E-NOTES: WHEN THE NEWS IS NOT ENOUGH. THE BLOG OF E. ETHELBERT MILLER
Wednesday, March 14, 2007
Tuesday, March 13, 2007
Right around the first commercial last night during 24 (the hit television show), my phone rings.
It's my son calling me to complain about the acting of Ricky (yes Ricky not Rick) Schroder. Who decided to bring this guy into the cast? He could never act - especially as a tough guy. He always reminded me of the guy who got his butt kicked twice in one afternoon. This is the worst move 24 has made. Nukes falling and we call for Ricky- lite? Folks trying to kill another black president(on the show) and this is the best Fox can do? Pure Schroder-shame.
It's my son calling me to complain about the acting of Ricky (yes Ricky not Rick) Schroder. Who decided to bring this guy into the cast? He could never act - especially as a tough guy. He always reminded me of the guy who got his butt kicked twice in one afternoon. This is the worst move 24 has made. Nukes falling and we call for Ricky- lite? Folks trying to kill another black president(on the show) and this is the best Fox can do? Pure Schroder-shame.
So that was me down on 14th street - 6 AM in the morning. Fox News did a live broadcast from Busboys. Yes, I looked through the window and there was Pam. Another indication that spring is coming and all that is beautiful will bloom. We had our IPS Salon meeting. A small group trying to turn ideas into action. Our next Salon will be in May with Barbara Ehrenreich.
At Howard I continued to clean and discard items. Two activists (Travis and Anne) met in my office talking about socialism and how to reach out to students for a dialogue. Over the years I've listened to many different voices and opinions. What do we need in order to build a new house? I've never been knocked down by what people call the genius of Bob Avakian. I remember coming in contact with his people. Here is a website: www.ThisIsCommunism.org
Avakian published a memoir in 2005 - FROM IKE TO MAO AND BEYOND: MY JOURNEY FROM MAINSTREAM AMERICA TO REVOLUTIONARY COMMUNIST.
At Howard I continued to clean and discard items. Two activists (Travis and Anne) met in my office talking about socialism and how to reach out to students for a dialogue. Over the years I've listened to many different voices and opinions. What do we need in order to build a new house? I've never been knocked down by what people call the genius of Bob Avakian. I remember coming in contact with his people. Here is a website: www.ThisIsCommunism.org
Avakian published a memoir in 2005 - FROM IKE TO MAO AND BEYOND: MY JOURNEY FROM MAINSTREAM AMERICA TO REVOLUTIONARY COMMUNIST.
After watching another episode of 24 last night on television, I became curious as to what the headlines in the newspapers the next day might be:
Nuclear bomb dropped in California
Terrorists are still Armed and Dangerous
President Palmer in critical condition after assassination attempt
Former First Lady kills Former President
or
OJ to confess to Oprah
Nuclear bomb dropped in California
Terrorists are still Armed and Dangerous
President Palmer in critical condition after assassination attempt
Former First Lady kills Former President
or
OJ to confess to Oprah
Monday, March 12, 2007
NYC LAWYERS CHALLENGE NIGERIAN ANTI-GAY BILL
Mar 6 (GIN) - A bill that would outlaw same sex marriages in Nigeria would violate international treaties and the African Charter, according to a group of New York lawyers.
Members of the Association of the Bar of the City of New York have launched a writing campaign to oppose the bill. If passed, marriage between persons of the same sex would be barred anywhere in Nigeria, the adoption of children by gay parents would be prohibited, gay clubs, societies or organizations would be outlawed, and any publicity, procession or public show of same sex activities through the electronic or print media.
Gay groups were barred from presenting their views on the bill at a hearing last month, the NY group notes, and there was no public hearing although the bill would criminalize a wide range of activities and restrict freedom of speech and association.
The restrictions violate the African Charter on Human and People’s Rights, they note, among other agreements.
Letters are being sent to Ken Nnamani, Senate President, Pres. Obasanjo, and the Justice Minister, among others.
Mar 6 (GIN) - A bill that would outlaw same sex marriages in Nigeria would violate international treaties and the African Charter, according to a group of New York lawyers.
Members of the Association of the Bar of the City of New York have launched a writing campaign to oppose the bill. If passed, marriage between persons of the same sex would be barred anywhere in Nigeria, the adoption of children by gay parents would be prohibited, gay clubs, societies or organizations would be outlawed, and any publicity, procession or public show of same sex activities through the electronic or print media.
Gay groups were barred from presenting their views on the bill at a hearing last month, the NY group notes, and there was no public hearing although the bill would criminalize a wide range of activities and restrict freedom of speech and association.
The restrictions violate the African Charter on Human and People’s Rights, they note, among other agreements.
Letters are being sent to Ken Nnamani, Senate President, Pres. Obasanjo, and the Justice Minister, among others.
Oh, Africa:
TransAfrica Forum Arthur R. Ashe, Jr. Foreign Policy Library
presents
Everything Must Come to Light
Film by Mpumi Njinge and Paulo Alberton
Thursday, March 15, 2007, 6:30 - 8:30 PM
TransAfrica Forum, 1629 K Street, NW, Suite 1100
Washington, DC (Metro Station: Farragut North K Street Exit (Red Line) or Farragut West (Blue/Orange Lines, 17th Street Exit)
The documentary “Everything Must Come to Light” (25 minutes, 2002) tells the unusual stories of three dynamic lesbian sangomas (traditional healers) in Soweto, South Africa. After leaving their husbands, two of the women were visited by their dominant male ancestors, who instructed them to take wives. The two women follow the commandment.
The film explores the relationship between the Sangomas and their ancestors, the roles the ancestors play in Sangoma healing powers, and the role they play in shaping Sangoma sexuality. The International Journal of African Historical Perspectives states that "This extraordinary video, woven from scenes of daily life, is about much more than a few lesbians in Soweto. It takes the viewer into the homes, the rituals, the work, and the play of people who, despite their proximity to the big city, live very much like the majority of Black people in southern Africa…”
“Everything Must Come to Light” was an official selection of the 2002 African Studies Association Film Festival.
There will be post-screening discussion.
TransAfrica Forum Arthur R. Ashe, Jr. Foreign Policy Library
presents
Everything Must Come to Light
Film by Mpumi Njinge and Paulo Alberton
Thursday, March 15, 2007, 6:30 - 8:30 PM
TransAfrica Forum, 1629 K Street, NW, Suite 1100
Washington, DC (Metro Station: Farragut North K Street Exit (Red Line) or Farragut West (Blue/Orange Lines, 17th Street Exit)
The documentary “Everything Must Come to Light” (25 minutes, 2002) tells the unusual stories of three dynamic lesbian sangomas (traditional healers) in Soweto, South Africa. After leaving their husbands, two of the women were visited by their dominant male ancestors, who instructed them to take wives. The two women follow the commandment.
The film explores the relationship between the Sangomas and their ancestors, the roles the ancestors play in Sangoma healing powers, and the role they play in shaping Sangoma sexuality. The International Journal of African Historical Perspectives states that "This extraordinary video, woven from scenes of daily life, is about much more than a few lesbians in Soweto. It takes the viewer into the homes, the rituals, the work, and the play of people who, despite their proximity to the big city, live very much like the majority of Black people in southern Africa…”
“Everything Must Come to Light” was an official selection of the 2002 African Studies Association Film Festival.
There will be post-screening discussion.
The sky is Gray?
March 21, 2007 from 12:00 - 1:30 p.m.
Busboys and Poets
2021 14th St. NW, Washington, D.C.
City Council Chair Vincent C. Gray discussing DC from his point of view.
The price of lunch will be $12.00.
Please make all checks payable to :Humanities Council of Washington, D.C.
Please RSVP to Greg Bridges by March 20, 2007.
Greg Bridges gbridges@wdchumanities.org
March 21, 2007 from 12:00 - 1:30 p.m.
Busboys and Poets
2021 14th St. NW, Washington, D.C.
City Council Chair Vincent C. Gray discussing DC from his point of view.
The price of lunch will be $12.00.
Please make all checks payable to :Humanities Council of Washington, D.C.
Please RSVP to Greg Bridges by March 20, 2007.
Greg Bridges gbridges@wdchumanities.org
I had a morning meeting over on U Street. I met with folks at the Ron Brown Scholar Program.
A good program: www.ronbrown.org
Michael A. Mallory is the excutive director.
A good program: www.ronbrown.org
Michael A. Mallory is the excutive director.
So what we gonna do now?
Fans turn away from rap's violence
By NEKESA MUMBI MOODYThe Associated Press
NEW YORK — Maybe it was the umpteenth coke-dealing anthem or soft-porn music video. Perhaps it was the preening antics that some call reminiscent of Stepin Fetchit.
The turning point is hard to pinpoint. But after years of growing popularity, rap music is struggling with an alarming sales decline and growing criticism from within about the culture's negative effect on society.
Rap insider Chuck Creekmur, who runs the Web site Allhiphop.com, says he got a message from a friend recently "asking me to hook her up with some Red Hot Chili Peppers because she said she's through with rap.
A lot of people are sick of rap ... the negativity is just over the top now."
The rapper Nas challenged the condition of the art form when he titled his latest album "Hip-Hop is Dead." It's at least ailing, according to recent statistics: Though music sales are down overall, rap sales slid a whopping 21 percent from 2005 to 2006, and for the first time in 12 years no rap album was among the top 10 sellers of the year. A study by the Black Youth Project showed a majority of youth think rap has too many violent images. In a poll of black Americans by The Associated Press and AOL-Black Voices last year, 50 percent of respondents said hip-hop was a negative force in American society.
Nicole Duncan-Smith worked in the rap industry for years and is married to a hip-hop producer. She still listens to rap, but says it no longer speaks to or for her. She wrote the children's book "I Am Hip-Hop" to create something positive about rap for children.
"I'm not removed from it, but I can't really tell the difference between Young Jeezy and Yung Joc. It's the same dumb stuff to me," says Duncan-Smith, 33. "I can't listen to that nonsense ... I can't listen to another black man talk about you don't come to the 'hood anymore and ghetto revivals ... I'm from the 'hood. How can you tell me you want to revive it? How about you want to change it? Rejuvenate it?"
Blame it on rap?
Hip-hop also seems to be increasingly blamed for a variety of social ills. Studies have attempted to link it to everything from teen drug use to increased sexual activity among girls.
The mayhem that broke out in Las Vegas during the recent NBA All-Star Game was blamed on hip-hoppers. "[NBA Commissioner] David Stern seriously needs to consider moving the event out of the country for the next couple of years in hopes that young, hip-hop hoodlums would find another event to terrorize," columnist Jason Whitlock, who is black, wrote on AOL.
While rap has been in essence pop music for years, and most rap consumers are white, some worry that the black community is suffering from hip-hop — from the way America perceives blacks to the attitudes and images being adopted by black youth.
But the rapper David Banner derides the growing criticism as blacks joining America's attack on young black men who are only reflecting the crushing problems within their communities. Besides, he says, that's the kind of music America wants to hear.
"Look at the music that gets us popular — 'Like a Pimp,'," says Banner, naming his hit.
Criticism of hip-hop is certainly nothing new — it's as much a part of the culture as the beats and rhymes. Among the early accusations were that rap wasn't true music, its lyrics were too raw, its street message too polarizing. But they rarely came from the youthful audience itself, which was enraptured with genre that defined them as none other could.
"As people within the hip-hop generation get older, I think the criticism is increasing," says author Bakari Kitwana, who is part of a lecture tour titled "Does Hip-Hop Hate Women?"
"There was a more of a tendency when we were younger to be more defensive of it," he adds.
During her '90s crusade against rap's habit of degrading women, the late black activist C. Dolores Tucker certainly had few allies within the hip-hop community, or even among young black women. Backed by folks like Republican William Bennett, Tucker was vilified within rap circles.
In retrospect, "many of us weren't listening," says Tracy Denean Sharpley-Whiting, a professor at Vanderbilt University and author of "Pimps Up, Ho's Down: Hip-Hop's Hold On Young Black Women."
"She was onto something, but most of us said, 'They're not calling me a bitch, they're not talking about me, they're talking about THOSE women.' But then it became clear that, you know what? Those women can be any women."
One rap fan, Bryan Hunt, made the searing documentary "Hip-Hop: Beyond Beats and Rhymes," which debuted on PBS last month.
"I love hip-hop," Hunt, 36, says in the documentary. "I sometimes feel bad for criticizing hip-hop, but I want to get us men to take a look at ourselves."
The music's changed
In the '70s, groups may have rapped about drug dealing and street violence, but rap stars weren't the embodiment of criminals themselves. Today, the most popular and successful rappers boast about who has murdered more foes and rhyme about dealing drugs as breezily as other artists sing about love.
Creekmur says music labels have overfed the public on gangsta rap, obscuring artists who represent more positive and varied aspects of black life, like Talib Kweli, Common and Lupe Fiasco.
"It boils down to a complete lack of balance, and whenever there's a complete lack of balance people are going to reject it, whether it's positive or negative," Creekmur says.
Copyright © 2007 The Seattle Times Company
Fans turn away from rap's violence
By NEKESA MUMBI MOODYThe Associated Press
NEW YORK — Maybe it was the umpteenth coke-dealing anthem or soft-porn music video. Perhaps it was the preening antics that some call reminiscent of Stepin Fetchit.
The turning point is hard to pinpoint. But after years of growing popularity, rap music is struggling with an alarming sales decline and growing criticism from within about the culture's negative effect on society.
Rap insider Chuck Creekmur, who runs the Web site Allhiphop.com, says he got a message from a friend recently "asking me to hook her up with some Red Hot Chili Peppers because she said she's through with rap.
A lot of people are sick of rap ... the negativity is just over the top now."
The rapper Nas challenged the condition of the art form when he titled his latest album "Hip-Hop is Dead." It's at least ailing, according to recent statistics: Though music sales are down overall, rap sales slid a whopping 21 percent from 2005 to 2006, and for the first time in 12 years no rap album was among the top 10 sellers of the year. A study by the Black Youth Project showed a majority of youth think rap has too many violent images. In a poll of black Americans by The Associated Press and AOL-Black Voices last year, 50 percent of respondents said hip-hop was a negative force in American society.
Nicole Duncan-Smith worked in the rap industry for years and is married to a hip-hop producer. She still listens to rap, but says it no longer speaks to or for her. She wrote the children's book "I Am Hip-Hop" to create something positive about rap for children.
"I'm not removed from it, but I can't really tell the difference between Young Jeezy and Yung Joc. It's the same dumb stuff to me," says Duncan-Smith, 33. "I can't listen to that nonsense ... I can't listen to another black man talk about you don't come to the 'hood anymore and ghetto revivals ... I'm from the 'hood. How can you tell me you want to revive it? How about you want to change it? Rejuvenate it?"
Blame it on rap?
Hip-hop also seems to be increasingly blamed for a variety of social ills. Studies have attempted to link it to everything from teen drug use to increased sexual activity among girls.
The mayhem that broke out in Las Vegas during the recent NBA All-Star Game was blamed on hip-hoppers. "[NBA Commissioner] David Stern seriously needs to consider moving the event out of the country for the next couple of years in hopes that young, hip-hop hoodlums would find another event to terrorize," columnist Jason Whitlock, who is black, wrote on AOL.
While rap has been in essence pop music for years, and most rap consumers are white, some worry that the black community is suffering from hip-hop — from the way America perceives blacks to the attitudes and images being adopted by black youth.
But the rapper David Banner derides the growing criticism as blacks joining America's attack on young black men who are only reflecting the crushing problems within their communities. Besides, he says, that's the kind of music America wants to hear.
"Look at the music that gets us popular — 'Like a Pimp,'," says Banner, naming his hit.
Criticism of hip-hop is certainly nothing new — it's as much a part of the culture as the beats and rhymes. Among the early accusations were that rap wasn't true music, its lyrics were too raw, its street message too polarizing. But they rarely came from the youthful audience itself, which was enraptured with genre that defined them as none other could.
"As people within the hip-hop generation get older, I think the criticism is increasing," says author Bakari Kitwana, who is part of a lecture tour titled "Does Hip-Hop Hate Women?"
"There was a more of a tendency when we were younger to be more defensive of it," he adds.
During her '90s crusade against rap's habit of degrading women, the late black activist C. Dolores Tucker certainly had few allies within the hip-hop community, or even among young black women. Backed by folks like Republican William Bennett, Tucker was vilified within rap circles.
In retrospect, "many of us weren't listening," says Tracy Denean Sharpley-Whiting, a professor at Vanderbilt University and author of "Pimps Up, Ho's Down: Hip-Hop's Hold On Young Black Women."
"She was onto something, but most of us said, 'They're not calling me a bitch, they're not talking about me, they're talking about THOSE women.' But then it became clear that, you know what? Those women can be any women."
One rap fan, Bryan Hunt, made the searing documentary "Hip-Hop: Beyond Beats and Rhymes," which debuted on PBS last month.
"I love hip-hop," Hunt, 36, says in the documentary. "I sometimes feel bad for criticizing hip-hop, but I want to get us men to take a look at ourselves."
The music's changed
In the '70s, groups may have rapped about drug dealing and street violence, but rap stars weren't the embodiment of criminals themselves. Today, the most popular and successful rappers boast about who has murdered more foes and rhyme about dealing drugs as breezily as other artists sing about love.
Creekmur says music labels have overfed the public on gangsta rap, obscuring artists who represent more positive and varied aspects of black life, like Talib Kweli, Common and Lupe Fiasco.
"It boils down to a complete lack of balance, and whenever there's a complete lack of balance people are going to reject it, whether it's positive or negative," Creekmur says.
Copyright © 2007 The Seattle Times Company