Professor Kim's News Notes

Interview with Laurel Sneed and Beverly McNeill about the Crafting Freedom panel at ASALH

2010-10-06T18:44:00.001-04:00

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Laurel Sneed and Beverly McNeill talk about the Crafting Freedom project, a curriculum resource project that offers teachers lesson plans, primary resources and videos about nine North Carolina slave artisans who excelled during the antebellum era. Sneed and McNeill presented their work ; at the 95th annual convention of the Association for the Study of African American Life and History along with fellow educator Katherine Paulhamas and moderator Donna Thompson-Ray of the American Social History Project. This interview took place Sept. 30, 2010 in Raleigh, North Carolina.

Superintendent: IJIMS Strengthened Learning and Professional Development in New Jersey School District

2010-08-17T22:39:00.001-04:00

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In June, 2009, my colleague Ursula Wolz and I had a chat with outgoing Ewing New Jersey Public Schools Superintendent Raymond Broach about his views on the IJIMS Project. IJIMS or the Interactive Journalism Institute for Middle Schoolers, is collaboration between Ewing township's middle school and The College of New Jersey that is supported by the National Science Foundation's Broadening Participation in Computing Project. ;Wolz is the Project's principal investigator; I am a co-PI along with Monisha Pulimood. The other TCNJ members of our team are gender equity specialist Mary Switzer, several TCNJ student research assistants, and a select group of volunteer mentors. Meredith Stone is our external evaluator.Our hypothesis was that students who don't think of themselves as "computing types"

Join me at Kimpearson.net

2009-12-13T09:19:00.002-05:00

My most recent ruminations are there. Please update your bookmarks and feedreaders. Thanks for your interest and support.

Petals - The Ja-Tun Project

2009-10-28T11:46:00.001-04:00

The Ja-Tun Project: Ms. Swaggerific

2009-10-26T14:31:00.000-04:00

Join me for a live-chat with Helen Epstein about the art of narrative writing

2009-08-07T13:47:00.004-04:00

The feedback from the BlogHer '09 conference was loud and clear on at least one point: there's a lot of interest in the craft of writing. When it comes to having conversations about non-fiction writing, few have the stature as a literary journalist and teacher of writing that Helen Epstein has attained.

I'm pleased to announce that Epstein will be available for a live-chat with BlogHer readers on August 23, at 11 am EDT. Use the dialog box above to sign up for an email reminder, and to participate in the chat on Sunday morning.

The author of five books and dozens of magazine articles for such outlets as the New York Times magazine, Epstein was born in Prague to parents who survived the concentration camps during World War II, and raised in New York. Her childhood was the subject of her acclaimed first book, Children of the Holocaust. In May, Epstein reflected that she still gets letters and emails about the book 30 years later.

It was also the first of several works of memoir that followed, including the recent Amazon short, Swimming Against the Stereotype: The Story of a Twentieth Century Jewish Athlete. Another Amazon short, "Memoir: How I Read It, Write It, Use It," is especially useful for bloggers who write from life experience.

In this 2003 Washington Post article, Epstein shared some thoughts about memoir writing that will likely ring true for many bloggers:

"While accuracy in memoir is also a matter of honor, few of the other conventions apply. The first-person enjoys unchecked authority; objectivity has been debunked as a canard; literary and scientific theory question the validity of memory; and the economics of publishing have made hands-on editors nearly extinct. Memoir is a hybrid form, integrating techniques of fiction, poetry, travel writing, journalism, historiography and the essay. That's one of the reasons writers like it."

Epstein's writing about the arts is also top-notch. As with Children of the Holocaust, her biography of Shakespeare Company founder Joseph Papp was named a New York Times book of the Year. A new edition of Music Talks, her exquisite collection of profiles of musicians such as YoYo Ma, Leonard Bernstein and Vladimir Horowitz, is due out in September.

Epstein also blogs about the arts at Arts Fuse.

Former President Clinton's latest meeting with bloggers

2009-06-16T23:49:00.004-04:00

Former President Bill Clinton says he likes blogs and bloggers.That's why he had his staff invite 15 of us to his Harlem, New York office Monday for an hour-long chat about the work of the Clinton Foundation, his recent appointment as special UN envoy to Haiti and a range of other current political issues.

Energy policy

Global warming is one of Clinton's major concerns. He lauded his Foundation's recent announcement that the Empire State building is going to be remodeled with energy-saving technologies. Clinton wants to see laws changed to allow utility companies to create favorable financial terms for these kinds of major renovations. Specifically, he wants them to ba able to get use the costs savings from green renovations to repay the bondholders and debtors who financed the construction.

According to Clinton, investing in solar power and renewable fuels creates ten times the number of jobs than, say, investments in a coal or nuclear plant. That's why he wants to see a greater investment in those technologies in any energy legislation that emerges from the President and Congress this year.

Health care

He also wanted to talk about health care. The Clinton foundation, he noted, is providing anti-retroviral medications to about 2 million people around the world. (Details are available on his foundation website.) People no longer die for lack of medicine, he said. However, people are dying for lack of access to health care. Still, he said, Pres. Obama has a better shot at getting a health care reform bill passed. Chris Bowers, who was also at the meeting, got the most accurate notes explaining Clinton's position. "I'd be surprised if we don't get health care this year," Clinton said. If we don't however, he said allowing uninsured Americans to enroll in the federal employees' health program would be a good compromise. He also echoed the Obama administration's focus on reducing administrative costs.

Think Progress has a transcript of this part of the exchange. Here is an excerpt:

"The other thing that people keep talking about is how complicated my bill was. You know, there's a reason President Obama hasn't presented a bill here. The fact is, my bill replaced hundreds of more pages of federal law than it added. It was a net simplification of the current system. The current system looks like Rube Goldberg on steroids. And so - But he's not going to have to worry about - I think we're going to get past the filibuster, and I think they'll be tough enough to go to 51 votes. But they would prefer, for his long-term relationships with Congress, it would be better if we could get the 60 votes. So what I think they'll do is go for the 60, but if it seems that people are just dug in taking positions that don't make any sense, then I think they'll go back to plan B. That would be my preference, because he's got to think about what it's going to be like next year, and the year after, and the year after, and all of that."

[PicApp_Gallery:id=29]

Haiti

Clinton also reflected about his recent appointment as UN Special Envoy to Haiti. Noting that the small island nation has been "ignored or oppressed" for most of its history, Clinton expressed optimism that the country was about to turn itself around, partially because of his confidence in Haitian president Rene Preval. At a press conference with UN Secretary General Ban Ki Moon, Clinton elaborated on his plans:

This job, as I see it, will involve the following elements. First, have to support the Government in the implementation of its program, "Haiti: A New Paradigm", to generate new jobs and enhance the delivery of basic services. Second, we have to assist the recovery effort with the same fervor that was brought to the tsunami-affected nations to build back better. That is to say, better schools; better hospitals; better housing; better public facilities; better infrastructure. And, we have to do a better job of disaster prevention and mitigation.

I'm encouraged that I've had a number of people who know a lot about this call and offer their services just to try to help. We know from experience in other places that we can do a lot to mitigate disasters, and we can do a lot in Haiti. We're about to face another storm season without that sort of mitigation and I don't want go another year without it.

Third: we want to encourage more international private sector investment in Haiti and to make Haiti more competitive to attract such investment. When the Secretary-General and I visited the industrial park, for example, the people we talked to said this is a really good place to do business, the people work like crazy and they're very productive, but because there's not a broad-based revenue collection system, and because the power system is unreliable, it costs too much to get into the industrial park and the power is too expensive. We can fix that. And I intend to do everything I can to do that.

Fourth: we want to encourage the donors to honor the commitments they have already made at the donors' conference. We'll do just what we did before: I'll have a grid, and we'll match the donors to the Haitian plan and the work that needs to be done. It'll be a totally transparent process so all of you can keep up with what is going on as we go forward. We also want to do everything we can to make sure these donor commitments are aligned as closely as possible with the Haitian program we have been given.

Women's rights

Asked what he would do to expand women's rights, Clinton talked about the empowering role that education can play in women's lives. Emily Douglas at RH Reality Check has more.

Education

My question had to do with the upcoming debate over the re-authorization of No Child Left Behind Act, which uses standardized tests to determine whether school districts are meeting student achievement goals. The Obama administration has signaled that they will push for changes in the law, and although the precise nature of those changes is not clear, Pres. Obama's criticism of assessments "simply measure whether students can fill in a bubble on a test" has led a number of states to reconsider their standards and assessment measures. Clinton said that he had always been an advocate of national standards, because allowing states to pick their own standards and assessment tools creates incentives for states to set the bar low in order to preserve their funding.

I reminded Pres. Clinton that at his September, 2008 meeting with bloggers, he told me that his administration's efforts to close the digital divide had not achieved the anticipated results. At that time, he told me, "perhaps we were not sufficiently flexible in our approach." (This exchange occured as we were taking a picture, not as part of the group meeting. At Monday's meeting I asked him to elaborate, referring especially to Jane Margolis' findings that many urban schools, particularly, are "technology rich" but "curriculum poor." Clinton agreed, but expressed concern that new curriculum standards could lead to the same kind of dumbed down of curriculum and stunted teaching that has resulted from similar efforts in other disciplines. In addition, he said, he didn't know how to integrate computer science education into an already overburdened curriculum.

I confess that at that moment, I stepped outside of my blogger role and took the opportunity to tell him about the positive preliminary results that we are getting at TCNJ with our efforts to infuse basic computer science education into the middle school language arts curriculum. We are in the process of analyzing all of our data; results will be posted to our project website over the next few weeks.

Other blogs attending this meeting were: Daily Kos, TalkLeft, Feministing, Treehugger, Susie Madrak

cross-posted at Blogher

Ja-Tun singing Killing Me Softly at the Trenton Makes Music Festival

2009-06-12T18:40:00.003-04:00

More about Ja-Tun
More about the Trenton Makes Music Festival

The Clashing of Black Intellectuals, Nothing New Here

2009-06-12T10:19:00.003-04:00

Debates have been circling lately regarding black leadership and public intellectualism. Princeton professor Melissa Harris-Lacewell recently wrote a piece for CNN that slams Tavis Smiley's inadequate critiques of Obama's treatment of race. She also gets at Smiley's "soul patrol"-which includes Cornel West, Michael Eric Dyson, and Dick Gregory-for their roles in his documentary "Stand." She feels Smiley and friends appropriate Martin Luther King's legacy and "implicitly claim that they, not Obama, are the authentic representatives of the political interests of African-Americans."

read the rest

Betty LaVette: Love Reign Over Me

2009-06-11T11:38:00.000-04:00

In the wake of the recent killings at the Holocaust Museum and elsewhere

2009-06-11T07:22:00.004-04:00

We need the discourse of transformation to help us find a way past the horrors of hate and recrimination spawned by the terrorist opinions of the last two weeks. RIP Steven Tyrone Johns, Pvt. William Long, George Tiller, and Tamrah Leonard

I recommend everyone read Fires in the Mirror or watch the video

I also recommend the discussions at Nat Turner's Revenge and Blogher. Especially, read Jill Miller Zimon's reflections. The contrasting tone of the two conversations is striking.

Try this "Word Shooter" out and let me know what you think

2009-06-08T17:51:00.004-04:00

I was looking for a fun way to teach students about commonly mispelled words, so I modified a space shooter game to create this "word shooter." To play, click the green flag to start. The goal is to shoot the misspelled words and restore them to their correct spelling. Use the arrow keys to move the editing pen up, down, left and right. Press the space bar to shoot. If you last long enough, Bill Gates will appear. Shoot at him too. (A little fun for the devoted Mac and Linux folks out there.)

This project is part of the work I'm doing for the Interactive Journalism Institute for Middle Schoolers this summer.

Learn more about this project

Latest AOL Hot Seat

2009-06-04T20:48:00.006-04:00

Note: I didn't write the question, which I think is absurd. It's the kind of question that elicits responses that only inflame, which is the opposite of what I tried to do. The comments, I think, bear me out. Interestingly, while there are dozens of comments on the matter at PoliticsDaily.com, there are none on the BlogHer page that the essay is linked to.

As Obama Seeks New Accord With Muslims, Surveys Reveal Suspicions and Stereotypes

2009-06-04T11:21:00.002-04:00

Pres. Barack Obama's speech in Cairo today emphasized common values held between Muslims across the world and the United States, but results of two recent surveys reveal that deep suspicions persist. According to a May 19 survey of Arab opinion by Zogby International and Shilbey Telhami, while Obama is personally popular among many Arabs, deep suspicions persist about US foreign policy. Meanwhile, a survey of American attitudes toward Muslims reported by Al Jazeera English found that 46 percent of respondents expressed negative sentiments about Islam. [Note: The Al Jazeera story attributed the original poll to the Pew Forum on Religion, but I was unable to find the study on their website. It's also notable that the quotes in the Al Jazeera story come from residents of Montana, a state that is not known for its diversity.

More:
On Blogher: As President Obama Seeks Accord With Muslims, Events at Home Highlight America's Persistent Dilemmas.

Anita Hill Speaks Out on Supreme Court Nominee Sotomayor

2009-06-01T19:04:00.002-04:00

ESSENCE.COM: What do you think of Sonia Sotomayor as a Supreme Court nominee?
ANITA HILL: I think it's an excellent choice, just on the face of the selection. Here's a person who has years of experience on the bench, and has distinguished herself in private practice as well, and has been a prosecutor. I think she's got an incredible breadth of experience. Clearly she's an exceptional mind, having done very well at her undergraduate school, Princeton, and law school at Yale. But that's just the beginning. There are other things that I think make her a great choice.

Read the rest at Essence.com

On Sonia Sotomayor and the Process of Inclusion

2009-06-01T06:54:00.006-04:00

I have thought long and hard about writing this post about Judge Sonia Sotomayor and the racial debate touched off by what I think is a misreading of her 2001 speech, "A Latina Judge's Voice."

By now,you know the speech I'm talking about -- the one including the quote, "I would hope that a wise Latina woman with the richness of her experiences would more often than not reach a better conclusion than a white male who hasn't lived that life." My fellow BlogHer CE Dana Loesch isamong those who see the quote as either evidence of Sotomayor's incompetence or racism. As Miguelina pointed out in commenting on Dana's post, that statement was immediately followed with:

Let us not forget that wise men like Oliver Wendell Holmes and Justice Cardozo voted on cases which upheld both sex and race discrimination in our society. Until 1972, no Supreme Court case ever upheld the claim of a woman in a gender discrimination case. I, like Professor Carter, believe that we should not be so myopic as to believe that others of different experiences or backgrounds are incapable of understanding the values and needs of people from a different group.Many are so capable. As Judge Cedarbaum pointed out to me, nine white men on the Supreme Court in the past have done so on many occasions and on many issues including Brown.

However, to understand takes time and effort, something that not all people are willing to give.

My reluctance comes not just because I knew the Judge in college and came to think highly of her. I wasn't one of her close friends, and we haven't talked since her graduation from Princeton University in 1976. She and I served together on the governance board of the Third World Center, a unit of Princeton University's student affairs office that provided resources for academic, cultural and social programming centered upon the needs and interests of students of color. (The TWC is now known as the Carl Fields Center for Equality and Intercultural Understanding, in honor of the University's first administrator of color.)Back then, I was impressed by her ability to calmly sort through contentious arguments and tedious bureaucratic details. Considering the sweep of her accomplishments in the 33 years since she finished second in her class at Princeton, I have every reason to believe that she will be a fine Associate Justice of the Supreme Court.

I have some concern about adding to the focus on Sotomayor's public comments and her participation in organizations in organizations concerned with racial justice, to the exclusion of her substantial judicial record. Tom Goldstein as the SCOTUSblog conducted a systematic analysis of 50 of Sotomayor's decisions related to race and found no evidencethat she placed racial empathy or identification above the law. Goldstein said his numbers "decisively disprove the claim that she decides cases with any sort of racial bias."Reflecting on Goldstein's analysis, Prof. Ann Althousenotes that in one of her dissents on a race-related case, she argued for the free-speech rights of a white employee who was fired for disseminating racist material. Althouse adds:

"Stop jumping ahead to the assumption that Sotomayor stretches the law to decide cases in favor of people who tug her heart strings and look at the record."

But I do think that there is a contribution I can make to this discussion that hasn't been made, and that is to look at Sotomayor's speech, and her past involvement in racial advocacy groups such as the Puerto Rican Legal Defense Fund as part in the context of an intraracial process of leadership development.

Where others worry that Sotomayor's interests intimate racial chauvinism, I see the organizations in which she has participated, and others like it, as deliberative spaces where people of color who had the privilege of education and entree to the professions could contemplate the meaning of their positions, and the responsibilities that inhere in the privileges that we had been accorded.

I understand this as part of a tradition that goes back to the days of the American Negro Academy where a small cadre of African American intellectuals caucused about the conditions of African Americans in the Jim Crow era.

What We Did at the Third World Center

When Sotomayor and I colabored at the Third World Center, much of the work concerned mundane matters common to all student organizations:constructing budgets, building a calendar of speakers, career workshops, films, cultural festivals and parties, making sure the building was maintained. And yes, there were also protests against university policies -- labor practices, investments in companies doing business in South Africa, and other issues. But, as a group, we also debated the efficacy of affirmative action, shared stories about our respective heritages, and contemplated the world we wanted to create.

Personally, these conversations and activities were integral to my Princeton education. Chatting with Chinese-American students about how their families fled Mao's China enriched my Chinese politics class and helped me see the weaknesses in the arguments of some of the academic Maoists on campus. The Native American students told me about their responsibilities to their tribal governments, which included, in one case, writing arguments to help get decent water and electricity on their reservations. The Puerto Rican students taught me about Jose Marti. I tasted sushi and ground nut stew for the first time. I listened to my Haitian friends' struggle to figure out how to help their struggling homeland suffering under the boot of the Duvalier dictatorship and other attendant ills. I brought my own worries about gang warfare in my home town, police brutality, and unequal access to quality education, jobs and health care.

My recollection is that Sonia was optimistic about the opportunities that were opening up in corporate America and other sectors of power. Indeed, her ascent demonstrates that her faith was not misplaced. It's been amazing for me to watch many of my fellow TWC members ascend to leadership positions in government, industry, the arts, sciences and professions. Even our First Lady, Michelle Obama '85, is a former member of the TWC governance board. Our activism was a springboard into the wider world across campus and outside of Princeton.

The World in Which We Came of Age

Truthfully, in the mid-1970s, many of us did not know what was possible. I have written before that those of us who are the children of the Civil Rights Movement have spent most of our lives testing the boundaries of America's promise of equality. DocJess has a letter from an attorney, Karen Porter, that reminds us of what some of the obstacles were:

"As a newly minted lawyer in 1974, I was hired as director of a Philadelphia corporate legal department; and my first priority was to hire two lawyers. When I told my superior that I had chosen, for the first position, a Latina lawyer who had been tops in her class at her American college and law school, his first question was: "But how is her English?" That Latina lawyer went on to become "the first" in so many roles in public service and private law practice that I lost count of all her achievements years ago. (She's also a friend of Judge Sotomayor's.) I told her this story recently, and she said I'd never told her before - and she cried. She also said that no one else would hire her then."

According to Porter, racism and sexism persists in the legal profession to this day:

"These were my experiences in only my first five years out of law school (1974-79) - I won't even attempt to cover the next 30 years in this letter. The list goes on and on. Even today, people ask why I haven't worked in a law firm or for local government. But that question is usually asked not by women or minorities because they know what we were and are up against."

Sotomayor's Berkeley Speech

This is the context in which I see Sotomayor's 2001 speech. It was given at a Berkeley Law School symposium "Raising the Bar: Latino and Latina Presence in the Judiciary and the Struggle for Representation." It was republished in the Berkeley La Raza Law Journal, described as "one of four journals in the United States that focus on Latina/o conditions, communities, and identities in the U.S. and abroad—and the sociolegal conditions of other communities of color."In other words, she was speaking to fellow members of the legal community about what it means to be Latina and a judge. She noted her expectation that one purpose of the conference is to propose strategies for addressing the underrepresentation of Latino/a judges, particularly in the circuit and Federal appeals courts.

The "wise Latina" quotation comes 4/5ths of the way through the speech -- toward the end of a complex meditation on whether women or people of color in the judiciary function differently as judges. Earlier in the speech, she contemplates what it is that makes her a Latina, sorting through historical,linguistic and cultural definitions of ethnicity in ways that remind me of academic discussions of Franz Boas or Du Bois' Conservation of Races.She acknowledges ethnic identity that can be deeply felt, but not easily defined.

Sotomayor questioned whether it is possible or desirable for those women and people of color who are on the bench to complete set aside their identities when they are on the bench. But what does she mean by this? Here, I think, is the core of her argument:

"The aspiration to impartiality is just that--it's an aspiration because it denies the fact that we are by our experiences making different choices than others. Not all women or people of color, in all or some circumstances or indeed in any particular case or circumstance but enough people of color in enough cases, will make a difference in the process of judging."

That said, she adds, as part of her conclusion:"I am reminded each day that I render decisions that affect people concretely and that I owe them constant and complete vigilance in checking my assumptions, presumptions and perspectives and ensuring that to the extent that my limited abilities and capabilities permit me, that I reevaluate them and change as circumstances and cases before me requires."

She ends with a call to the lawyers in the audience to reflect on how their identities affect their professional practice.The speech is not an attack on white men. It is a call to an audience of attorneys of color to think about the difference they want to make in the world. She's looking at the misjudgments by the Holmes' and Cardozos and saying, in effect: They had blind spots as a result of their experience. Let's hope that we can use our experience to see more clearly. (To that list, by the way, I would have added former Chief Justice Rehnquist, who wrote a memo defending Plessy v. Ferguson in the 1950s and helped deny black citizens' voting rights in the 1960s.)

That kind of conversation doesn't divide us. It helps us think about the basis on which we come together.

Cross-posted at Blogher

New Yorker cover drawn on an iPhone

2009-05-28T11:09:00.002-04:00

Maddow on Sotomayor's "reversal rate"

2009-05-27T22:34:00.001-04:00

Sonia Sotomayor for the Supreme Court

2009-05-27T09:57:00.006-04:00

By the way, Sergio Sotolongo is also my friend, and his story is just as inspiring as Sonia's in its own way.

Sonia was a role model for me at Princeton. The woman I watched on television yesterday is the fulfillment of the promising young woman I remember and tried to emulate. She'll be a great Supreme Court justice. Like many, I'll be interested to hear her responses to questions on the Ricci case. Beyond that, much of the criticism directed at her has already been debunked. For example:

1. Bloggers for Huffington Post and Volokh conspiracy agree that her statement that policy is made in the appeals courts is not an endorsement of judicial activism. Rather, it can easily be understood as an observation of fact: judges at her level are often ask to resolve disputes about the proper interpretation of the law. Their judgments become policy prescriptions.

2. Whether or not she benefited from affirmative action, her record of academic achievements should remove any doubts about her intellectual abilities.

3. Jeffrey Rosen, who contributed to much of the mean-spirited gossip about Sotomayor's temperament and intelligence with his anonymously-sourced, poorly-researched hit job in the New Republic earlier this month, has called for Sotomayor's confirmation.

4. Finally, for people who have been misled by the chatter about Sotomayor's quote,"I would hope that a wise Latina woman with the richness of her experiences would more often than not reach a better conclusion than a white male who hasn't lived that life," read the whole speech. She also said,

I, like Professor Carter, believe that we should not be so myopic as to believe that others of different experiences or backgrounds are incapable of understanding the values and needs of people from a different group. Many are so capable. As Judge Cedarbaum pointed out to me, nine white men on the Supreme Court in the past have done so on many occasions and on many issues including Brown.

However, to understand takes time and effort, something that not all people are willing to give. For others, their experiences limit their ability to understand the experiences of others. Other simply do not care. Hence, one must accept the proposition that a difference there will be by the presence of women and people of color on the bench. Personal experiences affect the facts that judges choose to see.

More:
New York Law Review: Sotomayor is Pragmatic, Empathetic, Lawyers Say

New York Times: Sotomayor's Rulings are Exhaustive, But Often Narrow

Wall Street Journal: Record Shows Rulings Within Mainstream Liberalism

Media Matters: Fox's Kelly, ABC's Greenburg skew Sotomayor remark about "Latina," "white male" judges

Live blog discussion of Sonia Sotomayor's nomination to the Supreme Court

2009-05-26T09:12:00.001-04:00

Sonia Sotomayor SCOTUS Nomination Announcement

Lorraine Hansberry talks about "Raisin in the Son"

2009-05-21T15:15:00.004-04:00

The late great playwright would have been 79 yesterday. She died of breast cancer in 1965.
Here is a link to a brief audio clip

It's followed by a bonus -- Ralph Ellison talking about how he came to write Invisible Man.

A federal report on the swine flu epidemic

2009-05-21T14:47:00.003-04:00

... of 1976. From the National Academies website

Malcolm X in Memory and Scholarship

2009-05-19T17:38:00.004-04:00

The man the world knew as Malcolm X would have been 84 today.

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I wrote about the legacy of Brother Malcolm here and here in 2005. Those with an interest in contemporary historical research on Min. Malcolm will be fascinated by these interviews with Columbia University professor Manning Marable, director of the Malcolm X Project.

Also, check out Brother Malcolm for a fantastic collection of audio, images, conferences and video.

Jon Stewart on Pres. Obama's Latest Flip-Flops

2009-05-17T17:35:00.003-04:00

The Daily Show With Jon Stewart

M - Th 11p / 10c

Moral Kombat

thedailyshow.com

Daily Show
Full Episodes

Economic Crisis

Political Humor

Politifact a more comprehensive accounting of the President's record on keeping his campaign promises.

For Asia McGowan, we must find our voices

2009-05-17T14:48:00.007-04:00

This is one of a series of PSAs crafted by Gena Haskett in response to the murder of Asia McGowan. Background on the PSA is here.

Frankly, it has been too much for me lately. This murder has been a tipping point for me. Aisa was a 20-year-old college student. Her killer was a classmate who left hate-filled rants against her on YouTube and Facebook. I know young women like her who are similarly harassed. I teach college students how to blog, and I worry about what happens when these tools are in the hands of someone who is mentally ill. I worry about the judgment calls that young women have to make between when a commenter is merely off-kilter, as opposed to being sufficiently disturbed to pose a danger to self and others. And I worry about tone-deaf and over-burdened police departments and social service agencies that don't recognize the danger until it's too late. That's what happened to Aisa. I've embedded video of her talking about the hatred she's been subjected to below Gena's video. I haven't watched it; I can't bear to. Looking at that young, beautiful face and knowing that she is dead is hard enough. It's taken a month since her murder to be able to do that.

This series of PSAs came from discussions on the Women of Color Bloggers list. Thank God for Gena who is speaking out for all of us. Somehow, we have to find the strength to raise our voices. We -- the adults, the authority figures that she turned to for help -- we failed Asia. Somehow, in her memory, we must find the strength to do what we can to keep it from happening again.

Jon Stewart on Marion Barry's opposition to gay marriage

2009-05-08T13:00:00.000-04:00

The Daily Show With Jon Stewart

M - Th 11p / 10c

Gaywatch - Marion Barry

thedailyshow.com

Daily Show
Full Episodes

Economic Crisis

Political Humor

Becoming the evil we deplore

2009-04-26T15:56:00.002-04:00

Frank Rich:

"Five years after the Abu Ghraib revelations, we must acknowledge that our government methodically authorized torture and lied about it. But we also must contemplate the possibility that it did so not just out of a sincere, if criminally misguided, desire to “protect” us but also to promote an unnecessary and catastrophic war. Instead of saving us from “another 9/11,” torture was a tool in the campaign to falsify and exploit 9/11 so that fearful Americans would be bamboozled into a mission that had nothing to do with Al Qaeda. The lying about Iraq remains the original sin from which flows much of the Bush White House’s illegality."

On the hot seat again -- this time the issue is the torture memos

2009-04-23T11:36:00.003-04:00

This week onthe AOL Hot Seat

2009-04-06T18:55:00.003-04:00

I'm in the AOL hot seat

2009-03-30T15:27:00.001-04:00

Talking 'bout my generation

2009-03-29T17:05:00.003-04:00

From the archives of channel 13's "Inside Bed-Stuy" program, hosted by Roxie Rocker, who later played Helen Willis on "The Jeffersons. According to the show website, this aired in 1968:"

I was growing up in Philly at the time, but what these kids are saying sounds a lot like what I was hearing around the neighborhood, and what I was starting to write myself.

Guest post: Ja-Tun on "Has Hip-Hop Gone Too Far?"

2009-03-29T09:01:00.004-04:00

This essay was prompted by this article by Casey Gane-McCalla, which contends, in part:

Hip Hop isn’t dead. It’s just moved to the internet. The new internet rap is like a gangsta reality TV show, an urban survivor in which rappers compete to be the head of the Hip Hop crime family. Given the fact that there is no censorship on the internet, these rappers are free to use guns, drugs, violence nudity, the n-word and every other curse word on the planet.

Ja-Tun's response:

As a rising female entertainer with a BA in African American Studies from a women's college who has a sense of responsibility to my culture, this issue has been and continues to be quite prevalent for me in the choice of collaborating artists.

As we know, sales are dictated in this country by the laws of supply and demand. Those who base their living off the entertainment industry are blessed and cursed by the opportunity to be a public figure. Unfortunately, our media frenzy has taken a once talent and artistically based industry and converted it into a race to be the most attractive, trendsetting, drama-inducing "celebrity-entity" possible. Why? Because when people talk about you, people promote you and when people promote you, it gets WAYYYY easier to pay your mortgage! Scandal sells. Starting with a large record label budget means having more people on your payroll and more responsibility but it does not necessarily mean a larger personal payout for the artist on the frontline unless s/he's a business and creative genius. (For every Beyonce out there, labels lose money on 10 artists who don't prosper and they always come to get that deal money back whether that investment has been flipped or not!)

I'm sure you've heard of phenomenal artists who have fallen out of the limelight/ gone independent and can't seem to find their way back to a level where people acknowledge their newer works at the very least, let alone purchase them in large quantities. You can usually identify them with the prefix, "What ever happened to (Your Favorite Artist Name Here!)..." For any top selling artist, this is the last place to be when selling an album so when it's deliberate, you'll often find them starting to act in an irrational manner (just enough to catch some cameras and articles) right before the album is ready to come out and then they go back to being a regular person for a while.... (Kanye West anyone?)

Don't get me wrong, some people are just like that. While a few are tycoons, there are plenty of modern-day "musical geniuses" (aka diluted artists with a fan base) who do not have a concept of how to behave professionally. When your commodity is based on your life experiences and the sale of your "personality", it is easy to get clouded on how much people actually wish to see, hear and know about your real life versus your image. Every day is a series of minor judgement calls to answer interview questions and hold back the less refined comments that you REALLY think. (Kind of like the scrutiny of anyone else's day job but with a WAY bigger office.) So if you are barely 18, hold international recognition, haven't been encouraged to pick up a BOOK while you're on tour, buffoonery pays your bills and you don't know any better, it becomes a little easier to see how you could thank the slavemasters like Souja Boy.... (I don't think it's right, but sadly, I can see how he got there.)

Personally, I have songs about domestic violence, about the complexities of falling in love, about the subtleties of human interaction and upon meeting with label A&Rs, they wanted the the club songs I wrote with virtually no content and less of a message. Does that mean I'm not a well rounded artist? No. But if that single is selected, that's all you'd see of me without buying one of those shiny silver disks from back in my day that we called, CDs. Artists used to be more substantive but with the shift in technology, the market calls for a focus on singles, ringtones and downloads severly cutting into the time a person has to make an impression with their audience. This should theoretically be good for the music forcing it to go back to a higher caliber and being less celeb based but so much damage has already been done that it seems to further isolate and amplify the moments of selective "dumbification," allowing people to choose their dosages by the gigabyte.

Does that mean I'm blaming the labels? NO! The labels are catering to their audience! They (like any other huge corporation) do market studies and review their sales history to expand on what is financially effective and what's not. What are we as consumers telling them? "Dumb Us Down, Please!" So Souja Boy outsells Lupe. The "Stanky Leg" and "Walk It Out" outsell Talib and KRS-1 and the major marketing dollars go toward over-saturating us with "Music For Dummies" from every angle they possibly can because that's marketing and commerce at its finest. I don't condone or blame anyone in isolation for their buffoonery cause if it wasn't this man, it'd be the next one plugged into the system to act exactly the same way and this is what our spending says we want. We ALL need to be held accountable for elevating this international representation of ourselves.

Basing a career off something as whimsical as mass appeal is challenging to say the least especially in today's market. Artists are taught early on that it doesn't matter what you think of your own material (every seasoned artist has a large stack of music they've created that no one else will get to hear because it doesn't fit the audience concept of his or her image). Your audience will dictate which songs stay and which ones go and will send a Very Strong financial message to the artist about what does and does not work with the way they've been packaged. Many industry artists cut 80 songs before selecting the 14 you get to take home with you and those decisions are based not on subject matter, message, social responsibilty and diversity, it's based on catchiness and what knocks in a subwoofer!

To get a higher caliber of artist, we have to support a higher caliber of artistry. To stop having illiterate public figures, we have to become a society that promotes discourse and literacy. Many people are still reading, they're just not talking about it the same way anymore and therein lies our problem! Everything we see portrayed in media is far from the complete story and cannot be taken at face value. We know that but our kids are missing the message and it is they who will look at Soulja Boy as the iconic back in the day artist of their youth "when music felt good" completely ignorant of the days of Planet Rock, The Message and the true forefathers of the musical genre they claim to swear by. We were there. We have to be the bearers of the message as much as we possibly can. Without knowing the structure exists and how it dictates every element under which they live, there is no way of feeling empowered enough to revolutionize it for the better. Their minds are too brilliant to stay trapped in the Matrix. We know better. Let's show better....

Photo credit: Steve Thomas

CD cover art by Cory Armstrong

Mark your calendars!

2009-03-17T12:40:00.001-04:00

I'm co-producing Poynter.org's live chat on what journalism students need to know.

March 23, 2009 - 1 PM EDT -- follow the link.

Join me for live chat about women and war with director Lorna Johnson

2009-03-09T17:29:00.003-04:00

March 19 will mark the sixth anniversary of the US-led invasion of Iraq. Whether one supported the invasion or the actions taken by the US and its partners in the wake of the fall of Baghdad, there is no question that the war has profoundly affected all of us.

Or has it? Director Lorna Johnson's new film,Just Another War, meditates upon the impact of the Iraq war on Americans -- especially upon American women.Johnson's film will be shown March 15 at the Montreal Human Rights Film Festival, where it is up for an audience award. If you are in Montreal and can get to see it, please do. It is an affecting and thought-provoking film.

The 28-minute documentary profiles two women whose lives have been irrevocably affected. LeRon Green is a soldier who has seen combat; Elaine Brower is a mother and anti-war activist whose son is in Iraq for his second tour. Johnson puts herself on-screen as well, wondering why she and so many other Americans seem to be able to go on with everyday life while thousands of Americans and tens of thousands of Iraqis have died. During the course of the film, she gives birth to a son of her own, and wonders whether he will grow up to find himself called to arms.

Please join me and Lorna Johnson Tuesday, March 10 at 9-10 PM EST for a live chat about the film, women and war. If you have questions or thoughts that you would like to share in advance of the chat, please leave them in the comments.

Image credit: courtesy of Lorna Johnson.

cross-posted at BlogHer

Miche Braden as Bessie Smith -- St. Louis Blues

2009-03-06T09:28:00.004-05:00

This is a clip from her performance in The Devil's Music: The Life and Blues of Bessie Smith, now playing at the George Street Theatre:

And here is a 1929 videoclip of the Empress of the Blues herself:

Twenty-five writers who've influenced me

2009-03-01T18:31:00.004-05:00

Because I find it exceedingly difficult to say no to Nordette, who tagged me for this meme, here are 25 writers whose words, style or methods shaped my own writing.

1. Lorraine Hansberry
2. James Baldwin
3. TS Eliot
4. ee cummings
5. June Jordan
6. Maya Angelou
7. William Shakespeare
8. WEB Du Bois
9. Langston Hughes
10.Richard Wright (the poetry and journalism, not the fiction.)
11. Audre Lorde
12. Dorothy Parker
13. Ralph Waldo Emerson
14. Martin Luther King
15. James Weldon Johnson
16, John Mc Phee
17. Helen Epstein
18. Toni Morrison
19. David Mura
20. Naomi Shihab Nye
21. Sekou Sundiata
22. Gwendolyn Brooks
23. Jessie Fauset
24. Maria Stewart
25. Phillis Wheatley

And now for the tags: Rafika, Shelley and I tagged a bunch of other folks in an earlier version of this post, lost it and don't have time to redo. Will get back to you ASAP.

A wordle of a forthcoming essay

2009-02-26T16:50:00.005-05:00

Curious?

Andrew Williams: Out of the Box: Building Robots, Transforming Lives

2009-02-13T15:59:00.001-05:00

Jane Margolis talks about education, race and computing

2009-02-13T09:54:00.001-05:00

Urban Evolution == Trenton 2nite

2009-02-03T16:54:00.001-05:00

Trenton2Nite 1/29/09 from Somar Two Productions on Vimeo.

ManeyDigital: Going F.I.S.H.'ing at My Alma Mater

2009-01-30T17:55:00.001-05:00

This is an important program (so much so, that I recorded a video for Kim that she put on the site). Let me repeat: This is an important program. The lines between computing and writing (to really boil the disciplines down to their basics) are no longer blurring...they've blurred. Reporters at institutions such as The New York Times are now adding cameras and microphones to their standard-issue pens and pads. Software developers are now as cognizant of how their tech will be used as they are of the ones and zeros that make the products work. Teaching children early -- before they hit high school and college, where it is too late in the learning process -- is critical.

Remarks for the funeral of Gloria Harper Dickinson, Ph. D.

2009-01-28T21:47:00.003-05:00

Editor's note: Gloria was my close friend and mentor for 18 years. She lost a long battle with inflammatory breast cancer on Jan. 18, 2009. These remarks were for her funeral on Jan. 26. More information is available about Gloria in this obituary published in the Philadelphia Inquirer. A memorial website, http://gloriaharperdickinson.com will be live until February 7. A Facebook group, Friends and Fans of Gloria Harper Dickinson has been established for those who are interested in the commemoration of her life and work.

Gloria was the matriarch of our African American Studies Dept.

She assisted in its creation and fought for its maintenance and growth.

More importantly, though, she established a culture and value system that anchored the department in the traditions of Carter G. Woodson, Anna Julia Cooper and WEB Du Bois.

These values included making visible the living connections among peoples of African descent, and between Africana peoples and the larger world. It included a commitment to sustaining the necessary and organic connections between scholarship, community engagement and the struggle for social justice.

For most of her time at TCNJ Gloria co-labored with the late Professor and distinguished playwright Don Evans and historian Dr. Stephen Chukumba, along with generations of students, support staff and colleagues throughout our campus and around the world.

They did not measure their success by the traditional academic measures, but by the impact on their students lives. Gloria delighted in her students' success -- particularly the success of those students that ''the system'' tends to dismiss. Some of those students are here today. They are leaders in education, medicine philanthropy and business.

Her legacy lives in them, as it does in all of us. And in is, her work will continue.

Add your verse here....The Newspaper's fixing to die rag

2009-01-12T19:25:00.004-05:00

Inspired by Country Joe and the Fish...

And it's one two, three four,
What are we writing for?
Don't ask me they don't give a damn,
The reporters are getting canned.

And it's five, six, seven, eight,
forget about your ad rates
Craigslist and Google ain't gonna buy
Your paper's about to die...

Bloggers you should read: JD Lasica

2009-01-05T14:45:00.003-05:00

I've been reading Lasica for years. His 2001 essay, Blogging as a form of journalism is what turned me on to the whole blogging movement. His Our Media project is invaluable. The video below is part of a fine on-the-ground report from the West Bank. Here's some of the background on the city of Hebron, gleaned from his observations and BBC reports:

Israeli policies have radically changed the face of Hebron's city center. For the most part, due to security concerns, only Jewish settlers are allowed to use main streets in the city. Palestinians are not allowed to walk freely on the main streets of their own city and are typically not allowed to leave through the front doors of their houses. "What was once a lively a commercial and residential center is now a ghost town," the BBC report said. The army arrests and blindfolds Palestinians if they break curfew. In 2003-2004, curfews were imposed on 520 days.

A drive through the occupied territories from JD Lasica on Vimeo.

Bloggers You Should Read: Lolita Buckner Inniss

2009-01-04T08:51:00.004-05:00

Her blog is Ain't I a Feminist Legal Scholar Too? She's a law professor in Ohio doing a Ph.D. in Canada, so she doesn't post every day. But put her on the blogs you follow -- her nuggets are tasty.

Here's an excerpt of one of my favorites - Dialing Mrs. Murphy (Or, Me Talk Pretty One Day):

She probably thinks that I’m white. Why wouldn’t she? I speak crisp, standard, Northeastern U.S. English with, I’m told, a vague hint of Californian that betrays my Los Angeles upbringing. Most people who speak as I do and have the job that I do are, statistically speaking, white. They are also probably men, but the register of my voice no doubt gives away my gender. So, if she thought I was white, she could certainly be forgiven for thinking so. I struggled mightily to curb the impulse to say: “I’m black; will that be a problem?” I didn’t want to ask because I didn’t look forward to any of the three possible responses I envisioned hearing: 1) stunned silence then a stammered “no” which really meant “yes” 2) stunned silence followed by “Yes, it matters”, followed by polite dismissal (or a click as the receiver was hung up) 3) stunned silence followed by righteous indignation at having been asked about whether race figures in such matters (“We’re all post racial now!”). None of the three possible outcomes seemed attractive. I suddenly feared that I had called the wrong number. Could it be...Mrs. Murphy in the flesh?

Bloggers you should read: Renita Weems

2009-01-04T08:34:00.003-05:00

She's been a favorite thinker of mine since I heard her preach about 25 years ago at Mt. Pisgah AME Church in Princeton. And the discussions at her blog are lively. She's got a Top Ten list of favorite posts from 2008 that's as good a place as any to start. One of posts on that list, More Talk About God, the Bible and (Homo)Sexuality has a passage that summarizes for me what's special about her corner of the blogosphere:

I want to believe that Something Within fills a void in blogosphere. It’s one of the few blogs where Christian conservatives and Christian progressives, thinking women on the Right and thinking women on the Left, folks who go to church and folks who wouldn’t step foot in a church if their life depended on it can air their differences–with passion, but without insult and namecalling.

Bloggers you should read: Jelani Cobb

2009-01-04T08:24:00.003-05:00

Yes, I know I talk about Jelani all the time, but he has recently started blogging regularly at American Exception. Here's a taste:

From "The Race Card is a Joker" -- on Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich's appointment of Roland Burris to the Senate seat vacated by Pres.- Elect Barack Obama:

Lest you be lulled into thinking that the year would end quietly, we have this wonderful bit of gift-wrapped shade out of Chicago. I don't have time to give this the full Timberland it deserves but offhand I think you have to give Blagojevich credit. This is a clutch player. With time running out in the year and all other cynical dealers exhausted, this is the guy you go to.

Taking a routine case of retail politics and turning it into a matter of racial indignation -- that's a guy with a complete game.

Clever 2008 wrap-up video

2009-01-04T08:08:00.001-05:00

hat tip to Gloria Feldt

Jill Miller Zimon talks sense about Gaza

2009-01-04T07:34:00.002-05:00

[W]hat I believe will have to happen is that we will start asking each other: Do you support a one-state or a two-state solution?

Read the whole post

Versatile Band f. Ja-Tun: Petals

2008-12-26T17:18:00.002-05:00

My daughter singing one of her compositions at Gilmore's cafe in early December

The next chance to catch her live is Jan. 9 at Maxines2 in Trenton. Doors open at 7; show starts at 8.

Merry Christmas

2008-12-25T17:18:00.004-05:00

RIP Eartha Kitt. The entertainer died today in New York at the age of 81. She was being treated for colon cancer. She had a good long run. A few years back, she shared the secrets of her longevity in a book with Tonya Bolden, Rejuvenate! It's Never Too Late! She was well into her 70s and still had both a dancer's physique and a joie de vivre that radiated from the pages.

And here she is in 2006:

And no disrespect to Julie Newmar, but she was the purrfect Catwoman:

Jesus Can Work it Out

2008-12-21T13:39:00.001-05:00

Listening to Pastor Otis Moss III talking about how we tend to put God into a box. "Jesus is not liberal nor conservative. Jesus embraces those we disagree with..."

Bonnie Raitt: I can't make you love me

2008-12-14T16:46:00.000-05:00

Tell it like it is...Aaron Neville and friends

2008-12-14T16:42:00.001-05:00

Tricia Rose on Afrofuturism

2008-12-13T10:33:00.000-05:00

Great interview from PRI's Studio 360.

Related links:

Afrofuturism archive

Sun Ra, "Space is the Place" (1974)

Sun Ra, "Brother From Another Planet," Part 1

Labelle, Can I Speak to You Before You Go to Hollywood?

Afrika Bambatta: Planet Rock

And if I could find a video, I would add Terry Callier's African Violet to this mix:

African Violet
Ain't you through dreaming yet?
With all your roots so deep
Why are you staying asleep?
Afro American
I tell you like a friend
Try to remember my dear
We're only pilgrims here...

My heart is in Zimbabwe
Because my friends are there...

A veteran journalist explains why she risked jail to interview a juror

2008-11-24T17:06:00.002-05:00

Philadelphia Inquirer reporter Emilie Lounsberry discusses her decision to defy a judge's order forbidding reporters to contact jurors in the first murder trial of Rabbi Fred Neulander, who was accused of arranging the 1994 murder of his wife, Carol. Neulander's 2001 trial had ended in a hung jury. The hung jury provoked a public outcry, with many people demanding to know what jurors were thinking. Lounsberry and three of her colleagues were found in contempt of court in 2002 and were sentenced to community service and fines. That ruling was overturned after a lengthy appeals process. Neulander was not so lucky. He was convicted of murder and conspiracy at his 2002 retrial and is currently serving life in prison.

Interesting art

2008-11-23T12:55:00.000-05:00

Photo collage by Steven Thomas

Rep. McCotter on the need for an auto industry bailout

2008-11-22T18:00:00.001-05:00

Remarks by Rep. Thaddeus McCotter of Michigan at the Nov. 19 meeting of the House Financial Services Committee. McCotter, who was first elected in 2002, chairs the House Republican Policy Committee. Mc Cotter blamed increased fuel economy standards for Detroit's weakened competitive posture. Executives from Ford, Chrysler and General Motors who appealed to Congress for financial assistance to avoid imminent bankruptcy were told to come back in January with a plan for how they would repay the $25 billion they requested. Reportedly, General Motors is considering filing for bankruptcy, among other options.

Rick Sanchez questions a pastor who claims "We have a Muslim president"

2008-11-21T16:57:00.000-05:00

According to the pastor, Mark Kolick, of the Spirit One Christian Center, having a Muslim President is a "sin against God." He cites Ex. 20:3, which states, "You shall have no other gods before me."

Doncha just wish it was real? Pranksters fake the New York Times

2008-11-13T19:16:00.001-05:00

And could some of that money support real journalism, please?

What do you think of this?

2008-11-10T16:47:00.002-05:00

I've got a new article at Poynter about it. You're thoughts are welcome.

Singer, activist Miriam Makeba dead at 76

2008-11-10T07:49:00.001-05:00

I am selfish. I wanted Mama Africa to live forever, but her heart gave out earlier this morning after a concert in Italy. She was 76.

She raised her voice for human rights until the very end.

Thank you, Mama. Rest in peace.

Notes from Trinity United Church of Christ's morning service -- November 9, 2008

2008-11-09T11:11:00.001-05:00

These notes were written in real time via Twitter. Thanks to LizDitz for asking me to post them here.

TUCC streams its worships services live from http://www.tucc.org. They also have a YouTube Channel, but it does not seem to have been updated lately.

Watching Trinity United Church of Christ's morning service. Today the young people's choir is singing. about 1 hour ago from web

Song: "Because of who you are" Lyrics here: http://peaurl.com/lPzL about 1 hour ago from web

Rev. Otis Moss: If you have your blueprint for salvation, I would ask that you turn to Joshua Chapter 1. (NIV) about 1 hour ago from web

1 After the death of Moses the servant of the LORD, the LORD said to Joshua son of Nun, Moses' aide: about 1 hour ago from web

2 "Moses my servant is dead. Now then, you and all these people, get ready to cross the Jordan River into the land I am about to give to about 1 hour ago
them—to the Israelites. about 1 hour ago from web

Reads the whole first chapter. Focus on sermon: "Where do we go from here?" about 1 hour ago from web

Say to your neighbor:"We are living in a post-wilderness moment, but we live in a pre-Promised Land time." about 1 hour ago from web

Say to another neighbor: "God has done great things, but He is not finished yet." about 1 hour ago from web

Quotes James Weldon Johnson: Out from the gloomy past, 'Til now we stand at last/ Where the white gleam of our bright star is cast. about 1 hour ago from web

Talks about the atmosphere of celebration and disbelief at the election of Barack Obama. about 1 hour ago from web

The "promissory note" of the Emancipation Proclamation has been redeemed. Speaks of celebrations around the world. about 1 hour ago from web

The Maori of New Zealand celebrating, South Africans doing the toi-toi, Kenyans dancing in the streets. about 1 hour ago from web

Spoke of the tears of a 14 yo girl who realized that when she votes, it will be normal to have an African American president. about 1 hour ago from web

However, he was disturbed to see that some are declaring that the struggle is over. He thinks the experience of Israel in Joshua relevant. about 1 hour ago from web

In Joshua, the Israelites have come out of the wilderness, and only the elders have the memories of past oppressions. about 1 hour ago from web

"Moses is dead; things have changed." Every year they have a "Moses holiday" and children recite the "Let my people go speech." about 1 hour ago from web

Joshua becomes the leader of the Hebrew people. He is young; their is great economic hardship, but all seems right with the world. about 1 hour ago from web

Many want to declare all social critique and action irrelevant. It is true that there is no more slavery, about 1 hour ago from web

no more domestic terrorists in white sheets...they can see possibilities. But they are living in between yesterday and the promise about 1 hour ago from web

of tomorrow. There is still work to do. Joshua can cross the Jordan into the Promised Land because he has the resources to do so. about 1 hour ago from web

But liberation not based on the ability of one leader to cross into the Promised Land. It is based on whether people can follow him there. about 1 hour ago from web

We must fight to make BO's election "not a cosmic coincidence" but a "historical trend." Joshua can tell us how we get there. about 1 hour ago from web

But while living in a Joshua moment, we cannot forget the Moses generation. Joshua would not exist if it had not been for that generation. about 1 hour ago from web

Our history is full of Moses people. Sojourner Truth.. Moses. Booker T. Washington... Moses. Septima Clark... Moses...long list of names about 1 hour ago from web

Never think so highly of yourself that you believe your own hype as if you pulled yourself up by your own bootstraps. about 1 hour ago from web

There was a time when you didn't have boots, didn't have straps didn't even have flip-flops. about 1 hour ago from web

That is why it is important that the text says, "As I was with Moses, so I will be with you." (Joshua 1:5) about 1 hour ago from web

That is why it important to have more than a knowledge of history. You must also have faith in God. You must know history and know God. about 1 hour ago from web

When you have both, "you can be unashamed and unapologetic." about 1 hour ago from web

It is time for people to cross into the Promised Land. "There are no haters at this moment." about 1 hour ago from web

We must celebrate the success of others. We must understand that we have an investment in the success of our neighbors. about 1 hour ago from web

Until we do that, we will be stuck in a post-wilderness, pre-Promised Land moment. about 1 hour ago from web

"If God is blessing your neighbor, then Jesus is in the neighborhood." Just wait for Him to come your house. about 1 hour ago from web

We must understand that there is a Moses generation, and we must have both our history and faith to lay claim to the Promised Land. about 1 hour ago from web

"You have to see the victory before it happens." God is saying He has "handled this thing." "Wherever you put your foot it is yours." about 1 hour ago from web

Story from a March on Washington: An elderly woman walked around the White House, praying and laying claim to the space. about 1 hour ago from web

She laid claim to the space, saying God had prepared the place for her people. about 1 hour ago from web

Native Americans have a rain dance that they do before the rain, in the belief that God is preparing the place for rain. about 1 hour ago from web

Similarly, we have to learn to step with authority in the knowledge that God has prepared the space. about 1 hour ago from web

We have to see the victory before it happens. about 1 hour ago from web

It takes more work to fulfill the promise of freedom than it does to attain it. about 1 hour ago from web

Our work is not done. Our dropout rate is 50%. We have a culture of children disrespecting their elders. Our HIV rate is rising. 44 minutes ago from web

Let us not be satisfied until our sons are not in prison. 44 minutes ago from web

Let us not be satisfied until some young men pull up their pants and some young women close their legs. about 1 hour ago from web

God took a young man who sat in these pews who heard a preacher preach from this pulpit, and raised him to the White House. about 1 hour ago from web

Perhaps another president is sitting here; I don't know. about 1 hour ago from web

God is calling us collectively to do some great things. Doors of the church are open. about 1 hour ago from web

After the benediction, the pianist starts playing Hail to the Chief, segueing into We Shall Overcome as the band joins in. 43 minutes ago from web

I hope they get to play this at the Inauguration. It's beautiful. 43 minutes ago from web

People are standing, clapping in time and singing quietly. 42 minutes ago from web

Back to Hail to the Chief. 42 minutes ago from web

They are now playing video montage that blends Obama campaign images with MLK, other historical figures. 27 minutes ago from web

Now playing smooth jazz version of "People Get Ready." 26 minutes ago from web

They will have another service starting in an hour. 25 minutes ago from web

"A Change Has Come"

2008-11-05T00:48:00.002-05:00

Congratulations to President-elect Barack Obama. This is a most amazing moment. Now it is time to really get the work. For journalists, that means holding the new President to account just as we do any other powerful figure.

But for now, we can only marvel. There are no superlatives to describe the epic nature of this moment.

Don't Speak for Me, Sarah Palin

2008-11-02T08:01:00.000-05:00

My kid played hockey too, but somehow I never thought Sarah Palin had me in mind.

(hat tip to Andrew Sullivan)

This is actually a good question

2008-10-26T22:44:00.000-04:00

My friend David is a keen observer of public affairs. I'm grateful that he gave me permission to post this most interesting note:

Kim,

Senator McCain and Gov. Palin purport to have fundamental differences with the Republican Party of President George W. Bush of the past eight years. Why then have they sought and accepted widespread political and monetary support from that same Party?

A nobler manifestation of this difference would have been a break with the G.O.P. similar to that of Senator McCain's hero, Theodore Roosevelt, in 1912. Roosevelt and his supporters bolted from the G.O.P. and formed the Progressive or "Bull Moose" Party.

I guess Senator McCain and Governor Palin knew that, with the right spin, they could "have their cake and eat it too."

Best regards,

David

P. S. Virtually every newspaper in the country save the Chittlin Switch, Miss. "Snail & Turtle" has endorsed Barack. WOW, who would have dreamed 20 years ago?

We'll be covering election night live from Mercer County! Join us!

2008-10-21T19:41:00.000-04:00

How long, ye daughters of Africa?

2008-10-19T23:05:00.000-04:00

From The Status of Women of Color in the Political System, 2008 by Suzanne Brooks

Twenty-four years ago, as first author, I drafted the initial sections of the collaborative paper, “Moving Mountains, Past, Present and Future: The Role of Women of Color in the American Political System.” Published by the National Institute for Women of Color (NIWC) with a Ford Foundation grant, it was the first of a series of four Brown Papers. I was a board member of NIWC, employed at the time as Affirmative Action Officer, University of Nevada Reno (UNR). I served on the NIWC board for 11 years. I lasted at UNR for 2 years, before moving on to Penn State University as Affirmative Action Officer. Before UNR, I was director of Science Supportive Services at Washington State University. After Penn State, I directed the California State University, Sacramento, Multi-Cultural Center. Each role or position was marked by hard work, routinely 60 to 80 hours a week or more, which yielded many achievements and much more education and experience in every position. Yet, while male subordinates and collaborative colleagues commonly received high praise for carrying out my concepts and directives in programs, strategies and activities of my design and development, there has been an ongoing and persistent reluctance to credit me with the successes of the offices, programs, staff, fund raising, or innovations. Many have taken credit for my work. Most significantly, my experience is not unique. Rather it is a common experience of women of color, not only in educational institutions from K-12 to the university, but in the nonprofit, business, corporate, government and community sectors.

The consequences of these circumstances is to minimize and belittle the achievements and contributions of women of color, to demand our perpetual sacrifice to the good of others with no share of benefit to ourselves, to denigrate efforts to improve conditions for ourselves and our sisters of color, to insist that we see the successes of white women and men of color as our own and not to “nitpick” by insisting that we have the same benefits of citizenship and revolutionary change in fact and not simply in symbols....

Blogger conference call with Jill Biden

2008-10-17T18:29:00.000-04:00

Dr. Jill Biden is a professor of English Composition at Delaware Technical Community College whose husband, Joe, happens to be on the verge of becoming the next vice president of the United States. I refer to her that way because I sat in on a conference call with Dr. Biden this afternoon, and I can't remember when I've interviewed a public figure who sounded so much like the people I work with every day. Of course, that probably has to do with the fact that I'm also a teacher, and coincidentally, so were several other bloggers on the call. So what follows are notes on a conversation among mothers and teachers about education.

Biden, 57, who earned two Masters and a Doctorate while working full time and raising children, began by describing herself as, "the mother of three kids who are adults now and proud grandmother of five." She ticked off the stakes for women in this election, noting noting that more women primary breadwinners, taking care of parents as well as children. We still make 77 cents on the dollar compared to a man.

Despite the presidential campaign, Biden said she is still teaching four days a week, "because my students are also important to me." Over the last eight years, she said she has often seen students who can't afford books, or who have to interrupt their studies for financial reasons. Echoing recent news reports, she talked about the difficulty her students are having when it comes to getting college loans. According to Jill, “Barack and Joe understand because they had to overcome obstacles to get to where they are today.”

Then it was time for questions. Momocrats has a transcript. Sarah Granger also posted. I'll just hit some highlights.

On promoting literacy: Jill Biden started the Book Buddies program to get kids reading at younger ages. She added that the Obama-Biden education plan would boost funding for early childhood education, technology in schools and the mandates embedded in the No Child Left Behind law.
On education for special needs children: She teaches many special needs students. The teachers need to have training. As a college teacher she has no training on how to teach a student with autism, for example.
On freeing up teachers to teach: When Biden taught public schools, she had 35 students. We have to give teachers smaller classes so they can pay more attention to individual students. "I’m thrilled for all of the teachers in America... because somebody is finally going to say we can do better in this country."
On her husband's commitment to women: He wrote the Violence Against Women Act; he supports choice. He would bring that commitment to his role in assisting with Supreme Court nominations.
On reducing truancy and stemming the rising dropout rate: Biden's dissertation was on student retention at the community college level, but she saw similar issues as a high school teacher. She supports mentoring programs for at-risk youth. She also supports Obama and Biden's call for greater parental involvement, including providing online access to students' attendance records and having parents sign contracts that spell out their role in supporting their children's education.
On technology in education: Technology is supposed to enhance education, not be education. Barack is working on funding for more technology, but also funding for more teachers.

Obama-Biden deputy policy director Danielle Gray chimed in to to say that the Democrats "have made teachers the centerpiece of their plan." For example, they want to pay for common planning time, funds for mentoring younger teachers. She added that it's important to “treat teachers like the professionals that they are.” (The Democrats' plan is here.)

Gray pointed to Obama's sponsorship of the Success in the Middle Act as an example of his effort to prevent kids from dropping out. This bill, introduced in the Senate almost a year ago, would provide grants to middle schools for initiatives to strengthen curricula and improve the performance of middle school students.

Gray also answered my question about how the Democrats will pay for their education proposals in light of the $700 billion bailout for Wall Street by asserting that for every single proposal that has been introduced, they have come up with a way to pay for them. This is in contrast to the McCain team, which has promised millions in tax cuts without a way of paying for them. While some sacrifices will be necessary to pay for the bailout, Gray said short-changing investments in education is not wise. We have to continue to invest in education.

According to The Space Review:

The early education plan will be paid for by delaying the NASA Constellation Program for five years, using purchase cards and the negotiating power of the government to reduce costs of standardized procurement, auctioning surplus federal property, and reducing the erroneous payments identified by the Government Accountability Office, and closing the CEO pay deductibility loophole. The rest of the plan will be funded using a small portion of the savings associated with fighting the war in Iraq.

In response to a two-part question about the education of children of immigrants, Gray said comprehensive immigration reform will be a priority in the first term of an Obama administration. This problem is a by-product of failure to provide a pathway to citizenship. Obama introduced Illinois’ version of the DREAM act. He and Biden introduced Federal version of DREAM act. Has support from Republicans such as Hagel and Lugar. They think it’s an opportunity to do what’s right. She added that their education plan also includes vocational education. They are talking about various models of high schools as well as supporting vocational education in community colleges.

By the way, if you haven't seen them already, here's my write-up of Hillary Clinton's conference call with bloggers last night. And here's my report after sitting in on a meeting that Bill Clinton held last month with bloggers on the eve of the Clinton Global Initiative meeting.

Some folks are just, "special"

2008-10-17T17:30:00.000-04:00

Rest in Peace, Levi Stubbs

2008-10-17T16:47:00.000-04:00

A great artist, a great spirit. I danced to the original recording of this song at my wedding.

And this is a live version of my all-time favorite Four Tops song:

Here's the long version, with better sound:

And with Martha Reeves as a bonus, here is the famous battle between the Four Tops and the Temptations:

I'll be on NJN's "Another View" next week

2008-10-16T16:16:00.000-04:00

I'll be talking about race, gender and the 2008 Presidential Election with host Desiree Taylor and fellow panelists, State Sen. Shirley Turner and political consultant George Dredden. The show will air October 21 at 7 pm, with a re-broadcast October 24 at 11:30. You'll also be able to watch online

Olbermann to McCain: "Suspend Your Campaign"

2008-10-14T22:54:00.000-04:00

Tell McCain and Palin to End the Politics of Hate

2008-10-14T20:53:00.000-04:00

h/t Rosepena

Judge: Michigan Voter Purging Project Violates Federal Law

2008-10-14T18:39:00.000-04:00

Judge Rules Michigan Voter Purge Program Violates Federal Law (10/13/2008)

Advancement Project And ACLU Hail Decision Blocking Unlawful Voter Purging

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
CONTACT: (212) 549-2666; media@aclu.org

DETROIT – In a major victory for voting rights, a judge today ruled that Michigan's voter removal program violates federal law and ordered the state to stop illegally purging voters from the rolls. The decision comes in a lawsuit filed last month by Advancement Project, the American Civil Liberties Union, the ACLU of Michigan and the law firm of Pepper Hamilton LLP.

"We are gratified that the judge ordered the state of Michigan to halt its unlawful purge program," said Bradley Heard, senior attorney with Advancement Project. "This decision protects thousands of Michigan residents' voting rights from being infringed upon during this important and historic presidential election, and beyond. It is now up to the state of Michigan to afford these voters the protections that federal law requires."

Judge Stephen J. Murphy of the U.S. District Court of the Eastern District of Michigan ruled that one of Michigan's voter removal programs violates the National Voter Registration Act of 1993 (NVRA). In question was a Michigan state law requiring local clerks to nullify the registrations of newly-registered voters whenever their voter identification cards are returned by the post office as undeliverable. Detroit elections officials report that nearly 30,000 voters per year in that city alone are removed from the rolls as a result of this state election law. The NVRA permits voters to remain on the voter rolls for at least two federal elections after voter registration cards are returned.

Judge Murphy ordered that state to "immediately discontinue their practice of cancelling or rejecting a voter's registration based upon the return of the voter's original voter identification card as undeliverable."

"This is a major victory for Michigan voters and the integrity of our democratic process," said Meredith Bell-Platts, staff counsel with the ACLU Voting Rights Project. "Today's decision brings us one step closer to restoring confidence in a electoral system that has been poisoned by illegal disfranchisement policies. As a result of the judge's decision, fewer Michigan voters will be illegally purged and wrongly disfranchised – and that's good for everyone."

This program has a very detrimental impact in minority, low-income and student communities across Michigan. These communities tend to be more transient and to live in multi-family housing. The plaintiffs in the case are the United States Student Association (USSA) and the ACLU of Michigan.

"Today's ruling is a clear victory for thousands of disenfranchised individuals who were illegally removed from the voter rolls. The ruling puts the Secretary of State on notice that she can no longer ignore federal law by illegally purging voters simply because it is easier," said Kary L. Moss, ACLU of Michigan Executive Director. "With voter turnout predicted to be the highest in state history, the interests of every voter in Michigan should come first and we must guarantee that everyone who is eligible to vote on Nov. 4 will be allowed to exercise this fundamental right."

"This is a very significant ruling for Michigan voters," said Matthew Lund, the ACLU cooperating attorney and a partner at Pepper Hamilton LLP who argued the case. "The court recognized – and repeated several times – that the state of Michigan is conducting unlawful voter purges that clearly violate the National Voter Registration Act. Michigan voters who were removed from the voting rolls for no reason other than failure to receive their ID card in the mail will now be allowed to vote in November."

Attorneys in this case are Heard of Advancement Project; Bell-Platts and Neil Bradley of the ACLU Voting Rights Project; Moss and Michael Steinberg of the ACLU of Michigan; and Lund, Mary K. Deon and Deborah Kovsky of Pepper Hamilton LLP.

Legal documents in this case, including today's decision, are available at: www.aclu.org/votingrights/gen/36838res20080917.html

More information on the ACLU Voting Rights Project is available at: www.votingrights.org

Cheryl Barclay: "Safely"

2008-10-08T16:31:00.000-04:00

The video doesn't convey the quality of the voice, but Cheryl Barclay, of the duo Cheryl and Javonne has one of the prettiest, most heartfelt sopranos I've ever heard.

NABJ congratulates Gwen Ifill

2008-10-02T22:37:00.000-04:00

October 2, 2008

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact:
NABJ Communications
1-866-479-NABJ

NABJ Congratulates Debate Moderator Gwen Ifill
'Washington Week' moderator set a steady hand, balanced tone at highly
anticipated debate

WASHINGTON, D.C., October 2, 2008 - In what became one of the most
anticipated vice presidential debates in American political history,
journalist Gwen Ifill served with resilience, grace and tenacity; the
traits of an exemplary debate moderator. The National Association of
Black Journalists (NABJ) proudly commends its friend and colleague for
unquestionable excellence.

Ifill, moderator and managing editor of "Washington Week" and senior
correspondent for "The NewsHour with Jim Lehrer," moderated the only
vice-presidential debate between Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin (R), and U.S.
Sen. Joseph Biden (D) of Delaware. This is Ifill's second turn as
moderator, having performed similar duties in 2004 with Vice President
Richard Cheney (R) and U.S. Senator John Edwards (D) of North Carolina.

"Gwen set a steady hand, a sound voice and balanced tone through what
became a civil debate between two history making rivals", said NABJ
President Barbara Ciara. "We'd expect nothing less from one of our
country's most highly-respected political journalists."

"I knew Gwen would be an excellent moderator," said NABJ Vice
President-Broadcast Kathy Times. "I expect more NABJ members to be
considered for this coveted role and on the campaign trail during the
next election cycle."

Before contributing to PBS programs, Ifill served as political and
Congressional correspondent for NBC News. She began her career in print
- reporting on national and local affairs for The Washington Post,
Baltimore Evening Sun, and Boston Herald American. Ifill is a regular
panelist on NBC's "Meet the Press" - brought on by her close friend and
mentor the late Tim Russert. Ifill will premiere her first book, "The
Breakthrough: Politics and Race in the Age of Obama" on January 20, 2009.

"We're not only proud of Gwen's work, but her contribution in mentoring
the next generation of journalists," said Ciara.

Ifill's stellar performance as moderator paves the way for future
opportunities for Black journalists and others of color to participate
more fully in coverage of Presidential elections. In July, with its
annual Thumbs Down Award, NABJ noted how journalists of color were not
represented proportionally in this coverage.

NABJ will discuss the history-making primary election and general
election at its annual Conference on Political and Congressional
Reporting. The three-day conference will take place Nov. 21-23 at
Georgetown University in Washington, D.C.

An advocacy group established in 1975 in Washington, D.C., NABJ is the
largest organization of journalists of color in the nation, with more
than 4,100 members, and provides educational, career development and
support to black journalists worldwide.

Couric asks Palin and Biden on Roe v. Wade

2008-10-02T19:30:00.000-04:00

Watch CBS Videos Online

Gwen Ifill talks about her new book

2008-10-02T19:09:00.001-04:00

Contrary to the manufactured controversy, Ifill's forthcoming book is no bouquet to Barack. It's an analysis from an experienced journalist of why we now have this particular generation of successful Black politicians. Matt Bai mined similar territory for the New York Times earlier this year.

Both Biden and Palin can expect her to be tough and fair tonight. This woman isn't "in the tank" for anybody. Anyone who has evidence of her purported bias needs to bring it.

John McCain defends Palin and his own honesty, against the evidence

2008-10-01T12:29:00.000-04:00

In addition to other odd comments in this clip, check the FDR reference at the end and tell me what he's talking about. (For some reason, I'm having trouble embedding it here, but it's worth going to Taegan Goddard and coming back.

In this clip, Sen. McCain lies while defending his honesty.

Meanwhile, the Obama camp must be feeling good about the polls these days.

A Conversation between Bill Clinton and Bill Gates

2008-09-24T16:06:00.001-04:00

Live-blogging from the Clinton Global Initiative Annual Meeting

2008-09-24T13:56:00.000-04:00

I'm going to sample each of the four concurrent working sessions at this afternoon's Clinton Global Initiative Annual Meeting. The topic areas are: Poverty Alleviation, Energy and Climate Change, and Global Health. I'll start with the Health Section, which focuses on adolescent girls. The agenda for this afternoon's meeting is here.

Bill Clinton meets with Bloggers -- and I was there

2008-09-23T00:43:00.002-04:00

The post is here at BlogHer. (Too tired to cross-post, have an early meeting) More on Wednesday, when I plan to live-blog from the annual meeting of the Clinton Global Initiative.

I'm told that the Alaskan Governor thought this was funny. Wonder what the Senator from New York thought?

2008-09-15T13:13:00.000-04:00

And yes, I did laugh. Ruefully. Because being able to see Russia from your window is actually being given credence as a qualification for the Vice Presidency.

Alaskan women protesting Palin

2008-09-14T11:59:00.000-04:00

h/t to Feminist Peace Network, which has a list of favorite anti-Palin slogans from the protest.

Maria Niles: White privilege, male privilege and the 2008 election

2008-09-14T11:38:00.000-04:00

More smart analysis.

Lady Sings the Blues

2008-09-13T22:36:00.000-04:00

Check out the Alexis P. Suter

In memory

2008-09-10T00:47:00.000-04:00

September 10, 2002

Call me Ostrich.
Tomorrow is a day I do not want to remember.
I am a journalist who does not want to read the newspaper.
I cannot tear myself away.
The terror tapes are rising in my head.
I do not need to be told to remember;
There has been no opportunity to forget.

I can share the story of where I was and what I did, but why would it matter?
I was not in the rubble.
I am not ground into the Fresh Kills landfill, or where ever it is they took the pulverized remains of nearly 3,000 who were loved, or loathed, or little known until the moment and the months of the murder and the martyrdom and the missing and the mourning.

Call me Ostrich.
Tomorrow is a day I do not want to remember.
I will say this much.
Tomorrow for me is no "Patriots' Day.'
Tomorrow is the day of the slaughter
Of people from 80 nations.
Tomorrow is the anniversary of the death of Reason.
The dogs of war are loose
Even as generals try to get them back on leash.

I am raising a son who dreams of wearing a uniform.
I have worked with the friends of Daniel Pearl.
I have held hands that held hands that dug through the Pile.
I have sat with the children of the Lost and the Found.
My mail is the mail that they test for anthrax.
I do not need to be told to remember.
There has been no opportunity to forget.

Call me Ostrich if you will, but know this:
She does not really bury her head in the sand.
She lays low when her nest is threatened.
To blend in or better view her enemy
She runs - she runs fast But when faced with a fight
She spreads her wings in warning
And kicks - hard! Pecks and bites,
She uses any means necessary, any means necessary.

Call me Ostrich
I am a journalist who does not want to read the newspaper
There is no distance from this story.
I gave myself over that long day that has not ended.
CNN and George Bush can not have what is left.
Tomorrow is a day you do not want me to remember.
Tomorrow is a day that will not let me forget.

---
Originally published 9/7/03

Blogging about community organizers day

2008-09-08T20:20:00.000-04:00

Actually, I'm not. I had a job interview with ACORN when I graduated from college, but I couldn't afford repay my student loans and rent an apartment on what they were paying. But I'm indebted to the people who ran the community organizations that provided me with academic and cultural enrichment during my childhood. My father worked full time and went to school full time, and my stepmother was a maid. Much as they tried, they could not have provided me with the opportunities that set me on a path from the ghetto to the Ivy League by themselves. So here's to the folks at the Friends Neighborhood Guild, whose library, scouting program and art classes were my sanctuary.

If I wanted to be snarky, I could say that being a community organizer is sort of like being a politician -- except you have to care about people.

John McCain's acceptance speech, as emended by Jon Stewart

2008-09-08T20:13:00.000-04:00

Jay Bookman: Bill O'Reilly's false bravado

2008-09-06T12:58:00.000-04:00

On this peaceful, pleasant Atlanta Saturday morning, my colleague Cynthia Tucker, syndicated columnist and the AJC’s editorial page editor, was returning from a trip to the grocery store when she was “ambushed” on the sidewalk in front of her home by a three-person crew sent by Fox’s Bill O’Reilly.

Read the whole column

Needs no comment from me

2008-09-04T17:43:00.000-04:00

Miche Braden: Magnificent as Always

2008-09-02T19:28:00.000-04:00

I have been telling you all for years,the woman is INCOMPARABLE. But you don't have to take my word for it:

"In all my years of reviewing, I have never seen an opening night audience respond to a singer as they did for "The Devil's Music: The Life and Blues of Bessie Smith...."

More on Miche Braden at her website.

Daddy Yankee and his buddy, John McCain

2008-08-30T20:57:00.001-04:00

Be sure to check the debate in the comments on this Newsweek post over what the lyrics to Daddy Yankee's song "Gasolina" really means. Michelle Malkin is not amused.

I'm on the AOL Hot Seat

2008-08-29T10:07:00.000-04:00

Weigh in on which candidate can fix the health care mess.

Jelani Cobb: The delegate

2008-08-29T09:33:00.000-04:00

Spelman College history professor William Jelani Cobb, a delegate from Georgia blogged the Democratic Convention for TheRoot.com. Here, some of my favorite nuggets from the week. The whole series is worth savoring:

"Michelle:"

"We knew that Michelle existed even when the rest of the world didn't. But we buried the words for her -- and the women she represents -- in an unmarked grave and covered it with assorted b-words, h-words and every lame offering shouted with a gold-tooth glint from the passenger side of a car. So in those twenty feet Michelle was not so much stepping up to a podium as stepping outside of a box. It was for that reason that I went straight strong-arm when they started passing out placards with "Michelle" printed on them. I refused to play nice and pass it down to my fellow delegates. After the convention closed for the night the hall was littered with "Change We Can Believe In" and "Common Values, Common Goals" placards, but not one of those with Michelle's name was left behind. One brother waded through the crowd, his held high above his head saying "I'm bringing this back home for my girls."

"The Hillary High:"

To say she gave a great speech would be to understate it. Throughout the speech I received a steady cascade of text messages from dyed in the wool Obama supporters talking about how she had gone straight Baptist preacher in the Pepsi Center.

The history professor side of me had to give it up when she brought Harriet Tubman into the equation. The media quibbled and diagrammed sentences trying to decipher a hidden insult to Barack. But by honest standards that was one of the strongest endorsement speeches in the party's history.

On the nomination vote:

For black men, that silence bore a particular witness. See, Barack is cool and cool is the highest aspiration for a black man in America. Not that disposable brand that is measured in horsepower and designer labels, but the kind that speaks to infinite reserves of self-possession. It means that he now stands as a counterpoint to stencil of slack-mouthed fearfulness that passes itself off as black manhood.

MSNBC live-feed

2008-08-28T20:19:00.000-04:00

Join me for a live-blog discussion of Sen. Obama's acceptance speech

2008-08-28T20:09:00.000-04:00

American Prayer -- Dave Stewart and Friends

2008-08-22T17:04:00.000-04:00

Rep. Stephanie Tubbs Jones in critical condition

2008-08-20T15:15:00.000-04:00

Video of press conference from Huron Hospital:

Updating here.

Last February, Rep. Tubbs Jones participated in Tavis Smiley's State of the Black Union panel, which I liveblogged here.