February 29, 2012

Mammy to Minnie: Black Women Oscar Winners

Mammy to Minnie: Black Women Oscar Winners
By LUCHINA FISHER (@luchina)
Feb. 28, 2012


After Octavia Spencer won the Academy Award for best supporting actress, Jennifer Hudson, who won the same award in 2006, was first to welcome her into the very exclusive club of black women Oscar winners.

"Yes!!!! Welcome to the family Octavia!! Congrats!!! Amazing!!" she tweeted Sunday night.

Like all families, this one comes with baggage. For most Oscar winners, an Academy Award is a boon to their careers, both in terms of roles and earning power. For black women, the road after Oscar seems to be less certain.

http://abcnews.go.com/Entertainment/oscar-boost-octavia-spencers-career/story?id=15802169#.T02CyNXAP64

February 23, 2012

Drama Free Thursday!!! First Lady Provides Local Inspiration

First Lady Provides Local Inspiration

http://www.wbng.com/news/local/First-Lady-Provides-Local-Inspiration-140099123.html

Binghamton, NY (WBNG Binghamton) It's not every day you get the voice of the Frist Lady of the United States on the other end of the line.

Wednesday night, local women turned the call waiting off and the volume up as they dialed in to speak to Michelle Obama.

The First Lady held a special conference call for Women for Obama-- a national group of campaign volunteers.

Thousands of women across the country--including dozens of them here in Binghamton--gathered at their respective Democratic headquarters to listen in.

February 20, 2012

White Teacher Sues To Use N-Word In Class

White Teacher Sues To Use N-Word In Class
Written by TheGrio on February 20, 2012 5:00 pm

By Jay Scott Smith

CHICAGO – A 48-year-old Chicago public school teacher used the “n-word” as part of a lesson on the perils and pitfalls of racism, and it landed him a five-day suspension from his job. The teacher is fighting back, filing a federal lawsuit against the district and claiming that his civil rights have been violated.

Lincoln Brown, a 21-year veteran teacher and native of Chicago’s Hyde Park, used the word in his sixth grade classroom at Murray Language Academy on Oct. 4, 2011 after discovering a note that female student was passing had the slur written on it as apart of some rap lyrics. Brown, who is white, used the note as an opportunity to teach lesson about racism in the context of Huckleberry Finn.

http://newsone.com/nation/thegrio6/lincoln-brown-white-teacher-sues-to-use-n-word-in-class/

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February 20, 2012

Let's Do It Again (Obama 2012) - Teens in Orlando Making a Difference!!!

Let's Do It Again (Obama 2012) - Teens in Orlando Making a Difference!!!

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Excerpt from YouTube: These young men are raising money for band equipment, but they also want to support President Obama (a portion of profits will be donated to his re-election campaign). To get a FREE DOWNLOAD of our "Let's Do It Again" re-make, send email to LetsDoItFreeDownload@gmail.com

February 20, 2012

Whitney Houston (The Vultures Are Circling)

As the country mourns her passing, the rumors have started.

http://digitaljournal.com/article/319663

Vulture #1: Peter Tatchell. No doubt, he knows that now when you Google for Whitney Houston, his name will come up. People will want to interview him about the singer. Because, who better than this gay activist to tell us everything we didn't know about the singer many of us pretended to be with a hairbrush for a microphone, her CDs, and the songs we loved.

He'll get some face time, feigning respectability. That Whitney Houston said she wasn't gay in 2000, won't mean a thing. Because the goal is attention for Tatchell. That her family is still in the grieving process...meaningless. He's got to get some attention quickly. After a few weeks, he'll be Mr. Nobody again. Regardless of the rumors he spreads.

I'm sorry to give him any attention. But, I wanted to share this with the group. I hope the mainstream media avoids him like the plague. He's just another leech on society in my book.

February 20, 2012

Cleo Manago: The Most Dangerous Black Gay Man?

Cleo Manago: The Most Dangerous Black Gay Man?
By Irene Moore

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/irene-monroe/cleo-manago_b_1280272.html

Cleo Manago is despised by some in the LGBTQ community. Descriptors like "homo demagogue," contrarian, separatist, and anti-white are just a few that can be expressed in polite company. But to a nationwide community of same-gender-loving (SGL), bisexual, transgender, and progressive heterosexual African-American men, Manago is the man, seen as a visionary game changer and "social architect" focusing on advocating for and healing a group of men that continues to be maligned and marginalized: brothers.

"Without an understanding of the deep hurt that Black men have around issues of masculinity and their role as a man, you can't hope to eliminate anti-homosexual sentiment in Black men," Manago wrote in his recent article "Getting at the Root of Black 'Homophobic' Speech," in which he castigates GLAAD for demanding that CNN fire Roland Martin for misconstrued homophobic tweets. "There has been no national project to address the psychic damage that White supremacy has done to Black men. But there is always some predominantly White institution waiting, ready to pounce on a Black man for behaving badly."

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Interesting Article about Cleo Manago. I just said a few days ago I hadn't heard of him. Now his name seems to be all over the place.

February 20, 2012

Whiteness and the 99%

This piece was written by Joel Olson, a member of BtR-Arizona, as a contribution to ongoing debates about the occupations taking place in the U.S.

http://www.bringtheruckus.org/?q=node/146

Whiteness and the 99%
By Joel Olson

Occupy Wall Street and the hundreds of occupations it has sparked nationwide are among the most inspiring events in the U.S. in the 21st century. The occupations have brought together people to talk, occupy, and organize in new and exciting ways. The convergence of so many people with so many concerns has naturally created tensions within the occupation movement. One of the most significant tensions has been over race. This is not unusual, given the racial history of the United States. But this tension is particularly dangerous, for unless it is confronted, we cannot build the 99%. The key obstacle to building the 99% is left colorblindness, and the key to overcoming it is to put the struggles of communities of color at the center of this movement. It is the difference between a free world and the continued dominance of the 1%.

Left colorblindess is the enemy

Left colorblindness is the belief that race is a “divisive” issue among the 99%, so we should instead focus on problems that “everyone” shares. According to this argument, the movement is for everyone, and people of color should join it rather than attack it.

Left colorblindness claims to be inclusive, but it is actually just another way to keep whites’ interests at the forefront. It tells people of color to join “our” struggle (who makes up this “our,” anyway?) but warns them not to bring their “special” concerns into it. It enables white people to decide which issues are for the 99% and which ones are “too narrow.” It’s another way for whites to expect and insist on favored treatment, even in a democratic movement.
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I know nothing about Joel Olson, except I believe he's a college professor. I also know nothing about the Bring the Ruckus website. However, it's an interesting read. The comments are almost as interesting as the article.

It could make for an interesting discussion.

February 11, 2012

Park Service to remove inscription on MLK Memorial

Park Service to remove inscription on MLK Memorial
The Associated Press

http://www.clarionledger.com/article/20120210/NEWS03/120210027/Park-Service-remove-inscription-MLK-Memorial?odyssey=mod|mostview

WASHINGTON — The National Park Service announced plans Friday to remove an inscription from the Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial and replace it with a full quotation from the civil rights leader a move the memorial project's architect said would "destroy" the monument.

Critics including the poet Maya Angelou, had said the paraphrase didn't accurately reflect King's words. It reads, "I was a drum major for justice, peace and righteousness."

Angelou had said the shortened phrase made King sound like an "arrogant twit." She had served on a panel of historians to select inscriptions for the memorial before they were hand-carved into stone, but she did not attend meetings about the inscriptions, memorial officials have said.

February 11, 2012

Roland Martin's Controversial Tweets Draw Attention To Issues Faced By LGBT Blacks, Activists Say

Roland Martin's Controversial Tweets Draw Attention To Issues Faced By LGBT Blacks, Activists Say

When CNN contributor Roland Martin fired off a series of tweets during the Super Bowl that many people considered homophobic and advocating of violence against gays, a shudder ran down Kimberly McLeod's spine.

Roland Martin, who is African-American, has a wide reach, as a result of his frequent appearances on cable television and radio news programs, his popular website and his more than 98,000 followers on Twitter. And McLeod, who is a field strategist for the Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation, said the impact of Martin's words, especially among blacks, could feed such homophobia.

"A lot of people are debating the power of these tweets and the comments he posted," said McLeod, whose work includes outreach in the black community. "As a public figure who has almost 100,000 Twitter followers and who is showing up in the homes of millions of Americans, he has a responsibility to send a message that does not encourage violence toward LGBT people or people who are perceived to be gay."

"At the core of it is that anti-gay language has the power to fuel hostility that can manifest in very really ways for members of the LGBT community, especially when you look at the black LGBT community," McLeod said.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/02/10/lgbt-blacks_n_1269252.html

February 10, 2012

Cornel West Calls Melissa Harris-Perry A “Fraud”

Cornel West Calls Melissa Harris-Perry A “Fraud”
Wednesday, 08 February 2012 19:48

http://www.blackamericans.com/news-stories/feature-stories/47228-cornel-west-calls-melissa-harris-perry-a-fraud

In what might be his strongest public comments yet, West referred to Harris-Perry as a “fake” and a “fraud” for allowing herself to be used by the liberal establishment to shoot down his critiques over our nation’s decision to overlook racial inequality and poverty.

I was quoted in the article, but only as a supporter of Dr. West. Anyone who evaluates Cornel West’s track record will see that he has consistently advocated for Black, Brown and poor people long before “hope” and “change” slogans were thrust on to our TV screens. In fact, Dr. West and Pastor Jeremiah Wright serve as our strongest modern-day embodiments of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Similar to King, both of these men must endure the public volatility that comes with not running in lockstep with any flashy political trend.

When I heard what Cornel said about Melissa, my neck snapped like Nene Leakes bumping into a bill collector at a night club. I was both impressed and shocked that West had been so strong in his position on Harris-Perry, and I was glad to see that even millionaires aren’t afraid to tell the truth.

Sometimes when diplomacy fails and your people are being attacked, it’s time to go to war. When Cornel West spoke up honestly about the challenges of poor, Black and Brown people, alarm bells went off in liberal elitist America. As a professor at an elite university, West was supposed to do what the other elites have done: consider the poor only as an afterthought to planning your next vacation at Martha’s Vineyard.
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I didn't catch the name of the writer of this article. But, frankly...I'm speechless. I'll have to think about it. I've had my good thoughts and bad about Cornel West. I'll just have to think about the article. I am curious as to what the group thinks.