tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-83463692024-03-23T14:33:08.724-04:00The Larry Lyons ExperienceThe life and opinions of
Larry D. Lyons II, gentleman.Unknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger78125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8346369.post-65221958175215336182009-08-25T10:41:00.000-04:002009-08-28T10:42:27.252-04:00Get in the Mix -- Become a RBMF Mentor!<div style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/larrylyons/3864259235/" title="mentor mixer copy by LarryLyons2, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2512/3864259235_f7a0a32900_o.jpg" alt="mentor mixer copy" width="400" height="800" /></a><br /></div><br />The Rashawn Brazell Memorial Fund would like to invite you to join us at our first Mentor Mixer. For those who are just being introduced to our work, we’ll be providing a brief overview of our history and <a href="http://rashawnbrazell.com/initiatives/index.html">initiatives</a>. For those who have supported our work over the past four years, we’ll be unveiling our fall fundraisers and announcing the winners of the 2009 <a href="http://rashawnbrazell.com/scholarships/index.html">scholarship award</a>. Most importantly, we’ll use the evening to begin transforming talented folks like you from young professionals and agents of change into <a href="http://rashawnbrazell.com/mentors/index.html">mentors</a> for the next generation of scholars and activists.<br /><br />At the event, you’ll have the opportunity to learn more about the amazing young men and women who have received the seven scholarships we’ve granted since 2006. 2007 scholarship recipient <a href="http://www.rashawnbrazell.com/news/2008/02/meet_the_scholars.html">Dashana Payne</a> and her mentor Kemi Ilesanmi will be discussing their experience with our mentoring program, and 2009 recipient Nafissatou Traore (who has not yet been paired with a mentor) will speak briefly about how she’s been inspired by Rashawn’s legacy of selfless service and academic excellence.<br /><br />We do hope that you’ll join us for this exciting event. Have a drink, bring a friend and learn a little about the role YOU can play in helping us build the New York City that <a href="http://rashawnbrazell.com/rashawn/index.html">Rashawn</a> wanted to see; a diverse and affirming city free of violent crime.<br /><br />To RSVP, email us today by <a href="mailto:info@rashawnbrazell.com">clicking here</a>.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8346369.post-33219716590451726252009-03-16T13:15:00.001-04:002009-03-21T13:17:22.117-04:00Dinners by DesireFrom noon-5pm this Saturday, Rashawn Brazell's mother Desire will be selling home-cooked dinners to raise money for the <a href="http://rashawnbrazell.com/scholarships">Rashawn Brazell Memorial Scholarship</a>. Meals include southern fried chicken, collard greens, baked macaroni and cheese, potato salad, curried chicken, peas and rice, oxtails and red velvet cake for desert. Chicken meals are a mere $8 and oxtail meals a mere $9. The quest for justice has never been so delicious!<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiKh9X4BDYvF1KQ1cL1BXI7eDTQT97lCDGMGOVXacH_pRqA4TKnnBXgb7JXunixILbZFUJwdw72351GarrTqPqr6WMVrOz_QIwL_OiJVmoD5ZICc1NgTOgZ2jDANJlJfJvtmhSw/s1600-h/dinners+by+desire+copy.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 276px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiKh9X4BDYvF1KQ1cL1BXI7eDTQT97lCDGMGOVXacH_pRqA4TKnnBXgb7JXunixILbZFUJwdw72351GarrTqPqr6WMVrOz_QIwL_OiJVmoD5ZICc1NgTOgZ2jDANJlJfJvtmhSw/s400/dinners+by+desire+copy.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5315689248691734818" border="0" /></a><br />1091-1103 Gates Avenue<br />Apartment 4D<br />(Between Broadway & Bushwick)<br />Brooklyn, NY<br /><br />call 917.971.5321 for detailsUnknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8346369.post-51603140758855595682009-02-04T17:21:00.013-05:002009-02-16T18:45:51.582-05:00On the Dissertation TipWell folks, it's a watershed moment in the life of your boy LarryLy. After 4+ years of coursework, qualifying exams and teaching, I've finally arrived at the place I've been dreaming about since I decided on a career in the academy: <span style="color: rgb(255, 255, 51);">DISSERTATION STAGE!</span><br /><br />Because the debates and discussions on this blog have been instrumental in preparing me to think critically about the intersection of text and image as it relates to issues of race, class and gender in 20th Century America, I am excited to share with you the first portion of my dissertation research -- an ambitious engagement of the work of African-American photographer Gordon Parks alongside that of folklorist/author Zora Neale Hurston.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgXVQKK83CBKWIiDtzfZgm2sqU2TQT6ddHlo9_-cTXvebtPBn7lLiZ_CrYsgHs3yixANBxtdyWio0jShmfbQl6XJffZttjMYuhXdy6ZkJaZDAgez-QTWkzbwlqENHIk7HIJmn8Xmw/s1600-h/chapter+cover.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 300px; height: 384px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgXVQKK83CBKWIiDtzfZgm2sqU2TQT6ddHlo9_-cTXvebtPBn7lLiZ_CrYsgHs3yixANBxtdyWio0jShmfbQl6XJffZttjMYuhXdy6ZkJaZDAgez-QTWkzbwlqENHIk7HIJmn8Xmw/s400/chapter+cover.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5299096006919678306" border="0" /></a><br /><span style="color: rgb(255, 204, 153);">Gordon Parks’ rise as a documentary photographer allowed him to intervene in the revision of America’s national identity during a crucial moment in the country’s history: the advent of mass culture in the 1930s. Pursuing the Farm Services Administration’s goal of “introducing America to Americans,” Parks’ early work exposed the infringement of mass culture upon local cultures, particularly the ways in which farm mechanization signaled major changes in the profile of working-class labor.</span><br /><br /><div style="visibility: visible;" align="center"><embed src="http://flash.picturetrail.com/pflicks/3/spflick.swf" quality="high" flashvars="ql=2&src1=http://pic90.picturetrail.com/VOL2194/9834524/flicks/1/6587204" wmode="transparent" bgcolor="#000000" name="moving_thumbs" allowscriptaccess="sameDomain" style="height: 350px; width: 460px;" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" align="middle" height="350" width="460"></embed><p style="margin-top: 10px; height: 24px;"></p></div>My research explores the conversation between Zora Neale <span>Hurston’s </span><a href="http://xroads.virginia.edu/%7EMA01/Grand-Jean/Hurston/Chapters/index.html"><span style="font-style: italic;">Mules and Men</span></a> (1935) <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Their_Eyes_Were_Watching_God"><span style="font-style: italic;">Their Eyes Were Watching God</span></a> (1937) and <a href="http://search.barnesandnoble.com/Dust-Tracks-on-a-Road/Zora-Neale-Hurston/e/9780060854089"><span style="font-style: italic;">Dust Tracks on a Road</span></a> (1942) and Parks’ <a href="http://lcweb2.loc.gov/ammem/fsahtml/fachap07.html">work with the FSA</a>. I am particularly interested in the possible relationships between black laborers’ experiences of the Farm Services Administration and the Federal Security Administration, which scholars have discussed in terms of its interventions in the town of Belle Glade, Florida (the town upon which Hurston bases her fictional accounts of “the muck”). How might these identically acronymed government programs have come to represent the heavy-handed surveillance of white capitalism for black rural laborers during the 1930s and 1940s? And how might this connection revise popular beliefs about the laborers’ relation to the white capitalist authority structure?<br /><br /><span style="color: rgb(255, 204, 153);">I argue that Hurston’s texts and Parks’ images help us discern how the economic shifts of the early 20th century impacted visual and literary interrogations of (and challenges to) white male hegemony and how that process impacted the emergence of the black middle class.</span>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com9tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8346369.post-24279403845527377682009-01-30T16:50:00.001-05:002009-02-03T16:51:29.088-05:00my president is<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiKR4WRmTb7HCbUSIr8cgXr_wytSF1rYyfH0zSWhNZnOS8xdglvvfsXfPCmkzdRhF29u1CCE45fNSJYcBa3ZjzgigKRNFulOi3QkWnxAIL4EZoXunhf-YeB8pTWm2xqveZCya-CUg/s1600-h/attach.msc.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 264px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiKR4WRmTb7HCbUSIr8cgXr_wytSF1rYyfH0zSWhNZnOS8xdglvvfsXfPCmkzdRhF29u1CCE45fNSJYcBa3ZjzgigKRNFulOi3QkWnxAIL4EZoXunhf-YeB8pTWm2xqveZCya-CUg/s400/attach.msc.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5298692048039105714" border="0" /></a>Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8346369.post-48098407466243440042008-12-01T11:41:00.007-05:002008-12-01T12:27:56.674-05:00On Michelle Obama and StereotypesIn response to CNN's report "Michelle Obama breaks stereotypes"<br /><br /><object height="344" width="425"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/YigwzqiKwJQ&hl=en&fs=1"><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/YigwzqiKwJQ&hl=en&fs=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" height="344" width="425"></embed></object><br /><span style="font-size:85%;">CNN's Randi Kaye examines how Michelle Obama may help break down stereotypes of black women.</span><br /><br /><br /><span style="color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">I’ve seen this segment aired on CNN at least three times and each time it’s made me more and more uncomfortable. Why? Because it’s just plain silly to suggest that Michelle Obama can single-handedly eradicate stereotypes about African-American women. By definition, stereotypes are images or ideas about a group of people that have becom</span><span style="color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">e fixed by repetition or acceptance, to the point of cliché. If there are stereotypes about Black women being overweight, ignorant or angry, they exist because we have been inundated with those unflattering images over the course of decades and generations.</span><br /><br />While I am genuinely excited about what Michelle will bring to the White House, I think we’re doing a disservice not only to the first family, but to our already derelict discourse on race and racism to suggest that one woman’s weight, skin-tone and parenting abilities could possibly reverse a stereotype that was built over several successive decades of white supremacist attitudes about black women being transmitted through every possible mouthpiece from music videos to US public policy.<br /><br /><span style="color: rgb(51, 255, 255);">To avoid yoking our next First Lady with unrealistic expectations, we’re </span><span style="color: rgb(51, 255, 255);">going to have to give serious consideration to her context. What Michelle Obama’s visibility </span><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjwzUltHecVfBiew3Ysfy4EXsNLH9gflugsVNuRRZufd9-U1jASjN9phecSR2axSjKBbGoxo7xyMipIA3G-hxUq-0tl79hRWyddpZmppDp9LG1Bl4AfsDS8tA_mH6OjQwDjrpgSyg/s1600-h/Misc.BlackSuperwoman.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 156px; height: 200px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjwzUltHecVfBiew3Ysfy4EXsNLH9gflugsVNuRRZufd9-U1jASjN9phecSR2axSjKBbGoxo7xyMipIA3G-hxUq-0tl79hRWyddpZmppDp9LG1Bl4AfsDS8tA_mH6OjQwDjrpgSyg/s200/Misc.BlackSuperwoman.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5274868194519862210" border="0" /></a><span style="color: rgb(51, 255, 255);">can offer is a counterpoint to the hundreds of negative images of Black women that are circulated daily amongst Americans. So, for the hundreds of mammies, hoes, bitches, Jezebels, welfare mothers, ghetto queens, b</span><span style="color: rgb(51, 255, 255);">aby’s mamas and chickenheads that exist in the songs, movies, news reports and anecdotes that comprise our national imagination, there is now one Michelle Obama. She’s powerful, she’s accomplished, she’s fortunate and she’s ambitious, but she’s just one woman, folks. And, to be clear, it’s going to take a lot more than one First Lady to transform or dismantle the caricatured image of black women that’s been crafted by the racist and misogynist attitudes of our white supremacist society.</span>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8346369.post-87347447174442466402008-11-09T16:19:00.000-05:002008-11-09T16:20:23.833-05:00change.<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgNH63AJpL0dBts9iHGy81ocN07AhY5gPLukcYMsgnOmKytgT8Kkzihexky8lEhzkkJu20xwAgx0o4CABXHI-WJuSVYz8qKRHHzsqfuySd_lL5nRuiqU2ihq3ziA_o7EekKwridAg/s1600-h/presidency.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 268px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgNH63AJpL0dBts9iHGy81ocN07AhY5gPLukcYMsgnOmKytgT8Kkzihexky8lEhzkkJu20xwAgx0o4CABXHI-WJuSVYz8qKRHHzsqfuySd_lL5nRuiqU2ihq3ziA_o7EekKwridAg/s400/presidency.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5266770693016316834" /></a>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8346369.post-66787641012020764552008-09-05T16:02:00.008-04:002008-09-24T13:16:19.893-04:00on brandy.What follows is the blurb I penned about Brandy for my imeem.com "Best of Brandy" playlist. It's very much a work-in-progress. If you're anything like me (meaning that you take pride in thinking critically about your favorite music), I invite you to toss in your suggestions, revisions, qualms, laurels, admonitions and accolades. If you're nothing like me, just hush and take a listen.<br /><br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiZEe95WxUapG8GEeJdNAcYhV2dp0qWvyTnisBIDD8SXFS_xhGIMW5cB-F2RXICWvAznAEjNyYq4ZJfmC-KZ5gK1VoNY3J58OHqkvzJlJxHOxdMYLdm2JbRf-bW9FouIiCXihZydw/s1600-h/brandy_02.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5242630278186220210" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; CURSOR: hand; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiZEe95WxUapG8GEeJdNAcYhV2dp0qWvyTnisBIDD8SXFS_xhGIMW5cB-F2RXICWvAznAEjNyYq4ZJfmC-KZ5gK1VoNY3J58OHqkvzJlJxHOxdMYLdm2JbRf-bW9FouIiCXihZydw/s320/brandy_02.jpg" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><p><br /><br />No female singer this century has had so profound an impact on the sound of contemporary R&B than the iconic Brandy Norwood. This playlist profiles the lushly layered harmonies and the ethereal, otherworldly vocal arrangements that she and producer Rodney “Darkchild” Jerkins tailored to accommodate the young starlet’s airy voice, smooth alto range and moody temperment.<br /><br />Inspired by the stirring ballads of Whitney Houston and the intricate vocal stylings of gospel’s Kim Burrell, Brandy’s songs allow listeners to explore the unique blend of anomie and automation that shapes the postmodern soundscape as well as the human vulnerability that lies at its root. </p><p>[note: for some reason, the blog insert is only playing 30-second snippets. to hear the songs in their entirety, click on the "brandy's best" hyperlink beneath the player]<br /><br /><object width="300" height="340"><param name="movie" value="http://media.imeem.com/pl/vVPH8VKwqL/aus=false/"></param><param name="wmode" value="transparent"></param><embed src="http://media.imeem.com/pl/vVPH8VKwqL/aus=false/" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" width="300" height="340" wmode="transparent"></embed><a href="http://www.imeem.com/people/MvjbNC/playlist/7RO47T0b/brandys_best_music_playlist/">brandys best</a></object><br /><br />I'd love to have a conversation about my favorites, but it seems pointless, considering I've already cited each of the tracks as one of her best. *shrug* could someone please take an interest in my claim about the postmodernity of Brandy's sound? I'd really like an opportunity to discuss it further without wondering whether anyone gives a damn. Ha!</p>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com18tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8346369.post-22631395785638128012008-08-31T11:06:00.003-04:002008-08-31T11:23:22.092-04:00Mainstream Media Coverage of RBMF March<a href="http://www.wnbc.com/news/17351899/detail.html">News 4 NEW YORK</a> -- Three years after her son was murdered, the mother of a gay Bushwick teenager is hoping for a break in the case and that her son's killer will be brought to justice.<br /><br /><a href="http://www.wnbc.com/topic/Rashawn+Brazell">Rashawn Brazell</a>'s dismembered body parts were found in garbage bags strewn throughout Brooklyn, including the Nostrand Avenue subway station.<br /><br />On Saturday, dozens of people marched in memory of the 19-year-old whose life was brutally cut short.<br /><br />Brazell's mother said she hopes the march will lead to a tip that will help detectives solve the murder.<br /><br />Gay activists and members of the Bushwick community have established a <a href="http://www.rashawnbrazell.com/">memorial fund</a> for Rashawn Brazell to fight against racism and homophobia.<br /><br /><a href="http://video.wnbc.com/player/?id=288833">Watch video report</a>.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8346369.post-340034089380190572008-08-26T12:35:00.014-04:002008-08-26T16:38:19.303-04:00Race, Class and Gender at the DNC, part 1.On Michelle, the South Side girl.<br /><br /><br /><object height="344" width="425"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/jVDI2kjiDmw&hl=en&fs=1"><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"><br /><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/jVDI2kjiDmw&hl=en&fs=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowfullscreen="true" width="425" height="344"></embed></object><br /><br /><p>I’m not sure whether this is what I happen to be thinking, or if this is my recognizing some very insistent messaging packaged by the DNC machine(s), but I walk away from Michelle Obama's speech at the Democratic National Convention thinking that her remarks were intended to herald the novel possibility of a “girl” raised in a blue-collar family on the South Side of Chicago becoming the First Lady of the United States, a notion that stands to gain the Obama campign the allegiance and admiration of women of all races. I mean, don't Americans love those rags-to-riches, triumph-over-adversity, underdog wins tales? </p><br /><p><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5238926665092177826" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; CURSOR: hand; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg-t7_8btxlx_enqMcnqwLIp0RKRgwLZtJoWN3F8wauMqj264D26P1bQi61sVumo4k-S4xA8KK8LYzXv0URTxP8urIYb4v1b8o6FV0Y8B2ws6dcn7XXTKvhg5YajQrAw17hNcmT7g/s400/cinderella+story.jpg" border="0" /><br /><span style="color:#cc33cc;">Further, Michelle's willingness to speak publicly and passionately about her upbringing, her own credentials and (less directly) her love/hate relationship with the American political system signifies that Barack doesn’t need Hillary as a running mate in order to be accountable to women’s issues (or, for that matter, to the working-class). We might say that Michelle is [being] positioned to represent a sizeable portion of her husband's political conscience and to assure all of us who happen to share her identity categories that our priorities will not only be taken seriously, but will be housed in the safest place possible -- close to the future President's heart.</span> </p><p>As such, Barack's [staged] public doting on his wife also serves to assure the voting public that his responsibility to her in and of itself constitutes an intimate committment to the rights of women and the working-class. This is of no small significance given recent discussions about Obama<br />1. being <a href="http://www.cnn.com/2008/POLITICS/04/16/elitism/index.html">elitist</a> and disconnected from the daily lives of the working class<br />2. losing hoardes of <a href="http://www.boston.com/news/politics/politicalintelligence/2008/08/convention_pers_1.html">women voters</a> as a result of the Clinton defeat<br /><br /><span style="color:#cc33cc;">Is it true? Are Michelle's "South Side" origins and her committment to giving back to working-class communities weighty enough to counterbalance the Obama family's undeniable indebtedness to networks of power and privilege? Only time will tell. What can safely assume, however, is that the message we received last night was an intentional one -- shrink-wrapped and pre-packaged by those ever-clever, invisible campaign brains.</span><br /><br />I, for one, am not mad at 'em.</p>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8346369.post-34936229631994487782008-08-21T15:38:00.003-04:002008-08-21T15:46:43.708-04:00Bringing Justice Home: A March for Rashawn<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/larrylyons/2784243267/" title="BringingJusticeHome by LarryLyons2, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2028/2784243267_deec88438c_o.jpg" width="450" height="800" alt="BringingJusticeHome" /></a><br /><br /><br /><br />Three years after the brutal murder of her son, Desire Brazell literally sees him everywhere. Much of the city is covered in posters offering a $12,000 reward for information leading to the arrest of Rashawn’s killer; the Nostrand Avenue subway station where his dismembered remains were discovered in February 2005, the streets of Greenwich Village where he enjoyed nights out with friends and even on several Jersey-bound PATH trains. Everywhere but in the bustling Bushwick neighborhood that he called home. <br /><br />With each day that witnesses and would-be informants remain silent about the crime, the callous murderer that killed her 19-year old son gains a little more time to elude justice. So, after three years without a single suspect in custody, Desire believes that the time has come for the Bushwick community that embraced and nurtured Rashawn to aid in tracking down his killer. On Saturday, August 30th, Desire will be directing an hour-long flyering session geared toward soliciting tips from neighbors and commuters who might have information about what happened on Valentine’s day of 2005 when her son left their Gates Avenue apartment, never to be seen again. Her message is a simple one: if you want justice, you have to start at home. <br /><br />And Desire will not be alone. After posting reward flyers throughout the area where Rashawn was raised, Desire will lead NYPD officers, elected officials, activists and concerned community members in a march to the subway stop where her son’s severed body parts were found to proclaim that no parent should ever lose their child to homophobic violence or intolerance of any kind. Also joining her will be the parents and families of gay and lesbian people of color from New York and New Jersey who have been jailed, assaulted, killed or treated unjustly because of their identities. <br /><br />Desire is supported by the Rashawn Brazell Memorial Fund, which honors the teen’s legacy by granting $1500 scholarships annually to college-bound NYC students committed to the fight against racism, sexism and homophobia. Invited guests include NYC Council Speaker Christine Quinn, Councilwoman Letitia James, Kimma Dandridge (mother of the New Jersey Four’s Terrain Dandridge), Denise and Ezekiel Sandy (parents of the late Michael Sandy) and LaTona Gunn (mother of the late Sakia Gunn).Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8346369.post-83956906005294024902008-06-26T11:52:00.005-04:002008-06-26T12:03:13.353-04:00Enough is Enough<div>What follows is a petition penned by my fellow Rutgers alum <a href="http://jelanicobb.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=14&Itemid=26">William Jelani Cobb</a> on behalf of the mass of black men who understand why R.. Kelly's recent aquittal is no cause for celebration. If your share our sentiments, <a href="http://www.petitiononline.com/rkelly/petition.html">add your name</a>. It's that simple.<br /><br /><div><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj8CV0SHW9x_fB-jisZsaPmSHL6MyPVrBRGBQHQz1x_dyBRjbzGFNRKyKGEz2rDLUJrwn3IImMH4mL1KJ0pts07p75Jo-nlFMxZvQ0WM-eMDrZSAnHJohQrUSa9Lp3G8ePZaDJbjg/s1600-h/rkelly2mug-shot.jpg"></a><br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgonSR8NstVeyFWm_26fcE_pYsGHC2mdo6KYg8oJ2qpZm7qsUl6hXjKrciX6ah5_Tm_JKENxC6uHmn_YfTh3kok0BC381IztjSoM-_CC2OpJ6bVdE540i5FqTqwse9wTgcz5T8S2w/s1600-h/rkelly2mug-shot.jpg"></a><br /><div><br />To: Concerned African Americans<br /><br />Statement of Black Men Against the Exploitation of Black Women<br /><br />Six years have gone by since we first heard the allegations that R. Kelly had filmed himself <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjc4WmWPUQvudSjuWo77BMAkXDagY5bRPWK9KNK1o6NHvIpo0IgwzKkW6YkUBJaXnE91EQefpy_-XVnIgG0OK9FdR8QhoDYf7yPtix3_lVvgCvwXprEKdDdYhOEXoRvXvpuGhfngg/s1600-h/rkelly2mug-shot.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5216221381906109442" style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjc4WmWPUQvudSjuWo77BMAkXDagY5bRPWK9KNK1o6NHvIpo0IgwzKkW6YkUBJaXnE91EQefpy_-XVnIgG0OK9FdR8QhoDYf7yPtix3_lVvgCvwXprEKdDdYhOEXoRvXvpuGhfngg/s200/rkelly2mug-shot.jpg" border="0" /></a>having sex with an underage girl. During that time we have seen the videotape being hawked on street corners in Black communities, as if the dehumanization of one of our own was not at stake. We have seen entertainers rally around him and watched his career reach new heights <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjvrG8iIwAZAavhTPtLxjLMq7a8ZhSY5yln-o5uoeatFVnXEg5MblZWG4ouiJL53Oitr5OHh5LABi3fZFKdkq7eywOF3FqQD5Aw5tp_VRDNALF7KmNUMLOMtOHIpHQjz25KzanUqA/s1600-h/rkelly2mug-shot.jpg"></a>despite the grave possibility that he had molested and urinated on a 13-year old girl. We saw African Americans purchase millions of his records despite the long history of such charges swirling around the singer. Worst of all, we have witnessed the sad vision of Black people cheering his acquittal with a fervor usually reserved for community heroes and shaken our heads at the stunning lack of outrage over the verdict in the broader Black community.<br /><br />Over these years, justice has been delayed and it has been denied. Perhaps a jury can accept R. Kelly's absurd defense and find "reasonable doubt" despite the fact that the film was shot in his home and featured a man who was identical to him. Perhaps they doubted that the young woman in the courtroom was, in fact, the same person featured in the ten year old video. But there is no doubt about this: some young Black woman was filmed being degraded and exploited by a much older Black man, some daughter of our community was left unprotected, and somewhere another Black woman is being molested, abused or raped and our callous handling of this case will make it that much more difficult for her to come forward and be believed. And each of us is responsible for it.<br /><br />We have proudly seen the community take to the streets in defense of Black men who have been the victims of police violence or racist attacks, but that righteous outrage only highlights the silence surrounding this verdict.<br /><br />We believe that our judgment has been clouded by celebrity-worship; we believe that we are a community in crisis and that our addiction to sexism has reached such an extreme that many of us cannot even recognize child molestation when we see it. </div><br /><div><br />We recognize the absolute necessity for Black men to speak in a single, unified voice and state something that should be absolutely obvious: that the women of our community are full human beings, that we cannot and will not tolerate the poisonous hatred of women that has already damaged our families, relationships and culture.<br /><br />We believe that our daughters are precious and they deserve our protection. We believe that Black men must take responsibility for our contributions to this terrible state of affairs and make an effort to change our lives and our communities.<br /><br />This is about more than R. Kelly's claims to innocence. It is about our survival as a community. Until we believe that our daughters, sisters, mothers, wives and friends are worthy of justice, until we believe that rape, domestic violence and the casual sexism that permeates our culture are absolutely unacceptable, until we recognize that the first priority of any community is the protection of its young, we will remain in this tragic dead-end.<br /><br /><br />Sincerely,<br /><br /><a href="http://www.petitiononline.com/rkelly/petition.html">The Undersigned </a></div></div></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8346369.post-76181260154136794592008-05-25T11:02:00.003-04:002008-05-25T13:25:33.093-04:00A Good, Ole Fashioned Cuss Out (and one caveat)Hillary, Hillary, Hillary... With your most recent gaff, you have successfully obliterated any prospect for a graceful exit. Your parting gift? A good ole fashioned cuss out, courtesy of Keith Olbermann.<br /><br /><object width="425" height="355"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/CB6kAXD4WAA&hl=en"></param><param name="wmode" value="transparent"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/CB6kAXD4WAA&hl=en" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" wmode="transparent" width="425" height="355"></embed></object><br /><br />Yes, the dramatic turns from camera to camera give me entirely too much. But, let's be clear -- this is public theatre. And theatre not to be missed. <br /><br />My only qualm is this: "this nation's deepest shame, its most enduring horror, its morst terrifying legacy is political assassination".<br /><br />Really, Keith? REALLY? The thousands upon thousands of enslaved Africans that lost their lives to slavery and the Middle Passage take second place to the 14 or so men that you name in your rant? Really?<br /><br />Call it niggling, but methinks one really should take greater care when dolling out superlatives for the nation's "deepest shame," 'cause it strikes me that the idiom of "enduring horror" and "terrifying legacy" invokes for many Americans a system much more sinister than political assassination.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8346369.post-75105160127871451962008-05-19T10:57:00.002-04:002008-05-19T11:07:19.118-04:00What Hope Can Do<div align="center"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiDcaR7tLMOw-j51ddCttKozWlShK4-jFUuPow35c0COgSz_UcE0hyphenhyphenG55dN4W9YIC1yCscZjhntrk1940n2eE2JEWlPZIA4kvKQABrnIyW5kxp9zeiEALKEYdIqo4FmUY1KxXSq-A/s1600-h/obamaoregon2.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5202104803103352594" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; CURSOR: hand; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiDcaR7tLMOw-j51ddCttKozWlShK4-jFUuPow35c0COgSz_UcE0hyphenhyphenG55dN4W9YIC1yCscZjhntrk1940n2eE2JEWlPZIA4kvKQABrnIyW5kxp9zeiEALKEYdIqo4FmUY1KxXSq-A/s400/obamaoregon2.jpg" border="0" /></a> <a href="http://www.salem-news.com/articles/may182008/obama_portland_051808.php">75,000 Obama Supporters at a record-breaking presidential campaign rally</a>.<br /><br /><br />Hope.<br /></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8346369.post-12775976439929871392008-05-13T15:02:00.010-04:002008-05-13T15:37:13.414-04:00facebook fun.How do time-strapped academics have fun?<br />They perform self-parodic close readings, that's how.<br /><br /><p><span style="color:#9999ff;">My latest foray into the growing genre of jestful metacriticism comes by way of the facebook page of my beloved colleague and love slave Lyra Plumer. You see, Lyra posted a picture of her adorable guinea pigs to her page. It was too adorable to allow it to pass without comment, but being immersed in dissertation madness, the only language I could muster up was the heavy-handedly theoretical and jargon-laden idiom that I love so well. See for yourself and join in the jest!<br /></span></p><br /><br /><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5199941359356880642" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; CURSOR: hand; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhDXmh7qYXYb39UQWhp1esTxR2jzZO5Jdlh97lgdmZEbjBWA6Q_atbUdnpm0Bxk4ew42FYIqiMmqVGDQiHjNiSc3oNABr6VxJmFZVtU46iSelxqhxCqGvvGo3ISEQ4XI4muvN4vsw/s400/lyra's.jpg" border="0" /> <p><span style="color:#ffffff;"><strong><span style="font-size:180%;">"</span></strong> The boundless cuteness of this duo is undoubtedly owed to the image's underlying narrative of racial harmony. Though the "rare comraderie" of beings of different hues is evident throughout 20th century visual culture (see Coolidge's anthropomorphized </span><a href="http://unpopulartruths.files.wordpress.com/2007/09/dogs-playing-poker.jpg"><span style="color:#ffffff;">Dogs Playing Poker</span></a><span style="color:#ffffff;"> series, 1903), this image is unique in that its igloo transports the subjects outside of the contiguous United States (and therefore well beyond the self-indulgent gaze of American art history) and into the otherworldly domain of Canada's Central Arctic and Greenlands Thule areas, where most igloos were erected. </span></p><p><span style="color:#9999ff;">In selecting an emphatically plastic replica of indigenous workmanship as the domestic retreat for this unlikely pair, this image fuzes Jameson's and Baudrillard's notion of the simulacrum. The igloo is rendered both ahistorical AND hyperreal by its capacity to serve as a site where the ever-elusive goal of racial harmony might be actualized.</span> <strong><span style="font-size:180%;color:#ffffff;">"</span></strong></p><p>--</p><p>More fun after I finish grading papers and final exams, I promise. Until then, will you meet me for <a href="http://larrylyons2.blogspot.com/2008/05/brighter-days-4-awards-banquet-and.html">dinner next Thursday</a>?</p>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8346369.post-68440289950260924952008-05-09T17:46:00.013-04:002008-05-09T19:00:01.549-04:00Brighter Days 4: The Awards Banquet and Afterparty<p>Dear friends,<br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEinfJ9FGtG_LBqWqYn60sWkB0t6ly1yBvuYCyNzxeepV4svdfd84xjZ5LbEVgEEwgoRCKFpBsu-TtSgfary8ykzCXA3nGCbqzQcZGEg04x2hyphenhyphenwY9-1gYS4L8_-iVpMjNRHpBsQI7w/s1600-h/brighterEflyer.jpg"></a>It's hard to believe that we've been fighting for justice in the case of Rashawn Brazell for three years now. But the facts cannot lie: It's been three full years since 19 year-old Rashawn's dismembered body parts were found strewn though Brooklyn's subways. And three years later, the murder that America's Most Wanted has called one of the most gruesome in New York's history remains unsolved.<br /><br />Luckily, there's good news. Since the inception of the Rashawn Brazell Memorial Scholarship in 2005, we've been blessed to have people like you in our corner pledging time, resources, sympathy and support for our ongoing fight against racism, homophobia and hate violence. This year, we are elated to have the opportunity to thank each of your for the myriad ways in which you've made it possible to offer a sustainable tribute to Rashawn's memory. To this end, we hope that you'll join us at our awards dinner on May 22nd. Because the evening's purpose is to show our gratitude for the unwavering support of community members like you, it simply wouldn't be complete without... you! <br /><br /><br>Hosted at the <a href="http://www.gaycenter.org/?gclid=CLmG29vBmpMCFRCCGgodVEgKwg">LGBT Center</a> in Manhattan, this year’s Brighter Days celebration will honor New York City Council Speaker Christine Quinn, Council Member Letitia James and the Audre Lorde Project's <a href="http://www.alp.org/whatwedo/organizing/sos">SOS Collective</a> for their respective efforts to end violence against LGBT people of color in our community. Additionally, we'll be recognizing the network of bloggers, activists, artists and scholars who have made invaluable contributions to our work throughout the years.</p><br /><br />So, <a href="http://jotform.com/form/81005812780">click here to RSVP today</a> and let us show you our appreciation!<br /><br /><br /><br /><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5198505154406309938" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; CURSOR: hand; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhzs0i0LUyvbArCD2XrmUo41BKYe_byOlwBApFFy9RChJSuEpS4cR52ZUpToDjk-SSmm-eiQnVdzDaBqoMwoW_GD3jOVHFdLHKFnGsGQHqlEk0hZ_bM6JKenoCVxyRaXMH7QzBh8w/s400/banquet+alone.jpg" border="0" /><br /><br /><br /><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5198501215921299490" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; CURSOR: hand; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgCRWva8tsY2XMOZOP6C6oUHQTS8i7yRPEdoer5okBaLauyDpytxwN9gMm6ow_U3soLSpdZqdDi-dwVI2-gRw_l4SH2mWzMNhN_w6y_jUgpF1BIjlmmyjK6zuR1TioiS_MUO53WPw/s400/sprung.jpg" border="0" /><br /><br /><br /><p></p><br /><p>Will I have the pleasure of seeing you there?</p>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8346369.post-987207552551943432008-04-16T14:50:00.017-04:002009-03-25T21:56:01.179-04:005ive things.Oh, reader! There are a million things that I've been dying to tell you.<br /><div><div><br /><div><br /><div><span style="font-size:130%;"><strong>Here are 5.</strong></span> </div><br /><br /><div><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhmDS2HsjRw0us02upwwx0PNyzJ5Uaojlx8EiiyCbmezx8Jz7uWp4SqPqlCY3WI6fkjIkYafDzMoBb1RuYx-4o_QV45HNL5g1U9wCcWwvjHgCRXQQOy56mq_9o2xjRflLbIy43Fzw/s1600-h/silenced2.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5189926071635547954" style="margin: 0px 10px 10px 0px; float: left;" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhmDS2HsjRw0us02upwwx0PNyzJ5Uaojlx8EiiyCbmezx8Jz7uWp4SqPqlCY3WI6fkjIkYafDzMoBb1RuYx-4o_QV45HNL5g1U9wCcWwvjHgCRXQQOy56mq_9o2xjRflLbIy43Fzw/s200/silenced2.jpg" border="0" /></a>5. <strong><span style="color: rgb(204, 51, 204);">This blog has changed</span></strong>. If you haven't noticed, several entries have been removed. "Why?" you ask? Well, because this January, the aspiring Dr. Lyons began precepting at Princeton. And while I simply adore my students, I thought it would be prudent to excise those entries that delved too deeply into my personal relationships and erotic politics. [Quiet as it's kept, that's actually my favorite 1/3 of the blog.[*sigh*] </div><br /><br /><div><span style="color: rgb(255, 153, 0);">It's one of those measures that I knew I'd have to confront one day and, like clockwork, it came the moment I stepped into the classroom and realized how hopelessly google-able I am. Thing is -- if you've read this blog at all, you know that I'm happiest when I'm free to explore and expand my sex positivity. As it turns out, this self-censoring constitutes yet another grudging kowtow to the doctoral program's mandate for conservatism and delayed gratification. Another one bites the dust.</span></div><br /><br /><div><br /></div><br /><div><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjh4nfE1_f-demGrFxBiwGMZyziO8fDlDyRvGrDybdzzDLWAHiu0Y7HvbNvUc0iVN41SGijX5E9tXAn6RpmcuIlJrhgF0WM7PpoN3Bg-ezhUySV18-dDrHpVft8V43UFo0rUltPaw/s1600-h/gnarlsbarkley_bridegroom_f.jpg"></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiUNqrGMkRWI0yAUSu48f-J3sUM7yS4dbdG3TKMVY04vouyRnb9xqRnLkjmr3SsnFzXn86Jb90tviOOIch120NcN6lGfnHdZGFuOHJXZVYUvziwOjLYzyDKpWYY-du1h9fuhxzpZA/s1600-h/gnarlsbarkley_bridegroom_f.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5190226766590908322" style="margin: 0px 10px 10px 0px; float: left;" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiUNqrGMkRWI0yAUSu48f-J3sUM7yS4dbdG3TKMVY04vouyRnb9xqRnLkjmr3SsnFzXn86Jb90tviOOIch120NcN6lGfnHdZGFuOHJXZVYUvziwOjLYzyDKpWYY-du1h9fuhxzpZA/s200/gnarlsbarkley_bridegroom_f.jpg" border="0" /></a>4. <strong><span style="color: rgb(204, 51, 204);">The new Gnarls Barkley album is sick</span></strong>. If you haven't heard, the dynamic duo's much-anticipated sophomore project "The Odd Couple" dropped last month and, for this music lover, it rivals erykah's "New Amerykah" for the superlative of "most exciting release of 2008" [thus far]. In fact, in a time of such ubiquitous mediocrity, an album as audacious and dynamic as this one suggests that there may be hope for the music industry afterall.</div><br /><br /><div><span style="color: rgb(255, 153, 0);">To this end, Ceelo is quickly becoming my favorite male artist of all time. Like Nina Simone, my favorite <em>female</em> artist of all time, Ceelo consistently pushes the envelope with his music. The dizzying arrangements, evocative lyrics and haunting vocal performances that have become his trademark are kicked into high gear by Danger Mouse's blend of lush instrumentation and avant garde hip-hop. What results is a blend of moody, high energy tracks that are wholly unafraid to be macabre, non-sensical, spiritual, raucus, introspective or self-deprecating. And I, for one, can dig that.</span></div></div><br /><br /><div><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi3PtlvLqDH3gFzMYpxBfw1-I5yxoE28KFd_1LpDEui14W4TBGxrTw95B-6V5gQ5O6QlbhZlTwMmICX3UeWBH7y9532J6XtnU2Izj0TIQkXSsl3qZaBX3J41O9KSvG15DYdJlkubA/s1600-h/blogs.jpg"></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjqeqFN9cmidlf_AZCV3Er3-dPeaUw7-_BVPMhLNAUEQ9SgIpJ7FHc2CVs436aCRsvxY_AbC9s0o5zpfnItuHVyNJmPjixjJ7Q9Am4yaTbWT69UgMDl0liIuY5JnQmmX26xtFqt4w/s1600-h/blogs.jpg"></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgbHhuakdqcAjtRy87TMl49X6l8oElwQZENaza_kPLZPrN1M7lJ_NF-IG3zmluoJ9eSSCRNJKxrlO3AD6xsuh1odp0eL9uhXV1U6uMN9d6uqOsSqdH4mx4ktxlGhdbr3JxcqnTnHg/s1600-h/lilwayneab7.jpg"></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh_vekJxMy-hBj8YQM94Ehkv2qolR5HFSDRoKiYZqqzj0HJhq0fLWX1LG1HOZk8AJXpDnTKObDN8jUI7S16PnS5rxiSEpgdNU-evwliBPJMv_HXChv7nbd-Y2jWENX99f4HBftacw/s1600-h/blogs.jpg"></a>3. <span style="color: rgb(204, 51, 204);"><strong>I want to think and write about urban fashion</strong>.</span> A couple of weeks ago, a fairly preppy friend of mine asked what I thought about the skull-and-cross bones trend that's taken hold of urban fashion of late. My response: <em>I totally understand why, in this particular sociopolitical climate, young black and latino men in urban areas would adorn themselves in images and icons evocative of piracy, corporeal decay and poisioning</em>.</div><br /><br /><div style="visibility: visible;"><embed style="width: 460px; height: 350px;" name="zoom_and_fade" src="http://flash.picturetrail.com/pflicks/3/spflick.swf" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" quality="high" flashvars="ql=2&src1=http://pic90.picturetrail.com/VOL2194/9834524/flicks/1/4516735&src2=http://widgetize.picturetrail.com/flicks/4516735" wmode="transparent" bgcolor="#000000" allowscriptaccess="sameDomain" align="middle" width="460" height="350"></embed> <p style="margin-top: 10px; height: 24px;"><br /><br /></p><div><span style="color: rgb(255, 153, 0);">This response is the latest in an ongoing conversation that I've been having with myself about the relationships between black mens' encounters/engagements with various symptoms of our current economic collapse [i.e. the corporate co-optation of hip-hop, gentrification, unemployment, unaffordable health care] and the fashion trends that take hold in urban areas.</span></div><br /><br /><div>To that end, I want to think about the political implications of </div><br /><ul><br /><li><strong><span style="color: rgb(255, 204, 153);">sagging jeans</span></strong> [I'm interested in how jeans served as the sartorial touchstone of working class identity around the 1950s and how black men in urban areas might be thought to be reanimating its non-conformist politics... with a titillatingly homoerotic twist.]<br /><br /></li><li><strong><span style="color: rgb(255, 204, 153);">oversized tee shirts</span></strong> [White tees look so much like nightgowns that I cannot resist the urge to read them as a Peter Pan-esque means of longing for a lost youth... a willful infantilization of sorts.]</li><br /><br /><li><strong><span style="color: rgb(255, 204, 153);">bling culture</span></strong> [Not only am I interested in the gender-bending that occurs when men decorate every orafice and appendage with gaudy jewelry, but I'd also like to explore Gilles Deleuze's notions of the simulacrum's ability to serve as the avenue by which accepted ideals or “privileged position” could be challenged and overturned.]</li><br /><br /><li><strong><span style="color: rgb(255, 204, 153);">the intersections of punk and thug</span></strong> [I live in Newark, NJ, where the thugs have taken to wearing skinny jeans and biker chains. It's a wonderful time and place to think about how these two subcultures draw upon the same modes of resistance and how that's made manifest in the current trends in urban fashion. </li></ul><br /><br /><div><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiSvS-v_bzlKJDyQzQYawt2yNE8xj6QPWApBGrTs33QWwbJTPYKCT3diNyLGMVpeASwyZpvTe0AkTd766DyQ1zfIZI8jTAum8V9DnJDbQq524ovy-k9VE_MFSHJ83berzjkse2Qog/s1600-h/andy-warhol-marilyn-monroe.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5189955943133091698" style="margin: 0px 10px 10px 0px; float: left;" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiSvS-v_bzlKJDyQzQYawt2yNE8xj6QPWApBGrTs33QWwbJTPYKCT3diNyLGMVpeASwyZpvTe0AkTd766DyQ1zfIZI8jTAum8V9DnJDbQq524ovy-k9VE_MFSHJ83berzjkse2Qog/s200/andy-warhol-marilyn-monroe.jpg" border="0" /></a>2. <strong><span style="color: rgb(204, 51, 204);">I am dissertating at last!</span></strong> </div><br /><div>If all goes well, my dissertation project will examine the ways in which visual and literary narratives of White normativity manifest and function during two critical moments in the 20th century. In it, I aim to create a dialogue between select works of art and literary texts that help to reveal the operation and permutations of the White normative gaze during the 1920s-30s and the 1960s-70s, when certain sociopolitical phenomena worked to challenge and undermine the centrality of White identity in the United States. </div><br /><div><span style="color: rgb(204, 0, 0);"></span></div><br /><div><span style="color: rgb(204, 0, 0);"><span style="color: rgb(255, 153, 0);">Said slightly differently, the project will examine instances of methodological or conceptual congruence in how writers and artists managed (and created) narratives of white normativity and what all that had to do with what was going on in the American marketplace during the aforementioned decades.</span> </span></div><br />If you have suggestions about what I should be reading,<br /><strong>DO NOT HESITATE: HOLLA AT YA SCHOLAR TODAY! </strong><br /><br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEghQBnkyIvEM3p8brde3pPGHOFl9NQWN2pxVK1_wQ5Pu_vN8DhqaODJk0y_kQKRTtwoF5VxAN_pxQidjfvAlWJCYCsz_-KbPonYANM7L0BU4CG1REVDpP9VxgJ7hkG7HhlyopD1_g/s1600-h/127522562_bdb66e7c50_o.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5189958326839940994" style="margin: 0px 10px 10px 0px; float: left;" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEghQBnkyIvEM3p8brde3pPGHOFl9NQWN2pxVK1_wQ5Pu_vN8DhqaODJk0y_kQKRTtwoF5VxAN_pxQidjfvAlWJCYCsz_-KbPonYANM7L0BU4CG1REVDpP9VxgJ7hkG7HhlyopD1_g/s200/127522562_bdb66e7c50_o.jpg" border="0" /></a>1. <strong><span style="color: rgb(204, 51, 204);">April 9th marked by 27th birthday</span></strong>. I am officially grown and sexy. I plan to celebrate all month long, so feel free to send your birthday wishes and naughty little trinkets my way. The Aries man lives for the opportunity to celebrate himself, and dag nabit April is my opportunity.<br /><p><span style="color: rgb(51, 51, 255);"><span style="color: rgb(255, 153, 0);">If there are any other Aries folks out there with plans to take the NYC/NJ area by storm and paint the town crimson and scarlet, let a brutha know. </span> </span></p></div></div><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8346369.post-73455129778824866352008-04-15T11:45:00.004-04:002008-04-15T12:28:38.513-04:00Birthday Wishes for Rashawn.Today, April 15, 2008, would have been Rashawn Brazell’s 23rd birthday. Although he is no longer physically present to receive birthday wishes, the <a href="http://www.rashawnbrazell.com/">Rashawn Brazell Memorial Fund </a>invites you to join us in sending prayers and positive energy to the Brazell family, who must face this occasion knowing that Rashawn’s killer has not yet been brought to justice.<br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjOw70lqbvG59oqOoSjEgKDy1cUMOFP7D7GOTEQe-YEHgYSPY8fG-W6AOR4nhAjfsU0rpyL_2L1-7C6ZHodPRmAxfaRqNJxz2Jqjx9_OwQ0MD2SJAytvKjmGbe3r8S1_NMRKTo4BA/s1600-h/26body184.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5189507531367520018" style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjOw70lqbvG59oqOoSjEgKDy1cUMOFP7D7GOTEQe-YEHgYSPY8fG-W6AOR4nhAjfsU0rpyL_2L1-7C6ZHodPRmAxfaRqNJxz2Jqjx9_OwQ0MD2SJAytvKjmGbe3r8S1_NMRKTo4BA/s400/26body184.jpg" border="0" /></a>The Rashawn Brazell Memorial Fund works all year long to provide a sustainable tribute to Rashawn’s memory. If you’d like to know more about how we’re inspiring new generations of scholars and activists to combat racism, sexism and homophobia in their communities, visit <a href="http://www.rashawnbrazell.com/">rashawnbrazell.com</a> today. On our <a href="http://rashawnbrazell.com/donate/index.html">donate page</a>, you can make a tax-deductible contribution that will help us further our work of fostering diversity and creating change for New York City's LGBT people of color and their allies.<br /><div><br />To receive the latest news about the ongoing murder investigation, the $1500 scholarship in Rashawn’s honor and other RBMF projects, you can subscribe to our mailing list by <a href="mailto:info@rashawnbrazell.com?subject=Please%20add%20me%20to%20the%20RBMF%20mailing%20list!">clicking here</a> or by entering your email address in the “get connected today” box on <a href="http://www.myspace.com/rbmf">our MySpace page</a>. </div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8346369.post-87554765683009156532008-03-07T12:03:00.005-05:002008-03-07T12:23:02.858-05:00ObamaNews<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgwCthRXbz-BL7ylToTbHjHZL6w9x9PJpj527f4XPC5vLbWDf0TKERh4lTi_QWbK54AUWco8c5D1lwPMkug_X6yYzoGCb9KCDX065SYIwSrGle6eHN1DUGs6VWGhCrqQwG3oUjhvg/s1600-h/obama_dream.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5175050232224059394" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; CURSOR: hand; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgwCthRXbz-BL7ylToTbHjHZL6w9x9PJpj527f4XPC5vLbWDf0TKERh4lTi_QWbK54AUWco8c5D1lwPMkug_X6yYzoGCb9KCDX065SYIwSrGle6eHN1DUGs6VWGhCrqQwG3oUjhvg/s400/obama_dream.jpg" border="0" /></a><br /><div><span style="color:#ffffff;"><strong>10 Reasons Why Obama Tumbled on Tuesday</strong><br /></span>Context is important, folks. Check out <a href="http://www.progressive.org/node/6159/print">this link </a>for an explaination of why Super Tuesday provided the Clinton camp with an opportunity to gain momentum.<br /><br /><strong><span style="color:#ff0000;">Obamagate '08: The Blackening of Barack</span></strong><br />If you haven't heard, Obama supporters are agitated over the <a href="http://www.americablog.com/2008/03/why-is-obamas-skin-blacker-than-normal.html">apparent darkening of Obama's image</a> in a Clinton attack ad that some argue was key in securing her Texas victory. The precedent: Time Magazine's infamous OJ cover (1994). The problem: dirty politics of the racist variety. The probe: A report on the scandal from <a href="http://www.factcheck.org/elections-2008/did_clinton_darken_obamas_skin.html">factcheck.org</a>.<br /><br /><strong><span style="color:#ffffff;">It's Your Call Hillary</span></strong><br />"The phone is ringing and the crisis is you." LA Times columnist Rosa Brooks stages a <a href="http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/sunday/la-oe-brooks6mar06,0,2333334,print.column">3am call </a>to the Democratic candidate hopeful to illustrate how bowing out gracefully might be in the party's best interest. </div><br /><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5175050541461704738" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; CURSOR: hand; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjLpYKiL-tHzUx0GXKeu4HIWYQZBGR2f5c1y_i-qzVrSMMagcOhnbcZVZG7xROllVMYaRSA8pa_Jr70CQ9YYtKA871dRkCUnSboQra9SltCU6zm-rcx0BpdDRXXq0TL4SNcKWKTlg/s400/Obama_Speaking.jpg" border="0" /><br /><div></div><div><strong><span style="color:#ff0000;">Barack Made Funky: Raising the CRO Bar</span><br /></strong>Inspired by Barack Obama's fresh take and non-traditional bi-partisan approach, Ray Nolan (alias: CRO) decided to initiate an <a href="http://www.gotellmama.org/">independent political propaganda campaign</a> in support of Senator Obama. And so was born a series of posters and videos that harness the power of the internet and technology bringing meaningful, thought-provoking imagery to the stale and stiff political scene. <a href="http://www.gotellmama.org/">Gotellmama.org</a> is the awe-inspiring result. </div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8346369.post-80268564511643455812008-02-27T11:58:00.011-05:002008-02-27T15:47:47.444-05:00RBMS Update: Meet Our ScholarsAs you know, the centerpiece of the <a href="http://www.rashawnbrazell.com/">Rashawn Brazell Memorial Fund</a> is the $1500 memorial scholarship that we grant to a college-bound NYC highschooler who is committed to the fight against racism, sexism and homophobia. What you may not know is that this year, the Fund's selection committee made an unprecedented decision to bestow the award upon not one but two applicants.<br /><br /><div><div>After careful deliberation, we were unable to decide between two exceptionally strong applicants. One had an amazing story of triumph over adversity, detailing how she maintained her drive and her grades even as she and her family while navigated NYC’s homeless shelters. One spoke eloquently about how he coordinated a series of social outings to help ease racial tensions in his school. Check out their bios below!</div><br /><br /><br /><div><strong><span style="color:#ffcc66;"><span style="font-size:130%;">Kenneth Jeffers</span><br /></span></strong><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhyqNOmCvlk2m58Iip8AoRtdiBvOfE2P8x-IAn9O0ZlNWKZ4QBOWpv0ay9eZQR_hnTgnj1YGTuMEG4RoTA8rv0xO4a5ytk9VYFnjwM98I3T6TpyztC22MfFJwffPnDCDWEwRsIFqw/s1600-h/kenneth+small.jpg"></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi3t7DMaWiKKiM2BijWyHbKFZiK_2iy8NCVwQvHUQ1Wyd8E5enyNDRrtowm4Sad10rFGebyqMmwMJvNCjaBBBsSoa83MIcHlCbN5BvXtqEhhgeFNTXNfpTxwaszTkvQ03KefOFSRw/s1600-h/kenneth+small.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5171712239173894130" style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi3t7DMaWiKKiM2BijWyHbKFZiK_2iy8NCVwQvHUQ1Wyd8E5enyNDRrtowm4Sad10rFGebyqMmwMJvNCjaBBBsSoa83MIcHlCbN5BvXtqEhhgeFNTXNfpTxwaszTkvQ03KefOFSRw/s200/kenneth+small.jpg" border="0" /></a>A native of Westchester County, Kenneth is a freshman at Morehouse College in Atlanta, Georgia, where he plans to major in Business Administration-Finance and Mathematics.<br /><br />An honors’ student for all four years at Mount Saint Michael Academy in the Bronx, Kenneth graduated with honors and received numerous academic awards. While a high school student, Kenneth was active in varsity track as co-captain, feeding the homeless, organizing clothes and coat drives, and cleaning the neighborhood parks.<br /><br />Giving back to his community is very important to Kenneth, which is why he has served as a peer tutor to at-risk students. He was also active in the Sunday school at his church, where he sang in the choir for seven years, often serving as a youth speaker.<br /><br /><em><span style="color:#99ff99;">“I have been truly inspired by Rashawn Brazell’s legacy because we shared similar values and morals of valuing family and academic excellence and giving back to the community. Mr. Brazell was a young man who was dedicated to high ideals and principles of compassion for others. I hope to use my gifts to help others as Rashawn Brazell did.” </span></em></div><em><span style="color:#99ff99;"></span></em></div><em><span style="color:#99ff99;"></span></em><br /><em><span style="color:#99ff99;"><div></div><div><br /></span></em></div><br /><span style="color:#ffcc66;"><strong><span style="font-size:130%;">Dashana Payne</span></strong><br /></span><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjPWOmxDpTyFfUcEn3L-d5oiytFLscpQ3s8pJ-94E205Cz6OCd-HixzSRFbO7DNoRIbnxTB5YbEUvHYHy98oD5ZF5PuXJ404DJEnKo0LTpOoLddTjtc-RYYqkNN6Vl2KcJE0KeqGQ/s1600-h/dashana+small.jpg"></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEijBmxqO1TQGJAI7Y0LUR4OkvGHe7eOqUHF5Le5sLiJGA1nFTcRhOtWHv8_5ZQAHvTJM_5exDceTa29KwFOdM7U3e2w0xxu8U0eT2uzdGHbzXFdi0FJF3YlZNyKgL0K15ZgMq2NlA/s1600-h/dashana+small.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5171712063080234978" style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEijBmxqO1TQGJAI7Y0LUR4OkvGHe7eOqUHF5Le5sLiJGA1nFTcRhOtWHv8_5ZQAHvTJM_5exDceTa29KwFOdM7U3e2w0xxu8U0eT2uzdGHbzXFdi0FJF3YlZNyKgL0K15ZgMq2NlA/s200/dashana+small.jpg" border="0" /></a>Born in Colon, Panama and raised in New York City, Dashana is a freshman residing on the Brooklyn campus of St. Joseph College, where she plans to major in Biology.<br /><br />A natural leader, Dashana served as a Student Council representative and as Captain of both track and cross country teams at Erasmus High School. Outside of school, she volunteered countless hours at Brookdale Hospital, where she was able to pursue her lifelong passion for helping others.<br /><br />While maintaining an impressive academic record, Dashana currently manages to participate on her college’s Hispanic Awareness Club, Students Joined Through Christ, the Science Club and the Off-Campus Housing Council.<br /><br /><em><span style="color:#ff6666;">“I lived in a shelter for most of my life and if I had a person like Rashawn there to help me I would have been extremely grateful. From that experience, I know how many people out there are looking for a person like Rashawn. I want to be that person.”</span> </em><div><br /><br /></div><div></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div>These young folks are the reason we at the RBMF do what we do. If you want to join us in creating opportunities for growth and mentorship for the next generation of scholars and activists, <a href="http://rashawnbrazell.com/getinvolved/index.html">contact us today</a>!</div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8346369.post-50645552928870931492008-02-26T14:59:00.003-05:002008-02-27T15:30:53.439-05:00Where I Be<span style="font-size:130%;"><strong>Obama '08: Winning the black battle against media?</strong><br /></span>Black History Month Panel on the Media and Black America<br /><br /><br /><p><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhmNx2k6s9DBPt1-jTguyh2F0OM1s9MB_NVSzMALJxQePMGaFJ5eNRkcOfcvBC8616aJYhVGda4H2StNLk67-LtLIYGu8xSuCPo3iIQX1Zw6jQByi07QGHDbiKU31b38FxBmhM5Gg/s1600-h/obama+event.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5171757701402722322" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; CURSOR: hand; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhmNx2k6s9DBPt1-jTguyh2F0OM1s9MB_NVSzMALJxQePMGaFJ5eNRkcOfcvBC8616aJYhVGda4H2StNLk67-LtLIYGu8xSuCPo3iIQX1Zw6jQByi07QGHDbiKU31b38FxBmhM5Gg/s400/obama+event.jpg" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><span style="color:#ff9966;">America's unprecedented obsession with Barack Obama has taken over<br />television, radio, and printed media in a way never seen or heard before in America's history. How does the American media's creation of the black<br />experience affect Barack Obama's candidacy? What does Barack Obama have at stake in American media's representation of the black experience? How is the media's portrayal of Obama's "blackness" a departure from the usual? Why do Black people refer to Barack Obama as "Barack", while others refer to him differently? Please join us as we try to answer these questions and address the issues that appear when Barack Obama's presidential campaign, Black America, and the media collide.</span><br /></p><p><br /><strong>Panelists:</strong></p><p><strong></strong><br /><strong>Darnell M. Hunt, Ph.D.</strong><br /><span style="color:#ffff33;"><em>Director, Ralph J. Bunche Center for African American Studies at UCLA<br />Professor of Sociology</em><br /></span><br /><strong>Dennis Rome</strong><br /><em><span style="color:#ffff33;">Professor of Criminal Justice at the University of Wisconsin at Parkside</span></em><br /><br /><strong>Larry D. Lyons II</strong><br /><em><span style="color:#ffff33;">Ph.D. Candidate in English, Princeton University Graduate School</span><br /></em><br /><strong>Paula W. Matabane Ph.D.</strong><br /><em><span style="color:#ffff33;">Professor of Communications at Howard University</span></em></p>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8346369.post-67955855769327804322008-02-20T14:28:00.005-05:002008-02-20T15:04:31.884-05:00"Mack Daddy" Obama and the Dangers of Terroristic TheologyWhat an interesting use of the pulpit!<br />Join me in witnessing this feat of sheer ignorance, won't you?<br /><br /><object height="336" width="377"><param name="movie" value="http://www.livesteez.com/videos/player_view/XLUli4q"><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"><embed src="http://www.livesteez.com/videos/player_view/XLUli4q" quality="high" allowfullscreen="true" bgcolor="#000000" width="377" height="336" type="application/x-shockwave-flash"></embed></object><br /><br />Rev. Manning's message to the black Obama supporters in his congregation:<br /><span style="color:#ffff00;">"You hyppocrites, you. You spineless you-know-what. You don't got enough sense to pour piss out of a boot, and you're talking about Obama for your President. You are despicable. No honor. No integrity."</span><br /><br />A masterful exegesis from the "Honorable" James Manning Ph.D.<br /><br /><span style="color:#ffff00;">What would Jesus say?</span>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8346369.post-54582661582382510272008-01-24T12:27:00.002-05:002009-03-25T21:50:52.250-04:00The Black Ram: Barack Obama and the Othello ComplexBack to the image at hand.<br /><br /><p><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiQs9pIkxOti8CWCTo6v7ISNrg16O12bO8_JYZ4pWL2ue8xBILCOuY_DJNF-zJlXcHD5bUY_L8fGWpGcOuh6STlFOk13J0g_mNUP1NsGzK2shSqa5qh2LRxlzPFrPklk85yJYUoIw/s1600-h/change.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5159096538710427746" style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; cursor: pointer; text-align: center;" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiQs9pIkxOti8CWCTo6v7ISNrg16O12bO8_JYZ4pWL2ue8xBILCOuY_DJNF-zJlXcHD5bUY_L8fGWpGcOuh6STlFOk13J0g_mNUP1NsGzK2shSqa5qh2LRxlzPFrPklk85yJYUoIw/s400/change.jpg" border="0" /></a><br /><span style="color: rgb(51, 204, 255);">In my last entry, I noted the ways in which this image works to secure and activate the sociopolitical capital afforded to nuclear family in presidential campaigns. Essentially, I thought it might be important to identify the ways in which the democratic candidate running a campaign based on “change” was actually endorses one of the most traditional, most problematic American values: the operation of patriarchy within the nuclear family.</span><br /><br />What I want to suggest in this entry is that there’s more at stake in this emphatic focus on the family than merely helping the Obamas fit into the mold of what the picture-perfect first family should look like. There’s more to this than making Obama appear to be just like every other presidential candidate we’ve seen. This focus on the family also works to manage stereotypes about the threat that black men (and their sexual appetites) pose to American society.<br /><br />I call this anxiety the Othello complex.<br /><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg5KEltWhE-bgIiMg8xX0ETydWmx2bukjCngG1Y-W07Dlkn_JZRZgeWjieavahyphenhyphenKJiR6T-p2ubcIWyEPLI1xK9NT2mUQqv7Pg3a1CjRvoR4Oa7kAcVYFlsMcR6Obe4uX5kqVMrW2g/s1600-h/Robeson_Hagen_Othello.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5159106039178086578" style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer;" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg5KEltWhE-bgIiMg8xX0ETydWmx2bukjCngG1Y-W07Dlkn_JZRZgeWjieavahyphenhyphenKJiR6T-p2ubcIWyEPLI1xK9NT2mUQqv7Pg3a1CjRvoR4Oa7kAcVYFlsMcR6Obe4uX5kqVMrW2g/s200/Robeson_Hagen_Othello.jpg" border="0" /></a><span style="color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">If you’re not familiar, </span><a style="color: rgb(255, 255, 102);" href="http://www.cliffsnotes.com/WileyCDA/LitNote/Othello.id-138,pageNum-7.html">Othello</a><span style="color: rgb(255, 255, 102);"> was a Moorish army general in the service of the Duke of Venice. Though he boasts noble lineage and countless battlefield feats, neither accomplishment prepared Othello to navigate the social mores of Venetian society. So, when Othello falls in love with and secretly weds the Duke’s daughter Desdemona, it’s no surprise that Venice loses its mind. </span><br /><br />The story ends in a murder/suicide, providing us with a cautionary tale about the dangers that arise when a religious and/or racial <a href="http://www.cwrl.utexas.edu/%7Eulrich/rww03/othering.htm">Other</a> misjudges and transgresses the established social order. Of particular interest is the way in which Venice formulates/characterizes the particular threat that Othello poses to Venetian society. Iago yells “Even now, now, very now, an old black ram/Is tupping your white ewe”. Here, we see that in alerting Venice to the repercussions of the Other's intrusion/integration, Iago enlists the animalistic sexual metaphor of a black ram fucking a white sheep. </p><br /><br /><br /><p><span style="color: rgb(51, 204, 255);">The white sheep is actually a metaphor for the virginal white maiden Desdemona, who herself symbolizes the vulnerability of Venice's geographic and conceptual borders. Allowing Othello to cross their national boundaries, Iago indicts, enabled him to penetrate her anatomical boundaries in turn. By wooing her into dishonoring her filial obligations and sullying her with his animalistic "tupping", Othello introduces a significant threat to Venice's nuclear family structure and the purity of <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjIkCUXQykEXc4QIfYXLWsrHLpxUEQ2kkcIc3noXe-VSRLKubbPq7QCgejr4R13F6TFd4Kpm97nv01E2GoCIJQf_tFamsHkbFtrCYhS1Jg7RaaFeZjZCb4bMxjB5u4vXV7cfKj8xA/s1600-h/white+sheep.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5160074721807059154" style="margin: 0px 0px 10px 10px; float: right;" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjIkCUXQykEXc4QIfYXLWsrHLpxUEQ2kkcIc3noXe-VSRLKubbPq7QCgejr4R13F6TFd4Kpm97nv01E2GoCIJQf_tFamsHkbFtrCYhS1Jg7RaaFeZjZCb4bMxjB5u4vXV7cfKj8xA/s200/white+sheep.jpg" border="0" /></a>its bloodlines. In other words, the sexual prowess of the "black ram" carries with it the potential to destabilize entire social orders, particularly when a white maiden is the object of its desire.</span><br /><br /><span style="color: rgb(51, 204, 255);">As such, I use the phrase </span><span style="color: rgb(51, 204, 255); font-style: italic;">the Othello complex</span><span style="color: rgb(51, 204, 255);"> to reference the fear of the empowered black<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhbgvAgGcmAIQzEx8_CuqVVycYbsI2VF_GPC2RLEF9TLvX4b4L7D4yUIwf5urqlhmvpToSHM9f4O9Gn4-H3Z39NMr7ayOYhA_kY3DoOfMFna7nkj2Dsv1OTa6dsBLz9iSYAc4dcHQ/s1600-h/white+sheep.jpg"></a> male entering white society with a certain amount of celebrity and deploying that celebrity to trample upon its mores and pillage its women.</span><br /><br />Enter Barack Obama.<br /><br />If we consider the Othello story alongside the stereotypes of black men as well-endowed, hyper-sexual bucks with violent tempers and no capacity for reason, we can glimpse the caricature that the Obama camp must operate against. To establish Barack as a viable black male candidate, it was imperative that the Obama camp generate a public image of him that countered each of these stereotypes. And where better than the campaign website to take up the work of visualizing Barack as a respectable, smiley, family man capable of exhibiting the tenderness required to love his black wife and to raise two young daughters than his campaign website?<br /><br /><span style="color: rgb(255, 255, 102);"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhdhcugGXt2PvnEDa0XePEfYZwg_UGiqSJ-UHKPtOrf6182kw12YPG-Jl9zR5saQO2_bXgwrm8zf1URIHtBq7PAujt6bprHvW-Eh644-tu4lsQaa0-Gvrf__2R6Le3qWd-vYEB5gQ/s1600-h/Obama_family.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5160545682150934770" style="margin: 0px 10px 10px 0px; float: left;" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhdhcugGXt2PvnEDa0XePEfYZwg_UGiqSJ-UHKPtOrf6182kw12YPG-Jl9zR5saQO2_bXgwrm8zf1URIHtBq7PAujt6bprHvW-Eh644-tu4lsQaa0-Gvrf__2R6Le3qWd-vYEB5gQ/s200/Obama_family.jpg" border="0" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgmciaxlSvwOm_0EB17YhiowdtXEiVaiw-3Y8ZTePX7TYEKiGr-kO14Lr-ZE1spXRM5hthcbe_-3PD3Rldn6c2wobzo7OVq3cYBaY-E5_1EKlYJupIuL3Ap0a6NWUyx0DGZ8SfNwQ/s1600-h/Obama_family.jpg"></a>This is the context in which I read the image in question. By flanking Barack with his wife and kids, this photograph domesticates Barack as to suspend our fears of the sexual threat he poses to our society. The image insists that there’s no easily-angered Moor here, folks. No belligerent battlefield buck to be found. What we have here is a man who shares one of our most important core values: patriarchy.</span><br /><br />This packaging of Barack provides us with many gifts… many assurances of the degree to which the threats he might posed have been neutralized, domesticated and made safe for America. Many of the elements that position him as non-threatening are foregrounded and heralded in the image:<br /></p><blockquote style="color: rgb(51, 204, 255);">1. He is happily married. So, (presuming no more oval office indiscretions) the precious national resource that is the purity of white femaleness is safe from his untamable libido.<br /><br />2. He only has daughters. So, we can presume that he will produce no male heir to extend his legacy. (A very real fear given what we’ve endured at the hands of the Bush dynasty.)<br /><br />3. The blackness of his wife and daughters mark the end of racial mixing within the Obama family. Whereas Obama’s Kenyan father and Kansan mother realized one of our worst fears when they transgressed national and racial boundaries, this image assures us that Barack will spare America a repeat of that disgrace.</blockquote><br />So, yes. This image does a significant amount of work to address and minister to anxieties about preserving the purity of white bloodlines and the operation of white supremacy itself. To be sure, this anxiety has not been a nebulous theory circulating on the periphery on the campaign. No ma’am. In a true sign of the times, it came to a head in the form of a viral video. As if the latent, age-old stereotypes weren’t enough, Obama’s candidacy was publicly and irrevocably racialized and sexualized when the world watched a very sexy, very white woman confess her love for him.<br /><br />The image responds to Obama girl’s now infamous videos:<br />"I Got a Crush...On Obama"<br /><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/wKsoXHYICqU&rel=" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" wmode="transparent" width="425" height="355"></embed><br /><br /><span style="color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">Wrought with sexual innuendoes (“I like it when you get hard…on Hillary in debates”), “</span><a style="color: rgb(255, 255, 102);" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/I_Got_a_Crush..._on_Obama">I Got a Crush…On Obama</a><span style="color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">” was an instant internet hit, garnering over one thousand views within the first five hours of its June 2007 posting. In it, the troupe of the white woman incited to sexual frenzy by the virile black buck is deployed ad nauseum. And although the clip invites us to read it as parody, the impact it had on the Obama campaign and the Obama family were no laughing matter for the presidential hopeful.</span><br /><br />When <a href="http://blogs.dmregister.com/?p=6506">asked about the video by the Des Moines Register</a> on June 18, 2007, Obama said, "It's just one more example of the fertile imagination of the internet. More stuff like this will be popping up all the time”. All things considered, this was a pretty flippiant response to the wildly popular YouTube video. Two months later, however, Obama changed his tune and offered a response that would reveal just how significant an impact the lusts of scantily clad white girls can have on a presidential campaign.<br /><br /><span style="color: rgb(51, 204, 255);">On August 23, Obama </span><a style="color: rgb(51, 204, 255);" href="http://politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com/2007/08/20/obama-girl-upset-obamas-own-girls/">told the Associated Press</a><span style="color: rgb(51, 204, 255);"> that the video had upset his daughters, lamenting that "You do wish people would think about what impact their actions have on kids and families." In the two months since the initial interview, it appears, the Obama camp re-framed/re-directed the candidate’s response from dismissing the hogwash that clutters the internet to heralding a platform of family values.</span><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhe0YFBzQtO_-75zGFExw5FnhlH8_twuK_0VRipTiXQw6H_aM4e1UGypBSkGwVSwrJXDoYPN7eCsNo_fXNiWT9dHEgN3_ip0ubsULfwY9GaVmV0-gIutlH3g9tNPvOKBrsoOSoRIQ/s1600-h/800px-Obamagirlvideo.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5159101598181902466" style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; cursor: pointer; text-align: center;" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhe0YFBzQtO_-75zGFExw5FnhlH8_twuK_0VRipTiXQw6H_aM4e1UGypBSkGwVSwrJXDoYPN7eCsNo_fXNiWT9dHEgN3_ip0ubsULfwY9GaVmV0-gIutlH3g9tNPvOKBrsoOSoRIQ/s400/800px-Obamagirlvideo.jpg" border="0" /></a><br />The latter response positions Obama not as a blameless victim of an internet prank, but as a protective father concerned about the degree to which his incorrigible daughters can believe in the strength of their nuclear family. Obama longs for the day when neither mainstream media nor the internet can stop little girls from believing that the only woman that loves daddy is mommy. And we, as a nation of <a href="http://www.divorcereform.org/rates.html">failed monogamists and broken homes</a>, presumably share in his longing.<br /><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi4KkPDYaXbwlK3CZeGe8HKlpabg1YX8_SrVmM3IRjpJUpPV_iIrcC6Ni_ZaPb5C7d5rAWgqsZPX1mzk8cLw0_L_qEzd-zuXjgsJQBoJZXnWdGxikHtsTForhLtcXimgcPWWS0ESA/s1600-h/Haroldcallme.png"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5159105695580702882" style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer;" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi4KkPDYaXbwlK3CZeGe8HKlpabg1YX8_SrVmM3IRjpJUpPV_iIrcC6Ni_ZaPb5C7d5rAWgqsZPX1mzk8cLw0_L_qEzd-zuXjgsJQBoJZXnWdGxikHtsTForhLtcXimgcPWWS0ESA/s200/Haroldcallme.png" border="0" /></a><span style="color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">Of course, this strategy is a necessary and timely one for Barack Obama. As a black senator and presidential candidate, he operates in orbit with two very important icons in American political history. The first is Harold Ford Jr., whose 2006 senate run was marred by an ad wherein <a href="http://youtube.com/watch?v=_vZF5ZTu2Go">a blonde white woman recalls meeting Ford</a> at a Playboy party. Speaking in a squeeky voice and suggestively asking Ford to call her, the white woman brought the Othello complex into full relief within the senate race.</span><br /><br />The ad was denounced by many people, including former Republican Senator and Secretary of William Cohen, who called it “a very serious appeal to a racist sentiment.” Even Ford’s opponent Bob Corker asked the Republican leadership to pull the ad, which it refused to do. Corker subsequently pulled ahead in the polls and went on to defeat Ford in the November election by a narrow 3% margin.<br /><br /><span style="color: rgb(51, 204, 255);">The second figure with whom Obama must is former President Bill Clinton, the charming womanizer whose indiscretions and subsequent impeachment brought shame to our nation. Though white, the specter of Bill Clinton requires Obama to be even more emphatic in presenting himself as a stable family man, rather than reminding America’s of the libido that is the birthright of the young and charismatic. Afterall, if a white man can do what Bill did, imagine what havoc Barack’s black libido will wreak.</span><br /><br />All that to say this:<br />In a time when Hillary Clinton is garnering support for her presidency based on her graceful endurance of one of America’s worst political scandals… A time when 38 year-old Harold Ford is poised to marry his 26 year-old white girlfriend (who is very much of the Obama Girl variety)… A black presidential candidate has to navigate the Othello complex as carefully as he can.<br /><br /><span style="color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">Having selected the image of his smiling, loving, middle-class family to open BarackObama.com, methinks the Obama camp is attempting to do just that. As such, it may be fruitful for us to be more attentive to the nuanced ways in which stereotypes based on race, gender, sexuality are intersecting in the 2008 presidential campaign to create vectors of privilege and penalty for the candidates..</span>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8346369.post-12031331103078667212008-01-10T21:01:00.002-05:002008-08-14T17:31:27.290-04:00Presidential Elections: Family BusinessIn past entries, I’ve attempted to interrogate the ways in which the Western world polices, represses and engages the racial and sexual identities of its elected officials. Barack Obama’s win at the Iowa primaries and his subsequent spike in the polls has led me to do some more thinking on the topic. To that end, there was an image that I encountered while surfing the BarackObama.com website that is helping me do just that. This entry is the first in a two-part examination of the social functions of this very striking image:<br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgoMwWbg2Gt-I_x0jlcpAIi8JwIZtWfe9aSGHji-JVRufBl7LUTkGcFrHz0FBD64L56X1P6RINm_f0IJmdLQKI5YctUEB6gnATcfv-0-ZY4l8bLCs89qbYe6eGl3AHyuPCClNYSSA/s1600-h/visual+rhetoric.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5154033458658068402" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; CURSOR: hand; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgoMwWbg2Gt-I_x0jlcpAIi8JwIZtWfe9aSGHji-JVRufBl7LUTkGcFrHz0FBD64L56X1P6RINm_f0IJmdLQKI5YctUEB6gnATcfv-0-ZY4l8bLCs89qbYe6eGl3AHyuPCClNYSSA/s400/visual+rhetoric.jpg" border="0" /></a><br /><br />Before accessing the actual BarackObama.com homepage, one is presented with the image above. Interestingly, the first thing you see when navigating to the page is not a solo photo of our beloved presidential candidate. No, ma’am. Instead, web-savvy Americans are presented with the Obama family – all hugs, smiles and pearls.<br /><br /><span style="color:#9999ff;"><span style="color:#339999;">It shouldn’t be lost on us that the Obama team made a conscious decision to set the tone of his website by packaging him as a family man. Although the words “CHANGE WE CAN BELIEVE IN” hovers above his smiling family, this image draws some clear the parameters about the terms and stakes of Obama’s brand of change. </span><br /></span><br />Seated, rather than standing, he isn’t to be understood as an aggressor. Unlike the blundering, go-it-alone, Texas-spun tyrant currently in office, Barack is no maverick. Buttoned-down and cross-legged, he’s a casual, smiley family man capable of exhibiting the tenderness required to raise two young daughters.<br /><br /><span style="color:#ff6666;">But let’s be clear: He is the man. His wife is positioned slightly (but purposefully) behind him. Visually, his daughters are defined by their affection for him. What we have, then, is the picture-perfect operation of patriarchy within the nuclear family.</span><br /><br />So, even if literally situated beneath a banner of change, the Obama family procures and exhibits significant sociopolitical capital by keeping one very important pillar of American society in tact: the nuclear ideal. Whatever change Obama intends to undertake, we must understand that his ability to act as an agent of change on a national level is, on some level, afforded him by certain privileged identities – not the least of these being a “family man”.<br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh0O7pB_wMgMRajBRglJBHCWTU5Kv5N_sHHIq-cSx-9_yWbB3j-kk6INBQVGkVoOH2igXiF8HBS_Xlxg3pY-Vd6TX1WK_usAcvTx__JOwJX_A_j2LI0Oy5TwuxkrLBLfws-CEVcKw/s1600-h/first+families.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5154033694881269698" style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh0O7pB_wMgMRajBRglJBHCWTU5Kv5N_sHHIq-cSx-9_yWbB3j-kk6INBQVGkVoOH2igXiF8HBS_Xlxg3pY-Vd6TX1WK_usAcvTx__JOwJX_A_j2LI0Oy5TwuxkrLBLfws-CEVcKw/s320/first+families.jpg" border="0" /></a><span style="color:#339999;">To be clear, I’m not suggesting that Obama is the first person in American history to use their family life as the backdrop for their presidential candidacy. Surely, one could dedicate an entire book to the function of family in campaign photography. What I am noting is how the old is made new by Obama’s race.<br /></span><br />Take a look at these images, all captured from the opening pages of the websites of our leading democratic presidential hopefuls. Notice how John Edwards and Barack Obama have chosen strikingly similar family portraits. Each has selected black and white photo in which their wives are situated on left, eldest daughter hugging neck, youngest child in lap.<br /><br /><span style="color:#ff6666;">Hillary’s full color campaign trail photo offers a stark contrast to the portrait studio format of her male counterparts. Rather than fronting an already-familiar Bill and Chelsea, Hillary has opted to stand alone. The stage on which she stands is covered in a banner bearing her name and campaign logo. Interestingly, the 4-foot tall letters spell her first name rather than her last. She is literally standing on her own name, rather than the Clinton surname made presidential by her husband. Despite the strategic and occasionally messy ways in which our boy Bill is being deployed in the actual campaign, this image encourages us to view Hillary as her own woman.<br /></span><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg3m8DumN0YmJcExmmPZGVUnqq_z4-MgesacD7-5WWtVbFW4QzzcxwwmDi1WBpR06Fcll4mh67k1EuovBewg8LivbVu7BRZ0ONDSsRPWG7ZJMAqWUX-QCiB8Ww0bWXI7MqlF9b93w/s1600-h/hillary.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5154034210277345234" style="FLOAT: right; MARGIN: 0px 0px 10px 10px; CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg3m8DumN0YmJcExmmPZGVUnqq_z4-MgesacD7-5WWtVbFW4QzzcxwwmDi1WBpR06Fcll4mh67k1EuovBewg8LivbVu7BRZ0ONDSsRPWG7ZJMAqWUX-QCiB8Ww0bWXI7MqlF9b93w/s320/hillary.jpg" border="0" /></a>Comparing hers with the images of her opponents helps us to realize that Hillary is not alone in her photograph. Whereas Obama and Edwards share their images with their biological families, Clinton opts to share hers with the Great Family: the American public. Rather than harnessing the sociopolitical capital that comes with invoking the nuclear family in a presidential election, the first female candidate to get this close to garnering a party nomination opts to position herself as a freestanding authority figure, unfettered by the bonds of motherhood and wifehood.<br /><br /><span style="color:#339999;">She wears the pants: a somber black pantsuit… but she pairs it with a pink blouse. Nearly everything in this image conspires to position Hillary as a relatively unfettered figure of female authority. Not overly feminine, not beholden to patriarchy or motherly duties, she is more stately than feminine: more democratic than domestic.</span><br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhVRqN-yPAS1w0QcyTTcv1QqCtOsQ4QqJ61aCqsaMwM7RIlKTLs7eLtRMnf3fwoMnOR1_eD_0frRhUdhMR_gukUyMNBFNXMtXqREMk6J_ELzopibjfWI8UEVRPcfoFExvA5jIsAtA/s1600-h/bill+and+hill.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5154034545284794338" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; CURSOR: hand; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhVRqN-yPAS1w0QcyTTcv1QqCtOsQ4QqJ61aCqsaMwM7RIlKTLs7eLtRMnf3fwoMnOR1_eD_0frRhUdhMR_gukUyMNBFNXMtXqREMk6J_ELzopibjfWI8UEVRPcfoFExvA5jIsAtA/s400/bill+and+hill.jpg" border="0" /></a><br /><br />Of course, context is everything. What this image doesn’t tell us is that amongst the Democratic presidential nominees, Hillary’s mate holds the unique superlative of being as much a liability as an asset. In conservative states, superstar Bill is less likely to draw the crowds or the support that Hillary needs. Amongst many feminist voters, Hillary is stronger as a stand-alone entity -- not as a female pawn activated to extend the Clinton regime. Perhaps this is one of the reasons why, as Oprah brought in tens of thousands of voters to Obama events in Iowa, South Carolina and New Hampshire last month, Clinton turned to the matrilineal appeal of having her mother and daughter by her side rather than husband Bill. In this instance, the Clinton campaign invoked female empowerment as a strategy for challenging the time-honored patriarch-centered nuclear to chasing the presidency… albeit with limited success.<br /><br /><span style="color:#ff6666;">But I digress. My point here has been to unpack the peculiar politics of campaign photography and website design. I hope to use this discussion as a springboard into a closer analysis of that initial image of the Obama family. Stay tuned.</span>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com10tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8346369.post-53803236159083237772007-05-20T09:44:00.000-04:002007-05-20T12:41:17.944-04:00on hip-hop, hoes and bitch-ass-niggasMy opening remarks from the panel discussion I organized in February -- <span style="font-size:130%;color:#ff9900;"><strong><span style="color:#ff0000;">Hip-Hop and Homophobia:</span> Exploring Masculinity, Bisexuality and the DL.<br /></strong></span>Panelists:<br />Professor Cornel West<br />Lynne D. Johnson, hip-hop journalist<br />Shante Paradigm, hip-hop artist and scholar<br />Dr. David Malebranche, physician and HIV/AIDS researcher<br /><br /><p><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg4em9Is7XygR6rRv0ZQk51JyeuV-mbFkzT0y5X3bXZei1gt_jaGjnF6LS4xks3BjHb-Mq62WVf40S2JIhBdltFLKomBRe4PBh-MRwzHoav_7ZjJRnxTd6ymw3JDdAJqowqoZEklA/s1600-h/HHHOMO2.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5066642097948126466" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; CURSOR: hand; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg4em9Is7XygR6rRv0ZQk51JyeuV-mbFkzT0y5X3bXZei1gt_jaGjnF6LS4xks3BjHb-Mq62WVf40S2JIhBdltFLKomBRe4PBh-MRwzHoav_7ZjJRnxTd6ymw3JDdAJqowqoZEklA/s400/HHHOMO2.jpg" border="0" /></a><br />When grappling with the question of how to frame a discussion about the curious construction of masculinity within hip-hop culture, two phrases echoed in my mind. Two epithets, really, existing in two different moments in hip-hop history that managed (if only in my mind) to resonate and dialogue with one another.<br /><br /><span style="color:#ff9966;">The first, I owe to the lyrical genius of Snoop Doggy Dog. I’d pin it down to the mid 90s when Snoop was to Dr Dre what Eminem is now to Dr Dre. The phrase is: “Bitches aint shit but hoes and tricks”. I couldn’t have been older than 13 years old when that lyrical masterpiece hit the airwaves, but I can still remember the rhythm of the words played in a constant loop in the tape deck of the historical moment. <em>Bitches ain't shit but hoes and tricks</em>.</span><br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgqOwhCJYKIEeioayE-qosXPbkfmmkYFs26dsFJ2fDt4VWSOXVBXTEpetaU7qeCt_vMDaXtslasyWGkZft-U_nPSV6IIfvQBBwUbMcIWgoVtIA9LOtmPO9RzRxSVRWIP6A2ZRqjVw/s1600-h/music_camron.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5066656335764712754" style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgqOwhCJYKIEeioayE-qosXPbkfmmkYFs26dsFJ2fDt4VWSOXVBXTEpetaU7qeCt_vMDaXtslasyWGkZft-U_nPSV6IIfvQBBwUbMcIWgoVtIA9LOtmPO9RzRxSVRWIP6A2ZRqjVw/s200/music_camron.jpg" border="0" /></a>The second is a more recent utterance. It wasn’t as singularly articulated in a stand-out radio single, but nonetheless emblematic of a pervasive sentiment in hip-hop culture. I’d attribute it to Cam’ron circa 2004. The phrase is “no homo”.<br /><br />By a show of hands – who here knows what “no homo” means?<br />It’s a disclaimer meaning nothing homosexual or homoerotic is intended by the following or aforementioned phrase.<br /><br />Examples:<br />-- biggie’s flow is so hot, I could listen to him spit all night – no homo.<br />-- my crew is ride or die. I would do anything for them – no homo.<br /><br /><span style="color:#ff9966;">The phrase has this uncanny duality. On one hand, it serves as a prohibition. Through sheer repetition, it emphasizes that not only are homos emphatically “not allowed” in the physical or discursive space, but even the mere notion that one might interpret an happenchance word pairing as some queer pun or gay double-entendre must be acknowledged and cancelled. On the other hand, it forces all present to return to what’s been said and to draw upon their lexicon of homoeroticism and gay sex acts just so they can understand why the speaker has invoked the phrase in the first place. On one hand, the term protests the existence and the trace of homosexuality. On the other, it makes homoerotics a mainstay in the playful banter of otherwise straight men and women.</span><br /><br /><em>No homo</em> made me think. What is it about the way in which masculinity is being constructed and replicated within hip-hop culture that makes homosexuality and homoeroticsm so repulsive, yet alluring? Why have the sissy, the fag, bitch-ass-nigga and the homo been such indispensable icons in hip-hop culture? And, more importantly, where do these images appear most frequently?<br /><br /><span style="color:#ff9966;">Is it the case that rappers consistently speak out about homosexuality, itself, or is there more going on? Is there a broader campaign against bitch-ness and bitch-like qualities? Why is it that in a rap battle, the most potent jabs at one’s opponent are lines that feminize him or call his masculinity into question? What is so dangerous or repulsive or frightening about the effeminate male, and why is it problematic to use femininity as a proxy for sexuality?</span><br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh_1a5ZL-V9dKvC3HIlFSLnRaJ1BNWfj7qKiC3Gu1MobAM3fA8UDHiK5rPjW6JVI3bz-hwWxmFoeXdULXAjOQmrYvMxbju_aPWXT1qJAIo83AAbmz2SUZXiAlmzVKlXRErsezuUFQ/s1600-h/snoop_dogOC.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5066655747354193186" style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh_1a5ZL-V9dKvC3HIlFSLnRaJ1BNWfj7qKiC3Gu1MobAM3fA8UDHiK5rPjW6JVI3bz-hwWxmFoeXdULXAjOQmrYvMxbju_aPWXT1qJAIo83AAbmz2SUZXiAlmzVKlXRErsezuUFQ/s200/snoop_dogOC.jpg" border="0" /></a>Does hip-hop have a problem with women? The popularity of the line “Bitches ain’t shit but hoes and tricks” suggests that the answer might be yes. But what do we make of the fact that another of the highest insults in a rap battle or a game of the dozens is an insult to one’s mother? How can the culture condition hip-hoppers to protect and promote the character of their mother in one breath, but normalize the utter degradation of all females in the next?<br /><br /><span style="color:#ff9966;">I thought a discussion about the curious construction of masculinity would aid us in addressing these questions. More specifically, I thought that an interrogation of the value of masculinity within a patriarchal society might help us identify the ways in which misogyny and homophobia are connected to one another, or how they might be thought to be two sides of the same coin.</span><br /><br />I am hopeful that the cultural space of Hip-Hop might serve as a fruitful place to perform an intersectional analysis of race, gender and sexuality that moves us toward more holistic, inclusive ways to mobilize against misogyny and homophobia, and the institutions that support it. </p>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8346369.post-20472484921669499312007-04-03T16:01:00.000-04:002007-04-03T16:10:59.029-04:00National Exposure for the Memorial Scholarship<p>This week, the Associated Press profiled Rashawn and the RBMF alongside two other projects that honor black, SGL victims of violent crime. Garnering widespread attention for the case, the story ran in news outlets all over the US and the UK in such publications as the New York Blade, Newsday, Gay.com, WCBS-TV New York and Southern Voice Online.<br /><br /></p><p align="center"><a title="Photo Sharing" href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/79164181@N00/445073920/"><img height="155" alt="3victims" src="http://farm1.static.flickr.com/227/445073920_8829b5193e_o.jpg" width="460" /></a></p><p>Projects bring attention to 3 gruesome killings of gay victims<br />By MARCUS FRANKLINAssociated Press Writer<br />April 1, 2007, 11:21 AM EDT<br /><br />NEW YORK -- On Valentine's Day two years ago, the dismembered body parts of Rashawn Brazell, a 19-year-old bisexual man, were found scattered in bags across Brooklyn.<br />Two years earlier, Sakia Gunn, 15, was stabbed to death at a Newark bus stop after she rejected her killer's advances by telling him she was a lesbian.<br /><br />J.R. Warren died in similarly grisly fashion. Two teenagers beat, kicked and stomped the 26-year-old gay man from West Virginia before running him over with a Camaro.<br /><br />Rashawn Brazell. Sakia Gunn. J.R. Warren: Victims of three of the country's most brutal killings of gays and lesbians in recent years. Yet their deaths received little attention and their names somehow don't evoke the intense resonance that followed the 1998 killing of Matthew Shepard, a gay man from Wyoming.<br /><br />But a documentary maker, an artist and an Ivy League doctoral candidate hope to change that. Separately, the three _ all strangers to the victims _ have created a scholarship fund for college-bound students, an independent documentary, and an art exhibit to not only highlight the killings but also re-ignite larger discussions about homophobia and bias crimes.<br /><br />"They've done so much to make people aware of what happened and they won't let it drift to the side," Desire Brazell, Rashawn's mother, said of the men behind the Rashawn Brazell Memorial Fund and Web site. "They've been fantastic."<br /><br />The memorial projects come as a new federal hate crime bill has entered Congress and other recent anti-gay attacks have also brought new attention to the issue.<br /><br />Last week, Rep. John Conyers, D-Mich., interdicted a bill that seeks to add sexual orientation and gender identity to existing hate-crime law and give resources to state and local authorities to investigate and prosecute suspected bias crimes.<br /><br />Nationally, the number of reported bias crimes against lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgendered people remained virtually unchanged in 2006, according to the New York City Gay & Lesbian Anti-Violence Project. Still, recent assaults and killings across the country disturbed some people.<br /><br />Three men are facing trial on hate-crime murder charges in the 2006 death of Michael Sandy, a 28-year-old interior designer from New York who met the defendants in a gay chat room. Last week, four men pleaded guilty to assault as a hate crime for attacking gay singer Kevin Aviance last year in New York. In Florida this month, Ryan Keith Skipper, 25, was robbed and fatally stabbed, and police arrested two men on hate crime-related charges.<br /><br />The Conyers legislation seemed to gain momentum from the case of Andrew Anthos, a 72-year-old gay man from Detroit. Family members say a pipe-wielding man killed Anthos during a bus ride home from the library because he was gay. Investigators now say he died of natural causes, but advocates are suspicious of the surprise turn of events; they do not believe it was an accident.<br /><br />Advocates want to see the hate-crime bill signed into law, in part, because more than a dozen states, including Michigan and many in the South, have either no hate crime laws or ones that don't protect sexual orientation or gender identity.<br /><br />The Human Rights Campaign has called Brazell's killing a hate crime, although investigators haven't officially classified it as one and Desire Brazell doesn't believe her son's killing stemmed from his sexuality.<br /><br />But police have yet to make an arrest. And an official cause of death, like the motive, is unknown _ blanks that deny Desire Brazell closure. The case will re-air this year on "America's Most Wanted," show officials said.<br /><br />Larry Lyons, 25, had never met Rashawn Brazell. But when he heard about the case, he was so "repulsed" that he began blogging about it. From blogs, vigils and meetings came the Rashawn Brazell Memorial Fund, which will award its second $1,500 scholarship in June to a New York City student committed to fighting homophobia, racism, sexism or other forms of injustice, Lyons said.<br /><br />"It's crazy there's someone out there who can kill and dismember a young man and spread his body parts and not be found and walk the streets among all of us," said Lyons, an English doctoral candidate at Princeton University. "It boggles my mind.<br />"It's disappointing it's not a more high-profile case."<br /><br />The 2000 murder of J.R. Warren made TV and newspaper headlines but attention abated after two men were convicted of murder and sentenced to prison. The killing didn't qualify as a hate crime under West Virginia or federal laws.<br /><br />Still, artist Rory Golden decided to create an exhibit to stir debate over the definition of a hate crime and bigotry.<br /><br />In "See Related Story: The Murder of J.R. Warren," the Ohio native used wax and mulberry paper to create 52 two-sided images evoking the feeling of a disturbing dream or memory. The exhibit was recently on view at Fairmont State University in West Virginia.<br /><br />Curator Marian Hollinger said she "had expected someone to get upset or unnerved, but no." The overall response, Hollinger said, was "amazingly positive. People asked sensible questions, enjoyed it and were moved by it."<br /><br />Golden, 40, hopes to take the exhibit to other college campuses and other venues across the country.<br /><br />Like Golden and Lyons, Chas B. Brack never met the subject of his project. But despite funding challenges, Brack hopes to finish a documentary this year about Sakia Gunn.<br /><br />In 2005, Gunn's killer acknowledged calling the teenager a "dyke" and pleaded guilty to aggravated manslaughter with bias intimidation. He was sentenced to 20 years.<br />Brack believes his film will help reverse the "continuing invisibility of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgendered people of color," an invisibility Lyons and Golden believe shrouded the Brazell and Warren killings. Gunn, Brazell and Warren were black.<br /><br />"I don't think any of them have received the attention that they need," Brack said.<br />___<br />On the Net:<br />http://www.sakiagunnfilmproject.com<br />http://www.rashawnbrazell.com<br />http://www.seerelatedstory.com</p>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com5