blogspot.com pages. Often enough I'm taken to photo collections of nice clean white-bread families (of any color) and there doesn't seem to be any rhyme or reason.

On clicking through this morning, my first hit was along the lines of the above. My second hit (always from the TOTF home page, mind you) was more interesting for a couple of reasons, everything being somehow connected to everything else across the multiverses.

The Lost Albatross is a blog by Emily Mills of Madison, WI. The site layout and albatross logo held me just long enough to notice the Wisconsin connection. A substantial contingent of my family on the "black" side live in Milwaukee [if you can call that living, insert rim shot] and I do check on their environs now and then to see whether their reports align in the slightest with news from the rest of the state.

So Emily's latest post (as of this writing) is about warm weather, it finally being a facsimile of Spring up in them parts, and a rather nasty photo of a rather nasty blister. Compared with injury stories from my family it's not that impressive, but then they don't post actual photos of their boo-boos.

The next thing I saw on her page was a March 18 post that referred to her other writing, Emily's Post, at something called The Daily Page. I clicked through and read this article on the difficulties of getting a club license in Madison if they even SUSPECT you'll book hip-hop acts, and I recommend it. It's on topic for us here at TOTF, and a reminder that the North can be just as mean and sneaky as the South in race-connected matters, so I don't feel I'm leading you astray at this point.

Lastly, the serendipitous "whoa" aspect of this particular Next Blog, which was not the Wisconsin connection after all: The post that sent me off to The Daily Page also contained an embedded video of Amanda (f) Palmer. You may be aware that she's no Amanda Plummer. (Personally, I like Amanda Blake better than either of them. It's a generational thing.) My colleague over at after the flood just commented on Amanda Palmer the other day, combining a dream sequence and hipster racism in an interesting mash-up that ended up in an unfavorable review for Ms. Palmer.

OK, that's full circle for this Next Blog entry. Thanks for being here!

P.S. Hipster racism deserves its own linkout so here ya go.

CSU Super Sunday

This is the fifth year for California State University's Super Sunday. It's actually a few Sundays around "Big Game" season and Black History Month, in which the presidents and provosts of all the CSU campuses, including the one at which I teach, make a concerted, directed effort to visit African-American churches throughout the state.

Go to about the 12:15 point on this video from KQED's This Week in Northern California:



At first, I wasn't sure about the separation of church and state aspect, but I think the program's been well designed and vetted for that. The campus officials are basically going where they know the parents and kids will be on Sunday. This is a vast improvement over hoping our African-American potential students will just happen to drop by and apply.

Apparently, CSU Super Sunday is trending in the right direction. Many CSU programs don't last five years. Participants have an initial burst of enthusiasm and then fade away. This one seems to have legs. There's also a nascent outgrowth event, CSU Super Saturday, which was added at CSU Dominguez Hills last August.

• CSU Super Sunday on Facebook
• CSU official blog w/ photos (Public Affairs)

Why I hate the Confederacy, Part III: Literacy tests

Hat tip to JJP for spotting this Rachel Maddow segment on the Tea Party's fervor for good old-fashioned Southern-American values such as "literacy tests."

The first half of the segment has a tolerable if brief intro to the concept of literacy tests and why they were in place from Jim Crow up through the passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Voting Rights Act of 1965. It also shows Tom Tancredo (former Rep.-CO congressman) foaming at the mouth, or just slavering over fond memories of the old days when you didn't have to let minorities vote if you could selectively screen them out and keep white voters in.

Although elsewhere online this seems to be "Dump on Charles Ogletree Week," I am OK with his comments in the second half of the Maddow segment. Take 10% off the top for typical Maddow-interviewee banter and it's all right. He correctly states that Maddow's intro understated the real history. (She has to keep her show on the air, after all.)

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

I can see the pros and cons of this scholarship

Historically, the civil rights movement has sought out white allies, says Kenneth Nunn, a law professor at the University of Florida who teaches a course in African-American history and the law. “We have all understood that nothing is going to change in America unless the majority feels it is the right thing to do,” says Professor Nunn.

One reason the Oregon group can undertake this initiative, he says, is because they are a private group. “When you are talking about public institutions, it’s very difficult to do anything that is racially targeted,” he says.

Oregon civil rights group offers scholarships to white students
The Oregon League of Minority Voters is trying a new civil rights tactic: offering scholarships to white students to take classes in race relations.
By Michael B. Farrell Staff writer
posted February 9, 2010 at 7:21 pm EST San Francisco —

In a unique twist to the notion of using educational scholarships to improve minority representation, an Oregon civil rights group says it will offer a $2,000 scholarship to encourage white college students to pursue studies in race relations. The initiative by the Oregon League of Minority Voters, a nonprofit, nonpartisan group based in Portland, Ore., may well be the first of its kind. College scholarships have long been seen as a vehicle – albeit a controversial one – for improving the condition of minorities, but this appears to be the first time that white students have been singled out for assistance in the name of promoting civil rights.